考研冲刺前的总结 —— 英语（二）与政治

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Dear Mr. Brown,
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This is a short reply with one purpose: to thank you for the fortnight you gave me.
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Looking back, your patience with my halting English made a real difference; without it I would have eaten alone every night. I still owe you one.
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So come and see China when your term allows: the night market near my campus would be your kind of thing. Bring your camera.
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If any part of it does not suit you, say so and we will adjust it. Either way, a line by June will do.
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Yours sincerely,
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Li Ming

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Dear Li Ming,
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This is a short email with one purpose: to congratulate you on the admission letter and to offer two pieces of advice.
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Congratulations are in order, and they are well earned: two years at that desk finally paid off. What impresses me most is not the result but the persistence behind it.
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For a start, learn to live with a roommate before term begins — it costs you a week and saves you a year. Once that becomes a habit, budgeting will feel natural rather than forced.
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If any part of it does not suit you, say so and we will adjust it. Either way, a line before September will do.
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Yours sincerely,
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Li Ming

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Dear Sir or Madam,
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I am writing to complain about the dictionary I bought from you last month.
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The problem showed up almost immediately: three keys stick, the screen flickers, and the battery dies within an hour of a full charge. The box itself arrived dented, which may explain the rest.
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I am not after an explanation so much as a fix — a replacement unit, preferably before the new term starts.
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I would rather settle this quietly than take it further. A workable solution by next Friday is all I ask.
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Yours sincerely,
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Li Ming

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Dear classmates,
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This is a short email with one purpose: to tell you what happens on Saturday and to ask for your help.
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The sale falls on Saturday, from nine to four, at the south gate of the library. What makes it worth a morning is that everything on those tables was donated, so the money goes only to the children.
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Two hours at the toy table is all we ask; bring a friend, since the crowd is the advertisement.
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If any part of it does not suit you, say so and we will adjust it. Either way, a line by Thursday will do.
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Yours sincerely,
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Li Ming

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Dear John,
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This is a short email with one purpose: to tell you how I live and to ask two questions about living there.
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I keep early hours and cook most nights; music after eleven is the one thing I cannot sleep through. Weekends I am out, so the bathroom is yours.
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Before I commit, I would like your read on two points: how quickly the landlord answers a broken boiler, and whether a bike is enough for the winter term.
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If any part of it does not suit you, say so and we will adjust it. Either way, a line before August will do.
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Yours sincerely,
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Li Ming

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Notice
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Summer Camp for High School Students
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The camp is scheduled for July 15 at the university sports centre, and the organizers are now recruiting volunteers.
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It opens with a campus tour, and then moves on to two days of science workshops run by our own labs.
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Volunteers will guide the tours, run the workshops and stay with the groups at night, and each will receive a certificate.
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The camp runs from nine to five, and lunch is provided on site.
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Those interested are welcome to sign up at Room 203 before July 1.
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The Students' Union
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June 20

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Dear Jack,
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This is a short reply with one purpose: to thank you for your congratulations and to answer your question about translation.
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Looking back, that contest taught me more than any course; the only method that worked was translating one paragraph a day, out loud. I still owe that habit a debt.
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For a start, stop hunting for the perfect word — write the sentence first and polish it afterwards. Once that becomes a habit, your drafts will read like English rather than translated Chinese.
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If any part of it does not suit you, say so and we will adjust it. Either way, a line by June will do.
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Yours sincerely,
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Li Ming

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Dear Professor Williams,
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I am writing to accept your invitation, and to set out the three points I would cover.
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I would be glad to speak, and I would keep to three points: how festivals survive in cities, why food travels better than language, and what foreign students usually misread about both.
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Before I commit, I would like your read on one thing: how long the audience can sit still, so I can cut the slides to fit the hour.
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If any part of it does not suit you, say so and we will adjust it. Either way, a line by Friday will do.
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Yours sincerely,
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Li Ming

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Dear Professor Smith,
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I am writing to postpone my visit, and to explain why before you plan around it.
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The plan has to be called off on my side, and the fault is entirely mine: my visa interview was moved to exactly that week, and missing it would cost me the term.
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To make up for it, I have booked a slot in the first week of December, and I will send the material ahead so that the meeting is not wasted.
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If any part of it does not suit you, say so and we will adjust it. Either way, a line by Friday will do.
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Yours sincerely,
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Li Ming

