Name: Student No.: Class:
I.Brief-answer questions (本题满分35分)
Passage One
Every year, one American family in five moves to a new home. Most of the new homes are in the Sunbelt States, a nickname for the warm, sunny states of the South and Southwest. The Sun Belt has en substantial population growth in recent decades, partly fueled by a surge in retiring baby boomers who migrate domestically, as well as the influx of immigrants, both legal and illegal. People are also moving becau jobs and industries have shifted from Frostbelt to the Sunbelt. Known for its cold, frost-producing winters and heavy snowfall, the Frost Belt is generally considered to include the Northeastern United States, the Great Lakes Region and much of the Upper Midwest. For many years, the Frost Belt was the center of American economic activity, and the most populous part of the United States. However, in the past veral decades, the Frost Belt had already been experiencing a stagnating population. For instance, the following states experienced the least population growth during the 1990s: District of Columbia (-5.7%), North Dakota (0.5%), West Virginia (0.8%), Pennsylvania (3.4%) and Connecticut (3.6%).
This Frostbelt-Sunbelt Shift is also a shift from the previously economically and politically important Northeast to the South and West. Warmer climate, and a boom in the agriculture industry allowed for the southern third of the U.S.A. to grow by leaps and bounds economically. The climate stimulates not only agricultural growth but was also a haven for many retirees who t up retirement communities in places such as Florida and Arizona. Industries such as aerospace, defen and oil boomed in the Sun Belt. The oil industry helped propel many southern states such as T exas and Louisiana forward and tourism exploded in Florida and southern California.
The economic emergence of the Sun Belt also had political ramifications. Since 1970, the Sun Belt has gained 25 electoral votes, which were shifted mainly from Northern and Midwestern states. In the next two decades, it is predicted some states will record stunning gains: Florida (+9 Hou ats), Texas (+8), and Arizona (+5), and the big lors are New York (-6), Ohio (-4), Pennsylvania (-4), and Illinois (-3). So the Hou and Electoral Vote gains and loss from region to region over the next few decades will be eye-catching, even spectacular and the figures will have enormous conquences for the economies of the various regions.
1、According to the above passage, plea draw rough borderlines on the U.S. map below
marking the regions covered by Frostbelt and Sunbelt respectively. (本小题4分)
2、Plea categorize the following cities into Frostbelt cities (FC) and Sunbelt cities (SC).
(本小题6分)
Milwaukee __FC____ Austin ___SC____ Las Vegas ___SC_____
Chicago ___FC____ Phoenix ___SC____ Buffalo ___FC______
Houston ___SC____ Dallas __SC______ Cincinnati ___FC______ Kansas City __FC______ San Diego _____SC______ San Jo ___SC______
伦敦的大学
3、Plea list major factors which contribute to the rapid development of Sunbelt regions according to the above passage. (本小题4分)
答:Warmer climate, and a boom in the agriculture industry allowed for the southern third of the U.S.A. to grow by leaps and bounds economically. The climate stimulates not only agricultural growth but was also a haven for many retirees who t up retirement communities in places such as Florida and Arizona. Industries such as aerospace, defen and oil boomed in the Sun Belt. The oil industry helped propel many southern states such as Texas and Louisiana forward and tourism exploded in Florida and southern California.
4、How do you understand the bolded phra “Hou ats”? Which Hou does the “Hou” in this passage specifically refer to? And why does the population growth or decline have an impact on the number of Seats? (本小题6分)
答:Refers to the ats in the hou of Reprentatives。
Becau according to the proportion of the population to arrange。
5、Do you know any other Belt in the United States from the cour you took? If yes, plea list the Belts and their prominences. (本小题5分)
答:Higher education zone, such as Boston
Aboriginal areas, such as Texas
Passage Two
最大的货轮If you asked most Americans what the cultural values in the U.S. are, you might get some blank stares, or a statement of some basic beliefs. The question may em simple, but the answer is quite complex. In a society as highly diver as the United States, there is likely to be a multitude of answers. Nevertheless, a few lected values are at the core of the American value system. Choice in Education
Education is often regarded as the key to opportunity, including financial curity. Americans take a pragmatic approach to learning, so what one learns outside the classroom through internships (实习), extracurricular activities and the like is often considered as important as what is learned i n the classroom. Conquently, lifelong learning is valued which results in many adult and continuing
education programs.
Americans have many choices. In school they decide their major field of study, perhaps with or witho糖尿病人可以吃什么水果
ut their parents' influence, and students even get to lect some of their cours. The "lective" cours often confu foreign students who may expect a more rigid curriculum.
The belief that Americans should "be all that you can be" emanates from our Protestant heritage. Since the majority of the early ttlers were Protestant, they believed that they had a responsibility to improve themlves, to be the best they could be, to develop their talents, and to help their neighbors. The convictions have not only influenced our educational system, but are often reflected in U.S. foreign policy. What some might consider meddling in other people's affairs, others believe is fulfilling a moral obligation.
1. According to the author, how do American people perceive education? (3分)
答:Americans take a pragmatic approach to learning, so what one learns outside the classroom through internships , extracurricular activities and the like is often considered as important as what is learned in the classroom. Conquently, lifelong learning is valued which results in many adult and continuing education programs.
2. I s American’s perception of education rooted in its history? Why? (4分)
答:Since the majority of the early ttlers were Protestant, they believed that they had a responsibility to improve themlves, to be the best they could be, to develop their talents, and to help their neighbors. The convictions have not only influenced our educational system, but are often reflected in U.S. foreign policy. What some might consider meddling in other pe ople's affairs, others believe is fulfilling a moral obligation.
