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As if you needed another reason to hate the gym, it now turns out that exercise can exhaust not only your muscles, but also your eyes. Fear not, however, for coffee can stimulate them again. During（） exercise, our muscles tire as they run out of fuel and build up waste products. Muscle performance can also be affected by a （） called “central fatigue,” in which an imbalance in the body’s chemical messengers prevents the central nervous system from directing muscle movements （） .It was not known, however, whether central fatigue might also affect motor systems not directly （） in the exercise itself, such as those that move the eyes. To find out, researchers gave 11 volunteer cyclists a carbohydrate (碳水化合物的) （） either with a moderate dose of (咖啡因),which is known to stimulate the central nervous system, or as a placebo (安慰剂)without, during 3 hours of （） .After exercising, the scientists tested the cyclists with eye-tracking cameras to see how well their brains could still （） their visual system. The team found that exercise reduced the speed of rapid eye movements by about 8%, （）their ability to capture new visual information. The caffeine, the equivalent of two strong cups of coffee, was （） to reverse this effect, with some cyclists even displaying （） eye movement speeds. So it might be a good idea to get someone else to drive you home after that marathon.

Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write an advertisement on your campus website to sell a computer you used at college. Your advertisement may include its brand， specifications/features, condition and price, and your contact information. You should write at least 120 words but no more than 180 words.

For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to translate a passage from Chinese into English. 珠江是华南一大河系，流经广州市，是中国第三长的河流，仅次于长江和黄河。珠江三角洲(delta)是中国最发达的地区之一，面积约11,000平方公里。它在面积和人口方面也是世界上最大的城市聚集区。珠江三角洲九个最大城市共有5,700多万人口。上世纪70年代末中国改革开放以来，珠江三角洲已成为中国和世界主要经济区域和制造中心之一。

In spring, chickens start laying again, bringing a welcome source of protein at winter’s end. So it’s no surprise that cultures around the world celebrate spring by honoring the egg.Some traditions are simple, like the red eggs that get baked into Greek Easter breads. Others ele¬vate the egg into a fancy art, like the heavily jewel-covered “eggs” that were favored by the Russians starting in the 19th century.One ancient form of egg art comes to us from Ukraine. For centuries, Ukrainians have been drawing complicated patterns on eggs. Contemporary artists have followed this tradition to create eggs that speak to the anxieties of our age: Life is precious, and delicate. Eggs are, too.“There’s something about their delicate nature that appeals Io me,” says New Yorker cartoonist Roz Chast. Several years ago, she became interested in eggs and learned the traditional Ukrainian technique to draw her very modem characters. “I’ve broken eggs at every stage of the process—from the very beginning to the very, very end.”But there's an appeal in that vulnerability. “There’s part of this sickening horror of knowing you’re walking on the edge with this, that I kind of like, knowing that it could all fall apart at any second.” Chast’s designs, such as a worried man alone in a tiny rowboat, reflect that delicateness.Traditional Ukrainian decorated eggs also spoke to those fears. The elaborate patterns were believed to offer protection against evil.“There’s an ancient legend that as long as these eggs are made, evil will not prevail in the world,” says Joan Brander, a Canadian egg-painter who has been painting eggs for over 60 years, having learned the art from her Ukrainian relatives.The tradition, dating back to 300 B.C., was later incorporated into the Christian church. The old symbols, however, still endure. A decorated egg with a bird on it, given to a young married couple, is a wish for children. A decorated egg thrown into the field would be a wish for a good harvest.Why do people in many cultures prize the egg?What do we learn about the decorated “eggs” in Russia?Why have contemporary artists continued the egg art tradition?Why does Chast enjoy the process of decorating eggs? What do we learn from the passage about egg-painting?

