1 . 4 Best Places to Travel in 2023

2023 is the year when travel returns in a big way. To get you started, we’ve rounded up some of the best places to travel in 2023. All you need to do is pick the place that appeals to you.

Copenhagen

With its fantastic houses, clean streets and colorful architecture, Copenhagen is regarded as the most livable city on the earth. Named the World Capital of Architecture for 2023, Copenhagen will offer a series of major artistic events and programs sure to delight architects and design lovers.

Bhutan

For travelers with a sense of adventure and a love of discovery, Bhutan has always been a must-go destination. In 2023, travelers can once again explore the Trans Bhutan Trail, which runs 250 miles from east to west, offering visits to the century-old communities along the journey. The trail spans (横跨)18 major bridges and national parks and connects more than 400 historic and cultural sites.

Bordeaux

The coming years will be sporty in the historical wine region of Bordeaux in France. In 2023, the city will host the Rugby World Cup, an intense and stressful game. Beyond sports, Bordeaux is one of the favorite historical cities, with more than 350 structures that are either nationally or regionally listed as historical monuments.

Namibia

Wildlife and adventure lovers looking for a unique path in African Safari trips should head straight to Namibia in 2023 — this country in southern Africa is the perfect place to travel to reconnect with nature and escape the modern stresses of life. On the wildlife front, you may see lions along with giraffes and elephants.

1. What is Copenhagen well-known for?

A．The natural landscape.	B．The adventure travel.
C．Eye-catching architecture.	D．Famous art designers.

2. What can you visit on the Trans Bhutan Trail?

A．Modern communities.	B．Cultural relics.
C．Historical wine regions.	D．National monuments.

3. Which place attracts those who want to be free from stressful city life?

A．Copenhagen.

B．Bhutan.

C．Bordeaux.

D．Namibia.

2 . For thousands of years, Chinese writers have travelled all over the country to take down notes about the geographical conditions of each city. Among them, well-known Chinese geographer and writer Li Daoyuan, in the Northern Wei Dynasty (386-534), composed his book, Commentary on the Water Classics, after studying the original literary version, Water Classics. He later expanded the river records to 1, 252 from the original 137.

The book is now being studied again by Professor Li Xiaojie and his team from Fudan University. They have been using drawing software and 3D modelling to recreate the waterway situations on a map based on the book description. So far, they have completed research on four rivers.

“Ancient people knew really well how to apply the power of nature to technical considerations,”Li said, giving the example of Qianjin’e, one of the most famous ancient water conservation projects in Luoyang, Henan. In order to lead the river into the city for irrigation (灌溉) in ancient Luoyang, the officials built a canal branch by separating a northwest-southeast river. However, the canal water wasn't enough to support the citizens in dry seasons. To solve that, on the northern side of the canal branch, the officials built a reservoir (水库) and a channel to lead the water to the canal branch, where the waterways would converge and flow together to the city.

In Commentary on the Water Classics, a total of 2, 800 cities are recorded with details. Still, the process of recreation takes much effort. After doing a lot of text analysis and fieldwork, the team has gradually created the model with 3D modelling software based on repeated deductions (推论).

For Professor Li, the book is not only a record of the natural landscape over 1, 000 years ago, but also a detailed description of humanity and culture and a treasure for today’s reference.

1. What can we learn about the book Commentary on the Water Classics?

A．It has been out of date.	B．It explains 3D modelling.
C．It keeps records of 137 rivers.	D．It is based on previous studies.

2. What does the underlined word “converge” in paragraph 3 mean?

A．Join.

B．Pass.

C．Cross.

D．Begin.

3. What does paragraph 4 mainly tell us about model recreation?

A．Its major problems.	B．Its detailed analysis.
C．Its complex process.	D．Its successful application.

4. Which of the following can be the best title for the text?

A．3D Technology Fuels Modern Research

B．Ancient Classics Inspire Modern Research

C．An Effective Approach to Model Recreation

D．A Famous Writer of Chinese Ancient Classics

4 . A bridge is a structure constructed to connect two places without blocking the way beneath it. Below are four famous bridges in the world.

Bridge of Sighs

The Bridge of Sighs is in Venice, Italy, which was designed by Antonio Contino. The bridge’s construction was begun in 1600 and completed in 1603. The bridge was supposed to be the last view for prisoners, who would sigh at the beauty of Venice, before being taken to prison. That is why it is called the Bridge of Sighs.

