Should police assume all the responsibility for ensuring a rapid response？

Australia.

Section A

In recent years, Chinese fancy knots have become very popular. (81) They are hand-made ornaments noted for their patterns and bright colors. They are also symbols of happiness and good luck.

Chinese fancy knots are closely related to the everyday life of the Chinese people and express their aspiration for a better life.

"In primitive times, people kept records by tying knots. Later, they used knots as symbols of good luck to decorate their clothes. Some knots were designed to embellish fans and jade pendants. They are regarded as signs of happiness and good luck," said Mr. Duan, professor of China from Peking University.

(82) These beautiful Chinese fancy knots, of a simple or a complicated structure, are made of a single piece of string by tying, drawing, twining, and weaving. The instruments used include crochet hooks, tweezers, scissors, and lighters. The materials needed are string of various colors, gum, and small decorations made of porcelain or jade.

"In feudal China, it was unbecoming for women to show themselves in public. So they devoted most of their time to needlework at home. Making fancy knots was part of their work and they were very skilled at it. (83) Chinese fancy knots are symmetrical and well balanced. The patterns on both sides are identical. You can make an endless chain of knots on a single piece of string. "This symbolizes that life on earth will continue and multiply forever," said Mrs. Xiong, knitting expert.

(84) Chinese fancy knots are named after their shapes or in accordance with what they suggest. They are symbols of prosperity, happiness, wealth, and longevity. (85) As they are believed to be able to remove evil spirits and bring luck, people often carry them and hang them in their homes.

Chinese fancy knots are widely used to decorate clothes, sitting room, and cups, plates and chop sticks on dinner tables.

(71)

Section B

The giant panda, the creature that has become a symbol of conservation, is facing extinction. The major reason is loss of habitat, which has continued despite the establishment of 14 panda reserves. Deforestation, mainly carried out by fanners clearing land to make way for fields as they move higher into the mountains, has drastically contracted mammal’s range. The panda has disappeared from much of central and eastern China, and is now restricted to the eastern flank of the Himalayas.

Satellite imagery has shown the seriousness of the situation; almost half of the panda's habitat has been cut down or degraded since 1975. Worse, the surviving panda population has also become fragmented; a combination of satellite imagery and ground surveys reveals panda "islands" in patches of forest separated by cleared land. The population of these islands has become isolated because the animals are loath to cross open areas. Just puting a road through panda habitat may be enough to split a population in two.

The minuscule size of the panda population worries conservationists. The smallest groups have too few animals to be viable, and will inevitably die out. The larger populations may be viable in the short term, but will be susceptible to genetic defect as a result of inbreeding.

In these circumstances, a more traditional threat to panda-cycle of flowering and subsequent withering of the bamboo that is their staple food—can become literally species—threatening. The flowering prompts panda to move from one area to another, thus preventing inbreeding in otherwise sedentary populations. In panda islands, however, bamboo flowering could prove catastrophic(灾难性的) because the pandas are unable to emigrate.

The last conservation management plan for the panda, prepared by China’s Ministry of Forestry and the World Wild Fund for Nature, aims primarily at maintaining panda habitats and ensuring that populations are linked wherever possible. This plan will change some existing reserve boundaries, establish 14 new reserves and protect or replant corridors of forest between panda islands. Other measures include better control of poaching, reducing the degradation of habitats outside reserves and reforestation.

The plan is ambitious. Implementation will be expensive and will require participation by individuals ranging from villagers to government officials.

The survival of the giant panda is being seriously【61】______. This is largely because the overall size of their habitat has been reduced. As a result, pandas are more prone to problems and are unable to【62】______around freely, following the growth cycles of【63】______ plant. A new plan aims to protect existing panda【64】______and to join some of them together. This plan also involves reforestation and the creation of new reserves. To succeed, everyone,【65】______both the government and individuals, will have to cooperate.

(31)