2 . The cost of living in countries like the U.S., Britain, Australia or France has skyrocketed in recent years. However, if you're willing to leave your country and explore life in other areas, there are many countries boasting an extremely cheap and low cost of living. Check out the following countries when planning your next move.

Ecuador

Ecuador is similar to the United States in many ways, and as a result has become a popular American getaway. They even use the U.S. Dollar for their currency. In this country, it's cheaper to eat out every day than cook for yourself on a budget in the U.S. You can even buy a property for around $50,000 and hire someone to tend to it while you're away.

Mexico

Although the country is known for its poverty-ridden streets, there are many wealthier areas that provide every facility you might need. You can live off a mere $700 to $800 a month in Mexico, and this includes rent for a nice place, facilities, food, and any sightseeing.

Argentina

Argentina has been a popular tourist destination for many years. It has great restaurants, a rich history, and many places to explore. Not to mention, it's not very expensive to live here. A decent sized home can cost around $139,000, which is relatively cheap in relation to homes in the United States.

Vietnam

Vietnam has also become a popular tourist destination in recent years. There are many million-dollar luxury homes by the beach, but you can find a modest flat or small home for around $25,000 to $50,000 if you search in the right areas.

1. Why has Ecuador become a holiday destination for Americans?

A．Because housing is very cheap.

B．Because it has a low cost of living.

C．Because it is similar to America in many ways.

D．Because it has lots of nice places for sightseeing.

2. What do all of the four countries have in common?

A．All of them have great restaurants.

B．All of them have a low cost of living.

C．All of them are poor developing countries.

D．The middle-sized homes are a little expensive.

3. In which country is the U.S. dollar used for its currency?

A．Ecuador.

B．Mexico.

C．Argentina.

D．Vietnam.

3 . Few Americans stay in one place for a lifetime. We_______from the city to the suburbs，from high school to college in a different state，from a job in one region to a better job_______，from the home where we_______our children to the home where we plan to live in_______. With each move we are_______making new friends，who become part of our new life.

For many of us the summer is a special time for forming new_______. Today,millions of Americans go on vacation_______,and they go not only to see new sights but also—in those places where they do not feel too_______—with the hope of meeting new people. No one really_______a vacation trip to produce a close friend,but the beginning of a friendship is possible. Surely in every country people________friendship.

The word “friend” to American people can be________to a wide range of relationships—to someone who has known for a few weeks in a new place，to a close business companion，to a childhood playmate，to a man or woman，to a________colleague. There are real________among these relations for Americans—a friendship may be________，casual，situational or deep and lasting. But to a European，who sees only our surface behavior，the differences are not clear.

As Europeans see it，all kinds of “friends” flow________of Americans’ homes with little ceremony. They may be parents of the children's friends，house guests of neighbors，members of a committee，business associates from another town or even another country.________as a guest into an American home，the European visitor finds no________differences. The atmosphere is________. Most people，old and young，are called________first names. Americans' characteristic openness to different styles of relationship makes it possible for us to find new friends abroad with whom we feel________.

1.

A．drive

B．move

C．commute

D．settle

2.

A．abroad

B．somewhere

C．elsewhere

D．nowhere

3.

A．raise

B．protect

C．educate

D．deliver

4.

A．retirement

B．death

C．illness

D．sadness

5.

A．mostly

B．mainly

C．rarely

D．forever

6.

A．championships

B．hardships

C．friendships

D．leaderships

7.

A．along

B．freely

C．together

D．abroad

8.

A．strange

B．alone

C．scared

D．remote

9.

A．allows

B．desires

C．expects

D．imagines

10.

A．form

B．develop

C．ignore

D．value

11.

A．used

B．stuck

C．applied

D．dedicated

12.

A．kind

B．trusted

C．generous

D．helpful

13.

A．differences

B．varieties

C．distinctions

D．diversities

14.

A．informal

B．reliable

C．shallow

D．fragile

15.

A．in and out

B．on and on

C．by and by

D．up and down

16.

A．Moving

B．Flowing

C．Going

D．Coming

17.

A．heavy

B．obvious

C．apparent

D．strong

18.

A．weird

B．stressed

C．relaxed

D．strange

19.

A．with

B．by

C．for

D．on

20.

A．at best

B．at hand

C．at heart

D．at home

4 . 语法填空

Many people     1    (confuse) about the meaning of the names: the United Kingdom, Great Britain, Britain and England. To solve this puzzle, knowing a little bit about British history will help. In the     2    (sixteen) century, the nearby country of Wales were joined to the Kingdom of England.     3    (final), in the 20th century, the southern part of Ireland broke away from the UK. Even though the four     4    (country) belonging to the United Kingdom work together in some areas, they also have some differences. Anyhow, the United Kingdom has     5     long and interesting history to explore,     6     can help you understand much more about the country and     7    (it) traditions.

5 . 阅读下面短文，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

There are several names for Britain: Britain, Great Britain, the United Kingdom, and the UK. The official name is the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland:     1     large number of people call the country “England”, but this is not correct. England is only one part of the UK. However, it is the     2     (large) part in the UK. There are four “countries” in the UK—England, Scotland, Wales     3     Northern Ireland.     4     (be) an independent country, the Republic of Ireland (or Eire) isn’t part of the. UK.

