第II卷（共35分）第四部分：写作（共两节，满分35分）第一-优题课

Population Change

Why is the world's population growing? The answer is not what you might think. The reason for the explosion is not that people have been reproducing like rabbits, but that people have stopped dropping dead like flies. In 1900, people died at the average age of 30.By 2000 the average age was 65.But while increasing health was a typical feature of the 20 ^thcentury, declining birth rate could be a defining one of the 21 ^st.

Statistics show that the average number of births per woman has fallen from 4.9 in the early 1960s to 2.5 nowadays. Furthermore, around 50% of the world's population live in regions where the figure is now below the replacement level(i.e.2.1 births per woman)and almost all developed nations are experiencing sub-replacement birth rate. You might think that developing nations would make up the loss(especially since80% of the world's people now live in such nations), but you'd be wrong. Declining birth rate is a major problem in many developing regions too, which might cause catastrophic global shortages of work force within a few decades.

A great decline in young work force is likely to occur in China, for instance. What does it imply? First, China needs to undergo rapid economic development before a population decline hits the country. Second, if other factors such as technology remain constant, economic growth and material expectations will fall well below recent standards and this could invite trouble.

Russia is another country with population problems that could break its economic promise. Since 1992 the number of people dying has been bigger than that of those being born by a massive 50%,Indeed official figures suggest the country has shrunk by 5% since 1993 and people in Russia live a shorter life now than those in 1961.Why is this occurring? Nobody is quite sure, but poor diet an above all long-time alcoholism have much to do with it. If current trends don't bend. Russia's population will be about the size of Yemen's by the year 2050.

In the north of India, the population is booming due to high birth rates, but in the south, where most economic development is taking place, birth rate is falling rapidly. In a further twist, birth rate is highest in poorly educated rural areas and lowest in highly educated urban areas. In total, 25% of India's working-age population has no education. In 2030, a sixth of the country's potential work force could be totally uneducated.

One solution is obviously to import foreign workers via immigration. As for the USA, it is almost unique among developed nations in having a population that is expected to grow by 20% from 2010-2030. Moreover, the USA has a track record of successfully accepting immigrants. As a result it's likely to see a rise in the size of its working-age population and to witness strong economic growth over the longer term.

If you feel stressed by responsibilities at work, you should take a step back and identify (识别)those of 41 (great)and less importance. Then, handle the most important tasks first so you'll feel a real sense of 42(achieve). Leaving the less important things until tomorrow 43(be) often acceptable.

Most of us are more focused 44 our tasks in the morning than we are later in the day. So, get an early start and try to be as productive 45possible before lunch. This will give you the confidence you need to get you through the afternoon and go home feeling accomplished.

Recent 46 (study) show that we are far more productive at work if we take short breaks 47 (regular). Give your body and brain a rest by stepping outside for 48 while, exercising, or dong something you enjoy.

If you find something you love doing outside of the office, you'll be less likely 49 (bring) your work home. It could be anything-gardening, cooking, music, sports-but whatever it is, 50(make) sure it's a relief from daily stress rather than another thing to worry about.

Chengdu has dozens of new millionaires, Asia's biggest building, and fancy new hotels. But for tourists like me, pandas are its top____61_(attract).

So it was a great honour to be invited backstage at the not-for-profit Panda Base, where ticket money helps pay for research, I_____62_（allow）to get up close to these cute animals at the 600-acre centre. From tomorrow, I will be their UK ambassador. The title will be __63___(official) given to me at a ceremony in London. But my connection with pandas goes back ____64__ my days on a TV show in the mid-1980s, ____65_ I was the first Western TV reporter__66___ (permit) to film a special unit caring for pandas rescued from starvation in the wild. My ambassadorial duties will include ____67_(introduce) British visitors to the 120-plus pandas at Chengdu and others at a research in the misty mountains of Bifengxia.

On my recent visit, I help a lively three-month-old twin that had been rejected by _____68_ (it) mother. The nursery team switches him every few __69__( day) with his sister so that while one is being bottle-fed, __70____ other is with mum-she never suspects.

