Directions: In this section, there is a passage followed by questions or unfinished statements, each with four suggested answers A, B, C and D. Choose the best answer.

     Last week, I read a story about a 34-year-old British woman who is extremely afraid of metal forks. She's been using plastic ones for 17 years because the sound of a fork rubbing against a plate gives her a panic attack.
     Strange, right? But she's not alone. While popular phobias (恐惧症) about snakes and spiders might get all of the attention, there are a wide variety of not-so-obvious horrors that make people nervous.
     While some phobias might seem a bit silly, they can cause serious emotional distress. My co-worker Magda is terrified of pigeons, a phobia that is taking over her life. She won't walk in certain parts of the city and runs screaming from the subway when one of these "rats with wings" finds its way onto the platform. Another friend is disgusted with cheese. Once I saw her run away from a slice of it. So where does an irrational fear of cheese come from?
     Are phobias something we inherit from our genes or do we acquire these unusual anxieties over time?
     Ever since I can remember I have been unreasonably frightened of elevators. There was no terrible childhood experience and I am fine with confined spaces, but something about elevators makes me nervous. And so, when my boyfriend and I found ourselves trapped in an elevator last year—because these sorts of things always happen eventually—I was anticipating the worst.
     While he gave me a suggestive eyebrow raise and proposed we "take advantage of the situation," I began screaming uncontrollably. I was far from turned on by the whole facing my worst nightmare thing.
     However, after the fear subsided (消退) I realized that, yes, this was my greatest fear come true, and yet—it wasn't all that bad. Nervous and inconvenient maybe, but terrifying? Not so much.
     Liberating yourself from a deep-seated phobia can be a long and difficult process, but sometimes it can be as simple as confronting it head on.

Directions: In this section, there is a passage followed by questions or unfinished statements, each with four suggested answers A, B, C and D. Choose the best answer.

     For many of us, asking for help is a difficult concept. We may feel as if we are admitting a weakness that the world would not have known about, had we not asked for help.
     Ironically, it's been my experience that people who are able to deliver well-positioned requests for help are seen as very strong individuals. When they demonstrate the humility (谦卑) to ask for help, they earn the respect of others. People who receive a heartfelt request for help are usually honored by the request. In turn, we are strengthened by the very help that is provided.
     One of my clients (we'll call her Kira) recently made a shift in how she was interacting with her boss. When asked to prepare presentations, she assumed that she was expected to go away, develop the content, deliver it at the required meeting and then wait for feedback from her boss. Her boss was highly regarded for the impact of his presentations, while Kira often felt that her presentations were lacking. When she took a hard look at how this approach was working for her, Kira recognized that she had not yet made use of her boss's support. She could learn far more about creating attractive presentations by walking through a draft with her boss—focusing on the content plus her delivery—and obtaining feedback earlier in the process rather than at the back end. So she made the request for his support.
     The outcome? Her boss was delighted to coach Kira and was enthusiastic about the opportunity to put into use his own strength by teaching presentation skills more effectively to her. By taking the time to work together on preparation for a number of Kira's key presentations, she benefited from her boss's thought process and was able to distinguish the critical components to enhance her own presentations. Kira's presentations now have punch!
     Some of us are uncomfortable asking for help because we believe that our request places burdens on the other person. Ironically, we may be missing an opportunity to show others how we value and respect them. People who know you and think well of you are often highly motivated to help. Furthermore, the more specific you can be about what you need from them, the easier it is for them, to assist you.

Directions: In this section, there is a passage followed by questions or unfinished statements, each with four suggested answers A, B, C and D. Choose the best answer.

     Sometimes a race is not enough. Sometimes a runner just wants to go further. That’s what happened to Dennis Martin and Brooke Curran.
     Martin, 68, a retired detective form New York City, took up running after his first wife died. Curran, 46, a philanthropist(慈善家)from Alexandria, started running to get out of the house and collect her thoughts. Both she and Martin got good at running but felt the desire to do more. “The more I trained, the better I got,” Curran said,” but I would cross the finish line with no sense of accomplishment.”
     Eventually , they worked up to running marathons (马拉松) (and longer races) in other countries, on other countries. Now both have achieved a notable — and increasingly less rate — milestone; running the 26.2-mile race on all seven continents.
     They are part of a phenomenon that has grown out of the running culture in the past two decades, at the intersection of athleticism and leisure: “runcations,” which combine distance running with travel to exotic places. There trips, as expensive as they are physically challenging ,are a growing and competitive market in the travel industry.
     “In the beginning, running was enough,” said Steen Albrechtsen, a press manager. The classic marathon was the ultimate goal, then came the super marathons, like London and New York. But when 90,000 people a year can take that challenge, it is no longer exciting and adventurous .Hence, the search for new adventures began.”
     “No one could ever have imagined that running would become the lifestyle activity that it is today,” said Thom Gilligan, founder and president of Boston-based Marathon Tours and Travel. Gilligan, who has been in business since 1979, is partly responsible for the seven-continent phenomenon.
     It started with a casual talk to an interviewer about his company offering trips to every continent except Antarctica. And then in 1995, Marathon fours hosted its first Antarctica Marathon on King George Island. Off the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula; 160 runners got to the starting line of a dirt-and ice-trail route via a Russian icebreaker through the Drake Passage.

