单项选择题
1、根据下列材料，请回答题：
Gas price warning as cold March leads to short supplies
A.The cold snap in March could lead to Britain's gas supplies running out next month, forcing the nation to pay higher prices for fuel from elsewhere, as the demand increased quickly during the coldest March in 50 years. Forecasts suggest that gas supplies in the UK will be exhausted by 8 April. requiring Britain to turn to imports from Norway and Russia. The warning came on the day Scott is hand Southern Energy, one of the UK's biggest power suppliers, warned that there could be electricity blackouts in the country within three years. A lack of gas storage facilities, arid rapid reduction at the UK's North Sea gas fields, has led to the UK having as little as two days' supply of the fuel in reserve.
B．Though experts have warned of the problem for years, and the government has championed a "dash for gas" that would see a massive rise in demand for the fuel, little has been done to increase storage facilities.
C．Ian Marchant, chief executive of SSE(Scottish and Southern Energy said there was a“very real risk of the lights going out” within the next three years．SSE intends shutting down power plants，enough to have supplied 2 million homes’ lights going out．as the stations are either uneconomic or coming to the end of their fives．Other firms are also planning to take power stations out of service，including the UK’ S fleet of ageing nuclear reactors．increasing the risk that demand for electricity will exceed the available supply．Marchant said：“It appears the government is significantly underestimating the scale of the capacity chinch(危急情况．facing the UK in the next three years and there is a very real risk of the lights going out as a result．”
D．His comments follow warnin98 by Alistair Buchanan，the departing chief of gem(Office of the Gas and Electricity Markets．，that power shortages will be many times more likely in the next five years．Government estimates suggest that energy bills could rise by S l00 a year this winter．The warnings are particular blow to George Osborne，the chancellor(大臣．，who has championed a new “dash for gas” in the UK．that would see gas take over as the dominant fuel in the UK’ S power generation market．Much of the generating capacity that SSE plans to retire consists of gas — fired power stations．though the recent budget has given tax breaks for shale gas(页 岩气．extraction in the UK and indicated what could be the biggest expansion of UK gas—fired power in a generation．
E．SSE said gas—fired power Was uneconomic because of the fuel’s high price compared with coal. The move by SSE highlights the disputes over energy policy and energy generation, following upheavals(激变．in the international markets for fossil fuels．It also brings into quest：ion whether target to cut carbon dioxide can be met．
F．Andrew Pendleton，head of campaigns at Friends of the Earth，said energy firms were trying to hold the government to ransom(救赎．by threatening power cut that would help them extract concessions to get financial benefits．The UK has only six big energy suppliers to households．which campaigners．say reduces competition and raises prices．
G．Coal has become much cheaper because of the use of fossil fuel ill the US in the past five years．Where a massive increase in the supply of cheap gas is attributed to the controversial method of blasting dense rocks apart under high pressure．The coal that would have been burned in the US is now available on international markets at cut．price．and has now become “the preferred fuel”．according to SSE．
H．That is the opposite of what the government，and the EU intended by their energy policies in the past．decade．Coal Was supposed to become more expensive than gas．because of the EU’S emissions trading scheme．which puts a price on carbon emissions．That has not happened．because flaws within the system mean the price of carbon is near an all—time low．meaning coal—fired power stations are not penalised for their effect on the climate．
I．Marchant urged the government to bring forward reforms favouring gas．“Tile government can reduce this risk of power cuts very easily．by taking swift action to provide much greater clarity on its electricity market reforms．”
J．An energy bill is under discussion by parliament at the moment．SSE’s warnings were dismissed by green campaigners as “an attempt．to force the government’s hand”．Pendleton said：“The risk is thatthese companies are holding us to ransom，in order to make the environment more favourable to their forms of generation．There is a lot at stake here．Basing our energy strategy on gas rather than clean forms of energy such as renewables means we could be held to ransom more and more in the future in this way．It Could do a huge amount of harm．”
K．The government" rebuffed (回绝．the claims from SSE．John Hayes，minister for energy，said：“We’re alive to the challenge facing US．The bill before parliament will set the conditions for the investment needed to keep Britain’s lights on in the long-term the amount of spare power available today is currently comfortable．As old infrastructure(基础没施．closes over the coming years we expect this margin to reduce but we will make sure it stays manageable．”
L．Most of the UK's nuclear power plants are planned for closure by 2022．and many coal．fired stations must be closed or run at reduced capacity within the next few years because of EU rules on pollution．
M．Experts have warned for years of a loomin9“energy gap” between demand and supply，The building of wind farms and other forms of renewable energy。which were supposed to fill the gap．has been below expectations，in part due to planning laws．Hayes said：“we are not complacent(沽沾自喜的．about this…We are confident in our approach and in l he responsiveness of the market in providing secure power supplies．”Joss Garman，political director of Greenpeace，said：“Not content with the profits they’re making from sky—high energy bills the 9；m industry now seems to be trying to hold everybody to ransom--‘give US even more of your cash or we’ll turn out the nights”.
