1. Listening Comprehension Section A $£ 10 5} Directions: In Section A, you will hear ten short conversations between two speakers. At the end of each conversation, a question will be asked about what was said. The conversations and the questions will be spoken only once. After you hear a conversation and the question about it, read the four possible answers on your paper, and decide which one is the best answer to the question you have heard ¢ ) 1. A. The man should save his energy. B. She recognizes the man at the gym. C. The man is energetic thanks to the exercise: D. She is not interested in exercising. ¢ ) 2. A. He can’t eat all the cake B. He can’t stay any longer. C. He doesn’t like the cake. D. He doesn’t want any more cake. () 3. A. Take the green line. B. Consult the bus driver. CC. Buy a map at the newsstand. D. Ask for directions at the newsstand. ©) 4. A. He forgot about the appointment with the woman. B. The woman is trying to arrange some appointments. C. Pocket calendar is a good tool for arranging things. D. His appointment with the woman is on his calendar. (-) 5. A. Turn on the television, B. Check when the match is on C. Watch the movie with the woman. D. Change the channel immediately. =i =(_) 6. A. Tell him more about the art exhibition. B. Invite Mary to the exhibition with her. C. Take an art history course and learn. D. Consult Mary if she doesn’t understand. (_) 7. A. Check the weather report immediately. B. Ask the woman for details about the trip. C. Inform Professor Smith about the change: D. Do research about the weather conditions, (8. A. He agrees with the woman. B. He knows little about football C. He hasn’t been to a game recently. D. He doesn’t think the team is doing well (_) 9. A. She will remind the man of the deadline. B, She doesn’t know when the deadline is. C. The man should have done it a week ago D. The man had better do it right now. () 10. A. She’s busy at the moment. B. The man should try to do it himself C. She will help the man for a short while. D. It will take an hour to solve the tax problem Section B_ $£ 15 5 Directions; In Section B, you will hear one longer conversation and two short passages, and you will be asked several questions on the conversation and each of the passages. The conversation and the passages will be read twice, but the questions will be spoken only once. When you hear a question, read the four possible answers on your paper and decide which one is the best answer to the question you have heard. ‘Questions 11 through 14 are based on the following conversation, (_) 11. A. The woman is introducing her research project. B. The man is complaining about violence on TV. C. The woman is analyzing the information she has collected. D. The man is talking about how he finds out people’s attitudes. (12. A. They have too many violent shots. B. They lead to violence in real life. = Soec ( C. They fail to have proper endings. D. They affect people's sleep. ) 13. A. It should be banned from programs all together. 14 B. Such news stories should be broadcast after 10 p.m. C. Such stories are acceptable though unpleasant D. News about violence affects children. . A. He has interviewed too few people. B. He has surveyed people from similar backgrounds. C. He has asked too complicated questions. D. He has sent out too many questionnaires to students. Questions 15 through 17 are based on the following passage. ¢ > 15 ) 16. dir. A. A discussion on how long a kid should avoid video games. A debate on whether children should be kept away from technology. . An exchange of views over how to improve a kid’s schoolwork. . An argument about whether computers are educational or not. . Some textbooks can only be read online. Families should have more time together. . TV and computers bring fun rather than education. . Kids need hobbies that don’t involve technology. . Technology is a must-have for today’s kids. . Parents should hang out with kids as much as possible. . It’s reasonable for parents to pull the plugs. . Parents should limit kids’ time of using technology. UOP>rUNBe>yODOD Questions 18 through 20 are based on the following passage. ( ( ) 18. 19 ) 20. A. They made their first appearance in the USA. B, They are a combination of pictures and characters C. They enabled communications to be more lively. D. They came into existence with social networks. ‘A. The existing emoji symbols are not cute enough. B. There aren't enough symbols to express themselves. C. The current emoji symbols present very few white people. D. There needs to be more symbols about food. A. The importance of having “hotdog” as an emoji symbol. =5t =B. Why people need emoji symbols when communicating C. Tech firms’ points of view towards popular emoticons. D. How people are using emoticons to express themselves. IL, Grammar and Vocabulary Section A $10 3} Directions; After reading the passage below, fill in the blanks to make the passage coherent and grammatically correct. For the blanks with a given word, fill in each blank with the proper form of the given word; for the other blanks, use one word that best fits cach blank. Stop Signs Used to Be Yellow--More Recently than You Think In the world of signals, it’s an agreed-upon fact that red means stop. From red traffic lights to “prohibited” signs to, of course, the stop sign itself, red grabs your attention and sends a message to stop. But you probably didn’t know that that red stop sign has only been ep standard for about sixty years. (22) then, the octagonal (A307 £9) traffic sign was yellow, with