Directions: In this section, you are required to read one quoted blog and the comments on it. The blog and comments are followed by questions or unfinished statements, each with four suggested answer A, B, C and D. Choose the best answer.

     A fascinating new study reveals that Americans are more likely to call their children "intelligent," while European parents focus on happiness and balance.
     Here's what one parent had to say about the intelligence of her 3-year-old, which was apparent to her from the very first moments of her life:
     "I have this vivid memory, when she was born, of them taking her to clean her off... And she was looking all around... She was alert from the very first second... I took her out when she was six weeks old to a shopping mall to have her picture taken people would stop me and say, "What an alert baby." One guy stopped me and said, "Lady, she was an intelligent baby."
     Not only are Americans far more likely to focus on their children's intelligence and cognitive skills, they are also far less likely to describe them as "happy" or "easy" children to parent.
     The U.S.'s unhealthy interest in cognitive development in the early years overlooks so much else," the researchers told us.
     Comment 1:
     Probably indicates more about differences in cultural attitudes towards humility and boasting than about parenting styles. Here in the Netherlands if someone called their child "intelligent" I'd be rolling my eyes, both because it's probably biased and overstated and because it's just a rotten thing to draw attention to; as if it's all about whose child is "Better". Life isn't that much of a damn contest to us.
     Comment 2：
     Agreed! That would apply in Sweden too. Parenting is more focused on the child's well-being than social competition (there may be pressures here too, but it is not socially acceptable to express those things).
     Comment 3:
     I agree and I live in the U.S. Parent's opinions of their children's intellect are definitely biased and overstated. It is the most annoying thing to listen to. Being "advanced" at a young age has little if anything to do with their ability to learn as they get older and EVERY child is a genius if you give them a chance and an ear to listen to them. The happier the kid is, the smarter they will be. Happy and healthy is key.

Directions: In this section, there is a passage followed by questions or unfinished statements, each with four suggested answers A, B, C and D. Choose the best answer.

     Science is finally beginning to embrace animals who were, for a long time, considered second-class citizens.
     As Annie Potts of Canterbury University has noted, chickens distinguish among one hundred chicken faces and recognize familiar individuals even after months of separation. When given problems to solve, they reason: hens trained to pick colored buttons sometimes choose to give up an immediate (lesser) food reward for a slightly later (and better) one. Healthy hens may aid friends, and mourn when those friends die.
     Pigs respond meaningfully to human symbols. When a research team led by Candace Croney at Penn State University carried wooden blocks marked with X and O symbols around pigs, only the O carriers offered food to the animals. The pigs soon ignored the X carriers in favor of the 0's. Then the team switched from real-life objects to T-shirts printed with X or O symbols Still, the pigs ventured only toward the O-shirted people: they had transferred their knowledge to a two-dimensional format, a not-inconsiderable feat of reasoning.
     Fairly soon, I came to see that along with our closest living relatives, cetaceans (鲸目动物) too are masters of cultural learning，and elephants express profound joy and mourning with their social companions. Long-term studies in the wild on these mammals helped to fuel a perspective shift in our society: the public no longer so easily accepts monkeys made to undergo painful procedures in laboratories, elephants forced to perform in circuses, and dolphins kept in small tanks at theme parks.
     Over time, though, as I began to broaden out even further and explore the inner lives of fish, chicken, pigs, goats, and cows, I started to wonder: Will the new science of “food animals” bring an ethical revolution in terms of who we eat? In other words, will the breadth of our ethics start to catch up with the breadth of our science?
     Animal activists are already there, of course, committed to not eating these animals. But what about the rest of us? Can paying attention to the thinking and feeling of these animals lead us to make changes in who we eat?

