Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write an essay entitled Man and
Computer by commenting on the saying, “The real danger is not that the computer will begin to think like man, but that man will begin to think like the computer.” You should write at least 150 words but no more than 200 words.
There is a saying that “The real danger is not that the computer will begin to think like man, but that man will begin to think like the computer.” The purpose of the saying is to show us that utmost importance should be attached to innovation and creativity.
To begin with, an attitude of innovation could be said to be the watchword, or motto of science. Think of all the innumerable times a scientific experiment must be carried out, all the laboratory tests, all the live trials, before a new medicine or vaccine is discovered. In addition, innovation is also responsible for many of today’s business successes. For instance, it was only after four years and four different tries of varying business models that an entrepreneur finally found success, and went to become the chairman of one of the largest Internet companies.
To sum up, in any field of endeavor, it seems necessary to first put great emphasis on innovation before one can finally reach success. It is as if life is testing us, testing our innovation and creativity to see if we are really dedicated to our vision, before life finally rewards us with success.
有句话说“真正的危险不是电脑将开始像人一样思考，而是人类开始向电脑一样思考”。 这句话的目的是告诉我们应该充分重视创新。
首先，创新的态度可以说是科学研究的信条。想想看，只有在进行了无数次的科学实验、实验室检测和活体试验之后，才能发明出新药物和新疫苗。其次，创新也是当今许多企业能够成功的原因。例如，某家公司曾经尝试了四种不同的商业模式，历经四年才取得成功。后
来这家企业的老总也当上了最大一家互联网公司的董事长。
总之，在任何领域，一个人似乎只有在重视创新之后，才能获得最后的成功。生活好像 是在考验我们，考验我们的创新能力，看看我们是否能专注与自己的理想，最后才会给予我 们成功。
Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write an essay commenting on the remark “Good habits result from resisting temptation.” You can cite examples to illustrate your point. You should write at least 150 words but no more than 200 words.
There is a saying that “Good habits result from resisting temptation”, to which I can’t agree more. Unfortunately, lack of determined will and social experience, teenagers frequently fall into the traps of temptations such as Internet games, smoking, drinking, and so on.
In a bid to form good habits, one needs a strong will and perseverance to resist temptation. Numerous examples can be given but these will suffice. The outstanding habit of reading classic literature on a regular basis is a case in point. Nevertheless, you would definitely have to spend less time on your favorite Internet games or fascinating mobile phones. Likewise, the good habit of doing exercises every day means repeatedly dragging oneself away from the TV series and cozy couch. These cases effectively clarify that good habits arises from resisting temptation.
As has been mentioned above, a wise mind and determined will should be gradually cultivated so that the adolescents can resist various bad temptations and form excellent habits. Just as Oscar Wilde, an esteemed British novelist put it, “I can resist everything except temptation.”
有句话说“好的习惯来自于抵制诱惑”，我非常同意。不幸的是，年轻人缺乏坚定的意 志和社会经验，总是陷入网络游戏、吸烟、喝酒等诱惑的陷阱。
为了养成良好的习惯，人们需要坚定的意志和坚持不懈来抵制诱惑。可以给出无数的 例子，但下面这些例子足矣。经常阅读文学经典的优秀习惯就是其中之一。然而，你必须在 心爱的网络游戏或诱人的手机上花费更少的时间。同样，每天进行锻炼的良好习惯意味着日复一日强迫自己远离电视剧和舒适的沙发。这些例子清楚证明了好的习惯源于抵制诱惑。 综上所述，我们年轻人应该逐渐培养明智的心态和坚定的意志，以便抵制各种各样不 好的诱惑并形成良好的习惯。正如著名的英国作家奥斯卡王尔德所说:“除了诱惑，我都能抵制。”
Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write an essay commenting on the remark “Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s need, but not every man’s greed.” You can cite examples to illustrate your point. You should write at least 150 words but no more than 200 words.
