pte alpaca high frequency "key king"羊驼PTE高频机经

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羊驼 11 月高频机经
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羊驼 PTE 拥有全球最大规模的考生学员以及最大规模的 APP 用户——累计达 10w+，这些广大的学
员和用户促成了这份最新最全的机经文档。考生从考场带出回忆，羊驼机经团队火速整理，每周更新
机经文档。整个机经的梳理流程可以从这里看到。
羊驼倡导考生使用“羊驼 PTE ”APP 贡献自己的考试回忆和经验，羊驼团队完善之后，形成最新机
经练习题。加入到 APP 题库后，所有用户都可以随时参与练习、查看评分。
这是一份来自羊驼官方和万千羊驼用户的答卷，
希望这份机经，能够帮到备考 PTE 的你。
1.高频+新题机经通过整合 PTE 考生的回忆而来，官方并没有提供认证版真题。在考试中，以考试出
现的原文本为准！
2.部分机经由考生提供词汇&部分片段——经羊驼教研团队重复比对由此找到原文，原图及原音频来
确保机经的完整性及可靠性。
3.最新版本机经请联系首页课程顾问，或下载“羊驼 PTE”APP。同时提供羊驼用户标注的高频机经
版本（每两周按被考到次数最多整理）
4.本次月度高频机经，收录日期是 10 月 1 -11 月 26 日；为了您能获取最新准确的信息，建议每周
联系羊驼课程顾问拿最新 PDF 版本
[羊驼机经日 11.19] 每周一全网首发最新高频机经预测+新题汇总
Tips: APP/小程序搜索标题/内容即可互动查阅和查看最新修订版本
羊驼教研组历经一月鏖战，SST 已经进入全解析模式！
所有 SST 已全部给出 sample answer，并更新到羊驼 APP
即日起告别其他残缺不全的机经内容，远离看过还是不会做的后顾之忧
剩余题型将在近期完善，为大家开启放心的背题模式 2.0
RA — Read aloud
1. Yellow
Yellow is the most optimistic color, yet surprisingly, people lose their tempers most
often in yellow rooms and babies cry more in them. The reason may be that yellow is
the hardest color on the eye. On the other hand, it speeds metabolism and enhances
concentration; think of yellow legal pads and post-it notes.
2. Father
Ever since I remembered, father woke up at five thirty every morning, made us all
breakfast and read newspaper. After that he would go to work. He worked as a writer.
It was a long time before I realized he did this for a living.
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3. Blue V2
Blue is the most popular color. Food researchers disagree – when humans searched
for food, they learned to avoid toxic or spoiled objects, which were often blue, black,
or purple. When food dyed blue is served to study subjects, they lose their appetite.
4. Akimbo
Akimbo, this must be one of the odder-looking words in the language. It puzzles us
in part, because it doesn’t seem to have any relatives. What’s more, it is now
virtually a fossil word, until recently almost invariably found in arms akimbo, a posture
in which a person stands with hands on hips and elbows sharply bent outward, one
that signals impatience and hostility.
5. Funds
At the beginning of each fiscal year funds are allocated to each State account in
accordance with the University’s financial plan. Funds are allocated to each account
by object of expenditure. Account managers are responsible for ensuring that
adequate funds are available in the appropriate object before initiating transactions
to use the funds.
6. Legal writing
Legal writing is usually less discursive than writing in other humanities subjects, and
precision is more important than variety. Sentence structure should not be too
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complex; it is usually unnecessary to make extensive use of adjectives or adverbs, and
consistency of terms is often required.
7.Funds
At the beginning of each fiscal year funds are allocated to each State account in
accordance with the University’s financial plan. Funds are allocated to each account
by object of expenditure. Account managers are responsible for ensuring that
adequate funds are available in the appropriate object before initiating transactions
to use the funds.
8.Legal writing
Legal writing is usually less discursive than writing in other humanities subjects, and
precision is more important than variety. Sentence structure should not be too
complex; it is usually unnecessary to make extensive use of adjectives or adverbs, and
consistency of terms is often required.
9.Industrial Revolution
As to the Industrial Revolution, one cannot dispute today the fact that it has
succeeded in inaugurating in a number of countries a level of mass prosperity which
was undreamt of in the days preceding the Industrial Revolution. But, on the
immediate impact of the Industrial Revolution, there were substantial divergences
among writers.
10.Himalayas
Although it hails from a remote region of the western Himalayas, this plant now
looks entirely at home on the banks of English rivers. Brought to the UK in 1839, it
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quickly escaped from Victorian gardens and colonized river banks and damp
woodlands. Now it is spreading across Europe, New Zealand, Canada and the US.
11.How Shakespeare became Shakespeare
A young man from a small provincial town — a man without independent wealth,
without powerful family connections and without a university education — moved
to London in the late 1580’s and, in a remarkably short time, became the greatest
playwright not of his age alone but of all time. How did Shakespeare become
Shakespeare?
12.Language diversity
The diversity of human language may be compared to the diversity of the natural
world. Just as the demise of plant spices reduces genetic diversity, and deprives
humanity or potential medical and biological resources. So extinction of language
takes with it a wealth of culture, art and knowledge.
13.Private equity houses
It isn’t rate for private equity houses to hire grads fresh out of business school, he
said, but 9 times out of 10, the students who nab these jobs are the ones who had
private equity experience under their before even starting their MBA program.
14.Thompson
“Thompson recognized and exploited all the ingredients of a successful
amusement ride.” writes Judith A Adams in The American Amusement Park
Industry. “His coasters combined an appearance of danger with actual safety,
thrilled riders with exhilarating speed, and allowed the public to intimately
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experience the Industrial Revolution’s new technologies of gears, steel, and
dazzling electric lights.”
15.Augustus
Augustus was given the powers of an absolute monarch, but he presented himself as
the preserver of republican traditions. He treated the Senate, or state council, with
great respect, and was made Consul year after year. He successfully reduced the
political power of the army by retiring many soldiers, but giving them land or money
to keep their loyalty.
16.Lincoln’s
Lincoln’s apparently radical change of mind about his war power to emancipate
slaves was caused by the escalating scope of war, which convinced him that any
measure to weaken the Confederacy and strengthen the Union war effort was
justifiable as a military necessity.
17.Administration option
Another administration option is to bake marijuana at a relatively low temperature
to kill any dangerous microorganisms and then allow that patient to eat it or drink it.
Both of these methods of administration make smoking the drug unnecessary.
However, criticism of medical marijuana has also been raised because as a natural
plant, it cannot be patented and marketed by pharmaceutical companies and is
unlikely to win widespread medical acceptance.
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18.Grand Canyon
The Grand Canyon is 277 miles long, up to 18 miles wide and attains a depth of over
a mile. While the specific geologic processes and timing that formed the Grand
Canyon are the subject of debate by geologists, recent evidence suggests the
Colorado River established its course through the canyon at least 17million years
ago.
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RS — Repeat sentence
1. All essays and seminar papers submitted must be emailed to your tutor.
2. Columbia is a world leading coffee exporter.
3. In consultation with your supervisor, your thesis is approved by the faculty
committee.
4. Knives and forks should be placed next to the spoon on the edge of the table.
5. Most scientists believe that climate change threatens lives on the earth.
6. Our class is divided into two groups, you come with me, the others stay here.
7. Portfolio is due to the internal review office no later than Tuesday.
8. She is an expert of the 18th century French literature.
9. Students’ identification cards will be issued today and tomorrow.
10. The college welcomes postgraduate students from all over the world.
11. The computer viruses destroy all my files.
12. The lecture on child psychology has been postponed until Friday.
13. The meeting will take place in the main auditorium.
14. The Psychology Department is looking for volunteers to be involved in research
projects.
15. The real reason for global hunger is not the lack of food, but poverty.
16. The seminar papers should be submitted in the main office which is located behind
the library.
17. Various measures were proposed which would not have aggravated to the
situation.
18. We are not going to accept the assignment after the due date on Friday.
19. You must establish a day and a time with your tutor.
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DI — Describe image
1. Rhino distribution
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2. Pet expenditure
3. Simple circuit with light
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4. Fish
5. Growth of the bean
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6. Baby sleeping hour
7. Feeder
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8. Percent of university and college students who did educational
activities, by hour of day on weekdays
9. Planets
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10. Artificial tree storage size guide
11. Electricity Generation in China by Type, 1994-2004
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12. How solar yard lights work
13. XXX by gender
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14. Number of Internet Users per 100 people
15. Life cycle of an apple
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16. Height in centimeters
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17. Simple circuit with light
18. Typing manner
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19. Rubbish soup
20. Planets
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21. Percentage of population in urban areas
22. Life cycle of a frog V2:
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RL — Retell lecture
1. Large Hadron Collider (LHC)
Protons are finally transferred to the LHC (both in a clockwise and an anticlockwise
direction) where they are accelerated for 20 minutes to 6.5 TeV. Beams circulate for
many hours inside the LHC beam pipes under normal operating conditions.
For each collision, the physicist’s goal is to count, track and characterize all the
different particles.
The charge of the particle, for instance, is obvious since particles with positive electric
charge bend one way and those with negative charge bend the opposite way. Also
the momentum of the particle can be determined.
Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is the world’s largest particle accelerator lies in a tunnel.
The LHC is a ring roughly 28km around that accelerates protons almost to the speed
of light before colliding them head-on. Protons are particles found in the atomic
nucleus, roughly one thousand-million-millionth of a meter in size. The LHC starts
with a bottle of hydrogen gas, which is sent through an electric field to strip away the
electrons, leaving just the protons Electric and magnetic fields are the key to a particle
accelerator.
Sample answer: The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is the world’s largest and most
powerful particle accelerator. It first started up on 10 September 2008, and remains
the latest addition to CERN’s accelerator complex. The LHC consists of a 27-kilometre
ring of superconducting magnets with a number of accelerating structures to boost
the energy of the particles along the way.
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2. Logger head Turtles
Sample answer：Geomagnetic cues help young loggerhead turtles navigate the open
ocean during their epic 8,000-mile journey between leaving their natal beaches in
Florida, and returning 5-10 years later to breed. Researchers have just worked out how
they do it”. “Hatchling loggerhead sea turtle is tethered via a soft cloth harness, or
“bathing suit,” to an electronic tracking system that monitors its steering in
response to different magnetic fields”.
The sample answer is derived from candidates’ recalls
3. Climate changes
Some adverse effects of climate changes change agricultural productions. Some lands
are just merely unsuitable for growing crops. There will be millions of people facing
hunger in Africa in the near future. Climate change will result in less production and
less food. It is difficult for developing countries to deal with climate change due to
their financial status and other issues. There are many people living in hunger
especially in Africa. The climate change has devastating effects on world economy.
The tropical areas on earth are dry and hot, and are originally not suitable for food
production. The change of the climate leads to extreme weather conditions such as
floods and hurricanes, which exacerbates the food production issues. As a result, it
leads to a continuous decline in food supply annually around 10-17%. And this trend
is perceived to be continuing in the future by 2017. The regions suffering the most
will be some African countries.
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Sample answer: This lecture talks about influences of climate change. Climate change
will result in less production and less food. It is difficult for developing countries to
deal with climate change due to their financial status and other issues. There are many
people living in hungry, especially in Africa. The climate change will also have negative
effects on the world economy. The tropical areas on earth are dry and hot, and are
originally not suitable for food production.
4. Randomness of flipping coin
Flipping a coin may not be the fairest way to settle disputes. About a decade ago,
statistician Persi Diaconis started to wonder if the outcome of a coin flip really is just
a matter of chance. He had Harvard University engineers build him a mechanical coin
flipper. Diaconis, now at Stanford University, found that if a coin is launched exactly
the same way, it lands exactly the same way.
The randomness in a coin toss, it appears, is introduced by sloppy humans. Each
human-generated flip has a different height and speed, and is caught at a different
angle, giving different outcomes.
But using high speed cameras and equations, Diaconis and colleagues have now
found that even though humans are largely unpredictable coin flippers, there’s still
a bias built in, if a coin starts out heads, it ends up heads when caught more often
than it does tails. NPR’s David Kestenbaum reports.
Sample answer: The speaker talked about coin flipping. He mentioned that flipping
a coin may not be the fairest way to settle disputes because of the probability of
getting different outcomes by sloppy random human flippers. However, a research
was done by Persi Diaconis who asked engineers from Harvard University to build a
machine to flip coins. Results show that if a coin is flipped in the same angle, height
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and speed by human beings, the outcome of getting heads or tails is dependent on
how a coin starts out.
5. Bomb Calorimeter
This is a bomb calorimeter, this is the actual piece of equipment that researchers used
to calculate the energy content of either biodiesel or maybe even the potato chips
that you had for lunch today. When they calculate the amount of energy. They’re
going to calculate it in heat unites which would either be joules or calories. I want you
to look inside the bomb calorimerter inside here, you can see that there’s a silver
bucket water goes all in here and this is actually the bomb is the smaller silver cylinder
what you do is put your fuel sample in there then these two electrodes are connected
to the bomb. These provide the spark that will ignite your sample when your sample
burns or combust that gives off energy. So how is the energy collected or how did a
scientist figure out how much energy is being given off. Well, it’s a closed system,
there’s a lid here that goes on top of this calorimeter and what’s in here in the lid
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is a stirrer. The stir is going to stir the water. That’s in this big pool here so that the
heat given off from the sample is going to warm the water in a uniform way. This is
the temperature probe, this goes down in the water also and measures the change in
temperature because as the sample is burned, it will give off heat and the temperature
the water will increase. So the lid goes on the sample is prepared. The last thing that
you need to make a combustion reaction happen is oxygen and at some point during
the process, some oxygen is added by a tank. That’s connected to the calorimeter
here. So we are going to burn a sample of the biodiesel that you’ve prepared and
get some feedback on the energy content of it. You’ll be able to use this to compare
it to petroleum-based fuels like octane.
Sample answer: Bomb calorimeter is the actual piece of equipment that researchers
used to calculate the energy content in heat unites. Inside the bomb calorimeter, you
can put your fuel sample in it to connect to the bomb with the silver cylinder, which
provides spark. It’s a closed system, there is a stir to stir the water. There is also a
temperature probe, and a combustion reaction is needed to be happened. You should
burn a sample of the biodiesel that you’ve prepared and get some feedback on the
energy content of it, then you can use this to compare it to petroleum-based fuels like
octane.
6. WORLD WIDE WEB
Tim Berners-Lee believes the internet can foster human understanding and even
world peace Times Online, March 20, 2010. He is the man who has changed the world
more than anyone else in the past hundred years. Sir Tim Berners-Lee may be a mild-
mannered academic who lives modestly in Boston, but as the inventor of the world
wide web he is also a revolutionary. Along with Galileo, William Caxton and Sir Isaac
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Newton, he is a scientist who has altered the way people think as well as the way they
live
Since the web went global 20 years ago, the way we shop, listen to music and
communicate has been transformed. There are implications for politics, literature,
economics even terrorism because an individual can now have the same access to
information as the elite. Society will never be the same.
The computer scientist from Oxford, who built his own computer from a television
screen and spare parts after he was banned from one of the university computers, is
a cultural guru as much as a technological one. It is amazing how far we’ve come,
he says. But you’re always wondering what’s the next crazy idea, and working to
make sure the web stays one web and that the internet stays open. There isn’t much
time to sit back and reflect. We speak for more than an hour about everything from
Facebook to fatwas, Wikipedia to Google. He invented the web, he says, because he
was frustrated that he couldn’t find all the information he wanted in one place. It
was an imaginary concept that he realized.
Sample answer: Tim- Berners-Lee, the inventor of the world wide web, is a scientist
and a revolutionary who has altered the way people think as well as the way they live,
believing the internet can foster human understanding and even world peace. And
individuals now have the same access to information as the elite; there is not much
time to sit back and reflect because society will never be the same.
7. Thermodynamics
Thermodynamics is simply defined as the branch of physics that deals with the
conversion of different forms of energy, and the relations between heat and various
energy forms such as mechanical, electrical or chemical energy. Kinetics deals with the
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actions of forces that cause various motions (also known as dynamics) and it is
concerned with the rate of reactions. Temperature is the average kinetic energy within
a given object. Thermal energy is defined as the total of all kinetic energies within a
given system. It is important to remember that heat is caused by flow of thermal
energy due to differences in temperature (heat flows from object at higher
temperature to object at lower temperature), transferred through
conduction/convection/radiation. Additionally, thermal energy always flows from
warmer areas to cooler areas. Energy occurs in many forms, including chemical energy,
thermal energy, electromagnetic radiation, gravitational energy, electric energy,
elastic energy, nuclear energy, and rest energy. These can be categorized in two main
classes: potential energy and kinetic energy. Kinetic energy is the movement energy
of an object. Kinetic energy can be transferred between objects and transformed into
other kinds of energy. Kinetic energy may be best understood by examples that
demonstrate how it is transformed to and from other forms of energy. For example,
a cyclist uses chemical energy provided by food to accelerate a bicycle to a chosen
speed. On a level surface, this speed can be maintained without further work, except
to overcome air resistance and friction. The chemical energy has been converted into
kinetic energy, the energy of motion, but the process is not completely efficient and
produces heat within the cyclist.
Sample answer: Thermodynamics is simply defined as the branch of physics that
deals with the conversion of different forms of energy. Kinetics deals with the actions
of forces that cause various motions (also known as dynamics). Thermal energy is
defined as the total of all kinetic energies within a given system. Kinetic energy may
be best understood by examples that demonstrate how it is transformed to and from
other forms of energy.
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8. Education Equality or Quality
When Australians engage in debate about educational quality or equity, they often
seem to accept that a country cannot achieve both at the same time. Curriculum
reforms intended to improve equity often fail to do so because they increase breadth
or differentiation in offerings in a way that increases differences in quality. Further,
these differences in quality often reflect differences in students’ social backgrounds
because the ‘new’ offerings are typically taken up by relatively disadvantaged
students who are not served well them. Evidence from New South Wales will be used
to illustrate this point. The need to Improve the quality of education is well accepted
across OECD and other countries as they seek to strengthen their human capital to
underpin their modern, knowledge economies. Improved equity is also important for
this purpose, since the demand for high—level skills is widespread and the
opportunities for the low—skilled are diminishing. Improved equity in education is
also important for social cohesion. There are countries in which the education system
seems primarily to reproduce existing social arrangements, conferring privilege where
it already exists and denying it where it does not. Even in countries where the
diagnosis might be less extreme, the capacity of schooling to build social cohesion is
often diminished by the way in which schools separate individuals and groups.
Sample Answer: Australians seem to accept that a country cannot achieve
educational quality or equity at the same time. Curriculum reforms intended to
improve equity often fail to do so. The need to Improve the quality of education is
well accepted across OECD and other countries. Improved equity is also important
because of the demand of high-skilled workers, and improved equity in education is
also important for social cohesion.
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9. Australia immigration history
The first inhabitants in Australia were the ancestors of the present indigenous people.
Whether these first migrations involved one or several successive waves and distinct
peoples is still subject to academic debate, as is its timing. The minimum widely
accepted time frame places presence of humans in Australia at 40000to 43000 years.
Before Present, while the upper range supported by others is 60000 to 70000 years
BP. In any event, this migration was achieved during the closing stages of the
Pleistocene epoch, when sea levels were typically much lower than they are today.
Repeated episodes of extended glaciation resulted in decreases of sea levels by some
100150 m. The continental coastline therefore extended much further out into the
Timor Sea than it does today, and Australia and New Guinea formed a single landmass
(known as Sahul), connected by an extensive land bridge across the Arafura Sea, Gulf
of Carpentaria and Torres Strait.
The ancestral Australian Aboriginal peoples were thus long established and continued
to develop, diversity and settle through much of the continent. As the sea levels again
rose at the terminus of the most recent glacial period some 10000 years ago the
Australian continent once more became a separated landmass. However, the newly
formed 150 km wide Torres Strait with its chain of islands still provided the means for
cultural contact and trade between New Guinea and the northern Cape York Penisula.
During the 1970s and 1980s around 120000 southern Asian refugees migrated to
Australia. During that twenty years, Australia first began to adopt a policy of what
Minister of Immigration AI Grass by termed "multiculturalism". In 2004-5, Australia