The phrase almost completes itself: midlife crisis. It’s the stage in the middle of the journey when people feel youth vanishing, their prospects narrowing and death approaching.There’s only one problem with the cliche（套话）. It isn’t true.“In fact, there is almost no hard evidence for midlife crisis other than a few small pilot studies conducted decades ago,” Barbara Hagerty writes in her new book, Life Reimagined. The bulk of the research shows that there may be a pause, or a shifting of gears in the 40s or 50s, but this shift “can be exciting, rather than terrifying.”Barbara Hagerty looks at some of the features of people who turn midlife into a rebirth. They break routines, because “autopilot is death.” They choose purpose over happiness — having a clear sense of purpose even reduces the risk of Alzheimer’s disease. They give priority to relationships, as careers often recede （逐渐淡化）.Life Reimagined paints a picture of middle age that is far from gloomy. Midlife seems like the second big phase of decision-making. Your identity has been formed; you’ve built up your resources; and now you have the chance to take the big risks precisely because your foundation is already secure.Karl Barth described midlife precisely this way. At middle age, he wrote, “the sowing is behind; now is the time to reap. The run has been taken; now is the time to leap. Preparation has been made; now is the time for the venture of the work itself."The middle-aged person, Barth continued, can see death in the distance, but moves with a "mea¬sured haste” to get big new things done while there is still time.What Barth wrote decades ago is even truer today. People are healthy and energetic longer. We have presidential candidates running for their first term in office at age 68, 69 and 74. A longer lifespan is changing the narrative structure of life itself. What could have been considered the beginning of a de¬scent is now a potential turning point—the turning point you are most equipped to take full advantage of.What does the author think of the phrase “midlife crisis”?How does Barbara Hagerty view midlife?How is midlife pictured in the book Life Reimagined?According to Karl Barth, midlife is the time（）.What does the author say about midlife today?