Just as Mahatma Gandhi, a great Indian saint put it, “Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s need, but not every man’s greed.” More recently, the human race has begun to realize that protecting the earth in its natural condition is imperative for human survival. Essentially, we need the earth to counter the effects of global warming, air pollution and ecological balance.
I can think of no better illustration than the following one. Owing to human greed, air pollution has become a major cause of respiratory illnesses. In many cities, the air is so bad that people actually wear masks and air filters. Breathing this air can kill you. More than ever, city dwellers need the natural areas where they can go to rest their lungs and breathe fresh air. Thus, we must preserve and restore whatever the earth we have left, especially the ones in and around the cities.
To summarize, it is clear that humans need to leave the earth in its natural condition. We need the earth to combat air pollution, global warming and population explosion. It is my view that it is a long-term matter of life and death.
正如伟大的印度圣人甘地所说，“地球提供了足够的资源来满足人类的需要，但无法满 足人类的贪婪”。最近，人们逐渐认识到，保护地球是人类生存的必要条件。从本质上讲， 我们需要自然环境来缓解全球变暖、空气污染和生态平衡。
我想不出什么例子比下面这个更好。由于人类的贪婪， 空气污染已经成为呼吸系统疾 病的主要原因。在许多城市，空气污染极其严重，人们甚至会带上口罩和空气过滤器。从早 到晚地呼吸那种空气是一种慢性自杀。如今，城市居民比以往更加需要自然环境。人们可以 去那里呼吸新鲜空气，也让自己的肺歇口气。因此，我们必须保护现在的地球，尤其是城市 内和城市周围的自然环境。
总之，人类明显需要更多地保护状态下的地球。人们需要地球来抵抗全球变暖、空气污染和人口爆炸。从长远看来，我认为这是生死攸关的事情。
Directions: For this part you are allowed 30 minutes to write an essay commenting on the remark “The greatest use of life is to spend it for something that will outlast it.” You can give examples to illustrate your point and then explain what you will do to make your life more meaningful. You should write at least 150 words but no more than 200 words.
The famous saying “The greatest use of life is to spend it for something that will outlast it” is rather thought-provoking, which tells us the real meaning of life. It is contemporary social issue in China with common interests and permanent value.
In my view, there are good reasons to undertake meaningful things that exert positive and profound influence on the society, such as protecting the environment, helping vulnerable groups as well as promoting education. To illustrate, Abraham Lincoln never wavered in his devotion to democracy and equality, whose life has become an inspiration in the United States and throughout the whole world. His life, though limited, definitely lasts longer, and is a life worth living. Likewise, a young person who aspires to be a great writer might decide to buy some literary books or spend weekends writing and refining his works. Without any aspiration, he might simply end up spending all his spare time surfing online or playing Internet games.
In brief, a meaningful life serves to motivate and guide us in our daily lives. It provides us with the focus and direction that enable us to work towards accomplishing a special goal, objective or task.
“将生命花在比生命更长远的事上，就是尽用生命”这一说法相当发人深思。他告诫 我们人生的真正意义。这是一个人们普遍关注并拥有永恒价值的当代中国社会问题。
在我看来，我们应该从事对社会产生积极深远影响的有意义的事情，例如保护环境、 帮助弱势群体及发展教育。例如，亚伯拉罕林肯从未放弃投身于民主及平等和学习业。他的 人生成为美国以及整个世界的一种鼓舞。尽管他的生命有限，但无疑长久延续并意义非凡。 同样，一个渴望成为伟大作家的人，或许会决定买一些文学书籍或把整个周末的时间用于写 作并修改自己的作品。而如果没有志气的话，他也许只会将所有的闲暇时间用于上网或玩网 络游戏。
总之，有意义的人生在日常生活中给予我们激励和指导。它为我们提供了专注的焦点和方向的指引，使我们能够通过努力实现一个具体目标或任务。
Directions: For this part you are allowed 30 minutes to write an essay on happiness by referring to the saying “Happiness is not the absence of problems, but the ability to deal with them.” You can cite examples to illustrate your point and then explain how you can develop your ability to deal with problems and be happy. You should write at least 150 words but no more than 200 words.
