1 . The Lake on Top of a Mountain

Imagine a lake as blue as the summer sky, surrounded by thousands of pine trees and towering mountains.    1    , but Lake Tahoe is a real place in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, along the border of California and Nevada.

People come during every season to enjoy Lake Tahoe. It is the perfect spot for camping, boating, fishing, biking, and hiking.    2    . Most of the small towns surrounding Lake Tahoe have lodge(集会处)where families can go to ski or snowboard. These holiday destinations are much more fun to stay at than the ones in other parts of the country.

    3    , but the area was popular long before California and Nevada were even states. Native Americans from the Washoe tribe(部落)traveled through the mountains and spent their summers at Lake Tahoe. In fact, the name Tahoe comes from a Washoe and meaning "big water". The Washoe were expert hunters who used the land and water for their food supply.    4    . The best one is about very large birdlike monster(怪物)that lived in the middle of the lake and ate people!

While people now use Lake Tahoe mostly for fun rather than survival, it is still important to keep the water and land clean. California and Nevada work together to make sure these natural resources are used wisely.    5    . There would be no place as beautiful or fun for a vacation as Lake Tahoe.

A．Few people know this place

B．It sounds like something from a storybook

C．They even created many tales about the lake

D．Thousands of people visit Lake Tahoe each year

E．However, Lake Tahoe is best known for its snow sports

F．They have excellent hunting skills and never farm the land

G．It would be terrible if the lake and mountains became severely polluted

2 . After spending a term in Spain, I have been trying to work out which common impressions on Spain have some truth in them and which don't.    1    

Spain is always warm and sunny. This is not true. The city I stayed in, which is in central Spain, often becomes colder than London in winter. However, the city receives little rain all year round and gets very hot in summer.    2    In Andalusia of southern Spain, for example, temperature can be cool but pleasant in winter, but becomes very high in summer.

The Spanish love to have fun.    3    The Spanish people I meet tend to be very warm and open. Spaniards love to celebrate life through different festivals throughout the year. As well as religious festivals, they celebrate others such as La Tomatina, a festival in Valencia where people throw tomatoes at each other.

    4    This is true. Both locals and tourists enjoy watching Flamenco shows just as much, especially in Andalusia. It is also possible to see them in Madrid and Barcelona, but they tend to be more for tourists. I recommend seeing a Flamenco show in Cadiz or Jerez de la Frontera. The flamenco in Cadiz takes on a more cheerful style. Maybe this is because the people of Cadiz live by the sea and have access to beautiful sandy beaches.

Spain is a fascinating country, in which you are sure to have lots of fun. I find that a lot of the common impressions on Spain hold some truth.    5    Spanish culture is very complex and the traditions and culture, as well as food and weather, can vary between regions.

A．Spain is famous for its Flamenco.

B．Here’s what I have discovered so far.

C．But the country is not limited to them.

D．I have seen a lot of evidence that this is true.

E．The following are correct impressions on Spain.

F．Southern Spain tends to be warmer than northern Spain.

G．Northern Spain is colder in summer and also colder in winter.

3 . Urbanization

Until relatively recently, the vast majority of human beings lived and died without ever seeing a city. The first city was probably founded no more than 5,500 years ago.    1    In fact, nearly everyone lived on farms or in tiny rural（乡村的）villages. It was not until the 20th century that Great Britain became the first urban society in history—a society in which the majority of people live in cities and do not farm for a living.

Britain was only the beginning.    2    The process of urbanization—the migration（迁徙）of people from the countryside to the city—was the result of modernization, which has rapidly transformed how people live and where they live.

In 1900, fewer than 40% of Americans lived in urban areas. Today, over 82% of Americans live in cities. Only about 2% live on farms.    3    

Large cities were impossible until agriculture became industrialized. Even in advanced agricultural societies, it took about ninety-five people on farms to feed five people in cities.    4    Until modern times, those living in cities were mainly the ruling elite（精英）and the servants, laborers and professionals who served them. Cities survived by taxing farmers and were limited in size by the amount of surplus food that the rural population produced and by the ability to move this surplus from farm to city.

Over the past two centuries, the Industrial Revolution has broken this balance between the city and the country.    5    Today, instead of needing ninety-five farmers to feed five city people, one American farmer is able to feed more than a hundred non-farmers.

A．That kept cities very small.

B．The rest live in small towns.

C．The effects of urban living on people should be considered.

D．Soon many other industrial nations became urban societies.

E．But even 200 years ago, only a few people could live in cities.

F．Modernization drew people to the cities and made farmers more productive.

G．Modem cities have destroyed social relations and the health of human beings.

4 . Ever since the University of Bologna in Haly was founded in 1088 as the first modern university, most people have associated great universities,with major cities.    1    

Colleges and universities in the U.S.,though, have followed a different pattern. To be sure, leading universities such as the University of Chicago and Columbia University in New York City call major urban centers home.    2    In some cases, the university is, for all practical

purposes, the whole town.

