Like many couples, Sheila and David Hoffman enjoy travelling. Since 2000, they’ve often visited relatives in Australia and enjoyed holidays in many European countries including France, Germany, Italy, and Greece. And they’ve toured around America, but they haven’t once stayed in a hotel. The Hoffmans are part of a growing number of people who use their home as a way to have inexpensive holidays. So far, they’ve swapped their three-bedroom London home with people who want to stay there for anything from a week to two months.
In a home swap, you offer your house as a place to stay and anyone who’s interested gets in touch. If your dates and requirements fit, then you make a deal to exchange houses for an agreed time. The exchange can involve more than just a place to stay — some homeowners also exchange cars and others will arrange for a friend or neighbour to be on call in case of emergencies. Some exchangers will even organise restaurant bookings and trips.
Home swaps have existed in Britain on an organised basis for decades but they really took off with the arrival of the Internet. Previously, the process was long and drawn-out, involving letter exchange and expensive international calls to complete arrangements. Now, it can all be done with a few clicks. Most home-exchangers register (注册) with a specialist home-exchange company that deals with the organisation.
More people are using their homes as a way to enjoy holidays at home as well as abroad. Most of them choose to follow the trend because they are interested in how natives lead their lives. When you live in a typical home rather than a hotel, it’s almost like an exchange of lifestyles. It’s also a cheap way to travel making sure you won’t run short of money on your journey.
1. Where do Sheila and David Hoffman live?| A．In Australia. | B．In the US. | C．In the UK. | D．In France. |
| A．Smart. | B．Strict. | C．Humorous. | D．Thoughtful. |
| A．It caused many problems. | B．It saved a lot of time. |
| C．It was well-organised. | D．It was complicated. |
| A．They hope to experience life as the locals. |
| B．They are not used to staying in hotels. |
| C．They do not want to leave their houses unused. |
| D．They need to earn money from exchanging their homes. |
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【推荐1】Here are four beach destinations for you to take a unique vacation in the sunshine.
Zanzibar, Tanzania
Whether you’re dining at restaurants directly on the sand or listening to live music, the islands of Zanzibar are rich with culture. The Stone Town features narrow stone streets meant for bicycles. It’s a great place to buy produce and creative goods while taking in the Arabian architecture. You can sail into the sun on wooden boats, do yoga on the white sand or go diving.
Sardinia, Italy
Sardinia is well known for its natural settings—mainly the beaches and the volcanic Monte Urtigu. With boat tours, hidden beaches and valley adventures featuring flowing waterfalls, water activities are everywhere. But the island has plenty of other experiences as well. Go wine tasting, learn to bake bread or take a historical tour of local archeologic sites.
Bodrum, Turkey
For a truly unique beach experience, visit Bodrum in Turkey. The ancient city is home to historic baths, hot springs, ancient ruins and underwater archeology museums. This area is also ideal for rafting trips, sea fishing and more. There is also a lot of wildlife living on the island and in its surrounding waters.
Tenerife, Spain
Tenerife is big on water sports and adventures, offering things like jet skiing, sailing and diving with dolphins. This area is home to various museums like the Museo Municipal and the local museum of natural history. Don’t forget to visit the local temples, ruins and gardens.
1. What makes Zanzibar special?| A．Its hot springs. | B．Its stone streets. | C．Its historical ruins. | D．Its open-air concerts. |
| A．Visit the volcano. | B．Explore underwater museums. |
| C．Enjoy the local wine. | D．Experience valley adventures. |
| A．Zanzibar. | B．Sardinia. | C．Bodrum. | D．Tenerife. |
【推荐2】The best places for wild sleeping in England and Wales
Challacombe Meadows, Devon
Best for: privacy
Challacombe Meadows is close to miles of walking trails near Widecombe. Basic toilet facilities and running water are a short walk away, and there’s a cosy pub and a farm shop also nearby, for when it’s time to return to civilization. Tents from £ 45 per tent.
Bush Farm, Cornwall
Best for: freedom of choice
At Bush Farm, campers are offered the freedom of choice. Map in hand, you can put up your tent wherever you please. Days can be spent wild swimming, wandering through the countryside and, come the evening, there’s star gazing beneath ink-black skies. Tents from £12 per person.
The Wildman Woods, Carmarthenshire
Best for: life on the riverbanks
At this little-known site, you can put your tent on the banks of the River Sawdde. The Wildman Woods are as simple as they sound, with leafy pitches scattered among the trees near the water. During the day, it’s the perfect place for a paddle. Tents from £10 per person.
Penrhos Isaf Bothy, Gwyned
Best for: packing light
Bothies, simple huts traditionally used as mountain refuges that are open to all and free of charge. They’re a great alternative to wild camping if the weather is looking unstable and you don’t mind sharing with other travellers, who can arrive at any time.
