2 . Travel Peru

Amazon Rainforest Tour

A short flight from Cusco takes you from the Andes into the Amazon rainforest. From there, you'll spend one day travelling by boat to your accommodation in the middle of the forest. You can then spend three days exploring the rainforest with a local guide and enjoying the plants and animals unique to the rainforest.

Machu Picchu Tour

This four-day walking tour will take you on amazing paths through the Andes Mountains on the way to the city of Machu Picchu. After reaching your destination, you will have a day to explore and be amazed by this ancient city. Especially amazing is the Incas' dry stone method of building Inca builders cut stones to exact sizes so that nothing was needed to hold walls together other than the perfect fit of the stones.

Cusco Tour

Spend four days enjoying the unique Spanish and local Indian culture high in the Andes at Cusco, the capital of the Inca Empire from the 13th until the 16th century. Stay in a local hotel, visit the museums, admire the architecture, enjoy the excellent local food, and go shopping at the local markets.

Lake Titicaca Tour

Enjoy the beautiful countryside as you spend a day driving along the new highway connecting Cusco to Lake Titicaca. There, a boat will take you to stay with a local Uros family on an island for three days. Both the island and the Uros homes are made of water plants from the lake.

1. What is scheduled on Machu Picchu Tour?

A．Cutting dry stones.	B．Fixing stone walls.
C．Exploring the ancient city.	D．Enjoying unique animals.

2. What seems to make the Uros homes special?

A．Water plants.	B．Lake Titicaca.
C．The local island.	D．The beautiful sight.

3. What do the four tours have in common?

A．They are in the rainforest.	B．They are on foot.
C．They have a local guide.	D．They last four days each.

3 . Why go to Madrid？

There may be a slight chill(寒冷) in the air, with temperatures staying around 15℃ in March, but Spain’s handsome capital is slowly starting to warm up. Even more attractive are the cultural events.

A new exhibition on the living and working spaces of Spain’s greatest artist, Picasso, has just opened in the studio at the Fundación Mapfre at Paseo de Recoletos 23. It runs until 11 May with rarely seen pieces borrowed from his family.

Later this summer, the 400th anniversary of the death of the Renaissance(文艺复兴) painter El Greco will be marked with an exciting exhibition at the Museo del Prado at Paseo del Prado from 24June to 5 October.

How to go?

The widest range of flights is offered by EasyJet—from Bristol, Edinburgh, Gatwick, Liverpool and Luton. British Airways and its sister airline Iberia combine forces from Heathrow and London City. Ryanair flies from Manchester and Stansted; Air Europa flies from Gatwick.

Barajas airport is 13km north-east of the city centre and is served by frequent trains on Metro line 8, but the shortest underground journey is a bit complex with at least one change at Nuevos Ministerios station and takes about 30 minutes. The fare to any station in the city centre is ∈4.50. The airport express bus runs every 15 to 35 minutes around the clock; ∈5 one way. It takes 40 minutes to reach the city centre. A taxi takes half the time. A flat rate of ∈30 covers most of central Madrid.

1. When will the exhibition about Picasso close?

A．On 23 March.

B．On 11 May.

C．On 24June.

D．On 5 October.

2. Which airline operates flights from Manchester to Madrid?

A．EasyJet.

B．Ryanair.

C．Air Europa.

D．British Airways.

3. What is the fastest way to reach central Madrid from Barajas airport?

A．Take a taxi.

B．Take a city bus.

C．Take Metro line 8.

D．Take the airport express bus.

4 . Although it is difficult to make direct year-to-year comparisons because of increase in viewing on digital devices, the trend over the past decade is clear in numerous studies, including the Nielsen ratings. The average age of those who watch nationally televised Major League Baseball games has been _____ these years. Asked in a survey whether they _____ baseball, nearly two-thirds of those ages 18 to 36 said no.

Michael Haupert, a professor of economics at the University of Wisconsin ----la Crosse who studies baseball as a business, explains why many young people might be _____ by what to an older and more knowledgeable fan is one of the most exciting experiences in sports: a no-hitter. ” Failure is more ______ than success,” he says. ”If my students get a third of the answers right on their test, they fail. However, if a ballplayer gets a hit a third of the time, he’s often one of the _____ .” But watch an NBA game for 15 seconds, and you will likely see one team score.

It is not surprising that ______ the length of games----about three hours in recent years-----and increasing the pace of action has become a subject of discussion among those who love baseball. MLB commissioner Rob Manfred is strongly ______ of both. For the 2018 season, the league issued a set of new rules designed to do just that. Mound visits are limited. A timer countdown is designed to shorten the break between innings(局).

No one knows if any of these changes will significantly shorten games. According to MLB, the average length of a nine-inning outing this season has been three hours---about five minutes shorter than the 2017 average, itself the longest mean on record.

All of those proposed changes seem to ______ the point. I interviewed at least 100 semi-fans in their late teens and early 20s for my recent book. All considered themselves fans to some degree, though they ______   watched more than snatches—on iPads or smartphones. They told me it made no difference whether a game lasted two or three hours: they would not pay attention for _____ amount of time.

The historic May 14 Supreme Court decision allowing all states to legalize sports betting could have an impact on all this. More people will soon be able to gamble on sports while watching a game on their couch. But whether ______ gambling will attract more young people to baseball is a huge unknown. Many already gamble, both legally and illegally, on fantasy sports, but legalization will provide yet another ______ during games in real time. Will some states allow betting reports in broadcasts? Will it make the young more likely to bet on baseball than on other sports? Stay tuned.

I don’t know what will hook young people on baseball. But abandoning the game’s unique selling proposition---the timelessness that provides both suspense and great conversationhe educated fan -----is not the ______ . Baseball, Clark told me, is like a game of chess---and too many ______ - changes might turn it into something “more similar to a game of checkers.” Baseball may survive in spite of its challenges, precisely because it stands out and stands up against the short ______ spans that negatively affect every aspect of our culture, including politics and education. As Casey Stengel is reported to have said,” Never make predictions, especially about the future. ”

1.

A．arising

B．declining

C．varying

D．rising

2.

A．followed

B．abandoned

C．secured

D．played

3.

A．Held up

B．taken up

C．picked up

D．fed up

4.

A．honorable

B．common

C．acceptable

D．worthwhile

5.

A．stars

B．losers

C．hitters

D．winners

6.

A．decreasing

B．extending

C．increasing

D．balancing

7.

A．disapproving

B．capable

C．supportive

D．independent

8.

A．miss

B．reach

C．deny

D．clarify

9.

A．frequently

B．sometimes

C．rarely

D．typically

10.

A．excessive

B．specific

C．either

D．total

11.

A．risky

B．organized

C．addictive

D．easy

12.

A．distraction

B．appeal

C．pastime

D．channel

13.

A．inspiration

B．answer

C．achievement

D．recreation

14.

A．overwhelming

B．simplifying

C．sweeping

D．underlying

15.

A．information

B．time

C．memory

D．attention