the word STOP in black letters. It wasn’t (23) 1954 that the stop sign became the bright red color with white letters, that we know today. In the early 20th century, stop signs actually weren’t any specific color or even shape. Understandably, the lack of standardization confused drivers, so the American Association of State Highway Officials (AASHO) held a meeting in 1922 (24) (select) a standard design. This is (25) the octagon shape came into being. The AASHO wanted to choose a shape that even drivers coming in the other direction (26) (recognize), so that they would know that the oncoming traffic had a stop sign. They chose a yellow design with black letters, (27) (figure) the colors would grab drivers’ attention. ‘Yellow wasn’t their first choice, however. They actually did consider (28) (make) stop signs red, since red already meant “stop” on electric traffic lights, which (29) invent) in 1912. The problem with that was that, back then. there was no red dye (30) wouldn't fade over time. By 1954, though, sign makers began using a fade-resistant porcelain enamel (#88) The red color fading was no longer a problem. That year. the Joint Committee on Uniform Traffic Control Devices declared that, henceforth, stop signs would be red with white lettering —52—Section B_ $£ 10 5} Directions: Fill in each blank with a proper word chosen from the box. Each word can be used only once. Note that there is one word more than you need, [a adequately B. blamed C. convinced D. criticism experience F. feature G. fixed H. purposely 1. released J. repeated K. suddenly Mystery Solved; Apple Admits It Slows Some Older iPhones For the first time, Apple has admitted to slowing some iPhones down. But the company explained it only took the action last year to prevent battery-related shutdowns. Apple's action—and the company’s decision to keep it secret—led to widespread (31) ____ from industry analysts and iPhone owners. Owners of iPhones in several states accuse Apple of (32) limiting performance without informing iPhone owners that the problems might have been (33) ___ by replacing the device battery. This, they argue. forced them to spend more money to buy new iPhones The issue of iPhone slowdowns in certain phones was recently noted in an online post by the founder of software maker Primate Labs. In his post, John Poole described test results suggesting (34) __ reductions in iPhone performance over time The tests included the iPhone 6s and iPhone 7. with several different operating system versions. Results of the tests (35) aging batteries for causing the reduced device performance. Poole said his company’s software that measures processor performance found that some users who replaced their iPhone batteries reported much improved results. But he was not (36) ___that old batteries were the whole problem. He came up with a theory: He believed Apple must have made changes to the iOS software to limit iPhone performance when battery capacity reached a certain point. A few days later, Apple (37) ___a statement admitting it made the software change. It said the action was needed to prevent certain devices from (38) ____ shutting down. The problem, Apple said, was connected to batteries inside the iPhone. The batteries can fail in certain conditions—such as hot or cold—or as they age over time. This can sometimes cause older iPhones to shut down. Apple said. Apple said it released the new (39) last year for the iPhone 6, iPhone 6s and iPhone SE. It later added the iPhone 7 with iOS 11.2 and plans “to add support for other — AR —products” in the future. “Our goal is to deliver the best (40) for customers. which includes overall performance and extending the life of their devices,” the Apple statement said. II, Reading Comprehension Section A 3£ 15 5} Directions, For cach blank in the following passage there are four words or phrases marked A. B. C and D. Fill in each blank with the word or phrase that best fits the context. Is graffiti C4 #4) art, or is it just vandalism (HR WH)? Most people would probably say that the answer depends on various __41_—but would perhaps disagree about which are the most important. How important, __42_. is permission? Is graffiti always'a bad thing if no one has it to appear? Is it worse to put graffiti on private property than on 44___ property, such as a wall belonging to the local government? If a building is going to be pulled down, does that make it alright to cover it in graffiti? Can graffiti be justified by the 5___ needed to create it? For example, if a graffiti artist paints an jable than when elaborate multicoloured image on the wall of a building, is it more justi someone just scrawls (#4 HHS) their signature or “tag”? Can passionate __46_be a justification? For example, when someone who is a fan of some pop star paints the star on a wall, is it more justifiable than painting something that has no message at all? 7__, however, about the fact that graffiti has been around There can be no _ for a very long time. For example, in the remains of the Roman city of Pompeii (near the modern-day city of Naples in Italy), which was buried when a nearby volcano erupted in AD 79, there are many 48 of fi the rather 49 __ variety that some twenty-first century children or teenagers might -century graffiti: some of it is of create. Local authorities around the world have tried to deal with graffiti in many different ways. Sometimes they create authorised graffiti areas, with walls on which people ate ___50___ to write or paint whatever they want, in the hope