important in our digital lives, including how we act in online games or how we communicate in emails, texts, instant messages and on social networking websites. All of these platforms let us talk and share instantly wherever we are.
Unfortunately, some people can lose control the second they jump online. When they disagree with someone, or have strong feeling about a topic, they end up saying stuff they’d never say in person! They may send ruder emails and IMs or try to start arguments on message boards. That’s called flaming, and it can lead to full-on flamewars, insulting arguments between two or more users. On the Internet, it’s pretty easy to stay anonymous, or unidentified. Having a secret identity to hide behind can make people pretty brave. And when all they see of you is screen name or a funny icon, they might forget that they’re dealing with a real human being!
The principle is simple: Just like in real life, you should treat other people the way you want to be treated. You wouldn’t want somebody to be rude to you, so don’t be rude to anyone else.
Of course, netiquette isn’t just about being nice; it’s also about communicating clearly. That means keeping emails and IMs clear, and to the point. It also means making your messages easy to read and understand, which can depend on your audience. For instance, some abbreviations and emoticons may be fine with friends. But they’re generally not appropriate in formal communication. And whatever you do, don’t write in all capital letters! Writing in all caps makes it seem like you’re yelling.
Lastly, make sure you ask permission before posting anything about your friends on a blog or a social networking site. People’s personal information is private, and you can really ruin relationships if you post something that a friend — or a friend’s parents — don’t want on the web. And keep in mind that the Internet is not a private place; if you wouldn’t want a parent, teacher or future employer to see something you post, don’t post it!
56. According to the passage, the users of social media are advised A. to trigger arguments on message boards B. to behave online with common courtesy
C. to be respectful of others online rather than offline
D. to apply abbreviations and emoticons as many as possible
.
57. Why might an anonymous Internet user feel bold enough to say horrible things in response to a blog post?
A. Because he can make more friends if he says mean things.
B. Because he knows his friends will recognize him and think better of him. C. Because he can insult others and not worry about revenge.
D. Because he can impress older, smarter people with his remarks.
58. Which of the following is the best way to text your uncle to say you’ll be back in an hour?
A. B.
C.
D.
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59. Which of the following is a clear rule about posting photos online? A. If you take a photograph, it is yours to do as you please online. B. Information about your friends, including photographs, is private.
C. It’s illegal to post pictures online without permission from people in the pictures. D. You should always avoid posting images on the internet.
(B)
Recycling at work - handy hints to employers It is estimated that avoidable waste costs UK businesses up to 4.5% of their annual revenue. Reducing waste in the workplace is about being efficient. By becoming more efficient, businesses not only increase profits but they also save natural resources. Setting up a company scheme Get everyone involved ? Arouse awareness internally within the company, perhaps by putting up educational posters. ? Appoint a person to be the point of contact for anyone with queries (问讯). There are also a couple of ways to increase motivation: ? Hold internal competitions between different departments. For example, see which can reduce their waste the most within a specific time period. ? Send out regular newsletters reporting on all waste improvements. Staff will then see the impact their actions are having.
What to recycle and how Paper ? According to a recent survey, 65% of waste produced is paper waste. Waste paper will inevitably be produced in the workplace, but it is not necessary to discard it. It can serve a variety of purposes before it is recycled, such as writing notes. Envelopes too can be reused for internal mail. Plastic cups ? Rather than supplying disposable plastic cups in your workplace, get ceramic mugs that can be reused. Not only do they make your tea taste better, but they can reduce your office waste by up to 10%! Electrical equipment ? Rather than giving up on any old electrical equipment and just throwing it away, why not try upgrading it? This reduces waste, as well as avoiding the need to manufacture a new machine - a process which creates a large amount of waste. You could also consider donating your old computers to charities when Recycling at work - handy hints to employers it comes to replacing them.
60. What can the employer distribute to motivate staff to recycle more?
A. Educational posters. B. Annual reports. C. Regular newsletters. D. Competition rules.
61. What can be bought to cut down on the waste produced by staff refreshments? A. Disposable goods. B. Writing notes. C. Envelopes. D. Ceramic tableware.
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62. Which of the following is NOT included in the hints?
A. Unwanted PCs can be sent to charities if the company has to buy new ones.
B. Waste paper can be used as envelopes for internal mails before being thrown away. C. One of the staff should be assigned to be responsible for the recycling issue.
D. Educational posters can be displayed in the workplace to publicize the recycling scheme.
(C)
Given how valuable intelligence and automation are, we will continue to improve our technology if we are at all able to. At a certain point, we will build machines that are smarter than we are. Once we have machines that are smarter than we are, they will begin to improve themselves. And then we risk what the mathematician IJ Good called an “intelligence explosion”. The process could get out of control.
The concern is really that we will build machines that are much more competent than we are. And the slightest divergence between their goals and our own could destroy us. Just think about how we relate to ants. We don’t hate them. We don’t go out of our way to harm them. In fact, sometimes we take pains not to harm them. We step over them on the sidewalk. But whenever their presence seriously conflicts with one of our goals, we will kill them without hesitation. The concern is that we will one day build machines that, whether they’re conscious or not, could treat us with similar disregard.
The bare fact is that we will continue to improve our intelligent machines. We have problems that we desperately need to solve. So we will do this, if we can. The train is already out of the station, and there’s no brake to pull. If we build machines that are more intelligent than we are, they
will very likely develop in ways that we can’t imagine, and exceed us in ways that we can’t imagine.
So imagine we hit upon a design of superintelligent AI that has no safety concerns. This machine would be the perfect labor-saving device. It can design the machine that can build the machine which can do any physical work, powered by sunlight, more or less for the cost of raw materials. So we’re talking about the end of human labour. We’re also talking about the end of most intellectual work. So what would apes like ourselves do in this circumstance?