Team spirit[A] Teams have become (lie basic building-blocks of organisations. Recruitment advertisements routinely call for “team players”. Business schools grade their students in part on their performance in group projects. Office managers knock down walls to encourage teambuilding. Teams are as old as civilisa¬tion, of course, even Jesus had 12 co-workers. But a new report by Deloitte, “Global Human Capital Trends”, based on a survey of more than 7,000 executives in over 130 countries, suggests that the fashion for teamwork has reached a new high. Almost half of those surveyed said their companies were either in the middle of restructuring or about to embark on (开始)it; and for the most part, restructuring meant putting more emphasis on teams.[B] Companies are abandoning conventional functional departments and organising employees into cross- disciplinary teams that focus on particular products, problems or customers. These teams are gaining more power to run their own affairs. They are also spending more time working with each other rather than reporting upwards. Deloitte argues that a new organisational form is on the rise: a net¬work of teams is replacing the conventional hierarchy (等级体制).[C] The fashion for teams is driven by a sense that the old way of organising people is too rigid for both the modem marketplace and the expectations of employees. Technological innovation places greater value on agility (灵活性). John Chambers, chairman of Cisco Systems Inc., a worldwide lead¬er in electronics products, says that “we compete against market transitions (过渡), not competitors. Product transitions used to take five or seven years; now they take one or two.” Digital technology also makes it easier for people to co-ordinate their activities without resorting to hierarchy. The “millennials” （千禧一代）who will soon make up half the workforce in rich countries were raised from nursery school onwards to work in groups.[D] The fashion for teams is also spreading from the usual corporate suspects（such as GE and IBM） to some more unusual ones. The Cleveland Clinic, a hospital operator, has reorganised its medical staff into teams to focus on particular treatment areas; consultants, nurses and others collaborate closely instead of being separated by speciality （专业）and rank. The US Army has gone the same way. In his book, Team of Teams, General Stanley McChrystal describes how the army’s hierarchical structure hindered its operations during the early stages of the Iraq war. His solution was to learn something from the rebels it was fighting: decentralising authority to self-organising teams.[E] A good rule of thumb is that as soon as generals and hospital administrators jump on a management bandwagon （追随一种管理湖流）, it is time to ask questions. Leigh Thompson of Kellogg School of Management in Illinois warns that, “Teams are not always the answer — teams may provide insight, creativity and knowledge in a way that a person working independently cannot; but teamwork may also lead to confusion, delay and poor decision-making.” The late Richard Hackman of Harvard Uni¬versity once argued, “I have no question that when you have a team, the possibility exists that it will generate magic, producing something extraordinary." But don’t count on it.”[F] Hackman （who died in 2013） noted that teams are hindered by problems of co-ordination and moti¬vation that chip away at the benefits of collaboration. High-flyers（能干的人）who are forced to work in teams may be undervalued and free-riders empowered. Group-think may be unavoidable. In a study of 120 teams of senior executives, he discovered that less than 10% of their supposed mem¬bers agreed on who exactly was on the team. If it is hard enough to define a team’s membership, agreeing on its purpose is harder still.[G] Profound changes m the workforce are making teams trickier to manage. Teams work best if their members have a strong common culture. This is hard to achieve when, as is now the case in many big firms, a large proportion of staff are temporary contractors. Teamwork improves with time: America’s National Transportation Safety Board found that 73% of the incidents in its civil-aviation database occurred on a crew’s first day of flying together. However, as Amy Edmondson of Harvard points out, organisations increasingly use “team” as a verb rather than a noun: they form teams for specific purposes and then quickly disband them.[H] The least that can be concluded from this research is that companies need to think harder about managing teams. They need to rid their minds of （感情用事）: the most successful teams have leaders who are able to set an overall direction and take immediate action. They need to keep teams small and focused: giving in to pressure to be more “inclusive” is a guarantee of dysfunction. Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s boss, says that “If I see more than two pizzas for lunch, the team is too big.” They need to immunise teams against group-think: Hackman argued that the best ones contain “deviants” （离经叛道者）who are willing to do something that may be upsetting to others.[I] A new study of 12,000 workers in 17 countries by Steelcase, a furniture-maker which also does con¬sulting, finds that the best way to ensure employees are “engaged” is to give them more control over where and how they do their work — which may mean liberating them from having to do everything in collaboration with others.[J] However, organisations need to learn something bigger than how to manage teams better: they need to be in the habit of asking themselves whether teams are the best tools for the job. Team-building skills are in short supply: Deloitte reports that only 12% of the executives they contacted feel they understand the way people work together in networks and only 21% feel confident in their ability to build cross-functional teams. Loosely managed teams can become hotbeds of distraction — employees routinely complain that they can’t get their work done because they are forced to spend too much time in meetings or compelled to work in noisy offices. Even in the age of open-plan offices and social networks some work is best left to the individual.

The method for making beer has changed over time. Hops (啤酒花), for example, which give many a modem beer its bitter flavor, are a（） recent addition to the beverage. This was first mentioned in reference to brewing in the ninth century. Now, researchers have found a （） ingredient in residue (残留物) from 5000-year-old beer brewing equipment. While digging two pits at a site in the central plains of China, scientists discovered fragments from pots and vessels. The different shapes of the containers （） they were used to brew, filter, and store beer. They may be ancient “beer-making tools,” and the earliest （） evidence of beer brewing m China, the researchers reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. To （） that theory, the team examined the yellowish, dried （） inside the vessels. The majority of the grains, about 80%, were from cereal crops like barley (大麦)，and about 10% were bits of roots, （） lily, which would have made the beer sweeter, the scientists say. Barley was an unexpected find: the crop was domesticated in Western Eurasia and didn’t become a （） food in central China until about 2,000 years ago, according to the researchers. Based on that timing, they indicate barley may have （） in the region not as food, but as （） material for beer brewing.

Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write an advertisement, on your campus website to sell some of the course books you used at college. Your advertisement may include a brief description of their content, their condition and price, and your contact information. You should write at least 120 words but no more than 180 words.

