1 . The best way to really see a city is to explore it slowly by walking around. It’s easy, healthy, and also benefits the environment. When on foot, you can do as the locals do. Here’s what you can find under your own steam.
Best for families: Planetenweg, Zurich
The 2,854 ft-tall, forest-covered peak that towers from Zurich’s doorstep is the envy of every European city. To get there, try the four-mile, two-hour-long route on Planetenweg. This family-friendly wander cuts in and out of spruce forests and gives you a proper flavour of being up in the mountains without ever actually leaving the city.
Best for arty vistas: Ekebergparken, Oslo
Come at sunrise or sunset, when the sky blazes above shining fjords (峡湾) and transforms the dark, rocky islands into shadows, and you can see why Oslo’s Ekebergparken inspired Munch to paint The Scream. Starting at the Ekebergparken Museum, the two-mile sculpture trail (小道) winds through pine, fir and ash forest, where plenty of phenomenal works of art await — Dalí’s surrealist Venus de Milo with Drawers and Damien Hirst’s Anatomy of an Angel among them.
Best for getting off the beaten track: Vienna Ugly, Vienna
The guided walks led by locals across Vienna dive into neighbourhoods that are off the usual tourist trail. Among them is Vienna Ugly, a 2.5-hour wander through Leopoldstadt and Innere Stadt. At the end of the tour, you’ll vote on which of the city’s buildings are the ugliest. Tours from £9.
Best for architecture: Ørestad, Copenhagen
Copenhagen rode high as World Capital of Architecture 2023. A guided walk with the Danish Architecture Center throw you in at the architectural deep end for 2.5 hours, taking you to Copenhagen’s Ørestad neighbourhood on the island of Amager. From £18.
1. What attracts travelers to Planetenweg?| A．Mountains. | B．Local flavour. | C．Art works. | D．Architecture. |
| A．Planetenweg, Zurich, | B．Ekebergparken, Oslo. |
| C．Vienna Ugly, Vienna. | D．Ørestad, Copenhagen. |
| A．They are free of charge. | B．They feature a voting activity. |
| C．They are guided tours. | D．They go deep into the forests. |
2 . Los Angeles is home to a popular cycling culture. The following bike shops will help you see the city in a whole new light.
Los Angeles Bike Academy
Los Angeles Bike Academy is a bike shop with a critical mission: Provide resources and community for local underserved youth. Its initiative is its Earn-a-Bike program, where students spend time in the shop learning the basics of bike maintenance and running a store, and they graduate with their own bike. LABA also forms competitive cycling teams that race all around the country.
The Cub House
It’s a bike shop, a plant store and a nice place to wander through. It has something for everyone. Here you can play a game of ping-pong on the outdoor table, head into the mini greenhouse for a delicate plant, or just admire the vintage (老式的) cycling clothes hung on the walls. Finally, make sure to swing by the Cub House for the L. A. Invitational, a weekend party featuring multiple bike rides and a vintage car and bike show outside the store.
Frank’s
Some of the wildest bikes in L. A. are rolling out of Frank’s. The house specialty here is BMX, specifically luxury models with large 29-inch wheels. These bikes are as much fun to look at as they are to ride. Since 1992, Frank’s has found a business opportunity for itself as a destination for BMX builds and hard-to-find parts. The display counter has enough attractions to match a jewelry store.
The Bicycle Stand
This spacious store features classic vintage bikes. It’s worth making a trip to this store just to see their amazing collection. The store also specializes in vintage bike repainting and restorations. Besides, the Bicycle Stand team works on all kinds of rides, and the shop has a variety of refurbished (翻新的), ready-to-ride bikes for sale.
1. What is special about Los Angeles Bike Academy?| A．It aims at repairing local bikes. |
| B．It holds national cycling competitions. |
| C．It serves as a community for disabled youth. |
| D．It offers a program for students to earn a bike. |
| A．Los Angeles Bike Academy. | B．The Cub House. |
| C．Frank’s. | D．The Bicycle Stand. |
| A．To discuss benefits of riding. | B．To explain how bike shops work. |
| C．To promote bike shops in L. A. | D．To introduce a riding organization. |
3 . Watching movies is great for improving your English. And if you choose films that you enjoy watching, you’ll learn English without even realising it! Here are four movies that are perfect for English learners.
Charlotte’s Web (2006)Story: The power of friendship between a pig(Wilbur)and a spider(Charlotte).
The live-action film, a fine adaptation of E. B. White’s book, will entertain the young audience with cute talking animals and easy-to-follow language. Adults will also be charmed by heartwarming good time and learn to look at the world with curiosity and joy.
Toy Story(1995)Story: A cartoon film about toys that come to life when children and adults aren’t around.
