1 . How to Become a London Blue Badge Tourist Guide
To become a registered Blue Badge Tourist Guide working in London, you will need to take a course and gain accreditation from the Institute of Tourist Guiding.
The Course
The course typically lasts about 18 months and involves lectures in London and practical site visits, along with periods of self-study. Its main focus is London, but it also covers the major tourist destinations across the South East, so it helps to have a reasonable knowledge of London and destinations such as Windsor, Oxford and Stratford. It can also be useful to have language skills as a large number of guides provide tours in more than one language.
Applying for the Course
There is lots of interest in the course, so candidates are assessed by exam and interview before being awarded a place. You will find further information on the course fees and timelines on the Institute's website.
Programme Content
As part of the course, you'll learn how to develop and present highlighted tours of London's major attractions, together with a City of London walk and a panoramic coach tour. The practical side is matched by lectures covering a wide range of topics related to London, the various regional sites and the techniques of guiding.
Exams
During the course you'll take a number of written and practical exams and if you're successful you'll be awarded a Blue Badge, which is the industry's recognized symbol of professionalism in tourist guiding. It is also possible to take the exams without doing the course, but there are many benefits to doing so, not least the opportunity to meet and work with guiding colleagues.
1. What can be learned about The Course?| A．Lectures and self-study make up the whole course. |
| B．Language skills can be of great help. |
| C．It focuses on the major tourist destinations. |
| D．It has nothing to do with knowledge of London. |
| A．By taking exams. | B．By taking the course. |
| C．By having interviews. | D．By working with guiding colleagues. |
| A．A report | B．A notice. | C．A travel brochure. | D．An advertisement. |
2 . Everyone has heard the phrase, “giving up is not an option”. Many disregard it and do not believe in it. But this small yet effective phrase gives a strong message. There will always be something that interrupts or causes inconvenience in the journey to achieve the dreams. But that should not drive one away from the path that they are on. Fitting the context perfectly is the story of Ian William.
Popularly known as the “Social Golfer", Ian William is an accountant, lecturer, author, and a former golf player. He dreamed of playing golf at childhood. He would often observe players playing from a distance. He worked hard and changed his financial limitations. Then he began practicing in various golf matches. Due to his devotion and love for the sport, he picked up the techniques quickly and soon began playing as a professional. He also dreamed of participating in the Senior Golf Tour in the coining year.
However, in 1996, Ian was diagnosed with a tumor in the left part of his brain, which affected his hearing from the right side and damaged his balance nerve. He underwent two surgeries in 1997 with a smile and a hope to be cured. Although the surgeries were successful, Ian caught meningitis while recovering from it. Apart from being hopeful and optimistic, there was no other way Ian could cope with the situation.
Just as things had begun to normalize, in 2006, Ian's body was affected by a major stroke. This stroke numbed the left side of his body. His life-long dream of participating in a golf tournament could not be fulfilled anymore.
Ian took his time to recover and came back even stronger. He wanted to inspire millions with his journey and decided to share his experiences through a book. Ian has now published his 3rd book Still Crazy After All These Years in 2020.
1. What does the underlined word “that” in paragraph 1 refer to?| A．The option. | B．The message. | C．The barrier. | D．The dream. |
| A．William showed talent in golf as a child. |
| B．The lack of money prevented him practicing golf at an early age. |
| C．William's road to becoming a professional golfer was smooth. |
| D．Talent and ambition made William learn quickly. |
| A．Doctors' comfort | B．Family's support. |
| C．Advice from the books. | D．Hope and optimism. |
| A．Move forward whatever happens. | B．Love wins over illness. |
| C．Seize every opportunity to learn. | D．Luck favors ready minds. |
3 . For many Chinese consumers, a satisfying breakfast is one that includes either hot porridge or steamed buns. Cold sandwiches, which are usually popular with Westerners, are probably one of the last options on their minds. But that is not to say that consumers, especially those in an international city like Shanghai, would avoid everything considered Western for breakfast. For instance, coffee, which has steadily grown in popularity in the country, is one drink that many cannot do without today.
