Directions: Suppose your university is seeking students' opinions on whether university libraries should be open to the public. You are now to write an essay to express your view. You will have 30 minutes for the task. You should write at least 120 words but no more than 180 words. 二、听力理解
评卷标准 / 参考范文
📌 题目回顾
Directions: Suppose your university is seeking students' opinions on whether
university libraries should be open to the public. Write an essay to express your
view. (120–180 words)
💡 可从资源共享、校园安全、管理成本、社会服务等角度论述。
📄 范文
Should University Libraries Be Open to the Public?
In my opinion, university libraries should be open to the public, but with
certain restrictions. This policy would promote the sharing of academic
resources and contribute to a more educated society.
On the one hand, allowing public access enables community members to
benefit from the wealth of knowledge that university libraries hold,
fostering lifelong learning. It also helps bridge the gap between academia
and the public, enhancing the university's social service role. On the other
hand, concerns about campus security and management costs are valid. To
address these, the library could implement a registration system for
external visitors, limit access to certain areas, and set specific visiting hours.
This would balance public service with the need to protect the campus
environment.
In conclusion, opening university libraries to the public is a worthwhile
initiative, provided that reasonable measures are taken to ensure security
and maintain order. Such a move would not only benefit the wider
community but also enrich the university's own academic atmosphere.
📌 写作亮点： 首段明确立场，中间分段阐述利弊并提出解决方案，结尾总结。观
点平衡，结构清晰，符合四级议论文要求。
It's well known that physical exercise is beneficial not just to physical health but also
to mental health. Yet whereas most countries have 26 evidence-backed guidelines
on the type and intensity of exercise 27 for various physical health benefits, such
guidelines do not yet exist for exercise and mood. This is 28 due to a lack of
necessary evidence. However, a new systematic review brings us usefully up-to-date
on the current findings in this area.
Before 29 into some of the key take-aways, an important 30 made in the review is
between aerobic exercise and anaerobic. The former 31 such things as walking,
jogging and cycling and means exercising in such a way that your body is able to
use oxygen to burn fat for energy. In contrast, anaerobic exercise—such as lifting
heavy weights—is of such 32 intensity that your body does not have time to use
oxygen to create energy and so instead it breaks down glucose in your blood or
muscles.
Beginning first with the influence of exercise intensity on the mood benefits of
aerobic exercise, the researchers, led by John Chan at Shenzhen University, found 33
results from 19 relevant studies. Some favoured higher intensity, others low, while
seven studies found that intensity made no 34 to mood benefits.
In relation to the intensity of anaerobic exercise, however, the results were far clearer
—the optimum for improving mood is 35 intensity, perhaps because low intensity is
too dull while high intensity is too unpleasant.
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Part III · B 长篇匹配 10题 · 每题1分
A How will we all keep busy when we only have to work 15 hours a week? That was the question that worried the British economist John Maynard Keynes when he wrote his short essay "Economic Possibilities for Our Grandchildren" in 1930. Over the next century, he predicted, the economy would become so productive that people would barely need to work at all. For a while, it looked like Keynes was right. In 1930 the average working week was 47 hours in the United States. But by 1970, the number of hours Americans worked on average had fallen to slightly less than 39.
B But then something changed. Instead of continuing to decline, the duration of the working week remained stable. It has stayed at just below 40 hours for nearly five decades. So what happened? Why are people working just as much today as in 1970?
C There would be no mystery in this if Keynes had been wrong about the power of technology to increase the economy's productivity, which he thought would lead to a standard of living "between four and eight times as high as it is today." But Keynes got that right: Technology has made the economy massively more productive. According to Benjamin M. Friedman, an economist at Harvard, the U.S. economy is right on track to reach Keynes's eight-fold multiple by 2029. That is a century after the last data Keynes would have had access to.
D In a new paper, Friedman tries to figure out why that increased productivity has not translated into increased leisure time. Perhaps people just never feel materially satisfied, always wanting more money to buy the next new thing. This is a theory that appeals to many economists. "This argument is, at best, far from sufficient," he writes. If that were the case, why did the duration of the working week decline in the first place?
E Another theory Friedman considers is that, in an era of ever fewer settings that provide effective opportunities for personal connections and relationships, people may place more value on the socializing that happens at work. There is support for this theory. Many people today consider colleagues as friends. But Friedman argues that the evidence for this theory is far from conclusive. Many workers report that they would like to spend more time with family, rather than at work. Furthermore, this theory cannot explain the change in trend in the U.S. working week in the 1970s.
