Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write a short essay based on the picture below. You should start your essay with a brief account of the impact of the Internet on the way people communicate and then explain whether electronic communication can replace face-to-face contact. You should write at least 120 words but no more than 180 words.

 “Dear Andy-How are you? Your mother and I are fine. We both miss you and hope you are doing well. We look forward to seeing you again the nest time your computer crashes and you come down-stairs for something to eat, Love, Mom and Dad.”

    When Captain Cook asked the chiefs in Tahiti why they always ate (1) _______, they replied. "Because it is right." If we ask Americans why they eat with knives and forks, or why their men wear pants (2) _______ skirts, or why they may be married to only one person at a time, we are likely to get (3) _______ and very uninformative answers: "Because it's right. " "Because that's the way it's done." "Because it's the (4) _______. " Or even "I don't know. " The reason for these and countless other patterns of social behavior is that they are (5) _______ by social norms-shared rules or guidelines which prescribe the behavior that is appropriate in a given situation. Norms (6) _______ how people "ought" to behave under particular circumstances in a particular society. We conform(遵守) to norms so readily that we are hardly aware they (7) _______. In fact, we are much more likely to notice (8) _______ from norms than conformity to them. You would not be surprised if a stranger tried to shake hands when you were introduced, but you might be a little (9) _______ if they bowed, started to stroke you, or kissed you on both (10) _______ Yet each of these other forms of greeting is appropriate in other parts of the world. When we visit another society whose norms are different, we quickly become aware that things we do this way, they do that way.

　　What does it take to be a well-trained nurse? The answer used to be two-year associate's or four-year bachelor's degree programs. But as the nursing shortage (1) ______. a growing number of schools and hospitals are establishing "fast-track programs" that enable college graduates with no nursing (2) ______ to become registered nurses with only a year or so of (3) ______ training.
　　In 1991. there were only 40 fast-track curricula; now there are more than 200. Typical is Columbia University's Entry to Practice program. Students earn their bachelor of science in nursing in a year. Those who stay on for an (4) ______ two years can earn a master's degree that (5) ______ them as nurse practitioners(执业护士) or clinical nurse specialists.
　　Many students arc recent (6) ______; others are career switchers. Rudy Guardron, 32, a 2004 graduate of Columbia's program, was a premedical student in college and then worked for a pharmaceutical (药物的) research company. At Columbia, he was (7) ______ as a nurse practitioner. "I saw that nurses were in high (8) ______ and it looked like a really good opportunity," he says. "Also. I didn't want to be in school for that long. "
　　The fast-track trend fills a need, but it's also creating some (9) ______ between newcomers and veterans. "Nurses that are still at the bedside (10) ______ these kids with suspicion," says Linda Pellico, who has taught nursing at Yale University for 18 years. "They wonder, how can they do it quicker?" The answer is they don't.

The rise of the sharing economy.

　　A) Last night 40 000 people rented accommodation from a service that offers 250 000 rooms in 30 000 cities in 192 countries. They chose their rooms and paid for everything online. But their beds were provided by private individuals, rather than a hotel chain. Hosts and guests were matched up by Airbnb, a firm based in San Francisco. Since its launch in 2008 more than 4 million people have used it 2.5 million of them in 2012 alone. It is the most prominent example of a huge new "sharing economy", in which people rent beds, cars, boats and other assets directly from each other, co-ordinated via the internet.
　　B) You might think this is no different from running a bed-and-breakfast (家庭旅店), owning a timeshare (分时度假房) or participating in a car pool. But technology has reduced transaction costs, making sharing assets cheaper and easier than ever-and therefore possible on a much larger scale. The big change is the availability of more data about people and things, which allows physical assets to be divided and consumed as services. Before the internet, renting a surfboard, a power tool or a parking space from someone else was feasible, but was usually more trouble than it was worth. Now websites such as Airbnb, Relay Rides and SnapGoods match up owners and renters; smartphones with GPS let people sec where the nearest rentable car is parked; social networks provide a way to check up on people and build trust; and online payment systems handle the billing.
What's mine is yours, for a fee
　　C) Just as peer-to-peer businesses like eBay allow anyone to become a retailer, sharing sites let individuals act as an ad hoc (临时的) taxi service, car-hire firm or boutique hotel (精品酒店) as and when it suits them. Just go online or download an app. The model works for items that are expensive to buy and are widely owned by people who do not make full use of them. Bedrooms and cars are the most obvious examples, but you can also rent camping spaces in Sweden, fields in Australia and washing machines in France. As advocates of the sharing economy like to put it, access trumps (胜过) ownership.
　　D) Rachel Botsman, the author of a book on the subject, says the consumer peer-to-peer rental market alone is worth $26 billion. Broader definitions of the sharing economy include peer-to-peer lending or putting a solar panel on your roof and selling power back to the grid (电网). And it is not just individuals: the web makes it easier for companies to rent out spare offices and idle machines, too. But the core of the sharing economy is people renting things from each other.
　　E) Such "collaborative (合作的) consumption" is a good thing for several reasons. Owners make money from underused assets. Airbnb says hosts in San Francisco who rent out their homes do so for an average of 58 nights a year, making $9300. Car owners who rent their vehicles to others using RelayRides make an average of $250 a month; some make more than $1000. Renters, meanwhile, pay less than they would if they bought the item themselves, or turned to a traditional provider such as a hotel or car-hire firm. And there are environmental benefits, too: renting a car when you need it, rather than owning one, means fewer cars are required and fewer resources must be devoted to making them.
　　F) For sociable souls, meeting new people by staying in their homes is part of the charm. Curmudgeons (倔脾气的人) who imagine that every renter is a murderer can still stay at conventional hotels. For others, the web fosters trust. As well as the background checks carried out by platform owners, online reviews and ratings are usually posted by both parties to each transaction, which makes it easy to spot bad drivers, bathrobe-thieves and surfboard-wreckers. By using Facebook and other social networks, participants can check each other out and identify friends (or friends of friends) in common. An Airbnb user had her apartment trashed in 2011. But the remarkable thing is how well the system usually works.
Peering into the future
　　G) The sharing economy is a little like online shopping, which started in America 15 years ago. At first, people were worried about security. But having made a successful purchase from, say, Amazon, they felt safe buying elsewhere. Similarly, using Airbnb or a car-hire service for the first time encourages people to try other offerings. Next, consider eBay. Having started out as a peer-to-peer marketplace, it is now dominated by professional "power sellers" (many of whom started out as ordinary eBay users). The same may happen with the sharing economy, which also provides new opportunities for enterprise. Some people have bought cars solely to rent them out, for example.
　　H) Existing rental businesses are getting involved too. Avis, a car-hire firm, has a share in a sharing rival. So do GM and Daimler, two carmakers. In future, companies may develop hybrid (混合的) models, listing excess capacity (whether vehicles, equipment or office space) on peer-to-peer rental sites. In the past, new ways of doing things online have not displaced the old ways entirely. But they have often changed them. Just as internet shopping forced Wal-mart and Tesco to adapt, so online sharing will shake up transport, tourism, equipment-hire and more.
　　I) The main worry is regulatory uncertainty. Will room-renters be subject to hotel taxes, for example? In Amsterdam officials are using Airbnb listings to track down unlicensed hotels. In some American cities, peer-to-peer taxi services have been banned after lobbying by traditional taxi firms. The danger is that although some rules need to be updated to protect consumers from harm, existing rental businesses will try to destroy competition. People who rent out rooms should pay tax, of course, but they should not be regulated like a Ritz-Carlton hotel. The lighter rules that typically govern bed-and-breakfasts are more than adequate.
　　J) The sharing economy is the latest example of the internet's value to consumers. This emerging model is now big and disruptive (颠覆性的) enough for regulators and companies to have woken up to it. That is a sign of its immense potential. It is time to start caring about sharing.