To satisfy this growing demand for breakfast sets that combine elements from the East and the West, food companies have been rolling out a host of new offerings to attract the customer. One example is Shanghai Qiao Coffee, which was launched by local time-honored food company Qiaojiashan at the end of 2019. Apart from its traditional dim sum, the store also sells various types of coffee.
According to Shen Yan, deputy manager of Shanghai Qiaojiashan Food Development Cold, the most popular breakfast set at the moment is the steamed vegetable bun paired with black coffee. “The calories that one gets from a meal featuring Chinese dim sum and coffee are less than those of a Western breakfast. Since a steamed bun has nearly 200 calories and a cup of black coffee barely has any calories, this combination can be considered healthy and delicious," said Shen.
Even the smaller shoppers in the food scene are jumping on the East-West breakfast trend. Western food establishments, too, have been rolling out Chinese breakfast options. "Consumers and even cultural heritage will also benefit from the increased competition. If not for the current trend which has revived interest in certain traditional dim sum, these foods could soon be lost to history," Shen said.
1. What can we leant about breakfast in Shanghai in paragraph!?| A．People prefer porridge and steamed buns. | B．Cold sandwiches are a popular choice. |
| C．People avoid western food for breakfast. | D．Coffee is a must for many people. |
| A．Because it's newly launched. | B．Because it contains more vegetables. |
| C．Because it's traditional. | D．Because it's tasty and healthy. |
| A．The competition for breakfast sets is of no benefit to consumers. |
| B．Only big companies have the ability to seize the market share. |
| C．Western food companies don't care about East-West breakfast. |
| D．Some traditional foods might disappear without the combination trend. |
| A．Chinese consumers show more interest in western food. |
| B．Western breakfast is warmly welcomed by Shanghai people. |
| C．The Chinese-Western breakfast set is becoming a hit in Shanghai. |
| D．Shanghai Qiao Coffee has won great success for its breakfast sets. |
4 . If businesses are to get workers back into the office, finding ways to keep social distancing(社会隔离)will be important. An Israeli company thinks it can help, using smart sensors installed on workplace ceilings.
PointGrab developed its technology before COVID-19 to help workspace managers optimize(优化)how employees use office space. About the size of a smoke alarm, the sensors can record the exact number and location of people in buildings including offices, hotels and restaurants. One of the company's first clients was Deloitte, which installed the system at its London office last year. PointGrab s sensors were connected to screens in the building to show the availability（利用率)of desks and shared areas in real time. PointGrab CEO Doron Shachar says it was one of a series of innovations that helped Deloitte fit 30% more people into 3% less space.
Now to prevent the coronavirus spreading face to face, PointGrab has adapted the technology to some degree so the sensors can also monitor social distancing by keeping track of how far apart people are, and whether they're traveling in one direction around a building. Workspace managers can set up alarm for when two people are closer than two meters for more than 30 seconds, for example. The sensors have been included in the “six feet office” concept created by a company Cushman & Wakefield to encourage employees to practice social distancing. They are currently being used in this way at a university in the Netherlands, and at an innovation centre in Belgium. While the social distancing innovation is new, PointGrab has installed more than 10, 000 sensors for workspace optimization, including in the offices of Coca-Cola, Facebook and Dell.
Workers might not like the idea of being monitored, but PointGrab says no images or identifying features are recorded. Instead, each employee is represented as a dot on a screen. “The sensor does not violate people’s privacy,” Shachar says. This is extremely important in the workspace.
1. What were the sensors used to do before COVID-19?| A．To identify employees. | B．To record locations. |
| C．To keep track of employees. | D．To make better use of office space. |
| A．Introduced. | B．Adjusted. |
| C．Formed. | D．Boomed. |
| A．Smart sensors give away people’s privacy. |
| B．PointGrab is in good conditions. |
| C．Workers are in favor of the company management. |
| D．Worker appearance will not show clearly on the screen. |
| A．How we can get workers back into their office |
| B．How we can improve the employees’ efficiency |
| C．Smart sensors make office social distancing easier |
| D．Smart sensors are a key technological innovation |
5 . I am thrilled to welcome you to the 20th annual Roger Ebert's Film Festival, a special event in partnership with the University of Illinois College of Media, the greater Champaign-Urbana community, and movie lovers everywhere. Little did we think, back in 1999, that our experiment in reinventing the film festival — to make a festival that celebrated overlooked films and the women and men who made those films — would become a landmark annual event in the life of our community and contribute to the repairs of the remarkable Virginia Theater.