N．Cheap coal and the collapse of the carbon price have made gas burning less profitable，but that’s a reason to ban unabated(未减弱的．coal burning and reform the carbon market．not to give hand-outs the big six energy companies．“Gas—fired generation should only be a last．ditch backup for renewable energy sources．and ministers should prioritise support for interconnectors，storage，and combined heat anti power stations that would compliment renewables and guarantee we have secure power．”

Many of the UK's nuclear power plants and coal-fired stations are planned to be shut. down due to EU rules on pollution.

2、　　
A．It’s hardly breaking news that junk food is bad for us．But just how bad—and just how much food companies know about the addictive(添加剂)  components of certain foods，and just how much they deliberately target the  most vulnerable consumers knowing they are doing damage-is still being discovered．The New York Times offers the latest installment in this weekend’s magazine with an article about the science of junk food addiction．
B．Nearly everything written about food in the mainstream media relies on the san2e narrative：Obesity is  bad．That kind of reporting is part of what’s keeping us sick．There’s no denying the fact that the  American public has gotten larger in recent decades．Along with getting fatter，we've also seen a rise in  illnesses like．heart disease and certain cancers．Instead of focusing on how our health is hurting．most  of the media coverage uses the term “obesity”．making the story more about weight than about  health—to the point where it’s become an accepted truth that“fat”equals “unheaithy”．
C．That’s not actually the case．though．While “the obesity epidemic” may be a convenient catch．all for the illnesses and health problems related to our food chain．it’s a lazy term and an inaccurate one．Are  we actually worried about public health? 0r are we offended by fat bodies that don’t meet our thin ideals?In all seriousness：what good does a focus on body size actually do?
D．If we’re actually concerned about health．then we should focus on health．The addictive qualities of  our food, the lack of oversight ( 监督). the high levels of chemicals and the government subsidies (补贴) to make prices lower making the worst foods the most accessible should concern us and spur us to action. Nutrient-deficient (营养缺乏) chemically-processed "food" in increasingly larger sizes is bad for all of our bodies, whether we're fat or thin or somewhere in between. So is the culture in which fast food is able to thrive. Americans work more than ever before; we take fewer vacation days and put in longer hours, especially since the recession hit. The US remains the only industrialized country without national paid parental leave and without compulsory annual vacation time; we also have no federal law requiring paid sick days. 85% of American men and 66% of women work more than 40  hours per week. In Norway, for comparison, 23% of men work more than 40-hour weeks, and only 7% of women.
E．Despite all this work, American income levels remain remarkably divided into the poorest and the richest, with the richest few controlling nearly all of the wealth. In one of the wealthiest countries on earth, one in seven people rely on federal food aid, with most of the financial benefits going to big food companies who are also able to produce cheap, nutritionally questionable food thanks to agricultural subsidies. The prices of the worst foods are arificially depressed, the big food lobbies have enormous power, and the biggest loser is the American public, especially low-income folks wbo spend larger proportions of their income on food but face systematic impediments (妨碍) to healthy eating and exercise.
