1 . When it comes to thrilling places to travel to, the nation of Thailand has got to be at or near the top of the list. The beaches of Thailand are simply amazing. Here is a look at the four best beaches in all of Thailand.
Maya Bay
This small beach attracts some huge crowds, but it is still worth a visit thanks to what is widely regarded as some of the best sights in the whole country. The Maya Bay Beach is located on a small island and is only accessible(可进入的) via boat or passenger ferry.
Lamai Beach
For the traveler looking for a quite unforgettable beach experience during their visit to Thailand, a trip out to Lamai Beach in Samui is a must. The sandy areas are long and wide with plenty of room for everyone. The water is inviting and easy to access.
Patong Beach
Patong Beach is not only one of the most beautiful and popular beaches in Thailand, but it is the largest beach on the popular island of Phuket. The soft white sand is a great place to relax. Some of the many great activities that travelers can join in during a visit to Patong Beach include jet skiing, kayaking, surfing, diving, snorkeling(浮潜) , swimming, and more.
Haad Rin
Haad Rin is one of the most popular party spots in the country, for both locals and travelers. All month long, during most parts of the year, there are some special entertainment(娱乐), eating, and socializing opportunities.
1. If you want to have a very impressive beach experience, which is highly recommended?| A．Maya Bay | B．Lamai Beach |
| C．Patong Beach | D．Haad Rin |
| A．Maya Bay | B．Lamai Beach |
| C．Patong Beach | D．Haad Rin |
| A．Relax on the white soft sand. |
| B．Take part in adventurous activities. |
| C．Have a good time with the people living here. |
| D．Learn much culture and history about Thailand. |
2 . If you’re looking to buy a gift for your children, why not keep up with the trend and get the best hoverboard?
What is a Hoverboard?
A hoverboard is a two-wheeled personal transportation device. It’s electrical, portable and became highly popular in 2015. Typically, this self-balancing device operates like a powered skateboard.
How Does a Hoverboard Work?
The device may have many designs, but the mechanism itself isn’t complicated. Basically, a standard hoverboard contains:
•Battery: stores the electrical power. Almost all hoverboards use a high-watt lithium-ion battery.
•Gyroscope (one for each wheel): allows riders to tilt (倾斜) the hoverboard while maintaining balance and adjusting their direction.
•Motor (one in each wheel): provides the power to the wheels to keep the rider balanced and upright.
•Logic board: functions as the hoverboard brain. It processes data—your speed, tilt, etc.—and sends information to the motors. This unit controls the power of the board so riders can adjust their speed.
All the above components work together to control the power and tilt of the hoverboards so the rider is balanced, upright and moving at a controlled speed.
Why Buy a Hoverboard?
Undoubtedly, hoverboards are cool. You’ve probably seen kids riding one around the house. They’re a phenomenon and everybody wants in. So, why deny your kids and prevent them from being part of this trend?
Where is a hoverboard legal?
Despite their wild popularity, hoverboards have yet to become “street-legal”. Currently, some places prohibit anyone under 16 from using these devices, and hoverboards are banned in academic institutions and public places, like campus buildings, parks, shopping malls and subway stations. Some places have also put speed limits on the devices and restricted their use to bike paths. However, open areas—including your yard—are free of these restrictions.
1. The logic board of a hoverboard can ______.| A．store electricity | B．power the wheels |
| C．send information to the riders | D．receive data and give command |
| A．on campus | B．in parks |
| C．on bike paths | D．in shopping malls |
| A．To evaluate a gift’s quality. |
| B．To suggest a gift option. |
| C．To compare new hoverboard models. |
| D．To explain functions of the latest hoverboards. |
3 . Time Travel
If you could travel in time,where would you go?Perhaps you would watch a performance of a Shakespeare's play in Elizabethan England?What about hanging out with Laozi in the Spring and Autumn Period?Or maybe you'd voyage far ahead of the present day to see what the future holds.
The possibility of time travel is indeed appealing.Stories exploring the subject have been around for hundreds of years.Perhaps the best known example is science fiction novel The Time Machine,which was written by H.G.Wells and published in 1895 for the first time.It was adapted into at least two feature films of the same name,as well as two television versions, and a large number of comic book adaptations.It is generally credited with the popularization of the concept of time travel using a vehicle that allows an operator to travel purposefully and selectively.The term"time machine",coined by Wells,is now universally used to refer to a vehicle transporting people into the far future.
But could time travel actually be possible?Some scientists say yes,in theory.They propose using cracks in time and space called"wormholes",which could be used as shortcuts to other periods.Einstein's theory of relativity allows time travel in extreme circumstances. And British physicist Stephen Hawking says you could travel into the future with a really fast spaceship-going at nearly the speed of light.Though building such a spaceship would of course be no simple task.