For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to translate a passage from Chinese into English. 长江是亚洲最长、世界上第三长的河流。长江流经多种不同的生态系统，是诸多濒危物种的栖息地，灌溉了中国五分之一的土地。长江流域(river basin)居住着中国三分之一的人口。长江在中国历史、文化和经济上起着很大的作用。长江三角洲(delta)产出多达20%的中国国民生产总值。几千年来，长江一直被用于供水、运输和工业生产。长江上还坐落着世界最大的水电站。

The brain is a seemingly endless library, whose shelves house our most precious memories as well as our lifetime’s knowledge. But is there a point where it reaches capacity?The answer is no, because brains are more sophisticated than that. Instead of just crowding m, old information is sometimes pushed out of the brain for new memories to form.Previous behavioural studies have shown that learning new information can lead to forgetting. But in a new study, researchers demonstrated for the first time how this effect occurs in the brain.In daily life, forgetting actually has clear advantages. Imagine, for instance, that you lost your bank card. The new card you receive will come with a new personal identification number (PIN). Each time you remember the new PIN, you gradually forget the old one. This process improves access to relevant information, without old memories interfering.And most of us may sometimes feel the frustration of having old memories interfere with new, relevant memories. Consider trying to remember where you parked your car in the same car park you were at a week earlier. This type of memory (where you are trying to remember new, but similar information) is particularly vulnerable to interference.When we acquire new information, the brain automatically tries to incorporate(合并)it within existing information by forming associations. And when we retrieve (检索)information, both the desired and associated but irrelevant information is recalled.The majority of previous research has focused on how we learn and remember new information. But current studies are beginning to place greater emphasis on the conditions under which we forget, as its importance begins to be more appreciated.A very small number of people are able to remember almost every detail of their life. While it may sound like an advantage to many, people with this rare condition often find their unusual ability burdensome.In a sense, forgetting is our brain’s way of sorting memories, so the most relevant memories are ready for retrieval. Normal forgetting may even be a safety mechanism to ensure our brain doesn’t become too full.What have past behavioural studies found about our brain?What is the benefit of forgetting?What is the emphasis of current studies of memory?What do people find about their rare ability to remember every detail of their life?What does the passage say about forgetting?

Urbanization—migration away from the suburbs and to the city center—will be the biggest real estate trend in 2015, according to a new report.The report says America’s urbanization will continue to be the most significant issue affecting the industry, as cities across the country imitate the walkability and transit-oriented development making cities like New York and San Francisco so successful.As smaller cities copy the model of these “24-hour cities,” more affordable versions of these places will be created. The report refers to this as the coming of the "18-hour city,” and uses the term to refer to cities like Houston, Austin, Charlotte, and Nashville, which are “positioning themselves as highly competitive, in terms of livability, employment offerings, and recreational and cultural facilities.”Another trend that looks significant in 2015 is that America’s largest population group Millennials (千禧一代)，will continue to put off buying a house. Apartments will retain their appeal for a while for Millennials, haunted by what happened to home-owning parents.This trend will continue into the 2020s, the report projects. After that, survey respondents disagree over whether this generation will follow in their parents’ footsteps, moving to the suburbs to raise families, or will choose to remain in the city center.Another issue affecting real estate in the coming year will be America’s failing infrastructure. Most roads, bridges, transit, water systems, the electric grid, and communications networks were installed 50 to 100 years ago, and they are largely taken for granted until they fail.The report’s writers state that America’s failure to invest in infrastructure impacts not only the health of the real-estate market, but also our ability to remain globally competitive.Apart from the specific trends highlighted above, which cause some investors to worry, the report portrays an overall optimism borne by the recent healthy real-estate “upcycle” and improving economy. Seventy-four percent of the respondents surveyed report a “good to excellent” expectation of real-estate profitability in 2015. While excessive optimism can promote bad investment patterns, resulting in a real- estate “bubble,” the report’s writers downplay that potential outcome in that it has not yet occurred.According to the new report, real estate development in 2015 will witness（） .What characterizes “24-hour cities” like New York?Why are Millennials reluctant to buy a house?What might hinder real estate development in the U.S.?How do most of the respondents in the survey feel about the U.S. real-estate market in 2015?