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Dear Professor Smith,
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I am writing to propose a topic for the debate, and to say how I would run it.
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My suggestion is "Should city centres be closed to private cars?", a question that splits a room faster than any other and one every student has a stake in.
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The arrangements are simple: two teams of three, eight minutes a side, then twenty minutes of questions from the floor. I will circulate the reading list a week ahead.
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If any part of it does not suit you, say so and we will adjust it. Either way, a line by Friday will do.
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Yours sincerely,
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Li Ming

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Dear friends,
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This is a short email with one purpose: to tell you about Saturday's walk and to give you two tips.
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The site is best described as a Ming-era street that never quite became a museum — nothing fancy, but it still smells of woodsmoke in the morning.
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Two tips before you come: wear shoes you can walk in for three hours, and bring cash, because the noodle stall at the corner takes nothing else.
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If any part of it does not suit you, say so and we will adjust it. Either way, a line by Thursday will do.
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Yours sincerely,
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Li Ming

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Dear Jack,
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This is a short email with one purpose: I would like to invite you to our online meeting this Thursday.
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The meeting runs from eight to nine on Tencent Meeting, room 815-220-337. Three students will report for ten minutes each, leaving the last half hour for questions.
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I am asking you in particular because half the room has never spoken to a student outside China, and one honest question from you would do more than my slides.
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If any part of it does not suit you, say so and we will adjust it. Either way, a line by Wednesday will do.
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Yours sincerely,
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Li Ming

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Dear international students,
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This is a short email with one purpose: to tell you about the food festival and to invite you.
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The festival falls on Friday, from five till nine, with twenty stalls from eleven provinces. What makes it worth a detour is that every dish is cooked on the spot, not delivered in boxes.
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I am asking you in particular because your table would be the only one with a story from outside China — bring one dish; we will find you a stove.
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If any part of it does not suit you, say so and we will adjust it. Either way, a line by Wednesday will do.
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Yours sincerely,
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Li Ming

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Dear David,
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This is a short reply with one purpose: to tell you which exhibition to choose.
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Take the robot show. The art exhibition will still be there next month, while half the machines on display are prototypes that may never be shown again.
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My recommendation is simple: go early, and start with the arm that plays chess — that is where it shows its best side. If you have an hour left, the speech booth is the second stop.
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If any part of it does not suit you, say so and we will adjust it. Either way, a line by Saturday will do.
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Yours sincerely,
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Li Ming

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Dear Jack,
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This is a short email with one purpose: to put forward my plan for the survey and to ask for your opinion.
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My plan is three days, three streets: we photograph the facades in the morning, interview whoever will talk in the afternoon, and leave a one-page questionnaire at the teahouses.
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Before I commit, I would like your read on two points: how many houses we can realistically cover in a day, and whether to ask residents about relocation at all.
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If any part of it does not suit you, say so and we will adjust it. Either way, a line before the weekend will do.
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Yours sincerely,
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Li Ming

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Dear John,
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This is a short email with one purpose: to invite you to join our short play.
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The play takes one chapter of a classic novel — the part where a clever servant outwits a magistrate — and turns it into forty minutes of comedy on a bare stage.
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I am asking you in particular because the servant needs an accent that is not mine, and yours would make the joke land. Rehearsals are Sunday afternoons.
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If any part of it does not suit you, say so and we will adjust it. Either way, a line by Friday will do.
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Yours sincerely,
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Li Ming

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Dear Jack,
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This is a short reply with one purpose: to tell you what I thought of your video and to ask two questions.
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Watching your mother argue with a ticket machine, and then win, was the best three minutes of my week; it made me homesick for a country I am already in.
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Before I plan anything similar, I would like your read on two points: which city that night market was in, and how you persuaded your father to try the skewers.
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If any part of it does not suit you, say so and we will adjust it. Either way, a line when you are free will do.
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Yours sincerely,
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Li Ming

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The chart turns something we usually only sense into numbers: mobile subscriptions in two worlds, measured across eight years.
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Between 2000 and 2008, subscriptions in developing countries climbed from 0.4 to 4 billion, while developed ones moved only from 0.7 to 1.
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Put the two ends together and the gap is tenfold — hard to dismiss as noise.
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In plain words, a phone stopped being a luxury exactly where people had waited longest.
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Two forces usually sit behind a shift like this, and neither is mysterious. The first is structural: cheap handsets and shared towers drove the cost down, so an office tool became a household object. The second is personal: for many families a number was the first address they ever had.
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Where does that leave us? The rich half has found its ceiling; the other half has not. The trend will not reverse on its own; the sensible response is to keep spectrum open to newcomers. For individuals, the point is simpler: a phone is only as useful as the market that resells it.