F．With demanding work days, little time off and disproportionate amounts of our incomes going toward things like health insurance and childcare that other countries provide at a lower cost, is it any surprise that we eat fast-food breakfast on our laps in the car and prefer dinner options that are quick and cheap?
G． Reforming our food system requires major structural changes, not just saying no to put down that bag of chips. We need to push back against corporate interests. Food companies are incredibly" good at positing themselves as crusaders (拥护者) for personal choice and entities simply dedicated to giving the public what it wants. Somehow, big food companies have convinced us that drinking a 32oz soda is a matter of personal liberty, and that the government has no place in regulating how much liquid  sugar can be sold in a single container.
H．In fact, we know-and they certainly know-that human beings are remarkably bad at judging how much we're eating. Food companies use that information to encourage over-consumption, and to target certain consumers who tend to have less disposable income to invest in healthy food  poor people, people of color, kids.
I． Food is a social justice issue that has disproportionately negative impacts on groups already facing hardship. That should be an issue for every socially conscious person. But when looking at the large number of problems caused not only by our big food industry but by the policies that enable them and our cultural norms that incentivize poor health choices, too many people simply turn "obesity" into the boogeyman(恶巫) .  Doctors even blame fatness for all sorts of medical conditions and people don't get proper treatment. Fat women go to the doctor less often for routine cancer screenings, and patients report doctors focusing on their weight and ignoring real medical problems like broken bones and asthma (哮喘).
J．On the policy side, promoters of laws that incentivize health or push back on corporate food interests such as Michelle Obarna's Let's Move ! initiative, bans on extra-large sodas, and extra SNAP benefits at farmer's markets inevitably target " obesity" in their campaigns. That strategy has the effect of maligning (诽谤) the beauty of certain bodies instead of encouraging everyone to be healthier and countering the enormous influence of big companies. As a result, many people who should be the natural allies of health-promoting initiatives are put off by the shaming fat language.
K．"Obesity epidemic" language has also fed into the idea of body size and eating habits as social group.  Thinner kale (甘蓝)  eating elite liberals in the Northeast are trying to force-feed cabbage to heavier real Americans in the South and Midwest. No one wins with that kind of cultural polarization.
L．Yes, let's push back against big food companies and question their outsized influence in Washington    and in our daffy lives, and let's focus on making healthy food more widely accessible. Let's realize that    the challenges extend beyond just what we eat. Let's fight for the humane (仁爱的) work policies that will make us all healthier.
M．But let's do that because public health is all of our concern, not because it's culturally easy to point the    finger at fat people. Giving every member of a society the chance to be as healthy as possible is a  moral good. It saves money and it saves lives. So let's do it the right way and the most effective way without lazily relying on the word "obesity".
As a social justice problem, food negatively impact on groups who already have had a difficult life.


3、Questions are based on the following passage.
　　Politics is an emotional business．Still，many people found themselves unusually moved by the historic presidential inauguration．Watching the huge crowds，we saw laughter,cheers，hugs—but also many tears．
　　It made us wonder ,why do people cry ?It is believed that tears must be good for us—a way to calm the mind and cleanse the soul．Yet studies show that crying sometimes makes people feel worse．
　　Three researchers in Florida and the Netherlands recently looked more deeply into the subject．
　　They examined detailed descriptions of crying experiences．Psychologist Jonathan Rottenberg at the University of South Florida says they wanted to study crying as it happens in everyday life，not in a laboratory．The team analyzed information from the International Study on Adult Crying．As Dart of that study,3，000 people in different countries，mostly college students，wrote about recent crying experiences．They noted causes，surroundings and any people involved in the event．They also reported how they felt after they cried．
Professor Rottenberg says the research showed that all crying experiences are not created equally．
　　Crying does not always make a person feel better,he says．About lo percent of people reported feeling worse after they cried．But a third felt better after crying．And a majority reported the experience was helpful．The research showed that people who cry alone may not do as well as those with others around．
People who reached out for emotional support at the time——and received it——reported better resuIts from the crying experience．But those who felt shame or embarrassment while crying were less likely to report that crying had been helpful．
　　Research has shown that women cry more often and more intensely than men，but it mav not be to better effect．The new findings did not show that a person’s sex was a predictor of beneficial crying．
　　In other words，just because women cry more does not mean they are more likely to have a"good"cry．
　　The paper entitled／s Crying Beneficial?appeared in December in Current Directions in Psychologica，Science．Scientists say the science of crying is still in its infancy．
According to the passage，which of the following statements about crying is TRUE?