From Accountant to Yogi: Making a Radical Career Change[A] At some point, almost all of us will experience a period of radical professional change. Some of us will seek it out; for others it will feel like an unwelcome intrusion into otherwise stable careers. Either way, we have choices about how we respond to it when it comes.[B] We recently caught up with yoga entrepreneur Leah Zaccaria, who put herself through the fire of change to completely reinvent herself. In her search to live a life of purpose, Leah left her high- paying accounting job, her husband, and her home. In the process, she built a radically new life and career. Since then, she has founded two yoga studios, met a new life partner, and formed a new community of people. Even if your personal reinvention is less drastic, we think there are lessons from her experience that apply.[C] Where do the seeds of change come from? The Native American Indians have a saying: “Pay attention to the whispers so you won’t have to hear the screams.” Often the best ideas for big changes come from unexpected places— it’s just a matter of tuning in. Great leaders recognize the weak signals or slight, signs that point to big changes to come. Leah reflects on a time she listened to the whispers: “About the time my daughter was five years old, I started having a sense that ‘this isn’t right.’” She then, realized that her life no longer matched her vision for it.[D] Up until that point, Leah had followed traditional measures of success. After graduating with a degree in business and accounting, she joined a public accounting firm, married, bought a house, put lots of stuff in it, and had a baby. ‘I did what everybody else thought looked successful,” she says. Leah easily could have fallen into a trap of feeling content; instead, her energy sparked a period of experimentation and renewal.[E] Feeling the need to change, Leah started playing with future possibilities by exploring her interests and developing new capabilities. First trying physical exercise and dieting, she lost some weight and discovered an inner strength. “I felt powerful because I broke through my own limitations,” she recalls.[F] However, it was another interest that led Leah to radically reinvent herself. “I remember sitting on a bench with my aunt at a yoga studio/, she said, "and having a moment of clarity right then and there: Yoga is saving my life. Yoga is waking me up. I’m not happy and I want to change and I’m done with this.” In that moment of clarity Leah made an important leap, conquering her inner resistance to change and making a firm commitment to take bigger steps.[G] Creating the future you want is a lot easier if you are ready to exploit the opportunities that come your way. When Leah made the commitment to change, she primed herself to new opportunities she may otherwise have overlooked. She recalls.[H] One day a man I worked with, Ryan, who had his office next to mine, said, “Leah, let’s go look at this space on Queen Anne.” He knew my love for yoga and had seen a space close to where he lived that he thought might be good to serve as a yoga studio. As soon as I saw the location, I knew this was it. Of course I was scared, yet I had this strong sense of “I have to do this.” Only a few months later Leah opened her first yoga studio, but success was not instant.[I] Creating the future takes time. That’s why leaders continue to manage the present while building toward the big changes of the future. When it’s time to make the leap, they take action and immediately drop what’s no longer serving their purpose. Initially Leah stayed with her accounting job while starting up the yoga studio to make it all work.[J] Soon after, she knew she had to make a bold move to fully commit to her new future. Within two years, Leah shed the safety of her accounting job and made the switch complete. Such drastic change is not easy.[K] Steering through change and facing obstacles brings us face to face with our fears. Leah reflects on one incident that triggered her fears, when her investors threatened to shut her down: "I was probably up against, the most fear I’ve ever had,” she says. “I had spent two years cultivating this community, and it had become successful very fast, but within six months I was facing the prospect of losing it all.”[L] She connected with her sense of purpose and dug deep, cultivating a tremendous sense of strength. “I was feeling so intentional and strong that I wasn’t going to let fear just take over. I was dunking, ‘OK, guys, if you want to try to shut me down, shut me down.’ And I knew it was a negotiation scheme, so I was able to say to myself, ‘This is not real.’” By naming her fears and facing them head-on, Leah gained confidence. For most of us, letting go of the safety and security of the past gives us great fear. Calling out our fears explicitly, as Leah did, can help us act decisively.[M] The cycle of renewal never ends. Leah’s growth spurred her to open her second studio—and it wasn’t for the money.[N] I have no desire to make millions of dollars. It’s not about that; it’s about growth for me. Honestly, I didn’t need to open a second studio. I was making as much money as I was as an accountant. But I know if you don’t grow, you stand still, and that doesn’t work for me.[O] Consider the current moment in your own life, your team or your organization. Where are you in the cycle of renewal: Are you actively preserving the present, or selectively forgetting the past, or boldly creating the future? What advice would Leah give you to move you ahead on your journey? Once we’re on the path of growth, we can continually move through the seasons of transformation and renewal.