The storylines are clear and the characters use simple but useful language. Though it’s mainly for kids, Toy Story doesn’t feel childish. The story and jokes also attracted adults, so parents would be more likely to take their children to see the film.
Charlie & the Chocolate Factory (1971)Story: Things go wrong when a group of kids get a free tour of Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory.
This film is also great for English learners as it is generally easy to follow. And you’ll hear some extracts(选段) from English literature because Willy often quotes well-known writers such as Oscar Wilde and Shakespeare.
The Sound of Music(1965)Story: A young woman (Maria) becomes the nanny for seven children in a house in the Austrian Alps.
The Sound of Music is a musical and listening to music is one of the best ways to improve your English. Many of the film’s songs have become classics because they’re so catchy.
1. Which movie attracts cartoon lovers most?| A．Charlotte’s Web(2006). | B．Toy Story(1995). |
| C．Charlie & the Chocolate Factory(1971). | D．The Sound of Music(1965). |
| A．They are preferred by housewives. | B．They are musicals. |
| C．They are based on classic works. | D．They have children characters. |
| A．A music blog. | B．A language magazine. |
| C．A movie poster. | D．A toy advertisement. |
4 . There are a few benefits to users from the cloud besides giving you peace of mind if you lose your phone. You can access your data anytime, anywhere if you’re connected to the Internet. And you don’t have to worry about using up all of the storage on your hard drive, meaning you might not have to pay as much for a device that comes with a ton of storage.
You’ve probably heard of the two biggest names in the market, Amazon Web Services, known as AWS, and Microsoft Azure, IBM, Google and Alibaba are also big players when it comes to providing cloud services.
Many cloud services are based on a subscription pricing model. That means users pay, for example, a monthly fee for cloud services and they can scale up or down as needed. And cloud providers are cashing in. AWS takes up about 12 percent of Amazon’s quarterly sales, but it makes more than half of the company’s operating income.
Before we get too excited about the cloud, let’s take a step back and look at some of the risks. One obvious concern, if all of our data is online, what happens when the Internet goes down? That’s what happened in 2013 when an AWS power cut took down Instagram, Vine and Airbub.
Hacker attacks are another big risk with research showing around one-fifth of all files in the cloud contain sensitive data.
Finally, it can be difficult for consumers and businesses to switch between different cloud companies. I might have a hard time syncing my iCloud and Google Drive accounts. That can give some big companies that are already making big money on the cloud a lot of power over our data.
1. Which of the following can replace the underlined word “access” in Paragraph 1?| A．Get. | B．Show. | C．Understand. | D．Enter. |
| A．Instagram. | B．Alibaba. | C．Airbub. | D．Vine. |
| A．Cloud providers offer services at their own cost. |
| B．All the cloud services must be ordered ahead of time. |
| C．AWS gains over 50%of Amazon’s operating income. |
| D．Customers must pay a regular fixed fee for cloud services. |
| A．what the cloud is | B．how the cloud works |
| C．the advantage over disadvantage of the cloud | D．the advantage and disadvantage of the cloud |
5 . Mary Shelley bends over her latest creation. Although the carving is only half complete, the image of a waitress holding a plate of eggs comes out from the board. Of Shelley’s nearly seven hundred carvings, many show scenes with cows on farms and people in restaurants.
From memories to carvings
“My work is a visual diary, ” Shelley says. “The carvings describe things I have experienced and felt at different times in my life.”
Every one of her carvings tells a story. Many of the stories in Shelley’s woodcarvings come from memories of her childhood in a rural (乡村的) area outside of Doylestown, Pennsylvania. Shelley’s family managed a small farm. Mary was a serious girl who spent a lot of time raising animals, exploring outdoors, and reading. Although Shelley never felt especially artistic as a child, there was always an art project in the works in the Shelley household. Her grandmother painted. Her father was a commercial artist, who drew and wrote to make a living.
______
Shelley attended Cornell University and hoped to become a writer, but an unusual present took her in another direction. At age 23, she received a gift her father had made-a woodcarving of her as a girl on the farm. The gift caught her interest. After gathering boards from a building site where she worked as a carpenter, Shelley bought some tools and taught herself to carve.
Shelley soon realized that she loved the slow, thoughtful process of working with wood and painting. “A carving is like a jigsaw puzzle (拼图游戏),” she explains. “I didn’t know how it would all fit together, but the process of solving the puzzle kept me going.”
The Shelley style
Early in her career, people hired Shelley to carve special pieces that took four or five weeks to complete. The money she received motivated her to try more complicated scenes created by carving deeper in the wood. Over time, Shelley’s art began to have its own style. In a typical Shelley woodcarving, some objects seem to reach out of the frame while others drop back, creating a feeling of depth.
