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Section ADirections: In this section, there is a short passage with 5 questions or incomplete statements. Read the passage carefully. Then answer the questions or complete the statements in the fewest possible words. Please write your answers on Answer Sheet 2. A late surge in university applications is putting extra pressure on sixth-formers to achieve top grades in their exams. Figures out today show almost an 8 per cent increase-about 42,000-in applications for full-time study at university, the biggest in eight years, with many of the applications received in December and January. The recession and rising unemployment have been blamed for the increase. The high number of applications will mean that pupils who are offered places on popular courses, or at prestigious universities, who do not attain their predicted grades will have less room for tactic. Adults hoping to retrain are also fuelling the boom: the number of applications from candidates aged over 24 rose by 12.6 per cent. This is despite a withdrawal of funding for people wanting to retrain in a different sphere, by studying an equivalent or lower qualification than one they already held. Universities and higher education groups welcomed the increase in applications but criticised the Government for restricting places and funding. Wes Streeting, president of the National Union of Students, said: "It is hugely encouraging to see a record-breaking number of applications to Britain’s universities, but we remain concerned about the number of places available as a result of the cap on numbers imposed by the Government. While Some had speculated that demand would fall, applicants of all ages are clearly making the correct assessment that it is better to invest now in their education and training." "We understand the pressures on public finances, but the Government must also make the right long-term decisions. It is surely better to bear the cost of additional university places now than to shoulder the burden of long-term unemployment later." Diana Warwick, chief executive of Universities UK, which represents vice-chancellors, said: "Applicants are making informed choices and thinking carefully about the value of higher education." "With the increase in mature applicants, it is encouraging that people are looking to upskill during a difficult time for the jobs market." "We call on government to ensure that this growth is matched with continued financial support," she added. The surge in university applications are resulted from______.

