One day on my luxury (奢侈的) holiday cost 30 yuan. Bus ticket: 2 yuan. Breakfast, lunch and dinner: 5 yuan. Hotel: 20 yuan. OK, so it was a 10-seater bus with only four seats that weren’t broken and 20 other people on it. OK, all my food came from one steamed bun (包子) stand at the side of the road, and the “hotel” was a hostel (青年旅社), and I shared a room with four strangers. But the steamed buns I bought were so delicious and the bed in the hostel was soft and comfortable and I had the best night’s sleep I’d had in years.
Cheap travel is “in”. It’s on reality shows, and it’s all around us. People who once went to five-star scenic spots are suddenly filling youth hostels and campsites, showing off to their friends about their 24-hour trip in the third-class sleeper train across Mongolia.
Now, I’m not a millionaire who can afford more than a budget holiday. But even if I could, I don’t think I’d spend the money.
Budget travel is addictive (令人上瘾的). It’s partly the challenge of squeezing the most out of your pennies — and it can get a bit ridiculous(荒唐可笑的). My stomach wasn’t too impressed with the meat stir-fry I bought from a stand simply because it was 1 yuan, for example.
But it’s easy to travel in a smart way, too. With the Internet, you can always check out reviews and find hostels, food and things to do, recommended by other budget travelers who’ve been there before. You don’t have to suffer, and it means you can afford to spend more nights on holiday, see more things and have more experiences.
1.The author mentions her budget travel story at the beginning to ________.
A. show what budget trips are generally like
B. introduce the best trip she’s had over the years
C. show how difficult it can be to spend as little money as possible
D. display her ability to spend her money cleverly
2.The underlined word “in” in the second paragraph probably means ________.
A. forgottenB. popularC. overlookedD. tough
3.What’s the author’s suggestion to budget travelers?
A. Share your travel budget with rich friends.
B. Only eat at street stands and live in hostels.
C. Organize budget trips with people you have traveled together with before.
D. Read other budget travelers’ tips online.
People around the world have their own ways of celebrating weddings. Now let’s compare Eastern and Western weddings.
Chinese and Indian brides normally wear red dresses and most of the wedding decorations are of the same color. This is because the color red is said to bring good fortune. In many Eastern weddings, especially Chinese weddings, the bride will change into a different dress after the ceremony. White dresses only arrived in modern times because of the influence of Western wedding dress designs.
Western wedding dresses are different. Brides usually wear a wedding dress that is white in color and wear it throughout the whole wedding. Wearing white wedding dresses is said to have started in the 1840s, beginning with Queen Victoria, Queen of Great Britain. There are occasions when brides dress into more comfortable clothing so that they will be able to move more freely during the wedding reception.
Traditional practices are strictly followed for most Western weddings. The couple follow up with any plans they have agreed and decided on to make their special wedding day unique and memorable. Wedding receptions and other celebrations differ among the East and the West, but the concept is still the same. They are held to show gratitude towards family members, friends and guests for being a part of the wedding ceremony.
Another common custom that weddings of the East and the West have is the wearing of the wedding veil(面纱). According to superstitious(迷信的) beliefs, the bride wears a veil to protect her from being seen by evil spirits and the bridesmaids are decoys(诱饵). This is still followed even today.
1.Queen Victoria is said to be the first woman in Britain to ________.
A. have a bridesmaid
B. wear a veil as a bride
C. wear a white wedding dress
D. wear a casual dress for the reception
2.According to superstitious beliefs, having bridesmaids is to ________.
A. protect guestsB. comfort brides
C. trick evil spiritsD. bring good fortune
3.The passage is mainly developed ________.
A. by timeB. by spaceC. by processD. by comparison
假如你是高二年级李华，你刚刚参加完一个为期一个月的语言学校的英语培训，请你根据以下提示，写一封抱怨信。
注意：1. 字数100字左右。
2. 信的开头已为你写好，字数不算在内。
不满原因 | 1. 学生太多，影响效果。 2. 不提供午饭，最近的餐馆（cafe）要走20分钟 3. 社会活动少，只有排球；没有组织参观游览，与广告不符。 |
要求 | 退款，否则采取进一步行动。 |
You walk into the classroom, look at that white piece of paper in front of you and are told you’ve got an hour and a half to do it. That can make anyone nervous, but here is the guide to stay calm.
Get a good night’s sleep the night before the test, and eat a healthy breakfast next day. _______1._____ If you’re too tired, you won’t remember what you learnt the night before.
Get to class a little earlier. If you get there early, you’ll make sure to get your favorite seat. __________2._______
Breathe. Before the test, breathe in through your nose deeply and slowly. __________3.________ Repeat this several times. If you experience a sudden panic during the test, perform the exercise again.
Skip questions if necessary. ______4._________ If you come across a difficult question, skip the question and move on. You can come back to it at the end of the test if you have time, and later questions may help you get the answer(s) to the one(s) you skipped.
________5._________ Don’t panic if you notice other students writing very quickly or handing in their tests early. Tell yourself it’s just a test. Really, it is. No matter what happens, everything will be OK.
