【寫作】
Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write an essay on the importance of building trust between businesses and consumers. You can cite examples to illustrate your views. You should write at least 150 words but no more than 200 words.
【聽力】
同卷一或卷二
【閱讀】
Part Ⅲ Reading Comprehension ( 40 minutes)
Section A
Directions: In this section, there is a passage with ten blanks. You are required to select one word for each blank from a list of choices given in a word bank following the passage. Read the passage through carefully before making your choices. Each choice in the bank is identified by a letter. Please mark the corresponding letter for each item on Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the centre. You may not use any of the words in the bank more than once.
Questions 26 to 35 are based on the following passage.
When Elon Musk says that his new priority is using artificial intelligence to build domestic robots, we should look forward to the day in admiration.
Mr. Musk is a guy who gets things done. The founder of two tech companies, Tesla Motors and SpaceX, is bringing electric vehicles to mass market and 26 humans to live on other planets. This sounds like so much hot air, but the near $13 billion fortune this entrepreneur has 27 comes from practical achievements rather than hypothetical ones.
A lot of clever people are 28 about artificial intelligence, fearing that robots will one day become so 29 that they‘ll murder all of us. These fears are mostly 30 : as with hysteria about genetic modification, we humans are generally wise enough to manage these problems with speed and care.
And just think of how wonderful it would be if you had a live-in robot. It could, 31 , be like having a babysitter and a nurse rolled into one——or, if that required 32 intelligence beyond the power of Mr. Musk‘s imagined machine, at least someone to chop the carrots, wash the car and mow the lawn. Once purchased and trained, this would allow the 33 user to save money and time, freeing up 34 space in our busy lives to read a good book.
That is why we welcome Mr. Musk‘s latest 35 , and wish him well. As long as robots add to the sum of human happiness, reduce suffering, and create time to read world-class journalism, we should be their fans. Especially since journalism is one job robots will never do.
A)amassed
B)casual
C)emotional
D)enabling
E)eventually
F)exaggerated
G)extravagant
H)generously
I)misleading
J)precious
K)reward
L)smart
M)sphere
N)terrified
O)venture
答案:
26. D) enabling
27. H)generously
28. N) terrified
29. L) smart
30. F) exaggerated
31. E) eventually
32. C) emotional
33. B) casual
34. J) precious
35. O) venture
Section B
Directions: In this section, you are going to read a passage with ten statements attached to each statement contains information given in one of the paragraphs. Identify the paragraph from which the information is derived. You may choose a paragraph more than once. Each paragraph is marked with a letter. Answer the questions by marking the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2.
In the real world, nobody cares that you went to an Ivy League school A) As a high school junior, everything in my life revolved around getting into the right college. I diligently attended my SAT, ACT, and Advanced Placement test preparation courses. I juggled (盡力應付)cross-country and track schedules, newspaper staff, and my church‘s youth group and drama team. I didn’t drink, party, or even do much dating. The right college, I thought, was one with prestige, one with a name. It didn‘t have to be the Ivy League, but it needed to be “top school.”
B) Looking back now, nine years later, I can‘t remember exactly what it was about these universities that made them seem so much better. Was it a curriculum that appeared more rigorous, perhaps? Or an alumni network that I hoped would open doors down the line? Maybe. “I do think there are advantages to schools with more recognition,” notes Marybeth Gasman, a professor of higher education at the University of Pennsylvania. “I don’t necessarily think that‘s a reason to go to one.”
C) In reflection, my firm belief in the power of the brand was naive, not to mention a bit snobby. I quickly passed over state schools and southern schools, believing their curriculums to be automatically inferior to northeastern or western counterparts. Instead, I dreamed of living in New York City and my parents obliged me with a visit to New York University‘s (NYU) campus. During the tour, tuition fees were discussed. (NYU is consistently ranked one of the country’s most expensive schools, with room and board costs totaling upwards of $64,000 a year.) Up until then, I hadn‘t truly realized just how expensive an education can be. Over the next few months, I realized not only could I not afford my dream school, I couldn’t even afford the ones where I‘d been accepted. City University of New York (CUNY), Rutgers University, and Indiana University were out of reach as were Mississippi State and the University of Alabama, where I would have to pay out-of-state fees. Further complicating my college search was a flourishing stack career—I wanted to keep running but my times weren’t quite fast enough to secure a scholarship. D) And so, at 11pm on the night of Georgia State University‘s (GSU) midnight deadline, I applied online. Rated No.466 overall on Forbes’ Lists Top Colleges, No. 183 in Research Universities, and No. 108 in the South, I can‘t say it was my top choice. Still, the track coach had offered me a walk-on spot, and I actually found the urban Atlanta campus a decent consolation prize after New York City.
