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Section C
Directions: Read the passage carefully. Then answer the questions or complete the statements in the fewest possible words.
Not for the first time, Paul Mathis wants us to change. But this time he isn’t trying to get us to go vegetarian, or dine only on locally grown ingredients. This time he’s trying to get us to type differently.
Paul Mathis, a restaurateur from Melbourne who owns a string of dining establishments, has designed the letter “?” — representing the word “the”. Now he is pushing Apple to allow him to promote his app, which features the new character, in its iTunes store.
In a move to branch out of the food business, Paul has invested AUS $38,000 (￡23,500) in the new app, but has so far been rejected by Apple. He is hoping he can change their mind, pointing out that reducing the word “the” — the most used word in the English language — to one character would be helpful for Twitter and swift typing.
“Is this important?” he said, in an interview with The Sydney Morning Herald. “No. Is this going to change the world? Not really. But is it something that might be useful for people? I think so, because it can save people lots of time on keyboard.”
“The word ‘and’ is only the fifth-most used word in English and it has its own symbol — the ampersand ‘&’,” said Mr. Mathis. “Isn’t it time we gave the same respect to ‘the’?”
The top five most commonly used words in the English language are said to be: the, be, to, of, and “and”. The ampersand “&” has at times been used as the 27th letter of the English alphabet.
Paul has developed the typography — effectively an upper-case “T” and a lower-case “h” bunched together so they share the upright stem — and an app that puts it in everyone’s hand by allowing users to download an entirely new electronic keyboard complete not just with his symbol but also a row of keys of 15 most frequently typed words.
So far, though, the take-up has been minimal. But that might change if he can get his innovation into Apple’s app store. The problem is, the Californian tech giant has so far resisted his advances. But who knows — maybe in 500 years’ time people will be amazed that there was a time when we didn’t use ‘?’.
(Note: Answer the questions or complete the statements in NO MORE THAN TWELVE WORDS)
78. What is Paul Mathis?
__________________________________________________________________________
79. Paul designs the new letter “?” to represent the word “the” because he thinks __________________________________________________________________________.
80. The main difference between the new and the old electronic keyboard is that the new one __________________________________________________________________________.
81. How can Paul attract more people to download his new keyboard?
__________________________________________________________________________
第II卷 （共47分）
I. Translation
Directions: Translate the following sentences into English, using the words given in the brackets.
1. 不管你相信不相信，善于倾听并采纳别人的意见是明智的。(advisable)
2. 能否坚持自己所做的事情是一个人取得成功的重要因素之一。(persevere)
3. 在线预订出租车虽然很时尚，但许多相关问题尚待解决。(as)
4. 在北京的地铁上吃东西、抽烟或躺在座位上的人可能会被处以50至500元的罚款。(fine)
5. 有些青少年热衷于网络游戏，有时候竟然连饭都可以不吃，而且他们和家长的关系往往也比较糟糕。(keen)
II.Guided Writing
Directions: Write an English composition in 120-150 words according to the instructions given below in Chinese.
请介绍一节你曾经上过，也是你最喜欢的体育课，并说说你的理由。
你的作文必须包括以下内容：（文中不能提及你的真实姓名和学校）
1.简要介绍这节体育课的情况
2.你喜欢这节课的理由