F A third possibility proves more convincing for Friedman. That is: American inequality means that the gains of increasing productivity are not widely shared by everyone. In other words, most Americans are too poor to work less. Unlike the other two explanations Friedman considers, this one fits chronologically. Inequality declined in America during the period following World War II, along with the duration of the working week. But since the early 1970s it has risen dramatically.
G Keynes's prediction of a shorter working week rests on the idea that the standard of living would continue rising for everyone. But Friedman says that this is not what has happened. Although Keynes's eight-fold figure holds up for the economy as a whole, it is not at all the case for the median American worker. For them, output by 2029 is likely to be around 3.5 times what it was when Keynes was writing. This is a bit below his four-to eight-fold predicted range.
H This can be seen in the median worker's income over this time period, complete with a shift in 1973 that fits in precisely with when the working week stopped shrinking. According to Friedman, between 1947 and 1973 the average hourly wage for normal workers (those who were not in management roles) in private industries other than agriculture nearly doubled in terms of what their money could buy. But by 2013 the average hourly wage for ordinary workers had fallen 5 percent from the 1973 level in terms of actual purchasing power. Thus, though American incomes may have gone up since 1973, the amount that American workers can actually buy with their money has gone down. For most Americans, then, the magic of increasing productivity stopped working around 1973. Thus, they had to keep working just as much in order to maintain their standard of living.
I What Keynes predicted was a very optimistic version of what economists call technological unemployment. This is the idea that less labor will be necessary because machines can do so much. In Keynes's vision, the resulting unemployment would be distributed more or less evenly across society in the form of increased leisure. But Friedman says that, for Americans, reality is much darker. Americans now have a labor market in which millions of people—those with fewer skills and less education—are seeking whatever poorly paid work they can get. This is confirmed by a recent poll that found that, for half of hourly workers, their top concern is not that they work too much but that they work too little. This is most likely not because they like their jobs so much. Rather, we can assume it is because they need the money.
J This explanation leaves an important question. If the very rich—the workers who have reaped above-average gains from the increased productivity since Keynes's time—can afford to work less, why do they continue to work so much? (Indeed, research has shown that the highest earners in America tend to work the most.) Friedman believes that for many top earners, work is a labor of love. They are doing work they care about and are interested in, and doing more of it is not necessarily a burden. For them, it may even be a pleasure. These top earners derive meaning from their jobs and work is an important part of how they think of themselves. And, of course, they are compensated for it at a level that makes it worth their while.
K Friedman concludes that the prosperity Keynes predicted is here. After all, the economy as a whole has grown even more brilliantly than he expected. But for most Americans, that prosperity is nowhere to be seen. And, as a result, neither are those shorter working weeks.
36. Some people view socializing at the workplace as a chance to develop personal relationships.
37. As ordinary American workers' average hourly pay had decreased despite increasing productivity, they had to work just as many hours as before to keep their living standards.
38. American workers' average weekly working time has not changed for nearly half a century.
39. Friedman believes inequality in the U.S. largely explains why increasing productivity has not resulted in reduced working hours.
40. Many economists assume people's thirst for material things has prevented them from enjoying more leisure time.
41. An economist's prediction about a shorter average working week seemed to be correct for a time in the 20th century.
42. In the U.S. labor market, the primary concern of people with less schooling and fewer skills is to secure any employment even if it is low-paid.
43. Keynes was right in predicting that technology would make the economy much more productive.
44. Many of the highest earners have a keen interest in and love for what they are doing.
45. According to Keynes, there would be a shorter working week with everyone's standard of living continuing to rise. 如下。
Part III · C 仔细阅读 10题 · 每题2分
Passage One
Lao Zi once said, "Care about what other people think and you will always be their prisoner." People-pleasing, or seeking self-worth through others' approval, is unproductive and an exhausting way to go through life. Why do we allow what others think of us to have so much power over how we feel about ourselves? If it's true that you can't please all people all of the time, wouldn't it make sense to stop trying? Unfortunately, sense often isn't driving our behavior. For social beings who desire love and belonging, wanting to be liked, and caring about the effect we have on others, is healthy and allows us to make connections. However, where we get into trouble is when our self-worth is dependent upon whether we win someone's approval or not. This need to be liked can be traced back to when we were children and were completely dependent on others to take care of us: Small children are not just learning how to walk and communicate, they are also trying to learn how the world works. We learn about who we are and what is expected of us based on interactions with others so, to a four-year-old, if Mommy or Daddy doesn't like him or her, there is the danger that they will abandon them. We need to understand that when we desperately want someone to approve of us, it's being driven by that little kid part of us that is still terrified of abandonment. As you become more capable of providing yourself with the approval you seek, your need for external validation will start to vanish, leaving you stronger, more confident, and yes, happier in your life. Imagine how much time we lose each moment we restrain our authentic selves in an effort to be liked. If we base our worth on the opinions of others, we cheat ourselves of the power to shape our experiences and embrace life not only for others but also for ourselves, because ultimately, there is no difference. So embrace the cliché and love yourself as it's highly doubtful that you'll regret it.