E) While it may have been practical, it wasn‘t prestigious, But here’s the thing: I loved my “lower-tier” (低層次的) university. (I use the term “low-tier” cautiously, because GSU is a well-regarded research institution that attracts high quality professors and faculty from all over the country.) We are taught to believe that only by going to the best schools and getting the best grades can we escape the rat race and build a better future. But what if lower-tier colleges and universities were the ticket to escaping the rat race? After all, where else can you leave school with a decent degree—but without a lifetime of debt?
F) My school didn‘t come pre-packaged like the more popular options, so we were left to take care of ourselves, figuring out city life and trying to complete degree programs that no one was championing for us to succeed in. What I’m saying is, I loved my university because it taught us all to be resourceful and we could make what we wanted out of it.
G) I was lucky enough to have my tuition covered by a lottery-funded scholarship called HOPE (Helping Outstanding Pupils Educationally) When I started college, the HOPE scholarship was funded by the state of Georgia and offered to graduating high school seniors with a GPA of 3.0 or higher. Living costs and books I paid for with money earned during high school, supplemented by a small college fund my deceased grandfather left for me and a modest savings account my parents created when I was born.
H) So what about all that name recognition? Sure, many of my colleagues and competitors have more glamorous alma maters(母校)than I do. As a journalist, I have competed against NYU, Columbia, and Northeastern graduates for jobs. And yet, not a single interviewer has ever asked me about my educational background. In fact, almost every interview I‘ve ever had was due to a connection—one that I’ve gained through pure determination, not a school brand.
I) According to The Boston Globe, students who earned their bachelor‘s in 2012 have an average monthly loan payment of $312, which is one-third more than those who graduated in 2004. Ultimately, that’s the thing universities don‘t want to admit. Private universities are money-making institutions. If you can afford to buy prestige, that’s your choice. For the rest of us, however, our hearty lower-tiered universities are just fine, thank you.
J) Wealthy universities talk up the benefits their name will give graduates; namely, strong alumni networks, star faculty, and a résumé boost. But you needn‘t attend an Ivy League school to reap those rewards. Ludacris and the former CEO of Bank of America Ken Lewis are alumni of my college, as well as VICE’s first female editor-in-chief, Ellis Jones. Successful people tend to be successful no matter where they go to school. And lower-tier schools can have alumni networks just as strong as their big name counterparts. In fact, lower-tier school alumni networks are arguably stronger, because fellow alumni recognize that you didn‘t necessarily have an easy path to follow. They might be more willing to offer career help, because your less famous school denotes that, like them., you are also full of energy and perseverance.
K) The Washington Post reported on a recent study by Princeton economists, in which college graduates, who applied to the most selective schools in the 12th grade were compared to those who applied to slightly less selective schools. They found that students with more potential earned more as adults, and the reverse held true as well, no matter where they went to school.
L) Likewise, star faculty is not always found where you‘d expect. Big name schools are not necessarily the best places for professors; plus, many professors split teaching time between multiple colleges and/or universities. This means, for instance, a CUNY student could reasonably expect to receive the same quality of instruction from a prestigious professor as they would if they were enrolled in the same class at NYU.
M) It‘s possible that some hiring managers may be drawn to candidates with a particular educational résumé, but it’s no guarantee. According to a 2012 survey described in The Atlantic, college reputation ranked lowest in relative importance of attributes in evaluating graduates for hire, beaten out by top factors like internships, employment during college, college major, volunteer experience, and extracurriculars.
N) Maybe students who choose less prestigious universities are bound to succeed because they are determined to. I tend to think so. In any case, if I could do it again, I‘d still make the same choice. Today I’m debt-free, resourceful—and I understand that even the shiniest packaging can‘t predict what you’ll find on the inside.