3. Plea translate the underlined ntences into Chine. (3分)
美国人采取务实的态度去学习,那么学习课堂以外通过实习(实习),课外活动等通常被视为是在课堂里学到的一样重要。
由于早期的移民大部分是新教徒,他们认为自己有责任提高自己,是他们可能是最好的,去发展他们的天赋,并帮助他们的邻居。
II. Challenging Open Questions to Test Your Passion in Reading! (25分)Silicon Valleys: How did California get it so right?
From Hewlett-Packard to Google, from Apple to Intel - the many start-ups created in Silicon Valley have helped define the modern world.
The area - surrounding San Francisco Bay in northern California - has arguably been the world's supreme entrepreneurial hotspot, generating a emingly endless supply of new technologies, new companies, and huge wealth.
But now, other places around the world are trying to create start-up clusters of their own. Next week, the BBC will start a ries looking at other areas trying to replicate Silicon Valley's success. Ahead of this, we asked a range of experts from Silicon Valley why they thought the area had be en so successful - and what advice they would give to tho keen to emulate its achievements.
Michael S Malone, technology journalist and author
保护环境怎么做>红豆与赤小豆的区别“The Valley didn't come freighted with old attitudes and cultures"
Silicon Valley is not so easy to replicate.送水的
One reason is time: the Valley is also the oldest high-tech community on Earth. Begun in the Packard garage venty-five years ago, it has had more than ven decades to figure out every nuance and fill every niche of the digital world.
A cond reason is location: Silicon Valley, as Santa Clara Valley, was a largely unpopulated agricult
ural area at the end of WW2, with cheap land and a great city nearby. It benefited greatly from the migration of Americans, especially veterans, west to California and into the new jobs in aerospace and electronics.
The third reason is infrastructure: there are few places anywhere that offered a full range of educational institutions from trade schools, to mid-level colleges, to the two great universities, Stanford and Berkeley.
All of the factors combined to create a fourth reason for the success, and singularity, of Silicon Valley: culture.
The Valley didn't come freighted with old attitudes and cultures, but was free to create one of its own: risk-taking, multi-cultural, meritocratic and most of all, entrepreneurial. Underlying everything is an acceptance - even an admiration - of good failure.
Paul Saffo, Discern Analytics
去韩国需要办理什么手续“Failure is what fuels and renews this place”
The cret to Silicon Valley's success? We know how to fail and we have been doing it for decades.
Failure is what fuels and renews this place. Failure is the foundation for innovation. Failure is esntial becau even the cleverest of innovations - and business - fail a few times before they ultimately succeed. Consider Google: at least half a dozen other companies tried to turn arch into a business, but Google was the first to crack the code and turn arch into a huge business. And even when companies succeed, the only way to survive in the long term is to flee into the future by relentlessly innovating.
Apple all but killed off the iPod at its peak by turning the iPod's music function into a feature incorporated into the iPhone when it was introduced in 2007. Apple happily killed its own product becau if Apple hadn't done so, another competitor would have done it for them.
Failure is what makes Silicon Valley's success hard to replicate. Would-be competitors only e, and try to copy, the Valley's success. But to succeed you need an ecology of fearless players from
venture capitalists to banks, suppliers and myriad other supporting business unafraid to risk all by helping with often flakey and unpredictable start-ups. So if you want to be the next Silicon Valley, don't copy our success. Learn to support and encourage novel and ultimately successful failure.
Vivek Wadhwa, entrepreneur, academic and author
"What really makes the Valley tick is its culture of risk-taking”
正规的会议签到表
Regions all over the world have tried to copy Silicon Valley, but none has succeeded. That's becau they have focud on trying to recreate its venture capital system, universities, or start-up incubators. What they don't realize is that what really makes the Valley tick is its culture of risk-taking and information sharing; people-to-people networks; openness to new ideas; and diversity - more than half of its innovators are foreign-born.
It also helps that Silicon Valley has excellent weather, is clo to mountains and the ocean, and has a myriad of state-park hiking trails - the help foster a culture of optimism, openness, tolerance, and sharing. The are the ingredients that can't easily be recreated. Venture capital only follows innovation, it goes where the opportunities for building wealth are, it doesn't create new opportunities.
So this shouldn't be the starting point in attempts to build an innovation ecosystem. Any region wanting to build its version of Silicon Valley should focus on its people and culture.
Judy Estrin, rial entrepreneur
"You need big companies to provide talent and ideas ”
Silicon Valley is a unique combination of universities, companies, venture investors, culture, weather, all sorts of things that come to play to create Silicon Valley. Typically if you look at the places where you have entrepreneurial ecosystems, there are at least two universities. Tho students carry ideas into the world.
You need to have at least one or two big companies becau often entrepreneurs are people who work in a big company and come up with an idea. The big company rejects it becau it's not part of the large firm's objectives. As a result, the entrepreneur leaves that company and does it on their own. So you need big companies to provide both talent and ideas and infrastructure and then you need the right policies and incentives.
1. Plea translate the two underlined paragraphs into Chine. (本小题10分)
失败是必要的因为甚至最聪明的创新和企业失败了几次才最终成功。考虑到谷歌:至少半打其他公司试图把搜索业务,但谷歌是破解密码,打开搜索到一个巨大的商业第一。甚至当公司成功,在长期的生存的唯一方式就是逃到未来的不断创新。
世界各地都试图复制硅谷,但没有成功。那是因为他们都集中在试图重新建立风险投资体系,高校,或启动孵化器。他们不知道的是,真正使谷蜱是其文化的冒险和信息共享;人民网;开放的新思路;
和多样性超过一半的创新者是国外出世。