Part Ⅰ VocabularyDirections: For each of the following sentences, there are four choices marked A, B, C and D. Choose the best one that completes the sentence or is the nearest in meaning with the underlined word. Then mark the corresponding letter with a single bar across the square brackets on your Machine-scoring Answer Sheet. Part Ⅲ Translation1. In the next few weeks, thousands of teenagers will set off cheerfully for university. Unfortunately for some, the shine soon wears off. Every year, thousands of students fail to complete their first year. On some courses at some institutions, up to 20 per cent will withdraw before June and there are very few university departments that will not lose anyone. Nigel Martin, principal of Durham's Trevelyan College, said, "Rea-sons will vary but some youngsters decide very quickly, sometimes within 24 hours of arriving at the university, that they have made a false move. Some students go home for Christmas and decide not to return for their second term." Others simply fail to thrive. Pride, inertia or an unwillingness to disappoint their parents may keep them from talking about any difficulty, but they stop handing in coursework or going to lectures.
几个星期后,千百名学生会兴高采烈地踏入大学的校门。然而不幸的是,在一些学生看来,这种兴奋的感觉会很快消失。每年,都有很多学生不能顺利地上完第一个学年;有的学院的某些课程在6月份学期结束前会有高达20%的学生退出。几乎任何一所学校都有中途退学的学生。Durham's Trevelyan学院校长Nigel Martin说:“(学生退学的)原因是多方面的,但有时候有些学生刚到学校不到一天时间就很快认定(自己来上大学)是错误的一步。有的学生圣诞节回家后就决定不再回到学校来上第2学期了。”还有的学生本来就不思进取。有的出于自尊心、惰性或不愿让父母失望的想法而不愿谈到任何困难,但他们却不交作业或逃课。
2. 在中美两国政府的共同支持下,美国的学校开始在语言教学大纲中增设汉语——这个世界上使用人数最多但同时也是最难学的语言之一。在2400所学校表示有兴趣之后,将会于明年开始在全国范围内的中学开设汉语高级分级课程。因此全美国范围内的汉语语言课程,包括小学到成人教育,在过去的10年内增长了3倍。专家估计在美国的小学和中学中有多达50000的学生在学习汉语。
With encouragement from the Chinese and American governments, schools across the United States are expanding their language offerings to include Chinese, the world's most spoken tongue, not to mention one of its most difficult to learn. After 2,400 schools expressed interest, Advanced Placement Chinese classes will be offered in high schools around the country starting next year. And the number of Chinese language pro-grams around the country, from elementary school through adult programs, has tripled in 10 years. Up to 50,000 students are studying Chinese in elementary and secondary schools in the United States, experts estimate.
Part Ⅳ Writing1. As a common citizen, you write a letter to call on all people in Beijing to do more work for the coming 2008 Olympic Games.
Dear Countrymen,
I am writing the letter to call on all people in Beijing to perk up and do more work for the coming 2008 Olympic Games. As a common citizen here in the capital of our great motherland, I jumped over joy when news came saying we won the competition for hosting the great games, the first in our history.
But after a month-long excitement, I started to ask about the question: What can I do for the huge project? I had been left with helplessness for all the past months, like many people did. But now I came up with some ideas that might attract you and equip us all with sufficient confidence. Maybe I would be too old to be a volunteer in 2008, but I will start studying English, and two or three other foreign languages if possible, to be able to communicate with friends from all comers of the world. We could have been making Beijing an international city in the proper sense of the world. Apart from that I will try to understand modern concepts about making a city, and a country, more beautiful, for example, environmental protection, community construction, city planning, and above all, the quality of being a citizen in the modern metropolis, and make positive efforts to put them into practice.
Actually, we will not be making preparation for preparation's sake. After 2008, I have all the reasons to be optimistic that Beijing, and our country, will be taking a strong position in the powers of the world.
Please join me in the action and extend our excitement into a spirit that dares any possible difficulties! Thank you!
Best wishes to Beijing and our country!
Li Ming
(A common citizen of Beijing)
2. If a five-year old child commits crime, should his parents take the responsibility and be punished? When do you think a child should take responsibility for his own behavior? Your essay should be written on the Answer Sheet.
An old saying goes, "Like father like son," which embodies the important role that parents play in children's growth. However, to my mind, parents should not be punished for the following cogent reasons. Firstly, children are too young to distinguish right from wrong. They are apt to make mistakes for lack of the awareness of laws and regulations. Their parents should not take the responsibility for their improper behavior. Parents are the first teachers of their children. Every parent wishes his children to become "dragons" or "phoenixes". Nevertheless, children cannot control their behavior sometimes, even though they know what is right or wrong. On second thoughts, mistakes are not without their merits. Another saying goes, "Failure is the mother of success." Children can learn from mistakes and they will not commit the same mistake again. Then, when should a child take the responsibility for his own behavior? As far as I am concerned, children should take responsibility for what they did at age of 18 or above after they have received systematic education at school and are fully aware of laws. Compulsory education teaches children theoretical and practical knowledge, as well as morality. Furthermore, teenagers at the age of 18 are mature both physically and psychologically; therefore, they can control their behavior and take the responsibility for their mistakes. Admittedly, children's behavior is closely related to family education and their parents. For instance, children in the devoiced families and those full of violence are more likely to commit crimes. The insufficiency of communication between parents and their children is easy to result in unhealthy development of children and generation gap. All in all, the development of children is not only the responsibility of their parents, but also the responsibility of the whole society.