Tsing Ma Bridge

The bridge is named after the two islands it connects-Ma Wan and Tsing Yi in Hong Kong. It has both a roadway and a railway and is the longest suspension bridge (悬索桥) with two decks. The bridge is 4518 feet long and 676 feet tall, which was designed by Mott MacDonald. The construction was begun in 1992 and completed in 1997.

Tower Bridge

The Tower Bridge is situated in London, which is a combination of the drawbridge (开合桥) and suspension bridge. Designed by Horace Jones and John Wolfe Barry, it was built between 1886 and 1894. The bridge stretches across the River Thames near the Tower of London. The drawbridge is drawn about 1,000 times a year.

Golden Gate Bridge

The Golden Gate Bridge joins the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay, whose chief designer was Jbseph Strauss. The bridge has been named the most beautiful and most photographed bridge in the world. It is 8,981 feet long, 746 feet tall and 90 feet wide. Construction of the bridge was begun in 1933 and completed in 1937. In 1987, the bridge was named a California historic landmark.

1. Which bridge has the longest history?

A．The Bridge of Sighs.	B．The Tsing Ma Bridge.
C．The Tower Bridge.	D．The Golden Gate Bridge.

2. How did the Tsing Ma Bridge get its name?

A．It was named by its designer.	B．It was named by the government.
C．It got its name because of its length.	D．It got its name from the two islands it connected.

3. What can we know about the Golden Gate Bridge from the last paragraph?

A．It links two oceans.

B．It is the longest bridge in the world.

C．It is a historic landmark in California.

D．It is a combination of the drawbridge and suspension bridge.

5 . 阅读下面短文，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

Autumn Equinox (秋分) lies at the midpoint of autumn,     1     (divide) autumn into two equal parts. After that day, the location of direct sunlight moves to the south, making days     2     (short) and nights longer in the northern hemisphere (半球).

    3     is said in the ancient book is that on Autumn Equinox day the Yin and Yang are in a     4     (balance) power. Thus the day and night are of equal length, as are the cold and hot weather."

By Autumn Equinox, most of the areas in China     5     (enter) the cool autumn. When the cold air heading south meets the declining warm and wet air, rainfall happens. The temperature also drops     6     (frequent).

According to experts, on the Spring Equinox and Autumn Equinox, the day and night are of equal time both in the southern and northern hemispheres. Standing eggs on end,     7     traditional Chinese custom, is considered the best on this day.

But once it     8     (question) whether standing the egg had anything to do with the time. As is known now，the most important thing is to shift the egg’s center of gravity to the lowest part of the egg. In this way, the trick is holding the egg     9     the yolk (蛋黄) sinks as much as possible. For this, you’re better off choosing an egg that's about 4 or 5 days old,     10     yolk is likely to sink down.

6 . The State of California is depending on its forests to help cut down planet-warming CO₂. But that climate-change strategy may be risky, as new research from the University of California, Irvine(UCI)reports that trees in California’s mountains and open spaces are dying from wildfires and other pressures — and fewer new trees are filling the blank.

“The forests are not keeping up with these large fires,” said study co-author James Randerson, the Ralph J. and Carol M. Cicerone Professor of Earth system science at UCI. Acrossthe whole state, tree cover area has dropped 6.7% since 1985. “These are big changes in lessthan forty years,” he said. It’s the first time that researchers have been able to measure tree population fall in California, and find out the reasons(wildfires and woodcutting).

For the study, the UCI-led team used satellite data from the USGS and NASA’s Landsat mission to study plant changes between 1985 and 2021. They found that one of the most obvious falls in tree cover was in southern California, where 14% of the tree population in local mountain had disappeared, maybe everlastingly.

“The ability. of forests to recover(恢复)from fire appears to be dwindling in the south,” said Jonathan Wang, a researcher in Randerson’s research group, who led the study coming out in AGU Advances. “At the same time, the state’s coverage of bushes and grasses is rising, which could mean more everlasting ecosystem shifts(生态系统转化).”