London is the capital of the UK, as well as England, but all the other countries have their own smaller capital     5     (city), too.

Until 1603, Scotland and England were separate countries with their own monarchs (国王) and parliaments (国会). In that year, however, the English queen, Elizabeth I,     6     (die). She had no children, so James Ⅵ, the King of Scotland, became King James I of England. In 1999, Scotland got its own parliament again,     7     can make laws about some things.

The English king, Edward I, conquered Wales in the 13th century. Many people in Wales,     8     (special) in the north, speak Welsh as their first language and all children must learn Welsh at school. In some schools other subjects     9     (teach) in Welsh, too.

Elizabeth. Ⅰ’s armies conquered Ireland in the 16th century and it later became part of the United Kingdom. There were a lot of problems in Ireland in the 19th century and thousands of people moved to the USA. In the 1920s, the south achieved     10     (independent), but Northern Ireland is still part of the UK.

6 . In 2000 a report was published about what the earth might be like 20 years from then on. The report was a result of a three-year _______
According to the report, the picture of the earth in the year 2020 is not a _______one. The world will be more_______ because the population will continue to grow. The population could be_______ 6, 900 million, almost 2, 450 million more than in 1995. More people would move into cities, especially cities in _______ countries. Cities like Cairo and Jakarta probably would_______ have 15 million by then.
Food production will _______, but not enough to feed all the people. Farmers will grow 90% more food than they did in 1995,_______ most of the increase would be in countries that _______ produce enough food for their people. Little increase is ________ in South Asia, Africa and the Middle East. Poor farming ways are ________ large areas of crop land, changing farms into deserts. More farmland is________as cities become larger and more houses are built. ________ will get worse as industrial countries burn more coal and oil. Many of the world’s ________ could disappear as more and more trees are cut down. Energy will continue to be a serious problem. The experts say their picture of the earth for the year 2020 ________ They only carried out the situation that________ today. By changing the situation, by________the problems, the picture can be changed. There is ________time for the nations of the world to work ________ a plan of action. But they warned that________too long to make decisions would greatly reduce the chances of success.1.

A．learning

B．project

C．notice

D．study

2.

A．pleased

B．pleasant

C．safe

D．blue

3.

A．dangerous

B．beautiful

C．crowded

D．terrible

4.

A．no more than

B．as many as

C．as much as

D．as large as

5.

A．developing

B．developed

C．big

D．mountainous

6.

A．none

B．each

C．all

D．neither

7.

A．insist

B．reduce

C．increase

D．continue

8.

A．so

B．but

C．or

D．however

9.

A．already

B．hardly

C．partly

D．never

10.

A．wanted

B．lacked

C．found

D．expected

11.

A．destroying

B．protecting

C．disturbing

D．interrupting

12.

A．saved

B．lost

C．discovered

D．found

13.

A．Air pollution

B．Water pollution

C．Some diseases

D．All farmland

14.

A．animals

B．plants

C．forests

D．people

15.

A．must be true

B．will come true

C．can't be true

D．may be wrong

16.

A．happens

B．develops

C．exists

D．appears

17.

A．settling

B．working out

C．answering

D．dealing

18.

A．no

B．still

C．less

D．plenty of

19.

A．about

B．in

C．out

D．for

20.

A．working

B．suggesting

C．spending

D．waiting

7 . Travelling to China is like travelling to another world. Its many famous beautiful places will make you lose yourself in them. However, it is usually not enough for a traveller only to visit these nice places. If you have time to see the local people, talk with them and even have dinner with a local family, it would be a wonderful experience, to know more about the local people’s life style at home in China.

New Hope Travel Agency will arrange a family visit to Xi’an, an ancient historic city inChina. We especially have chosen typical local families to host this activity in which you can see the true living style of Chinese people. Most of the hosts retired at home, so they are happy to see visitors from different countries to come to their homes.

Not only can we arrange to visit the local family but we can arrange to taste the true home cooked dishes. Our tour guide will ask you for advice about the food you want to eat. Just enjoy the locally cooked dishes. It’ll be quite a different and exciting experience.

Our agency also provides a good opportunity for you to learn to cook Chinese food. We have a general cooking class in the local family. If you’d like to learn to cook one or two Chinese dishes, please go to our Chinese Food Cooking Class to choose your favorite dishes.

Don’t wait. Welcome to China.

1. Where does the writer want the tourist to travel?

A．To the local family.	B．To beautiful places.
C．To the mountains.	D．To cooking. schools.

2. New Hope Travel Agency will arrange a family visit to _______.

A．Yan’an	B．Beijing
C．Xi’an	D．Shanghai

3. The hosts are happy to see visitors from different countries probably because ______.

A．they have retired and have free time	B．they want to learn a foreign language
C．they want to make some money	D．they want to travel to another country

8 . Do you have any foreign friends? Do you know their characteristics(特征)?

The Germans are very quiet and they always keep calm. They don’t like to speak many words. They look very serious. They like different kinds of amusements. The Germans are very hard-working. They like tidiness, especially the women, who always keep their home clean.