36. Modest institutions can also have successful graduates and strong alumni networks.
37. The money the author made in high school helped pay for her living expenses and books at college.
38. The author came to see how costly college education could be when she was trying to choose a university to attend.
39. A recent study found that a graduate‘s salary is determined by their potential, not the university they attended.
40. The author cannot recall for sure what made certain top universities appear a lot better.
41. None of the author‘s job interviewers cared which college she went to.
42. The author thinks she did the right thing in choosing a less prestigious university.
43. In order to be admitted to a prestigious university, the author took part in various extracurricular activities and attended test preparation courses.
44. The author liked her university which was not prestigious but less expensive.
45. Colleges are reluctant to admit that graduates today are in heavier debt.
參考答案:
36. [J] 題干:Modest institutions can also have successful graduates and strong alumni networks.
37. [G] 題干:The money the author made in high school helped pay for her living expenses and books at college.
38. [C] 題干:The author came to see how costly college education could be when she was trying to choose a university to attend.
39. [K] 題干:A recent study found that a graduate‘s salary is determined by their potential, not the university they attended.
40. [B] 題干:The author cannot recall for sure what made certain top universities appear a lot better.
41. [H] 題干:None of the author‘s job interviewers cared which college she went to.
42. [N] 題干:The author thinks she did the right thing in choosing a less prestigious university.
43. [A] 題干:In order to be admitted to a prestigious university, the author took part in various extracurricular activities and attended test preparation courses.
44. [E] 題干:The author liked her university which was not prestigious but less expensive.
45. [I] 題干:Colleges are reluctant to admit that graduates today are in heavier debt.
Section C
Directions: There are 2 passages in this section. Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A), B) , C) and D) You should decide on the best choice and mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the centre.
Passage One
Questions 46 to 50 are based on the following passage.
Economically speaking, are we better off than we were ten years ago? Twenty years ago?
In their thirst for evidence on this issue, commentators seized on the recent report by the Census Bureau, which found that average household income rose by 5.2% in 2015. Unfortunately, that conclusion puts too much weight on a useful, but flawed and incomplete, statistic. Among the more significant problems with the Census‘s measure are that: 1) it excludes taxes, transfers, and compensation like employer-provided health insurance; and 2) it is based on surveys rather than data. Even if precisely measured, income data exclude important determinants of economic well-being, such as the hours of work needed to earn that income.
While thinking about the question, we came across a recently published article by Charles Jones and Peter Klenow, which proposes an interesting new measure of economic welfare. While by no means perfect, it is considerably more comprehensive than average income, taking into account not only growth in consumption per person but also changes in working time, life expectancy, and inequality. Moreover, it can be used to assess economic performance both across countries and over time.
The Jones-Klenow method can be illustrated by a cross-country example. Suppose we want to compare the economic welfare of citizens of the U.S. and France in 2005.
In 2005, as the authors observe, real consumption per person in France was only 60% as high as the U.S., making it appear that Americans were economically much better off than the French on average. However, that comparison omits other relevant factors: leisure time, life expectancy, and economic inequality. The French take longer vacations and retire earlier, so typically work fewer hours; they enjoy a higher life expectancy, presumably reflecting advantages with respect to health care, diet, lifestyle, and the like; and income and consumption are somewhat more equally distributed there than in the U.S. Because of these differences, comparing France‘s consumption with the U.S.’s overstates the gap in economic welfare.
Similar calculations can be used to compare the U.S. and other countries. For example, this calculation puts economic welfare in the United Kingdom at 97% of U.S. levels, but estimates Mexican well-being at 22%.
The Jones-Klenow measure can also assess an economy‘s performance over time. According to this measure, as of the early-to-mid-2000s, the U.S. had the highest economic welfare of any large country. Since 2007, economic welfare in the U.S. has continued to improve. However, the pace of improvement has slowed markedly.
Methodologically, the lesson from the Jones-Klenow research is that economic welfare is multi-dimensional. Their approach is flexible enough that in principle other important quality-of-life changes could be incorporated—for example, decreases in total emissions of pollutants and declines in crime rates.
46. What does the author think of the 2015 report by the Census Bureau?
A) It is based on questionable statistics.
B) It reflects the economic changes.
C) It evidences the improved welfare.
D) It provides much food for thought.
47. What does the author say about the Jones-Klenow method?
A) It is widely used to compare the economic growth across countries.