that the amount of graffiti elsewhere will __51__. Sometimes they crack down on it—in 1995 in New York City; __ to sell aerosol spray paint OE3EXRAH) to anyone for example. it was made under the age of eighteen. The city government in Bristol in western England had an original idea when. in 2009, it decided to let local people __53___ the subject of graffiti. They agreed that —54—most graffiti tags were __54_and should be removed, but if local people decided that some other examples of graffiti were “public art”, they would be __55__ in place as long as the owner of the building in question agreed (©) 41. A. artists B. factors C. cities D. works (42. A. at the same time B. for instance C. oma regular basis D. in all ©) 43. A. forbidden B. required C. expected D. permitted ©) 44. A. public B. personal C. huge D. valuable ©) 45. A. time B. money C. skill D. research (46. A. desires B. moments C. love D. concerns ( 947. A. disagreement —_B. exception C. guarantee D. distinetion ( -) 48. A. reminders B. standards C. stories D. examples ¢ A. common B. complex C. unique D. simple ce A. made B. allowed C. seen D. trained r A. decrease B. jump C. suffer D. stay ce A. possible B. illegal C. unclear D. flexible re A. take in B. look after C. vote on D. make up ©) 54. Ac ugly B. ¢reative C. acceptable D. damaging ©) 55. A. monitored B. erased C. left D. hidden Section B # 22 5 Directio questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A, : Read the following three passages. Each passage is followed by several B, C and D. Choose the one that fits best according to the information given in the passage you have just read. (A) Every summer for 25 years, Mark Vasu has got together for a weekend getaway with old friends from college. The 15 men, who graduated in 1984,.gather in the same cabin in North Carolina. They go hiking, rock climbing and fishing, among other things. What they don’t do is sit around asa group, the way women do, sharing their deepest feelings. Male friendships like these are typical, but don’t assume they're inferior to female “If we use a women’s pattern for friendship, we're making a mistake,” says friendships. Geoffrey Greif, a professor at the University of Maryland's School of Social Work, who has studied how 386 men made, kept and cultivated friendships. “Men might not be aibGhesphysically or emotionally expressive,” he says+ “but they gain great support from their friendships.” Researchers say women’s friendships are face to face—they talk, cry together, share secrets—while men’s friendships are side by side. They do things together. such as playing golf and going to football games. and talk about shared experiences, like the time they were asked to leave an all-you-can-eat dinner at a restaurant because they had consumed every piece of meat available. Guys’ conversions “deal with the doing of things rather than the feeling of things”. In his research, Dr. Greif found that men generally resist high-maintenance relationships, whether with spouses. girlfriends or male friends. When picking friends, “men don’t want someone who is too needy.” he says. A third of the men in his study said they learned positive things from female friendships, but 25 percent had a negative impression of women as friends, citing issues such as “too much drama”. Men often open up about emotional issues to wives, mothers, sisters and platonic CHERZEAZC HS) female friends, research has found. That's partly because they assume male friends will be of little help. It may also be due to fears of seeming effeminate (A, ff). But it’s also an indication that men categorize their needs; they'd rather turn to male friends to momentarily escape from their problems. As men, we feel the need to hide our sensitivity,” says Frank Alessandra, who is in his forties and remains close with guys he grew up with in New Jersey. “But that doesn’t mean we're not sensitive. (_) 56, Why does the author tell the story of Mark Vasu at the beginning of the passage? A. To show what college friends do when they get together. B. To start the discussion of what is male friendship. C. To illustrate the fact that men prefer to play with old friends, D. To compare men’s behavior with women’s. (_.) 57. What do men typically do when they are with their friends? A. Sitting around as a group and communicating their feelings. B. Gaining support from each other by sharing secrets. C. Doing things together and talking about common experiences. D. Going to an all-you-can-eat dinner at a restaurant together. (58. Which of the following best describes male friendships according to the passage? ‘A. Men don’t do things together, whether it's talking. crying or sharing. = 56 —B, Men generally don’t like relationships that require a lot of maintenance. C. Men prefer hiking, rock climbing and fishing with friends to other activities. D. Men admire women’s pattern for friendship because it's more expressive. (_)59. Which of the following is true of male and female friendship? ‘A. Male friendship is different from but not inferior to female friendship. B. Men gain greater support from their friendships than from their female friends. . Male friendship deals more with feelings rather than the doing of things. D. Men learn more positive things from female friends than vice versa. (B) The Victorian Era was from June 20, 1837 until January 22, 1901. It was the time that Alexandrina Victoria was the Queen of England. It was a period of great change in the world due to new inventions, scientific discoveries, and social change. Queen