Secret codes (密码)keep messages private。Banks, companies, and government agencies use secret codes in doing business, especially when information is sent by computer.

People have used secret codes for thousands of years. 36 Code breaking never lags(落后) far behind code making. The science of creating and reading coded messages is called cryptography.

There are three main types of cryptography. 37 For example, the first letters of "My elephant eats too many eels" Spell out the hidden message "Meet me."

38 You might represent each letter with a number, For example, Let's number the letters of the alphabet, in order, from 1 to 26. If we substitute a number for each letter, the message "Meet me" would read "13 5 20 13 5."

A code uses symbols to replace words, phrases, or sentences. To read the message of a real code, you must have a code book. 39 For example "bridge" might stand for "meet" and "out" might stand for "me." The message "bridge out" would actually mean "Meet me." 40 However, it is also hard to keep a code book secret for long. So codes must be changed frequently.

A．	It is very hard to break a code without the code book.
B．	In any language, some letters are used more than others.
C．	Only people who know the keyword can read the message.
D．	As long as there have been codes, people have tried to break them.
E．	You can hide a message by having the first letters of each word spell it out.
F．	With a code book, you might write down words that would stand for other words.
G．	Another way to hide a message is to use symbols to stand for specific letters of the alphabet.

AnExtensionoftheHumanBrain

Other people can help us compensate for our mental and emotional deficiencies (欠缺)，much as a wooden leg can compensate for a physical deficiency. To be exact, other people can extend our intelligence and help us understand and adjust our emotions. When another person helps us in such ways, he or she is participating in what I've called a "social prosthetic (义肢的）system." Such systems do not need to operate face-to-face, and it's clear to me that the Internet is expanding the range of my own social prosthetic systems. It's already a big bank of many minds. Even in its current state, the Internet has extended my memory and judgment.

Regarding memory: Once I look up something on the Internet, I don't need to keep all the details for future use-I know where to find that information again and can quickly and easily do so. More generally, the Internet functions as if it were my memory. This function of the Internet is particularly striking when I'm writing; I'm no longer comfortable writing if I'm not connected to the Internet. It's become natural to check facts as I write, taking a minute or two to dip into PubMed, Wikipedia, or other websites.

Regarding judgment: The Internet has made me smarter in matters small and large. For example, when I'm writing a textbook, it has become second nature to check a dozen definitions of a key term, which helps me dig into the core and understand its meaning. But more than that, I now regularly compare my views with those of many others. If I have a " new idea," I now quickly look to see whether somebody else has already thought of it, or something similar-and I then compare what I think with what others have thought. This certainly makes my own views clearer. Moreover, I can find out whether my reactions to an event are reasonable enough by reading about those of others on the Internet.

These effects of the Internet have become even more striking since I've begun using a smartphone. I now regularly pull out my phone to check a fact, watch a video, read weibo. Such activities fill the spaces that used to be dead time (such as waiting for somebody to arrive for a lunch meeting).

But that's the upside (好处).The downside is that in those dead periods I often would let my thoughts flow and sometimes would have an unexpected insight or idea. Those opportunities are now fewer and farther between.

An Extension of the Human Brain
A prosthetic nature	荫 ●The (71) ▲can help make up for our mental and emotional deficiencies as a wooden leg can compensate for a bodily deficiency. • ●It (72) ▲in our daily events, extending our intelligence, comprehending our feelings, and expanding the range of social activities.
Wonderful aspects: memory and judgment	• ●On the Internet, we could quickly and easily locate the details, and check facts, without (73) ▲them in mind.
	• ●The Internet makes us smarter over (74) ▲kinds of things. It provides a dozen definitions of a key term for us to find the (75) ▲of the matter. • ●The Internet enables us to exchange ideas with many others to (76) ▲our claims, and to (77) ▲our actions.
The (78) ▲sides of smartphones	• ●Smartphones make it easier and more (79) ▲to check reality, watch video clips, read weibo.
	• ●Smartphones (80) ▲the possibility for new and insightful minds, and steal away our dead time.