D

This summer, Monika Lutz’s life took an unusual turn. Instead of heading off to college, the high school graduate packed her bags for a Bengali jungle. Lutz, like a growing number of other young Americans, is taking a year off. Gap(間隔) years  are quite common in Britain and Australia, but they are just beginning to catch on in the U.S. Lutz, who grew up in Boulder, Colo., has put together a 14-month schedule that includes helping deliver solar power to some communities in India and interning (實習) for a fashion designer in Shanghai---experiences that are worlds away from the lecture halls and university dormitories that await other students. “I could not be happier,” she says. 

       Why are students attracted to the gap-year concept? According to new survey data from Karl Haigler and Rae Nelson, education-policy experts and co-authors of The Gap-Year Advantage, the most common reason for this is to avoid burnout. “I felt like I was focused on college as a means to an end,” says Kelsi Morgan, an incoming Middlebury College freshman who spent last year interning for a judge in Tulsa, Okla., and teaching English at an orphanage in the Dominican Republic. The hope is that after a year out of the classroom, students will enter college more energized, focused and mature. That can be an advantage for colleges too. Robert Clagett, dean of admissions at Middlebury, did some research a few years ago and found that a single gap semester was the strongest predictor of academic success at his school.

       Most experts recommend securing a spot in college before taking a gap year and warn against using the time off to lengthen your resume. “Most admissions folks can see right through that,” says Jim Jump, the academic dean of St. Christopher’s School in Richmond, Va. But for students like Lutz, who, after getting rejected from five Ivies, decided to take time off, a gap year can help focus interests. Lutz now plans to apply mostly to non-Ivies that have strong marketing programs. “This experience has really opened my eyes to the opportunities the world has to offer,” she says.

       But at least one education expert doesn’t want schools spreading the gap-year message. In a study that followed 11,000 members of the high school class of 1992 for eight years after graduation, Stefanie DeLuca, a sociology professor at Johns Hopkins University, found that, all things being equal, those who delayed college by a year were 64% less likely to complete a bachelor’s degree than those who didn’t. DeLuca did not say whether these students voluntarily started college late, but at the very least, her work indicates that taking a gap year doesn’t guarantee success. “I’m not going to say that time off does not have benefits,” says DeLuca. “But I think we should not be so enthusiastic.”

67. The students take gap years mainly because ______.

A. they want to be more unusual                            B. they want to refresh themselves 

C. some experts advise them to do so                     D. their parents think it good for them

68. According to Lutz, the gap year has made her more ______.

A. energetic                   B. relaxed              C. practical                    D. enthusiastic

69. Stefanie DeLuca probably agrees that ______.

A. students should think twice before taking gap years

B. taking gap years enables students to achieve success

C. schools should encourage their students to take gap years

D. taking gap years increases students’ chances of getting a good job

70. What’s the author’s attitude towards gap years?

A. Sceptical.                   B. Positive.                   C. Disapproving.            D. Objective.

第二節(jié)（共5小題；每小題2分，共10分）

根據短文內容，從短文后的七個選項中選出能填入空白處的最佳選項。選項中有兩項為多余選項。

The average computer user has between 5 and 15 username/password combinations to log in different kinds of accounts. Some demand you use a specific number of symbols and digits, while others require you to change your password every 60 days. The feeling of confusion resulting from memorizing these login information has grown so common that it actually has a name: password fatigue(疲勞).

Having to remember so many different passwords is annoying, but it can also be dangerous. Because it is virtually impossible to remember a unique password for each of these accounts, many people leave handwritten lists of usernames and passwords on or next to their computers.

  71   While these practices make it easier to remember login information, they also make it easier for thieves to hack into accounts.

Single Sign-On (SSO) confirmation and password management software can help solve this problem. With SSO, users only need to remember one password to log in to the main system.

  72   SSO software is typically used by large companies, schools, or libraries.

  73   If a user loses or forgets the password required to log in to SSO software, the user will then lose access to all of the applications linked to the SSO account. Users who rely on password management software face the same problems.

Although most websites or network systems allow users to recover or change lost passwords by providing email addresses or answering a prompt（提示）, this process can waste time and cause further frustration. What is more, recovering a forgotten password is only a temporary solution.

  74   

Some computer scientists have suggested computers rely on biometrics(生物測定學).   75   The use of biometrics raises questions concerning privacy and can also be expensive to practice.

       Software engineers and computer security experts are still searching for the cure to password fatigue. Until they find the perfect solution, however, everyone will simply have to rely on the password system currently in place.

A. It does not address the larger problem of password fatigue.

B. These software programs have been built into many major web browsers

C. The problem with password management software makes users feel powerless.

D. The SSO software then automatically logs the user in to other accounts within the system.

E. However, SSO confirmation and password management software also have drawbacks.

F. This is a method of recognizing human users based on unique traits, such as fingerprints, voice,

or DNA.

G. Others solve this problem by using the same password for every account or using extremely

simple passwords.

第四部分：書面表達（共兩節(jié)，35分）

第一節(jié)（15分）

作為班長，請你根據以下內容給新任外教Mr. Smith 寫一封信, 向他表示歡迎并轉達同學們對英語課的希望：

1. 介紹西方文化；

2. 組織多樣活動；

3. 關注學生發(fā)音。

注意: 1．詞數不少于50；

2．可適當增加細節(jié)，以使行文連貫；

3．開頭和結尾已給出，不計入總詞數。   

Dear Mr. Smith,

    ___________________________________________________________________________

Yours,

Chris

（請務必將第一節(jié)答題內容寫在答題卡指定區(qū)域內）

第二節(jié)（20分）

       假設你是紅星中學的學生李華，請按照以下四幅圖的先后順序，用英文寫一篇周記, 記述上周六你和父母一起參加奧林匹克森林公園健步走活動的過程。

注意：1．詞數不少于60；

2．周記的開頭已給出，不計入總詞數。     

Last Saturday, I went to the Olympic Forest Park with my parents to take part in an activity called “I Walk, and I’m Fit.”

（請務必將第二節(jié)答題內容寫在答題卡指定區(qū)域內）