accepted 123000 new settles, 19 a 40% increase over the past 10 years. The largest
number of immigrants (40000 in 200405) moved to Sydney. The majority of
immigrants came from Asia, led by China and India.
Sample answer: The general topic of this lecture is about the history of Australian
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immigrants. First, the lecture mentioned that it happened during a closed stage when
the sea level was much lower; second, after that sea level rose and Australian remained
contact with New Guinea and other continents. Next, there were about 20000 refugees
who moved to Australia. In the end, Australia therefore became a multicultural society
which included many immigrants from Asia.
10. Frog population
Frogs are a diverse and largely carnivorous group of short--bodied, tailless
amphibians composing the order Anura. The oldest fossil "proto--frog" appeared in
the early Triassic of Madagascar, but molecular clock dating suggests their origins may
extend further back to the Permian, 265 million years ago.
Frogs are widely distributed, ranging from the tropics to subarctic regions, but the
greatest concentration of species diversity is found in tropical rainforests. There are
approximately 4,800 recorded species, accounting for over 85% of extant amphibian
species. They are also one of the five most diverse vertebrate orders.
Besides living in fresh water and on dry land, the adults of some species are adapted
for living underground or in trees. Adult frogs generally have a carnivorous diet
consisting of small invertebrates, but omnivorous species exist and a few feeds on
fruit. Frogs are extremely efficient at converting what they eat into body mass. They
are an important food source for predators and part of the food web dynamics of
many of the world's ecosystems. The skin is semi-- permeable, making them
susceptible to dehydration, so they either live in moist places or have special
adaptations to deal with dry habitats.
Frogs produce a wide range of vocalizations, particularly in their breeding season, and
exhibit many different kinds of complex behaviors to attract mates, to fend off
predators and to generally survive. Frog populations have declined significantly since
the 1950s. More than one third of species are considered to be threatened with
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extinction and over one hundred and twenty are believed to have become extinct
since the 1980s. The number of malformations among frogs is on the rise and an
emerging fungal disease, chytridiomycosis, has spread around the world.
Conservation biologists are working to understand the causes of these problems and
to resolve them. Frogs are valued as food by humans and also have many cultural
roles in literature, symbolism and religion.
Sample Answer: Frogs are a diverse and largely carnivorous group, which is widely
distributed, and the greatest concentration of species diversity is found in tropical
rainforests. Some species can adapt to different environments. Adult frogs generally
have a carnivorous diet and produce a wide range of vocalizations. Frog populations
have declined significantly since the 1950s and are considered to be threatened with
extinction, so conservation biologists are working to understand the causes of these
problems and to resolve them.
11. Welsh Language
This busy little town is named after sir David’s first cousin. It’s also a Welsh
language stronghold. According to the 2001 census results seventy percent of the
town’s population could speak Welsh but even here the language may not be
completely safe. The Welsh language board expects last year’s census results to
show a fall in the number of Welsh speakers living in its northern and western
heartlands. One of the main reasons for that the board says is migration. Many Welsh
speakers are choosing to leave the country. At the same time only a small percentage
of those moving in can speak the language or choose to learn it. Historically, over the
past 1788 Wales people have continually left in order to find better standard of pay
maybe in quality of employment and the things have change was probably is that
them there is a larger amount of English people now who have found Wales of the
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last 20-25 years particularly this corner of Wales and regarded as a desirable place to
come and live and as opposed to many areas in England and cheaper as well.
Sample answer: This lecture mainly talks about the 2001 census results conducted
over Welsh speaking in Wales. According to the census, the number of people
speaking welsh language is falling down, and one of the main reasons for this is
migration. While a larger number of English people regarded this corner of Wales as
a desirable place to come and live and as opposed to many areas in England and
cheaper as well.
12. Edmund Wilson
And I want to say that Wilson who died over 30 years ago, began his career before
modern lit was taught and analyzed in the universities, as he said at one time and I
think a piece about Christian golfs Gauss’s I called him Gauss as my father in his
generation at Princeton a year or two after Wilson called him. When Wilson was
studying there that the latest daring writers to get into the curriculum were widths of
the 90s and maybe Gauss had his reputation as a bohemian romantic because he had
known Oscar in Paris, but there was no modern lit Wilson came then from a different
world and he became the focal point of a broad mainstream American culture that
thought that modern literature and wanted modern literature to be able to be read
and appreciated by ordinary people, they were not modernists in an abstract sense
and certainly some of them like TS Eliot and Faulkner were too difficult for some of
their writings to be read by ordinary people, but this was a world before the division
between the brows or between a lead or whatever had established itself as part of our
consciousness.
Sample answer: The lecturer was talking about an American writer Edmund Wilson.
Edmund was a writer and critic who notably explored Freudian and Marxist themes.
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Edmund believed that literature is a part of life for everyone as for conversation.
Edmund influenced many American authors and his scheme for a Library of America
series of national classic works came to fruition through the efforts of Jason Epstein
after Wilson’s death.
13. Children overweight
Sample answer: This lecture talks about the overweight problem. There are 20% of
children today having the overweight problems, which brings the heart diseases are
more and more common in children, the smallest is 5 years old. This situation makes
the heart attack and other health problems become earlier and earlier. This issue
needs to be solved because the overweight problems will be in more serious situations
such as diabetes type 2 diabetes and blindness.
14. Poverty in rural and urban areas
Sample Answer: The lecture talks about the poverty in countries including India and
Vietnam. According to the speaker, the poor are especially affected by environmental
problems such as water pollution, indoor smoke and gas emission in terms of their
health. Yet with the rising demand for energy consumption, these problems are in a
wider range. Moreover, it is said that poverty in rural areas is more severe than that in
urban areas. Therefore, more efforts should be made to combat poverty in rural areas
in order to reduce the global poverty population and decrease poverty rate in urban
areas since the urban poor are mostly from rural areas.
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15. Robot
Sample answer: The lecture discusses the utilization and the development of robots.
Robots have been applied into car manufacture in the factories. Moreover, there are
also an increasing number of multi-functional service robots. Instead of robots for
general purpose, robots for special purposes such as vacuum cleaner robots have
been purchased by many bachelors. In conclusion, 25000 robots were sold out in one
year.
The sample answer is derived from candidates’ recalls.
16. Robot V2
Sample answer: This lecture talked about the reason why making a robot is difficult.
First one is camera, which will be needed to exchange things, second one is there are
something that robots cannot do, such as color distinction, so robots’ sensory
function need to be improved. Task design in robot is hard because our humans can
separate things by our senses but for robot, even they have camera and the picture
contains many pixel, and the translation of every pixel could be difficult. Thus there is
no comparison between humans and robots.
17. WORLD WIDE WEB
Tim Berners-Lee believes the internet can foster human understanding and even
world peace Times Online, March 20, 2010. He is the man who has changed the world
more than anyone else in the past hundred years. Sir Tim Berners-Lee may be a mild-
mannered academic who lives modestly in Boston, but as the inventor of the world
wide web he is also a revolutionary. Along with Galileo, William Caxton and Sir Isaac
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Newton, he is a scientist who has altered the way people think as well as the way they
live
Since the web went global 20 years ago, the way we shop, listen to music and
communicate has been transformed. There are implications for politics, literature,
economics even terrorism because an individual can now have the same access to
information as the elite. Society will never be the same.
The computer scientist from Oxford, who built his own computer from a television
screen and spare parts after he was banned from one of the university computers, is
a cultural guru as much as a technological one. It is amazing how far we’ve come,
he says. But you’re always wondering what’s the next crazy idea, and working to
make sure the web stays one web and that the internet stays open. There isn’t much
time to sit back and reflect. We speak for more than an hour about everything from
Facebook to fatwas, Wikipedia to Google. He invented the web, he says, because he
was frustrated that he couldn’t find all the information he wanted in one place. It
was an imaginary concept that he realized.
Sample answer: Tim- Berners-Lee, the inventor of the world wide web, is a scientist
and a revolutionary who has altered the way people think as well as the way they live,
believing the internet can foster human understanding and even world peace. And
individuals now have the same access to information as the elite; there is not much
time to sit back and reflect because society will never be the same.
18. The Green Revolution
In 1943, what became known as the Green Revolution began when Mexico, unable to
feed its growing population, shouted for help. Within a few years, the Ford and
Rockefeller Foundations founded the International Rice Institute in Asia, and by 1962,
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a new strain of rice called IR8 was feeding people all over the world. IR8 was the first
really big modified crop to make a real impact on world hunger. In 1962 the
technology did not yet exist to directly manipulate the genes of plants, and so IR8 was
created by carefully crossing existing varieties: selecting the best from each
generation, further modifying them, and finally finding the best. Here is the power of
modified crops: IR8, with no fertilizer, straight out of the box, produced five times the
yield of traditional rice varieties. In optimal conditions with nitrogen, it produce ten
times the yield of traditional varieties.
By 1980, IR36 resisted pests and grew fast enough to allow two crops a year instead
of just one, doubling the yield. And by 1990, using more advanced genetic
manipulation techniques, IR72 was outperforming even IR36. The Green Revolution
saw worldwide crop yields explode from 1960 through 2000.
Sample answer: This lecture talks about the Green Revolution in 1943, for the
government of Mexico was unable to feed growing population and shouted for help.
A new strain of rice called IR8 was the first big modified crop to make a real impact
on world hunger, but in 1962 the technology was unable to manipulate the genes of
plants. IR8 was created by existing varieties, including selecting, modifying and
optimizing. By IR36’s yield is double and advanced genetic manipulation techniques
was used to create IR72. In concluding, the Green Revolution saw worldwide crop
yields explode from 1960 to 2000.
19. Dimension
Sample answer: Dimensions can be defined as the number of points required to
describe a position. One dimension space refers to one variable, which means
longitude. Two dimension contains two variables: longitude plus latitude. Three
dimension contains 3 variables: longitude, latitude and altitude. Four dimensions
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takes time into account other than the three variables talked above and it can describe
a position in space.
20. Migration benefits
回忆要点: 有图，有数字，Migration has double the economy，People from
developing countries can work in developed country ，make them richer，For
example: immigration live in this country，buy products , newspaper, start business
and sent their children to school.
21. Happiness
回忆要点：一个是 gross national happiness. 有图，是一本书的封面，写的是 happiness,
government and politics. 一开始讲 gross national happiness, many countries start to
measure using this index, 很 interesting, 列举了几个国家，China France, 说政府和政
策应该考虑这个指标啥的，记得不是很清楚.
22. British policy
回忆要点：讲的是 British policy 在 18th century 言论自由，在各种公共产所，咖啡馆，街
道什么的都可以谈论各种事情，polity military，包括政府什么的。里面关键信息点有，
coffee house，人们在那里可以读报纸，评论政治所以是 public freedom 的一个重要标志
23. Comparison of Earth and Mars
回忆要点：有一个是地球和火星比较的，不是火星有水那片大概意思是即使的确最不适合住的
地方，也和火星不一样然后说了火星和地球的水具体不太记得了，好像是在表面和地下的形态
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SWT — Summarize written test
文章重点内容已在参考原文中标红
1. Allowance of children
Many people who have written on the subject of allowances say it is not a good idea
to pay your child for work around the home. These jobs are a normal part of family
life. Paying children to do extra work around the house, however, can be useful. It can
even provide an understanding of how a business works.
Allowances give children a chance to experience the things they can do with money.
They can share it in the form of gifts or giving to a good cause. They can spend it by
buying things they want. Or they can save and maybe even invest it.
Saving helps children understand that costly goals require sacrifice: you have to cut
costs and plan for the future. Requiring children to save part of their allowance can
also open the door to future saving and investing. Many banks offer services to help
children and teenagers learn about personal finance.
A savings account is an excellent way to learn about the power of compound interest.
Interest rates on savings can be very low these days. But compounding works by
paying interest on interest. So, for example, one dollar invested at two percent interest
will earn two cents in the first year. The second year, the money will earn two percent
of one dollar and two cents, and so on. That may not seem like a lot. But over time it
adds up.
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Sample answer: Paying children to do extra work around the house can be useful,
helping them to understand how a business works and giving them a chance to
experience the things they can do with money, including sharing, spending or saving
their allowances; saving helps children understand that costly goals require sacrifice
for future saving and investing, and a saving account is an excellent way to learn about
the power of compound interest.
2. Autonomy and modernity
Broadly speaking, there are two different ways of thinking about modern art, or two
different versions of the story. One way is to view art as something that can be
practised (and thought of) as an activity radically separate from everyday life or
worldly concerns. From this point of view, art is said to be ‘autonomous’ from
society – that is, it is believed to be self-sustaining and self-referring. One particularly
influential version of this story suggests that modern art should be viewed as a
process by which features extraneous to a particular branch of art would be
progressively eliminated, and painters or sculptors would come to concentrate on
problems specific to their domain. Another way of thinking about modern art is to
view it as responding to the modern world, and to see modern artists immersing
themselves in the conflicts and challenges of society. That is to say, some modern
artists sought ways of conveying the changing experiences generated in Europe by
the twin processes of commercialisation (the commodification of everyday life) and
urbanisation. From this point of view, modern art is a way of reflecting on the
transformations that created what we call, in a sort of shorthand, ‘modernity’.
Sample answer: There are two different ways of thinking about modern art, and the
first one is that art can be practised as an activity radically apart from everyday life or
worldly concerns, while the other one is that modern art is to view it as responding to
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the modern world, and to see modern artists immersing themselves in the conflicts
and challenges of society, which reflects and transforms ‘modernity’.
3. Book and television
Reference: To understand the final reason why the news marketplace of ideas
dominated by television is so different from the one that emerged in the world
dominated by the printing press, it is important to distinguish the quality of vividness
experienced by television viewers from the vividness experienced by readers. I believe
that the vividness experienced in the reading of words is automatically modulated by
the constant activation of the reasoning centres of the brain that are used in the
process of co-creating the representation of reality the author has intended. By
contrast, the visceral vividness portrayed on television has the capacity to trigger
instinctual responses similar to those triggered by reality itself and without being
modulated by logic, reason, and reflective thought.
The simulation of reality accomplished in the television medium is so astonishingly
vivid and compelling compared with the representations of reality conveyed by
printed words that it signifies much more than an incremental change in the way
people consume information. Books also convey compelling and vivid representations
of reality, of course. But the reader actively participates in the conjuring of the reality
the book's author is attempting to depict. Moreover, the parts of the human brain that
are central to the reasoning process are continually activated by the very act of
reading printed words: Words are composed of abstract symbols letters that have no
intrinsic meaning themselves until they are strung together into recognizable
sequences.
Television, by contrast, presents to its viewers a much more fully formed
representation of reality without requiring the creative collaboration that words have
always demanded."
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Sample answer: The vividness experienced in the reading is automatically modulated
by the constant activation of the reasoning centres of the brain, while the visceral
vividness portrayed on televisions triggers the representations of reality without being
logical, and also the parts of the human brain that are central to the reasoning process
are continually activated by reading, while television presents to its viewers a much
more fully formed representation of reality without requiring the creativity
collaboration.
4. Overqualified worker
Reference: If your recruiting efforts attract job applicants with too much experience—
a near certainty in this weak labor market—you should consider a response that runs
counter to most hiring managers’ MO: Don’t reject those applicants out of hand.
Instead, take a closer look. New research shows that overqualified workers tend to
perform better than other employees, and they don’t quit any sooner. Furthermore,
a simple managerial tactic—empowerment—can mitigate any dissatisfaction they
may feel. The prejudice against too-good employees is pervasive. Companies tend to
prefer an applicant who is a “perfect fit” over someone who brings more intelligence,
education, or experience than needed. On the surface, this bias makes sense: Studies
have consistently shown that employees who consider themselves overqualified
exhibit higher levels of discontent. For example, overqualification correlated well with
job dissatisfaction in a 2008 study of 156 call-center reps by Israeli researchers Saul
Fine and Baruch Nevo. And unlike discrimination based on age or gender, declining
to hire overqualified workers is perfectly legal. But even before the economic
downturn, a surplus of overqualified candidates was a global problem, particularly in
developing economies, where rising education levels are giving workers more skills
than are needed to supply the growing service sectors .If managers can get beyond
the conventional wisdom, the growing pool of too-good applicants is a great
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opportunity. Berrin Erdogan and Talya N. Bauer of Portland State University in Oregon
found that overqualified workers’ feelings of dissatisfaction can be dissipated by
giving them autonomy in decision making. At stores where employees didn’t feel
empowered, “overeducated” workers expressed greater dissatisfaction than their
colleagues did and were more likely to state an intention to quit. But that difference
vanished where self-reported autonomy was high.
Sample answer: Companies believe that they exhibit discontent compared to an
applicant who perfectly fits the role, so the prejudice against too-good employees is
pervasive, but before the economic downturn, a surplus of overqualified workers was
a global issue, and in fact they tend to perform better than other employees; a simple
managerial tactic empowerment which gives them high self-reported autonomy in
decision-making can migrate their dissatisfaction.
5. Compulsory voting
Reference: Compulsory voting is often suggested as a solution to the problem of
declining turnout. But how are individuals and countries affected by compulsory
voting beyond boosting electoral participation? Shane Singh investigates the social,
economic, and political consequences of compelling citizens to vote.
There has been a lot of discussion about compulsory voting these days. In the United
Kingdom, in particular, as voter turnout rates have declined, many commentators and
politicians have begun advocating for mandatory electoral participation. Those in
favor of compulsory voting often adduce the importance of participation among all
segments of society. Citizens of democracies are forced to do many things in the
interest of the public good, they maintain, including serving on juries and educating
their children, and full participation serves the country as a whole. Those opposed to
compulsory voting often argue that, from a democratic theory perspective, the right
to vote implicitly includes a right not to vote. Such a right of abstention, they argue,
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is more important than any societal good that might accompany high turnout. In fact,
opponents of compulsory voting often contend that the country may be better off if
those who are disinclined to vole are not pushed to participate in public affairs.
Regardless of whether one of these sets of arguments is more persuasive than the
other, compulsory voting is commonly used around the world. Several European
democracies mandate voting, as do Australia and most of the countries in Latin
America. By evaluating results from these countries, it is possible to assess the
mechanics and effects of compulsory voting.
Sample answer: Even though compulsory voting is commonly used around the world,
there has been a lot of discussion about compulsory voting these days; some people
adduce the importance of participation among all segments of society but some
people argue that the right to vote implicitly includes a right not to vote; also, we
should assess the effects of compulsory voting.
6. Plug-in vehicle
Reference: Here's a term you're going to hear much more often: plug-in vehicle, and
the acronym PEV. It's what you and many other people will drive to work in, ten years
and more from now. At that time, before you drive off in the morning you will first
unplug your car - your plugin vehicle. Its big on board batteries will have been fully
charged overnight, with enough power for you to drive 50-100 kilometers through
city traffic.
When you arrive at work you'll plug in your car once again, this time into a socket that
allows power to flow from your car's batteries to the electricity grid. One of the things
you did when you bought your car was to sign a contract with your favorite electricity
supplier, allowing them to draw a limited amount of power from your car's batteries
should they need to, perhaps because of a blackout, or very high wholesale spot
power prices. The price you get for the power the distributor buys from your car would
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not only be most attractive to you, it would be a good deal for them too, their