As an old saying goes, “Happiness is not the absence of problems, but the ability to deal with them.” Why is difficult to define, or rather discover and achieve happiness? I maintain the major determinant lies in a person’s attitudes.
There is little correlation between the circumstance of people’s lives and how happy they are. Instead, happiness lies in the struggle to be happy. To demonstrate, people sometimes go to
extremes, and frantically pursue money, power, high social status, and so on, which are all symbols of success—but never of happiness. Perhaps if they shifted their life’s goal from
ultimate success to unswerving efforts and to a confidence that they will be successful one day they would be a great deal happier.
Besides defining it, how do I achieve happiness? There is little doubt that various people have diverse ways of going about this task. As for me, the most significant secret is realizing that happiness is a by-product of something else. The most obvious sources are those pursuits that give our lives a purpose. These can be anything from playing tennis to studying insects. The more passions we have, the more happiness we are likely to experience.
正如谚语所说:“幸福并非没有问题，而在于解决问题的能力”。为何很难定义、发现 和获得幸福?我认为最重要的因素在于人们的态度。
人们的生活环境和他们多么幸福之间没什么关系。相反，幸福在于获取幸福的奋斗之 中。例如，人们有时候会走极端，疯狂追求金钱、权利、很高的社会地位等等。这些都是成 功的象征，但并非幸福的象征。也许如果他们把人生目标从终极成功转向未来他们必将成功 的自信，他们将会更加幸福。
除了定义幸福之外，我如何来获取幸福?毫无疑问不同的人对于实现这一目标有着迥 然不同的方式。对我而言，最大的秘密就是认识到幸福只是其他事情的一种副产品。最明显 的来源就是给予我们目标的那些追求。这些追求可以使从打网球到研究昆虫的任何事情。我 们越有激情，我们越有可能感受到幸福。
Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write an essay commenting on the saying “Knowledge is a treasure, but practice is the key to it.” You can give one example or two to illustrate your point of view. You should write at least 150 words but no more than 200 words.
Would you want a doctor to operate on you who has only learned about operations from a textbook? The answer to this is obviously a resounding “No!” Knowledge gained from books must always be complemented by knowledge gained from actual experience, to be of real value.
For me actually practicing a particular action or experiment myself and experiencing the result, leaves a much deeper and lasting impression than what I get from simply reading or listening. If I read about how to write an essay or listened to someone talk about writing an essay, I still wouldn’t feel that I knew how to write an essay until I wrote one for myself. The same can be said for other skills, like sports, for example. A person can know all the rules of a game, associated skills and strategies, but until that person gets on a court with a ball in motion, the theory remains flat, useless.
To sum up, as to theoretical knowledge and practical skills, the latter is certainly more significant. Just as British churchman Thomas Fuller put it, “Knowledge is a treasure, but practice is the key to it.”
一个大夫只学过课本上的手术知识，叫他给你主刀你是否愿意?显然，这个问题的答 案是一声响亮的“不”。书本知识要有实际价值，就必须同实践经验相结合。
对我来说，实践某件事，或者说亲自去尝试某项活动并感受最后的结果，要比读书听课 给我留下的印象更深刻，更持久。如果只是读到如何写作，或是听别人讲解写作方法，我觉 得自己还是不会写，非得亲自写一篇才行。掌握其他技能也是一个道理。以体育为例，一个 人可以通晓所有的比赛规则和相关战术技巧，但除非这个人上场打球，否则那堆理论就是呆 板无用的。
总之，对于理论知识和实践技能，相比之下，实践经验当然更重要。正如英国教士托马 斯 富勒所说:“知识是一种财富，但实践是打开财富的钥匙。”
Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write a short essay based on the picture
below. You should start your essay with a brief description of the picture and then discuss whether there is a shortcut to learning. You should give sound arguments to support your views and write at least 150 words but no more than 200 words
(图略)
“ How To Do Well In School Without Studying’ is over there in the fiction section”.
