写作：社会实践
Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write a composition on the topic Social Practice of College Students. You should write at least 120 words, and base your composition on the outline below:
1)各大学在假期都会组织学生参加各种社会实践活动，
2)这些活动给大学生带来了哪些好处，
3)参加社会实践活动应该注意些什么。
参考范文
Social Practice of College Students
Nowadays a large number of universities encourage and organize students to take part in social practice activities. During the holidays, students in mounting numbers choose to be the volunteers, take part-time jobs, or take part in other practical activities alike. It is obvious that social practice is playing an increasingly essential role in China’s college education.
Undoubtedly, college students have benefited a lot from social practice. Above all, they are provided with more opportunities to contact the real world outside campus. What is more, in social practice activities, students can apply their theoretical knowledge to the solution to the practical problems. So their practical skills are improved greatly. Besides, social practice helps strengthen students’ sense of social responsibility.
Considering the above-mentioned, it is necessary for college students to participate in social practice. However, social practice may bring some problems. For example, some students spend too much time in taking part-time jobs so as to ignore their study. Hence, we should try to balance the relationship between social practice and study.
阅读
一
Language as a System of Symbols
Of all systems of symbols(符号), language is the most highly developed. It has been pointed out that human beings, by agreement, can make anything stand for anything. Human beings have agreed, in the course of centuries of mutual(相互的)dependency, to let the various noises that they can produce with their lungs, throats, tongues, teeth, and lips systematically stand for certain happenings in their nervous systems. We call that system of agreements language.
There is no necessary connection between the symbol and that which it stands for. Just as social positions can be symbolized by feathers worn on the head, by gold on the watch chain, or by a thousand other things according to the culture we live in, so the fact of being hungry can be symbolized by a thousand different noises according to the culture we live in.
However obvious these facts may appear at first glance, they are actually not so obvious as they seem except when we take special pains to think about the subject. Symbols and the things they stand for are independent of each other, yet we all have a way of feeling as if, and sometimes acting as if, there were necessary connections. For example, there are people who feel that foreign languages are unreasonable by nature; foreigners have such funny names for things, and why can’t they call things by their right names? This feeling exhibits itself most strongly in those English and American tourists who seem to believe that they can make the natives of any country understand English if they shout loud enough. Like the little boy who is reported to have said: “Pigs are called pigs because they are such dirty animals,” they feel that the symbol is inherently(内在地) connected in some way with the things symbolized.
1. Language is a highly developed system of symbols because human beings ______.
A. have made use of language for centuries B. use our nervous systems to support language
C. have made various noises stand for any events
D. can make anything stand for anything by agreement
2. What can we conclude from Paragraph 2?
A. Different noises may mean different things.
B. Our culture determines what a symbol stands for.
C. The language we use symbolizes our social positions.
D. Our social positions determine the way we are dressed.
3. In Paragraph 3, “take special pains” probably means “_____”.
A. try very hard B. take our time C. are very unhappy D. feel especially painful
4. The example of the little boy is used to show that _____.
A. adults often learn from their young B. “pig” is a dirty word because pigs are dirty
C. words are not connected with the things they stand for
D. people sometimes have wrong ideas about how language works
答案1. D 2. B3. A 4. D
解析：
1.这是一道细节推断题。根据第一段“It has been pointed out that human beings， by agreement， can make anything stand for anything.”可推断出人们发出的各种噪音代表着任何一种活动。
2.这是一道主旨题。第二段“so the fact of being hungry can be symbolized by a thousand different noises according to the culture we live in”可知，我们的文化决定了某一种系统代表着什么。
3.这是一道猜测词义题。根据上文中“they are actually not so obvious as they seem except”可猜测出take special pains的意思是“努力尝试”。
4.这是一道主旨题。根据最后一段的内容可知，作者举小孩的例子说明人们有时对语言的作用产生误解。
二
Everyone’s at it , even my neighbors. I thought I might be the only person left in the world who hadn't done an eBay deal. So, I decided to try my hand at online auction(网上拍卖).
Buying for beginners: Sign up on www. ebay. co. uk. Most items ( e. g. tables, computers, and books) ready for auction will come with a picture and a short description; others may be marked with "Buy It Now" and have a fixed price. You can buy these right away.
If the item is being auctioned, you offer the highest price you are prepared to pay and eBay bids (出价) for you. The bid will be increased little by little until it goes beyond your highest bid, then you are emailed and asked if you would like to bid again. Auctions last up to 10 days and when they finish you get an email telling you whether you have won the item.
How to pay: Sellers decide how they would like to be paid and you need to check this before placing a bid as you might not want to post a cheque or postal orders. The easiest way is through PayPal, an online payment system that takes the money away from your credit card (信用卡).
Selling made simple: If you plan to sell on eBay, it helps to include a picture of the item. I followed my friends' advice and put up the items I wanted to sell for a 10-day auction, starring on a Thursday. This way buyers had two weekends to bid.
The big things in life: It' s easy to post a small item, but furniture is a big part of eBay and this has to be collected or sent by deliverymen. Cheek the ways of delivery before you bid.