A．Crying is absolutely good for people’s health．
B．Those crying with others around will feel better than those crying alone．
C．Crying will help a lot for those who felt shame or embarrassment while crying．
D．The benefits of crying are related to a person’s sex．


4、Questions are based on the following passage.
　　I've been writing for most of my life. The book Writing Without Teachers introduced me to one distinctionand one practice that has helped my writing processes tremendously. The distinction is between the creative mindand the critical mind. While you need to employ both to get to a finished result, they cannot work in parallel nomatter how much we might like to think so.
　　Trying to criticize writing on the fly is possibly the single greatest barrier to writing that most of us encounter.If you are listening to that 5th grade English teacher correct your grammar while you are trying to capture afleeting ( 稍纵即逝的) thought, the thought will die. If you capture the fleeting thought and simply share it withthe world in raw form; no one is likely to understand. You must learn to create first and then criticize if you want tomake writing the tool for thinking that it is.
　　The practice that can help you past your learned bad habits of trying to edit as you write is what Elbow calls"free writing". In free writing, the objective is to get words down on paper non-stop, usually for 15-20 minutes. Nostopping, no going back, no criticizing. The goal is to get the words flowing. As the words begin to flow, the ideaswill come out from the shadows and let themselves be captured on your notepad or your screen.
　　Now you have taw materials that you can begin to work with using the critical mind that you've persuaded tosit on the side and watch quietly. Most likely, you will believe that this will take more time than you actually haveand you will end up staring blankly at the page as the deadline draws near.
　　Instead of staring at a blank screen, start filling it with words no matter how bad. Halfway through youravailable time, stop and rework your raw writing into something closer to finished product. Move back and forthuntil you run out of time and the final result will most likely be far better than your current practices.
When the author says the creative mind and the critical mind "cannot work in parallel" (Line 3, Para.1 ) in the writing process, he means ____
A．no one can be both creative and critical
B．they cannot be regarded as equally important
C．they are in constant conflict with each other
D．one cannot use them at the same time


5、Passage Two
Questions are based on the following passage.
Levittown was the name given to three suburban developments constructed in the post World War II decades by Levitt and Sons, the most important private builder of this period. Using new mass production techniques they had learned while building housing for military personnel during the Second World War, they turned home building from a cottage industry into a major manufacturing process.
During World War II, they received government contracts to build homes for war workers. Under deadline pressure, they developed mass production methods to build houses quickly. These techniques were carried over to their postwar suburban developments. On May 7, 1947, William Levitt announced his plans to build 2,000 houses in a former potato field in the state of New York. Then, by the time this Levittown was completed in 1951, it had contained 17,450 homes for 75,000 people in New York. Levitt eventually built two more Levittowns, in the states of Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Each contained the same curving streets, community pools, and neighborhood parks, play grounds as the first development did.
Some observers criticized the monotonous uniformity of the Levittowns, charging that they are just the symbol of materialism, but Levittowns were overwhelmingly welcomed by the public. They were cheap, comfortable, efficient, and ideal for young people just starting out in life. Thousands of middle class people, especially some young couples, crowded in city apartments, or still living with their parents, rushed to purchase them. Fourteen hundred contracts were signed in one day in 1949.
