1、Part I Writing (多题多卷写作题 1) (30 minutes) Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write a short essay. You should start your essay with a brief description of the picture and then express your views on the importance of doing small things before undertaking something big. You should w
2、rite at least 120 words but no more than 180 words. Part I Writing (多题多卷写作题 2) (30 minutes) For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write a short essay. You should start your essay with a brief description of the picture and then express your views on the importance of reading literature. You s
3、hould write at least 120 words but no more than 180 words. Part II Reading Comprehension (Skimming and Scanning) (15 minutes) In this part, you will have 15 minutes to go over the passage quickly and answer the questions on Answer Sheet 1. For questions 1-7, choose the best answer from the four choi
4、ces marked A), B), C) and D). For questions 8-10, complete the sentences with the information given in the passage. Can Digital Textbook Truly Replace the Print Kind?The shortcomings of traditional print edition textbooks are obvious: For starters theyre heavy, with the average physics textbook weig
5、hing 3.6 pounds. Theyre also expensive, especially when you factor in the average college students limited budget, typically costing hundreds of dollars every semester. But the worst part is that print version of textbooks are constantly undergoing revisions. Many professors require that their stude
6、nts use only the latest versions in the classroom, essentially rendering older texts unusable. For students, it means theyre basically stuck with a four pound paper-weight that they cant sell back. Which is why digital textbooks, if they live up to their promise, could help ease many of these shortc
7、omings. But till now, theyve been something like a mirage(幻影)in the distance, more like a hazy(模糊的)dream than an actual reality. Imagine the promise: Carrying all your textbooks in a 1.3 pound iPad? It sounds almost too good to be true. But there are a few pilot schools already making the transition
8、(过渡)over to digital books. Universities like Cornell and Brown have jumped onboard. And one medical program at the University of California, Irvine, gave their entire class iPads with which to download textbooks just last year. But not all were eager to jump aboard. “People were tired of using the i
9、Pad textbook besides using it for reading,” says Kalpit Shah, who will be going into his second year at Irvines medical program this fall. “They werent using it as a source of communication because they couldnt read or write in it. So a third of the people in my program were using the iPad in class
10、to take notes, the other third were using laptops and the last third were using paper and pencil.” The reason it hasnt caught on yet, he tells me, is that the functionality of e-edition textbooks is incredibly limited, and some students just arent motivated to learn new study behavior. But a new app
11、lication called Inkling might change all that. The company just released an updated version last week, and itll be utilized in over 50 undergraduate and graduate classrooms this coming school year. “Digital textbooks are not going to catch on,” says Inkling CEO Matt Maclnnis as hes giving me a demo(
12、演示)over coffee. “What I mean by that is the current perspective of the digital textbook is its an exact copy of the print book. Theres Course Smart, etc., these guys who take any image of the page and put it on a screen. If thats how were defining digital textbooks, theres no hope of that becoming a
13、 mainstream product.” He calls Inkling a platform for publishers to build rich multimedia content from the ground up, with a heavy emphasis on real-world functionality. The traditional textbook merely serves as a skeleton. At first glance Inkling is an impressive experience. After swiping(敲击)into th
14、e iPad app (应用软件 ), which you can get for free here, he opens up a few different types of textbooks. Up first is a chemistry book. The boot time is pretty fast, and he navigates through (浏览 ) a few chapters before swiping into a fully rendered 3D molecule that can be spun around to view its various
15、building blocks. “Publishers give us all of the source media, artwork, videos,” he says, “We help them think through how to actually build something for this platform.” Next he pulls up a music composition textbook, complete with playable demos. Its a learning experience that attacks you from multip
16、le sensory directions. Its clear why this would be something a music major would love. But the most exciting part about Inkling, to me, is its notation(批注)system. Heres how it works!When you purchase a used print book, it comes with its previous owners highlights and notes in the margins. It uses th
17、e experience of someone who already went through the class to help improve your reading (how much you trust each notation is obviously up to you). But with lnkling, you can highlight a piece of content and make notes. Heres where things get interesting, though: If a particularly important passage is
18、 highlighted by multiple lnkling users, that information is stored on the cloud and is available for anyone reading the same textbook to come across. That means users have access to notes from not only their classmates and Facebook friends, but anyone who purchased the book across the country. The b
19、est comments are then sorted democratically by a voting system, meaning that your social learning experience is shared with the best and brightest thinkers. As a bonus, professors can even chime in (插话 ) on discussions. Theyll be able to answer the questions of students who are in their class direct
20、ly via the interactive book. Of course, Inkling addresses several of the other shortcomings in traditional print as well. Textbook versions are constanly updated, motivating publishers by minimizing production costs (the big ones like McGraw-Hill are already onboard). Furthermore, students will be a
21、ble to purchase sections of the text instead of buying the whole thing, with individual chapters costing as little as $2.99. There are, however, challenges. “It takes efforts to build each book,” Maclnnis tells me. And its clear why. Each interactive textbook is a media-heavy experience built from t
22、he ground up, and you can tell that it takes a respectable amount of manpower to put together each one. For now the app is also iPad-exclusive, and though a few of these educational institutions are giving the hardware away for free, for other students who dont have such a luxury its an added layer
23、of cost and an expensive one at that. But this much is clear. The traditional textbook model is and has been broken for quite some time. Whether digitally interactive ones like Inkling actually take off or not remains to be seen, and we probably wont have a definite answer for the next few years. Ho
24、wever the solution to any problem begins with a step in a direction. And at least for now, that hazy mirage in the distance? A little more tangible (可触摸的 ), a little less of a dream. 1. The biggest problem with traditional print textbooks is that _. A) A) they are not reused once a new edition comes
25、 out B) they cost hundreds of dollars every semester C) they are too heavy to carry around D) they take a longer time to revise 2. What does the author say about digital textbooks?A) Its not likely they will replace traditional textbooks. B) They havent fixed all the shortcomings of print books. C)
26、Very few of them are available in the market. D) Many people still have difficulty using them. 3. According to Kalpit Shah, some students still use paper and pencil because _. A) they find it troublesome to take notes with an iPad B) they are unwilling to change their study behavior C) they have get
27、 tired of reading on the iPad D) they are not used to reading on the screen 4. Inkling CEO Matt Maclnnis explains that the problem with Course Smarts current digital textbooks is that _. A) they have to be revised repeatedly B) they are inconvenient to use in class C) they are different from most ma
28、instream products D) they are no more than print versions put on a screen 5. Matt Maclnnis describes the updated version of lnkling as _. A) a good example of the mainstream products B) a marvelous product of many creative ideas C) a platform for building multimedia content D) a mere skeleton of tra
29、ditional textbooks 6. The author is most excited about lnklings notation system because one can _. A) share his learning experience with the best and brightest thinkers B) participate in discussions with classmates and Facebook friends C) vote for the best learners democratically D) store informatio
30、n on the cloud 7. One additional advantage of the interactive digital textbook is that _. A) students can switch to different discussions at any point B) students can download relevant critical comments C) professors can join in students online discussions D) professors can give prompt feedback to s
31、tudents homework 8. One of the challenges to build an interactive digital textbook from the ground up is that is takes a great deal of _. 9. One problem for students to replace traditional textbooks with interactive digital ones is the high _ of the hardware. 10. According to the author, whether dig
32、ital textbooks will catch on still _. Part III Listening Comprehension (35 minutes) Section A In this section, you will hear 8 short conversations and 2 long conversations. At the end of each conversation, one or more questions will be asked about what was said. Both the conversation and the questions
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