In selecting the films for this year, Chaz Ebert and I looked to women filmmakers for our inspiration. Fully half of our films are either directed or co-directed by women, and several others have women in powerful producing roles. Films directed or co-directed by women include 13th , directed by Ava DuVernay9 Belle, directed by Amma Asante, and American Splendor, directed by Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini. And women producers include Lynda Obst and Emma Thomas winter stellar, and Ruth Ann Harnisch and Danielle Renfrew Behrens (Columbus).
Our opening night film is The Fugitive, directed by Andrew Davis, a graduate from University of Illinois. Our Saturday night film is the classic The Big Lebozvski. Our guest will be the Hollywood master Jeff Dowd. And of course The Alloy Orchestra will be back, this year with A Page of Madness, the classic Japanese silent film.
We would like to thank our sponsors, volunteers, festival pass holders, and individual ticket holders for their welcome participation. We look forward to your unwavering support to make our festival more successful each spring in central Illinois. We especially want to thank the University of Illinois for their loyal support year after year.
1. What was the purpose of reinventing Roger Ebert's Film Festival in 1999?| A．To enrich the life of residents. |
| B．To help rebuild Virginia Theater. |
| C．To work closely with the University of Illinois. |
| D．To honor people whose films were not box-office hits. |
| A．Hollywood classics. |
| B．Films produced or directed by women. |
| C．Diversity in themes. |
| D．Stories featuring female leading roles. |
| A．Consistent. | B．Original. | C．Legal. | D．Conditional. |
| A．The President of the University of Illinois. |
| B．A movie critic who is a friend of the Eberts. |
| C．A member of the Festival's organizing committee. |
| D．A journalist who reports stories about the Festival. |
6 . Singapore researchers say they have developed a form of electronic skin that can create a sense of touch. They hope their invention will give people with prosthetic hands(假肢)the ability to identify different objects.
The skin device measures 1 square centimeter. The system contains 100 small sensors that attempt to recreate things like texture(质地)，temperature and even pain. The researchers call the device Asynchronous Coded Electronic Skin(ACES)，which can process information faster than the human’s nervous system. Machine learning methods trained the device to recognize 20 to 30 different textures. It can even correctly read Braille letters(布莱叶盲文)most of the time.
The system does not require the users’movement to work. They just need to slide to feel texture. But in this case the skin，with just a single touch，is able to detect textures of different roughness.
A demonstration showed that the device could identify the difference between a soft ball and a solid plastic one. “When you lose your sense of touch，you essentially become numb and prosthetic users face that problem，”said Benjamin Tee，leader of the research team. “So by recreating an artificial version of the skin for their prosthetic devices，they can hold a hand and feel the warmth and feel that it is soft. ”
Tee said his idea for the device came from the movie Star Wars，when character Luke Skywalker loses his right hand and it is replaced with a robotic one. In the film，the new hand is able to experience touch sensations just like the real one.
The artificial skin technology is still going through experiments and development. But Tee said there had already been a lot of interest in the system，especially from the medical community. Tee said similar inventions that his team has developed include see-through skin that can repair itself when torn and a material for wearable electronic devices that gives off light.
1. What can we learn about the artificial skin in Paragraph 2?| A．It is sensitive to high temperature. | B．It reacts faster than our nervous system. |
| C．It can recognize different objects. | D．It helps the users memorize Braille letters. |
| A．The artificial skin feels like a real thing. |
| B．People with the artificial skin feel warm. |
| C．People don’t want to lose the sense of touch. |
| D．He is sympathetic towards the prosthetic users. |
| A．The desire to help those in need. | B．The life of the disabled. |
| C．A dream of earning more money. | D．A scene from a famous movie. |
| A．Profitable. | B．Stable. | C．Promising. | D．Challenging. |
7 . Looking for a place to take a rest，sip a cup of coffee and have a furry companion? Welcome to animal-themed cafes.
