Directions: For this part you are allowed 30 minutes to write a letter based on the outline below. You should write at least 120 words. You live in a room in college which you share with another student. You find it very difficult to work there because your roommate always has friends visiting. Write a letter to the Accommodation Officer at the college.
1)要求下學期換一個新房間。
2)解釋原因。
3)要求單間。
Part II Reading (skimming and scanning) (15 minutes)
Directions：In this part, you will have 15 minutes to go over the passage quickly and answer the questions on Answer Sheet 1. For question 17,choose the best answer from the four choices marked A),B),C),and D).For questions 8—10,complete the sentences with the information given in the passage.
The Modern Olympic Games
The Modern Olympic Games might have remained just a part of history without the dream of one Frenchman, Pierre de Coubertin. Coubertin believed that sport and exercise were very important for the health and happiness of every man and also for the nation. He therefore tried, in 1892, to interest other Frenchmen in his dream of starting a modern form of the early Greek Games. His ideas were strongly criticized by many people, who did not really understand what he was trying to do. It is perhaps sad that the great work Pierre de Coubertin did to bring back the Games was never properly recognized during his lifetime. Gradually, however, people all over the world became interested in his ideas and at a meeting in Paris in 1894, with representatives from twelve different countries; plans were made to hold the first modern Games in Athens in 1899.
Organizing the first modern Games, however, was not without problems. The Greek government was unhappy with the decision to hold the Games in Athens, as they had serious economic problems at the time and did not feel they were in a position to spend the necessary money. It seemed therefore that the Games would be finished before they had even begun. Prince Constantine of Greece, however, gave his support to Coubertin and the newly-formed Olympic Committee and other rich Greeks soon followed his example. Enough money was collected in Greece and abroad to build a new stadium and pay all the other costs.
On 5th April, 1896, a crowd of over 60 000 people watched the King of Greece open the first modern
Olympic Games. There were, however, very few competitors - only two hundred and eighty-five. Australia, Austria, Britain, Bulgaria, Chile, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Sweden, Switzerland and the USA, were the only countries to send athletes to the Games and most of the athletes who did come had to pay for their own travel and other costs. There were ten sports in the first program - cycling, gymnastics, tennis, swimming, athletics, fencing, weight-lifting, rowing, wrestling and shooting; there were also other non-sporting events, such as concerts and ballet, just as there had been at the early Games.
At the first modern Olympics almost all the gold medals were won by American sportsmen, but the most famous of all the first medal winners was a young Greek named Spyros Louis, who came from a small village in the mountains near Athens. It was he who won the long and difficult race, the Marathon, and gave the Greeks the national win they had hoped for.
The Greeks would have been happy to keep the Games in Greece but Coubertin believed strongly that the Olympics should be truly international and would not allow this to happen. It was therefore decided to hold the next Games in Paris in 1900. Sadly, however, the Paris Games and the following Games, held in St. Louis, America, in 1904, were poor examples of Coubertin's dream and Coubertin himself did not even travel to the St. Louis Games. For these two Games were more like circus shows than serious international sports meetings. Only fifteen non-Americans went to the 1904 Games, mainly because the high travel costs prevented others from competing. Olympic events were mixed with other sports and events, and the Games were organized to continue over many months, so that as much money as possible could be made by the organizers from the selling of tickets.
It was not until 1908, when the Games were held in London, that international rules and distances were introduced;until then the events had been the decision of the organizing nation alone. The London Games were far better organized than any of the other modern Games but it took many more years before Coubertin's dream of a truly international meeting of sportsmen became a reality. It was necessary to make many changes before the Olympic Games became as well-organized and as popular as they are today.
Since 1896 the Games have been held every four years, except for a break during the years of the two World Wars. Gradually the number of competitors who take part in each Games has grown and so has the number of countries. In 1896, only thirteen countries were represented and only two hundred and eighty-five competitors took part. Today, however, as many as one hundred and twenty-two countries send athletes to the Games and more than seven thousand men and women come to the Games to take part. In recent years, the number of events has grown to twenty-one, eleven of which are also open to women.