Even if you could travel into the past,there is something called the"grandfather paradox".It asks what would happen if a time traveler were to go back in time and have his own grandfather killed for some reason,and therefore prevent himself from being born.If the time traveler wasn't born,how would he travel back in time?
And would you really like to visit the future?In H.G.Wells' book,the main character travels into distant time where he arrives at a beach and is attacked by giant crabs.He then voyages 30 million years into the future where the only living thing is a black object with tentacles(触角）。
If that's what's in store,maybe we are better just living in the present day after all.
1. The novel The Time Machine mentioned in Paragraph 2 aims to show______.| A．the long history of time travel |
| B．the contribution of H.G.Wells |
| C．people's interest in time travel |
| D．the story's different features |
| A．The Time Machine is one of the bestselling science fiction novels. |
| B．It was H.G.Wells who invented the term “time machine”. |
| C．Works of Literature about time travel first appeared one hundred years ago. |
| D．There are films,comic books and dramas adapted from the novel The Time Machine. |
| A．have similarities because both are based on experiments |
| B．suggest the possibility of time travel |
| C．have been proved wrong by some time travelers |
| D．have pushed the invention of the first spaceship |
| A．the reunion of the traveler and his grandfather brings happiness |
| B．the traveler is prevented from meeting his grandfather |
| C．the traveler goes back in time to seek for his grandfather |
| D．the grandfather's death makes the traveler's birth impossible |
4 . Ancient China produced many types of beautiful works of art. Among them, calligraphy (书法), poetry (诗歌) and painting are the most famous. Often they would be put together in art.These became important starting with the Song dynasty.
Calligraphy is the art of handwriting. In the old times the Chinese considered writing as an important form of art. Calligraphers would practice for years to learn to write perfectly, but with style. Each of the over 40,000 characters (汉字) needed to be written correctly. And each stroke (笔画) in a character had to be written in a certain order.
Poetry is also an important form of art. Great poets were famous all over the country, and all educated people were expected to write poetry. During the Tang dynasty poetry was so important that writing poetry was part of the examinations to become a civil servant (文官)and work for the government.
Chinese painting is often connected with calligraphy. It is one of the oldest artistic traditions in the world. The most traditional way of Chinese painting is known as “national painting” or “native painting” which is quite different from Western painting. People can draw mountains, buildings, birds, trees and water.
1. Calligraphers needed to write over _____ characters correctly in the old times.| A．10,000 | B．20,000 | C．30,000 | D．40,000 |
| A．Painting. | B．Calligraphy. | C．Writing poetry. | D．Playing music. |
| A．Calligraphy, poetry, and painting are the most famous works of art in ancient China. |
| B．The strokes of each character can be written in any order. |
| C．Poetry is an important form of art like calligraphy. |
| D．Chinese painting is often connected with calligraphy. |
| A．Chinese art. | B．Chinese examinations. |
| C．Chinese history. | D．Chinese dynasties. |
5 . Did you know that Albert Einstein could not speak until he was four years old, and could not read until he was seven? His parents and teachers worried about his mental (大脑的) ability.
Beethoven’s music teacher said about him, “As a composer (作曲家) he is hopeless.” What if this young boy had believed it?
When Thomas Edison was a young boy, his teachers said he was so stupid that he could never learn anything. He once said, “I remember I used to never be able to get along at school. I was always at the foot of my class ... My father thought I was stupid, and I almost decided that I was a stupid person.” What if young Thomas had believed what they said about him?
When the sculptor (雕刻家) Auguste Rodin was young, he had difficulty learning to read and write. Today, we may say he had a learning disability. His father said of him, “I have an idiot (白痴) for a son.” His uncle agreed. “He’s uneducable,” he said. What if Rodin had doubted his ability?
Walt Disney was once fired by a newspaper editor because he was thought to have no “good ideas”. Enrico Caruso was told by one music teacher, “You can’t sing. You have no voice at all.” And an editor told Louisa May Alcott that she was unable to write anything that would have popular attraction.
What if these people had listened and become discouraged? Where would our world be without the music of Beethoven, the art of Rodin or the ideas of Albert Einstein and Walt Disney? As Oscar Levant once said, “It’s not what you are but what you don’t become that hurts.”
You have great potential (潜力). When you believe in all you can be, rather than all you cannot become, you will find your place on earth.
