Read carefully the following excerpt on the influence of social relationships and then write your response in NO LESS THAN 200 words, in which you should: - summarize the main message of the excerpt, and then - comment on the significance of having good social relationships. You should support yourself with information from the excerpt. Marks will be awarded for content relevance, content sufficiency, organization and language quality. Failure to follow the above instructions may result in a loss of marks. New Health Policy: Encouraging Friendships? Having good social relationships—friends, marriage or children—may be every bit as important to a healthy lifespan as quitting smoking, losing weight or taking certain medications, U.S. researchers reported on Tuesday. People with strong social relationships were 50 percent less likely to die early than people without such support, the team at Brigham Young University in Utah found. “A lack of social relationships was equivalent to smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day,“ psychologist Julianne Holt-Lunstad, who led the study, said in a telephone interview. Her team conducted a meta-analysis of studies that examine social relationships and their effects on health. They looked at 148 studies that covered more than 308,000 people for their analysis. Having low levels of social interaction was equivalent to being an alcoholic, was more harmful than not exercising and was twice as harmful as obesity. Social relationships had a bigger impact on premature death than getting an adult vaccine to prevent pneumonia, than taking drugs for high blood pressure and far more important than exposure to air pollution, they found. “I certainly don’t want to downplay these other risk factors because of course they are very important,“ Holt-Lunstad said. “We need to start taking social relationships just as seriously.“

Many tourists tend to believe that traveling abroad is an opportunity to reap great benefits. While others hold traveling abroad may cause lots of troubles. Does traveling abroad pay off? Read the excerpt carefully and write your response in NO LESS THAN 200 words, in which you should: - summarize briefly the opinions about the issue, and then - give your comment. You should support yourself with information from the excerpt. Marks will be awarded for content relevance, content sufficiency, organization and language quality. Failure to follow the above instructions may result in a loss of marks. Sam (The US) I think by traveling you get to learn about different cultures first-hand. While you can always read a book about Thailand, there is something special about breathing in the stench of Durian fruit in person. Once you experience cultural differences firsthand, you can begin to understand where other people are coming from. Sandy (The UK) Along with learning about a culture’s traditions and foods you can also immerse yourself in their language. Perhaps you studied French in school or maybe you’ve always wanted to learn Swahili. This is your time to go learn it and use it! Patrick (Germany) I would not recommend traveling abroad. When traveling abroad, you usually don’t have insurance. Not having insurance means that if you get sick you can’t afford a doctor. Worse yet would be traveling in a third world country with very little medical care available. It means you are risking your life to traveling.

Nowadays, more people tend to resist western fast food, believing it a kind of junk food. Do we really need to resist western fast food? The following are the supporters’ and opponents’ opinions. Read carefully the opinions from both sides and write your response in NO LESS THAN 200 words, in which you should first summarize briefly the opinions from both sides and give your view on the issue. Marks will be awarded for content relevance, content sufficiency, organization, language quality. Failure to follow the above instructions may result in a loss of marks. YES We need food for energy, just as a car needs fuel. A balanced diet is important to one’s health. However, now, more and more people, especially the children, crowd into the western fast food restaurant such as KFC and McDonalds where hamburger and French fries are served. For lack of vegetables and other nutritious dishes, the western fast food is just a kind of junk food which might lead to chronic food security problems. NO As a coin has two sides, western fast food has both benefit and harm. Just as Chinese fast food also has some fried cuisine, western fast food does have some low-calorie and nutritious dishes. So western fast food should not be deemed as a kind of junk food.

Chinese education system of emphasizing scores is queried by the public. Look at the following picture carefully and write your response in about 200 words, in which you should start with a brief description of the picture, explain its intended meaning, and give your view on the issue. [*] Marks will be awarded for content relevance, content sufficiency, organization, language quality. Failure to follow the above instructions may result in a loss of marks.