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Two numbers in the chart tell the whole story, and they pull in opposite directions.
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In 2008 Japanese brands led at 35% and domestic ones trailed at 25%; a year later the order reversed, 25% against 32%.
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One year, seven points, and a decade-old hierarchy was gone — hard to dismiss as noise.
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In plain words, the badge on the bonnet stopped deciding the sale.
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Two forces usually sit behind a shift like this, and neither is mysterious. The first is structural: domestic makers moved their quality up while keeping prices below imported rivals. The second is personal: a car is increasingly bought as transport rather than as proof of taste, and buyers now read resale value before they read the logo.
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Where does that leave us? The gap will keep narrowing until quality, not nationality, is what separates the three. The trend will not reverse on its own; the sensible response is to compete on safety tests rather than on slogans. For individuals, the point is simpler: compare the service bill, not the advertisement.

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The chart turns something we usually only sense into numbers: how three age groups rate the same company, measured in one survey.
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The middle group is the puzzle: not one of them ticked "satisfied", while 64% ticked the opposite.
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Zero against forty — the youngest and the oldest are happier than the people in between, which is hard to dismiss as noise.
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In plain words, contentment dips exactly where ambition peaks.
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Two forces usually sit behind a pattern like this, and neither is mysterious. The first is structural: the promotion ladder narrows between forty and fifty, so effort stops producing reward. The second is personal: this is when mortgages and school fees arrive together, and a flat salary feels like a verdict.
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Where does that leave us? The middle of a career is where loyalty is cheapest to lose. The trend will not reverse on its own; the sensible response is to rotate roles and talk about paths before people look outside. For individuals, the point is simpler: ask for a review rather than a raise.

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The chart turns something we usually only sense into numbers: how many students in each year take part-time work, measured across four grades.
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Between the first year and the fourth, the share climbed from 67.8% to 88.2%, with most of that gain in the final year.
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Twenty points, most of it coming late, is hard to dismiss as noise.
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In plain words, the closer graduation gets, the more the timetable bends.
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Two forces usually sit behind a shift like this, and neither is mysterious. The first is structural: internships became the entry ticket to most industries, so experience stopped being optional and became a cost of applying. The second is personal: students price a line on the CV above an afternoon of rest.
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Where does that leave us? The final-year jump suggests panic as much as planning. The trend will not reverse on its own; the sensible response is to cap weekly hours and treat marks as part of the same investment. For individuals, the point is simpler: choose the job that teaches a skill, not the one that pays the most.

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The chart turns something we usually only sense into numbers: where people in this country live, measured across two decades.
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Between 1990 and 2010, the urban population climbed from 300 million to 666 million, while the rural figure fell from 834 to 674.
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The two lines met almost exactly in 2010, which is hard to dismiss as noise.
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In plain words, a country that farmed for a thousand years finished moving to town in twenty.
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Two forces usually sit behind a shift like this, and neither is mysterious. The first is structural: factories and service jobs clustered where the roads already met. The second is personal: schools and hospitals decide where a family sleeps, and the countryside was short of both.
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Where does that leave us? The flow is slowing, but it has not stopped. The trend will not reverse on its own; the sensible response is to fund schools where the newcomers live, and to make farming pay at the other end. For individuals, the point is simpler: count the rent before counting the wage.

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The chart turns something we usually only sense into numbers: how one city spends during the Spring Festival, measured in four categories.
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Gifts alone account for 40%, with transport, dinners and everything else splitting the remaining sixty evenly.
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Four yuan in every ten go on presents, while the other three categories split the rest almost evenly, which is hard to dismiss as noise.
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In plain words, the festival is bought before it is enjoyed.
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Two forces usually sit behind a pattern like this, and neither is mysterious. The first is structural: a gift has a market price, while a conversation does not, so the visible part of affection is the part that gets budgeted. The second is personal: most people spend to avoid being talked about, not to be talked about.
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Where does that leave us? The forty percent will not fall on its own. The trend will not reverse on its own; the sensible response is to make time the gift that everyone can afford. For individuals, the point is simpler: one fewer box, one more evening.

