Summer Cultural Exploration in France

         The Summer Cultural Exploration program in Amboise, France, provides students with the opportunity to study French in a friendly historic atmosphere while experiencing a taste of French culture.

         Amboise

         Amboise is a charming small town on the Loire River in central France. The royal Amboise castle was the preferred residence of Charles VIII, who built it in the 15^th century. With a rich history and beautiful natural scenes, Amboise is the ideal environment for students to study French.

         Learn

         French courses take place every morning, Monday through Friday, for four hours per day in a historic 19^th-century building in the center of Amboise. Students will be given an exam upon arrival to make sure that they attend a language class of the appropriate level. An interactive teaching approach is stressed.

         Experience

         There is a good balance between planned activities and free time throughout the four-week program. Two to three days per week, organized activities are offered such as: lecture on topics in French history, literature, art and cinema, showing of French films, and a visit to Leonardo da Vinci’s home at the Clos Luce.

         Travel

         Also, students will explore France through the following guided trips.

         ●Chambord, Cheverny and Blois —Explore two of the area’s famous castles. Chambord, the largest of the Loire castle, was built by the great Renaissance king, France I. Chevernby castle was built in 1630. Visit the old town of Blois, a favorite residence of French royalty.

         ●Villandry and Sache — One of the last Renaissance castles to be built along the Loire, Villandry, is also known for its flower and vegetable gardens. The lovely old castle of Sache was a best-loved house of the great 19^th-century writer Honore de Balzac.

         ●Paris — Discover the City of Light, famous for its fashion, food and art during a journey to Paris! Walk along the banks of the Seine River, visit Notre Dame Cathedral and discover some of the city’s famous museums and including the Louvre.

         Housing

         Students stay with carefully-selected host families. Ability to remain open-minded and tolerance of cultural differences are required. There is an 11 pm curfew（熄灯时间）for this program.

1.When a student gets to Amboise, he or she will first _______.

A. take a language test                                                     B. visit da Vinci’s home

C. hear lectures on French history                       D. go to see the castle built by Charles VIII

2.Students can enjoy beautiful flowers at _______.

A. Chambord castle            B. Cheverny castle              C. Villandry castle               D. Sache castle

3.Students who want to take part in the program will _______.

A. mainly study cultural differences                     B. spend most of their time in Paris

C. live in a historic building                                              D. study for 20 hours a week

4.What is the purpose of the text?

A. To advertise.          B. To educate.                      C. To entertain.          D. To instruct.

完形填空（共20小题；每小题1.5分，满分30分）
阅读下面短文，从短文后各题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中选出可以填入空白的最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
Around the end of my stay in Yellowknife, I had a chance to ride in a dogsled (狗拉雪橇). I went to   36    a man who had   37    dogsled tournaments more than four times. In his house, there were lots of awards on the shelves. I had a girl take my picture in    38   of the awards.
Finally, the time came to take a    39    in a dogsled. The instructor asked me time and time again if the clothes I was    40   were warm enough. Because it wasn’t so   41    outside, I thought I was wearing    42    .
However, my thinking   43    right after the 12 dogs started to    44    the sled on the frozen lake. It was freezing! I don’t know how fast they were running, but I lost all    45    in my hands and feet. Sometimes the snow which the dogs    46    up hit me.
After my ride in the dogsled, I went to see an igloo (圆顶建筑),which is a house    47    snow. There I had a    48    to hear the stories about Eskimos(爱斯基摩人).
Of course, as a person from Japan, I couldn’t    49    what they were talking about.  50   , there was a(n)   51    beside me, so he translated everything the Eskimo was saying. Then the Eskimo kindly    52    me some of the tools that they used. I had    53    seen such strange things before.
He talked about the    54    he needed to learn while traveling in the Arctic, such as how to make an igloo, how to make water from ice, and how to hunt using their inventions. I    55    that I didn’t take pictures of their tools because I didn’t have my camera at that time.
36. A. instruct         B. invite            C. take           D. visit
37. A. beaten           B. won                  C. received       D. defeated
38. A. front           B. need                C. honor         D. celebration
39. A. drive          B. look                    C. ride            D. tour
40. A. buying         B. wearing          C. choosing      D. borrowing
41. A. cool           B. warm              C. cold           D. hot
42. A. enough        B. obviously          C. comfortably    D. fully
43. A. gathered        B. reminded          C. remained      D. changed
44. A. push           B. pull               C. drive          D. carry
45. A. blood                B. temperature        C. feeling        D. movement
46. A. kicked          B. picked            C. turned         D. made
47. A. covered with    B. decorated with      C. made of       D. filled with
48. A. chance          B. time              C. moment       D. message
49. A. hear            B. understand          C. realize       D. admire
50. A. Therefore      B. Otherwise         C. However       D. Besides
51. A. villager        B. teacher             C. instructor          D. translator
52. A. lent           B. showed               C. sold            D. gave
53. A. ever           B. also                     C. usually           D. never
54. A. skills          B. materials           C. experiments    D. conditions
55. A. think          B. consider              C. regret          D. infer