America’s Internet is faster than ever before, but people still complain about their Internet being too slow.New York’s Attorney General’s office（） an investigation in the fall into whether or not Verizon, Cablevision and Time Warner are delivering broadband that’s as fast as the providers （） it is. Earlier this month, the office asked for the public’s help to measure their speed results, saying consumers （） to get the speeds they were promised. “Too many of us may be paying for one thing, and getting another,” the Attorney General said.If the investigation uncovers anything, it wouldn’t be the first time a telecom provider got into （） over the broadband speeds it promised and delivered customers. Back in June, the Federal Communications Commission fined AT&T $100 million over （） that the carrier secretly reduced wireless speeds after customers consumed a certain amount of （） .Even when they stay on the right side of the law, Internet providers arouse customers’ anger over bandwidth speed and cost. Just this week, an investigation found that media and telecom giant Comcast is the most （）provider. Over 10 months, Comcast received nearly 12,000 customer complaints, many （） to its monthly data cap and overage (超过额度的)charges.Some Americans are getting so （） with Internet providers they’re just giving up. A recent study found that the number of Americans with high-speed Internet at home today （） fell during the last two years, and 15% of people now consider themselves to be “cord-cutters.”

Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write an advertisement on your campus website to sell a bicycle you used at college. Your advertisement may include its brand， features, condition and price, and your contact information. You should write at least 120 words but no more than 180 words.

For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to translate a passage from Chinese into English. 随着中国的改革开放，如今很多年轻人都喜欢举行西式婚礼。新娘在婚礼上穿着白色婚纱，因为白色被认为是纯洁的象征。然而，在中国传统文化中，白色经常是葬礼上使用的颜色。因此务必记住，白花一定不要用作祝人康复的礼物，尤其不要送给老年人或危重病人。同样，礼金也不能装在白色的信封里，而要装在红色的信封里。

In the past, falling oil prices have given a boost to the world economy, but recent forecasts for global growth have been toned down, even as oil prices sink lower and lower. Does that mean the link between lower oil prices and growth has weakened?Some experts say there are still good reasons to believe cheap oil should heat up the world economy. Consumers have more money in their pockets when they’re paying less at the pump. They spend that money on other things, which stimulates the economy.The biggest gains go to countries that import most of their oil like China, Japan and India. But doesn’t the extra money in the pockets of those countries’ consumers mean an equal loss in oil- producing countries, cancelling out the gains? Not necessarily, says economic researcher Sara Johnson. “Many oil producers built up huge reserve funds when prices were high, so when prices fall they will draw on their reserves to support government spending and subsidies (补贴)for their consumers.”But not all oil producers have big reserves. In Venezuela, collapsing oil prices have sent its economy into free-fall.Economist Carl Weinberg believes the negative effects of plunging oil prices are overwhelming the positive effects of cheaper oil. The implication is a sharp decline in global trade, which has plunged partly because oil-producing nations can’t afford to import as much as they used to.Sara Johnson acknowledges that the global economic benefit from a fall in oil prices today is likely lower than it was in the past. One reason is that more countries are big oil producers now, so the nations suffering from the price drop account for a larger share of the global economy.Consumers, in the U.S. at least, are acting cautiously with the savings they’re getting at the gas pump, as the memory of the recent great recession is still fresh in their mind. And a number of oil- producing countries are trimming their gasoline subsidies and raising taxes, so the net savings for global consumers is not as big as the oil price plunge might suggest.What does the author mainly discuss in the passage?Why do some experts believe cheap oil will stimulate the global economy?What happens in many oil-exporting countries when oil price go down?How does Carl Weinberg View the current oil price plunge?Why haven't falling oil prices boosted the global economy as they did before?