In recent years，the combination of pets and catering has become incredibly popular in many cities throughout China. While many cafes started out offering the company of cats and dogs，others are expanding their range. Some cafes include animals like squirrels，raccoons and even capybaras.
In reviews，internet users have commented that their main reason for visiting these businesses is to interact closely with animals they have only seen from afar.
“The customers love animals. They are curious about these pets and want to raise one at home，but circumstances don’t allow it，”said pet cafe owner Tian Rui，Liu Jing，a Beijing resident who works in finance，loves pigs，but her parents would not endorse her getting one as a pet. The 24-year-old had to admire the animals through videos and images. But now，she can have close contact with an adorable pig every weekend in a pet cafe.
Also，these pet cafes serve as a shelter for those who find comfort in being around animals. “In this place，you can get close to the cute little ones in a very comfortable way without having to worry about safety and hygiene(卫生)—overall，it is an extremely comfortable experience，”said Zhao Ming from Tianjin，30，a frequent pet cafe visitor.
Animal lovers also expect the pet cafes to change people’s attitudes toward pets. Animals like ducks，pigs and sheep have been served as food for many years. People hardly see them as pets. But the pet cafes help shift their attitude from seeing them as playthings to regarding them as family members or close friends.
“Whether at home or in stores，these little animals are there for companionship and they bring warmth to our hearts. They care and understand just like family members. They give us much more than the love we give to them，”Zhao said.
1. Why do people visit pet cafes?| A．To pursue inner peace. | B．To appreciate animal images. |
| C．To experience a clean environment. | D．To have close contact with animals. |
| A．Believe in. | B．Approve of. | C．Prevent. | D．Suspect. |
| A．change our views of animals |
| B．teach us how to look after pets better |
| C．show us the importance of having pets |
| D．remind us to value our family and friends |
| A．Cafes Enjoy Great Popularity | B．Ideal Shelters for Lovely Animals |
| C．Animals Turn into Companions | D．Animal Lovers from Different Cities |
8 . A 17-year-old Bangladeshi boy has won this year’s International Children’s Peace Prize for his work to fight cyberbullying(网络欺凌)in his country.
The prize winner，Sadat Rahman，promised to keep fighting online abuse until it no longer exists. “The fight against cyberbullying is like a war，and in this war I am a fearless fighter，”Sadat Rahman said during a ceremony on November 13 in The Hague，the Netherlands. He added，“If everybody keeps supporting me，then together we will win this battle against cyberbullying. ”
Rahman developed a mobile phone application that provides education about online bullying and a way to report cases of it. He said he began his work on the project after hearing the story of a 15-year-old girl who took her own life as a result of cyberbullying. “I will not stop until were receive no more cases through the app，”Rahman said at the ceremony.
The award comes with a fund of over $118，000，which is invested by the KidsRights Foundation. The group chooses projects to support causes that ale closely linked to the winner’s work.
Past well-known winners of the prize include Pakistani human rights activist Malala Yousafzai and Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg. And the students who organized the March for Our Lives event in 2018 after a deadly mass shooting at their school in the American state of Florida also won the prize.
Yousafzai praised Rahman’s work during the ceremony. She spoke through video conferencing. “All children have the fight to be protected from violence no matter if it is physical or mental，offline or online，”she said. “Cyberbullying damages that fight. ”
1. What does Sadat Rahman devote himself to?| A．Battling online violence. | B．Helping poor children. |
| C．Being a brave fighter. | D．Removing school bullying. |
| A．People’s lack of education. | B．His own experience of being bullied. |
| C．A girl’s death from cyberbullying. | D．The wide use of mobile phone apps. |
| A．The March for Our Lives event. | B．Human rights activists in the world. |
| C．A horrible mass school shooting. | D．Some previous winners of the prize. |
| A．Rahman’s efforts have paid off. |
| B．Cyberbullying should be got rid of. |
| C．All children have the right to fight against violence. |
| D．Children are faced with physical and mental bullying. |
9 . Heritage on the Edge
In an effort to preserve some of the world’s most famous landmarks，Google has announced a new project to transform a few of the most endangered by climate change into interactive 3D models，just in case one or all is irreparably(不能恢复地)damaged in the coming decades.