alternative being very expensive power form peaking stations. If, driving home or for
some other reason your batteries looked like running flat, a relatively small, but quiet
and efficient engine running on petrol, diesel or compressed natural gas, even bio-
fuel, would automatically cut in, driving a generator that supplied the batteries so you
could complete your journey.
Concerns over 'peak oil', increasing greenhouse gas emissions, and the likelihood that
by the middle of this century there could be five times as many motor vehicles
registered worldwide as there are now, mean that the world's almost total dependence
on petroleum-based fuels for transport is, in every sense of the word, unsustainable.
Sample answer: While people can charge their plug-in vehicles overnight before
driving, they can plug their vehicles into sockets allowing power to flow from the car
batteries to the electricity grid, and an engine driving a generator will supply
alternative power to complete the journey when the batteries run flat, which means
more people will drive plug-in vehicles in the future because the world’s almost total
dependence on petroleum-based fuels for transport is unsustainable.
7. American English
Reference: American English is, without doubt, the most influential and powerful
variety of English in the world today. There are many reasons for this. First, the United
States is, at present, the most powerful nation on earth and such power always brings
with it influence. Indeed, the distinction between a dialect and a language has
frequently been made by reference to power. As has been said, A language is a dialect
with an army. Second, America's political influence is extended through American
popular culture, in particular through the international reach of American films
(movies, of course) and music. As Kahane has pointed out, The internationally
dominant position of a culture results in a forceful expansion of its language the
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expansion of language contributes to the prestige of the culture behind it. Third, the
international prominence of American English is closely associated with the
extraordinarily quick development of communications technology. Microsoft is owned
by an American, Bill Gates. This means a computer's default setting for language is
American English, although of course this can be changed to suit one's own
circumstances. In short, the increased influence of American English is caused by
political power and the resultant diffusion of American culture and media,
technological advance and the rapid development of communications technology.
Sample answer: While American English is a dialect with an army because the United
States is the most powerful nation on the earth and such power brings with it influence,
America’s political influence is extended through American popular culture which
also results in an expansion of its language, and the international prominence of
American English is associated with the quick development of communications
technology, which suggests American English is the most influential and powerful
variety of English.
8. Mini war
Reference: In such an environment, warfare is no longer purely directed against the
military potential of adversarial states. It is rather directed at infiltrating all areas of
their societies and to threaten their existences. The comparatively easy access to
weapons of mass destruction, In particular relatively and low-cost biological agents,
is of key concern. Both governmental and non-governmental actors prefer to use force
in a way that can be characterized as “unconventional” or also as “small wars”.
War waged according to conventions is an interstate phenomenon. The “small war”
is the archetype of war, in which the protagonists acknowledge no rules and
permanently try to violate what conventions do exist. The protagonists of the “small
war” observe neither international standards nor arms control agreements. They
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make use of territories where they do not have to fear any sanctions because there is
no functioning state to assume charge of such sanctions or because the state in
question is too weak to impose such sanctions.
This type of war does not provide for any warning time. It challenges not only the
external security of the nation states and international community, but also their
internal safety.
Sample answer: The “unconventional war” or “small war” is the archetype of war,
in which the protagonists can get easy access to weapons, making use of territories
to violate conventions without fear of any sanctions due to the lack of international
standards and arms control agreements, and because the war does not provide for
any warning time, it is a challenge nationally and internationally.
9. Computer programming
Reference: Consider the current situation like their counterparts in the United States,
engineers, and technicians in India have the capacity to provide both computer
programming and innovative new technologies. Indian programmers and high-tech
engineers earn one-quarter of what their counterparts earn in the United States.
Consequently, India is able to do both jobs at a lower dollar cost than the United
States: India has an absolute advantage in both. In other words, it can produce a unit
of programming for fewer dollars than the United States, and it can also produce a
unit of technology innovation for fewer dollars. Does that mean that the United States
will lose not only programming jobs but innovative technology job, too? Does that
mean that our standard of living will fall if the United States and India engage in the
international trade?
David Ricardo would have answered no to both questions- as we do today. While
India may have an absolute advantage in both activities, that fact is irrelevant in
determining what India or the United States will produce. India has a comparative
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advantage in doing programming in part because of such activity requires little
physical capital. The flip side is that the United States has a comparative advantage in
technology innovation partly because it is relatively easy to obtain capital in this
country to undertake such long-run projects.
The result is that Indian programmers will do more and more of what U.S.
programmers have been doing in the past. In contrast, American firms will shift to
more and more innovation. The United States will specialize in technology innovation
India will specialize in programming. The business managers in each country will opt
to specialized in activities in which they have a comparative advantage. As in the past,
The U.S. economy will continue to concentrate on what is called the best activities.
Sample answer: Although India programmers and high-tech engineers earn one-
quarter of what their counterparts earn in the United States, Indian has a comparative
advantage in doing programming in part because of such activity requires little
physical capital and lower dollar cost; as a result, Indian programmers will do more
and more of what U.S. programmers have been doing in the past, and both countries
will continue to specialize in activities where they have a comparative advantage.
10. Aging world
We live in an aging world. While this has been recognized for some time in developed
countries, it is only recently that this phenomenon has been fully acknowledged.
Global communication is "shrinking" the world, and global aging is "maturing" it. The
increasing presence of older persons in the world is making people of all ages more
aware that we live in a diverse and multigenerational society. It is no longer possible
to ignore aging, regardless of whether one views it positively or negatively.
Demographers note that if current trends in aging continue as predicted, a
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demographic revolution, wherein the proportions of the young and the old will
undergo a historic crossover, will be felt in just three generations. This portrait of
change in the world’s population parallels the magnitude of the industrial revolution
traditionally considered the most significant social and economic breakthrough in the
history of humankind since the Neolithic period. It marked the beginning of a
sustained movement towards modern economic growth in much the same way that
globalization is today marking an unprecedented and sustained movement toward a
"global culture". The demographic revolution, it is envisaged, will be at least as
powerful.
While the future effects are not known, a likely scenario is one where both the
challenges as well as the opportunities will emerge from a vessel into which
exploration and research, dialogue and debate are poured. Challenges arise as social
and economic structures try to adjust to the simultaneous phenomenon of
diminishing young cohorts with rising older ones, and opportunities present
themselves in the sheer number of older individuals and the vast resources societies
stand to gain from their contribution.
This ageing of the population permeates all social, economic and cultural spheres.
Revolutionary change calls for new, revolutionary thinking, which can position policy
formulation and implementation on sounder footing. In our ageing world, new
thinking requires that we view ageing as a life long and older persons.
Sample answer: It is only recently that the aging world has been fully acknowledged
and this demographic revolution will be felt in three generations, which parallels the
magnitude of the industrial revolution, bringing both challenges and opportunities;
the aging of the population permeates all social, economic and cultural spheres and
calls for new thinking.
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11. Skip breakfast
Skipping breakfast seems a simple way of losing weight or saving time while getting
the children ready for school or rushing off to work. But it can also be a sign of an
unhealthy lifestyle with potentially dangerous consequences, including a higher risk
of premature death. According to a study, adults and teenagers who miss the first
meal of the day are less likely to look after their health. They tend to smoke more,
drink more alcohol and take less exercise than those who do eat. Those who skip food
in the morning are also more likely to be fatter and less well-educated, meaning they
find it harder to get a job.
Researcher Dr. Anna Keski-Rahkonen said: Smoking, infrequent exercise, a low level of
education, frequent alcohol use and a high body mass index were all associated with
skipping breakfast in adults and adolescents. Our findings suggest this association
exists throughout adulthood. Individuals who skip breakfast may care less about their
health than those who eat breakfast.
Previously, experts assumed that missing breakfast often called the most important
meal of the day was simply the marker of a hectic life or a way to try to lose weight.
But Dr. Keski-Rahkonen, who led the study at Helsinki University, said the results
revealed starting the day without food suggests an unhealthy lifestyle.
Sample answer: Although skipping breakfast seems an easy way of losing weight or
saving time for both adults and adolescents, it also can be a sign of unhealthy lifestyle
such as frequent smoking and drinking, because individuals who start the day without
food may care less about their health than those who eat breakfast.
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12. Nobel prize
This year’s Nobel Peace Prize justly rewards the thousands of scientists of the United
Nations Climate Change Panel (the IPCC). These scientists are engaged in excellent,
painstaking work that establishes exactly what the world should expect from climate
change.
The other award winner, former US Vice President Al Gore, has spent much more time
telling us what to fear. While the IPCCʼs estimates and conclusions are grounded in
careful study, Gore doesn’t seem to be similarly restrained.
Gore told the world in his Academy Award-winning movie (recently labeled "one-
sided" and containing "scientific errors" by a British judge) to expect 20-foot sea-level
rises over this century. He ignores the findings of his Nobel co-winners, the IPCC, who
conclude that sea levels will rise between only a half-foot and two feet over this
century, with their best expectation being about one foot. That’s similar to what the
world experienced over the past 150 years.
Likewise, Gore agonizes over the accelerated melting of ice in Greenland and what it
means for the planet, but overlooks the IPCCʼs conclusion that, if sustained, the
current rate of melting would add just three inches to the sea level rise by the end of
the century. Gore also takes no notice of research showing that Greenland’s
temperatures were higher in 1941 than they are today.
Gore also frets about the future of polar bears. He claims they are drowning as their
icy habitat disappears. However, the only scientific study showing any such thing
indicates that four polar bears drowned because of a storm.
The politician-turned-movie maker loses sleep over a predicted rise in heat-related
deaths. There’s another side of the story that’s inconvenient to mention: rising
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temperatures will reduce the number of cold spells, which are a much bigger killer
than heat. The best study shows that by 2050, heat will claim 400,000 more lives, but
1.8 million fewer will die because of cold. Indeed, according to the first complete
survey of the economic effects of climate change for the world, global warming will
actually save lives.
Sample answer: The scientists of the United Nations Climate Change Panel have
different conclusions with Al Gore toward the prediction of the sea level rise; the worry
of animals’ survival, and their study indicate that fewer lives will die because of the
cold weather.
13. Technology prediction in IBM
As far as prediction is concerned, remember that the chairman of IBM predicted in the
fifties that the world would need a maximum of around half a dozen computers, that
the British Department for Education seemed to think in the eighties that we would
all need to be able to code in BASIC and that in the nineties Microsoft failed to foresee
the rapid growth of the Internet.
Who could have predicted that one major effect of the automobile would be to
bankrupt small shops across the nation? Could the early developers of the telephone
have foreseen its development as a medium for person-to-person communication,
rather than as a form of broadcasting medium? We all, including the ‘experts’,
seem to be peculiarly inept at predicting the likely development of our technologies,
even as far as the next year. We can, of course, try to extrapolate from experience of
previous technologies, as I do below by comparing the technology of the Internet
with the development of other information and communication technologies and by
examining the earlier development of radio and print. But how justified I might be in
doing so remains an open question. You might conceivably find the history of the
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British and French videotex systems, Prestel and Minitel, instructive. However, I am
not entirely convinced that they are very relevant, nor do I know where you can find
information about them on-line, so, rather than take up space here, I’ve briefly
described them in a separate article.
Sample answer: It is quite difficult, even for experts, to predict the likely development
of technologies, since the only foundation we could rely on is the experience on
previous technologies which might not be relevant or from reliable sources; thereby
related issues have been discussed separately.
14. Grass and cow
The co-evolutionary relationship between cows and grass is one of nature's
underappreciated wonders; it also happens to be the key to understanding just about
everything about modern meat.
For the grasses, which have evolved to withstand the grazing of ruminants, the cow
maintains and expands their habitat by preventing trees and shrubs from gaining a
foothold and hogging the sunlight; the animal also spreads grass seed, plants it with
his hooves, and then fertilizes it with his manure.
In exchange for these services the grasses offer ruminants a plentiful and exclusive
supply of lunch. For cows (like sheep, bison, and other ruminants) have evolved the
special ability to convert grass which single-stomached creatures (like us can't digest-
into high-quality protein) they can do this because they possess what is surely the
most highly evolved digestive organ in nature: the rumen. About the size of a medicine
ball, the organ is essentially a forty-five-gallon fermentation tank in which a resident
population of bacteria dines on grass.
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Sample answer: The correlation between cows and grass is undervalued while its
significance is essential to comprehend the meat industry, for example, ruminants like
cows, in order to maintain their eating ground, evolve to enlarge their habitats
through minimizing the shrub-occupied areas as well as planting and fertilizing seeds
with hooves; grass offers ruminants who feed on it a food source, thanks to the
uniquely-formed rumen organ which enables the conversion from plants to protein.
15. Living in countryside
I knew it was a good idea because I had been there before. Born and reared on a farm
I had been seduced for a few years by the idea of being a big shot who lived and
worked in a city rather than only going for the day to wave at the buses.
True, I was familiar with some of the minor disadvantages of country living such as an
iffy private water supply sometimes infiltrated by a range of flora and fauna (including,
on one memorable occasion, a dead lamb), the absence of central heating in farm
houses and cottages, and a single-track farm road easily blocked by snow, broken-
down machinery or escaped livestock.
But there were many advantages as I told Liz back in the mid-Seventies. Town born
and bred, eight months pregnant and exchanging a warm, substantial Corstorphine
terrace for a windswept farm cottage on a much lower income, persuading her that
country had it over town might have been difficult.
Sample answer: While (Although) living in country has some minor disadvantages
including water supply and the absence of central heating, the author still thinks it is
a good idea to move back because he had been there before and seduced for a few
years, but persuading Liz back to country is hard because she wouldn’t exchange a
warm terrace for a windswept farm cottage on a much lower income.
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16. Parent control children watching TV
Why and to what extent should parents control their children’s TV watching? There
is certainly nothing inherently wrong with TV. The problem is how much television a
child watches and what effect it has on his life. Research has shown that as the amount
of time spent watching TV goes up, the amount of time devoted not only to
homework and study but other important aspects of life such as social development
and physical activities decreases.
Television is bound to have it tremendous impact on a child, both in terms of how
many hours a week he watches TV and of what he sees. When a parent is concerned
about the effects of television, he should consider a number of things: what TV offers
the child in terms of information and knowledge, how many hours a week a youngster
his age should watch television, the impact of violence and sex, and the influence of
commercials.
What about the family as a whole? Is the TV set a central piece of furniture in your
home! Is it flicked on the moment someone enters the empty house? Is it on during
the daytime? Is it part of the background noise of your family life? Do you
demonstrate by your own viewing that television should be watched selectively?
Sample answer: Sample answer: Parents should control their children’s TV watching,
both in terms of time consumption and contents, because television has a tremendous
impact on children; on the other hand, parents should demonstrate by their own
viewing that television should be watched selectively.
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17. The City of London
Who would have thought back in 1698, as they downed their espressos, that the little
band of stockbrokers from Jonathan's Coffee House in Change Alley EC3 would be
the founder- members of what would become the world's mighty money capital?
Progress was not entirely smooth. The South Sea Bubble burst in 1720 and the coffee
house exchanges burned down in 1748. As late as Big Bang in 1986, when bowler hats
were finally hung up, you wouldn't have bet the farm on London surpassing New York,
Frankfurt and Tokyo as Mammon's international nexus.
Yet the 325,000 souls who operate in the UK capital's financial hub have now
overtaken their New York rivals in size of the funds managed (including offshore
business); they hold 70% of the global secondary bond market and the City dominates
foreign exchange trading. And its institutions paid out £9 billion in bonuses in
December. The Square Mile has now spread both eastwards from EC3 to Canary Wharf
and westwards into Mayfair, where many of the private-equity 'locusts' and their
hedge-fund pals now hang out.
For foreigners in finance, London is the place to be. It has no Sarbanes-Oxley and no
euro to hold it back, yet the fact that it still flies so high is against the odds. London
is one of the most expensive cities in the world to live in, transport systems groan and
there's an ever-present threat of terrorist attack. But, for the time being, the deals just
keep on getting bigger.
Sample answer: Although the progress of London overtaking New York in the funds
was not smooth, it has become the world’s largest global secondary bond market
and foreign exchange trading center despite it is not a pleasant city to live in.
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18. Wine industry
In 1920, the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution created yet
another setback for the American wine industry. The National Prohibition Act, also
known as the Volstead Act, prohibited the manufacture, sale, transportation,
importation, exportation, delivery, or possession of intoxicating liquors for beverage
purpose, and nearly destroyed what had become a thriving national industry. In 1920
there were more than seven hundred wineries in California. By the end of Prohibition,
there were 160.
Prohibition, which continued for thirteen years, nearly destroyed what had become a
thriving and national industry. One of the loopholes in the Volstead Act allowed for
the manufacture and sale of sacramental wine, medicinal wines for sale by pharmacists
with a doctors' prescription, and medicinal wine tonics (fortified wines) sold without
prescription. Perhaps more important, Prohibition allowed anyone to produce up to
two hundred gallons yearly of fruit juice or cider. The fruit juice, which was sometimes
made into concentrate, was ideal for making wine. People would buy grape
concentrate from California and have it shipped to the East Coast. The top of the
container was stamped in big, bold letters: caution: do not add sugar or yeast or else
fermentation will take place! Some of this yield found its way to bootleggers
throughout America who did just that. But not for long, because the government
stepped in and banned the sale of grape juice, preventing illegal wine production.
Vineyards stopped being planted, and the American wine industry came to a halt.
Sample answer: Although there are loopholes in the American National Prohibition
Act such as allowing the sale of medicinal wines and the production of fruit juice,
which is ideal for making wine when concentrated, the government soon stepped in
and therefore the Prohibition nearly destroyed the wine industry.
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19. Human and animals
All non-human animals are constrained by the tools that nature has bequeathed them
through natural selection. They are not capable of striving towards truth; they simply
absorb information, and behave in ways useful for their survival. The kinds of
knowledge they require of the world have been largely pre-selected by evolution. No
animal is capable of asking questions or generating problems that are irrelevant to its
immediate circumstances or its evolutionarily-designed needs. When a beaver builds
a dam, it doesn't ask itself why it does so, or whether there is a better way of doing it.
When a swallow flies south, it doesn't wonder why it is hotter in Africa or what would
happen if it flew still further south.
Humans do ask themselves these and many other kinds of questions, questions that
have no relevance, indeed make little sense, in the context of evolved needs and goals.
What marks out humans is our capacity to go beyond our naturally-defined goals
such as the need to find food, shelter or a mate and to establish human-created goals.
Some contemporary thinkers believe that there are indeed certain questions that
humans are incapable of answering because of our evolved nature. Steven Pinker, for