As a person who writes about food and drink for a living, I couldn’t tell you the first thing about Bill Perry or whether the beers he sells are that great. But I can tell you that I like this guy. That’s because he plans to ban tipping in favor of paying his servers an actual living wage.I hate tipping.I hate it because it’s an obligation disguised as an option. I hate it for the post-dinner math it requires of me. But mostly, I hate tipping because I believe I would be in a better place if pay decisions regarding employees were simply left up to their employers, as is the custom in virtually every other industry.Most of you probably think that you hate tipping, too. Research suggests otherwise. You actually love tipping! You like to feel that you have a voice in how much money your server makes. No matter how the math works out, you persistently view restaurants with voluntary tipping systems as being a better value, which makes it extremely difficult for restaurants and bars to do away with the tipping system.One argument that you tend to hear a lot from the pro-tipping crowd seems logical enough: the service is better when waiters depend on tips, presumably because they see a benefit to successfully veiling their contempt for you. Well, if this were true, we would all be slipping a few 100-dollar bills to our doctors on the way out their doors, too. But as it turns out, waiters see only a tiny bump in tips when they do an exceptional job compared to a passable one. Waiters, keen observers of humanity that they are, are catching on to this; in one poll, a full 30% said they didn’t believe the job they did had any impact on the tips they received.So come on, folks: get on board with ditching the outdated tip system. Pay a little more up-front for your beer or burger. Support Bill Perry’s pub, and any other bar or restaurant that doesn’t ask you to do drunken math.What can we learn about Bill Perry from the passage?What is the main reason why the author hates tipping?Why do many people love tipping according to the author?What have some waiters come to realize according to a survey?What does the author argue for in the passage?