　　In recent years, a growing body of research has shown that our appetite and food intake are influenced by a large number of factors besides our biological need for energy, including our eating environment and our perception of the food in front of us.
　　Studies have shown, for instance, that eating in front of the TV (or a similar distraction) can increase both hunger and the amount of food consumed. Even simple visual cues, like plate size and lighting, have been shown to affect portion size and consumption.
　　A new study suggested that our short-term memory also may play a role in appetite. Several hours after a meal, people's hunger levels were predicted not by how much they'd eaten but rather by how much food they'd seen in front of them-in other words, how much they remembered eating.
　　This disparity (差异) suggests the memory of our previous meal may have a bigger influence on our appetite than the actual size of the meal, says Jeffrey M. Brunstrom, a professor of experimental psychology at the University of Bristol.
　　"Hunger isn't controlled solely by the physical characteristics of a recent meal. We have identified an independent role for memory for that meal," Brunstrom says. "This shows that the relationship between hunger and food intake is more complex than we thought."
　　These findings echo earlier research that suggests our perception of food can sometimes trick our body's response to the food itself. In a 2011 study, for instance, people who drank the same 380-calorie (卡路里) milkshake on two separate occasions produced different levels of hunger-related hormones (荷尔蒙), depending on whether the shake's label said it contained 620 or 140 calories. Moreover, the participants reported feeling more full when they thought they'd consumed a higher-calorie shake.
　　What does this mean for our eating habits? Although it hardly seems practical to trick ourselves into eating less, the new findings do highlight the benefits of focusing on our food and avoiding TV and multitasking while eating.
　　The so-called mindful-eating strategies can fight distractions and help us control our appetite, Brunstrom says.

　　As a society we might want to rethink the time and money spent on education, so that these resources can benefit a greater percentage of the population. Ideally, both high schools and colleges can prepare individuals for the ever-changing roles that are likely to be expected of them.
　　High school degrees offer far less in the way of preparation for work than they might, or than many other nations currently offer, creating a growing skills gap in our economy. We encourage students to go on to college whether they are prepared or not. or have a clear sense of purpose or interest, and now have the highest college dropout rate in the world.
　　We might look to other countries for models of how high schools can offer better training, as well as the development of a work ethic (勤奋工作的美德) and the intellectual skills needed for continued learning and development. 1 recommend Harvard's 2011 "Pathways to Prosperity" report for more attention to the "forgotten half" (those who do not go on to college) and ideas about how to address this issue.
　　Simultaneously, the liberal arts become more important than ever. In a knowledge economy where professional roles change rapidly and many college students are preparing for positions that may not even exist yet, the skill set needed is one that prepares them for change and continued learning.
　　Learning to express ideas well in both writing and speech, knowing how to find information, and knowing how to do research are all solid background skills for a wide variety of roles, and such training is more important than any particular major in a liberal arts college. We need to continue to value broad preparation in thinking skills that will serve for a lifetime.
　　Students also need to learn to work independently and to make responsible decisions. The lengthening path to adulthood appears exacerbated (恶化) by parental involvement in the college years. Given the rising investment in college education, parental concern is not surprising, but learning where and when to intervene (干预) will help students take more ownership of the outcomes of these increasingly costly educations.