Stop  Spam

When I first got an e-mail account ten years ago, I received communications only from family, friends, and colleagues. Now it seems that every time I check my e-mail, I have an endless series of advertisements and other correspondence that do not interest me at all. If we want e-mail to continue to be useful, we need specific laws that make spamming(发送垃圾邮件) a crime.

If lawmakers do not do something soon to prohibit spam, the problem will certainly get much worse. Computer programs allow spammers to send hundreds of millions of e-mails almost instantly. As more and more advertisers turn to spam to sell their products, individual(个人的) e-mail boxes are often flooded with spam e-mails. Would people continue to use e-mail if they had to deal with an annoying amount of spam each time?

This problem is troubling for individuals and companies as well. Many spam e-mails contain computer viruses that can shut down the entire network of a company. Companies rely on e-mail for their employees to communicate with each other. Spam frequently causes failures in their local communications networks, and their employees are thus unable to communicate effectively. Such a situation results in a loss of productivity and requires companies to repeatedly repair their networks. These computer problems raise production costs of companies, which are, in the end, passes on to the consumer.

For these reasons, I believe that lawmakers need to legislate (立法) against spam. Spammers should be fined, and perhaps sent to prison if they continue to disturb people. E-mail is a tool which helps people all over the world to communicate conveniently, but spam is destroying this convenience.

1.What does the underlined word “correspondence” in the Paragraph 1 probably mean?                                                         

  A. messages     B. ideas          C. connections         D. programs

2.According to the text, what is the major cause of the flooding spam?    

  A. Companies rely on e-mail for communications.

B. More people in the world communicate by e-mail.

C. Many computer viruses contain spam e-mail.

D. More advertisers begin to promote sales through spam.

3.According to Paragraph 3, who is the final victim of spam?             

 A. The business                 B. The advertiser        

 C. The employee                D. The consumer

4.What is the purpose of the text?

       A. To inform                 B. To educate                C. To persuade                     D. To instruct

This is a part from US President Barack Obama’s speech on May 14 at Bamard College in New York.

… My last piece of advice – this is simple, but perhaps most important: 36. Nothing worthwhile is easy. No one of achievement has avoided failure – sometimes catastrophic failures. But they keep at it. They learn from mistakes. They don’t 37.

When I first arrived on this 38, I was with little money, fewer options. But it was here that I tried to find my place in this world. I knew I wanted to make a difference, but it was 39 how in fact I’d go about it. But I wanted to do my part to 40 a better world.

So even as I worked after graduation in a few 41 jobs here in New York, even as I went from motley (鱼龙混杂的)apartment to motley apartment, I 42.

… And I wish I could say that this perseverance came from some innate (天生的)toughness in me. But the truth is, it was 43. I got it from 44 the people who raised me. I grew up as the son of a single mom who struggled to put herself through 45 and make ends meet. She had a marriage that fell apart; 46 went on food stamps at one point to help us 47. But she didn’t quit. And she earned her degree, and made sure that 48 scholarships and hard work, my sister and I earned 49.