1. How many successful people are mentioned as examples in the passage?| A．Six. | B．Seven. | C．Eight. | D．Nine. |
| A．When he was young, Thomas Edison always got good grades at school. |
| B．Levant thought Louisa May Alcott couldn’t write any popular works. |
| C．Only Auguste Rodin’s uncle regarded him a boy of learning ability. |
| D．Both Enrico Caruso and Beethoven achieved their dreams in music. |
| A．He is too stupid to be taught. | B．He is very clever. |
| C．He is different. | D．He is a late success. |
| A．Working Hard for Success | B．Having Dreams |
| C．Believing in Yourself | D．Self-challenging |
6 . One day Mr. White gave his wife ten pounds for her birthday—ten new pound notes. So Mrs. White went out shopping. She waited for a bus, got on it and sat down next to an old lady. After a while, Mrs. White noticed that the old lady's handbag was open. Inside it, she saw a wad(叠) of pound notes exactly like the ones her husband had given her. So she quickly looked into her own bag—the notes had gone! Mrs. White was sure that the old lady next to her had stolen them. She immediately thought of calling the police. But as she disliked making a fuss(小题大做), she decided to take back the money from the old lady's handbag and say nothing about it. She looked around to make sure nobody was watching. Then she carefully put her hand into the old lady's bag, took the notes, and put them into her own handbag.
When she got home that evening, Mrs. White showed her husband the beautiful hat she had bought.
"How did you pay for it?" Mr. White asked.
"With the money you gave me for my birthday, of course" she answered.
"Oh? What's that, then?" he asked, as he pointed to a wad of pound notes on the table.
1. Why did Mr. White give his wife ten pounds?| A．For a new handbag. | B．For new notes. |
| C．For her husband's birthday. | D．For her birthday. |
| A．A new handbag. | B．Stealing from an old 1ady. |
| C．Nothing. | D．A new hat. |
| A．She wanted to call the police. |
| B．She decided to talk with the old lady. |
| C．She decided to take away her own money and said nothing. |
| D．She decided to tell the lady and take the money away. |
| A．Mrs. White actually stole her money by herself. |
| B．Mrs. White in fact became a thief then. |
| C．Mr. White gave his wife some new pound notes for her birthday. |
| D．The money was still at Mrs. White's home. |
7 . Have you ever run into a careless cell phone user on the street? Perhaps they were busy talking, texting or checking updates on WeChat without looking at what was going on around them. As the number of this new “species” of human has kept rising, they have been given a new name — phubbers (低头族).
Recently, a cartoon made by students from China Central Academy of Fine Arts put this group of people under the spotlight. In the short film, phubbers with various social identities（身份）are buried in their phones. A doctor plays with his cell phone while letting his patient die, a pretty woman takes selfie (自拍照)in front of a car accident site, and a father loses his child without knowing about it while using his mobile phone. A chain of similar events eventually leads to the destruction of the world.
Although the ending sounds overstated (夸大), the damage phubbing can bring is real. Your health is the first to bear the effect and result of it. “Continuously stretching (伸展) your head to check your cell phone could damage your neck,” Guangming Daily quoted doctors as saying, “the neck is like a rope that breaks after long-term stretching.” Also, staring at cell phones for long periods of time will damage your eyesight gradually, according to the report.
But that’s not all. Being a phubber could also damage your social skills and drive you away from your friends and family. At reunions with family or friends, many people tend to（往往） stick to their cell phones while others are chatting happily with each other and this creates a strange atmosphere, Qilu Evening News reported.
It can also cost you your life. There have been lots of reports on phubbers who fell to their death, suffered accidents, and were robbed (抢劫) of their cell phones in broad daylight.
1. The author gives the example of a cartoon in Paragraph 2 ________________.| A．to advertise the cartoon made by students. |
| B．to inform people of the bad effects of phubbing. |
| C．to show the world will finally be destroyed by phubbers. |
| D．to warn doctors against using cell phones while treating patients. |
| A．hide | B．use | C．cover | D．pay all attention to |
| A．His social skills could be affected. |
| B．His neck and eyesight will be gradually harmed. |
| C．He will cause the destruction of the world. |
| D．He might get separated from his friends and family. |
| A．negative (消极的). | B．supportive. |
| C．optimistic. | D．objective (客观的). |
8 . Some students get so nervous before a test. They do poorly even if they know the material. Sian Beilock, a professor at the University of Chicago in Illinois, has studied these highly anxious test-takers. The students start worrying about the results. And when we worry, it actually uses up attention and memory resources（资源）.
Professor Beilock and another researcher, Gerardo Ramirez, have developed a possible solution. Just before an exam, highly anxious test-takers spend ten minutes writing about their worries about the test.
The researchers tested the idea on a group of twenty anxious college students. They gave them two short maths tests. After the first one, they asked the students to either sit quietly or write about their feelings about the upcoming second test.
Professor Beilock says those who sat quietly scored（得分） an average of 12% worse on the second test. But the students who had written about their fears improved（提高） their performance by an average of 5%. Next, the researchers used younger students in a biology class. They told them before final exams either to write about their feelings or to think about things unrelated（不相关的） to the test. Professor Beilock says highly anxious students who did the writing got an average grade of B+, compared to a B-for those who did not.
"What we showed is that for students who are highly test-anxious, and who'd done our writing intervention（干预）, all of a sudden there was no relationship between test anxiety and grades. They were performing just as well as their classmates who don't normally get nervous in these tests."