1. What is the passage mainly about?
A. How to make payment online. B. Ways of making delivery online
C. Advantages of an online-auction system. D. How to use an online-auction system.
2. After bidding for an item, a buyer .
A. will get what he wants in ten days B. should make payment immediately
C. has chances to make higher bids D. may check its picture and description
3. The easiest way of making payment mentioned in the passage is .
A. through an online payment system B. through a local banking system
C. by sending the money to the seller D. by paying the deliveryman directly
答案 1.D 2.C 3.A
1.解析：这是一道主旨题。这篇短文主要讲述了如何进行网上拍卖。
2.解析：这是一道细节推断题。根据第二段“The bid will be increased little by little until it goes beyond your highest bid， then you are emailed and asked if you would like to bid again.”可判断出当出价后，买者有机会再出高价。
3.解析：这是一道细节题。从How to pay中的“The easiest way is through PayPal， an online payment system that takes the money away from your credit card.”可知，在网上付款最方便的方法是通过网上付款系统。
三
Directions: Read the following text and choose the most suitable heading from A-F for each paragraph. There is one extra heading which you do not need.
A.Goods for auction sales
B. Definition of bidding
C.Way to sell more goods by auction
D. Auction sales in history
E. Brief introduction to auctions
F. Making a larger profit as an auctioneer
1.
Auctions are public sales of goods, conducted by an officially approved auctioneer. He asks the crowd assembled in the auction-room to make offers, or “bids”, for the various items on sale. He encourages buyers to bid higher figures, and finally names the highest bidder as the buyer of the goods. This is called “knocking down” the goods, for the bidding ends when the auctioneer strikes a small hammer on a table at which he stands.
2.
The ancient Roman probably invented sales by auction, and the English word comes from the Latin auctio, meaning “increase”. The Romans usually sold in this way the goods taken in war. In England in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, goods were often sold “by the candle”: a short candle was lit by the auctioneer, and bids could be made while it stayed alight.
3.
Practically all goods whose qualities vary are sold by auction. Among these are coffee, skins, wool, tea, furs, silk and wines. Auction sales are also usual for land and property. Furniture, pictures, rare books, old china and similar works of art.
4.
An auction is usually advertised beforehand with full particulars of the articles to be sold and where and when they can be viewed by potential buyers. If the advertisement cannot give full details, catalogues are printed, and each group of goods to be sold together, called a “lot”, is usually given a number. The auctioneer need not begin with Lot 1 and continue in the order of numbers: he may wait until he notices the fact that certain buyers are in the room and then produce the lots they are likely to be interested in.
5.
The auctioneer’s services are paid for in the form of a percentage of the price the goods are sold for. The auctioneer therefore has a direct interest in pushing up the bidding as high as possible. He will not waste time by starting the bidding too low. He will also play on the opponents among his buyers and succeed in getting a high price by encouraging two business competitors to bid against each other.
答案 1.E 2.D 3.A 4.C 5.F
四
Here’s How to Get Your 6 Movies for 1￠Each
Just Write in the Numbers of the 6 movies you want for 1￠each, plus shipping. In exchange(交换),you agree to buy just six more movies in the next three years, at our regular Club prices (which currently start as low as $19.95 plus shipping) — and you may cancel(取消)membership at any time after doing so. What’s more, you can get two more movies for the low price of $6.95 each and you will, after that, spend much less on the movies you want.
Free Video Magazine sent every four weeks (up to 13 times a year), with our Director’s Selection —plus many lower-priced cassettes, down to $14.95. And you may receive Special Selection mailings up to four times a year (a total of up to 17 buying opportunities per year).
Buy Only What You Want! If you want the Director’s Selection, do nothing — it will be sent automatically(自动的). If you prefer some other selection, or none at all, just mail the answer card always provided by the date specified. And you’ll always have 14 days to decide.
Instant Bonus Plan. As soon as you become a member, you’ll immediately have the right to our money-saving plan! It enables you to enjoy more great savings on the movies you want — right from the start of your membership!
10-Day Risk-Free Trial. If not satisfied, return everything within 10 days, and then you’ll get your money back and there will be no further obligation.
1.How can you get 6 movies for 1 ￠ each?
A.Buy six more movies at the Club prices in the next 3 years.
B.Buy two more movies at the low price of $6.95 later.
C.Buy six more movies at the price of $19.95 all the time.
D.Buy many more movies at lower prices anytime.
2.You may receive a free Video Magazine _________ a year.
A.13 times B.12 times C.4 times D.17 times
3.You can have _______ besides a free Video Magazine every four weeks.
A.Special Selection and Director’s Selection
B.lower-priced cassettes and movies
C.lower-priced cassettes and Special Selection
D.Director’s Selection and a number of lower-priced cassettes
4.We can learn from the passage that the members of the Club ________.
A.cannot cancel their membership anytime
B.can return everything 10 days later, if not satisfied
C.can always buy what they want at the lowest price.
D.can enjoy more savings from the very beginning
答案 1.A 2.A 3.D 4.D
解析：这是一道细节题。Just Write in the Number中的“In exchange， you agree to buy just six more movies in the next three years， at our regular Club prices”说明只要在三年内按俱乐部的价格买六部电影，就可以花1欧元看六部电影。
解析：这是一道细节题。Free Video Magazine中“up to 13 time a year”表明每年可13次获得音像杂志。
解析：这是一道细节题。从Free Video Magazine中“with our Director’s Selection—plus many lower-priced cassettes， down to $14.95”可知，除免费音像杂志外，你还可以得到Director’s Selection和许多低价磁带。
解析：这是一道细节题。Instant Bonus Plan中“It enables you to enjoy more great savings on the movies you want—right from the start of your membership!”告诉我们俱乐部成员从一开始就可以享受到省钱。