Part I Writing (30 minutes)

　　Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write a short essay entitled Popularity of Micro-message based on the statistics provided in the chart below. Please give a brief description of the chart first and then make comments on it. You should write at least 120 words but no more than 180 words.

　　参考范文：

　　Popularity of Micro-message

　　Micro-message, also called Weixin, is a chat software for mobile phones which enables users to communicate with each other through voice messages, videos, pictures and texts for free. Since it was launched in January 2011, it took more than a year to draw 100 million users. By September 2012, the number of users doubled and it hit 300 million in January 2013.

　　Why does Weixin become so popular in such a short time? Firstly, most mobile phones lack the function of voicemail, Weixin's voice message function overcomes this obstacle. Secondly, typing Chinese characters is a troublesome process since users have to type Pinyin from the Roman alphabet and then choose the Chinese character from a list of options. What’s more, Weixin can help users save money cost on making voice phone calls.

　　All in all, Weixin, a popular smartphone application which combines messaging with social networking tools, has became a trend for its convenience and low cost.

　　【点评】

　　本文谈论的是微信。作为一款流行的智能手机软件，微信广受用户欢迎。第一段介绍了微信的用途及客户数量增长的情况;第二段列举了微信流行的三个原因;第三段进行了总结。

　　第一段中doubled和hit都用于描述数字的增长，意思分别为“翻倍”和“突破”;第二段中overcomes this obstacle意为“克服这一障碍”，意即普通手机不能发送语音邮件这一缺陷，troublesome process意为“令人厌烦的过程”;第三段中smartphone application意为“智能手机应用程序”。