1. What can we infer from the “From memories to carvings” part?| A．Art is from but beyond life. | B．Life is short and art is long. |
| C．It is great art to laugh at your own misfortune. | D．Knowledge without practice makes but half an artist |
| A．Life in School | B．A Dream Come True |
| C．A Life-Changing Gift | D．Jigsaw Puzzles and Carving |
| A．The dream to be an artist in her childhood. | B．Her father’s low-relief carving for her. |
| C．The rugs hooked by her grandmother. | D．Her school life in Cornell University. |
| A．is very popular | B．is very expensive |
| C．has simple scenes | D．creates a feeling of depth |
6 . Yunnan offers exciting experiences of unique customs. If you are already planning to visit Yunnan, see our festival tours.
The Torch (火把) Festival
Date: July /August (days 24 to 26 of the sixth lunar month)
Location: Lijiang
It is a traditional festival among the Yi, Naxi, and Bai minority (少数民族) groups. According to the ancient rule of the Naxi people, the Torch Festival should last three days, and every family should light a big torch in front of their doors for the three days.
Recommended Tour: 3-Day Ancient Lijiang Tour
The Water Splashing (泼酒) Festival
Date: April 13 to 15
Location: Xishuangbanna
It is the most important festival observed by the Dai people of Xishuangbanna in southen Yunnan. It involves splashing water, lantern floating and other joyful activities.
Recommended tour: 6-Day Xishaungbanna Tour
The Horse Race Festival
Date: May/June (5th of the fifth lunar month)
Location: Shangri-la
Falling on the same date as the Dragon Boat Festival, it is the biggest gathering of Tibetans in Yunnan and usually lasts about 3 days. During the celebrations, traditional performances and competitions like horse racing and wrestling (摔跤) will beheld.
Recommended tour: 8-Day Yunnan Tour of the Nu River and Tengchong
The Third Month Fair of the Bai Group
Date: April /May(days 15 to 21 of the third lunar month)
Location: Dali
It is one of the most important festivals celebrated by the Bai people in Dali in western Yunnan. During the March Fair, the streets of Dali Ancient Town are packed with people selling amazing minority items.
Recommended tour: 6-Day Yunnan Minorities Tour
1. What do the Torch Festival and the Water Splashing Festival have in common?| A．The date. | B．The location. |
| C．The lasting time | D．The celebratory events. |
| A．The Torch Festival. | B．The Water Splashing Festival. |
| C．The Horse Race Festival. | D．The Third Month Fair of the Bai Group. |
| A．A business research. | B．A newspaper report. |
| C．An educational magazine. | D．An advertising leaflet. |
7 . UNESCO World Heritage Sites were created to celebrate and safeguard the most unique places around the world. Below are my 4 favorite UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
Cinque Terre, Italy
With cars banned here, you’ll really get to feel the unique history and character of the Cinque Terre’s five centuries-old coastal villages. The breathtaking views of harbors far below the wild coastline along with the rich colors will definitely make it a memorable holiday.
Angkor Wat, Cambodia
Angkor Wat is the world’s largest religious (宗教的) monument and it contains impressive remains from the Khmer Empire (9th to 15th century). The site has dozens of iconic temples like Ta Prohm (a magnificent temple ruin hidden in the jungle). Hosting more than two million visitors annually, this artistic masterpiece is a must-see site.
Petra, Jordan
Petra’s rock-cut architecture has contributed to its nickname, the Rose City, based on the color of the stone it was carved from. The delicate constructions of temples and tombs along with the remains of churches and temples are only a couple of reasons why this world-famous site is a must-visit destination.
Yellowstone National Park, USA
Yellowstone’s vast wilderness includes mountain ranges, lakes and waterfalls. One of the main reasons for tourists to visit Yellowstone is to observe the amazing wildlife like grizzly bear, bison, bighorn sheep wander the plains and valleys.
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1. Where can tourists enjoy beautiful harbor views?| A．In Cinque Terre. | B．In Angkor Wat. |
| C．In Petra. | D．In Yellowstone National Park. |
| A．Colorful stones. | B．Religious relics. |
| C．Coastal villages. | D．Amazing wildlife. |
| A．A news report. | B．A wildlife brochure. |
| C．A travel blog. | D．An economic magazine. |
8 . Food festivals are a common occurrence in the UK and take place in all sorts of places and at all sorts of times. Whatever your taste, there’s a food festival to match — no matter how specialized.
1. Meatopia
This three-day, London-based festival takes place at the end of August and is a meat lover’s paradise. In addition to a range of legally sourced meat products, from juicy burgers to tender steaks, attendees can listen to live music, watch butchery demonstrations, and attend informal meat-based workshops.
2. The National Honey Show
If you have a sweet tooth, then it could be that the National Honey Show, which started in 1921 and is the largest event of its kind, is the place for you to be. This three-day event attracts many local entries who showcase their sweet golden honey, some of which is sold globally.