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The chart turns something we usually only sense into numbers: why students travel, measured across five answers.
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Scenery takes 37% and relief from pressure 33%, while independence trails at 6%.
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Two motives account for seventy percent of the trips, which is hard to dismiss as noise.
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In plain words, students are not running towards a place so much as away from a timetable.
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Two forces usually sit behind a pattern like this, and neither is mysterious. The first is structural: cheap tickets and two-day gaps in the term made the weekend trip a normal purchase rather than a rare adventure. The second is personal: an exam schedule leaves little room for anything that cannot be photographed and posted.
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Where does that leave us? The appetite for escape is unlikely to fade. The trend will not reverse on its own; the sensible response is to keep student discounts and hostel beds within reach. For individuals, the point is simpler: stay one day longer instead of seeing one more city.

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The chart turns something we usually only sense into numbers: the country's museums and the people walking through them, measured from 2013 to 2015.
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Visitors rose from 6,378 to 7,811 ten-million-person-times, while the number of museums grew more modestly, from 4,165 to 4,697.
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Attendance grew almost twice as fast as the buildings did, which is hard to dismiss as noise.
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In plain words, the queues got longer while the walls stayed the same.
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Two forces usually sit behind a shift like this, and neither is mysterious. The first is structural: free admission turned a Sunday outing into a habit, and new galleries gave that habit somewhere to go. The second is personal: a museum is cheap, indoor and photogenic, which is exactly what a family with two children and one afternoon needs.
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Where does that leave us? The pressure will move from building halls to managing crowds. The trend will not reverse on its own; the sensible response is to spread demand with timed entry and evening openings. For individuals, the point is simpler: go on a Tuesday, not a holiday.

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The chart turns something we usually only sense into numbers: what diners look for when they choose a restaurant, measured across five factors.
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Speciality takes 36.3%, service 26.8% and atmosphere 23.8%, while price trails at 8.4%.
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Three non-price factors account for 86.9%, which is hard to dismiss as noise.
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In plain words, people no longer go out to eat; they go out to be served.
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Two forces usually sit behind a pattern like this, and neither is mysterious. The first is structural: delivery apps quietly took over the cheap, quick meal, leaving restaurants to compete on everything else. The second is personal: a dinner is now judged by what can be photographed and remembered, and a discount photographs badly.
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Where does that leave us? Price will keep sliding down this list. The trend will not reverse on its own; the sensible response is to let kitchens publish what they actually do well. For individuals, the point is simpler: pay for the dish, not for the lighting.

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Two numbers in the chart tell the whole story, and they pull in opposite directions.
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Between 2013 and 2018, employment fell from 68.1% to 60.7%, while further study rose from 26.3% to 34.0%.
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In five years, 7.4 points left the job market and 7.7 entered a classroom — hard to dismiss as noise.
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In plain words, the queue for a degree got longer because the queue for a job got slower.
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Two forces usually sit behind a shift like this, and neither is mysterious. The first is structural: a bachelor's degree no longer clears the first filter, so students buy a second. The second is personal: staying on feels like progress and postpones a decision nobody feels ready to make.
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Where does that leave us? A master's will soon be the entry ticket, not the advantage. The sensible response is neither to cheer nor to panic, but to stop screening by diploma and start testing by task. For individuals, the point is simpler: know what the extra year buys before paying for it.

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The chart turns something we usually only sense into numbers: why students open a book on a phone, measured across four answers.
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Learning takes 59.5% and passing time 21.3%, while gathering information accounts for 17.0%.
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Almost three in five read to learn something, which is hard to dismiss as noise.
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In plain words, the pocket has become the library.
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Two forces usually sit behind a pattern like this, and neither is mysterious. The first is structural: cheap data turned every dead ten minutes into reading time, and a phone is the only book people always carry. The second is personal: reading in fragments feels productive in a way that scrolling does not, and students are quietly grading themselves.
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Where does that leave us? Attention is now the scarce resource, not access. The sensible response is neither to cheer nor to panic, but to put serious material where the reading already happens. For individuals, the point is simpler: finish one long piece a week, not twenty short ones a day.

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The chart turns something we usually only sense into numbers: how one city exercises, measured across four arrangements.
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Exercising alone leads at 54.3%, with friends at 47.7%, family at 23.9% and group classes at 15.8%.
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Solo exercise outnumbers every shared arrangement, and the gap to a class reaches forty points.
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In plain words, fitness has become a private appointment.
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Two forces usually sit behind a pattern like this, and neither is mysterious. The first is structural: gym memberships and running apps made a workout something you can start at eleven at night. The second is personal: a shared class needs a shared calendar, and adult calendars rarely agree.
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Where does that leave us? The preference for solo training will hold as long as schedules stay crowded. The trend will not reverse on its own; the sensible response is to keep parks lit and tracks free, since the cheapest gym is public space. For individuals, the point follows from the diagnosis: if calendars keep people apart, put the partner into the calendar — one fixed hour is enough.