Can Burglars Jam Your Wireless Security System?[A] Any product that promises to protect your home deserves careful examination. So it isn’t surprising that you’ll find plenty of strong opinions about the potential vulnerabilities of popular home-security systems.[B] The most likely type of burglary (入室盗窃)by far is the unsophisticated crime of opportunity, usually involving a broken window or some forced entry. According to the FBI, crimes like these accounted for roughly two-thirds of all household burglaries in the US in 2013. The wide majority of the rest were illegal, unforced entries that resulted from something like a window being left open. The odds of a criminal using technical means to bypass a security system are so small that the FBI doesn’t even track those statistics.[C] One of the main theoretical home-security concerns is whether or not a given system is vulnerable to being blocked from working altogether. With wired setups, the fear is that a burglar (入室盗贼) might be able to shut your system down simply by cutting the right cable. With a wireless setup, you stick battery-powered sensors up around your home that keep an eye on windows, doors, motion, and more. If they detect something wrong while the system is armed, they’ll transmit a wireless alert signal to a base station that will then raise the alarm. That approach will eliminate most cord-cutting concerns—but what about their wireless equivalent, jamming? With the right device tuned to the right frequency, what's to stop a thief from jamming your setup and blocking that alert signal from ever reaching the base station?[D] Jamming concerns are nothing new, and they're not unique to security systems. Any device that’s built to receive a wireless signal at a specific frequency can be overwhelmed by a stronger signal coming in on the same frequency. For comparison, let’s say you wanted to “jam” a conversation between two people—all you'd need to do is yell in the listener’s ear.[E] Security devices are required to list the frequencies they broadcast on一that means that a potential thief can find what they need to know with minimal Googling. They will, however, need to know what system they’re looking for. If you have a sign in your yard declaring what setup you use, that’d point them in the right direction, though at that point, we're talking about a highly targeted, semi-sophisticated attack, and not the sort of forced-entry attack that makes up the majority of burglaries. It’s easier to find and acquire jamming equipment for some frequencies than it is for others.[F] Wireless security providers will often take steps to help combat the threat of jamming attacks. SimpliSafe, winner of our Editors' Choice distinction, utilizes a special system that's capable of separating incidental RF interference from targeted jamming attacks. When the system thinks it’s being jammed, it’ll notify you via push alert （推送警报）.From there, it’s up to you to sound the alarm manually.[G] SimpliSafe was singled out in one recent article on jamming, complete with a video showing the entire system being effectively bypassed with handheld jamming equipment. After taking appropriate measures to contain the RF interference to our test lab, we tested the attack out for ourselves, and were able to verify that it's possible with the right equipment. However, we also verified that SimpliSafe's anti-jamming system works. It caught us in the act, sent an alert to my smartphone, and also listed our RF interference on the system's event log. The team behind the article and video in question make no mention of the system, or whether or not it detected them.[H] We like the unique nature of that software. It means that a thief likely wouldn't be able to Google how the system works, then figure out a way around it. Even if they could, SimpliSafe claims that its system is always evolving, and that it varies slightly from system to system, which means there wouldn't be a universal magic formula for cracking it. Other systems also seem confident on the subject of jamming. The team at Frontpoint addresses the issue in a blog on its site, citing their own jam protection software and claiming that there aren't any documented cases of a successful jam attack since the company began offering wireless security sensors in the 1980s.[I] Jamming attacks are absolutely possible. As said before, with the right equipment and the right know-how, it's possible to jam any wireless transmission. But how probable is it that someone will successfully jam their way into your home and steal your stuff?[J] Let’s imagine that you live in a small home with a wireless security setup that offers a functional anti-jamming system. First, a thief is going to need to target your home, specifically. Then, he’s going to need to know the technical details of your system and acquire the specific equipment necessary for jamming your specific setup. Presumably, you keep your doors locked at night and while you’re away, so the thief will still need to break in. That means defeating the lock somehow, or breaking a window. He'll need to be jamming you at this point, as a broken window or opened door would normally release the alarm. So, too, would the motion detectors in your home, so the thief will need to continue jamming once he’s inside and searching for things to steal. However, he’ll need to do so without tripping the anti-jamming system, the details of which he almost certainly does not have access to.[K] At the end of the day, these kinds of systems are primarily designed to protect against the sort of opportunistic smash-and-grab attack that makes up the majority of burglaries. They’re also only a single layer in what should ideally be a many-sided approach to securing your home, one that includes common sense things like sound locks and proper exterior lighting at night. No system is impenetrable, and none can promise to eliminate the worst case completely. Every one of them has vulnerabilities that a knowledgeable thief could theoretically exploit. A good system is one that keeps that worst-case setting as improbable as possible while also offering strong protection in the event of a less-extraordinary attack.

Many men and women have long bought into the idea that there are “male” and “female” brains, believing that explains just about every difference between the sexes. A new study（） that belief, questioning whether brains really can be distinguished by gender.In the study, Tel Aviv University researchers （） for sex differences throughout the entire human brain.And what did they find? Not much. Rather than offer evidence for （）brains as “male” or “female,” research shows that brains fall into a wide range, with most people falling right in the middle. Daphna Joel, who led the study, said her research found that while there are some gender- based （），many different types of brain can’t always be distinguished by gender.While the “average” male and “average” female brains were （）different, you couldn’t tell it by looking at individual brain scans. Only a small （） of people had “all-male” or “all-female” characteristics.Larry Cahill, an American neuroscientist (神经科学家)，said the study is an important addition to a growing body of research questioning （）beliefs about gender and brain function. But he cautioned against concluding from this study that all brains are the same, （） of gender.“There’s a mountain of evidence （） the importance of sex influences at all levels of brain function,” he told The Seattle Times.If anything, he said, the study （） that gender plays a very important role in the brain — “even when we are not clear exactly how.”

Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes lo write an essay. Suppose you have two options upon graduation: one is to work in a state-owned business and the other in a joint venture. You are to make a choice between the two. Write an essay to explain the reasons for your choice. You should write at least 120 words but no more than 180 words.

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