Passage one

 

1.日常生活中压力无处不在。

2.描述不同人面对压力表现和态度。

3.指出正确对待压力的办法。

There are so many people under the unbearably high pressure inChina. Heavy work demands and intense competition pile enormous pressure on the individuals who desperately try to pursue a more well-paid salary and push for a higher position. For students, exam pressure makes them overburdened and overwhelmed. Stress is a personalized phenomenon but confronts everyone at different degrees.

This phenomenon divides people. Some have a depressing and gloomy attitude toward the physical and mental strain. So stress is always blamed for someone's mental disorder, violence and even suicide. In contrast to their negatively reacting to stress, others may face up to the mounting pressure and keep a excellent mood.

How to properly and effectively cope with the huge pressure? First, people under the tremendous pressure can select a proper way to relax, such as pampering themselves with a long hot bath and immersing themselves in the favorite CD. Repetitive tasks and no break will propel people to pay a hefty health price. Second, the over-high expectations leading to the strong strain must be lowered. Third, a chat with close friends is a favorably good way. Talking to them will alleviate enormous pressure.

Passage two

一位外国朋友第一次来中国，他想让你介绍两三样极具中国特色的事物（可以是风俗文化等）， 你会向他介绍什么？如何介绍？

Fascination China, one of the cradles of human civilization, possesses so many treasures with Chinese characteristics that numerous foreign friends come to visit her. The first place to go to is, the Great Wall, which is the symbol of China and one of the seven wonders in the world. What's more, it is said to be the only construction that can be seen from the outer space. In the imperial periods, it was used in defense of the dynasties. Since liberation, it has become a place of interest. There is a famous saying: "He who does not reach the Great Wall isn't a true man." China is home to Panda, an animal with only two colors, white and black, but very cute. It's our national treasure, often functioning as a friendly diplomat. Terracotta-clay warriors unearthed in Xi'an, a famous ancient city-were sculptured in Qin Dynasty, the first dynasty of China. When former U.S. President Clinton came to China, he visited terracotta's first. The above mentioned are just a wave of the sea. If you want to know more about this ancient nation, come and be our guest.

Passage three

How to Face up to Your Difficulties

Life is not always full of smiles and flowers. Every person has his own difficulties no matter how high his position or how great his achievement is. So it is of vital importance to have a correct attitude to face up to difficulties.

Some people feel so dejected about their difficulties that they fall into pessimism; others resort to putting the blame on others, the society or circumstances; still others are frightened by difficulties and give up halfway. All these people don’t use their abilities to overcome difficulties. So their attitudes are negative.

The positive method is to utilize your ability to clear away your difficulties that appear in your way of life rather than run away from them. Confront difficulties with joyful energy and enthusiasm, and you will find the difficulties are really not so hard as they appear and they will disappear in due course.

Passage four

1.我们现在都用考试来衡量员工的成绩

2.考试可能带来的副作用

3.我对考试的看法

My Views on Examinations

In most schools and colleges the examination is used as a chief means of deciding whether a student succeeds or fails in mastering a particular subject. Although it does the job quite efficiently, its side effects are also enormous.

The most undesirable effect is that examinations encourage bad study habits. As the examination score is the only criterion for his academic performance, a student is driven to memorize mechanically rather than to think creatively. Examinations do not motivate a student to seek more knowledge, but to restrict his reading; they do not enable him to study consistently throughout the semester, but to induce cramming during exam week. Examinations also lower the standards of teaching. Since teachers themselves are often judged by examination results, they are reduced to training their students in exam techniques. And no subjects can be taught successfully merely through being approached with intent to take examinations.

Actually, few of us admit that examinations can contribute anything really important to the students' academic development. If that's the case, why can't we make a change and devise something more efficient and reliable than examinations?

Television

Television-----the most pervasive and persuasive of modern technologies, marked by rapid change and growth-is moving into a new era, an era of extraordinary sophistication and versatility, which promises to reshape our lives and our world. It is an electronic revolution of sorts, made possible by the marriage of television and computer technologies.

The word "television", derived from its Greek (tele: distant) and Latin (visio: sight) roots, can literally be interpreted as sight from a distance. Very simply put, it works in this way: through a sophisticated system of electronics, television provides the capability of converting an image (focused on a special photoconductive plate within a camera) into electronic impulses, which can be sent through a wire or cable. These impulses, when fed into a receiver (television set), can then be electronically reconstituted into that same image.

Television is more than just an electronic system, however. It is a means of expression, as well as a vehicle for communication, and as such becomes a powerful tool for reaching other human beings.

The field of television can be divided into two categories determined by its means of transmission. First, there is broadcast television, which reaches the masses through broad-based airwave transmission of television signals. Second, there is non-broadcast television, which provides for the needs of individuals or specific interest groups through controlled transmission techniques.

Traditionally, television has been a medium of the masses. We are most familiar with broadcast television because it has been with us for about thirty-seven years in a form similar to what exists today. During those years, it has been controlled, for the most part, by the broadcast networks, ABC, NBC, and CBS, who have been the major purveyors of news, information, and entertainment. These giants of broadcasting have actually shaped not only television but our perception of it as well. We have come to look upon the picture tube as a source of entertainment, placing our role in this dynamic medium as the passive viewer.

Passage six

On Students Selecting LecturersNowadays many universities entitle the students to choose freely the teachers for some courses, which is welcomed by most students, and is becoming the focus of the students and teachers’ concern. There are many factors which will influence the students’ choosing a teacher. First of all, it is generally accepted that a teacher’s professional knowledge and ability is the most important factor, since students choose their courses to learn knowledge. Moreover, quite a few students think teaching methods and skills are essential to a good teacher . He must know how to teach. In addition, a teacher’s humor sense is also an important factor many students will consider.

Undoubtedly, free choosing of teachers are very beneficial to both teachers and students. On the one hand, it can provide a good chance for a teacher to prove and show his ability. On the other hand, by this way, students can choose teachers they like and obtain more initiative in learning. However, since it is a free choice, a small number of excellent teachers will become the focus of most students’ choosing, which will lead to an unreasonable class size and influence teaching effect seriously.

Passage seven

1.小汽车开始进入中国普通家庭

2.小汽车带来的方便和舒适

3.小汽车带来的交通和污染问题

The Development of Private Cars

⑴With the increase in the general standard of living, some ordinary Chinese families can now afford a car. ⑵Yet opinions of the development of a private car vary from person to person.

⑶Some claim that there are many advantages in possessing a car. ⑷It gives a much greater degree of comfort and mobility. ⑸The owner of a car is no longer forced to rely on public transport, and hence no irritation caused by waiting for buses or taxies. ⑹With a car he can go where he likes and when he wants, so much so that he can enjoy his leisure to the full by making trips to the country or seaside on the weekends, instead of being confined to his immediate neighbourhood.⑺However, others strongly object to developing private cars. ⑻They maintain that as more and more cars are produced and run in the street, a large volume of poisonous gas will be given off, polluting the atmosphere and causing actual harm to the health of people. ⑼In fact, private cars contribute to traffic congestion so greatly that the advantages gained in comfort and freedom are often cancelled out by the frustration caused by traffic jams.

⑽Whether private cars should be developed in China is a difficult question to answer, yet the desire for the comfort and independence a private car can bring won't be eliminated.