Victoria served longer than any other monarch (#13) in British history. Date Event The first commercially successful photograph is taken. Louis Daguerre Spring | takes the first commercially successful photograph in Paris. Because it 1838 _| takes so long to process one of his photos, moving objects cannot be photographed. The Great Exhibition opens. The first of a series of World’s Fairs opens May 1, | at London’s Crystal Palace and attracts six million visitors in five 1851 months. The fairs were held to show the latest discoveries in science and technology. On the Origin of the Species is published. Charles Darwin publishes a November | book called On the Origin of the Species. The book explains Darwin's 1859 _| scientific theory that all living things evolve over time through a process he calls “natural selection”. Alexander Graham Bell speaks on a telephone. While Alexander Graham Bell may not have invented the telephone, he got the first March 1876 patent for a telephone on March 7, 1876. A few days later. he had the first phone conversation when he spoke to his assistant, Thomas Watson. continued = seDate Event Benz invents the gasoline-powered car. Karl Benz from Germany creates the first car that runs on an internal combustion engine (PRL) that, 1885 uses gas for fuel. Benz is considered one of the founders of the German, car company, Mercedes-Benz. Queen Victoria dies. Queen Victoria seems ill for several months before she dies. She loses her appetite, appears to be confused sometimes, and ies of strokes (435) January 22, 1901 she finally dies a few days after suffering a s (_) 60. According to the passage, which of the following is true of the Victorian Era? A, It was a terrible time in British history. B. It began when Queen Victoria was born. C. It was a period of social reforms. D. It witnessed many scientific advancements, (_) 61. Which of the following events was probably the most important for the year 1851? A. The opening of the Great Exhibition. B. The completion of London's Crystal Palace. C. The coming of six million visitors to London. D. The succeeding of commercial photograph. (_) 62. What have we learned about Queen Victoria from this passage? A. She lived the longest among all the rulers of Britain. B. She died a few months after she suffered a series of strokes. C. She was very likely a strong supporter of inventions. D. She pushed forward great social changes during her service. (c) Walk into any Starbucks on a weekend afternoon. and. you will find something universally true; There are way too many people with laptops making use of the café as their own public office space. Maybe you're about to join them, yourself. This is not necessarily a bad thing. Anyone who has ever used a Starbucks for work purposes knows there is a special attraction about getting stuff done in the company of strangers and coffee. There is a productive energy in the air, an invisible camaraderie (i) AHHH) that cannot exist in the quiet of a home office. The productivity is literally — 58 —infectious. You may even argue that you are more creative when working or writing at a coffee shop~and science is ready to back you up on that. It turns out there literally is something productive in the air in public places: namely, the sound waves. A study from the University of British Columbia found that a moderate amount of background noise can actually make you more creative than silence. This conclusion resulted from a study in which researchers piped increasing volumes of background noise into a room full of students engaged in word-association tests and product brainstorms, both of which demanded focus and creativity. Students performed best and generated the most creative solutions when working under moderate noise conditions-70 decibels (4}0) of surrounding sounds. They performed worse in low noise (50 db, the volume of a quiet room) and poorest in high noise (85 db, the volume of a garbage disposal). Incidentally, 70 db is about the same volume of background noise that you'd find in a crowded café. What's going on here? According to the researchers, a little distraction can be a good thing thanks to a mind trick called “processing disfluency”—basically, the ease or speed in which you can process information. While a “fluid” mental processing speed is most helpful for highly-focused tasks like. say, filing your taxes, this laser-focus can be harmful to abstract thinking—you are mentally too close to the problem to be able to think abstractly, too caught up in the particulars. “This is why if you're too focused on a problem and you're not able to solve it,” said Dr. Ravi Mehta, one of the UBC paper’s authors. “You leave it for some time and then come back to it and you get the solution.” Just like shifting your focus away from the problem at hand, a moderate amount of noise can shake up your processing fluency just enough to approach ideas from a more creative, abstract position. ‘The gentle bustle of a Starbucks forces you to approach your work from a slight mental distance, encouraging creativity—but as soon as the waiter hits the coffee grinder $M EL). your focus goes veering off {RI) track. (©: ) 63. People around the world prefer to work in Starbucks, perhaps because A. they prefer to drink coffee while working B. they love the background music there C. they feel more creative while working there D. they enjoy being with strangers than with their colleagues (_) 64. Which of the following statements is true of noise in a room? —59—A. The quieter a room is, the better