Levittown symbolized the most significant social trend of the postwar era in the United States----the flight to the suburbs. The resulting massive shift in population from the central city to the suburbs was accompanied by a baby “boom” that started after soldiers returned home from World War II and got married. By 1960, one-third of the nation’s population lived in the suburbs. The nation underwent its greatest increase in population since 1910.
What does the passage mainly discuss?
A．Levittown was built by William Levitt with the mass-production method.
B．Levittown served as an ideal and leading example of social changes in the U. S. after World War II.
C．Increases in the population of the United States after the war.
D．Why there was a housing shortage after World War II


填空题
6、Questions are based onthe following passage.
　　If it were only necessary to decidewhether to teach elementary science to everyone on a mass basis or to findind thegifted few and take them as far as they can go, our task would be fairlysimple. The public school 36_________  ,however, has no suchchoice, for the job must be 37_________  on at the same time.Because we depend so  38_________  uponscience and technology for our progress,we must produce  39_________  in many fields. Because wc live in ademocraticnation, whose citizens make the policies for the nation, largenumbers of us must be educated to understand, tosupport, and when necessary,to  40_________  the work of experts. The public school musteducate both producars andusers of scientific services.
　　In education, there should be a goodbalance among the branches of knowledge that contribute to effectivethinkingand wise judgment. Such balance is 41_________   by too much emphasison any one field. This question ofbalance involves not only the relation of thenatural sciences, the social sciences, and the arts but also relative  42_________ "among the natural sciencestbemselves.
　　Similarly, wc must have a balance betweencurrent and  43_________  knowledge. The attention of the public is  44_________drawn to new possibilities inscientific fields and the discovery of new knowledge; these should not beallowed toturn our attention away from the sound,45_________ materials thatform the basis of courses for beginners.
A． awarded                             
B ． heavily                             
C． classical                            
D． display                              
E． established                         
F． system                              
G． involved
H．defeated
I．continually
J． specially
K．emphases
L． establishment
M． specialists
N． carded
O． judge
第(36)题__________.

7、All the information you need to apply for your visa is_______(可以免费获取)．

简答题
8、　　公元220年开始的300年里，中国分成了三个小王国。一个是魏国，位于中国北部，由曹氏家族(the Ts’ao family)统治。还有一个王国叫作蜀汉(Shu Han)，位于中国的西南部，由刘备统治。另外一个王国叫作吴国，位于中国的东南部，由孙权(Sun Ch·ua)统治。中国文化里伟大的书籍之——《三国演义》(the Romance ofthe Three Kingdoms)就是关于这段时间的。



9、Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to translate a passage from Chinese into English. You should write your answer on Answer Sheet 2.
中国国画有风景画，花鸟画和人物画三大类。从审美的(aesthetic)角度看，尽管中国国画与西洋画有许多相似之处，但它仍独具中国民族特色。中国国画吸取了诗歌、书法、绘画和篆刻(seal engraving)等多种艺术形式的长处。它很少像西方人那样因循守旧，反倒给画着提供了自由的表达空间。中国的画家通常将诗歌和哲理(philosophy)结合起来，正如中国的一个成语“诗情画意”。

10、A)Last July, Julie Baldocchi's mother had a massive stroke and was paralyzed. Baldocchi suddenly had tobecome a family caregiver, something that she wasn't prepared for. "I was flying by the seat of my pants," saysBaldocchi, an employment specialist in San Francisco. Both of her parents are 83, and she knew her fathercouldn't handle her mother's care. The hospital recommended putting her mother in a nursing home. Baldocchiwasn't willing to do that. But moving her back into her parents' home created other problems. Baldocchi,48, ismarried and lives about a mile away from her parents. She has a full-time job and has back problems thatmake it difficult for her to lift her mother. "I couldn't do it all," she says. "But I didn't even know how to findhelp."
　　B)
　　With help from the Family Caregiver Alliance, she eventually hired a live-in caregiver. "But even if you planintellectually and legally, you're never ready for the emotional impact," Baldocchi says. In the first two monthsafter her mother's stroke, she lost about 30 pounds as stress mounted. More than 42 million Americans providefamily caregiving for an adult who needs help with daily activities, according to a 2009 survey by the AARP.An additional 61.6 million provided at least some care during the year. And many are unprepared.