instance, argues that "Our minds evolved by natural selection to solve problems that
were life-and- death matters to our ancestors, not to commune with correctness or
to answer any question we are capable of asking. We cannot hold ten thousand words
in our short-term memory. We cannot see ultra-violet light. We cannot mentally rotate
an object in the fourth dimension. And perhaps we cannot solve conundrums like free
will and sentience.
Sample answer: All non-human animals are constrained by the tools that nature has
bequeathed them through natural selection so that/because they are incapable of
asking questions or generating problems that are irrelevant to its immediate
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circumstances while some contemporary thinkers are likely to believe that there are
certain questions that humans cannot answer due to our evolved nature regardless of
humans ‘capacity to go beyond naturally-defined goals.
20. The Myth of the Overqualified Worker
If your recruiting efforts attract job applicants with too much experience—a near
certainty in this weak labor market—you should consider a response that runs counter
to most hiring managers’ MO: Don’t reject those applicants out of hand. Instead,
take a closer look. New research shows that overqualified workers tend to perform
better than other employees, and they don’t quit any sooner. Furthermore, a simple
managerial tactic—empowerment—can mitigate any dissatisfaction they may feel.
The prejudice against too-good employees is pervasive. Companies tend to prefer an
applicant who is a “ perfect fit ” over someone who brings more intelligence,
education, or experience than needed. On the surface, this bias makes sense: Studies
have consistently shown that employees who consider themselves overqualified
exhibit higher levels of discontent. For example, overqualification correlated well with
job dissatisfaction in a 2008 study of 156 call-center reps by Israeli researchers Saul
Fine and Baruch Nevo. And unlike discrimination based on age or gender, declining
to hire overqualified workers is perfectly legal. But even before the economic
downturn, a surplus of overqualified candidates was a global problem, particularly in
developing economies, where rising education levels are giving workers more skills
than are needed to supply the growing service sectors .If managers can get beyond
the conventional wisdom, the growing pool of too-good applicants is a great
opportunity. Berrin Erdogan and Talya N. Bauer of Portland State University in Oregon
found that overqualified workers’ feelings of dissatisfaction can be dissipated by
giving them autonomy in decision making. At stores where employees didn’t feel
empowered, “overeducated” workers expressed greater dissatisfaction than their
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colleagues did and were more likely to state an intention to quit. But that difference
vanished where self-reported autonomy was high.
Sample answer: Companies believe that they exhibit discontent compared to an
applicant who perfectly fits the role, so the prejudice against too-good employees is
pervasive, but before the economic downturn, a surplus of overqualified workers was
a global issue, and in fact they tend to perform better than other employees; a simple
managerial tactic empowerment which gives them high self-reported autonomy in
decision-making can migrate their dissatisfaction.
21. Benefits of honey
According to Dr. Ron Fessenden, M.D., M.P.H. the average American consumes more
than 150 pounds of refined sugar, plus an additional 62 pounds of high fructose corn
syrup every year. In comparison, we consume only around 1.3 pounds of honey per
year on average in the U.S. According to new research, if you can switch out your
intake of refined sugar and use pure raw honey instead, the health benefits can be
enormous. What is raw honey? It's a pure, unfiltered and unpasteurized sweetener
made by bees from the nectar of flowers. Most of the honey consumed today is
processed honey that's been heated and filtered since it was gathered from the hive.
Unlike processed honey, raw honey does not get robbed of its incredible nutritional
value and health powers. It can help with everything from low energy to sleep
problems to seasonal allergies. Switching to raw honey may even help weight-loss
efforts when compared to diets containing sugar or high fructose corn syrup. I'm
excited to tell you more about one of my all-time favorite natural sweeteners today.
Honey bees do a waggle dance to direct other bees to sources of nectar but dancing
bees like this one can be halted by a head-butt from another bee. Now researchers
have found that this head-butt is actually a warning signal. A feeding station was set
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up in the lab to mimic a source of nectar then foraging bees were introduced to
dangers at the station such as competition from rival colonies when foragers returned
to the hive, they stopped bees dancing. Scientists think the behavior warns dancers
of a dangerous source of nectar.
Sample answer: According to a new research, if you can switch out your intake of
defined sugar and use pure raw honey instead, the health benefits can be enormous,
and unlike processed honey, raw honey is a pure, unfiltered and unpasteurized
sweetener made by bees and does not get robbed of its incredible nutritional value
and health power, which can help with low energy, sleep problems, seasonal allergies
and even weight-loss.
22. Parents’ birth order
Parents' own birth order can become an issue when dynamics in the family they are
raising replicate the family in which they were raised. Agati notes common examples,
such as a firstborn parent getting into "raging battles" with a firstborn child. "Both are
used to getting the last word. Each has to be right. But the parent has to be the grown-
up and step out of that battle," he advises. When youngest children become parents,
Agati cautions that because they "may not have had high expectations placed on them,
they in turn may not see their kids for their abilities."
But he also notes that since youngest children tend to be more social, "youngest
parents can be helpful to their firstborn, who may have a harder time with social
situations. These parents can help their eldest kids loosen up and not be so hard on
themselves. Mom Susan Ritz says her own birth order didn't seem to affect her
parenting until the youngest of her three children, Julie, was born. Julie was nine years
younger than Ritz's oldest, Joshua, mirroring the age difference between Susan and
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her own older brother. "I would see Joshua do to Julie what my brother did to me,"
she says of the taunting and teasing by a much older sibling.
"I had to try not to always take Julie's side." Biases can surface no matter what your
own birth position was, as Lori Silverstone points out. "As a middle myself, I can be
harder on my older daughter. I recall my older sister hitting me," she says of her
reactions to her daughters' tussles.
"My husband is a firstborn. He's always sticking up for the oldest. He feels bad for her
that the others came so fast. He helps me to see what that feels like, to have that
attention and then lose it." Silverstone sees birth-order triggers as "an opportunity to
heal parts of ourselves. I've learned to teach my middle daughter to stand up for
herself. My mother didn't teach me that. I'm conscious of giving my middle daughter
tools so she has a nice way to protect herself."
Whether or not you subscribe to theories that birth order can affect your child's
personality, ultimately, "we all have free will," Agati notes. It's important for both
parents and kids to realize that, despite the characteristics often associated with birth
order, "you're not locked into any role."
Sample answer: Parents’ own birth order affects parenting as they may replicate the
family in which they were raised, for example, youngest parents may not see their
children’s abilities but can help their firstborn babies with social situations. Despite
the characteristics associated with birth orders, It’s important for both parents and
kids to realize that no one is locked into any role.
23. Malaysia
Malaysia is one of the most pleasant, hassle-free countries to visit in Southeast Asia.
Aside from its gleaming 21st century glass towers, it boasts some of the most superb
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beaches, mountains and national parks in the region.Malaysia is also launching its
biggest-ever tourism campaign in effort to lure 20 million visitors here this year.
Any tourist itinerary would have to begin in the capital, Kuala Lumpur, where you will
find the Petronas Twin Towers, which once comprised the world's tallest buildings and
now hold the title of second-tallest. Both the 88-story towers soar 1,480 feet high and
are connected by a sky-bridge on the 41st floor. The limestone temple Batu Caves,
located 9 miles north of the city, have a 328-foot-high ceiling and feature ornate Hindu
shrines, including a 141-foot-tall gold-painted statue of a Hindu deity. To reach the
caves, visitors have to climb a steep flight of 272 steps. In Sabah state on Borneo island
not to be confused with lndonesias Borneo you' 川 find the small mushroom-shaped
Sipadan island, off the coast of Sabah, rated as one of the top five diving sites in the
world. Sipadan is the only oceanic island in Malaysia, rising from a 2,300-foot abyss in
the Celebes Sea.You can also climb Mount Kinabalu, the tallest peak in Southeast Asia,
visit the Sepilok Orang Utan Sanctuary, go white-water rafting and catch a glimpse of
the bizarre Proboscis monkey, a primate found only in Borneo with a huge pendulous
nose, a characteristic pot belly and strange honking sounds.
While you're in Malaysia, consider a trip to Malacca. In its heyday, this southern state
was a powerful Malay sultanate and a booming trading p 此 in the region. Facing the
Straits of Malacca, this historical state is now a place of intriguing Chinese streets,
antique shops, old temples and reminders of European colonial powers.Another
interesting destination is Penang, known as the Pearl of the Orient. This island off the
northwest coast of Malaysia boasts of a rich Chinese cultural heritage, good food and
beautiful beaches.
Sample answer: Malaysia, which is one of the most pleasant, hassle-free countries to
visit in Southeast Asia with gleaming 21st century glass towers and the most superb
beaches, mountains and national parks, is launching its biggest-ever tourism
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campaign in effort to lure 20 million visitors this year, and with an itinerary starting
from Kuala Lumpur and ending in Malacca, you can enjoy a lot of rich cultural heritage,
good food and beautiful beaches.
24. Online learning
What makes teaching online unique is that it uses the Internet, especially the World
Wide Web, as the primary means of communication. Thus, when you teach online, you
don't have to be someplace to teach. You don't have to lug your briefcase full of paper
or your laptop to a classroom, stand at a lectern, scribble on a chalkboard (or even
use your high-tech, interactive classroom "smart" whiteboard), or grade papers in a
stuffy room while your students take a test. You don't even have to sit in your office
waiting for students to show up for conferences. You can hold "office hours" on
weekends or at night after dinner. You can do all this while living in a small town in
Wyoming or a big city like Bangkok, even if you are working for a college whose
administrative office is located in Florida or Dubai. You can attend an important
conference in Hawaii on the same day you teach your class in New Jersey, logging on
from your laptop via the local café's wireless hot-spot or your hotel room's high-speed
network.Or you may simply pull out your smartphone to quickly check on the latest
postings, email, or text messages from students.
Online learning offers more freedom for students as well. They can search for courses
using the Web, scouring their institution or even the world for programs, classes, and
instructors that fit their needs. Having found an appropriate course, they can enroll
and register, shop for their books, read articles, listen to lectures, submit their
homework assignments, confer with their instructors, and receive their final grades-
all online.
They can assemble virtual classrooms, joining other students from diverse
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geographical locales, foraging bonds and friendships not possible in conventional
classrooms, which are usually limited to students from a specific geographical area.
Sample answer: When you teach online, you don’t need to be in a certain place to
teach, and you can hold office hours anytime and everywhere, while online learning
offers more freedom for students as well, and students can forge bonds and
friendships which is not possible in conventional classrooms.
25. Rosetta Stone
When the Rosetta Stone was discovered in 1799, the carved characters that covered
its surface were quickly copied. Printers ink was applied to the Stone and white paper
was laid over it. When the paper was removed, it revealed an exact copy of the text
but in reverse. Since then, many copies or facsimiles have been made using a variety
of materials. Inevitably, the surface of the Stone accumulated many layers of material
left over from these activities, despite attempts to remove any residue. Once on
display, the grease from many thousands of human hands eager to touch the Stone
added to the problem. An opportunity for investigation and cleaning the Rosetta
Stone arose when this famous object was made the centerpiece of the Cracking Codes
exhibition at The British Museum in 1999. When work commenced to remove all but
the original, ancient material, the stone was black with white lettering. As treatment
progressed, the different substances uncovered were analyzed. Grease from human
handling, a coating of carnauba wax from the early 1800s and printers ink from 1799
were cleaned away using cotton wool swabs and liniment of soap, white spirit, acetone
and purified water. Finally, white paint in the text, applied in 1981, which had been left
in place until now as a protective coating, was removed with cotton swabs and purified
water. A small square at the bottom left corner of the face of the Stone was left
untouched to show the darkened wax and the white infill.
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Sample answer: Since the Rosetta Stone was discovered in 1799, many copies or
facsimiles have been made using a variety of materials, along with thousands of
human hands eager to touch the Stone, causing the surface of the Stone accumulated
many layers of materials, and an opportunity for investigation and cleaning the stone
arose at the British Museum in 1999, after which the origin was removed, and the
stone was black with white lettering.
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WE — Write essay
1. Work and personal life (高频)
Nowadays, people spend too much more time on work than on their personal life, do
you agree with it? Discuss the physical, financial and psychological reasons. / Do you
think it is difficult for people to balance their time for working and other things like
family? Give your reason.
2. Digital media (高频)
With the increase of digital media available online, the role of the library has become
obsolete. Universities should only procure digital materials rather than constantly
outdated textbooks. Discuss both the advantages and disadvantages of this position
and give your own point of view.
3. Cashless society (高频)
In a cashless society, people use more credit cards. What are the advantages and
disadvantages of this phenomenon?
4. Study effectively (高频)
In order to study effectively, it requires comfort, peace and time. So, it is impossible
for a student to combine learning and employment at the same time.
5. Deduction of late submission (高频)
There is a phenomenon that submitting later than the deadline will deduct the score.
Do you agree or disagree on this phenomenon and what is your recommendation to
these students?
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6. Pressing problem (高频)
There are many global problems. What is the most pressing problem? What solution
would you suggest? / Inhabitants. The world’s governments and organizations are
facing a lot of issues. Which do you think is the most pressing problem for the
inhabitants on our planet and give the solution?
7. Experiential learning (高频)
Some people point out that experiential learning (i.e. learning by doing it) can work
well in formal education. However, others think a traditional form of teaching is the
best. Do you think experiential learning can work well in high schools or colleges?
8. Children’s acts (高频)
Parents should be legally responsible for their children’s acts. What is your opinion?
Support it with personal examples.
9. Music affects children’s learning (高频)
Certain type of music affects young children’s learning. Researchers have researched
on it. Some people agree and some disagree. What is your opinion? / Some people
say music promotes children leaning. However, there are mixed results on impact of
music generated from researches. To what extent do you agree or disagree that: music
has impacts on humans’ life?
10. Build more roads (高频)
Should government build more roads to allow more vehicle owner or improve the
network of public transport?
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11. Mass media (高频)
Mass media have an influence on human, particularly on younger generation. It plays
a vital role on shaping the opinions of people. What do you think about it?
12. Children’s acts (高频)
Parents should be legally responsible for their children’s acts. What is your opinion?
Support it with personal examples.
13. Large shopping malls or small shops (高频)
Large shopping malls are replacing small shops. What is your opinion about this?
Discuss with appropriate examples.
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FIB — Fill in the blanks
1. Estee Lauder
Leonard Lauder, chief executive of the company his mother founded, says she always
thought she “was growing a nice little business.” And that it is. A little business
that controls 45% of the cosmetics market in U.S. department stores. A little business
that sells in 118 countries and last year grew to be $3.6 billion big in sales. The Lauder
family’s shares are worth more than $6 billion.
But early on, there wasn’t a burgeoning business, there weren’t houses in New York.
Palm Beach, Fla., or the south of France. It is said that at one point there was one
person to answer the telephones who changed her voice to become the shipping or
billing department as needed.
You more or less know the Estee Lauder story because it’s a chapter from the book
of American business folklore. In short, Josephine Esther Mentzer, daughter of
immigrants, lived above her father’s hardware store in Corona, a section of Queens
in New York City. She started her enterprise by selling skin creams concocted by her
uncle, a chemist, in beauty shops, beach clubs and resorts.
No doubt the potions were good – Estee Lauder was a quality fanatic – but the
saleslady was better. Much better. And she simply outworked everyone else in the
cosmetics industry. She stalked the bosses of New York City department stores until
she got some counter space at Saks Fifth Avenue in 1948. And once in that space, she
utilized a personal selling approach that proved as potent as the promise of her
skin regimens and perfumes.
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2. Bronze vs Silver
In an often -cited study about counterfactuals, Medvec, Madey, and Gilovich (1995)
found that bronze medalists appeared happier than silver medalists in television
coverage of the 1992 Summer Olympics. Medvec et al. argued that bronze medalists
compared themselves to 4th place finishers, whereas silver medalists compared
themselves to gold medalists. These counterfactuals were the most salient because
they were either qualitatively different (gold vs. silver) or categorically different
(medal vs. no medal) from what actually occurred. Drawing on archival data and
experimental studies, we show that Olympic athletes (among others) are more likely
to make counterfactual comparisons based on their prior expectations, consistent
with decision affect theory. Silver medalists are more likely to be disappointed
because their personal expectations are higher than those of bronze medalists. We
provide a test between expectancy-base versus category-based processing and
discuss circumstances that trigger each type of processing.
3. Jean Piaget
Jean Piaget, the pioneering Swiss philosopher and psychologist, spent much of his
professional life listening to children, watching children and poring over reports of
researchers around the world who were doing the same. He found, to put
most succinctly, that children don’t think like grownups. After thousands of
interactions with young people often barely old enough to talk, Piaget began
to suspect that behind their cute and seemingly illogical utterances were thought
processes that had their own kind of order and their own special logic. Einstein called
it a discovery “so simple that only a genius could have thought of it.”
Piaget’s insight opened a new window into the inner workings of the mind. By the
end of a wide-ranging and remarkably prolific research career that spanned nearly 75
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years—from his first scientific publication at age 10 to work still in progress when he
died at 84.
4. Global textile industry
The environmental impact of the global textile industry is hard to overstate. One-
third of the water used worldwide is spent fashioning fabrics. For every ton of
cloth produced, 200 tons of water is polluted with chemicals and heavy metals. An
estimated 1 trillion kilowatt-hours of electricity powers the factories that card and
comb, spin and weave, and cut and stitch materials into everything from T-shirts to
towels, leaving behind mountains of solid waste and a massive carbon footprint.
“Where the industry is today is not really sustainable for the long term,” says
Shreyaskar Chaudhary, chief executive of Pratibha Syntex, a textile manufacturer
based outside Indore, India. With something of an “if you build it, they will come”
attitude, Mr.Chaudhary has steered Pratibha toward the leading edge of eco-friendly
textile production. Under his direction, Pratibha began making clothes with organic
cotton in 1999. Initially, the company couldn’t find enough organic farms growing
cotton in central India to supply its factories. To meet production demands,
Chaudhary’s team had to convince conventional cotton farmers to
change their growing methods. Pratibha provided seeds, cultivation instruction, and
a guarantee of fair trade prices for their crops. Today, Pratibha has a network of
28,000 organic cotton growers across the central states of Madhya Pradesh,
Maharashtra, and Orissa.
5. Film
Film is where art meets commerce. As Orson Welles said: ‘A painter just needs a
brush and the writer just needs a pen, but the producer needs an army. And an army
needs money. A producer is just like an entrepreneur, we raise money to make films.
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First, we need to find an original idea or a book or a play and purchase the rights, then
we need money to develop that idea often a reasonably small sum. Besides, to
commission a writer for the screen play isn’t something you would want to gamble
your own money on, so you find a partner. We are lucky here in the UK, as we have
Film4, BBC Films and the UK Film council, all of these are good places to develop an
idea. Producing in Britain is very different to producing in America or EVEN Europe
because the economic dynamic is different.
6. Ikebana
More than simply putting flowers in a container, ikebana is a disciplined art form in
which nature and humanity are brought together. Contrary to the idea of a
particolored or multicolored arrangement of blossoms, ikebana often emphasizes
other areas of the plant, such as its stems and leaves, and puts emphasis on shapes,
line, and form.
Though ikebana is an expression of creativity, certain rules govern its form. The
artist’s intention behind each arrangement is shown through a piece’s color
combinations, natural shapes, graceful lines, and the implied meaning of the
arrangement.
7. Father’s Books
None of the books in my father’s dusty old bookcase were forbidden. Yet while
I was growing up, I never saw anyone take one down. Most
were massive tomes – a comprehensive history of civilization, matching
volumes of the great works of western literature, numerous others I can no
longer recall – that seemed almost refused to shelves that bowed slightly from
decades of stead fast support.
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8. Push and Pull factors
People move to a new region for many different reasons. The motivation for moving
can come from a combination of what researchers sometimes call ‘push and pull
factor’- those that encourage people to leave a region, and those that attract people
to a region. Some of the factors that motivate people to move include seeking a