And 50, I met a woman who was assigned to advise me on my first summer job at a law firm. And she gave me such good advice that I married her. And Michelle and I gave everything we had to balance our careers and a 51 family. We made that marriage work.

… So 52 it’s starting a business, or running for office, or 53 an amazing family, remember that making your 54  on the world is hard. It takes patience. It takes commitment. It comes with plenty of 55 and it comes with plenty of failures.

1.                A．compete        B．persevere       C．struggle  D．preservation

2.                A．rest           B．decline         C．quit  D．regret

3.                A．campus         B．downtown       C．farm D．country

4.                A．confident       B．uncertain       C．ambitious D．proud

5.                A．shape          B．instruct         C．organize  D．lead

6.                A．amazing        B．disturbing       C．meaningful    D．unsatisfactory

7.                A．reached out     B．put out         C．gave out  D．made out

8.                A．presented      B．structured       C．learned   D．created

9.                A．copying        B．detecting       C．persuading    D．watching

10.               A．life            B．work           C．school D．business

11.               A．yet            B．even           C．still   D．also

12.               A．get by          B．come by        C．get along  D．come along

13.               A．during         B．through        C．across D．over

14.               A．mine          B．us             C．ours  D．hers

15.               A．for the time being B．long before     C．up to now  D．later on

16.               A．young          B．poor           C．weak D．strong

17.               A．as if           B．if             C．whether   D．unless

18.               A．rising          B．raising         C．arousing   D．arising

19.               A．view           B．stay           C．remark    D．mark

20.               A．goals          B．advantages      C．shortcomings   D．setbacks

After winning a big game, athletes are often asked how they attained that success. Most say their achievement is the result of grueling hard work and intense practice. Usually athletes say how hard it is to win the big games. At the opposite end of the spectrum, however, is the fact that losing the big game, or, in my case, all the games, can be even tougher.

From the spectators' point of view, last year's basketball season for my high school team was nothing short of an embarrassment. And while 0 and 20 is certainly nothing to be proud of, that season had a bigger impact on me than any other, and probably more than any season since.

As a team captain, I knew it probably wouldn't be the easiest year, but did I ever think we would lose every game? Of course not. Since six of our top players had graduated, it was clear that we were a young team who would struggle. The struggle began earlier than expected, though, as our team's starting center was suspended for the season, and two key members decided to quit after two weeks. At some point, quitting probably passed through every player's mind, but, in the end, we all stuck it out, vowing to work even harder.

Then there came a time when even our own coach had given up on us. Personally, I felt like it was no longer worth giving my all. I thought, if even the coach doesn't believe in us, why should I? But just as my hope began to fade, a teammate called a meeting. He said, "Nobody thinks we're going to win, and heck, we may not, but, as teammates and friends, we owe it to each other to give it our all every game."

Sure, it was a little cliché(陈旧的), but it was that moment that taught me how to be a leader. It hit me then that I may have been a captain, but I, like others in my position, certainly didn't deserve the role. As a leader you can never quit on the team who looks up to you. It is one thing to be named captain and feel great and go through the motions, but it is quite another to be a real captain and make sure everyone works to their potential all the time.

I am sure it is great to go through high school without losing and bringing home awards. But in all honesty, I relish the fact that my team lost every game last year. It may not help me to become a better basketball player, but it already has made me a better leader, and person.

77.What was the biggest problem with the author's team last season?

A. Several key members were unable to play the games.

B. Their coach no longer wanted to instruct them.

C. There were no actual leaders on the team.

D. Most of players lost hope and wanted to quit.

78.In the text, the author seems to suggest that a good leader should _______.

A. be confident about himself       

B. make sure everyone goes all out

C. work hard to win the games      

D. feel great about his team

79.By saying "we owe it to each other to give it our all every game." (Paragraph 4) the teammate means that all of them should ________.

A. be responsible for the losses      

B. try their best on the court

C. feel thankful for what they've done

D. get together to win every game

80.What is the main idea the author aims to express in the text?

A. Success is the result of hard work.

B. A friend in need is a friend indeed.

C. One can learn something from the failure.

D. A real leader should never give up.