Section A

Pre-reading activities

For thousands of years men have wanted to live longer and not to grow older. In the past, many people tried various ways to keep their youthful looks and vigor. Event today, some people conduct experiments on lab animals to find possible approaches to remain young. One of the experiments is to explore the possibility of using gene therapy to slow down aging. Anyhow, in modern times, many people are well enough off to reach the age they were designed for. Besides, a healthy lifestyle can help increase one’s lifespan. But, above all, it is desirable for a man to be finished at his proper time. As nature has marked the bounds of everything else, so has she marked the bounds of life. Moreover, old age is the final scene in one’s life drama, from which we ought to disappear when we grow tired and have had everything.

Chinese legends of seeking eternal life: Xu Fu’s expedition in search for medicine of eternity dispatched by Qin Shi Huang.

Qin Shi Huang (259 BCE – 210 BCE), personal name Zheng, was king of the Chinese State of Qin from 246 BCE to 221 BCE during the Warring States Period. He became the first emperor of a unified China in 221 BCE. He ruled until his death in 210 BCE at the age of 50.

Qin Shi Huang remains a controversial figure in Chinese history. After unifying China, he and his chief adviser Li Si passed a series of major economic and political reforms. He undertook gigantic projects, including the first version of the Great Wall of China, the now famous city-sized mausoleum guarded by a life-sized Terracotta Army, and a massive national road system, all at the expense of numerous lives. To ensure stability, Qin Shi Huang outlawed and burned many books. Despite the tyranny of his autocratic rule, Qin Shi Huang is regarded as a pivotal figure.

Elixir of life

Later in his life, Qin Shi Huang feared death and desperately sought the fabled elixir of life, which would supposedly allow him to live forever. He was obsessed with acquiring immortality and fell prey to many who offered him supposed elixirs. He visited Zhifu Island three times in order to achieve immortality. In one case he sent Xu Fu, a Zhifu islander, with ships carrying hundreds of young men and women in search of the mystical Penglai mountain. They were sent to find Anqi Sheng, a 1,000-year-old magician whom Qin Shi Huang had supposedly met in his travels and who had invited him to seek him there. These people never returned, because they knew that if they returned without the promised elixir, they would surely be executed. Legends claim that they reached Japan and colonized it.

II Comprehension of the text

1.       Because they couldn’t live longer without growing older.

2.       He was more famous for his search for the Fountain Youth.

3.       They make a bath in tubs of warm mud and receive injections of monkey glands.

4.       Many people can reach the age they are designed for because of their being well off.

5.       The emphasis is on finding ways to ensure that more people achieve the maximum lifespan in healthy conditions.

6.       He hated exercises and never took any.

7.       Because they reproduce less or don’t reproduce at all.

8.       It can help slow down ageing.

9.       Old people would soon end up as a huge majority and the planet would have trouble supporting so many people.

10.   The author thinks that old age is one of the natural phenomena, and it is the last part of one’s life.

VI Translation

1.       During that battle a large number of men perished from hunger and thirst due to the severe shortage of food.

2.       This research project has further proved that fireworks have originated in China.

3.       He is tempted to go there in person and check out how the accident happened.

4.       At present, people have not found an effective way to cure this disease, which is still afflicting old people.

5.       The contractor must adhere to the contract and complete the important project on time.

6.       With persistent efforts, they finally settled the dispute between the two regions.

7.       If Party B fails in delivering goods at a given time, Party A is entitled to terminate the contract and claim for any loss.

8.       It usually takes a week to patent one’s invention.

9.       A clever politician knows well how to manipulate the public opinion and take advantage of his supporters.

10.   The amount of water in the rivers and lakes will diminish as the dry season continues.

VII

With the 21^st century coming, people have increasingly realized the importance of acquiring fast and easy information. If a nation can make effective use of all the information it will benefit in the fields of scientific research, education, economic development, etc. What the nation needs to do is to establish a nation-wide “information network”, so as to link up scientists, businessmen, educators, etc. If such a network is set up, it will promote the second information revolution in the country.

XI Structured Writing

Those people who are worried about the education in the future might think that computers will be able to help our education reform to meet the demands and expectations of the changing world. Computers will permit a degree of individual instruction that was never thought of before. Any student can learn anytime, anywhere according to his own needs, his own learning style and his own learning pace. But again, that would not be much help to our education as a whole. For centuries people agree that the fundamental function of education is to teach what is wrong and what is right. The Internet has no means of quality control, information and disinformation mingle comfortably. And up to date there are no reliable ways to distinguish sense from the distorted fact and downright nonsense on the Net. It has become a big challenge for students to identify the true, the beautiful, and the good.

Section B

XII Reading skills

1.       Dr. John Andrews. (Para. 3)

2.       They hope to cure DNA deficiency, and to fix a genetic defect that causes a severe form of blood disease. (Para. 6)

3.       It is about injecting functioning genes into the rapidly dividing cells of embryos to replace flawed DNA. (Para. 7)

4.       They worry that Andrews’ technology would help doctors to engineer babies for attractive traits, and interfering with gens before birth might result in serious birth defects. (Para. 7)

5.       In 1995 it abolished federal funding for human embryo research; it also made such research exempt from Federal reviews and controls. (Para. 12)

Section C

XVI Reading Skills

1.       The young people. (Para. 1)

2.       They dominated the protests against the nuclear weapons and the Vietnam War. (Para. 2)

3.       Young people are being asked to participate in decision-making affairs. (Para. 5)

4.       Almost every school has an elected student council, handling school-level issues. (Para. 7)

5.       They are honest, and are able to force sensitive issues out into the open. (Para. 10)