Directions: In this section, there is a passage followed by questions or unfinished statements, each with four suggested answers A, B, C and D. Choose the best answer.

     Five or six years ago, I attended a lecture on the science of attention. A philosopher who conducts research in the medical school was talking about attention blindness, the basic feature of the human brain that, when we concentrate intensely on one task, causes us to miss just about everything else. Because we can't see what we can't see, our lecturer was determined to catch us in the act. He had us watch a video of six people tossing basketballs back and forth, three in white shirts and three in black, and our task was to keep track only of the tosses among the people in white. The tape rolled, and everyone began counting.
     Everyone except me, I'm dyslexic (有阅读障碍的), and the moment I saw that grainy tape with the confusing basketball tossers, I knew I wouldn't be able to keep track of their movements, so I let my mind wander. My curiosity was aroused, though, when about 30 seconds into the tape, a gorilla (大猩猩) came in among the players. She (we later learned a female student was in the gorilla suit) stared at the camera, thumped her chest, and then strode away while they continued passing the balls.
     When the tape stopped, the philosopher asked how many people had counted at least a dozen basketball tosses. Hands went up all over. He then asked who had counted 13, 14, and congratulated those who'd scored the perfect 15. Then he asked, "And who saw the gorilla?"
     I raised my hand and was surprised to discover I was the only person at my table and one of only three or four in the large room to do so. He'd set us up,trapping us in our own attention blindness. Yes, there had been a trick, but he wasn't the one who had played it on us. By concentrating so hard on counting, we had managed to miss the gorilla in the midst.

Directions: In this section, there is a passage followed by questions or unfinished statements, each with four suggested answers A, B, C and D. Choose the best answer.

     Cheating is nothing new. But today, educators and administrators are finding that instances of academic dishonesty on the part of students have become more frequent—and are less likely to be punished—than in the past. Cheating appears to have gained acceptance among good and poor students alike.
     Why is student cheating on the rise? No one really knows. Some blame the trend on a general loosening of moral values among today's youth. Others have attributed increased cheating to the fact that today's youth are far more pragmatic (实用主义的) than their more idealistic predecessors. Whereas in the late sixties and early seventies, students were filled with visions about changing the world, today’s students feel great pressure to conform and succeed. In interviews with students at high schools and colleges around the country, both young men and women said that cheating had become easy. Some suggested they did it out of spite for teachers they did not respect. Others looked at it as a game. Only if they were caught, some said, would they feel guilty. "People are competitive," said a second-year college student named Anna, from Chicago. There's an underlying fear. If you don't do well, your life is going to be ruined. The pressure is not only form parents and friends but from oneself. To achieve. To succeed. It’s almost as though we have to outdo other people to achieve our own goals.
     Edward Wynne, a magazine editor, blames the rise in academic dishonesty on the schools. He claims that administrators and teachers have been too hesitant to take action. Dwight Huber, chairman of the English department at Amarillo, sees the matter differently, blaming the rise in cheating on the way students are evaluated. "I would cheat if I felt I was being cheated," Mr. Huber said. He feels that as long as teachers gives short-answer tests rather than essay questions and rate students by the number of facts they can memorize rather than by how well they can put information together, students will try to beat the system. "The concept of cheating is based on the false assumption that the system is legitimate and there is something wrong with the individuals who are doing it," he said. "That's too easy an answer. We've got to start looking at the system."

Directions: In this section, there is a passage followed by questions or unfinished statements, each with four suggested answers A, B, C and D. Choose the best answer.

     We tend to think of plants as the furniture of the natural word. They don’t move they don’t make sounds, they don’t seem to respond to anything –at least not very quickly. But as is often the case, our human view of the world misses quite a lot. Plants talk to each other all the time. And the language is chemical.
     Over the years scientists have reported that different types of plants, from trees to tomatoes, release compounds into the air to help neighboring plants. These chemical warnings all have the same purpose — to spread information about one plant’s disease so other plants can defend themselves. But exactly how plants receive and act on many of these signals is still mysterious.
     In this week’s Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers in Japan offer some explanations. They have identified one chemical message and traced it all the way from release to action.
     The scientists looked at tomato plants infested (侵害) by common pest, the cutworm caterpillar (毛虫). To start out, they grew plants in two plastic compartments connected by a tube. One plant was infested and placed upwind and the others were uninfested and placed downwind. The downwind plants were later exposed to the cutworm caterpillar. The results showed that plants that had previously been near sick neighbors were able to defend themselves better against the caterpillar.
     The researchers also studied leaves from exposed and unexposed plants. They found one compound showed up more often in the exposed plants. The substance is called Hex Vic. When the scientists fed Hex Vic to cutworms, it knocked down their survival rate by 17%. The scientists identified the source of Hex Vic, and sprayed it lightly over healthy plants. Those plants were then able to start producing the caterpillar-killing Hex Vic. Researchers confirmed that uninfested plants have to build their own weapon to fight off bugs and diseases. How do they know when to play defense? They are warned first by their friendly plant neighbors.
     It is a complex tale, and it may be happening in more plant species than tomatoes. It may also be happening with more chemical signals that are still unknown to us. For now though, we know that plants not only communicate, they look out for one another.

