Task 1

Which of the following is the best way to spend your weekends? Exercising, cooking, or visiting friends.

Sample response

I love to cook on weekends for the following reasons. First, I love cooking any good food. I enjoy going to the supermarket to shop for the best ingredients I can find, taking my time to prepare them, sitting down with my friends and families to enjoy a nice homemade dinner. I'm usually pretty busy during the week. Therefore I eat lots of fast food to save time. Taking a break from those junk food on weekends is important to me. Also, cooking your own meal is so much healthier. Restaurant dishes are very salty and greasy, cooking on weekends means I get to enjoy something fresh and delicious.

Task 2

Some people prefer to live in old buildings, others prefer to live in new and modern buildings. Which do you prefer? Explain why.

Sample response

I prefer to live in new and modern buildings for the following reasons. First, they are better equipped. New apartments come with air conditioning, heating, 24-hour hot water and security system. They're nice and comfortable to live in. Old building is another story, I lived in an old apartment when I was a kid, it was always could in the winter, because of the lack of heating. Second, modern buildings are usually located near public transportation hubs. It's nice to live near a bus line or subway station because of the convenience.

Task 3

【提议】：有学生建议学校在风景较好的地方上课，而不是在传统的教室里。因为美丽的风景可以帮助学生投入到课堂而不感到枯燥。而学校可以在外面安装椅子。

【学生议论】：学生不同意

理由一：外面上课会分散学生注意力，特别是当认识的同学经过时。

理由二：座椅也不够，站着记笔记也不方便。

Sample response

The letter proposes the school should open classes outside the classroom because good scenery will make the students focus and avoid boredom and the school has installed some benches and seats outside. The student disagrees with the proposal. There are two chief reasons. First of all, there are too many distractions outside. Students will be distracted when friends are passing through. Second, there aren't enough seats available, it's inconvenient for students to take notes if they have to stand there.

Task 4

【名词解释】：Population cycle

【教授举例】：教授举了一个例子，老鼠和狼。有三个阶段，第一，老鼠很多，狼就有足够的食物。然后老鼠的数量下降而狼的数量增加。第二，当老鼠的数量减少，狼缺少食物，因此狼的数量也减少了，而老鼠的数量最后就增加了。第三，回到第一阶段。

Sample response

Population cycle in ecology system: mice and wolf. Wolf is the predator and mice is the prey. There are three steps: First, when mice are numerous, wolves have enough food. Then the number of mice decreases and the wolves get increased. Second, when the number of mice decreases, the wolves lack of food and then the number of wolves decreases. Later the number of mice increases. Third, it turns back to step one.

Task 5

【学生困难】：。他忘带了今天要交的论文，而钥匙落在宿舍了。他的室友在另一个城市。

【解决方案】：

方案一：他可以告诉教授。

评价：但就迟交了。

方案二：他可以让宿管开门。

评价：但要付15美元。

Sample response

The man's problem is that he left his keys in the dorm and he forgot to take his paper with him, which should be handed in today. He's roommate was in another city now. There are two solutions for him. First, he should tell the professor but his paper was regarded late. Second, he could ask the administrator of the dorm to open the door but it would cost him 15 dollars. I recommend him to take the second solution. 15 dollars is amount of money, but handing in paper is more important. Also, he can learn a lesson.

Task 6

【讲课要点】：The professor talks about two types of suspense in a movie.

方式一：The first type is that the audience feels interesting to guess the end. For example, two heroes set the same goal, but the audiences have no idea who comes first.

方式二：The second type is that the audiences know the end they have no clue how to get to the end. For example, in a love story, the hero and heroine doom to meet in the end, but how they meet each other becomes intriguing.