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Directions: In this part, you will have 15 minutes to go over the passage quickly and answer the questions on Answer Sheet 1. For questions 1-7, choose the best answer from the four choices marked A), B), C) and D). For questions 8-10, complete the sentences with the information given in the passage. The Value of Writing Well It’s that time of year again. No, not "the holiday season". I mean, it is holiday time, but for professors it doesn’t start feeling like holiday time until final grades are in and the books are closed on another semester. No, for me, it’s paper-grading time, the time of year when I’m reminded over and over of the importance of good writing skills--and of their rarity. The ability to write well is not a gift. Sure, the special something that sets apart a Tolstoy or Shakespeare or Salman Rushdie or Isabel Allende is a gift, a talent born of disposition, experience, and commitment. But just to be able to communicate clearly with the written word takes no special talent; it’s a skill like any other. Well, not exactly like any other. Because the words we use to write with are the same words we use to think with, learning to write well has ramifications that go beyond the merely technical. As we improve our writing ability, we improve our ability to think--to build an argument, to frame issues in compelling ways, to weave apparently unrelated facts into a coherent whole. And despite the recurring hand-wringing and chest-beating about the "end of literacy" and the "death of the printed word", the reality is that we write more than ever these days. While it’s a rare person who sits down with pen and paper in hand and writes a letter to a friend or loved one, we pour emails into the ether at an astounding rate. We text message, tweet, instant message, blog, comment, and otherwise shoot words at each other in a near-constant flow of communication. We annotate group portraits, LOL-ify cat pictures, and tag.., well, everything. At work, we write letters, proposals, PowerPoint presentations, Business requirement documents, memos, speeches, mission statements, position papers, operating procedures, manuals, brochures, package copy, press releases, and dozens of more specialized types of documents. We are, it seems, writing creatures. Homo scribus, if you will. It’s no wonder that Businesses repeatedly cite "communication skills" as the single most desirable trait in new employees. The kicker, though, is that we are as a society incredibly bad at writing. Public schools do a poor job of teaching students how to write well-they barely manage to instill the basic rules of grammar and the miserable 5-paragraph essay, let alone how to write with style and verve, how to put together an argument that moves steadily from one point to the next to persuade a reader of some crucial point, how to synthesize ideas and data from multiple sources into something that takes those ideas one step further. It’s not just the teachers’ fault. Teachers do the best they can with what they’re given, and all too often what they’re given is inadequate resources with which to teach classrooms full of unmotivated students who could care less about writing. Add to that the requirements of mandatory nation-wide tests that reward conformity, not creativity, and the threat of punishment for any school whose students fail to fall within the fairly rigid boundaries of the test’s requirements, and you’ve got a pretty bad situation all around for instilling in students the power to write well. That is, alas, a great disservice. Being able to write well vastly improves students’-and others’-potential for success, regardless of the field they find themselves in. As I’ve already mentioned, people who write well tend to be better able to think through problems and tease out patterns in outwardly dissimilar situations. More importantly, people who write well have the opportunity to make a mark in the world, because their best ideas aren’t trapped in their own minds for lack of a means of expression. This is true whether you’re a CEO or a janitor, a marketing expert or an Emergency Medical Technician. The skills that make us better writers make us better explainers, better persuaders, and better thinkers. They are the skills that allow us to "sell" our ideas effectively, whether in giving a presentation to potential funders of our company, proposing a new project to our corporate leadership, or transmitting a new policy to our employees. Being able to write well lessens the chance that we’ll be misunderstood, and increases the likelihood that our ideas will be adopted. Writing well is not a gift reserved for the few but a set of skills that can be learned by anyone. The technical aspects can be learned in any of several ways: by taking a class, by studying books on writing, by working with a partner or a group and acting on their feedback. But while grammar and structure are an important part of writing, to write well also demands some effort to develop style. Style is what keeps people reading past the first sentence, and what keeps what you’ve written on their minds, impelling them to take action. Style is rather less teachable than the nuts and bolts of writing, but it is learnable. It demands patience, attention, and most of all practice, but it is possible for anyone who has something to say to learn how to say it well. To move from being merely capable to being a good writer, you need only: 1. Read: Reading is essential to good writing. It is how we learn the vastness of the language and the limits of the grammar-and how to push those limits. The more you read, the greater your understanding of language’s potential becomes. 2. Write: Good writing takes practice. Unfortunately, unless we create opportunities to write, we get far too few opportunities to get that practice after we’ve left school. Start a journal, a blog, a newsletter, or whatever else you can think of to get you writing on at least a semi-regular basis. 3. Read Again: Most people who fail to become better writers fail because they do not read their own writing. They don’t read it before they post/mail/submit/publish/otherwise finish it, and they don’t read it after they’re done with it. Which means they don’t see the awkward parts, the flat bits, the pieces that say something different from what was intended--and they never learn how to fix or, better yet, avoid those problems. 4. Repeat: Writing is personal, and seeing your writing ill-received can strike a blow to the strongest of egos. The only answer for it, though, is persistence--the goal is to become a better writer, not to be perfect out of the gate. Pay attention to criticism, learn from it, but don’t internalize it-there’s no shame in writing poorly, only in failing to try to do better next time. Today’s world is a world of text; it is the lifeblood of the information economy. In Ancient Rome, it was the orators who ruled, those who could compel obedience, loyalty, and devotion with their spoken words. Today, the written word is dominant, not only because so much of the information that shapes our lives is written down, but because the habits that make us good writers are the same habits that allow us to flourish in the information economy. If you worry about your writing ability, commit yourself now to becoming a solid writer in the year to come. If you are already a decent writer, commit yourself to becoming better. And if you’re one of the rare few who write well, reach out to those around you and share your talent, so that others may learn from you. Let that be your gift this holiday season. It is mentioned that Ancient Rome was ruled by______.

Passage OneQuestions 26 to 29 are based on the passage you have just heard.

A. Because he was never afraid of anything.
Because he was protected by a special medium.
C. Because he had enough experience.
D. Because it was his job.

1) giving a brief introduction to the issue. 2) stating your view about the "price battle" 3) justifying your prediction. You should write about 160--200 words neatly on ANSWER SHEET 2. (20 points) "An Air-conditioner Price Battle" 据权威机构调查显示,2001年,我国空调总产量为2500万台,而市场容量仅为1500万台。空调已经成为继VCD、彩电后又一个家电企业力拼的市场。于是空调厂家坐不住了,打折、送礼品,甚至出现了空调论斤卖的怪事。近日,空调企业又想出了新花样:举办空调流行趋势发布会。面临巨大的竞争压力,多数空调生产厂家都意识到了自己生存的危机,他们不得不推出新产品以占据消费市场。同时,许多空调大企业都有声称他们不会去挑起空调价格战。但是……

Questions 11 to 18 are based on the conversation you have just heard.

A. On the street.
B. At the police bureau.
C. At the gas station.
D. At the library.

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