better climate, finding more affordable housing, looking for work or retiring from
work, leaving the congestion of city living, wanting a more pleasant environment, and
wanting to be near to family and friends. In reality, many complex factors and personal
reasons may interact to motivate a person or family to move.
9. Concept of retirement
For a start, we need to change our concept of ‘retirement’, and we need to change
mindsets arising from earlier government policy which, in the face of high
unemployment levels, encouraged mature workers to take early retirement.
Today, government encourages them to delay their retirement. We now need to think
of retirement as a phased process, where mature age workers gradually reduce their
hours, and where they have considerable flexibility in how they combine their work
and non work time.
We also need to recognize the broader change that is occurring in how people work,
learn, and live. Increasingly we are moving away from a linear relationship between
education, training, work, and retirement, as people move in and out of jobs, careers,
caregiving, study, and leisure. Employers of choice remove the barriers between the
different segments of people’s lives, by creating flexible conditions of work and a
range of leave entitlements. They take an individualised approach to workforce
planning and development so that the needs of employers and employees can be
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met simultaneously. This approach supports the different transitions that occur across
the life course – for example, school to work, becoming a parent, becoming
responsible for the care of older relatives, and moving from work to retirement.
10. What Are Allergies?
Allergies are abnormal immune system reactions to things that are typically harmless
to most people. When you’re allergic to something, your immune
system mistakenly believes that this substance is harmful to your body. (Substances
that cause allergic reactions- such as certain foods, dust, plant pollen, or medicines-
are known as allergens.)
In an attempt to protect the body, the immune system produces IGE antibodies to
that allergen. Those antibodies then cause certain cells in the body
to release chemicals into the blood stream, one of which is histamine (pronounced:
HlS- tuh- meen).
The histamine then acts on the eyes, nose, throat, lungs, skin, or gastrointestinal tract
and causes the symptoms of the allergic reaction. Future exposure to that same
allergen will trigger this antibody response again. This means that every time you
come into contact with that allergen, you’ll have some form of allergy symptoms.
11. Paris
Paris is very old— there has been a settlement there for at least 6000 years and its
shape has been determined in part by the River Seine, and in party by the edicts of
France’s rulers. But the great boulevards we admire today are relatively new, and
were constructed to prevent any more barricades being created by the rebellious
population; that work was carried out in the middle 19th century. The earlier Paris
had been in part a maze of narrow streets and alleyways. But you can imagine that
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the work was not only highly expensive, but caused great distress among the half a
million or so whose houses were simply razed, and whose neighborhoods
disappeared. What is done cannot usually be undone, especially when buildings
are torn down.
12. The Petrified Forest
The Petrified Forest is home to some of the most impressive fossils ever found and
more are being discovered each year as continuing erosion is exposing new
evidence. Fossils found here show the Forest was once a tropical region, filled with
towering trees and extraordinary creatures. More than 150 different species of
fossilized plants have been discovered by paleontologists and
evidence indicating ancient native people who inhabited this region about 10,000
years ago have been confirmed by archeologists.
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RO — Re-order paragraphs
1. Mario de Andrade
1) Early in 1938, Mário de Andrade, the municipal secretary of culture here,
dispatched a four-member Folklore Research Mission to the northeastern
hinterlands of Brazil on a similar mission.
2) His intention was to record as much music as possible as quickly as possible,
before encroaching influences like radio and cinema began transforming the
region’s distinctive culture.
3) Traveling by truck, horse and donkey, they recorded whoever and whatever
seemed to be interesting: piano carriers, cowboys, beggars, voodoo priests, quarry
workers, fishermen, dance troupes and even children at play.
4) But the Brazilian mission’s collection ended up languishing in vaults here.
2. A requirement of Humanities
1) A requirement of Humanities 104 is to write a persuasive paper on a topic of your
choice.
2) The topic you choose should be supported by a range of sources.
3) The source should be cited under APA guidelines, and the final draft should be
written in APA styles.
4) The final draft is due one week before the final exam
3. Sustainable development
1) Whatever happened to the idea of progress and a better future? I still believe in
both.
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2) The Brundtland Report, Our Common Future (1987), defines sustainable
development as “development which meets the needs of the present without
compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”.
3) Implicit in this definition is the idea that the old pattern of development could not
be sustained. Is this true?
4) Development in the past was driven by growth and innovation. It led to new
technologies and huge improvements in living standards.
5) To assume that we know what the circumstances or needs of future generations
will be is mistaken and inevitably leads to the debilitating sense that we are living
on borrowed time.
4. greenhouse gas emission
1) There is a growing consensus that, if serious action is to be taken to reduce
greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in Canada, a price must be applied to those
emissions.
2) There are, however, challenges associated with the political acceptability of carbon
pricing.
3) If Canada implements a carbon price on its own, there are worries that Canadian
factories will relocate to other countries to avoid the regulation.
4) Even if other countries act in concert with Canada to price carbon, the effects will
be uneven across sectors, and lobbying efforts by relatively more-affected sectors
might threaten the political viability of the policy.
5. Speak English
1) Anyone wanting to get to the top of international business, medicine or academia
(but possibly not sport) needs to be able to speak English to a pretty high level.
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2) Equally, any native English speaker wanting to deal with these new high achievers
needs to know how to talk without baffling them.
3) Because so many English-speakers today are monoglots, they have little idea how
difficult it is to master another language.
4) Many think the best way to make foreigners understand is to be chatty and
informal.
5) This may seem friendly but, as it probably involves using colloquial expressions, it
makes comprehension harder.
6. International Economics
1) International Economics: Theory and Policy is a proven approach in which each
half of the book leads with an intuitive introduction to theory and follows with
self-contained chapters to cover key policy applications.
2) The Eighth Edition integrates the latest research, data, and policy in hot topics
such as outsourcing, economic geography, trade and environment, financial
derivatives, the subprime crisis, and China’s exchange rate policies.
3) New for the Eighth Edition, all end-of-chapter problems are integrated into
MyEconLab, the online assessment and tutorial system that accompanies the text.
4) Students get instant, targeted feedback, and instructors can encourage practice
without needing to grade work by hand. For more information visit MyEconLab.
7. Sherbet powder
1) A reaction that needs some type of energy to make it go is said to be endothermic.
It takes in energy.
2) For example, the sherbet you used for the chapter problem on page 25 is a mixture
of baking soda and citric acid.
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3) When it is mixed with water in your mouth an endothermic reaction occurs, taking
heat energy from your mouth and making it feel cooler.
4) Another example of an endothermic reaction is seen with the cold packs used by
athletes to treat injuries. These packs usually consist of a plastic bag containing
ammonium nitrate dissolves in the water.
5) This process is endothermic-taking heat energy from the surroundings and
cooling the injured part of your body. In this way the cold pack acts like an ice
pact.
8. Ants Communities
1) The communities of ants are sometimes very large, numbering even to 500,
individuals
2) And it is a lesson to us that no one has ever yet seen quarrel between any two
ants belonging to the same community.
3) However, it must be admitted that they are in hostility not only with most other
insects, including ants of different species, but even with those of the same species
if belonging to different communities.
4) I have over and over again introduced ants from one my nets into another nest of
the same species; and they were invariably attacked, seized by a leg or an antenna,
and
dragged out.
5) It is evident, therefore, that the ants of each community all recognize one another,
which is very remarkable.
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9. Arcelor V2
1) It was taken over by Mittal, a Dutch-registered company run from London by its
biggest single shareholder, Lakshmi Mittal, an Indian who started his first business
in Indonesia.
2) The takeover battle raged for six months before Arcelor’s bosses finally listened
to shareholders who wanted the board to accept Mittal’s third offer.
3) The story tells us two things about European business, both positive.
4) First, shareholder activism is increasing in a continent where until recently it was
depressingly rare.
5) Second, and more important, the Arcelor Mittal deal demonstrates Europe’s
deepening integration into the global economy.
10. Religious
1) Yet my study of the history of religion has revealed that human beings are spiritual
animals. Indeed, there is a case for arguing that Homo sapiens is also Homo
religious.
2) Men and women started to worship gods as soon as they became recognizably
human they created religions at the same time as they created works of art.
3) This was not simply because they wanted to propitiate powerful forces.
4) But these early faiths expressed the wonder and mystery that seems always to
have been an essential component of the human experience of this beautiful yet
terrifying world.
11. Car（Traffic）Accident
1) Frequently, car accidents occur in the morning;
2) Particularly, accidents occur from 5 am to 7 am;
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3) During this time, teenage drivers
4) Raise concerns about this age group;
5) The system also to address; New measures more qualifications for teenager to get
license. (Also there is a system)
12. An underperforming company
1) Take an underperforming company
2) Add some generous helping of debt, a few spoonful of management incentives
and trim all the fat.
3) Leave to cook for five years and you have a feast of profits.
4) That has been the recipe for private-equity groups during the past 200 years.
13. Fiber VS. Wool and Silk
1) Fibers suitable for clothing have been made for the first time from the wheat
protein gluten.
2) The fibers are as strong and soft as wool and silk, but up to 30 times cheaper.
3) Narendra Reddy and Yiqi Yang, who produced the fibers at the University of
Nebraska in Lincoln.
4) He says that because they are biodegradable, they might be used in biomedical
applications such as surgical sutures.
14. IT Innovation
1) Innovation in India is as much due to entrepreneurialism as it is to IT skills, says
Arun Maria, chairman of Boston Consulting Group in India.
2) Indian businessmen have used IT to create new business models that enable them
to provide services in a more cost effective way.
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3) This is not something that necessarily requires expensive technical research.
4) He suggests the country’s computer services industry can simply outsource
research to foreign universities if the capability is not available locally.
5) “This way, I will have access to the best scientists in the world without having to
produce them myself,” said Mr. Maria.
15. Peru Timber -SEPAHUA
1) SEPAHUA, a ramshackle town on the edge of Peru’s Amazon jungle, nestles in a
pocket on the map where a river of the same name flows into the Urubamba.
2) That pocket denotes a tiny patch of legally loggable land sandwiched between
four natural reserves, all rich in mahogany and accessible from the town.
“Boundaries are on maps,” says a local logger, “maps are only in Lima,” the
capital.
3) In 2001 the government, egged on by WWF, a green group, tried to regulate
logging in the relatively small part of the Peruvian Amazon where this is allowed.
4) It abolished the previous system of annual contracts.
5) Instead, it auctioned 40- year concessions to areas ruled off on a map, with the
right to log 5% of the area each year. The aim was to encourage strict management
plans and sustainable extraction.
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SST — Summarize spoken text
文章重点内容已在参考原文中标红
1. Language in danger
Language death is not mainstream theatre. It is not mainstream anything. Can you
imagine Hollywood taking it on? It is so far outside the mindsets of most people that
they have difficulty appreciating what the crisis is all about, because they are not used
to thinking more about language as an issue in itself. Somehow we need to change
these mindsets.
We need to get people thinking about language more explicitly, more intimately, more
enthusiastically. Interest in language is certainly there, in the general population –
most people are fascinated by such topics as where words come from, or what the
origin of their town’s name is, or whether their baby’s name means anything; they
are certainly prepared to play Scrabble and a host of other language games and
infinitum; and language games are often found on radio and television, too – but a
willingness to focus that interest on general issues, a preparedness to take on board
the emotion and drama inherent in the situation of language endangerment, is not
something that happens much.
Sample answer: The lecture talks about the language in danger. Although language
death is not a mainstream theatre, many people have no idea what it is about and do
not take it as an issue. However, these mindsets need to be changed. Although most
people are fascinated by some language games, a willingness to focus that interest
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on general issues is rare.
2. Drug Ads
The amount of money drug companies spend on TV ads has doubled in recent years.
Studies show they work: Consumers go to their doctor with a suggestion for a certain
prescription drug they saw advertised on TV. Now a study in the Annals of Family
Medicine raises questions about the message the ads promote. You’re most likely
to see drug ads during prime time, especially around the news. Researchers analyzed
ads aimed at people with conditions like hypertension, herpes, high cholesterol,
depression, arthritis and allergies.
The drug industry says the ads arm consumers with information. Researchers found
that the information was technically accurate, but the tone was misleading.
”Typically, what we would see with these ads is that before taking a particular
prescription drug, the character’s life is out of control and the loss of control
extended beyond the impact of their health condition says UCLA psychologist
Dominick Frosch, who headed the study.
For example, herpes patients were portrayed as being incapacitated for days.
Insomniacs were utterly out of 23 synch on the job. Depressed patients were friendless
and boring at parties.
”When the character is then shown taking the drug, he then magically regains
complete control of his life.” Frosch notes.
None of the ads mentioned lifestyle changes that could also help treat the condition.
That’s not surprising, given that the ads are just another form of mass marketing.
But prescription medicines are not soap.
Sample answer: The amount of money that drug companies spend on TV ads has
doubled in recent years. However, the drug companies said the ads harmed
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consumers with information and researchers found that the information was
technically accurate, but the tone was misleading. None of ads mentioned lifestyle
changes could help the condition, because ads are just another form of mass
marketing. Prescribed medicines are not soap, so medicines should be regulated.
3. The livable planet
"How often does a civilization occur? By studying that, we could look at stars that are
suitable for the development of civilizations. How many new stars appear every year?
Seven, but some stars are too cold and some are too hot. Only about 20% can be
considered as suitable. We all know that there are some factors for species and
animals to survive and reproduce, including environmental conditions, temperature
tolerance range, body size, weight, diets, seasonal and daily activity, behavior, and the
altitude they live.
Animals migrate to find a new habitat because the change of environment and only
species that have the tolerance for new environment could survive and reproduce.
Human beings are the only organism that makes extensive use of technology to
extend the limits of its natural tolerance range"
Sample answer: This lecture talks about the possibility of a civilization occurs. There
are seven stars appear every year averagely, among which only 20% can be considered
as a suitable place for living. A lot of factors may affect the survival of animals, such
as environmental conditions, body size, weight, diets and living altitude. Human
beings can survive and reproduce because they use technology to extend the limits
of their natural tolerance range.
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4. Indian peasants’ debt
The debt today is so high, it’s two hundred thousand rupees, three hundred
thousand rupees of peasant who have no capital. They who know within a year or two,
when they accumulate that kind of debt. Where is the debt coming from? It's coming
from a seed that is costing a hundred thousand to two hundred thousand rupees per
kilogram, depending on what you got. Seed that used to be free, used to be theirs.
Pesticides each time, they more they use, the more they have to use, 12 sprays, 15
sprays, 20 sprays. Pesticides used in just the last five years in the land areas of India
has showed up by 2000 percent. That is what the free market and globalization have
brought and since we are talking about peasants, who have no money, who have no
capital, they can only buy expensive seeds and expensive pesticides by borrowing.
And who lend that money? The seed companies that sell the pesticides, which are the
same companies that sell the seeds, as you know, are now also the major creditors.
Sample answer: In this lecture, the speaker talks about the debt of Indian peasants,
coming from the high cost of seeds and pesticides. Though lacking of capital, Indian
farmers still have to buy them and lend money from the seed companies, the major
creditor, arising from the free market and globalization.
5. Globalization
What is globalization?
Globalization can usefully be conceived as a process (or set of processes), which
embodies a transformation in the spatial organization of social relations, and
transactions, generating transcontinental or interregional flows and networks of
activity, interaction and power.
It is characterized by four types of change:
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First, it involves a stretching of social, political and economic activities across political
frontiers, regions and continents.
Second, it suggests the intensification, or the growing magnitude, of
interconnectedness and flows of trade, investment, finance, migration, culture, etc.
Third, the growing extensity and intensity of global interconnectedness can be linked
to a speeding up of global interactions and processes, as the evolution of world-wide
systems of transport and communication increases the velocity of the diffusion of
ideas, goods, information, capital, and people.
Fourth, the growing extensity, intensity and velocity of global interactions can be
associated with their deepening impact such that the effects of distant events can be
highly significant elsewhere and even the most local developments may come to have
enormous global consequences. In this sense, the boundaries between domestic
matters and global affairs can become increasingly blurred.
Globalization has three definitions. There are more trade transactions,
communications, services and multinational companies across the border. There are
more travels and cooperation between different countries. A global and integrated
economic system has been formed in the world. One country does not depend on
itself only, but countries interact more with each other in terms of production and
consumption.
Sample answer: Globalization is a process which embodies a transformation,
generating transcontinental flows and networks of activity. It has four types of change.
Furthermore, globalization has three definitions. There are more trade transactions,
communications, services, more travels and cooperation between different countries
and multinational companies across the border. A global and integrated economic
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system has been formed where countries interact more with each other in terms of
production and consumption.
6. Marketing
In the most developed countries, especially in those with democracy, market economy
is the essential in history development. In the 18th and 19th century, industrial
revolution had a negative effect on people living in all class in the world, which
resulted in decreasing in life expectancy, height, human population and poor medical
records. However, legislations were issued to deal with corporate coordination and
business behaviors. Other legislations were issued to start battling with environmental
conditions. These legislations helped market economy worked. Thus, nowadays, the
market economy brings benefits far more than we shared 100 years ago.
Sample answer: In this lecture, the speaker illustrated the importance of market
economy in history development. The industrial revolution resulted in negative
impacts on many aspects of human life. Then, some laws were published to address
those issues and helped market economy worked. Therefore, the market economy
brings more benefits compared to that in 100 years ago.
7. DNA & RNA
The biology lecture is about DNA and RNA. In the PPT, from the left to right are
butterflies, flowers and dolphins and other animals. They look different, but actually,
they are interconnected. All creatures are based on genetic and inherited information.
Cells are the foundation of building organs, within which the same chemicals are
contained. All cells have DNA and RNA, which are used for storing and transmitting
genetic and inherited material. All organs have metabolism systems, which convert
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energy from one form to another by chemical reaction. DNA RNA is to record and
transmit genetic information 23% from each parent.
Sample answer: The biology lecture concerns the concept of DNA and RNA.
Creatures are interconnected and based on genetic and inherited information which
are stored and transmitted by DNA and RNA contained in cells – the foundation of
building organs. Furthermore, DNA and RNA are capable of recording and
transmitting 23% of genetic information from each parent.
8. Fishing industry in Africa
Sample answer: A major source of food for residents in Africa who have long being
suffered from poverty is fish. They live on fish and it is where their protein mainly
comes from. What’s more, besides animal tourism, the fishing industry is also a
source of foreign income. By attracting tourists from all over the world, it effectively
contributes to the economic development of the country.
9. Animal survives and reproduces
Sample answer: The lecture discusses the factors for animal survival and reproduction.
The main factors include environmental conditions, temperature, tolerance range,
body size, diets, seasonal and daily activity, and behaviour. One creature would die if
put into a refrigerator. Some species even migrate to find suitable habitats for
different climate and season. Climate and season are vital factors for animal survival.
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10. The definition of risk
Sample answer: When looking up the dictionary, there are different literal definitions
of risk. One means the possibility or chance of loss, injuries or being in danger. The
other is the consequences of danger like injuries. Also, there is a difference between
