TEXT C

      In Barcelona the Catalonians call them castells, but these arent stereotypical castles in Spain. These castles are made up of human beings, not stone. The people who perform this agile feat of acrobatics are called castellers, and to see their towers take shape is to observe a marvel of human cooperation.

      First the castellers form what looks like a gigantic rugby scrummage. They are the foundation blocks of the castle. Behind them, other people press together, forming outward-radiating ramparts of inward-pushing muscle: flying buttresses for the castle. Then sturdy but lighter castellers scramble over the backs of those at the bottom and stand, barefoot, on their shoulders—then still others, each time adding a higher "story".

      These human towers can rise higher than small apartment buildings: nine “stories”, 35 feet into the air. Then, just When it seems this tower of humanity cant defy gravity any longer, a little kid emerges from the crowd and climbs straight up to the top.

Arms extended, the child grins while waving to the cheering crowd far below.

      Dressed in their traditional costumes, the castellers seem to epitomize an easier time, before Barcelona became a world metropolis arid the Mediterraneans most dynamic city. But when you observe-them tip close, in their street clothes, at practice, you see theres nothing easy about what the castellers do - and that they are not merely reenacting an ancient ritual.

      None of the castellers can-give a logical answer as to why they love doing this. But Victor Luna, 16, touches me on the shoulder and says in English: "We do it because its beautiful. We do it because we are Catalan."

      Barcelona’s mother tongue is Catalan, and to understand Barcelona, you must understand two words of Catalan: seny and rauxa. Seny pretty much translates as common sense, or the ability to make money, arrange things, and get things done. Rauxa is reminiscent of our words “raucous” and “ruckus”.

What makes the castellers revealing of the city is that they embody rauxa and seny. The idea of a human castle is rauxa—it defies common sense—but to watch one going up is to see seny in action. Success is based on everyone working together to achieve a shared goal.

      The success of Carlos Tusquets bank, Fibanc, shows seny at work in everyday life. The bank started as a family concern and now employs hundreds. Tusquets said it exemplifies how the economy in Barcelona is different.

      Entrepreneurial seny demonstrates why Barcelona and Catalonia—the ancient region of which Barcelona is the capital—are distinct from the rest of Spain yet essential to Spains emergence, after centuries of repression, as a prosperous, democratic European

country. Catalonia, with Barcelona as its dynamo, has turned into an economic powerhouse. Making up 6 percent of Spain’s territory, with a sixth of its people, it accounts for nearly a quarter of Spains production—everything from textiles to computers—even though the rest of Spain has been enjoying its own economic miracle.

      Hand in hand with seny goes rauxa, and theres no better place to see rauxa in action than on the Ramblas, the venerable, tree-shaded boulevard that, in gentle stages, leads you from the centre of Barcelona down to the port. There are two narrow lanes each way for cars and motorbikes, but it’s the wide centre walkway that makes the Ramblas a front-row seat for Barcelonas longest running theatrical event. Plastic armchairs are set out on the sidewalk. Sit in one of them, and an attendant will come and charge you a small fee. Performance artists throng the Ramblas—stilt walkers, witches caked in charcoal dust, Elvis impersonators. But the real stars are the old women and happily playing children, millionaires on motorbikes, and pimps and

women who, upon closer inspection, prove not to be.

      Aficionados (Fans) of Barcelona love to compare notes: “Last night there was a man standing on the balcony of his hotel room,” Mariana Bertagnolli, an Italian photographer, told me. "The balcony was on the second floor. He was naked, and he was talking

into a cell phone."

      There you have it, Barcelonas essence. The man is naked (rauxa), but he is talking into a cell phone (seny).

21. From the description in the passage, we learn that

  A. all Catalonians can perform castells.

  B. castells require performers to stand on each other.

  C. people perform castells in different formations.

  D. in castells people have to push and pull each other.

22. According to the passage, the4mplication of the performance is that

  A. the Catalonians are insensible and noisy people.

  B. the Catalonians show more sense than is expected.

  C. the Catalonians display paradoxical characteristics.

  D. the Catalonians think highly of team work.

23. The passage cites the following examples EXCEPT __________ to show seny at work.

  A. development of a bank                   

  B. dynamic role in economy 

  C. contribution to national economy           

  D. comparison with other regions

24. In the last but two paragraph, the Ramblas is described as “a front-row seat for Barcelona’s longest running theatrical event”. What does it mean?

