Tourism probably started in Roman times. Rich Romans visited friends and family who were working in another part of the Roman Empire. But when the empire broke down, this kind of tourism stopped.

   In the early 17^th century, the idea of the “Grand Tour” was born. Rich young English people sailed across the English Channel（英吉利海峡）. They visited the most beautiful and important European cities of the time, including Paris in France, and Rome and Venice in Italy. Their tours lasted for two to four years, and the tourists stayed a few weeks or months in each city. The “Grand Tour” was an important part of young people’s education---but only for the rich.

In the 18^th century, tourism began to change. For example, people in the UK started to visit some towns, such as Bath to “take the waters”. They believed that the water there was good for their health. So large and expensive hotels were built in these towns.

In the 19^th century, travel became much more popular and faster. When the first railways were built in the 1820s, it was easier for people to travel towns, so they started to go for holidays by the sea. And some started to have holidays in the countryside as cities became larger, noisier and dirtier.

Traveling by sea also became faster and safer when the first steamships were built. People began to travel more to faraway countries.

The 20^th century saw cars become more and more popular among ordinary people. Planes were made larger, so ticket prices dropped and more people used them.

Thus tourism grew. In 1949, Russian journalist Vladimir Raitz started a company called Horizon Holidays. The company organizes everything---plane tickets, hotel rooms, even food----and tourists pay for it all before they leave home. The package tour and modern tourist industry was born.

The first travel agency in China was set up as early as 1949. But tourism did not take off until 1978. In 2002, the industry was 500 billion yuan and became an important part of China’s social development.

1. In the early times, the travelers _____.

   A. all came from Roman    B. were very young and strong 

   C. had lots of money       D. traveled by boat

2. Which is NOT true about “Grand Tour”?

   A. It was a long journey.    B. The young men learned a lot from it.

   C. Those who took the tour weren’t rich.    D. Most of its destinations were in Europe.

3. _____ played the most important role in the tourism development.

  A. Education     B. Money     C. Transportation     D. People’s ideas

4. Modern tourism was born _______.

  A. in 1949    B. in Roman times  C. in the early 17^th century   D. in the early 19^th century

5.The underlined phrase “take off” in the last paragraph means ______.

  A. a plane rising into the air    B. develop very fast 

  C. remove hats and clothes     D. bring down the prices

 

The Red Cross is an international organization which cares for people who are in need of help. A man in a Paris hospital who needs blood, a woman in Mexico who was injured in an earthquake, and a family in India that lost their home in a storm may all be aided by the Red Cross.

  The Red Cross exists in almost every country around the world. The world Red Cross organizations are sometimes called the Red Crescent, the Red Mogen Daid, the Sun, and the Red Lion. All of these agencies share a common goal of trying to help people in need.

  The idea of forming an organization to help the sick and wounded during a war started with Jean Henri Dunant. In 1859, he observed how people were suffering on a battlefield in Italy. He wanted to help all the wounded people regardless of which side they were fighting for. The most important result of his work was an international treaty called the Geneva Convention(日内瓦协定). It protects prisoners of war, the sick and wounded, and other citizens during a war.

  The American Red Cross was set up by Clara Barton in 1881. Today the Red Cross in the United States provides a number of services for the public, such as helping people in need, teaching first aid and providing blood.

A good title for this passage is     .

 A. People in Need of Help       B. Safety and Protection

 C. The International Red Cross   D. Forming an Organization to Help People

The word “aided ” in the first paragraph means     .

  A. needed                 B. helped               C. caught               D. protected

The author really tries to make the reader see that this organization     .

  A. costs very little money            B. works in many nations

  C. teaches first aid if necessary        D. is called the Sun

We may draw a conclusion (下结论)that      during a war.

  A. the Red Cross only protects the wounded

  B. the Red Cross only helps prisoners of war

  C. the Red Cross only helps citizens

  D. the Red Cross helps all the people in need no matter which side they are fighting for

根据句意把句子补充完整。（满分15分，每空0.5分）

1．她反对战争、反对凶残地对待动物以及种族主义等等。

She _____ ______ ______ war, cruelty to animals, racism and so on.

2．这栋老宅被烧毁了。

The old house _____ ______ ______ _____ ______ .

3．虽然我不是现代艺术方面的专家，但是去看展览的主意对我很有吸引力。

Although I am not a scholar in contemporary art, the idea of going to the ____ _____ ____ me.

4． 他虽然做过各种努力，但还是失败了。

_____ _____ _____ all his _____ , he failed.

5． 她很害怕蛇。看到蛇时她往往会发出尖叫。

She is afraid of snakes. When she sees one, she always _____ _____ a _______ .

6．我不仅见过那个伟大的雕塑家本人，我还亲眼目睹他如何雕刻大理石像。

I have not only seen the great sculptor _____ _____ _____ , but also watched him carve a marble figure.

7．近年来这一地区冬天的气温趋于上升，其中大气污染是导致这一结果的一个主要原因。

In recent years, the winter temperature in this region _____ ____ ____ ____ , and

one of the main reasons which have____ ___this consequence is the air pollution.