Edinburgh Castle
Edinburgh Castle comprises 27 buildings on top of an extinct volcano. It was home to many kings and queens. But old roofs and rainwater management systems will become insufficient as they will be unable to deal with the level of storm water associated with extreme weather events. Besides，if temperatures continue to rise，the rate of decay(腐烂)will increase further.
Kilwa Kisiwani
Kilwa Kisiwani was a regional center of the medieval trading civilization along the East African Coast. Its permanent architecture included ports，Muslim buildings，and the unique“stone houses”. However，the drier weather and subsequently heavy rainfall is threatening the stability of the ruins，causing the worsening of this exposed heritage site.
Mosque City of Bagherat
The Mosque City of Bagherat was once a lost city. It has many Muslim buildings，bridges，roads and palaces. A recent report stressed the increasing impacts of sea level rise and changes in salinity(盐度)on this community. Increased salinity not only makes much of the water undrinkable but damages structures.
Chan Chan
Chan Chan was the capital city of Chimu empire，stretching for nearly a thousand kilometers along the coastline. The city planning reflects a strict political and social strategy. But site managers today face challenges in rainfall and droughts due to El Nino events and climate change that threaten to gradually wash the ancient city away.
1. What do we know about Edinburgh Castle?| A．It was built along the coast. | B．It is the largest castle in the world. |
| C．It is in danger of being washed away. | D．It used to be the home of royal families. |
| A．Water pollution. | B．Water’s becoming salty. |
| C．Water shortage. | D．Water’s being overused. |
| A．Temperature rises. | B．Volcanic eruptions. |
| C．Sea water. | D．Environmental damage. |
10 . I had moved to Japan for a long- term client consulting engagement. After a few days in a Tokyo hotel I moved to an apartment. After being moved in by my colleagues, it was time to get dinner. I found a pizza deliver flyer in my mailbox, and decided to simply order a pizza as. I might have the previous week in Manhattan. The phone call to Cali Pizza was easier than anticipated and while waiting for the pizza I set about unpacking.
Unfortunately, after 45 minutes no pizza. I figured that my “easy” call really wasn’t and that I would need to make alternate plans for dinner. While thinking about what to do next, my phone rang. It was Cali Pizza calling to say that they could not find my apartment based on the address that I had given them. Once it was determined that I had provided an incorrect address, the clerk on the phone asked me to describe what I could see from my window. After some back and forth they seemed satisfied that they knew where I was.
A few minutes later the pizza arrived, This is when my “customer delight” experience took over. First, the delivery person apologized repeatedly for being late, then he showed me the small blue metal plate on my building with the correct address, and finally he refused to accept payment for the pizza because he was late. Net result: one delighted customer (me), and frequent orders from Cali Pizza during my two-year stay in Japan.
Such “customer delight” experiences become stories I have used to illustrate what it means to truly delight a customer.
1. What did the writer do first after he moved in the apartment?| A．Deliver flyers. | B．Place an order. |
| C．Call his colleagues. | D．Set about unpacking. |
| A．The number on the flyer was inaccurate. |
| B．The clerk was unfamiliar with the address. |
| C．The wrier provided an inaccurate address. |
| D．The pizza was sent to a wrong address. |
| A．Disappeared. | B．Dominated. | C．Promoted. | D．Decreased. |
| A．It’s never easy to settle down in a new city. |
| B．A delayed delivery may result in good profit. |
| C．One can’t be too careful when placing an order. |
| D．A short-term loss of benefit may reward a lot. |