“The speed and scale of fall in tree cover is different across the state. Tree cover in the Sierra Nevada, for example, stayed relatively unchanged until around 2010, then began dropping suddenly. Fortunately, in the north, there’s plenty of recovery after fire,” said Wang, perhaps because of the area’s higher rainfall and cooler temperatures. “This threat(威胁) to California’s climate solutions isn’t going away anytime soon,” Wang said. “We might be entering a new age of bigger fire and vulnerable(易受损的) forests.”

1. What mainly helped California cut down CO₂?

A．Rich forests.	B．Less vehicles.
C．Energy saving.	D．Fine weather.

2. What has caused the drop of tree cover in the past few years?

A．Poor soil.

B．Continual floods.

C．High demand for farmland and food.

D．Large wildfires and people’s cutting trees.

3. What does the underlined word “dwindling” in paragraph 4 mean?

A．Suitable.

B．Falling.

C．Obvious.

D．Boring.

4. Which is the most suitable title for the text?

A．California’s trees will die out in the future

B．California’s environment will face a big challenge

C．The reasonfor California wildfires has been found out

D．Wildfires seriously threaten California’s tree cover

9 . 阅读下面短文，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

Each morning, amateur    1     (cycle) Cui Yue rides his bicycle along the Tanglai Canal in Yinchuan, capital of northwest China’s Ningxia Hui. Autonomous Region, to enjoy the picturesque natural scenery. Born and    2    (raise) in the city, 68-year-old Cui said cycling along the canal allows him to experience the city’s improving ecology after several waterfront parks were built in recent years.

The over-2,000-year-old canal that Cui     3    (frequent) was built during tne Han Dynasty, aimed at bringing the Yellow River water to present day Ningxia    4    helping him the region with vast deserts into farmland. The canal    5    (include）in the World Heritage Irrigation Structures in 2017. Through the ages, it is still functioning     6    an ecological corridor and is the largest    7     (natural) flowing trunk canal in the Yellow River irrigation area.

Along the canal’s 75-km section    8    (run) through urban Yinchuan, several parks have been built with walking and cycling routes, contributing to the city’s expanding green space mapped out for public leisure. In the city’s rural areas, the canal is a water source for farms and wetlands,playing a role in    9    (agriculture) development and ecological protection. It is also one of the water sources for wetlands and a large artificial lake,    10     have become habitats for hundreds of migratory bird species.

10 . Victoria Falls is one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World. Statistically speaking, it is the largest waterfall in the world. Victoria Falls is located on the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe. The falls are also close to the border of Botswana. The Zambezi River, which originates in northern Zambia, serves as the falls’ water source.

There are basically two seasons for the Victoria Falls area. The rainy season runs from late November to early April with the remaining months accounting for the dry season. One would imagine that the rainy season with more water would make the falls more spectacular (壮观的), however, the additional water and subsequent mist(水汽) in the air makes it nearly impossible to see the base of the falls.

The months of June and July are probably the best time to view the falls. The water levels are still high enough to show the beauty of the falls, but the amount of water is less, creating less mist and more visibility of the falls.

As you move into the later part of the dry season, August through October, it is quite possible that you will see more rock face than falls. However, this also opens the door for walking across the top of the falls, which can be a unique and exhilarating experience as well.

During the rainy season and high water, Victoria Falls can be a challenge to capture (抓拍) with a camera because of all of the mist in the air. However, this increases the probabilities that you will be able to capture rainbow images around the falls.

The lower water levels can create more dramatic pictures with various rocks cropping out between the falls. You should also be able to see the canyon and base of the falls. You will also be able to walk across the top of the falls and take images down the face of the falls.

1. Where does the water source of Victoria Falls originate?

A．In northern Zambia.	B．In southern Zimbabwe.
C．At the border of Botswana.	D．Between the border of Zambia and Zimbabwe.

2. When is the best time for travelers to walk across the top of the falls?

A．From November to April.	B．From August to October.
C．In the months of June and July.	D．In the months of May and June.

3. What does the underlined word “this” in paragraph 5 probably refer to?

A．A camera.	B．High water.
C．The rainy season.	D．All of the mist in the air.

4. What are the last two paragraphs mainly about?

A．Travel strategies at different water levels.	B．Challenges for falls travelers to overcome.
C．Photo opportunities in different seasons.	D．Different views of the falls all the year round.