　　C)
　　While many parents lack an advance care directive, it's the most basic and important step they can take. Thedirective includes several parts, including: a durable power of attorney, which gives someone legal authority tomake financial decisions on another's behalf; a health care proxy, which is similar to the power of attorney,except it allows someone to make decisions regarding medical treatment; and a living will that outlinesinstructions for end-of-life care. (For example, parents can say if they want to be kept alive by artificialmeasures.) "It's invaluable for the kids, because it's hard to make those decisions for a parent," says JenniferCona, an elder-law attorney at Genser Dubow Genser & Cona in Melville, N.Y. An advance care directive isthe first line of defense if a situation arises, says Kathleen Kelly, executive director of the Family CaregiverAlliance, which supports and educates caregivers. Without an advance directive, the family will have topetition the court to be appointed the parent's legal guardian, says AgingCare.com.
　　D)
　　It's important for families to talk about long-term care so the adult children know their parents' preferences,wishes and goals, says Lynn Feinberg, a caregiving expert at AARP. But ifs not an easy conversation. Elderlyparents are sometimes suspicious of their children's financial motives, says Susan John, a financial planner atFinancial Focus in Wolfeboro, N.H. One client asked John to hold a family meeting because they needed anintermediary to talk about financial issues, she says. And when there are many siblings, the family decisionscan become a three-ring circus with much acrimony, says Ann-Margaret Carrozza, an elder-law attomey inGlen Cove, N.Y. Families who need information and help sorting out disagreements can call on elder-lawattorneys, financial planners, geriatric care managers and caregiver support groups. In February, AARP said itwill offer its members a new caregiving support service through financial services firm Oenworth.
　　E)
　　Many families are unprepared for quick decisions, especially when they find out that Medicare doesn't pay forlong-term care, Feinberg says. The median cost of a year in a private room at a nursing home in 2011 was$77,745, according to Genworth. And only those who have spent most of their assets can qualify for Medicaidto pay for the nursing home.
　　F)
　　Assisted living is another option. Residents can have their own apartment to maintain some independence. Butthe facilities generally provide personal care services, such as meals, housekeeping and assistance withactivities. Still, it's not cheap: The national median cost in 2011 was $39,135, according to Genworth. Assistedliving isn't covered by Medicaid.
　　G)
　　If they have a choice, at least 90% of elderly parents prefer to stay at home as long as they can, according toAARP research. But if the parents can no longer safely live at home, it can be hard for children to move theminto an adult care facility. There may be another option. Sometimes the home can be modified so a parent canstay there. For example, Baldoechi put in a chair lift for her mother. She also arranged for a home caregiver.
　　H) Family caregivers take over many responsibilities. One might manage a parent's finances, while anothersibling will take the parent to doctors' appointments and shopping. Those who move in with a parent take on asignificant and sustained burden of care. Jan Walker moved into her mother's home in Leesburg, Fla. After hermother, who is 83, had fallen, she wasn't able to get around as well. Walker,55, has three brothers. But she isthe only daughter, is divorced and has no children. "I always knew that this was the role that I would have, andI guess my mind was prepared for it," says Walker, who now is a full-time caregiver and works from home asa tutorial instructor for a digital scrapbooking website. "When you get into the trenches, it's literally baptismby fire," she says. "New things come up. It's not just about advance planning for finances or medical care. It'severything," she says.
　　I) Carcgivers need to also watch their own health. "There is such a thing as caregiver burnout," Cona says.Among female caregivers 50 and older,20% reported symptoms of depression, according to a 2010 study onworking caregivers by MetLife. "It's a hard job," Walker says. "But most worthwhile things are hard. She wasalways there for me when I needed a helping hand. It's only natural that I be here for her now."
根据以上内容，回答题。
When elderly parents cannot live at home safely, their children can change their home instead of sending them to an adult care facility.