And finally in tonight’s news, a nine-year-old boy named Joe told not to draw in class wins a job decorating a restaurant with his drawings rather than shutting down the habit of drawing in his school’s workbook.

Joe’s parents decided to encourage his creativity by sending their son to an after-school art class. His teacher recognized Joe’s talent and posted all his work online, which led to something pretty wonderful. A restaurant named Number 4 in Newcastle contacted Joe’s teachers to ask if the nine-year-old could come and decorated the dining room with his drawings. Every day after school, Joe's dad drives him to the restaurant, so he can put his ideas straight on the wall.

Once he's all done, the work will remain there permanently. Joe’s dad says, Joe is a really talented little boy. He’s excellent at school. He's great at football, but drawing is definitely what he is most passionate about.

Q1. What did Joe’s parents decide to do?

Q2. What did the restaurant, Number 4, do?

Pigs are not native to North America. They were first introduced to California by Spanish and Russian explorers and settlers many centuries ago. In the early times, pigs were allowed to wander freely and search of food. This practice also allowed many pigs to escape from farms and live in the wild, which became a problem.

In fact, as one of the most damaging invasive species on the continent, wild pigs caused millions of dollars in crop damage yearly. They also harbored dozens of diseases that threaten both humans and farm animals. Forest patches with wild pigs have been found to have considerably reduced plant and animal persity.

In addition to either eating other animals or their food supply, wild pigs damaged native habitats by reaching up crosses and rubbing on trees. Their activities may also create opportunities for invasive plants to colonize these areas. Wild pigs will eat almost anything containing calories. Mice, deer, birds, snakes and frogs are among their victims.

They can also harm other wild species through indirect competition rather than eating them or shrinking their food supply. On one particular United States island, wild pigs themselves became an attractive food source for a species of mainland eagle. Eagles began breeding on the island and also feeding on a species of native fox. The foxes were almost wiped out completely.

Q16. What do we learn about early pigs in North America?

Q17. Why are wild pigs a threat to humans?

Q18. What does the passage say about the native foxes on a . island?

In cold and snowy Alaska, there’s a village called Takotna. It has a population of mere 49 adults. Each March, this tiny village swells up in numbers because it is located in the middle of a race that takes place every year. It is a seven-day race called “The Iditarod Trail”. And participants stop at Takotna for the obligatory 24 hour rest.

Lucky for them, Takotna is famous for its delicious fruit pies. Weeks before the competitors arrive, the residents of Takotna start preparing what is without question their biggest event of the year. The whole village chips in to help, including the kids, who end up developing their baking skills at an early age. Exhausted and hungry racers are greeted with delightful pies of all kinds, such as apple, orange, lemon, or banana.

They consume the pies and a stomach warming race fuel. The toughness of the race allows for racers to eat pretty much whatever they want. The more calories, the better. Takotna has gained a reputation for its dessert-based hospitality since the 1970s. It started with one person, Jane Newton. Jane moved from Iditarod with her husband in 1972 and opened a restaurant. A rich and filling fruit pies quickly got the races attention, and the village gained some fame as a result. Proud residents then started to refer to Jane as queen of Takotna.

Q22. Why do a lot of people come to the village of Takotna every March?

Q23. What is the village of Takotna famous for?

Q24. Who comes to help with the event of the year?

Q25. What does the passage say about Jane Newton?

1. A) Enroll him in a Newcastle football club.

B) Send him to an after-school art class.

C) Forbid him to draw in his workbook.

D) Help him post his drawings online.

2. A) Contacted Joe to decorate its dining-room.

B) Hired Joe to paint all the walls of its buildings.

C) Renovated its kitchen and all the dining-rooms.

D) Asked Joe for permission to use his online drawings.

         Thesite of the 1st National Congress of the Communist Party of China, located at , Xingye Road, Shanghai, is a residence of typical Shanghai style which wasbuilt in the autumn of July 23,1921, the 1st National Congress of theCPC was held here, where the first creed and the first convention were passed,the central leading body was elected, and the birth of the CPC was September, 1952, the site was renovated and turned into a memorial hall opento the public, where both the representatives attending the 1st NationalCongress of the CPC and the history of the CPC are introduced. It has become apatriotism education base where people know the history of the CPC andcommemorate the revolutionary martyrs.