But what if students do not have a chance to write about their fears immediately before an exam? Professor Beilock says students can try it themselves at home or in the library and still improve their performance.
1. What do the students start worrying about before an exam?| A．Whether they can pass the exams. |
| B．What other students do during the test. |
| C．Whether they have remembered the materials. |
| D．What kind of problems they will meet on the test paper. |
| A．Making the students focused on the test. |
| B．Asking the students to sit quietly before the test. |
| C．Having the students write about their worries about the test. |
| D．Asking the students to direct the attention away from the test. |
| A．became less nervous before the test |
| B．were better at controlling their feelings |
| C．did worse than those who wrote about their feelings |
| D．did better than those who wrote about their feelings |
| A．writing about our worries before an exam can work a bit |
| B．we can only write about our worries right before an exam |
| C．the best place to write about our worries is in the test room |
| D．it doesn't matter where we write about our worries before an exam |
9 . Asia has long tradition of tea-drinking. And China is no exception.
However, lately more and more Chinese people are turning to a different drink. Coffee has become an increasingly popular choice of Chinese people living abroad and in the country’s huge cities. It is also a popular crop among those living in the mountains of southern Yunnan Province.
In big cities such as Beijing, coffee shops seem to be on nearly every major street corner. These shops are not just selling drinks from Starbucks, the world-famous coffee company. Coffee businesses from South Korea, Taiwan, HongKong and Britain are also operating in China.
Tea-drinking is steeped in the culture and traditions of many countries, like China and Japan. But is that changing? Are young people from Asia now choosing a cup of coffee instead of tea?
BeiBei Su is from China. She has been living in the United States for the past eight years. Before that, she lived in Italy for two years. Ms. Su says she likes tea better than coffee. But she adds that may not be true among the young generation in China. Many young Chinese people drink coffee socially ---when meeting with friends. Yang Lin lives in the U.S. but comes from an area in China famous for growing tea. She used to only drink tea while in China. But now, she says, she drinks both and for different reasons.
Yang Lin says that drinking coffee for her is a social event. She and her co-workers like to sit in a cafe and talk over a cup of coffee. Voyo is another Chinese woman who now lives in Washington, D.C. She says that after moving to the U.S. her tastes changed. We would call her a coffee convert, someone who now chooses to drink coffee.
With more people drinking coffee, many see an economic(经济的）opportunity for Chinese-grown beans. China-grown coffee could be a money-maker even if most of the coffee on sale in China is imported(进口的).
1. What does the author mainly introduce?| A．Chinese people have long tradition of tea-drinking. |
| B．More and more Chinese are choosing coffee to drink. |
| C．People in big cities like drinking coffee better than tea. |
| D．More Asian people are turning to different drinks. |
| A．A person who has changed to drink coffee. |
| B．A person who has changed to drink tea. |
| C．A person who has changed to grow tea. |
| D．A person who has changed to grow coffee. |
| A．Because she lives in the U.S. Now. |
| B．Because she can talk with friends. |
| C．Because she has drunk tea so long. |
| D．Because her tastes has changed. |
| A．less and less coffee will be imported in China in the future. |
| B．the China-grown coffee beans will be sold to the world soon. |
| C．the need of coffee will offer more chances to make money. |
| D．Chinese economy will depend on coffee beans in the future. |
10 . Things you need to notice before travelling
Luggage
We ask you to keep what you bring with you down to one medium-sized suitcase per person on board the bus.
Seat Arrangements (安排)
Special needs for particular seats can be made on most bus breaks when booking, but since arrangements are made on a first-come-first-served basis, early booking is advisable. When bookings are made with us, you will be offered the best seats we have on the bus at that time.
Travel Documents
When you have paid your deposit (定金), we will send you all the necessary documents (文件), so that you receive them in good time before setting off. Certain documents, for example air or boat tickets, may have to be kept and your driver or guide will then give them to you at the proper time.
Special Diets
If you need a special diet, you must tell us at the time of booking and provide us with a copy of the diet. This will be passed on to the hotel or hotels on your bus break. However, on certain bus breaks, the hotels used are tourist class and they may not be able to prepare special diets. Any extra costs must be paid to the hotel yourself before leaving the hotel.
Programs
Some of our hotels arrange extra programs which include music, dancing and film shows, etc. They are all offered by the hotel, but not sure.
1. Your air tickets ________.| A．will be held by your bus driver until you need them |
| B．will be sent to you at your departure point |
| C．will be kept by yourself |
| D．will be given to you with other documents |
| A．tell the hotel when you arrive | B．pay extra money |
| C．book a tourist class hotel | D．tell the bus company when booking |
| A．offered by the bus company | B．offered by the hotel at any time |
| C．an extra offer, so extra money must be paid | D．offered by the hotel, but may not run |