Directions: In this section, there is a passage followed by questions or unfinished statements, each with four suggested answers A, B, C and D. Choose the best answer.

     There are few sadder sights than a pile of fan letters, lovingly decorated with hand drawings, suffering in a bin. The sparkly envelopes were addressed to Taylor Swift, a pop star much beloved by teenage and pre-teen girls.
     "Dear Taylor," read one discarded message, "I love you so much! You're the best! And you're really beautiful and cute! I'm really enjoying your songs,"
     This, along with hundreds of other similar letters sent from around the world, was discovered in a Nashville recycling disposal unit by a local woman. Swifts management was quick to reassure her admirer that they had been thrown out accidentally. The response may come as a disappointment to any devotee who imagines, as they compose their letters, that Swift makes time lo view each one personally.
     Dealing with piles of fan mail is, however, an administrative burden for most celebrities. While some celebrities do like to go through their mail personally, the majority simply do not have time. But the fate of their correspondence is something most committed fans will not wish, to dwell on, says Lynn Zubernis,an expert in the psychology of fandom at West Chester University. 

     "There's this little bit of every fan that thinks theirs will be the one that stands out—it's not an expectation, but a hope that theirs will be seen by the celebrity."
     While the relationship between the fan and the celebrity may exist only in the mind of the former, it stems from a deeply-rooted human need for community and belonging, Zubernis believes. As a result, even receiving a mass-produced letter of acknowledgement and a photo stamped with a reproduced signature can be a powerful experience.
     "People have a tremendous need to connect with the person they are idolizing (偶像化)," she says. "They can't ring them up and say, 'Can we have coffee?' It's not about the autograph (签名) . It's about the moment of connection."

Directions: In this section, there is a passage followed by questions or unfinished statements, each with four suggested answers A, B, C and D. Choose the best answer.

     Facelift (紧肤术) followed by a week on a beach in Thailand? Hip surgery with a side of shopping in Singapore? Over the last 10 years, Asia's rise on the medical tourism scene has been quick. Eastern nations dominate the global scene. Now Bali wants a slice of the action.
     The Indonesian island recently opened its first facility specifically targeting medical tourists with packages and services, Bali International Medical Centre (BIMC) Nusa Dua. BIMC already has an international hospital in Kuta, which opened in 1998.
     The new internationally managed facility offers surgical and non-surgical cosmetic procedures and dental care.
     Unlike most of the region's hospitals, BIMC is designed to feel more like a spa or resort (度假村) than a medical facility.
     The 50-bed hospital has a 24-hour medical emergency entrance and hotel-like lobby at the front of the building servicing the hospital's medical, and dental centers.
     If you're a celebrity who doesn't want everyone to know you're here for a bit of lipo (吸脂术), no worries. There's a private entrance that leads to the CosMedic Centre, which offers views of a golf course.
     BIMC has even teamed up with the nearby Courtyard by Marriott Bali, which provides specific after-care services like tailor-made meals and wellness programs for patients.
     Latest technology and cool interiors are a start, but breaking into a regional industry that already has some of the world's top international hospitals will be tough, says Josef Woodman, CEO of U.S. -based medical travel consumer guide Patients Beyond Borders (PBB).
     "As a newcomer, Bali faces stiff competition from nearby international healthcare providers. To compete, Bali will need to demonstrate a quality level of care and promote its services to the region and the world. On the positive side, Bali is blessed as one of the region's safest, most popular tourist destinations, with a built-in potential to attract medical travelers."
     The Indonesian island couldn't have picked a better time to get into the game, says PBB. "The world population is aging and becoming wealthier at rates that surpass the availability of quality healthcare resources," says the company's research.

Directions: In this section, there is a passage followed by questions or unfinished statements, each with four suggested answers A, B, C and D. Choose the best answer.