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大运河（Grand Canal）是世界上最长的人工河，北起北京，南至杭州。它是中国历史上最宏伟的工程之一。大运河始建于公元前4世纪，公元13世纪末建成。修建之初是为了运输粮食，后来也用于运输其他商品。大运河沿线区域逐渐发展成为中国的工商业中心。长久以来，大运河对中国的经济发展发挥了重要作用，有力地促进了南北地区之间的人员往来和文化交流。

【英语四级翻译参考译文：大运河】

The Grand Canal is the longest man-made river in the world, stretching from Beijing in the north to Hangzhou in the south. It is one of the grandest projects in Chinese history. The Grand Canal was founded in the 4th century BC and was taken shape at the end of the 13th century. It was built to transport grain at the beginning, and later it was also used to transport other commodities. The area along the Grand Canal has gradually blossomed into the industrial and commercial center in China. The Grand Canal has been playing a critical role in China’s economic rise for a long time, strongly promoting the personnel exchanges and cultural communication between the southern and northern regions

坎儿井（Karez）是新疆干旱地区的一种水利系统，由地下渠道将水井连接而成。该系统将春夏季节渗入（seep into）地下的大量雨水及积雪融水收集起来，通过山体的自然坡度引到地面，用于灌溉农田和满足人们的日常用水需求。坎儿井减少了水在地面的蒸发（evaporation），对地表破坏很小，因而有效地保护了自然资源与生态环境。坎儿井体现了我国人民与自然和谐共存的智慧，是对人类文明的一大贡献。

【英语四级翻译参考译文：坎儿井】

Karez is a water conservancy system in the arid region of Xinjiang, where wells are connected by underground channels. The system collects large amounts of rainwater and snowmelt that seep into the ground in spring and summer, and brings it to the surface through the natural slope of the mountain. The rainwater is used to irrigate farmland and meet people’s daily water needs. Karez protects natural resources and the ecological environment by reducing evaporation of water from the surface which does little damage to the surface. Karez embodies the wisdom of our people to live in harmony with nature and it is a great contribution to human civilization.

Nowadays, many famous university campuses have become one of the popular tourist attractions. It has been shown on TV and on the radio that every year thousands and thousands of middle school students visit Tsing Hua University and Peking University and other famous universities in China. In the place far away from the capital city, the local students also visit the universities famous in their own province.

So far as the present situation is concerned, is it a good or bad thing to open the university campus for tourists? Different people have different opinions. On one hand, some people argued that it is a good thing for the students to visit the famous university campus in that it can enable the middle students to get more information about the university and they can have enough time and opportunity to prepare themselves with the chance to get into the university. On the other hand, some people hold a negative view about this phenomenon. In their opinion, the public tourism will have negative effect on the universities because it will not only do harm to the environment but also to the intellectual atmosphere.

In my opinion, the tourism to the universities is not a good thing. The campus is mainly a place for study. With the increasing tourism on the campus, it will ruin the spiritual atmosphere in this learning field.

首先，xxx文 “谋篇布局”及结构模板。

第一段：提出问题或现象。Nowadays, … … have become one of the popular … …. It has been shown on TV and on the radio that … ….

第二段：正反列举人们的看法。So far as the present situation is concerned, is it a good or bad thing to … …? Different people have different opinions. On one hand, some people argued that it is a good thing for … … in that … …. On the other hand, some people hold a negative view about this phenomenon. In their opinion, … … will have negative effect on … … because it will not only do harm to … … but also to … ….

第三段：摆明自己观点。In my opinion, … … is not a good thing. … … With the increasing … …, it will ruin … ….

其次，xxx文“段落写作”。

段落写作分为统一性，连贯性和完整性三方面。

统一性(unity：段落开头的主题句应该做到不可太宽泛，也不可太具体，做到有较强的概括性才能使下文做到有的放矢的展开。xxx第二段首句以设问的方式提出一个问题is it a good or bad thing就有很强的概况性。下文自然会一方面从好的方面说明，另一方面从坏的方面说明。

连贯性(coherence：关联词是使文章段落之间相互连贯的必要条件。xxx中nowadays, on one hand, on the other hand, in one’s opinion即以“启承转合”递进的顺序是文章条理清晰，层层展开。

