Adventure Vacations

People like different kinds of vacations. Some go camping. They swim, fish, cook over a fire and sleep outside. Others like to stay at a hotel in an exciting city. They go shopping all day and go dancing all night. Or maybe they go sightseeing to places such as Disneyland, the Tai Mahan or the Louver.

Some people are bored with sightseeing trips. They don’t want to be “tourists”. They want to have an adventure--a surprising and exciting trip. They want to learn something and maybe help people too. How can they do this? Some travel companies and environmental groups are planning special adventures. Sometimes these trips are difficult and full of hardships, but they’re a lot of fun. One organization, Earth watch, sends small groups of volunteers to different parts of the world. Some volunteers spend two weeks and study the environment. Others work with animals. Others learn about people of the past.

Would you like an adventure in the Far North? A team of volunteers is leaving from Mormons, Russia. The leader of this trip is a professor from Alaska. He’s worried about chemicals from factories. He and the volunteers will study this pollution in the environment. If you like exercise and cold weather, this is a good trip for you. Volunteers need ski sixteen kilometers every day.

Do you enjoy ocean animals? You can spend two to four weeks in Hawaii. There, you can teach language to dolphins. Dolphins can follow orders such as “Bring me the large ball.” They also understand opposites. How much more can they understand? It will be exciting to learn about these intelligent animals. Another study trip goes to Washington State and follows orcas. We call orcas “killer Whale”, but they’re really dolphins—the largest kind of dolphin. This beautiful animal travels together in family groups. They move through the ocean with their mothers, grandmothers and great-grandmothers. Ocean pollution is chasing their lives. Earth watch is studying how this happens.

Are you interested in history? Then Greece is the place for your adventure. Thirty-five hundred years ago a volcano exploded there, on Santorum. This explosion was more terrible than Karate or Mount Saint Helens. But today we know a lot about the way of life of the people from that time. There are houses, kitchens, and paintings as interesting as those in Pompeii. Today teams of volunteers are learning more about people from the past.

Do you want a very different vacation? Do you want to travel far, work hard and learn a lot? Then an Earth watch vacation is for you.

1.The Tai Mahan may be _______.

A．a shopping center                       B．a hotel　

C．a dancing hall                          D．a place of interest

2.From the passage, on an adventure trip, people ______.

A．may not spend much time on sightseeing

B．won’t meet some difficulties or hardships

C．can’t enjoy them

D．can’t learn something

3.If you want to learn something about people of the past, you can _______.

A．join the team to Hawaii

B．join the team to the Far North

C．join the team to Washington

D．join the team to Greece

4.Which of the following is false?

A．Some people find sightseeing trips boring.

B．Earth watch is planning all these special adventures.

C．The number of orcas is decreasing.

D．3 volcano explosions in all broke out 3, 500 years ago in Greece.

Mike Maietta was eating lunch when he got a text message from his mom.

“Notre Dame,” it said. “Big envelope!”

Mike, a senior at a Californian high school, shouted with joy. The big envelope meant that the excellent university in Indiana had offered him a place in its Class of 2013. But the $51,300 annual fee is a big trouble. So Mike and his parents are considering offers from several other colleges and are figuring out the costs of tuition, housing and holiday trips home.

This year, money is the driving factor(因素) for a growing number of high school seniors, who have to decide what colleges to attend this fall. Less jobs and house prices have changed family spending.

“We’re excited that Mike got into eight great schools,” said Mike’s father, an engineer at Microsoft. “But if you consider going to school out of state, you’ve got to think about all of the other costs: moving, flying back and forth for the holidays. You’re looking at about $3,000 a year, just for travel.”

As families weigh their choices, some are going back to financial aid offices hoping help packages can be increased.

Rachel Brown was happy to get a thick envelope from New York University (NYU). Although she has always wanted to live in Manhattan, she is seriously considering the University of California San Diego (UCSD), because of the high cost in New York.

“The tuition for NYU is twice as much as UCSD,” said Rachel, 17. “My mom doesn’t want me to have a big debt when I graduate, and I don’t want that either. I’d have to take out a loan of $15,000. I’ll check and see if there’s any way that NYU can offer me any financial aid.”

More than 7.6 million American students have filled out the Free Application for Students Aid, 19.9 percent increase over last year.

This month the Federal Department of Education urged college financial aid officers to give more help to certain families. A record 30,428 students applied for 2,300 places at Stanford, partly because the university increased financial aid for families earning below $10,000.

1.Mike may give up Notre Dame because of ______.

A．travel fees

B．financial concerns

C．poor exam results

D．worries about living far away from home

2.The phrase “Big envelope” in paragraph 2 probably refers to“______”.

A．A text message                         B．A large gift package

C．An admission letter                      D．A scholarship letter

3.What can we learn from the passage?

A．The number of American senior students applying for financial aid is increasing.

B．Rachel Brown has given up NYU because of its high tuition and big debts.

C．It is inevitably hard for college students to borrow money to cover costs.

D．An interest-free loan for students helps more students apply for Stanford.

4.The passage mainly focuses on ______

A．the calculation of different costs including tuition

B．the extremely hard financial situation in America

C．the excitement of students’ being able to enter ideal colleges

D．the financial crisis of families over college entrance

One of our biggest fears nowadays is that our kids might some day get lost in a “sea of technology” rather than experiencing the natural world. TV and computer games are leading to a serious disconnect between kids and the great outdoors, which will change the wild places of the world, its creatures and human health for the worse, unless adults get working on child’s play.