     Five or six years ago, I attended a lecture on the science of attention. A philosopher who conducts research in the medical school was talking about attention blindness, the basic feature of the human brain that, when we concentrate intensely on one task, causes us to miss just about everything else. Because we can't see what we can't see, our lecturer was determined to catch us in the act. He had us watch a video of six people tossing basketballs back and forth, three in white shirts and three in black, and our task was to keep track only of the tosses among the people in white. The tape rolled, and everyone began counting.
     Everyone except me, I'm dyslexic (有阅读障碍的), and the moment I saw that grainy tape with the confusing basketball tossers, I knew I wouldn't be able to keep track of their movements, so I let my mind wander. My curiosity was aroused, though, when about 30 seconds into the tape, a gorilla (大猩猩) came in among the players. She (we later learned a female student was in the gorilla suit) stared at the camera, thumped her chest, and then strode away while they continued passing the balls.
     When the tape stopped, the philosopher asked how many people had counted at least a dozen basketball tosses. Hands went up all over. He then asked who had counted 13, 14, and congratulated those who'd scored the perfect 15. Then he asked, "And who saw the gorilla?"
     I raised my hand and was surprised to discover I was the only person at my table and one of only three or four in the large room to do so. He'd set us up,trapping us in our own attention blindness. Yes, there had been a trick, but he wasn't the one who had played it on us. By concentrating so hard on counting, we had managed to miss the gorilla in the midst.

Directions: In this section, there is a passage followed by questions or unfinished statements, each with four suggested answers A, B, C and D. Choose the best answer.

     For many of us, asking for help is a difficult concept. We may feel as if we are admitting a weakness that the world would not have known about, had we not asked for help.
     Ironically, it's been my experience that people who are able to deliver well-positioned requests for help are seen as very strong individuals. When they demonstrate the humility (谦卑) to ask for help, they earn the respect of others. People who receive a heartfelt request for help are usually honored by the request. In turn, we are strengthened by the very help that is provided.
     One of my clients (we'll call her Kira) recently made a shift in how she was interacting with her boss. When asked to prepare presentations, she assumed that she was expected to go away, develop the content, deliver it at the required meeting and then wait for feedback from her boss. Her boss was highly regarded for the impact of his presentations, while Kira often felt that her presentations were lacking. When she took a hard look at how this approach was working for her, Kira recognized that she had not yet made use of her boss's support. She could learn far more about creating attractive presentations by walking through a draft with her boss—focusing on the content plus her delivery—and obtaining feedback earlier in the process rather than at the back end. So she made the request for his support.
     The outcome? Her boss was delighted to coach Kira and was enthusiastic about the opportunity to put into use his own strength by teaching presentation skills more effectively to her. By taking the time to work together on preparation for a number of Kira's key presentations, she benefited from her boss's thought process and was able to distinguish the critical components to enhance her own presentations. Kira's presentations now have punch!
     Some of us are uncomfortable asking for help because we believe that our request places burdens on the other person. Ironically, we may be missing an opportunity to show others how we value and respect them. People who know you and think well of you are often highly motivated to help. Furthermore, the more specific you can be about what you need from them, the easier it is for them, to assist you.

Directions: In this section, there is a passage followed by questions or unfinished statements, each with four suggested answers A, B, C and D. Choose the best answer.

     People are living longer than ever, but for some reason, women are living longer than men. A baby boy born in the United States in 2003 can expect to live to be about 73, a baby girl, about 79. This is indeed a wide gap, and no one really knows why it exists. The greater longevity (长寿) of women, however, has been known for centuries. It was, for example, described in the seventeenth century. However, the difference was smaller then—the gap is growing.
     A number of reasons have been proposed to account for the differences. The gap is greatest in industrialized societies, so it has been suggested that women are less susceptible to work strains that may raise the risk of heart disease and alcoholism. Sociologists also tell us that women are encouraged to be less adventurous than men (and this may be why they are more careful drivers, involved in fewer accidents).
     Even smoking has been implicated in the age discrepancy. It was once suggested that working women are more likely to smoke and as more women entered the work force, the age gap would begin to close, because smoking is related to earlier deaths. Now, however, we see more women smoking and they still tend to live longer although their lung cancer rate is climbing sharply.
     One puzzling aspect of the problem is that women do not appear to be as healthy as men. That is, they report far more illnesses. But when a man reports an illness, it is more likely to be serious.
     Some researchers have suggested that men may die earlier because their health is more strongly related to their emotions. For example, men tend to die sooner after losing a spouse than women do. Men even seem to be more weakened by loss of a job. (Both of these are linked with a marked decrease in the effectiveness of the immune system.) Among men, death follows retirement with an alarming promptness.
     Perhaps we are searching for the answers too close to the surface of the problem. Perhaps the answers lie deeper in our biological heritage. After all, the phenomenon is not isolated to humans. Females have the edge among virtually all mammalian (哺乳动物) species, in that they generally live longer. Furthermore, in many of these species the differences begin at the moment of conception; there are more male miscarriages (流产). In humans, after birth, more baby boys than baby girls die. 