完整性(completeness：以设问句“So far as the present situation is concerned, is it a good or bad thing to open the university campus for tourists?”开头，这是平时较少运用的段落写作方式——设问法。“On one hand … …. On the other hand, … ….”是段落写作分类列举法的典型用法。

再次，xxx文“句子写作”。

1. It has been shown that … …

类似句型：It is known to us that … …

It is said that … …

It is reported that … …

It is controversial that … …

2. “… … Tsing Hua University and Peking University and other famous universities … …。”——并列句。并列句是简单的复杂句。但其运用方法并不简单，注意练习并接句的使用，会使句子显的更加饱满。

3. enable v. 使…能够

I gave him full directions to enable him to find the house.

4. in that = because

表“因为”的连词还有since, for, as，如：

The boy was absent because he was ill. = The boy was absent since he was ill.

此句以我们常用的人称开头，句式简单，我们可以通过把since提前改变句式，如：

Since the boy was ill, he was absent. 句式多样化。

最后，xxx文“措辞”。

1. attraction n. 具有吸引力的事情。

2. thousands and thousands 成千上万的

形容“多”的表达方法：millions and millions

a multitude of

a great deal of

a large amount of

plenty of

many a

3. “some people argued that … …”中的“argue”并不是“讨论，辩论”的意思，而是“认为”。

I argue that … …

I maintain that … …

I claim that … …

I insist that … … = I think that … …

I hold that … …

I assert that … …

I assume that … …

4. negative adj. 否定的.，相反的

hold negative view = hold opposite opinions

5. phenomenon n. 现象

social phenomenon 社会现象

natural phenomenon 自然现象

6. intellectual adj. 聪明的= intelligent, bright, clever

(选词策略：使用最近所学的单词，如intellectual > intelligent > bright > clever

在分析并掌握xxx之后，我们需要运用xxx知识练习仿写。笔者运用2005年12月xxx中的模板结构仿写了2006年12月的四级作文，以供参考：

1. 许多人喜欢在除夕夜看春节晚会

2. 但有些人提出取消春节晚会

3. 我的看法

Nowadays, the Spring Festival Evening has become one of the popular topic and attractions during every traditional New Year’s Eve. It has been shown on TV and on the radio that every year thousands and thousands of Chinese people appear to be accustomed to enjoying the sights and sounds of a brilliant feast, while gathering with their beloved family.

However, an increasing number of people have voiced different opinions towards it. So far as the present situation is concerned, is it a good or bad thing to cancel the Spring Festival Evening? Different people have different opinions. On one hand, some people argued that it is a good thing to amuse the audience in that it is composed by a numerous adequate programs, such as the emotional song, the graceful dance, the funny short sketch, the amusing comic dialogue, the delightful magic, and the marvelous acrobatics and so on. On the other hand, some people hold a negative view about this phenomenon. In their opinion, the Spring Festival Evening will have negative effect on the family harmony because it will not only do harm to having the talks between family members on the Spring Festival Eve but also to enjoying the gourmet meal in a fancy restaurant.

In my opinion, the Spring Festival Evening is a good thing. It may not remain a must for all people, but it can bring us a strong sense of festivity and serve as an alternative among the variety of holiday activities. With the increasing audience of the Spring Festival Evening, it will ruin a distinctive culture during the Spring Festival vacation.

近几年,电子商务的迅猛发展加快了电子货币(electronic money)的普遍应用。电子货币是通过电脑或手机等电子化方式来支付的货币。电子货币最典型的例子是比特币(bitcoin),它可以用现金购买,还能像其他任何货币一样进行交易。与现金支付相比,电子货币更加方便,增加了社会效益(social benefit),但对银行经营方式产生了冲击。安全性一直是电子货币使用过程中最受关注的问题,因此要建立完善的电子货币支付系统,保证支付的安全性。

E-commerce has undergone tremendous growth in recent years, accelerating the widespread application of electronic money. Electronic money is the currency which is used to pay by electronic means like a computer or mobile phone. The most typical example of electronic money is the bitcoin, which can be bought with real money and used to trade like any other currency. Compared with the cash payment, it is more convenient and raises the social benefit, but it has an impact on the way the bank operates. Security has always been the biggest concern in the process of using electronic money, so it is required to establish a perfect electronic money payment system to ensure the security of payment.