In some ways, the Englishmen look the same as the Germans. They are very quiet and never talk too much with the strangers. They are really polite, so we often hear they say “Thank you.” or “Sorry.” The gentlemen are also the Englishmen.

The French’s holidays are very long. They like traveling and usually spend their long time on staying in other countries. The Frenchmen are more outgoing than the Germans. It is very easy to make friends with them.

Compared to the Frenchmen, the Americans are more outgoing. And they are even opener than all of the Europeans. They don’t like to depend on others. So it is very common that the students do part-time jobs in their free time. And in Americans’ eyes, success is an important part in their life.

1. According to the passage, ______are very quiet.

A．only the Germans	B．only the Englishmen
C．only the Frenchmen	D．both the Germans and the Englishmen

2. What does the underlined word “tidiness” mean in Chinese?

A．整洁	B．安静
C．时尚	D．随意

3. In the writer’s eyes, the gentlemen are______.

A．the Germans	B．the Frenchmen
C．the Englishmen	D．the Americans

4. What can we learn about the Frenchmen from the passage?

A．They are more outgoing than the Americans.

B．It is very easy to make friends with them.

C．They like traveling in their own country.

D．They look serious and are always hard-working.

5. Which is the best title of the passage?

A．Foreigners’ hobbies.

B．Who are more outgoing?

C．Characteristics of the foreigners.

D．Success is an important part in Americans’ life.

9 . Young people in the United States do not have a strong understanding of the world and their place in it.

Two U．S.­based groups，the Council on Foreign Relations and the National Geographic Society，commissioned an online survey earlier this year.They wanted to know what young people educated in American colleges know about geography，U.S.foreign policy，recent international events，and economics.

The survey was given to over 1,200 Americans between the ages of 18 and 26，all of them presently attending，or having previously graduated from，a 2­ or 4­year college or university.

The average test score，out of 75 total possible answers，was 55 percent.The study identifies a few important problems.For example，only 30 percent knew that the only part of the U．S.government that can declare war is Congress.Only 60% of those taking the survey could identify Brazil on a world map.

Part of the problem，argue the organizers of the survey，is the Internet.They say it is becoming harder to find high­quality information about world events among all the fake news and trivia(琐事)which swamp(淹没)the Web.Forty­three percent of those questioned said they read about the news on Facebook.

Another problem is that most college courses do not require students to learn about international issues.If such information is not required，Richard Haass from the Council on Foreign Relations said，then the United States could have leaders like Gary Johnson.He was a recent presidential candidate who did not know about the Syrian city of Aleppo when a reporter asked him about it.

The survey results were not all bad.The young people also demonstrated a good understanding of climate change and renewable energy.And the majority of them said that international issues were becoming more important to them.

Haass says these findings suggest the need to find ways to get good information to students，both in school and online.To help，the Council on Foreign Relations is creating a new program called CFR Campus，designed to help build knowledge about global issues.

1. What can we learn about the survey?

A．All the participants were recent university graduates.

B．It was given to over 1,200 American people aged from 18 to 26.

C．Its aim is to figure out what the young people know about America.

D．It was an online survey conducted by two US universities.

2. According to the survey，what topic did the young Americans understand best?

A．Environmental matters.

B．Geographic information.

C．Foreign relations.

D．Government organizations.

3. In which column of a newspaper could we find this article?

A．Economics.

B．Entertainment.

C．Education.

D．Politics.

10 . Even nowadays there is a lot of misunderstanding between nationalities. Let's have a look at what the following people have to say.

Maria Conti: I find the English people insincere, cold and unfriendly. They keep saying "Thank you", "I'm sorry" even when they don't know each other. They are even polite to their own relatives. Except for helping you find your way in the streets, they aren't really friendly and never invite you to their houses.

Giannis Stinios: On the contrary I found them broad-minded and friendly.I was invited to people's houses and they all showed great interest in my ideas,Greek life and people.In England I learned that it was possible to be warm, friendly and polite at the same time.

Judy Brown: I lived in both Italy and Greece for a few years.At first there were a few misunderstandings between my foreign friends and myself. For example, I once gave a Greek friend a present for her birthday party.I was rather sorry that she did not unwrap it immediately. What's more, she even didn't thank me until I asked her if she liked it.I've learned from different experiences that a lot of foreigners find our attitude to what we English people call politeness rather insincere. They feel that politeness isn't necessary between friends.

1. According to Maria Conti, it is ________.

A．insincere to keep saying "Thank you" and "I'm sorry"

B．necessary for relatives to be polite to each other

C．unfriendly for the English people to help you find your way in the streets

D．not polite for the English people to invite her to their houses

2. Giannis Stinios is from ________.

A．England	B．Greece
C．Italy	D．America

3. When the English people receive gifts from their friends or relatives, they ________.

A．wrap them at once

B．unwrap them immediately

C．put them away at first

D．always ask their friends or relatives if they like them

4. According to Judy Brown’s experience, ________.

A．what the English people call politeness is a truth

B．the English people are less polite than the people in other countries

C．ideas of what are good manners are the same in different countries

D．ideas of what is politeness are not always the same in different countries