Directions: In this section, there is a passage followed by questions or unfinished statements, each with four suggested answers A, B, C and D. Choose the best answer.

     Cheating is nothing new. But today, educators and administrators are finding that instances of academic dishonesty on the part of students have become more frequent—and are less likely to be punished—than in the past. Cheating appears to have gained acceptance among good and poor students alike.
     Why is student cheating on the rise? No one really knows. Some blame the trend on a general loosening of moral values among today's youth. Others have attributed increased cheating to the fact that today's youth are far more pragmatic (实用主义的) than their more idealistic predecessors. Whereas in the late sixties and early seventies, students were filled with visions about changing the world, today’s students feel great pressure to conform and succeed. In interviews with students at high schools and colleges around the country, both young men and women said that cheating had become easy. Some suggested they did it out of spite for teachers they did not respect. Others looked at it as a game. Only if they were caught, some said, would they feel guilty. "People are competitive," said a second-year college student named Anna, from Chicago. There's an underlying fear. If you don't do well, your life is going to be ruined. The pressure is not only form parents and friends but from oneself. To achieve. To succeed. It’s almost as though we have to outdo other people to achieve our own goals.
     Edward Wynne, a magazine editor, blames the rise in academic dishonesty on the schools. He claims that administrators and teachers have been too hesitant to take action. Dwight Huber, chairman of the English department at Amarillo, sees the matter differently, blaming the rise in cheating on the way students are evaluated. "I would cheat if I felt I was being cheated," Mr. Huber said. He feels that as long as teachers gives short-answer tests rather than essay questions and rate students by the number of facts they can memorize rather than by how well they can put information together, students will try to beat the system. "The concept of cheating is based on the false assumption that the system is legitimate and there is something wrong with the individuals who are doing it," he said. "That's too easy an answer. We've got to start looking at the system."

Directions: In this section, there is a passage followed by questions or unfinished statements, each with four suggested answers A, B, C and D. Choose the best answer.

     Many are aware of the tremendous waste of energy in our environment, but fail to take advantage of straightforward opportunities to conserve that energy. For example, everyone knows that lights should be switched off when no one is in an office. Similarly, when employees are not using a meeting room, there is no need to regulate temperature.
     Fortunately, one need not rely on human intervention to conserve energy. With the help of smart sensing and network technology, energy conservation processes such as turning off lights and adjusting temperature can be readily automated. Ultimately, this technology will enable consumers and plant managers to better identify wasteful energy use and institute procedures that lead to smarter and more efficient homes, buildings and industrial plants.
     Until now, wires and cables for power and connectivity have limited the widespread adoption of sensor (传感器) networks by making them difficult and expensive to install and maintain. Battery-powered wireless networks can simplify installation and reduce cost. But their high power consumption and the corresponding need for regular battery replacement has made wireless networks difficult and costly to maintain. Nobody wants to replace hundreds or thousands of window sensor batteries in a large building on a regular basis.
     The promise of wireless sensor networks can only be fully realized when the wiring for both the data communication and the power supply is eliminated. Doing so requires a tree battery-free wireless solution, one that can utilize energy harvested directly from the environment. To facilitate the widespread deployment of wireless sensor networks, GreenPeak has developed an ultra-low-power communication technology that can utilize environmental energy sources such as light, motion and vibration. This technology, employing on-board power management circuits and computer software to monitor energy harvesters and make the best use of harvested energy, enables sensors to operate reliably in a battery-free environment.
     Wireless sensor networks deployed in our offices and homes will have an enormous impact on our daily lives, helping to build a smarter world in which energy is recycled and fully utilized. These wireless platforms, equipped with advanced sensing capability, will enable us to better control our lives, homes and environment, creating a truly connected world that enables people worldwide to live in a more comfortable, safer, and cleaner environment. 

Directions: In this section, you are required to read one quoted blog and the comments on it. The blog and comments are followed by questions or unfinished statements, each with four suggested answer A, B, C and D. Choose the best answer.