one can focus on tasks. B. A room with moderate noise can make the best working environment. C. A room with no noise at all makes people more attentive. D. The noisier a room is, the more productive one can be. (©) 65. Why is a little distraction a good thing according to the research? A. Your mind is more relaxed after being distracted, B. You can become more focused on a problem afterwards. C. It brings a “fluid” mental processing speed. D. A slight mental distance brings you more creativity. (_) 66. Which of the following may be the best title for this passage? A. Why you work better in coffee shops B. How coffee can make you creative C. Why mental distance is a good thing D. How productivity can be infectious Section C$ 8 3} Directions: Read the following passage. Fill in each blank with a proper sentence given in the box. Each sentence can be used only once. Note that there are two more sentences than you need A. Although swimming is by far the most popular American sport, running remains | the most visible form of exercise American Frank Shorter’s gold medal in the marathon at the 1972 Olympics mattered. Becoming a runner is relatively cheap— you only need to invest in a pair of running shoes. . Even non-exercisers believe they would be more attractive and self-confident if on 9 they were more active. | | E, Exercise enthusiasts agree that fitness is such an essential part of their lives that it will continue in some form right into old age. | F. For most senior citizens, running is still one of the most popular and most rewarding sports activities. A Country on the Move America is a country on the move literally. In unparalleled numbers. people of all ages are running, walking, swimming. skiing. and otherwise exercising their way to = 60mbetter health. According to the latest figures, 59 percent of American adults exercise regularly-—up 12 percent from just two years ago and more than double the figure of 25 years ago. (67) Exercise as a routine part of daily life did not catch on until the late 1960s when research by military doctors began to show the health benefits of regular exercise. (68) ___ And increasing publicity for races held in American cities helped to fuel a passion for the ancient sport of running. By the late 1970s. running had become a national thing. with some 35 million Americans pounding (WeWestif7ilt7é----" E) the pavement. This growing passion for running has leveled off in recent years as Americans have discovered equally rewarding —and sometimes safer—forms of exercise. such as walking, cross-country skiing, working out on home-exercise equipment, and their remarkable rise in popularity beats that of running almost a decade ago. (69) __ On any day of the year, whatever the weather, city parks and neighborhood streets are filled with determined joggers. Is there any end in sight to the fitness fever? (70) ___ As one Oregon jogger noted, when he and his friends are too old and too exhausted to run marathons any longer. they'll still be out there—walking. IV. Summary Writing # 10 5} Directions; Read the following passage. Summarize in no more than 60 words the main idea and the main point(s) of the passage. Use your own words as far as possible Clichés A cliché is a phrase that has been used so many times that it no longer has much meaning. Clichés can be classified according to whether they were originally idioms, similes (1893) and proverbs, expressions from trades or invented phrases. Many idioms have been so much overused that they have been weakened—phrases like far and wide, by leaps and bounds or safe and sound. Our second category could be ies like as cool asa similes and proverbs that now fall off the lips with little meaning. cucumber—which dates back around 400 years—as fit as a fiddle. and the proverb don't put the cart before the horse A large category is drawn from the expressions from trades and professions. sports and games, and other national concerns. Many are clichés related to sailing. as is fitting for the British, as an island nation, with examples like 10 leave a sinking ship. to know the ropes to stick to one’s guns. Our last broad category of clichés might be phrases which were striking when they Glwere first coined, but have become ineffective through constant use. When a football sked how he felt about the defeat of parrot, a reference to the sensational cases of psittacosis (&§8)44) from West Africa in manager. team, said that he was as sick as a the early 1970s, it was a sharp. amusing phrase. Since then, it has been so overused that it has lost its shine. No doubt we could elaborate the classes of clichés into further subdivisions until the cows come home. But there is no need to. We all agree that clichés are to be avoided by careful writers and speakers at all times, do we not? Well, actually, no, not I. So many millions of people have kept speaking and writing that it is almost impossible to find ideas and phrases that have not been used many times before. 71. V. Translation 4 15 5} Directions: Translate the following sentences into English. using the words given in the brackets. 72M LSB ba”, (read) 73. AEA A ASEH AB TT Li A EIA .. Callow) =74. AO IAAABS EC 22a RCE EMR ZENE EPI Coccur) 75. ARE — AE REA AS — RAR TOP DIE / OE RA BAAS — MALI, Cin order) VI. Guided Writing # 25 5} Directions: Write an English composition in 120—150 words according to the instructions given in Chinese. PERM FAL HEPA A Ud 9 ROU ATL ME Be EAE AS A AE TE SHE MU A TA FE Se BA RHE ESCHER ISIUL ELE: 1) UDA TAB RESID IAAL 2) PRAHA —63—