As is symbolically illustrated in the cartoon, a young student is asking a librarian where is the book named How to Do Well in School Without Studying. The latter is pointing to the other side of the library and answering, “It is over there in the fiction section”. We are informed that the young man wishes to find a shortcut to learning without studying hard.
It is apparent that there is no shortcut to learning. Just as a high-rise building cannot be erected without a solid foundation and sound framework, students must first acquire foundational knowledge in order to learn practical skills. For instance, medical students have to learn about biochemical processes before they can understand the etiology of diseases and how to treat them. It would be unfeasible for a student to bypass a biochemistry course and study pathology or oncology. In the same vein, course in physiology, while not having any “practical” application per se, offer a necessary foundation for students pursuing careers in pharmacology or toxicology.
Given that theory lays the foundation for practice, there is no denying that there is no shortcut to learning without studying hard.
如图所示，一位青年学生正在询问一位图书馆员哪儿有名叫《不用学习就可以在学校里 成绩优异》的书。图书馆员指着图书馆的另一侧回答:“它在科幻小说区”。我们得知:这个 年轻人幻想不用努力学习就可以找到学习的捷径。
显而易见，学习方面没有捷径。正如高层建筑没有地基和坚实的框架就不能拔地而起一 样，学生也必须首先学会基础知识才能去学实践技巧。例如，医学专业的学生必须先了解生 化过程，才能理解疾病的病因学和如何治疗疾病。让一个学生绕过生物化学的学习而直接去 学病理学和肿瘤学，是不现实的。同样，生理学的课程，本身并没有任何实践上的应用，但 给学生提供了坚实的基础，使学生能够从事与药理学和毒物学相关的职业。
鉴于理论为实践奠定基础，所以如果没有努力学习，那么学习方面不会有捷径。
Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write a short essay based on the picture below. You should start your essay with a brief description of the picture and then discuss what qualities an employer should look for in job applicants. You should give sound arguments to support your views and write at least 150 words but no more than 200 words.
As is vividly demonstrated in the picture, a young man is seeking employment and a boss is staring at his resume. Unfortunately, the boss answers, “Sorry, kid ... Your resume looks good, but you only have a master’s degree ... All the other applicants are Ph.D.s” ! Obviously, the implication of the drawing is what qualities an employer should pay attention to in job applicants.
I cling to the idea that a company should attach importance to the abilities instead of academic qualifications in job applicants. On the one hand, young men and women, in modern times, join in the society and take other places in the queue, going to the bottom of the hierarchy and staying there no matter how brilliant they are. What they know is much less important than whom they are and how old they are. On the other hand, if a job applicant was more able, more determined and more hard-working than those applicants with higher degrees, why couldn’t he be employed?
Generally speaking, employers should put emphasis on one’s ability rather than their degrees, which would remove the biggest causes of friction among all staff members and ultimately would lead to a better society.
如图所示，一位年轻人正在找工作，而一位老板正在看他的简历。不幸的是，老板答道: “孩子，抱歉!你的简历看上去很好，但你只有一个硕士学历。其他所有申请人都是博士学 位”!显而易见，这幅漫画的目的是雇主在求职者身上应该看重那种素质。
我认为一家公司应该重视求职者的能力而非学历。一方面，在当今时代，青年男女加入 社会，排队等候取代其他人。他们走到阶层的底部，不论他们如何才华横溢也得呆在那儿。 他们的知识远不如他们是谁及他们的年龄重要。但是另一方面，如果一位求职者比起那些高 学历的申请人更有能力、决心并且更加努力，那为何不能雇佣他呢?