  A. On the Ramblas people can see a greater variety of performances.

  B. The Ramblas provides many front seats for the performances.

  C. The Ramblas is preferred as an important venue for the events.

  D. Theatrical performers like to perform on the Ramblas.

25. What is the main impression of the scenes on the Ramblas?

  A. It is bizarre and Outlandish.              

  B. It is of average quality.

  C. It is conventional and quiet.              

  D. It is of professional standard.

TEXT D

      The law firm Patrick worked for before he died filed for bankruptcy protection a year after his funeral. After his death, the firms letterhead properly included him: Patrick S. Lanigan, 1954-1992. He was listed up in the right-hand corner, just above the paralegals. Then the rumors got started and wouldnt stop. Before long, everyone believed he had taken the money and disappeared. After three months, no one on the Gulf Coast believed that he was dead. His name came off the letterhead

as the debts piled up.

      The remaining partners in the law firm were still together, attached unwillingly at the hip by the bondage of mortgages and the bank notes, back when they were rolling and on the verge of serious wealth. They had been joint defendants in several unwinnable lawsuits; thus the bankruptcy. Since Patricks departure, they had tried every possible way to divorce one another, but nothing would work. Two were raging alcoholics who drank at the office behind locked doors, but nevertogether. The other two were in recovery, still teetering on the brink of sobriety.

      He took their money. Their millions. Money they had already spent long before it arrived, as only lawyers can do. Money for their richly renovated office building in downtown Biloxi. Money for new homes, yachts, condos in the Caribbean. The money was on the way, approved, the papers signed, orders entered; they could see it, almost touch it when their dead partner—Patrick—snatched it at the last possible second.

      He was dead. They buried him on February 11, 1992. They had consoled the widow and put his rotten name on their handsome letterhead. Yet six weeks later, he somehow stole their money.

      They had brawled over who was to blame. Charles Bogan, the firms senior partner and its iron hand, had insisted the money be wired from its source into a new account offshore, and this made sense after some discussion. It was ninety million bucks,

a third of which the firm would keep, and it would be impossible to hide that kind of money in Biloxi, population fifty thousand. Someone at the bank would talk. Soon everyone would know. All four vowed secrecy, even as they made plans to display as much of their new wealth as possible. There had even been talk of a firm jet, a six-seater.

      So Bogan took his share of the blame. At forty-nine, he was the oldest of the four, and, at the moment, the most stable. He was also responsible for hiring Patrick nine years earlier, and for this he had received no small amount of grief.

Doug Vitrano, the litigator, had made the fateful decision to recommend Patrick as the fifth partner. The other three had agreed, and when Patrick Lanigan was added to the firm name, he had access to virtually every file in the office. Bogan, Rapley, Vitrano, Havarac, and Lanigan, Attorneys and Counselors-at-Law. A large ad in the yellow pages claimed "Specialists in Offshore Injuries." Specialists or not, like most firms they

would take almost anything if the fees were lucrative. Lots of secretaries and paralegals. Big overhead, and the strongest political connections on the Coast.

      They were all in their mid- to late forties. Havarac had been raised by his father on a shrimp boat. His hands were still proudly calloused, and he dreamed of choking Patrick until his neck snapped. Rapley was severely depressed and seldom left his home, where he wrote briefs in a dark office in the attic.

26. What happened to the four remaining lawyers after Patricks disappearance?

  A. They all wanted to divorce their wives.

  B. They were all heavily involved in debts.

  C. They were all recovering from drinking.

  D. They had bought new homes, yachts, etc.

27. Which of the following statements contains a metaphor?

  A. His name came off the letterhead as the debts piled up.

  B. …they could see it, almost touch it when their dead partner...

  C. …, attached unwillingly at the hip by the bondage of mortgages...

  D. …, and for this he had received no small amount of grief.

28. According to the passage, what is the main cause of Patrick stealing the money?

  A. Patrick was made a partner of the firm.

  B. The partners agreed to have the money transferred.

  C. Patrick had access to all the files in the firm.

  D. Bogan decided to hire Patrick nine years earlier.

29. The lawyers were described as being all the following EXCEPT

  A. greedy.      B. extravagant      C. quarrelsome.      D. bad-tempered.

30. Which of the following implies a contrast?

  A. …, and it would be impossible to hide that kind of money in Biloxi, population fifty thousand.

  B. They had been joint defendants in several unwinnable lawsuits; thus the bankruptcy.

  C. There had even been talk of a firm jet, a six-seater.

  D. His name came off the letterhead as the debts piled up.

PART III  GENERAL KNOWLEDGE (10 MIN)