safety and safe. Safe means being out of dangerous situations, and safety is a
condition of being safe.
11. History
Sample answer: This topic is described as good quality of history. Qualities of history
and journal are similar because they all need resource and evidence, attention of logic,
style and writing, which are crucial factors for academic and journal papers. Thus,
there is no clear line between qualities of history and journal.
12. Laugh and humor
Laughter is one of the greatest therapies in combating adversity; and whole
communities and nations have frequently relied on humour to get them through their
bleakest times.
On august 13, 1961, the barbed wire was rolled out of Berlin to create the Berlin wall.
For nearly 30 years, until it was dismantled, wall jokes proliferated -especially among
those living in the east. Laughing was all that was left.
Jokes about those who rule you - and sometimes those who tyrannise you - are a
form of folklore that has existed in societies as seemingly different as communist
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Eastern Europe, Czarist Russia, modern Egypt, 12-century Persia, and modern-day Iran.
Humour can also be wonderfully subversive. It can protect self-respect and identity.
Sample answer: The lecture focuses on the salient strength of laughter as a cue to
adversity. Accordingly, a further example about Berlin wall is given, in which joke acts
as the spiritual support for people there. Besides, it is common to find the jokes about
ruler, but they vary in different countries. Though humour can be a form of
subversiveness, it protects self-respect and identity.
13. Vitamin D
Vitamin D refers to a group of fat-soluble secosteroids responsible for increasing
intestinal absorption of calcium, iron, magnesium, phosphate, and zinc. In humans,
the most important compounds in this group are vitamin D3 (also known as
cholecalciferol) and vitamin D2 (ergocalciferol). Cholecalciferol and ergocalciferol can
be ingested from the diet and from supplements. Very few foods contain vitamin D;
synthesis of vitamin D in the skin is the major natural source of the vitamin. Dermal
synthesis of vitamin D from cholesterol is dependent on sun exposure (specifically
UVB radiation).
Vitamin D from the diet or dermal synthesis from sunlight is biologically inactive;
activation requires enzymatic conversion (hydroxylation) in the liver and kidney.
Evidence indicates the synthesis of vitamin D from sun exposure is regulated by a
negative feedback loop that prevents toxicity, but because of uncertainty about the
cancer risk from sunlight, no recommendations are issued by the Institute of Medicine
(US) for the amount of sun exposure required to meet vitamin D requirements.
Accordingly, the Dietary Reference Intake for vitamin D assumes no synthesis occurs
and all of a person’s vitamin D is from food intake, although that will rarely occur in
practice. As vitamin D is synthesized in adequate amounts by most mammals exposed
to sunlight, it is not strictly a vitamin, and may be considered a hormone as its
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synthesis and activity occur in different locations. Vitamin D has a significant role in
calcium homeostasis and metabolism. Its discovery was due to effort to find the
dietary substance lacking in rickets.
Sample answer: Vitamin D refers to a group of fat-soluble elements responsible for
increasing intestinal absorption of calcium, iron and zinc. Furthermore, very few foods
contain vitamin D and it is the major natural source of the vitamin. In conclusion,
evidences indicate that vitamin D from sunlight exposure is regulated by a negative
feedback but still significant. Vitamin D is not strictly a vitamin and may be considered
as a hormone.
14. Citizenship curriculum V1
Last month I published alongside my annual report a subject report on the
development of citizenship in schools. The report celebrates the success of some
schools in implementing the citizenship curriculum. It praises those schools where
there have been substantial developments in the subject, and which now go a long
way towards fulfilling national curriculum requirements. In the report we are critical
of schools which have not taken citizenship seriously, either through reluctance or lack
of capacity to make appropriate provision in the curriculum. Citizenship is
marginalized in the curriculum in one fifth of schools. It is less well established in the
curriculum than other subjects, and less well taught and some critics have seized on
this as a reason for wanting to step back from supporting it. Yet, the progress made
to date by the more committed schools suggests that the reasons for introducing
citizenship are both worthwhile and can be fulfilled, given the time and resources.
Indeed, those reasons are given added weight by national and global events of the
past few months. While not claiming too much, citizenship can address core skills,
attitudes and values that young people need to consider as they come to terms with
a changing world.
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Sample answer: This topic is described as the importance of citizenship curriculum.
Citizenship curriculum is neglected by many schools. There are only one fifth schools
introducing this class to campus and they allocated less time for the curriculum than
other subjects. The curriculum will be beneficial to improve student’s skills and install
positive attitude. In conclusion, school’s management and authorities do not pay
enough attention on the curriculum.
15. Citizenship curriculum V1
Citizenship education is important subject in schools as compared to the past.
However, only 1/5 of schools have such courses that provide student right skills and
attitudes. In the past, people were reluctant to teach. It is important for students in
this changing world. There are still problems in teaching this subject due to lack of
commitment and lack of teachers to teach. Criticism about the theory of citizenship
education is ineffective, unless schools themselves reflected democratic practices by
giving children the opportunity to have a say over decision making. It suggests that
schools are fundamentally undemocratic institutions, and that such a setting cannot
instill in children the commitment and belief in democratic values that is necessary for
citizenship education to have a proper impact. Citizenship education is one critical
element, and students will acquire knowledge of civics, including the principles of
democracy and associated local, state and Australian government structure and
processes. In addition, students will also learn to participate responsibly and
cooperatively in community.
Citizenship curriculum is very important for students, but it is neglected by many
schools. There are only 1/5 schools introduced this class to campus and allocated less
time than other subjects. Moreover, the professor pointed out if given enough time in
citizenship curriculum, it will be beneficial to improve student's skills and install
positive attitude towards the changing world and tackle the issues such as lack of
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leadership.
Sample answer: Citizenship curriculum is important for students, but it is neglected
by many schools. There are only one fifth schools introducing this class to campus
and allocated less time than other subjects. Moreover, the professor pointed out if
given enough time in citizenship curriculum, it will be beneficial to improve student’s
skills and install positive attitude towards the changing world and tackle the issues
such as lack of leadership.
16. Novelist
I have been writing non-fiction for years, and secretly wanting to be a novelist.
When I first started writing at the age of 30, it was with the intention of writing fiction,
but I took a little detour for 10 or 12 years, and write non-fiction which I absolutely
have no regret about at all. I think it's exactly the right thing for me to do. But there's
this dream tucked away inside of me to do this. Now I am remembering reading
something that Eudora Welty wrote, who is a great novelist from Mississippi who had
a big influence on me actually. She said, " No art ever came out of not risking your
neck." And I think she's absolutely right. It felt that way to me at the time, it actually
feels that way every time I sit down to write something. Finally, in the early 90s, I took
my deep breath, and started writing fiction. It felt risky to me at the time to do that.
And one of the very first things I wrote was, what I thought was going to be the first
chapter of a novel, called "The Secret Life of Bees". I wrote it in 1992, and it is actually
essentially the first chapter of the novel as it is now.
Sample answer: A novelist, who has been writing non-fiction for years with the
intention of writing fiction at first, took a little detour for about 10 years. Moreover, a
great novelist had a big influence on her. Finally, in the early 90s, she started writing
fiction even though she felt risky at the time to do it. To conclude, the first chapter of
the novel is called the secret life of bees.
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17. Definitions of globalization
There are many definitions of what the economic globalization is, but an important
aspect of most is that it involves reducing or removing the barriers limiting the free
movement of business, trade (exports and imports), investment and even labour
across national borders. First, globalization means the increase in international trade
transactions and multinational companies across the border. Secondly, globalization
represents an integrated economic system than ever before. Some countries produce
goods, and some consume goods, which means one country's economy may depend
on another country more transactions across countries. But in the past, they are
economic independent while they are now parts of global economy.
Sample answer: This topic is about economic globalization for reducing or removing
the barriers. The increase in international trade transactions and multinational
companies can be used to explain increasing interactions and communications among
countries, Furthermore, integrated economic system can be used to explain that
countries play different roles. In conclusion, the current global status is used to explain
that countries rely on each other, becoming economic dependent rather than
independent.
18. Differences of memories
Sample answer: Memory system includes implicit memory and explicit memory.
Implicit memory is also called procedural memory, which cannot be consciously
recalled. With implicit memory, behaviour is automatic, and we do not know when we
use it such as using language naturally, driving and reading. However, explicit memory
consists of personal memories related to time, space and people including
remembering one's birthdays and answering multiple questions.
94 / 106
19. Genes development
Sample answer: This lecture talks about development of genes. Firstly, there are some
genetic differences on cognitive abilities between modern people and ancestors.
Furthermore, the small number of different genes between modern people and
people from 5000 years ago can be highlighted. And the way people piss has no
difference with our ancestors in half million years ago, because the genes didn't
change too much.
20. Sign language
Sample answer: Sign language is a language theory of human communication. Sign
language and movements are used to convey ideas. In other words, you can ask for
help with your gestures instead of using words language. The origin of symbolic
system was developed when people try to communicate with each other, and sign
language means hand words. This is supported by example of comparing human
beings and rhinoceros.
21. Decline of bees
Sample answer: The well-documented and real conclusion show the sign of a
decrease in a number of bees. It is not yet catastrophic but it could be. The drivers of
these declines vary, depending on different species. The loss of pollination could be
huge and catastrophic, which was not yet been proved. But the positive side is that
people are aware of this and are taking actions to fix it.
95 / 106
22. Time machine
Sample answer: A main problem of time travel is that people need to know what
exactly time is. People know what time means when they talk about it. But no one can
explain it in specific. Talking about what is time has been a popular topic in modern
society. Time is not a new subject, it appeared 600 years ago.
23. Language extinction
Sample answer: This topic is described as language and convention. The rules of
languages are reflected by convention, which represents the ways that people think
and understand. Each language is unique, valuable and not translatable, since the
meaning of a word in different languages is not exactly the same. Even some simple
languages let us understand the world and are important. All the languages are
important for document review purpose and human heritage.
24. Development of gene
Sample answer: This lecture talks about development of genes. Firstly, there are some
genetic differences on cognitive abilities between modern people and ancestors.
Furthermore, the small number of different genes between modern people and
people from 5000 years ago can be highlighted. And the way people piss has no
difference with our ancestors in half million years ago, because the genes didn't
change too much.
96 / 106
25. Obesity and body fat
Sample answer: 31 obese women volunteered an experiment that tested on body fat
changes. They followed strict daily diet requirements and did exercise regularly. After
6 months, some of them lost weight, while others stayed the same and some even
gained weight. There are two explanations: some of them may have cheated on the
diet, or some of them consciously or unconsciously did less exercise.
26. Einstein and space
Sample answer: This lecture talks about the theory of relativity and space and the
dynamic change. In the past, people believed that universe was absolutely fixed and
unchanged. However, this has been transformed by Einstein's concept of
transformation. Stars and planets are under continuous dynamical changes. In
conclusion, Einstein is not the first person who proposed this theory.
27. Australian housing
Sample answer: Australian housing price has increased dramatically recently as
Australia has been through a long period of uninterrupted economic growth over the
past 15 years. At that time, the mortgage rate was half. Therefore, everyone can afford
to borrow money from banks to buy a house. However, the house price has been
soaring now because of the increase in immigration and purchasing power.
97 / 106
28. Climate change
There can now be no reasonable, science-based, doubt about the reality of global
climate change effects brought on by the cumulative and rapidly growing emission of
so-called ‘greenhouse’ gasses – primarily carbon dioxide – into the atmosphere.
As these effects become increasingly more obvious worldwide, so commercial
interests, groups of concerned individuals and national governments have been
gripped by what amounts to mass panic about what to do about it. To many, Paul
Ehrlich’s Malthusian ‘Population Bomb’ of 1968 appears about to explode in the
world’s face in an indirect version of his millenarian vision of population growth
which outpaces agricultural production capacity-with predictably catastrophic results
for humanity. And his three-part crisis scenario does indeed seem now to be present:
a rapid rate of change, a limit of some sort, and delays in perceiving that limit.
Ehrlich’s work was roundly criticized at the time, and later, from many quarters, and
much of what he predicted did not come about. Nevertheless, can the world afford to
take the risk that the climate scientists have got it wrong? Is it not in everyone’s
interests to apply the Precautionary Principle in attempting to avoid the worst of their
predictions – now, rather than at some future time? As the Chairman of the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Mr. Rajendra Pachauri, has recently
pointed out, eleven of the warmest years since instrumental records began have
occurred in the past twelve, while major precipitation changes are taking place on a
global scale.
Sample answer: The lecture talks about the prediction and reality of global warming.
Individuals and governments are worrying about what to do as the effects of climate
change become more obvious and population growth would cause terrible results for
humanity. Although the predictions do not come true, human beings cannot afford
98 / 106
the result of wrong prediction and must take actions to avoid the worst of their
predictions.
29. Global warming
There can now be no reasonable, science-based, doubt about the reality of global
climate change effects brought on by the cumulative and rapidly growing emission of
so-called ‘greenhouse’ gasses – primarily carbon dioxide – into the atmosphere. As
these effects become increasingly more obvious worldwide, so commercial interests,
groups of concerned individuals and national governments have been gripped by
what amounts to mass panic about what to do about it. To many, Paul Ehrlich’s
Malthusian ‘Population Bomb’ of 1968 appears about to explode in the world’s
face in an indirect version of his millenarian vision of population growth which
outpaces agricultural production capacity-with predictably catastrophic results for
humanity. And his three-part crisis scenario does indeed seem now to be present: a
rapid rate of change, A limit of some sort, and delays in perceiving that limit. Ehrlich’s
work was roundly criticized at the time, and later, from many quarters, and much of
what he predicted did not come about. Nevertheless, can the world afford to take the
risk that the climate scientists have got it wrong? Is it not in everyone’s interests to
apply the Precautionary Principle in attempting to avoid the worst of their predictions
– now, rather than at some future time? As the Chairman of the Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change, Mr. Rajendra Pachauri, has recently pointed out, eleven of
the warmest years since instrumental records began have occurred in the past twelve,
while major precipitation changes are taking place on a global scale.
Sample answer: The lecture talks about the prediction and reality of global warming.
Individuals and governments are worrying about what to do as the effects of climate
change become more obvious and population growth would cause terrible results for
humanity. Although the predictions do not come true, human beings cannot afford
99 / 106
the result of wrong prediction and must take actions to avoid the worst of their
predictions.
30. Talent war V1
Talent is premium and there is a war for talents in 1990's because of the talent
shortage. Companies and countries are recruiting young talented people from
different countries and sending young people to universities. Some young people
immigrated after they graduated from the university. They compete with the local
students. Countries and organizations should put talents at the primary positions. The
collapse of loyalty makes employees happy to change their workplace because of the
higher income. There are three reasons: first, the change of nature of economy leads
to increase in the talents demand and need skills.
Second, the shrinking labour force after the baby-boom causes less supply of skilled
workers and the retirement of baby-boomers will cause a shortage of experienced
workers. Third, there is also a mismatch between what schools are producing and what
companies need.
Sample answer: The lecture was about the talent war and the reasons behind it. In
1990s, companies and countries recruited young talents from universities around the
world, which intensified the competition with local students. Higher income, shrinkage
of labour force and mismatch between university education and the company
requirements were the main reasons for this phenomenon.
31. University competition
Today a university like the LSE certainly has to acknowledge that it is in competition
for the best students, all of whom have choices they can exercise, and many of them
choices which run across national and continental borders. We are in competition, too,
100 / 106
for staff. The academic job market is one of the most global 25 there is. And in the
21st century English is the new Latin, so universities in English speaking countries are
exposed to more intensive competition than those elsewhere. We are in competition
for government funding, through the assessment of research quality. We are in
competition for research contracts, from public and private sector sources, and indeed
we are in competition for the philanthropic pound. Many of our own donors were at
more than one university, and indeed think of the LSEs requests alongside those of
other charities to which they are committed. That is a competitive environment which
is particularly visible to a vice-Chancellor.
Sample answer: The competition between universities is not only for best students
who had choices nationally and internationally, but staff in the academic job market.
It is more intense in English-speaking countries since English is the new Latin. There
are also other competitions such as research contract from public and private sectors,
government funding assessed by research quality and charity donations. Overall, the
competitive environment is particularly visible to the vice-chancellor.
32. Government power
Sample answer: The lecture talks about the necessary of modifying government
powers. It is also important to address the different opinions holding by the
democratic party and the republican party. While the democratic party claims that the
government should hold the big power and entitlements, the republicans believe the
government should share its powers with the states and people.
101 / 106
33. MISUSE OF DRUGS
Sample answer: The lecture talks about the misuse of drugs and corresponding
solutions. Firstly, parents should put drugs in closed lid box to avoid children taking
wrong drugs accidentally. Secondly, wrong prescription may cause drugs misuse as
some people are allergic to certain drugs. Lastly, it is dangerous for patients to take
drugs without knowing their different resistance and duration. Therefore, medical
courses can be introduced to prevent these circumstances.
34. Prevention of pandemic Transmitting
Sample answer: This topic is described as prevention of pandemic transmitting that
the impact of pandemic is catastrophic. The government of the United States makes
efforts to prevent pandemic transmitting within communities. Furthermore, clinical
preparation or other treatments were researched, such as antiviral drugs and vaccine.
However, there are some difficulties of preventing pandemic transmitting in
developing countries than more developed countries because of the insufficient
resources in developing countries.
35. London architecture
Sample answer: The architectures in West London are very ugly. Bad architecture can
have negative impacts including feeling frustrated and angry because buildings last
long enough to affect people’s life. However, whether architectures are beautiful or
ugly depend on the eye of different people, since the architects may regard them as
102 / 106
beautiful. There is a book about how architectures work in cities such as San Francisco,
Madrid and Frankfurt.
36. Adam Smith
Sample answer: The lecture mainly talks about Adam Smith’s social theory.
Although democracy has been established in developed countries, the severe
pollution caused by industrial revolution has done massive damages including the
decline of living expectancy and living standards. Therefore, some legislation about
working and environmental conditions were introduced to rectify our behaviours. In
addition, industrial development is the output instead of the input, which should be
equally important to national income.
37. The Big Bang Theory
Sample answer: This topic is described as cosmology and Big Bang Theory, which is
an amazing discovery. It is previously believed that big bang happened around 10 to
20 billion years ago, but it actually happened 13.8 billion years ago instead of 13 or
14 billion years ago. After the Big Bang, the universe keeps changing. Even when the
universe started is known, we still need to understand the future that how it developed.
38. Devolution of Power
Sample answer: The topic is about the devolution of power from the government to
the general public, and the need of modifying government power is a philosophical
103 / 106
question. While the Democratic Party claims that the government should hold the big
power and entitlements, the Republicans believe the government should share its
power with the states and people. Therefore, the Republican Party decides to hide
power from the general public.
39. Genes affect human behaviours
Sample answer: This topic is described as gene study. Recent research has shown that
genes can determine not only humans’ physical features, such as height and hair,
but also psychological and mental features, such as our behaviours. Therefor our
research on genetics has provided interesting information to biology, psychology and
neuroscience as well.
104 / 106
WFD — Write from dictation

