1 . Top Wonders of the World
From India to Rome, these sights will inspire your next historical vacation.
Taj Mahal
The Taj Mahal was built by Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his wife Mumtaz Mahal. Constructed from 1632 to 1648, the property covers 42 acres, including its beautiful gardens.
Best time to go: Late spring and early summer in this part of India has often severe heat. Then come monsoons. November to February is your best chance for pleasant weather. The sunrises here are highly admired.
The Great Wall
The Great Wall of China is the world’s longest wall and one of the most famous landmarks in China. Dating back to about 700 BCE, it stretches over 13,000 miles and was designed to protect the country from invaders.
Best time to go: Plan for a spring or fall trip when the weather is nicer and fewer people visit. Summertime is often hot and crowded, and winter can be extremely cold in northern China.
Petra
Located in the Kingdom of Jordan, Petra was built directly into the cliffside around 312 BCE by the Nabataeans. The city includes temples, tombs, and its most well-known building — the Treasury.
Best time to go: Summer can get very hot in Jordan, and winter is much colder than you may realize. Weatherwise, aim for spring or fall.
The Colosseum
The Colosseum remains Rome’s top attraction. Built in the first century by Emperor Vespasian, the massive theater spans 620 by 513 feet, which would hold 80,000 people.
Best time to go: You’ll find fewer tourists there during Rome’s low season (winter), weekdays and during the opening hour or near closing time. If you show up in summer at midday, it’s going to be hot!
1. What’s the best time to travel to Taj Mahal?| A．March. | B．July. | C．October. | D．December. |
| A．Taj Mahal. | B．The Great Wall. | C．Petra. | D．The Colosseum. |
| A．In a research paper. | B．In a travel brochure. |
| C．In a science magazine. | D．In a geography textbook. |
2 . English is the most widely spoken language in the world. And of the roughly 1.5 billion speakers globally, the vast majority speak it as a second language. So where are the world’s best non-native English speakers? According to a new report by EF Education First, an international education company, Northern Europeans are the most fluent. Middle Easterners are the least proficient (精通的).
The index (指数) is based on the results of a free online test taken by 2.3 million volunteers in 100 countries. Nearly six in ten of this year’s test-takers were female. Women have always performed better than men, but this year men closed the gap somewhat.
In Europe, the powerhouse economies perform surprisingly badly: only Germany makes the top place of “very high proficiency” countries. France is next, while Spain and Italy are continuously falling behind. A study by a Spanish research institute reported the bad news: 60% of adults say they speak no English at all. The fact that Spanish is a global language in its own right (the language declares 400 million native speakers) is probably the cause. If you speak Danish, you need another language to take part in global culture; speaking French or Spanish (or Arabic) means hundreds of millions of people to talk to without English.
Asia is the region of greatest diversity (多样性). Only Singapore makes the top level, but the Philippines, Malaysia, and India are not far behind. China is further back but still in the second level, a few places ahead of Japan. Struggling in the bottom places are a group of South-East and Central Asian countries like Cambodia and Kyrgyzstan. This relates with another factor: the company repeatedly finds that English skills are highly related with connections and openness to the rest of the world.
1. Which is the best title for the text?| A．Where are the world’s most non-native English speakers? |
| B．Where are the fewest non-native English speakers? |
| C．Where are the world’s best non-native English speakers? |
| D．Where are the last non-native English speakers? |
| A．Half of this year’s test-takers were female. |
| B．Nearly 1.38 million of this year’s test-takers were female. |
| C．Women and men equally performed this year. |
| D．The gap between female and male is getting close year by year. |
| A．Spanish is a global language itself. | B．400 million Spanish speak English. |
| C．Spanish is easy to understand. | D．English fails to attract them. |
| A．Asia is the region with the best non-native English speakers. |
| B．China is the second place with the best non-native English speakers. |
| C．Countries in South-East and Central Asian are less open in Asia. |
| D．Countries in South-West and Central Asian line in the bottom places. |
3 . Rainforests are home to a rich variety of medicinal plants, food, birds and animals. Can you believe that a single bush（灌木丛）in the Amazon may have more species of ants than the whole of Britain! About 480 varieties of trees may be found in just one hectare of rainforest.
Rainforests are the lungs of the planet-storing vast quantities of carbon dioxide and producing a significant amount of the world's oxygen. Rainforests have their own perfect system for ensuring their own survival; the tall trees make a canopy（树冠层）of branches and leaves which protect themselves, smaller plants, and the forest animals from heavy rain, intense dry heat from the sun and strong winds.
Amazingly, the trees grow in such a way that their leaves and branches, although close together, never actually touch those of another tree. Scientists think this is the plants' way to prevent the spread of any tree diseases and make life more difficult for leaf-eating insects like caterpillars. To survive in the forest, animals must climb, jump or fly across the gaps. The ground floor of the forest is not all tangled leaves and bushes, like in films, but is actually fairly clear. It is where dead leaves turn into food for the trees and other forest life.
They are not called rainforests for nothing! Rainforests can generate 75%of their own rain. At least 80 inches of rain a year is normal-and in some areas there may be as much as 430 inches of rain annually. This is real rain-your umbrella may protect you in a shower, but it won't keep you dry if there is a full rainstorm. In just two hours, streams can rise ten to twenty feet. The humidity（湿气）of large rainforests contributes to the formation of rainclouds that may travel to other countries in need of rain.
1. What can we learn about rainforests from the first paragraph?| A．They produce oxygen. | B．They cover a vast area. |
| C．They are well managed. | D．They are rich in wildlife. |
| A．Heavy rains | B．Big trees. |
| C．Small plants. | D．Forest animals. |
| A．For more sunlight. | B．For more growing space. |
| C．For self-protection. | D．For the detection of insects. |
| A．Life-Giving Rainforests | B．The Law of the Jungle |
| C．Animals in the Amazon | D．Weather in Rainforests |
4 . There is little rain in desert. Because deserts are so dry, they have no “quilt” to help stop the soil from going away. As a result, they may get very hot during the day with the sun shining, but don’t hold the heat overnight. Many deserts can quickly get cold once the sun goes down. Some deserts can reach temperatures of over 100 degrees F during the day and then drop below freezing (32 degrees F) during the night.
The largest hot and dry desert in the world is the Sahara Desert in Northern Africa. The Sahara is a sandy desert with great sand hills. It covers over 3 million square miles of Africa. Other large deserts include the Arabian Desert in the Middle East, the Gobi Desert in Northern China and Mongolia, and Kalahari Desert in Africa.
Animals that live in the desert are also used to needing little water. Many get all the water they need from the food they eat. Other animals keep water that they can use later. The camel stores up fat in its hump while other animals keep something they need in their tails.
Only certain types of plants can live in the terrible environment of the desert. You won’t see a lot of tall trees in the desert. Most plants have a way to keep water in their leaves, or trunks so they can live a long time without water.
Now deserts cover around 20% of the world’s land, but they are growing. This is called desertification and is caused by different reasons including human activities. The Sahara Desert is growing larger and larger each year. What should we do with it ?
1. How is the weather during the night in the desert?| A．Hot. | B．Cold. |
| C．Cool. | D．Sunny. |
| A．In its hump. | B．In its stomach. |
| C．In its tail. | D．In its body. |
| A．Because of few people there. | B．Because of the sun shining. |
| C．Because of the terrible environment. | D．Because there are no trees there. |
| A．One fifth. | B．Less than 10%. |
| C．Two fifths. | D．Three fourths. |