总之，雇主应该重视一个人的能力而非学历。这将消除员工之间最大的矛盾因素，并最 终构建一个更美好的社会。
Write an essay based on the following chart in your writing, you should
1) interpret the chart, and
2) give your comments
You should write about 150 words.
中国某城市住房拥有权的变化
100% 80% 60% 40% 20% 0%
State-owned private
1990 2000 2010
Since 1990, China has witnessed a great change in the ownership of houses. As the chart shows, the percentage of state-owned houses in a certain city in China decreased considerably, dropping from 75% in 1990 to 20% in 2010, while the corresponding figures for private houses increased dramatically, rising from25% to 80% over the same period.
The rise and fall can be accounted for by a couple of factors. For one thing, the boom of the urban economy has resulted in the increase of family income and the improvement of family economic conditions has led to the changes of people’s minds. Nowadays, hire purchase or installment plan has found its growing popularity and acceptance. These have promoted the purchase of private houses. For another, the government has put in force a series of new policies which provide residents with subsidies and loans to encourage their real estate investment. These policies make it easier for an individual to buy his or her own house.
In my opinion, owning a house is also an excellent investment for an individual. With the population rising as quickly as it is, it is a very good idea to become a property owner. In the forthcoming years, land will be increasingly expensive, and therefore less attainable. Furthermore, if one buys a house, it is likely that he will be able to sell it at a reasonable profit in the future. Accordingly, the increase in house ownership is acceptable for both the authority and individuals, which should be encouraged. (253 words)
自 1990 年以来，中国的住房拥有权发生了巨大的变化。图表显示，某城市国有住房的 比例大幅度减少，从 1990 年的 75%下降到 2010 年的 20%，而同一时期私有住房的比例急剧 增长，从 25%增加到 80%。
这种起落是由多个因素造成的。一方面，城市经济的快速发展使居民家庭收入不断增加， 家庭经济条件逐渐改善导致人们思想观念的转变。如今，分期付款的购房方式越来越受到人 们的欢迎和接受。这些都促使个人购房比率快速上升。另一方面，政府实施了一系列新政策 给居民提供购房补贴和贷款来鼓励人们投资不动产项目。这些政策使得个人购房变得更加容 易。
我认为，对个人来说，拥有自己的房子也是极好的投资。随着世界人口的快速增长，拥 有财产是明智的选择。将来土地会越来越贵，因此也越来越难得到。另外，如果消费者买了 房子，他以后可以将房子卖了赚一大笔钱。因此越来越多的人买房子对政府和个人都是好事， 应该鼓励。
Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write a letter of application for a job. Write at least 150 words but no more than 200 words.
Dear Sir or Madam,
I have read your advertisement in China Daily on 9 December for the post of Accountant,and would be grateful if you could consider me favorably as an applicant for the position.
My professional training and experience all contribute to my qualifications for the job. I graduate from the Department of Accounting in Guanghua Management School of Beijing University in 2013. You will note from my enclosed resume that I was awarded First-prize scholarship four times for my outstanding academic performance. After graduation, I worked as an accountant in Beijing New Oriental Education and Technology Group. I hope that such working experience can be taken into favorable consideration.
I have enclosed a resume for your reference. I would like to extend my heartfelt appreciation if you could let me know the result of my application in due course. (138 words)
Sincerely yours,
Li Ming
尊敬的先生或女士:
我在 12 月 9 日的中国日报上看到您对于会计职位的招聘。并且非常感谢您能好心考虑
我作为该职位的申请人。
我的教育背景和经历都使我非常胜任该职位。2013 年我毕业于北京大学光华管理学院
会计系。从我附上的简历中，您会看到由于出色的学习成绩，我曾四次获得一等奖学金。毕 业后，我在北京新东方教育科技集团担任会计。我希望您能好心考虑我的工作经历。 我附上了一份简历供您参考。如果您能让我适时知道申请结果，我将衷心感谢。
您真诚的， 张伟