倡导低碳生活,提高公民节能减排意识是应对全球变暖的重要措施。低碳生活并非什么难事,只要人人都树立绿色环保意识,坚持从我做起、从身边小事做起,那么就一定能共享低碳生活。共享低碳生活,要让绿色环保理念深入人心。要把绿色环保活动融入工作、生活的方方面面；要有针对性地开展低碳生活的知识培训；要积极倡导志愿者活动,全面宣传节能减排、环境保护等方面的知识,提高全社会的低碳环保意识。

Advocating the low-carbon lifestyle and promoting citizens’ consciousness of energy conservation and emission reduction are important measures against global warming. Leading a low-carbon life is not difficult. As long as we establish the consciousness of green environmental protection and keep starting from ourselves to pay attention to everything around us, we can make the low-carbon lifestyle available to all. To achieve that, we should make the idea of green environmental protection popular. We should integrate green environmental protection activities into every aspect of work and life; we should carry out the targeted training about the low-carbon lifestyle; we should actively advocate volunteer activities and comprehensively publicize the knowledge of energy conservation and emission reduction, as well as environmental protection and others so as to increase people’s consciousness of environmental protection to live a low-carbon life in the whole society.

最近闲来无事，又看了一遍这部经典的动画影片《年月的神话》，英文译名是onlyyesterday。前次看，现已是两年前了，现在现已28岁的我，越来越能从中找到共识了。

27岁的女孩xxx，一个住在东京的一般上班族，面对被催婚的压力，因从小一向神往着村庄的日子，也为了暂时逃避现实，所以向公司请了10天假，到乡间姐夫家协助采摘红花，影片从这儿打开。

在开往乡间的夜班火车上，藏在回忆深处的幼年xxx，在摇晃的车厢中从成年xxx的梦里苏醒过来。

那个神往去暑假乡间休假，终究被奶奶骗去了海滨浴场一日游的xxx；

那个与校园棒球手广田之间具有青涩模糊的初恋的xxx；

那个央求爸爸买来菠萝，成果等了一个星期，菠萝仍是又生又涩，终究得出了，生果之王的称谓，仍对错香蕉莫属定论的xxx；

那个仅有的一次挨爸爸的打的xxx；

那个考了25分数学试卷被家人以为智力有问题的xxx；

那个失去话剧排练的xxx；

那个不肯与转学生握手的xxx，等等等等。

这些生长旅程上的纤细的心绪与伤痛，全都浮现在27岁的xxx眼前。

能回忆起这么多的东西，可见年月是多么的奥妙。xxx说记起这么多五年级的回忆，是因为五年级的自己正在阅历了人生中的一个转机，那时候的伤痛没有散去，一向留在她的回忆深处。现在她踏上了这次采摘红花的村庄之旅，遇到了小她两岁的xxx，那些无人倾诉的纤细心绪与生长的伤痛，被一点一点治好。xxx雄，应该是她人生中另一个严重的转机吧。

影片终究，十天假日完毕后的xxx终究遵照了良心，跳下了开往东京的火车，回到了这个她从心底喜爱上的村庄，做了她生命中最重要的\'一个决议，xxx在一起，成为了一个真实的农妇。

看到终究，背景音乐响起，幼年的xxx和她的小伙伴拉着成年后的xxx飞驰下车，xxx雄跑去，眼泪又一次滑落。xxx的归宿，我想这是最好的组织，xxx对天然、农业和一般人的知道，是那么让人惊喜和安心。xxx很合适她，尽管xxx的年岁比他大，可他却让xxx觉得他才是那个协助认清自己的人，那是可以信赖和依托的感觉，那是让xxx想扎根下来的力气。

我想这部影片之所以能牵动到我，除了我真的老了以外，大约还觉得xxx特别像存在咱们身边的一般的人，终究离别城市，回到故土过那种本真日子的一般人。

想想自从结业后，来深圳一转眼现已7年了，最初的同学老友现已散落在天边，有的已有归宿，有的还在人海踽踽独行。有时候会觉得时刻彻底不够用，似乎一睁一闭间，年月又曩昔久，又如同有一个小偷，声势浩大的偷走了一部分。大约这便是生长的味道，纤细、苦涩、惆怅。

Suppose your university student union is planning to hold a speech are now to write a proposal for organizing the contest. The proposal may include the topic, aim, procedure and selection of contestants. You will have 30 minutes to write the proposal.