8．如果艾米莉没有逗那只猫，它就不会打翻那个漂亮的花瓶了。

If Emily had not ____ the cat, the beautiful vase would not have been ___ ____ .

 

 

ARLANDA, Sweden (Reuters Life!) --Many people hate the idea of having to sleep on a plane. But Swedish entrepreneur（企业家）Oscar Dios thinks they can be persuaded otherwise and he has created a new kind of hostel（旅社）to prove it.

    Dios says it is the world’s first Jumbo jet hostel, an actual jet-plane at Sweden’s main airport outside Stockholm which has been changed into a 25-room guesthouse that sleeps as many as 72 people.

    “I learned about this plane that was standing deserted at Arlanda airport and I’ve been trying the concept of hostels in many different houses and buildings,” he told Reuters. “I thought, ‘ Why not a plane?’ ”

    Jumbo Hostels opened for business on Thursday, giving customers the chance to check in and sleep in a room that can best be described as comfortable.

    “The most challenging part with this project is trying to build something inside a metal hull(外壳)--it’s just really, really tight.”

    The jet, which was originally produced for Singapore Airlines, was taken out of service in 2002. It is held on a concrete（混凝土）foundation with the landing gear（着陆装置）secured in steel cradles.

    One feature of the hostel is its price--a room starts at 350 Swedish crowns (about $ 41 ), which is a lot less than hotel rooms outside of major airports.

    Another feature is that customers can get married on the wing of the plane and stay in the plane’s more luxurious honeymoon suite (套房).

    Instead of walking down the aisle（过道）in the church, lovebirds can take what Jumbo Hostels calls the “wing walk,” where they can be joined in great happiness at the wing tip. The hostel has someone ready to perform the ceremony.

    But in some respects, this hostel remains a plane--most customers have to share the jet’s nine bathrooms and the staff only wear air host and hostess clothes. The only room that has its own bath-room is the honeymoon suite.

1. One of the features of the plane hostel is that _______.

    A. customers can sleep in comfortable rooms B. air hostesses can offer good service

    C. the staff can have a “wing walk”       D. a wedding ceremony can be held on the wing

2. We can learn from the text that _______.

    A. the hostel lies at Arlanda airport in Stockholm

    B. the jet plane was out of use for over six years

    C. every hostel room is $ 41 per night

    D. the hostel provides nine bathrooms for customers

3. The underlined word "tight" means _______.

    A. crowded          B. tense               C. small           D. full

4.The purpose of the passage is to _______.

    A. introduce a new kind of hostel           B. prove people can sleep on a plane

    C. describe a wonderful place for weddings

D. call on people to make use of the deserted things

 

 

 

The Best of Friends

The evidence for harmony may not be obvious in some families.But it seems that four out of five young people now get on with their parents,which is the opposite of the popularly-held image(形象) of unhappy teenagers locked in their room after endless family quarrels.

An important new study into teenage attitudes surprisingly shows that their family life is more harmonious than it has ever been in the past.“We were surprised by just how positive today’s young people seem to be about their families,”said one member of the research team.“They’re expected to be rebellious(叛逆的) and selfish but actually they have other things on their minds:they want a car and material goods,and they worry about whether school is serving them well.There’s more negotiation(商议) and discussion between parents and children,and children expect to take part in the family decision-making process.They don’t want to rock the boat.”

So it seems that this generation of parents is much more likely than parents of 30 years ago to treat their children as friends.“My parents are happy to discuss things with me and willing to listen to me,”says 17-year-old Daniel Lazall.“I always tell them when I’m going out clubbing.As long as they know what I’m doing,they’re fine with it.”Susan Crome,who is now 21,agrees.“Looking back on the last 10 years,there was a lot of what you could call negotiation.For example,as long as I’d done all my homework,I could go out on a Saturday night.But I think my grandparents were a lot stricter with my parents than that.”

Maybe this positive view of family life should not be unexpected.It is possible that the idea of teenage rebellion is not rooted in real facts.A researcher comments,“Our surprise that teenagers say they get along well with their parents comes because of a brief period in our social history when teenagers were regarded as different beings.But that idea of rebelling and breaking away from their parents really only happened during that one time in the 1960s when everyone rebelled.The normal situation throughout history has been a smooth change from helping out with the family business to taking it over.”

1.What is the popular image of teenagers today?

A.They worry about school.

B.They dislike living with their parents.

C.They have to be locked in to avoid troubles.

D.They quarrel a lot with other family members.

2.The study shows that teenagers don’t want to _______.

A.share family responsibility

B.cause trouble in their families

C.go boating with their family

D.make family decisions

3.Compared with parents of 30 years ago,today’s parents _______.

A.go to clubs more often with their children

B.are much stricter with their children

C.care less about their children’s life

D.give their children more freedom

4.According to the author,teenage rebellion _______.

A.may be a false belief

B.is common nowadays

C.existed only in the 1960s

D.resulted from changes in families

5.What is the passage mainly about?

A.Negotiation in family.                        B.Education in family.

C.Harmony in family.                        D.Teenage trouble in family.