2018年4月 英语（专升本）真题
课程代码：00015或13000

Life on the Farm

Life on a farm is always changing. New technologies and a rising interest in healthier and organic eating have had a huge impact on how farms do business. At the same time, a growing population has put more demands on farmers. They need to find ways to increase their production levels. The small family farms that used to produce most of the products have been largely replaced by factory farms. Small family farms that are still operating are struggling to keep up.

Technology has made most aspects of farm life easier than it has ever been before. Bigger and more efficient equipment makes work such as plowing up fields and sowing the seeds easier. Such tasks used to take two or three times as long. These advances have allowed farmers to work faster and more efficiently than ever before.

In addition to newer technology, factory farms produce more products for less money than traditional farming would require.

Modern farm life, despite the introduction of new technologies, has not changed much from what it has always been. Farmers still wake up early, and spend their days doing hard work. There are still animals to feed, cows to be milked, and fields to be plowed. Farm life still requires a lot of hard work and sacrifice.

The main change in modern farm life is in the way farms are run. It is common for even small farms to have several hired workers and even an animal manager. Family-run farms are becoming rarer. Factory farms, with other larger farm corporations, are becoming the norm. Although there are still many traditional family farms, they are quickly dying as modern practices change farm life forever.

Christmas Gift

Mary didn't know what to send to her grandparents for Christmas. It was always hard to choose a good Christmas present for them. They didn't need much, and it was hard for her to be creative every year.

One year, she sent them a big wooden elephant. It sat on the counter for a year, but then it disappeared, probably into a closet somewhere. Another year, she made handmade soaps with nice smells, but they probably weren't any better than store-bought soaps. Last year, she sent lots of nice pictures of herself in frames, but grandparents' house was small, and they couldn't hang up very many.

This year, she decided on fruit. She lived where it was warm and there was lots of nice fruit. Her grandparents lived up north, where it was colder and they couldn't get fresh fruit all year, or at least not oranges and grapefruit. Fresh fruit was healthy for her grandparents, too.

Mary went to a fruit store and sampled the red oranges. She really liked them and bought a kilogram. Then she tried three kinds of grapefruit. The white ones were sour. The star grapefruit were interesting, but the dark red grapefruit were great. So she got a kilogram.

Mary carefully packed the fruit in a box to keep them safe and dry in case one got smashed and its juice got everywhere. Then she wrote the address on the box and mailed it from the store. She felt happy with what she bought.

A few days later, Mary got a phone call from her grandparents, thanking her for the lovely fruit. They said it was a healthy, tasty, and very thoughtful gift. Mary had never felt so good before.

Team Work in Sports

① Teams that win in team sports are often those that work well together. Learning to cooperate with others towards a common goal in sports is what builds character, friendship and important life skills for players.

② Working towards a common goal will keep the team firmly together. Entering into a new season in sports, you might only know a few of the players on your team. Some of the players may be people you do not like. But when your team decides to be the winner of the season, personal differences are often set aside for the common good of the team. By the end of the season, players who have fought through the whole season may become good friends, much like brothers.

③ For kids and young adults, team sports offer a way for them to get out and meet with friends. This can help them avoid spending too much time at home watching television and playing video games. Team work teaches people how to help each other and encourage each other. It can also give players a greater respect for one another and can build friendships that last a lifetime.

④ Team work in sports offers a way for people to compete for something together. It is important to know that winning is not everything in sports and healthy competition can be good for people. Working towards a goal can teach people the value of hard work, commitment and devotion. Team sports are a great way to learn these values.

⑤ Team work in sports can help young people develop stronger communication skills. As every member must work for the same goal, they learn how to work with one another successfully.