Without having a nature experience, kids, can turn out just fine, but they are missing out a huge enrichment of their lives. That contributes to everything from their physical health and mental health, to stress levels, creativity and cognitive (认知的) skills. Experts predict modern kids will have poorer health than their parents---and they say a lack of outside play is surely part of it; research suggests that kids do better academically in schools with a nature component(成份) and that play in nature develop leadership by the smartest, not by the toughest. Even a tiny outdoor experience can create wonder in a child. The three-year-old turning over his first rock realizes he is not alone in the world. A clump of trees on the roadside can be the whole universe in his eyes. We really need to value that more.

Kids are not to blame. They are overprotected and frightened. It is dangerous out there from time to time, but much stress from computers is replacing breaking an arm as a childhood process of passage.

Everyone, from developers, to schools and outdoorsy citizens, should help regain for our kids some of the freedom and joy of exploring, taking friendship in fields and woods that strengthen love, respect and need for landscape. As parents, we should devote some of our energies to taking our kids into nature. This could yet be our greatest cause.

1.According to the passage, children without experiencing nature will______

A．keep a high sense of wonder

B．be over-protected by their parents

C．be less healthy both physically and mentally

D．change wild places and creatures for the better

2.According to the author, children’s breaking an arm is_____

A．the fault on the part of their parents

B．the natural experience in their growing up

C．the result of their own carelessness in play

D．the effect of their repetitive stress from computers

3.In writing this passage, the author mainly intends to______

A．blame children for getting lost in computer games

B．encourage children to protect parks from encroachment

C．show his concern about children’s lack of experience in nature

D．inspire children to keep the sense of wonder about things around

根据短文内容, 从短文后的选项中选出能填入空白处的最佳选项。选项中有两项为多余选项。

What is your favourite colour? Do you like yellow, orange, red?   1  . Do you prefer greys and blues? Then you are probably quiet, shy, and you would rather follow than lead. You tend to be pessimist(悲观主义者). At least, this is what psychologists tell us, and they should know, because they have been seriously studying the meaning of colour preference, as well as the effect that colours have on human beings.  2   . If you happen to love brown, you did so, as soon as you opened your eyes, or at least as soon as you could see clearly.

   3   . A yellow room makes most people feel more cheerful and more relaxed than a dark green one; and a red dress brings warmth and cheer to the saddest winter day.   4  . A black bridge over the Thames River, near London, used to be the scene of more suicides(自杀) than any other bridge in the area---until it was repainted green. The number of suicide attempts immediately fell sharply. Perhaps it would have fallen even more if the bridge had been done in pink or baby blue.

  5  . It is an established fact that factory workers work better, harder, and have fewer accidents when their machines are painted orange rather than black or grey.

A．On the other hand, black is depressing.

B．They tell us, among other facts, that we do not choose our favourite colour as grow up --- we are born with our preference.

C．The rooms are painted in different colours as you like.

D．If you do, you must be an optimist(乐观主义者), a leader, an active person who enjoys life, people and excitement.

E. Light and bright colours make people not only happier but more active.

F. Life is like a picture or a poem, full of different colours.

G. Colours do influence our moods---there is no doubt about it

假定英语课上老师要求同桌之间交换修改作文，请你修改你同桌写的一篇作文。文　中共有10处语言错误，每句中最多有两处。错误涉及一个单词的增加、删除或修改。

增加：在缺词处加一个漏字符号（∧），并在其下面写出该加的词；

删除：把多余的词用斜线（\）划掉；

修改：在错的词下划一横线，并在该词下面写出改正后的词。

注意：1. 每处错误及其修改均仅限一词；

2. 只允许修改10处，多者（从第11处起）不计分。

Dear Lucy,

Thanks for your letter. I’d like to telling you about my first surfing online

experience.

This summer vacation when the computer was connected with the Internet,

my parents and I sat in the front of the monitor together. My father asked me

download some stock software, which could enable him to buy and sell shares

online without going outside. My mother loved Korean soap operas, so I

downloaded some for her but also told her how she could watch them online. At the

end, I searched for some English study website to help improve my listening and

speaking English. The Internet has allowed him family to enjoy a more convenient,

relaxed and efficient life.

How about your Internet experiences? I look forward to your reply.

Yours,

Li hua

假如你是李明，你的英国朋友Smith 先生将在你所在的城市工作，希望你为他找一处合适的房子。你正好看到一个房屋出租广告。请按照下面的要点给他发一封电子邮件，告诉他这座房屋的情况。

1房屋的位置：位于商业区

2 楼层：一幢12层公寓楼的8楼。

3 结构：两室一厅（朝南，采光好），一厨一卫。

4 房间的配套设施：空调(air condition)，床，桌，椅，沙发，书柜及

煤气灶具(a gas stove)

5 租金：2000人民币∕月

6 周边环境：购物，交通方便

注意：

1可适当增加细节使内容连贯，语意通顺；

2 120词左右，信的开头已给出，不计入总词数。

Dear Smith,

I am very glad that you will come to work here.

Yours Li Ming

Neither the children nor the teacher________.

A．is to blame        B．are to blame       C．is blaming         D．are blaming

I hope you enjoyed the film last night.

How on earth do you know I went to a film? I ________ you.

A．won’t tell        B．didn’t tell        C．haven’t told      D．hadn’t told

Mary enjoys home-made food, so she seldom, ________, eats out.

A．if never           B．if any             C．if not             D．if ever

Receiving good treatment, she was beginning to ________ and soon came back to work.

A．pick up           B．wake up           C．grow up           D．show up