二十五
Direction: For this part you are allowed 30 minutes to write a composition on the topic Cars and Air Pollution. You should write no less than 120 words and base your composition on the outline below:
1.私家轿车越来越多，有些问题随之产生
2.比较明显的大问题有......
3.我对这种现象的看法

Car and Air Pollution
Too many cars have created a lot of serious problems in our world. Besides congestion, accidents and fast fuel consumption, cars are responsible for a good part of air pollution in big cities. All the time, they are pumping huge amounts of waste gases into the atmosphere. These gases are very harmful, causing disease and even death.
One possible solution is to design and develop clean cars and clean fuels. In Shanghai, some of the public buses begin to run on natural gas, which does not give off as much carbon dioxide as the petrol. But it may take decades for the new models of clean cars completely replace the traditional ones.
Another solution is to develop modern public transportation systems and restrict the use of private cars. If the price of petrol rises constantly and the public vehicles are efficient and convenient enough, most people will not buy private cars. And the total number of cars in big cities will reduce greatly.
On the whole, the elimination of air pollution needs the collective efforts from the government, the public and the environmentalists.

二十六 Overseas Study at an Early Age
1．目前很多父母在孩子高中毕业前就总他们出国学习
2．导致这种趋势的原因是什么
3．我对此的看法

Nowadays more and more parents are eager to send their children to study abroad before they finish high school by whatever means and at whatever cost.
It is quite understandable for parents to send their children to study overseas because they place high expectations on their children. They are encouraged by the success stories of those who have completed their overseas study. With the development of economy, companies and institutions at home are giving more and more emphasis on overseas experiences, too. Consequently, pursuing overseas study became a kind of short cut in gaining a better future. Moreover, there is still one underlying reason for this rush-economic reason. The rapid economic progress in the past few years in China has enabled more and more parents to afford the huge cost for their children’s overseas study.
As for me, overseas study is surely a helpful way to get both advanced knowledge and necessary experiences, but overseas study at an early age is neither necessary nor benef1cial. The students may be too young to either tend for themselves or think for themselves. I do think that overseas study can contribute to one’s self-improvement, but it’s better to be pursued after one has finished his college study at home, when he is more capable of learning and living on his own.

二十七 Statistics of Family Expenses in Shanghai
1980 1990 2000
Food & Clothing 68% 45% 20%
Recreation 3% 5% 8%
Education 6% 16% 22%
Health Care 6% 10% 16%
Others 17% 24% 35%
1.根据上图描述该城市家庭支出的变化
2.分析产生这些变化的原因
3.说明这些变化对个人和社会产生的影响

As is shown in the table above, dramatic changes have taken place in family expenses in the City of Shanghai within two decades (from 1980 to 2000). The most obvious change is in expense on food and clothing, which has dropped by 48%, while those on recreation, education and health care have increased respectively by 5%, l6% and l0%. Expenses on other things keep rising from 17% to 35%.
The statistics of rise and fall seem to exist in isolation but are in fact closely related to one another. The most likely factors accounting for these changes are as follows:
Development in economy is the fundamental one. The increased income results in the lowering percentage of food and clothing. That is to say, a small percentage of the total income is enou5h to cover food and clothing expenses.
Another factor lies in the development of people’s concept. When people are well fed and well dressed, they begin to interest themselves in recreation and education.
These changes should also be attributed to social reforms. In the 1990’s, college education was not totally free as it was before, which also accounts for the rising expenses on education. Soon after, the government gradually stopped offering houses to its citizens without charges. People had to save a large proportion of their money for housing. That's partly why the expenses for ''others'' doubled.
As for the more expenses on health care, I figure there are two main reasons: the cancellation of free medical care and people’s awareness of the importance of health.
The changes reflect the development of the city and indicate that people are enjoying more.

二十八 On Space Project
给《**周刊》宇航专栏的编辑写一封信，说明你对太空探索项目的态度（支持或反对），并简单陈述你的理由。

Dear Editor，
Thank you for your starting a specia1 co1umn jor the discussion on space projects. Frankly, it seems to me that our space projects so far have been in the main a waste of money, time, energy, human lives and resources.
The richer countries are pouring large sums of money into space research programs which are of no benefit to human beings while in underdeveloped countries thousands of people are dying of hunger. Besides, many scientists’ time and energy are wasted, which could have been devoted to improving our living condition. What’s more, many astronauts have died complete1y uselessly in space vehicles which have been faulty. They were young people who hadn’t enjoyed the fruit of life yet.
Apart from human wastage, there is the wastage of resources which are finite and essential if man is to survive. I think it’s high time we stopped these meaningless programs.
注：上文是一篇持反对态度的文章，同学也可以试写支持态度的文章。