A. Avoid staying up the night before the exam.
B. Act like you are the only person in the room.
C. Don’t spend too much time on any one question.
D. If you believe you can do it, you will find you can!
E. A little exercise will help you remain calm during any stressful situation.
F. Then, hold your breath for 3-4 seconds and blow out slowly through your mouth.
G. You’ll not also feel more relaxed if you don’t get there in time or worse yet, late.
From good reading we can derive pleasure, companionship, experience, and instruction. A good book may absorb our attention so completely that for the time being we forget our surroundings and even our identity. Reading good books is one of the greatest pleasures in life. It increases our contentment when we are cheerful, and lessens our troubles when we are sad. Whatever may be our main purpose in reading, our contact with good books should never fail to give us enjoyment and satisfaction.
With a good book in our hands we never feel lonely. Whether the characters described are taken from real life or are purely imaginary, they may become our companions and friends. In the pages of books we can walk with the wise and the good of all lands and all times. The people we meet in books may delight us either because they resemble human friends whom we hold dear or because they present unfamiliar types whom we are glad to welcome as new acquaintances(熟人). Our human friends sometimes may bore us, but the friends we make in books never weary us with their company. By turning the page we can dismiss them without any fear of hurting their feelings. When human friends leave us, good books are always ready to give us friendship, sympathy, and encouragement. One of the most valuable gifts given by books is experience. Few of us can travel far from home or have a wide range of experiences, but all of us can lead varied lives through the pages of books. Whether we wish to escape from the seemingly dull realities of everyday life or whether we long to visit some far-off place, a book will help us when nothing else can.
To travel by book we need no bank account to pay our way; no airship or ocean liner or stream-lined train to transport us; no passport to enter the land of our heart's desire. Through books we may get the thrill of dangerous adventure without danger. We can climb lofty mountains, brave the dangers of an Antarctic winter, or cross the scorching(赤日炎炎) sands of the desert, all without hardship. In books we may visit the studios of Hollywood; we may join the picturesque peasants in an Alpine village or the kindly natives on a South Sea island. Indeed, through books the whole world is ours for the asking. The possibilities of our literary experiences are almost unlimited. The beauties of nature, the enjoyment of music, the treasures of art, the triumphs of architecture, the marvels (令人惊叹)of engineering, are all open to the wonder and enjoyment of those who read.
1.Why is it that we sometimes forget our surroundings and even our identity while reading?
A. No one has come to disturb you.
B. Everything is so quiet and calm around you.
C. The book you are reading is so interesting and attractive.
D. Your book is overdue; you are finishing it at a very fast speed.
2.The word “weary” means ________.
A. to attract someone’s attention
B. to distract someone’s attention
C. to make someone very bored
D. to make someone interested
3.Which one of the following statements is true?
A. Your wish to visit some far-off place can be realized through the pages of the books.
B. To escape from the dull realities of everyday life, you should take up reading.
C. Books can always help you to live a colorful life.
D. You may obtain valuable experience from reading good books.
Can dogs and cats live in perfect harmony in the same home? People who are thinking about adopting a dog as a friend for their cats are worried that they will fight. A recent research has found a new recipe of success. According to the study, if the cat is adopted before the dog, and if they are introduced when still young (less than 6 months for cats, a year for dogs), it is highly probable that the two pets will get along swimmingly. Two-thirds of the homes interviewed reported a positive relationship between their cat and dog.
However, it wasn’t all sweetness and light. There was a reported coldness between the cat and dog in 25% of the homes, while aggression and fighting were observed in 10% of the homes. One reason for this is probably that some of their body signals were just opposite. For example, when a cat turns its head away it signals aggression, while a dog doing the same signals submission (屈服、投降).
In homes with cats and dogs living peacefully, researchers observed a surprising behavior. They are learning how to talk each other’s language. It is a surprise that cats can learn how to talk ‘dog’, and dogs can learn how to talk ‘cat’.
What’s interesting is that both cats and dogs have appeared to develop their intelligence. They can learn how to read each other’s body signals, suggesting that the two may have more in common than we previously suspected. Once familiar with each other’s presence and body language, cats and dogs can play together, greet each other nose to nose, and enjoy sleeping together on the sofa. They can easily share the same water bowl and in some cases groom (梳理) each other.
The significance of the research on cats and dogs may go beyond pets—to people who don’t get along, including neighbors, colleagues at work, and even world superpowers. If cats and dogs can learn to get along, surely people have a good chance.
1.What is the passage mainly about?
A. How cats and dogs develop their intelligence.
B. Whether cats and dogs can live in harmony.
C. What cats and dogs have in common.
D. Why cats and dogs can understand each other.
2.Some cats and dogs may fight when ________.
A. they are cold to each other
B. they look away from each other
C. they are introduced at an early age
D. they misunderstood each other’s signals
3.It is suggested in Para.4 that cats and dogs ________.
A. have common interests
B. have a common body language
C. are less different than we thought
D. are less intelligent than we expected
4.What can we human beings learn from cats and dogs?
A. We should learn to live in harmony.
B. We should know more about animals.
C. We should live in peace with animals.
D. We should learn more body languages.