     A fascinating new study reveals that Americans are more likely to call their children "intelligent," while European parents focus on happiness and balance.
     Here's what one parent had to say about the intelligence of her 3-year-old, which was apparent to her from the very first moments of her life:
     "I have this vivid memory, when she was born, of them taking her to clean her off... And she was looking all around... She was alert from the very first second... I took her out when she was six weeks old to a shopping mall to have her picture taken people would stop me and say, "What an alert baby." One guy stopped me and said, "Lady, she was an intelligent baby."
     Not only are Americans far more likely to focus on their children's intelligence and cognitive skills, they are also far less likely to describe them as "happy" or "easy" children to parent.
     The U.S.'s unhealthy interest in cognitive development in the early years overlooks so much else," the researchers told us.
     Comment 1:
     Probably indicates more about differences in cultural attitudes towards humility and boasting than about parenting styles. Here in the Netherlands if someone called their child "intelligent" I'd be rolling my eyes, both because it's probably biased and overstated and because it's just a rotten thing to draw attention to; as if it's all about whose child is "Better". Life isn't that much of a damn contest to us.
     Comment 2：
     Agreed! That would apply in Sweden too. Parenting is more focused on the child's well-being than social competition (there may be pressures here too, but it is not socially acceptable to express those things).
     Comment 3:
     I agree and I live in the U.S. Parent's opinions of their children's intellect are definitely biased and overstated. It is the most annoying thing to listen to. Being "advanced" at a young age has little if anything to do with their ability to learn as they get older and EVERY child is a genius if you give them a chance and an ear to listen to them. The happier the kid is, the smarter they will be. Happy and healthy is key.

Directions: In this section, there is a passage followed by questions or unfinished statements, each with four suggested answers A, B, C and D. Choose the best answer.

     Facelift (紧肤术) followed by a week on a beach in Thailand? Hip surgery with a side of shopping in Singapore? Over the last 10 years, Asia's rise on the medical tourism scene has been quick. Eastern nations dominate the global scene. Now Bali wants a slice of the action.
     The Indonesian island recently opened its first facility specifically targeting medical tourists with packages and services, Bali International Medical Centre (BIMC) Nusa Dua. BIMC already has an international hospital in Kuta, which opened in 1998.
     The new internationally managed facility offers surgical and non-surgical cosmetic procedures and dental care.
     Unlike most of the region's hospitals, BIMC is designed to feel more like a spa or resort (度假村) than a medical facility.
     The 50-bed hospital has a 24-hour medical emergency entrance and hotel-like lobby at the front of the building servicing the hospital's medical, and dental centers.
     If you're a celebrity who doesn't want everyone to know you're here for a bit of lipo (吸脂术), no worries. There's a private entrance that leads to the CosMedic Centre, which offers views of a golf course.
     BIMC has even teamed up with the nearby Courtyard by Marriott Bali, which provides specific after-care services like tailor-made meals and wellness programs for patients.
     Latest technology and cool interiors are a start, but breaking into a regional industry that already has some of the world's top international hospitals will be tough, says Josef Woodman, CEO of U.S. -based medical travel consumer guide Patients Beyond Borders (PBB).
     "As a newcomer, Bali faces stiff competition from nearby international healthcare providers. To compete, Bali will need to demonstrate a quality level of care and promote its services to the region and the world. On the positive side, Bali is blessed as one of the region's safest, most popular tourist destinations, with a built-in potential to attract medical travelers."
     The Indonesian island couldn't have picked a better time to get into the game, says PBB. "The world population is aging and becoming wealthier at rates that surpass the availability of quality healthcare resources," says the company's research.

Directions: In this section, there is a passage followed by questions or unfinished statements, each with four suggested answers A, B, C and D. Choose the best answer.