1. Which place best suits people who emphasize private camping?| A．Challacombe Meadows, Devon. | B．Bush Farm, Cornwall. |
| C．The Wildman Woods, Carmarthenshire. | D．Penrhos Isaf Bothy, Gwyned. |
| A．Swim indoors. | B．Go to the pub. | C．Appreciate stars. | D．Walk downtown. |
| A．They are free of charge. |
| B．They are suitable for a paddle. |
| C．They were used as mountain shelters in the past. |
| D．They are favored by people enjoying wild sleeping. |
【推荐3】Tianjin Panshan Mountain Scenic Area
Panshan Mountain is listed among the national 5A Scenic Spots and is well-known for its natural scenery, Buddhist temples, and royal gardens.
The mountain was first recorded in books from the Han Dynasty (206BC-220AD) and became popular in the Tang Dynasty (618-907). Seventy-two temples, 13 exquisite towers, and a royal garden were built on the mountain and were well-regarded by several Chinese emperors.
The main peak of Panshan Mountain is Guayue Peak and is surrounded by other peaks including Zigai Peak to the south, Zilai Peak to the north, Jiuhua Peak to the east, and Wujian Peak to the west. The splendid pine trees, clear streams, and the grotesque stones all make Panshan Mountain Scenic Spot attractive.
Ideal sightseeing season: Early January to early March
Opening hours: 8:00—18:00
Ticket price:
1. A single ticket: 118 yuan per person (a free ticket to the Painting and Calligraphy Academy in Panshan Mountain + a ticket for Tianxia Panshan—a performance introducing Panshan’s scenery).
2. Ticket packages:
(1) 198 yuan/person (an entrance ticket + a single trip electro-mobile ticket going up to the top + a one-way cableway ticket to Wansong Temple)
(2) 168 yuan/person (an entrance ticket + a one-way cableway ticket to Wansong Temple)
(3) 178 yuan/person (an entrance ticket + a one-way cableway ticket to Guayue Peak)
3. Astudent or a senior ticket: 62 yuan per person
Address: Lianhualing village, Guanzhuang Town, Jizhou District, Tianjin.
Telephone: +86-22-29821235
Website: http://www.chinapanshan.com/index.html (Chinese)
1. What do we know about Panshan Mountain?
| A．The mountain became popular in the Han Dynasty. |
| B．It has attractive scenery and unique culture. |
| C．It is surrounded by Zigai Peak to the north and Zilai Peak to the south. |
| D．E-mail is available on its website for you to book the ticket. |
| A．In December. | B．In July. | C．In September. | D．In February. |
| A．458. | B．418. | C．398. | D．298. |
【推荐1】Soda and sports drinks are the largest single source of added sugars for Americans. They add an average of 145 calories a day to our diets. Most efforts to reduce drinking focus on soda. That is not enough, Juice is as bad.
Americans drink a lot of juice. The average adult drinks 6.6 gallons per year. More than half of preschool-age children drink juice every day. These children drink about 10 ounces every day. That is more than twice the amount that is good for them. Fruit juice contains some nutrients (营养物). But it has tons of sugar. One 12-ounce glass of orange juice contains ten teaspoons of sugar. That is about what is in a can of Coke.
The government is not right when it says up to half of daily fruit servings can be served in the form of 100 percent juice. One-hundred-percent fruit juice is not a natural source of vitamins and calcium. The government also recommends drinking fortified (增加营养的) orange juice. This is to get vitamin D. Some brands of juice are even marketed to babies. So what parents should do is read the label and be more careful.
Government food programs for kids are also at fault. Children in these programs drink more fruit juice than they should.
Drinking fruit juice is not the same as eating the whole fruit. Fruits like apples and grapes reduce the risk of diabetes (糖尿病). Drinking fruit juice is the opposite. Juice has more concentrated sugar and calories. It also has less fiber. Juice is easy to drink. It is harder to eat the whole fruit.
No expert says that juice improves health. It is like other sugary drinks. You can drink it one once in a while. But it is not because your body needs it. Parents should serve their kids water. They should serve the whole fruit. Schools and day care centers should stop serving juice. Government guidelines should not say that fruit juice is like the whole fruit.
1. What do most efforts to decrease drinking center on?| A．Coffee. | B．Juice. | C．Soda. | D．Tea. |
| A．It is equal to fruit. | B．It contains much sugar. |
| C．It contains no nutrients. | D．It does no harm to health. |
| A．Drinking fruit juice can’t replace the whole fruit. | B．Drinking fruit juice reduce the risk of diabetes. |
| C．100 percent juice can serve half day’s nutrients. | D．Fortified orange juice can provide enough calcium. |
| A．Travel. | B．Technology. | C．Environment. | D．Health. |
【推荐2】After you finish your fries, eat the package. When you add your noodles to boiling water, throw the bag into the pot, too. If these instructions sound confusing to you, it’s only because you haven’t yet heard of Notpla, a London-based start-up company that is designing a seaweed-based replacement for single-use plastic packaging.