1. A synopsis contains the most important information.
2. All of the assignments should be submitted in person to the faculty office.
3. Animals raised in captivity behave differently from their wild counterparts
4. Artists are other than politicians played their own roles of cultural critics.
5. Clinical placement in nursing prepares students for professional practice.
6. he most striking thing about the/this budget of smartphone cannot be seen on
its face.
7. It is absolutely vital that you acknowledge all your sources.
8. Leading companies have changed their policies after reports were released.
9. Many graduates studying journalism get jobs in communications field.
10. Most of students have not considered these issues before.
11. Native speakers’ language tests are/ test is examined in their own language.
12. Observers waited nervously and held their breath for the concert.
13. Remember, the prestigious selection has strict eligibility criteria.
14. Review all materials before drawing your conclusion. 
15. Scientists are always asking the government for money.
16. She used to be an editor of the student’s newspaper.
17. Students are instructed to hand in their assignments by the end of this week.
18. Students have the options to live in college residencies or apartments. 
19. Students will focus on reporting news on changing media world.
20. Supply and demand is one of the most fundamental concepts in economics.
21. Teaching assistants will receive a monthly remuneration for housing.
22. The aerial photograph was promptly registered for federal evaluations.
23. The artists tied with the conservative politicians earned the roles of critics.
24. The campus tour runs daily during summer for prospective students.
25. The chemical / chemistry building is in the interior of the campus. (something like
that)
26. The evaluation form will be reviewed by university personnel.
27. The library has/holds a substantial collection on economic history.
28. The massive accumulation of data is converted into a communicable argument.
29. The nation achieved prosperity by opening its exports for trade
30. The placement test of mathematics and science is open to every semester.
31. The same issue featured both explanations of the problem.
105 / 106
32. The sociology department is highly regarded worldwide. 