46.
What can we conclude from Lao Zi's quotation?
47.
What will happen if we base our self-worth on other people's approval?
48.
What may account for our need to be liked or approved of?
49.
What can we do when we become better able to provide ourselves with the desired approval?
50.
What does the author advise us to do in the last paragraph?
Passage Two
Some people have said aging is more a slide into forgetfulness than a journey towards wisdom. However, a growing body of research suggests that late-in-life learning is possible. In reality, education does an aging brain good. Throughout life, people's brains constantly renovate themselves. In the late 1960s, British brain scientist Geoffrey Raisman spied growth in damaged brain regions of rats through an electron microscope; their brains were forging new connections. This meant brains may change every time a person learns something new. Of course, that doesn't mean the brain isn't affected by the effects of time. Just as height usually declines over the years, so does brain volume: Humans lose about 4 percent every decade starting in their 40s. But that reduction doesn't necessarily make people think slower; as long as we are alive and functioning, we can alter our brains with new information and experiences. In fact, scientists now suspect accumulating novel experiences, facts, and skills can keep people's minds more flexible. New pathways can strengthen our ever-changing mental structure, even as the brain shrinks. Conventional fixes like word puzzles and brain-training apps can contribute to mental durability. Even something as simple as taking a different route to the grocery store or going somewhere new on vacation can keep the brain healthy. A desire for new life challenges can further boost brainpower. Research about aging adults who take on new enterprises shows improved function and memory as well as a reduced risk of mental disease. Openness—a characteristic defined by curiosity and a desire for knowledge—may also help folks pass brain tests. Some folks are born with this take-in-the-world attitude, but those who aren't as genetically gifted aren't necessarily out of luck. While genes can encourage an interest in doing new things, a 2012 study in the journal Psychology and Aging found completing reasoning tasks like puzzles and number games can enhance that desire for novel experiences, which can, in turn, refresh the brain. That's why brain scientist Richard Kennedy says "It's not that old dogs can't learn new tricks. It's that maybe old dogs don't realize why they should."
51.
What do some people think of aging adults?
52.
What can we conclude from Geoffrey Raisman's finding?
53.
What is one thing that helps maintain the health of our brain even as it shrinks?
54.
What does the author say can contribute to the improvement of brain function?
55.
What is the finding of the 2012 study in the journal Psychology and Aging?
🏠 Part IV · 翻译
📄 中文原文
四合院是中国一种传统的住宅建筑，其特点是房屋建造在一个院子的四周，将院子
合围在中间。四合院通常冬暖夏凉，环境舒适，尤其适合大家庭居住。四合院在中
国各地有多种类型，其中以北京的四合院最为典型。如今，随着现代城市的发展，
传统的四合院已逐渐减少，但因其独特的建筑风格，四合院对中国文化的传承和中
国历史的研究具有重要意义。
🏛 参考译文
参考译文：
Siheyuan is a traditional residential building in China, characterized by
houses built around a courtyard, enclosing the yard in the middle. Siheyuan
is usually warm in winter and cool in summer, providing a comfortable
environment, especially suitable for large families. There are various types
of siheyuan across China, among which those in Beijing are the most
typical. Nowadays, with the development of modern cities, traditional
siheyuan have gradually decreased, but due to their unique architectural
style, siheyuan are of great significance to the inheritance of Chinese
culture and the study of Chinese history.
📌 关键译点：
“四合院” → Siheyuan (拼音，保留文化特色)
“特点是” → characterized by
“将院子合围在中间” → enclosing the yard in the middle
“冬暖夏凉” → warm in winter and cool in summer
“尤其适合” → especially suitable for
“最为典型” → the most typical
“逐渐减少” → have gradually decreased
“具有重要意义” → are of great significance