Passage One
A beached whale is a whale which has become stranded on land, usually on a beach. Beaching is often fatal for whales, as they become dehydrated and die. Whales have been found beached throughout human history and so many standings can be attributed to natural and environmental factors. There could be many natural reasons like rough weather, weakness due to old age or infection, difficulty giving birth, hunting too close to shore and navigational mistakes. A single stranded animal can prompt the entire pod to respond to its distress signals and become stranded. In 2004, scientists at the University of Tasmania found a link between whale standings and the weather. It is hypothesized that when cool Antarctic waters rich in squid and fish flow north, whales follow their prey closer towards land making them more prone to stranding. In some cases predators (such as killer whales) have been known to panic whales, herding them towards the shoreline. Strandings can be grouped into several different types. The most obvious distinctions are between single and multiple standings. Single live strandings are often the result of an illness or injury, which would almost inevitably end in death unless a passer-by knows how to react.
Multiple strandings of dead animals in one locality are rare and often cause a great deal of media coverage as well as rescue efforts by sympathetic humans. Even multiple offshore deaths are unlikely to lead to multiple strandings due to the variable winds and currents scattering the animals across the sea. A key factor in many of these cases appears to be the strong social cohesion amongst toothed whales. If one whale gets into trouble, its distress calls may prompt the rest of the group to follow and become beached themselves. There is no definitive specific cause for mass strandings. Instead they may happen due to numerous factors that can act in combination. Many have been proposed, with some seeking to explain only a subset of cases; however, they are difficult to prove conclusively and are sometimes controversial.
Passage Two
It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a Jaguar XK 4.2-S. So might “Pride and Prejudice” have started had Jane Austen, who was paid £110 (£3, 200, or $5,700, in today’s money) for one of the bestselling novels ever, been lucky enough to live in an era which offered the mutually beneficial partnership between creative talent and commercial sponsorship known as product placement.
See how swiftly the hero runs in his flash new trainers? Notice how luxuriantly the shower gel foams on the heroine’s back? That’s probably because the companies that make those products have paid the producers of those programs fat fees to portray their wares nicely. Product placement, which gave birth to the original soap operas created to sell washing powders, is back.
Digital technology is the reason. Viewers can now effortlessly skip the ads, so broadcasters and the companies that used to buy airtime for commercials are trying to find better ways to catch people’s attention. Product placement is one promising option, but it is controversial. It is allowed in America but mostly banned in the European Union. Consumer organizations across Europe oppose the introduction of product placement, saving it would undermine trust in broadcasters. European producers and broadcasters complain that this is unfair because their American rivals benefit from a source of income denied to them, and senseless because American programs anyway appear on European screens. The EU is therefore planning to legalize product placement, but the proposal faces some opposition, viewers watching ads, say the critics, are fair game because they know they’re being sold stuff. When they’re watching programs, by contrast, they don’t realize that products are being promoted.
But if advertising that slips imperceptibly into people’s brains were to be banned, a great deal of what goes on now would be outlawed. After all, drivers spinning past billboards don’t necessarily consciously clock the message they’ve seen; often they file it unconsciously — as you browsing through these pages, may well absorb the notion that an expensive watch or a new phone will change your life in some vague but enticing way. As for people who believe the literal truth of what they see in soap operas — well, no amount of regulation can protect them from themselves.
Anyhow, governments don’t need to police entertainment content-producers will do it themselves. When Fay Weldon, a novelist, wrote a book for Bulgari, a jewelry manufacturer, a few years ago, it was not widely viewed as a literary gem. Neither she, nor anybody else with a reputation worth keeping, has tried that again. Which is just as well: the world would have been a poorer place had Mr. Bing ley been more interested in his ride than in the Bennet girls.
Directions: Each of the following two passages has some underlined parts. Translate the underlined parts into Chinese and write your translation on the Answer Sheet.
