课程代码：00603
I. Supply the missing paragraph. (20 points)
The following passage is incomplete with one body paragraph missing. Study the passage carefully and write the missing paragraph in about 100 words. Make sure that your tone and diction are in unity with the passage provided.
Life Expectancy
A greater number of people are now hitting the eighty-year mark than ten years ago. In fact, the life expectancy of the average human has gone up considerably and is rising still. This encouraging phenomenon is the result of many factors. Advancement in technology, improved quality of life, and people’s rising awareness about health are all conducive to prolonged lives.
Scientific and medical breakthroughs ensure that patients receive proper and timely treatment. As people learn more about the human body, medical institutions and services become better equipped to tackle various health problems. Diseases such as cancer, which used to result almost inevitably in death, are now largely curable, provided they are diagnosed at an early stage. Tuberculosis and cholera now cause fewer deaths than in the past. Thanks to new drugs, therapies and vaccines, fewer people fail victim to the diseases that once threatened human lives. With advanced facilities, infectious diseases are strictly monitored and controlled. The rate of mortality no longer reaches an alarming height even aider the outbreak of an epidemic.
In addition to better health care, the improved quality of life definitely contributes to the longer life expectancy. People engage in less hazardous occupations. As far as food is concerned, they don’t simply enjoy the taste, but also good nutrition. Mineral water, fruit juice rich in vitamins, varieties of vegetables and dairy products are no longer luxuries. The general hygiene standard has gone up considerably as well. It is little surprising to find airy and sunny homes with shining kitchen sinks and shower heads. To conclude, advancement in medicine and technology, improved quality of life and heightened public awareness of good health account for the extended human life span. It can be safely predicted that the number of people who live longer and healthier will continue to go up.
II. Write an outline. (20 points)
Read the following passage carefully and compose a “topic outline”for it.
E-mail—Return to Sender?
For many of us, turning on the computer and checking for e-mail messages has become a part of our daily routine. The growing popularity of e-mail makes us wonder how we ever survived without it. In. our enthusiasm for e-mail, we should realize that e-mail is a poor substitute for regular mail both in our personal lives and in the business world.
There is no denying that e-mail has many merits. The most obvious one is speed. We can send e-mail around the world in a matter of minutes. It is this speed that has led to our calling regular mail “snail mail.” E-mail involves less expense, for most people, than regular mail. Many people have access to e-mail for free through their work or school. And while some people may pay for e-mail through an online service, there is no increase in cost relative to the number of messages sent. Admittedly, e-mail is convenient. It allows us to send the same message to many people at the same time with little more effort than it takes to send a message to one person. When sending multiple copies of a message, we avoid the trouble of photocopying the letter, printing out additional copies, addressing envelopes, and posting the mail.
Despite its many benefits, e-mail is not always appropriate. Before dashing off another piece of e-mail—in our private lives or in the business world—we need to pause and consider whether the post office or a carder might be more fitting.
It would be sad to think that letters from friends might become obsolete. With e-mail, unfortunately, all messages look very much alike, and this sameness removes some of the wonder of getting a message in the first place. We have no handwriting to scrutinize, no perfumed envelope to smell, no colors or textures to enjoy. For these more personal things we must still rely on regular mail. Besides, opening old computer files is never as much fun as pulling a dusty shoebox out of the closet to browse through old letters and photos.