3. The Orange Sauce Festival
Have you heard about a festival that is devoted only to orange sauce? Held in Cumbria, this sweet, fragrant festival has been running for 3 years. What attracts people most is a competition to find the best homemade orange sauce. There are thousands of participants from over 30 different countries across the globe, bringing their local snacks to share here.
4. The Ginger and Spice Festival
If you’d prefer something with a little more kick to it, then you could attend The Ginger (姜) and Spice Festival held in Market Drayton. Unlike other food festivals, it celebrates its town’s historic connection to Robert Clive, who returned from India with ginger. Because of this, they specialize in baking gingerbread, but also sell a range of traditional spices from mild to hot.
1. What do Meatopia and the National Honey Show have in common?| A．Both of them last for three days. | B．Both of them hold workshops. |
| C．Both of them originated from London. | D．Both of them have a long history. |
| A．The Meatopia. | B．The Ginger and Spice Festival. |
| C．The National Honey Show. | D．The Orange Sauce Festival. |
| A．It has something to do with a historic figure. |
| B．The ginger used in the festival is from India. |
| C．It sells spicy food. |
| D．The food is cooked by Robert Clive. |
Reviewer Anna Martino, age 13
Breeze has released Pedal Street after a two-year wait, in spite of pressure from fans and the record company. Fans had been told to expect something special and this is a masterpiece. This band’s music is exceptional. The song lyrics (歌词) express emotions that are felt by everybody, focusing on topics other artists seem to prefer not to sing about. Breeze uses an interesting mix of styles including classical strings (弦乐器) and modern guitar riffs (重复段).
Thrill by Skydiggers
Reviewer Alexis Walker, age 14
Skydiggers, a Canadian rock group, have released the album Thrill, which was recorded over two years. Although some tunes are difficult to tell apart from each other in the sense that Suzi Tarrant’s voice doesn’t vary from song to song, the album will soon be permanently fixed on your playlist.
Silver Honeybees by Lena and the Lantanas
Reviewer Sam Roberts, age 16
Lena has been allowed to sing all types of songs here in order to really show what she can do. And in case you think that her new far-ranging style may not be attractive to a youthful teenage fan base, remember that her teen audience is sure to grow along with her as she makes more music. While some bands include good beats but have meaningless lyrics that make you feel slightly sick, or sing songs with meaningful words yet make a terrible sound, the Lantanas are different and a rare find.
Hungry Rock by April Sapa
Reviewer Julie Zhang, age 14
The album covers everything a teenager can feel: love, hate, acceptance and even boredom. It is an excellent combination of easy listening, even though there are several songs that could easily have been left out, resulting in a better album overall.
1. What can we learn about Pedal Street?| A．It was a let-down for fans. | B．It was prepared in a short time. |
| C．It is emotional and unusual. | D．It mainly consists of rock music. |
| A．It attracts people of all ages. | B．It has both good words and sounds. |
| C．It covers several types of music. | D．It makes you feel heartbroken. |
| A．To introduce the albums. | B．To clarify a concept. |
| C．To persuade the audience. | D．To appeal the customers. |
10 . For some of us, the excitement of seeing a performance at a European opera house is just not enough. Fortunately, opera houses throughout Europe open their backstage doors to the public. Take advantage of these opportunities to look behind the scenes of some of the world’s great opera houses.
Teatro alia Scala Opera House Tours—Milan
Discover the activities within the opera house on a backstage tour of the La Scala theater in Milan, The tour also includes an overview of the history of the theater and guides you through the auditorium (观众席) and the theater boxes.
Paris Opera House Tours—Paris
While it is possible to walk around the public areas of the beautiful Paris Opera House on your own, guided tours are also offered and are led by an English-speaking guide. During the 90-minute tour, you will learn about the theater’s history and its architecture. You will also have an opportunity to visit the grand staircase.
Royal Opera House Tours—London
It is one of the most comprehensive of the opera house tours in Europe. The guide at the Royal Opera House takes you through sections of the backstage area to the props (道具) room, where workers build the sets, the costume shop and the ballet studios. There’s a chance that you will even catch the ballet dancers backstage in practice in their big ballet studio.
La Fenice Opera House Tours —Venice
Teatro La Fenice in Venice offers a couple of options for visitors. A self-guided tour of the beautiful halls and grounds with a voice guide is available at the box office. Guided tours are also available with an expert that will explain the history of the opera house from its origins to its rebuilding.
1. What do the above four opera houses have in common?| A．They all offer free guided tours to visitors. |
| B．They all open backstage areas to the public. |
| C．They are all free to the public. |
| D．They are all located in France. |
| A．The Teatro alia Scala Opera House | B．The Paris Opera House |
| C．The Royal Opera House | D．The La Fenice Opera House |
| A．In a sports magazine | B．In an adventure novel |
| C．In a history book | D．On a culture website |