    3     Many early colleges and universities were founded by religious (宗教的) groups that sought to educate students far from the distractions of city life. When Harvard University was founded in 1636 by Congregationalist Church ministers, Cambridge, where the university is now located, was quite separate from Boston. Moreover, when the U.S. began building a network of public universities in the 1860s to bring agricultural and technical research and know-how to the westward- spreading frontier, most were located in small towns.     4    

Given the huge diversity of U.S. higher education, the message for international students shopping for a great university is doubled.    5    Don't be put off if you have never heard of the city or town where a school is located. Top-rated colleges and universities located in lesser

known places may amaze you in an unimaginable manner with their high quality and a significant number of their international students.

A．Bloomington is also a great college town.

B．Think the Sorbonne in Paris or Peking University.

C．Set your sights beyond the most well-known schools.

D．One reason: there were no major cities there at the time.

E．There was no better recipe for popularity than small campuses.

F．Part of the explanation for this lies in America's distinctive history.

G．But many are located in cities and towns most people have never heard of.

5 . In the middle of the Pacific Ocean lies the tiny island nation of Tuvalu，the fourth smallest country in the world. This group of four islands and five atolls (islands made from coral) is famous for its sandy beaches and turquoise (蓝绿色的) waters and has long been a popular tourist destination for nearby New Zealanders. However, the nation of Tuvalu is at risk of soon no longer existing; not because of war or political change, but because it will be covered by the rising ocean.

Tuvalu is experiencing the harmful effects of global warming. As global temperatures rise, so does the ocean temperature. Due to the scientific law of “thermal expansion,” when water heats it get bigger.     1     Most experts claim that the effects of climate change will make Tuvalu uninhabitable within the next 50 years. Problems are already emerging. As sea levels rise, ocean water containing high levels of salt is travelling further and further inland destroying the little amount of soil Tuvaluans have to grow crops.

Even before Tuvaluans began to suffer from the effects of climate change, lift on Tuvalu was tough.     2     Most of the land on an atoll is rock-hard arid any soil that exists on it is usually thin and poor for growing crops. The nation has always had to import food apart from fish.

More serious than Tuvalu’s lack of home-grown food has been its lack of drinking water.    3     Therefore, Tuvaluans depend almost entirely on rainwater for their water needs. Unfortunately, due to a geographical phenomenon known as La Nina, Tuvalu often suffers from long periods of drought. In autumn 2010, after seven months of no rain, the Prime Minister had to declare a state of emergency riot only because of a lack of drinking water, but also because the water left was polluted with cholera (霍乱)     4    

Tuvalu’s problems have led some of its 11, 000 inhabitants to consider migrating to Australia or New Zealand.    5     They know they’ll have to someday, but for as long as possible, they want to remain and make the world aware of what is happening to their homeland due to chimate change.

A．It was a desperate situation and, but for emergency shipments from New Zealand and Australia, many Tuvaluans would have died.

B．This is largely due to the geological makeup of atolls.

C．Unlike normal islands, atolls have no rivers or streams, which means that most of Tuvalu has no groundwater to use for drinking.

D．Tuvalu’s representatives demanded that nations should take a more responsible rote in reducing gas emissions.

E．Therefore, sea levels are rising and for low-lying Tuvalu, this spells disaster.

F．However, they ate not willing to abandon the land of their forefathers so easily.

G．And as a member of the United Nations, they are doing just that.

6 . History of Alaska State

The existence of mankind in Alaska can be traced back to 16, 000 B.C. to 10, 000 B.C., when the Paleolithic(旧石器时代) families crossed the Bering Land Bridge and formed settlements in the western part of Alaska. At this point of time, Alaska was inhabited by the Inuit tribes(部落) and American Indians.     1    

In the 18th century. the Russians began to regularly travel down to the Aleutian Islands, near the coastline of Alaska.     2     These expeditions began setting up permanent settlements and trading posts by the end of 1790s.

In some places, the Russian fur traders were able to establish very peaceful relations with the native tribes. However, in some places, the settlers and the tribes engaged in constant conflicts.     3     The Aleut population, however, was significantly wiped out, due to diseases that were brought by the Russians, against which they had no immunity.

    4     It was because the trade profits of the Russian settlements were very low and it was difficult to prevent British and Americans from coming to Alaska. The financial difficulties of Russia promoted the authorities to sell Alaska to the United States of America for $7, 200,000.

On October, 1867, the flag of the United States of America was raised for the first time in the history of Alaska. During the World War Il, three Aleutian Islands were occupied by the Japanese forces. Some of the villagers were taken to Japan as captives. The islands were regained by the United States forces in 1943.

Today, as a part of the United States of America, Alaska is considered to be one of the most beautiful states in the country.     5     Its beauty attracts visitors not only from within the United States but also from all over the world.

A．It is a favorite tourist destination.

B．The Russians never fully colonized Alaska.

C．Several expeditions were sent to claim the coasts.

D．The travelers were basically fur traders and hunters.

E．Even today, some of these tribes exist.

F．Britain started expanding its trade into the interiors of Alaska.

G．Fights were often seen between the Russians and the Aleut tribes.