The approach feels especially great as the world is coming to terms with the effects of decades of plastic production. According to the UN, 330 million tons of plastic waste is produced globally each year, and out of the 9 billion tons of plastic produced since the early 1950s, about 60% has been buried or thrown away as rubbish. Microplastics — tiny pieces that are often the result of larger plastics breaking down — pollute the ocean, the air and our bodies.
“It’s getting more and more clear how big the plastic problem is,” Notpla design director Karlijn Sibbel said. “Producers are ‘using materials that last for thousands of years for products that are only in use for a few minutes’. We firstly looked to seaweed as the solution to the world’s plastic problem because there is plenty of it, it crows quickly, it doesn’t compete with land crops, and it absorbs carbon from the air,” added Sibbel.
“The exciting thing is that the new product named Ooho is a film that can replace most of the flexible packaging that you see around,” Sibbel said. The potential contents could include coffee grounds, toilet paper or the nails used for making furniture. For foods, such as noodles, they have even experimented with adding more taste to the packaging, so that dissolving the bag could add seasoning to the pot.
Last year, Notpla tested 30,000 takeaway boxes in partnership with the online food ordering service Just Eat. The two companies handed out the takeaway boxes at different UK restaurants and plans are being made to offer the boxes around Europe in 2022. As they expand, Notpla’s team hopes seaweed could replace single-use plastic in the supply chain more broadly, but with a large quantity of plastics used around the world, she understands how difficult such a task is, Sibbel said.
1. How does the author introduce the topic of the passage?| A．By comparing facts. | B．By giving examples. |
| C．By raising questions. | D．By analyzing data. |
| A．About 198 million tons. | B．About 5.4 billion tons. |
| C．About 330 million tons. | D．About 9 billion tons. |
| A．The potential use of the new product. | B．The new application of plastic bags. |
| C．The motivation for the new study. | D．The next goal of the new research. |
| A．It is helpless. | B．It is impractical. |
| C．It is challenging. | D．It is a short-term project. |
【推荐3】Like many of the arts, music flourished during the Zhou dynasty. From this period we have instruments, models of performers, descriptions of musicians and dancers, and the Shijing, or The Book of Poetry, which contains poems and songs of court and common people during the Zhou dynasty. It is likely that music played an extremely important role in the Zhou dynasty for all social classes.
One of the most important sources of information the researchers have regarding Zhou-dynasty music is from the tomb of the Marquis Yi of Zeng (433 B. C. E.). This tomb was uncovered in 1977 in Hubei Province and contained the most extensive and well-preserved set of musical instruments ever found in an ancient Chinese tomb. This four-chamber (室) tomb was designed in imitation of a palace with a central courtyard, reflecting the belief that the Marquis Yi would require the same comforts in the afterlife that he had enjoyed during his lifetime. The central chamber of the tomb, which reflected a palace courtyard, contained most of the musical instruments found, including a complete set of sixty-five graduated bells fixed on wooden shelves. In addition, twenty-one young women were buried with the Marquis Yi, some of whom were likely his favorite musicians and dancers.
The Marquis Yi’s set of sixty-five bells is remarkable for a variety of reasons. First, they are clearly dated—an inscription (碑文) indicates that the bells were a gift given to him in 433B. C. E. . Second, the bells were very expensive to produce and to purchase, particularly a set of this size, so they are further evidence of the Marquis Yi’s status. Finally, the bells, along with the other instruments in the room, illustrate what an instrumental band might have consisted of during this period. Scholars predict that it would have required twenty-four musicians to play all instruments at once.
There are still many gaps in our knowledge of ancient Chinese music, partly because there was no system for recording music in a written form.
1. The Book of Poetry is mentioned in Paragraph 1 to ________.| A．show the significance of the book |
| B．show the popularity of music in the Zhou dynasty |
| C．describe the meaning and the history of the book |
| D．represent the life of people in the Zhou dynasty |
| A．It contains all kinds of musical instruments. |
| B．It is designed by the Marquis Yi of Zeng. |
| C．It reflects the wish of the Marquis Yi for his life after death. |
| D．It is of the same size as that of the palace. |
| A．Because it might prove the Marquis Yi’s position. |
| B．Because it was difficult to buy at that time. |
| C．Because it once was an expensive gift. |
| D．Because it needs 24 performers to play at the same time. |
| A．Health. | B．Business. | C．Sports. | D．Art. |