What would some nations do if they heard that some company in Silicon Valley was about to deploy ( 配 置 ) a superintelligent AI? This machine would be capable of starting war, whether terrestrial (陆地的) or cyber, with unbelievable power.
Given that the companies and governments building superintelligent AI are likely to perceive (感知) themselves as being in a race against all others, and that to win this race is to win the world, it seems likely that whatever is easier to do will get done first unless it is destroyed in the next moment.
But the moment we admit that information processing is the source of intelligence, we have to admit that we are in the process of building some sort of god. Now would be a good time to make sure it’s a god we can live with.
63. When an intelligent machine becomes smarter than humanity, A. it will make itself better and may go beyond human control B. it will help people to the fullest, especially in physical work C. it will threaten people by robbing them of jobs D. it will view itself as human race
.
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64. The underlined word “divergence” in Paragraph 2 almost means the same as “ ”.
A. connection B. hatred C. competition D. disagreement
65. How is the passage mainly developed? A. By making comparisons. B. By showing valid evidence. C. By giving assumptions. D. By analyzing statistics.
66. Which of the following is the best title of the passage? A. For the God’s sake, stop AI and be yourselves! B. Can we build AI without losing control over it? C. For or against AI, that is the question!
D. How does superintelligence serve the people?
Section C 8%
Directions: Read the passage carefully. 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. Parents simply cannot control all the possible paths their children may take. B. Research in developmental psychology ought to help parents relax.
C. If a woman works outside the home, she’s depriving her children of her constant attention, but if she stays home, she tends to give her children too much love.
D. According to Freud, after the first five “formative years” ended in the crisis of the Oedipal Complex (俄狄浦斯情结), the child’s personality was set for life. E. Parents still have a major role to play, but now it is more delicate.
F. Obviously it’s good to give children stimulation and attention from the start, but one wrong step will not doom the child to psychological damage.
Parenting Anxiety Relieved
Woman are insecure because there is no commonly accepted idea of what it means to be a good mother. Fathers have it easier in this regard; they just have to show up and they are automatically considered “good”, whereas mothers are always trying to prove to themselves and the world that they aren’t “bad”. 67 In some ways, things are getting worse. Years ago, a woman was allowed five years to shape her child’s personality. In recent years, however, some psychologists tell mothers that the first three years of life are the most important, while others think that all critical events happen during the first year.
Ironically, this panic about doing the right thing to produce the perfect child is probably the worst thing for the child and the parent. 68 Here is why. First, it is not harmful to children if their mothers work. Mothers who neglect their own need and abilities for the sake of their children do not benefit their children, their marriage or themselves.
Second, there is no crucial moment or stage in early childhood in which a child’s fate is determined forever. 69 Children are more flexible than that. Research also finds that some children who have had the best parental care and guidance later give in to drugs, addiction, mental illness or violence. 70 Between the parents’
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best efforts and the resulting child lie other factors: the child’s nature, genetically influenced characters, experiences outside the family and the child’s knowledge of events. Parents can help an inborn shy child learn to cope better in situations that make the child anxious, but they aren’t going to turn her into Britney Spears.
IV. Summary Writing 10%
Directions: Read the following passage. Summarize the main idea and the main point(s) of the passage in no
more than 60 words. Use your own words as far as possible.
“Where You Go” Doesn’t Matter So Much
During the fall months at high school guidance counseling programs, juniors run to the stage to participate in an exercise to try and help them understand that it is not “where you go” that matters. They hold posters featuring the names and faces of famous people while their peers and parents shout out with confidence the names of elite colleges (名校) they assume the celebrities attended.
The “oohs” and “aahs” follow as the audience learn that Steven Spielberg, Steve Jobs and Bill Gates dropped out of college and that Ken Burns graduated from Hampshire College. If even a few stressed students and their anxious parents benefit from this information, it is a worthwhile exercise. Even better is giving the students an assignment to identify the happy, successful people in their own
circle of family, friends, co-workers and neighbors and challenging them to go and ask “if or where they went to college?” as a means of broadening the conversation in their search for a life after high school.
The key to success in college and beyond has more to do with what students do with their time during college than what college they choose to attend. A long-term study of 6,335 college graduates published by the National Bureau of Economic Research found that graduating from a college where entering students have higher SAT scores — one marker of elite colleges — didn’t pay off in higher post-graduation income. Researchers found that students who applied to several elite schools but didn’t attend them — either because of rejection or by their own choice — are more likely to earn high incomes later than students who actually attended elite schools.
In a summary of the findings, the bureau says that “evidently, students’ motivation, ambition and desire to learn have a much stronger effect on their later success than average academic ability of their classmates.”
V. Translation 15%
Directions: Translate the following sentences into English, using the words given in the brackets. 众所周知, 与他人和睦相处是生活幸福的要素之一。（As） .27 你认为以健康为代价来获取名利值得吗? （worthwhile） .37 学生们接触到金融问题的年龄越小，就越有可能成为能有效地管理资产且有责任心的成.47年人。（expose）
各行各业的人民群众对“不忘初心，牢记使命。”这句话都有自己深刻的理解。(saying) .57
VI. Guided Writing 25%
Directions: Write an English composition in 120-150 words according to the instructions given below in
Chinese.
学校图书馆优美的学习环境和丰富的文献资源为学生们综合素质的提升提供了良好的平 台。为了进一步提高图书馆的服务水平，图书馆现向学生们征集建议。假如你是李华，写信给图书馆负责人对图书馆的现状进行分析，并就此提出一些实用性的改进建议。
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