    There are ten multiple-choice questions in this section. Choose the best answer to each question. Mark your answers on your coloured answer sheet

31. The largest city in Canada is

 A. Vancouver.     

 B. Montreal.      

 C. Toronto     

 D. Ottawa.

32. According to the United States Constitution, the legislative power is invested in

  A. the Federal Government.          

  B. the Supreme Court.

  C. the Cabinet.                      

 D. the Congress.

33. Which of the following is the oldest sport in the United States?

A. Baseball.        

B. Tennis.       

C. Basketball.         

D. American football.

34. The head of the executive branch in New Zealand is

  A. the President.                     

  B. the Governor-General.

  C. the British monarch,                

  D. the Prime Minister.

35. The Canterbury Tales, a collection of stories told by a group of pilgrims on their way to Canterbury, is an important poetic work by

  A. William Langland.                 

  B. Geoffrey Chaucer.

  C. William Shakespeare.               

  D. Alfred Tennyson.

36. Who wrote The American?

  A. Herman Melville.                  

  B. Nathaniel Hawthorne.

  C. Henry James.                     

  D. Theodore Dreiser.

37. All of the following are well-known female writers in 20th -century Britain EXCEPT

  A. George Eliot.                     

  B. Iris Jean Murdoch.

  C. Doris Lessing.                    

  D. Muriel Spark.

38. Which of the following is NOT a design feature of human language?

  A. Arbitrariness.                     

  B. Displacement.

  C. Duality.                         

  D. Diachronicity.

39. What type of sentence is “Mark likes fiction, but Tim is interested in poetry.”?

  A. A simple sentence.                

  B. A coordinate sentence.

  C. A complex sentence.               

 D. None of the above.

40. The phenomenon that words having different meanings have the same form is called

  A. hyponymy.                      

  B. synonymy.

  C. polysemy.                       

  D. homonymy.

PART IV  PROOFREADING & ERROR CORRECTION (15 MIN)

Proofread the given passage on ANSWER SHEET TWO as instructed.

PART V  TRANSLATION (60 MIN)

SECTION A   CHINESE TO ENGLISH

    Translate the underlined part of the following text into English. Write your translation on ANSWER SHEET THREE.

    都市寸土千金，地价炒得越来越高，今后将更高。拥有一个小小花园的希望，对寻常之辈不啻是一种奢望，一种梦想。

    我想，其实谁都有一个小小花园，这便是我们的内心世界。人的智力需要开发，人的内心世界也是需要开发的。人和动物的区别，除了众所周知的诸多方面，恐怕还在于人有内心世界。心不过是人的一个重要脏器，而内心世界是一种景观，它是由外部世界不断地作用于内心渐渐形成的。每个人都无比关注自己及至亲至爱之人心脏的渐损，以至于稍有微疾便惶惶不可终日。但并非每个人都关注自己及至亲至爱之人的内心世界的阴晴。

SECTION B  ENGLISH TO CHINESE

    Translate the following text into Chinese. Write your translation on ANSWER SHEET THREE.

    But, as has been true in many other cases, when they were at last married, the most ideal of situations was found to have been changed to the most practical. Instead of having shared their original duties, and as school-boys would say, going halves, they discovered that the cares of life had been doubled. This led to some distressing moments for both our friends; they understood suddenly that instead of dwelling in heaven they were still upon earth, and had made themselves slaves to new laws and limitations. Instead of being freer and happier than ever before, they had assumed new responsibilities; they had established a new household, and must fulfill in some way or another the obligations of it. They looked back with affection to their engagement; they had been longing to have each other to themselves, apart from the world, but it seemed they never felt so keenly that they were still units in modern society.

PART VI  WRITING (45 MIN)

    In a few months’ time you are going to graduate from university. How do you think your college years have prepared you for your future life? Write an essay of about 400 words on the following topic:

    What I have learned from my years at university

    In the first part of your essay you should state dearly your main argument, and in the second part you should support your

argument with appropriate details. In the last part you should bring what you have written to a natural conclusion or make a summary.

    Mark will be awarded for content, organization, grammar and appropriacy. Failure to follow the above instructions may result

in a loss of marks

    Write your composition on ANSWER SHEET FOUR.Section A