Tieguanyin is one of the most popular types of tea in China. It was originally produced in Xiping Town, Anxi County, Fujian Province. Nowadays, Tieguanyin is widely grown in Anxi County, but Tieguanyin, produced in different regions of the county, has its own flavor. The tea leaves of Tieguanyin can be picked in all seasons, but those picked in spring and autumn have the best quality. The processing of Tieguanyin is very complicated and requires expertise as well as rich experience. Tieguanyin contains a variety of vitamins and possesses a unique texture. Drinking Tieguanyin regularly helps prevent heart disease, lower blood pressure and improve memory.

8. A) A surprise party for Paul’s birthday.

B) Travel plans for the coming weekend.

C) Preparations for Saturday’s get-together.

D) The new market on the other side of town.

9. A) It makes the hostess’s job a whole lot easier.

B) It enables guests to walk around and chat freely.

C) It saves considerable time and labor.

D) It requires fewer tables and chairs.

10. A) It offers some big discounts.

B) It is quite close to her house.

C) It is more spacious and less crowded.

D) It sells local wines and soft drinks.

11. A) Cook a dish for the party.

B) Arrive 10 minutes earlier.

C) Prepare a few opening remarks.

D) Bring his computer and speakers.

M: So what time do you think we should have the party on Saturday?

W: How about inviting people to come at 6:00 PM, then we'll have the afternoon to prepare food and drink and stuff like that?

M: Yes. I was thinking that around six would be good too. What food should we provide?

W: Well, I had thought about baking a cake and some biscuits, and now I think we should prepare some sandwiches and snacks and some other kinds of food so that people can just help themselves rather than getting everyone to sit down at the table to eat a meal. I think that’s a bit too formal. It's better to let people walk around and talk to each other or sit where they like.

M: Yes, that sounds good. I’ll go to the supermarket to get some drinks. I think I might try that big new supermarket on the other side of town, see what they have. I’ve not been there before. I think we should get some beer and wine and some fruit juice and other soft drinks. What do you think?

W: Sounds great. I think those drinks will be enough. And I heard that the new supermarket offers some big discounts to attract customers, so going there should be a great idea. What should we do about music?

M：Maybe we should also ask Pual to bring his computer and speakers so that we can play some music. He has a great collection of different stuff. Yes. All right.

Q8. What are the speakers mainly talking about?

Q9. Why does the woman say it is a good idea to serve foods that guests can help themselves too?

Q10. What does the woman say about the new supermarket?

A pair of entrepreneurs are planning to build and launch a spacecraft that would carry and roast coffee beans in outer space. The craft will use the heat of re-entry to roast coffee beans, as they float inside it in a pressurized tank. The effect would be to roast the beans all over and produce perfect coffee. The businessmen say that on earth, beans can easily break apart and get burned in the roaster. But if gravity is removed, the beans float around and in a heated oven, receiving 360 degrees of evenly distributed heat and roasting to near perfection. The spacecraft will reach a height of around 200 kilometers. The beans would then be roasted and the heat generated by the crafts 20 minute re-entry into earth's atmosphere. Temperatures and the pressurized tank will be kept to around 200 degrees Celsius. Once back on earth, the planet’s first space roasted beans would be used to make coffee that would be sold for the first time in Dubai. This is where the pair’s company is based. It is not clear how much they would charge for a cup. Surprisingly, the Space Roaster concept-should it go ahead-will not be the first attempt to take coffee into space. In 2015, two Italian companies collaborated on the construction of a similar type of spacecraft, which was the first coffee machine designed for use in space.

Q19. What are a pair of entrepreneurs planning to do?

Q20. What does the passage say about coffee beans roasted on earth?

Q21. What did the two Italian companies do in 2015?

Numbers do not exist in all cultures. There are numberless hunter-gatherers embedded deep in Amazonia, living along branches of the world’s largest river tree. Instead of using words for precise quantities, these people rely exclusively on terms analogous to “a few” or “some.”

In contrast, our own lives are governed by numbers. As you read this, you are likely aware of what time it is, how old you are, your checking account balance, your weight and so on. The exact (and exacting) numbers we think with impact everything from our schedules to our self-esteem.