33. The students are/were instructed to submit their assignments by Friday.
34. The teacher asks the group to commence the task.
35. The theatre study course encourages students to exercise creativity.
36. The toughest part of public transport is funding.
37. The ways (in which) people communicate are constantly changing.
38. They were struggling last year to make their service pay.
39. University departments should carefully monitor articles and publications by
faculty.
40. While reconciliation is desirable, the basic underlying issues should/must be
addressed.
41. You are required to complete your research paper by next Monday.
42. You may need to purchase an academic gown before the commencement.
43. You must submit your assignment by next Friday at the latest.
44. Your lowest grade has been eliminated from calculation. /Your lowest quiz grade
has been omitted from the calculations.
106 / 106
PTE 教育第一品牌
羊驼捷报（近期考生）
总分 79 到 90
在 Jared 老师和羊驼机经的帮助下
口语从 57 飙升到 90
羊驼教育已经累计帮助数万人通过考试，希望还在备战 PTE 的同学们都能早日过关！
有任何 PTE 相关问题都可以通过微信（微信号：yangtuo03）咨询羊驼小助手哟，二维码↓

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 羊驼 PTE 机经：10w+考生考场回忆贡献, 业内最新最全

 羊驼 PTE 练习：考题完整练习模式, 还原口语考试评分机制

扫码或应用市场下载 APP 咨询课程剩余名额

羊驼 PTE 拥有全球最大规模的考生学员以及最大规模的 APP 用户——累计达 10w+，这些广大的学

羊驼倡导考生使用“羊驼 PTE ”APP 贡献自己的考试回忆和经验，羊驼团队完善之后，形成最新机

经练习题。加入到 APP 题库后，所有用户都可以随时参与练习、查看评分。

希望这份机经，能够帮到备考 PTE 的你。

1.高频+新题机经通过整合 PTE 考生的回忆而来，官方并没有提供认证版真题。在考试中，以考试出

4.本次月度高频机经，收录日期是 10 月 1 -11 月 26 日；为了您能获取最新准确的信息，建议每周

Tips: APP/小程序搜索 标题/内容 即可互动查阅和查看最新修订版本

所有 SST 已全部给出 sample answer，并更新到羊驼 APP

concentration; think of yellow legal pads and post-it notes.

It was a long time before I realized he did this for a living.

that signals impatience and hostility.

by object of expenditure. Account managers are responsible for ensuring that

to use the funds.

complex; it is usually unnecessary to make extensive use of adjectives or adverbs, and

consistency of terms is often required.

by object of expenditure. Account managers are responsible for ensuring that

to use the funds.

complex; it is usually unnecessary to make extensive use of adjectives or adverbs, and

consistency of terms is often required.

succeeded in inaugurating in a number of countries a level of mass prosperity which

immediate impact of the Industrial Revolution, there were substantial divergences

11.How Shakespeare became Shakespeare

without powerful family connections and without a university education — moved

humanity or potential medical and biological resources. So extinction of language

takes with it a wealth of culture, art and knowledge.

13.Private equity houses

“Thompson recognized and exploited all the ingredients of a successful

amusement ride.” writes Judith A Adams in The American Amusement Park

Industry. “His coasters combined an appearance of danger with actual safety,

experience the Industrial Revolution’s new technologies of gears, steel, and

dazzling electric lights.”

to keep their loyalty.

justifiable as a military necessity.

Another administration option is to bake marijuana at a relatively low temperature

Both of these methods of administration make smoking the drug unnecessary.

plant, it cannot be patented and marketed by pharmaceutical companies and is

unlikely to win widespread medical acceptance.

3. Simple circuit with light

5. Growth of the bean

6. Baby sleeping hour

8. Percent of university and college students who did educational

activities, by hour of day on weekdays

10. Artificial tree storage size guide

11. Electricity Generation in China by Type, 1994-2004

12. How solar yard lights work

13. XXX by gender

14. Number of Internet Users per 100 people

15. Life cycle of an apple

16. Height in centimeters

17. Simple circuit with light

18. Typing manner

19. Rubbish soup

21. Percentage of population in urban areas

22. Life cycle of a frog V2:

1. Large Hadron Collider (LHC)

the momentum of the particle can be determined.

nucleus, roughly one thousand-million-millionth of a meter in size. The LHC starts

powerful particle accelerator. It first started up on 10 September 2008, and remains

ring of superconducting magnets with a number of accelerating structures to boost

the energy of the particles along the way.

pte alpaca high frequency "key king"羊驼PTE高频机经

pte alpaca high frequency "key king"羊驼PTE高频机经

Tips: APP/小程序搜索标题/内容即可互动查阅和查看最新修订版本