B) It revolutionizes the way of measuring ordinary people‘s livelihood.
C) It focuses on people‘s consumption rather that their average income.
D) It is a more comprehensive measure of people‘s economic well-being.
48. What do Jones and Klenow think of the comparison between France and the U.S. in terms of real consumption per person?
A) It reflected the existing big gap between the two economies.
B) It neglected many important indicators of people‘s welfare.
C) It covered up the differences between individual citizens.
D) It failed to count in their difference in natural resources.
49. What is an advantage of the Jones-Klenow method?
A)It can accurately pinpoint a country‘s current economic problems.
B) It can help to raise people‘s awareness of their economic well-being.
C) It can diagnose the causes of a country‘s slowing pace of economic improvement.
D) It can compare a country‘s economic conditions between different periods of time.
50. What can we infer from the passage about American people‘s economic well-being?
A) It is much better than that of their European counterparts.
B) It has been on the decline ever since the turn of the century.
C) It has not improved as much as reported by the Census Bureau.
D) It has not been accurately assessed and reported since mid-2000s.
參考答案:
46-50 ADBDC
46. A) It is based on questionable statistics.
47. D) It is a more comprehensive measure of people’s economic well-being.
48. B) It neglected many important indicators of people’s welfare.
49. D) It can compare a country’s economic conditions between different periods of time.
50. C) It has not improved as much as reported by the Census Bureau.
Passage two
暫缺
開頭:If you've ever
51-55 ACBDD
51. A) They may become exhausted by making too many decisions for themselves.
52. C) Decision fatigue may prevent people making wise decisions.
53. B) When they help others to make decisions.
54. D) They refrain from trying anything new.
55. D) It will more often than not end in regret.
【翻譯】
過去,擁有一輛私家車對大部分中國人而言是件奢侈的事。如今,私家車在中國隨處可見。汽車成了人們生活中不可或缺的一部分,他們不僅開車上下班,還經常駕車出游。有些城市的汽車增長速度過快,以至于交通擁堵和停車位不足的問題日益嚴峻,這些城市的市政府不得不出臺新規,限制上路汽車的數量。由于空氣污染日益嚴重,現在越來越多的人選擇購買新能源汽車,中國政府也采取了一些措施,支持新能源汽車的發展。
基礎版
In the past, for most Chinese people, it was too expensive to have a car. Nowadays, private cars are everywhere. Cars have become an essential part of people’s life, they not only drive cars to and from work, but also drive cars to travel. In some cities, the number of the cars increased so fast that crowded traffic and not enough parking lots are more and more serious problems. These city governments had to make new rules to control the number of cars on the roads. Because the air pollution is more and more serious, nowadays more and more people choose to buy new energy cars. Chinese government also made some methods to support the development of new energy cars.
進階版
In the past, owning a private car was a luxury for the majority of Chinese people. Nowadays, such cars are all over China. Cars have been an inseparable part of people’s life. Not only do people drive cars to commute, but they also travel by car. In some cities, the number of cars is growing so rapidly that the problems of congested traffic and insufficient parking spaces are increasingly severe. Municipal governments of these cities have to enact new regulations and limit the number of automobiles on roads. As the air pollution being more serious day by day, a growing number of people choose to purchase new energy cars. The Chinese government has also adopted some measures to support the development of new energy vehicles.
本次翻譯難度適中,處理方式在上課時均有講解:
詞匯方面:難度稍大的詞匯、短語:奢侈(luxury),上下班(commute),市政府(municipal government)可以使用一些簡單表達,如expensive, go and from work, local government 來代替。
精準的詞匯選擇,如enact new regulations, to limit the number of, adopt some measures是翻譯的高分利器,但在拿捏不準的時候,選用一些簡單但使用范圍較大的詞,比如make rules,control同樣可以確保拿分。
句子方面,長句往往可以拆分后再進行翻譯:“有些城市的汽車增長速度過快,以至于交通擁堵和停車位不足的問題日益嚴峻,這些城市的市政府不得不出臺新規,限制上路汽車的數量?!笨梢圆鸱殖蓛删?。有個小的點需要留意一下: “有些城市的汽車增長速度過快”,該句主體確切來說是“汽車的數量”,建議使用"the number of cars increased so fast…"
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