But, in a historical sense, numerically fixated people like us are the unusual ones. For the bulk of our species’ approximately 200,000-year lifespan, we had no means of precisely representing quantities. What’s more, the 7,000 or so languages that exist today vary dramatically in how they utilize numbers.

Speakers of anumeric, or numberless, languages offer a window into how the invention of numbers reshaped the human experience. In a new book, I explored the ways in which humans invented numbers, and how numbers subsequently played a critical role in other milestones, from the advent of agriculture to the genesis of writing.

Cultures without numbers, or with only one or two precise numbers, include the Munduruku and Pirahã in Amazonia. Researchers have also studied some adults in Nicaragua who were never taught number words.

Without numbers, healthy human adults struggle to precisely differentiate and recall quantities as low as four. In an experiment, a researcher will place nuts into a can one at a time, then remove them one by one. The person watching is asked to signal when all the nuts have been removed. Responses suggest that anumeric people have some trouble keeping track of how many nuts remain in the can, even if there are only four or five in total.

This and many other experiments have converged upon a simple conclusion: When people do not have number words, they struggle to make quantitative distinctions that probably seem natural to someone like you or me. While only a small portion of the world’s languages are anumeric or nearly anumeric, they demonstrate that number words are not a human universal.

It is worth stressing that these anumeric people are cognitively normal, well-adapted to the environs they have dominated for centuries. As the child of missionaries, I spent some of my youth living with anumeric indigenous people, the aforementioned Pirahã who live along the sinuous banks of the black Maici River. Like other outsiders, I was continually impressed by their superior understanding of the riverine ecology we shared.

Yet numberless people struggle with tasks that require precise discrimination between quantities. Perhaps this should be unsurprising. After all, without counting, how can someone tell whether there are, say, seven or eight coconuts in a tree? Such seemingly straightforward distinctions become blurry through numberless eyes.

This conclusion is echoed by work with anumeric children in industrialized societies.

Prior to being spoon-fed number words, children can only approximately discriminate quantities beyond three. We must be handed the cognitive tools of numbers before we can consistently and easily recognize higher quantities.

In fact, acquiring the exact meaning of number words is a painstaking process that takes children years. Initially, kids learn numbers much like they learn letters. They recognize that numbers are organized sequentially, but have little awareness of what each inpidual number means. With time, they start to understand that a given number represents a quantity greater by one than the preceding number. This “successor principle” is part of the foundation of our numerical cognition, but requires extensive practice to understand.

None of us, then, is really a “numbers person.” We are not predisposed to handle quantitative distinctions adroitly. In the absence of the cultural traditions that infuse our lives with numbers from infancy, we would all struggle with even basic quantitative distinctions.

Number words and written numerals transform our quantitative reasoning as they are coaxed into our cognitive experience by our parents, peers and school teachers. The process seems so normal that we sometimes think of it as a natural part of growing up, but it is not. Human brains come equipped with certain quantitative instincts that are refined with age, but these instincts are very limited. For instance, even at birth we are capable of distinguishing between two markedly different quantities — for instance, eight from 16 things.

But we are not the only species capable of such abstractions. Compared to chimps and other primates, our numerical instincts are not as remarkable as many presume. We even share some basic instinctual quantitative reasoning with distant nonmammalian relatives like birds. Indeed, work with some other species, including parrots, suggests they too can refine their quantitative thought if they are introduced to the cognitive power tools we call numbers.

So, how did we ever invent _unnatural_ numbers in the first place?

The answer is, literally, at your fingertips. The bulk of the world’s languages use base-10, base-20 or base-5 number systems. That is, these smaller numbers are the basis of larger numbers. English is a base-10 or decimal language, as evidenced by words like 14 (“four” + “10”) and 31 (“three” x “10” + “one”).

We speak a decimal language because an ancestral tongue, proto-Indo-European, was decimally based. Proto-Indo-European was decimally oriented because, as in so many cultures, our linguistic ancestors’ hands served as the gateway to realizations like “five fingers on this hand is the same as five fingers on that hand.” Such transient thoughts were manifested into words and passed down across generations. This is why the word “five” in many languages is derived from the word for “hand.”