     Science is finally beginning to embrace animals who were, for a long time, considered second-class citizens.
     As Annie Potts of Canterbury University has noted, chickens distinguish among one hundred chicken faces and recognize familiar individuals even after months of separation. When given problems to solve, they reason: hens trained to pick colored buttons sometimes choose to give up an immediate (lesser) food reward for a slightly later (and better) one. Healthy hens may aid friends, and mourn when those friends die.
     Pigs respond meaningfully to human symbols. When a research team led by Candace Croney at Penn State University carried wooden blocks marked with X and O symbols around pigs, only the O carriers offered food to the animals. The pigs soon ignored the X carriers in favor of the 0's. Then the team switched from real-life objects to T-shirts printed with X or O symbols Still, the pigs ventured only toward the O-shirted people: they had transferred their knowledge to a two-dimensional format, a not-inconsiderable feat of reasoning.
     Fairly soon, I came to see that along with our closest living relatives, cetaceans (鲸目动物) too are masters of cultural learning，and elephants express profound joy and mourning with their social companions. Long-term studies in the wild on these mammals helped to fuel a perspective shift in our society: the public no longer so easily accepts monkeys made to undergo painful procedures in laboratories, elephants forced to perform in circuses, and dolphins kept in small tanks at theme parks.
     Over time, though, as I began to broaden out even further and explore the inner lives of fish, chicken, pigs, goats, and cows, I started to wonder: Will the new science of “food animals” bring an ethical revolution in terms of who we eat? In other words, will the breadth of our ethics start to catch up with the breadth of our science?
     Animal activists are already there, of course, committed to not eating these animals. But what about the rest of us? Can paying attention to the thinking and feeling of these animals lead us to make changes in who we eat?

Directions: In this section, there is a passage followed by questions or unfinished statements, each with four suggested answers A, B, C and D. Choose the best answer.

     It is all very well to blame traffic jam, the cost of petrol and the fast pace of modern life, but manners on the roads are becoming deplorable. Everybody knows that the nicest men become monsters behind the wheel. It is all very well, again, to have a tiger in the tank, but to have one in the driver's seat is another matter. You might tolerate the odd road-hog (占道者), but nowadays the well-mannered motorist is the exception to the rule. Perhaps the situation calls for a "Be Kind to Other Drivers" campaign, otherwise it may get completely out of hand.
     Road courtesy is not only good manners, but good sense too. It takes the most good-tempered of drivers to resist the temptation to hit back when subjected to uncivilized behavior. A friendly nod or a wave of acknowledgement in response to an act of courtesy helps to create an atmosphere of goodwill and tolerance so necessary in modem traffic conditions. But such acknowledgements of courtesy are all too rare today. Many drivers nowadays don't even seem able to recognize courtesy when they see it.
     Contrary to general opinion, young drivers have better manners than their seniors. But this is short-lived in the world of modern driving where many drivers neither expect nor give any mercy. This may be encouraged on the battlefield but is out of place on the roads.
     Lorry drivers say they have almost abandoned the practice of signaling cars to overtake when the road is clear, because many of the cars took too long to pass. They couldn't be bothered to select a lower gear. The car drivers, after overtaking, slowed down again and hogged the road. Again, a motoring magazine has recently drawn attention to the increasing number of drivers who never wait for gaps. "They manufacture them by force, using their direction indicators as a threat rather than a warning." Punch-ups (打群架) are quite common. It can't be long before we hear of pistols and knives being used.
     Driving is essentially a state of mind. However technically skilled a driver may be, he can't be an advanced motorist if he is always arrogant and aggressive.

Directions: In this section, there is a passage followed by questions or unfinished statements, each with four suggested answers A, B, C and D. Choose the best answer.

     Last week, I read a story about a 34-year-old British woman who is extremely afraid of metal forks. She's been using plastic ones for 17 years because the sound of a fork rubbing against a plate gives her a panic attack.
     Strange, right? But she's not alone. While popular phobias (恐惧症) about snakes and spiders might get all of the attention, there are a wide variety of not-so-obvious horrors that make people nervous.
     While some phobias might seem a bit silly, they can cause serious emotional distress. My co-worker Magda is terrified of pigeons, a phobia that is taking over her life. She won't walk in certain parts of the city and runs screaming from the subway when one of these "rats with wings" finds its way onto the platform. Another friend is disgusted with cheese. Once I saw her run away from a slice of it. So where does an irrational fear of cheese come from?
     Are phobias something we inherit from our genes or do we acquire these unusual anxieties over time?
     Ever since I can remember I have been unreasonably frightened of elevators. There was no terrible childhood experience and I am fine with confined spaces, but something about elevators makes me nervous. And so, when my boyfriend and I found ourselves trapped in an elevator last year—because these sorts of things always happen eventually—I was anticipating the worst.
     While he gave me a suggestive eyebrow raise and proposed we "take advantage of the situation," I began screaming uncontrollably. I was far from turned on by the whole facing my worst nightmare thing.
     However, after the fear subsided (消退) I realized that, yes, this was my greatest fear come true, and yet—it wasn't all that bad. Nervous and inconvenient maybe, but terrifying? Not so much.
     Liberating yourself from a deep-seated phobia can be a long and difficult process, but sometimes it can be as simple as confronting it head on.