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The chart turns something we usually only sense into numbers: parcels moved across the country, measured from 2018 to 2020.
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Total volume climbed from 51 to 83 billion, while the rural share jumped from 12 to 30 in the same period.
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Rural deliveries more than doubled in a single year, which is hard to dismiss as noise.
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In plain words, the last mile finally reached the village.
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Two forces usually sit behind a shift like this, and neither is mysterious. The first is structural: pickup stations and shared truck routes cut the cost of a village parcel to almost nothing. The second is personal: once a farmer can sell directly, a phone becomes a shopfront rather than a toy.
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Where does that leave us? The growth will slow, but the map will keep filling in. The trend will not reverse on its own; the sensible response is to build recycling into the packaging before the rubbish does. For individuals, the point is simpler: combine orders, and keep the boxes for the next move.

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The chart turns something we usually only sense into numbers: health literacy across the country, measured over ten years.
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Between 2012 and 2021 the level rose from 8.8% to 25.4%, and the slope steepens visibly after 2019.
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Sixteen points in a decade, with more than half gained in the last three years, which is hard to dismiss as noise.
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In plain words, people learned to read their own bodies.
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Two forces usually sit behind a shift like this, and neither is mysterious. The first is structural: public campaigns put basic knowledge on billboards, in lifts and on the evening news. The second is personal: a family that has nursed someone through an illness reads differently afterwards.
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Where does that leave us? The curve will flatten once the easy gains are gone. The trend will not reverse on its own; the sensible response is to aim the next campaign at the villages and the oldest readers. For individuals, the point is simpler: check who wrote the advice before forwarding it.

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The chart turns something we usually only sense into numbers: what students say they gained from a labour course, measured across four outcomes.
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Knowledge leads at 91.3% and hands-on skill follows at 84.8%, while teamwork sits at 32.6%.
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Fifty-nine points separate the top and the bottom, which is hard to dismiss as noise.
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In plain words, the course teaches the hands and forgets the room.
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Two forces usually sit behind a pattern like this, and neither is mysterious. The first is structural: a class of forty, marked individually, will always reward work that can be done alone. The second is personal: students treat a credit as a checklist, and cooperation cannot be ticked off quickly.
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Where does that leave us? A skill nobody practises is a skill nobody keeps. The trend will not reverse on its own; the sensible response is to make one project impossible to finish without a partner. For individuals, the point is simpler: choose the task that needs a second pair of hands.

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The chart turns something we usually only sense into numbers: how older people in one community fill their day, measured across five activities.
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Watching television leads at 90.8%, with walking at 68.3% and chess at only 18.4%.
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Seventy-two points separate the first and the last, which is hard to dismiss as noise.
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In plain words, the easier an activity is, the more welcome it is.
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Two forces usually sit behind a pattern like this, and neither is mysterious. The first is structural: a screen demands nothing but a socket, while a chess partner demands a phone call and a walk. The second is personal: after seventy, novelty costs more energy than it returns, and a familiar programme feels safer than an unfamiliar table.
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Where does that leave us? The preference for low-effort leisure will not fade on its own. The trend will not reverse on its own; the sensible response is to put the alternatives within a hundred metres: shaded paths, benches, a table under the tree. For individuals, the point is simpler: walk with them instead of urging them to.

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The chart turns something we usually only sense into numbers: what people believe outdoor play does for children, measured across four answers.
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Curiosity takes 54.6% and observation 54.5%, while fitness trails at 37.2% and family time at 33.2%.
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The top two are a tenth of a point apart; the bottom two lag twenty points behind.
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In plain words, adults praise what outdoor play does for the mind, and forget what it does for the legs.
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Two forces usually sit behind a pattern like this, and neither is mysterious. The first is structural: a playground safe enough for a parent is often too far to walk to. The second is personal: a belief costs nothing and requires no shoes.
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Where does that leave us? The chart records opinions, not results, and the gap between them is where policy belongs. The trend will not reverse on its own; the sensible response is to build the safe route before advertising the benefits. For individuals, the point is simpler: go outside with the child; the belief follows the habit.