Most number systems, then, are the by-product of two key factors: the human capacity for language and our propensity for focusing on our hands and fingers. This manual fixation — an indirect by-product of walking upright on two legs — has helped yield numbers in most cultures, but not all.

Cultures without numbers also offer insight into the cognitive influence of particular numeric traditions. Consider what time it is. Your day is ruled by minutes and seconds, but these entities are not real in any physical sense and are nonexistent to numberless people. Minutes and seconds are the verbal and written vestiges of an uncommon base-60 number system used in Mesopotamia millennia ago. They reside in our minds, numerical artifacts that not all humans inherit conceptually.

Research on the language of numbers shows, more and more, that one of our species’ key characteristics is tremendous linguistic and cognitive persity. While there are undoubtedly cognitive commonalities across all human populations, our radically varied cultures foster profoundly different cognitive experiences. If we are to truly understand how much our cognitive lives differ cross-culturally, we must continually sound the depths of our species’ linguistic persity.

36. [E] It is worth stressing that these anumeric people are cognitively (在认知方面）normal, well-adapted to the surroundings they have dominated for centuries.

37. [H] Compared with other mammals, our numerical instincts are not as remarkable as many assume.

38. [E] It is worth stressing that these anumeric people are cognitively(在认知方面）normal, well-adapted to the surroundings they have dominated for centuries.

39. [B] But, in a historical sense, number-conscious people like us are the unusual ones.

40. [K] Research on the language of numbers shows, more and more, that one of our species’ key characteristics is tremendous linguistic(语言的) and cognitive persity.

41. [D] This and many other experiments have led to a simple conclusion: When people do not have number words, they struggle to make quantitative distinctions that probably seem natural to someone like you or me.

42. [G] None of us, then, is really a “numbers person.” We are not born to handle quantitative distinctions skillfully.

43. [A] Numbers do not exist in all cultures.

44. [I] So, how did we ever invent “unnatural” numbers in the first place? The answer is, literally, at your fingertips.

45. [F] This conclusion is echoed by work with anumeric children in industrialized societies.

W: I’m thinking of buying a car. I wouldn’t need to use it every day, but I think it would be very convenient to have one for the weekends.

M: That's exciting. Would this be your first car?

W: Nope.

M: I actually owned a car for a little while when I lived in Miami. You see, in America, many cities don't have good public transport. So most people need their own car to get around.

W: I see.

M: So have you got your mindset on a specific model?

W: No, not really. I've heard that German cars are very reliable, but I haven’t decided on a specific model yet. I’d also like it to be small so that it's easy to drive in the city.

M: I have a friend who sells second-hand cars. In fact, I think his family owns the business. He’s a really nice guy and he knows a lot about cars. I could give you his phone number if you want, and you could call him and ask him questions.

W: Hmm. That’s nice of you, but I don’t want to feel obliged to buy one of his car.

M: Oh no. He’s not like that. He’s a good friend of mine and he would never try to pressure you.

W: Well, if you trust him, then I guess it should be okay. To be honest, I could use some help in deciding what type of vehicle would best suit my needs. Speaking to an expert would be a good idea.

M: Exactly. You have nothing to worry about. He’s a lovely guy and he'll be happy to help.

Q13. What does the woman say about German cars?

Q14. What does the man recommend the woman do?

Q15. What do we learn about the Loinbo's friend from the conversation?

Christine Marshall, a 34-year-old mum of one posted a tearful video on social media, Wednesday, begging for the safe return of her beloved pet dog. After combing through the security video outside a global’s shop, Christine has now posted an image of a man suspected of stealing the dog. The image appears to show a man carrying the dog in his arms.

Christine also believes the video obtained from the shop shows the dog being stolen by a man before driving off in a car, which had been waiting nearby. The family is now offering a 5,000 pound reward for the safe return of the dog after launching a social media campaign to find the thief. The dog is six and a half years old and was last seen wearing a red collar.

Christine said “We will pay that to anyone who brings him home, as long as they are not responsible for his disappearance. Please on investigating the incident”.

Q3. What is Christine Marshall trying to do?

Q4. What does the news report say about Christine Marshall’s family?

Directions: For this part you are allowed 30minuites to write an essay on

whether technology will make people lazy You should write at least 120 words but no more than 180 words.