1 . Directions: Read the passage carefully. Fill in each blank with a proper sentence given in the box. Each sentence can be used only once. Note that there are two more sentences than you need.

Life on a Ship

We three children were very excited when we walked up the gangway (舷梯) of the British flagship China Star and saw officers, crew and staff rushing around. A Chinese housekeeper led the way and helped Uncle Jean and Aunt Reine with our luggage. Victor, Claudine and I lagged behind. The housekeeper was tall and thin and towered over everyone.       1     As we followed him down a narrow corridor towards our cabins, Victor whispered to me, “One thing about having no hair at all on your head, you always look neat!”

Though I was still feeling nervous and tongue-tied because it had only been three days since Aunt Reine took me out of St. Joseph’s, I laughed out loud. That was the effect Victor had on people.     2     “Boys to the right and girls to the left,” said Uncle Jean. Our two cabins were directly opposite each other. Inside, everything was neat, bare and clean. While Aunt Reine, Claudine and I were unpacking, there was a knock on the door.

Victor stood there, wearing a bright-red and orange life-jacket. “Why are you wearing that?” Claudine protested. “Our ship hasn’t even sailed yet!” “In case the China Star starts going down. Then you’ll really be sorry you’re not wearing one yourself. Here! Let me show you something!”     3     Our cabin was below deck. Outside we could see nothing but deep dark water.

Claudine became alarmed. “Mama, how often does a ship sink?” she asked. Before Aunt Reine had time to reply, Victor quipped with a straight face, “Only once!” Aunt Reine and I could not help laughing in spite of ourselves. But then Victor did something my brothers would never have done. He took off his life-jacket, slipped it on his sister and showed her how to adjust the straps.     4     At night, our housekeeper brought in a tiny roll-out bed because there were three of us.

A．Once Victor hid in a lifeboat for half an hour while we searched everywhere.

B．His head was completely hairless, and he was obviously unsteady.

C．He and Claudine made me feel at ease as soon as I met them.

D．There were only two narrow twin beds in our cabin, each covered with dark blue sheets.

E．He parted the curtain and looked out of the round window of the ship.

F．He jumped out as we passed below him, scaring and delighting us at the same time.

2 . The Rise of the Grown-Up Gap Year

It was 2012,Tim Potter, who was in public relations, had just finished working on the London Olympics alongside his partner.A career break to go travelling — or a “grown-up gap year”— seemed like a natural thing to both of them.

The couple spent four months traveling around Asia. Next, they flew to Mexico via Canada, worked their way down through Central America, and spent a month in both Colombia and Brazil.

    1     Within three weeks of his return, he was in another job (he’d interviewed for it in a phone booth in Colombia). Today, he’s managing director of the marketing agency Hunt & Gather.

But is Potter’s experience common or did he get lucky? Some people assume taking a career break will automatically be off-putting to potential employers, but according to Emily Bain, managing director of secretarial recruitment agency Bain and Gray, it can actually be quite the opposite.

“As an employer, I see it as a positive,” she says.     2     In fact, it’s been an upward trend that’s been steadily growing since the 2008 recession (经济衰退). “People couldn’t get work so they just took off” she says.

Tim Fryer, U.K. manager at STA Travel, says grown-up gap years can have a positive effect on your career. “Taking a break gives travelers time to refocus on work as well as the space to reflect on what exactly it is they want to do,” he explains.

    3     For many, recovering from illness, the loss of a love one or something like divorce can be the trigger (诱因). And some simply have an ambition to see a certain place — or places — by a certain age.

Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, though. Emily Bain admits that some employers’ instinct is to turn their noses up at someone who’s had a break. However, she says, the duty is on the traveler to sell their experience as something that will benefit their future employer. “You have to explain the whole picture,” she says. “Making your CV (简历) gap accountable actually brings your profile to life.” So, don’t hide it — make a big deal of it.

Bain holds that although gap years are acceptable, it is still important to learn some kind of skill regardless of whatever else you may be doing during this time.     4     But it doesn’t have to be academic. “I had a client who learned a special kind of weaving in India, and that to me is really interesting. It became a real talking point.”

A．These people are often at a turning point in their careers or lives.

B．The desire to go travelling is by no means all work-related, though.

C．The most obvious skill to take from travel, of course, is a language.

D．Taking a gap year when you’re older means that you have different things to consider.

E．Not in any way did the lack of work affect his prospects.

F．Bain goes on to say that taking a grown-up gap year is more common than you’d think.

3 . Directions: Read the following passage, Fill in each blank with a proper sentence given in the box Each sentence can be used only once. Note that there are two more sentences than you need.

Venice Carnival

The annual Venice Carnival is in full swing, with thousands of revelers (狂欢者) gathering the city’s canals and squares in elaborate costumes and extraordinary masks       1    .

The Carnevale di Venezia is thought to date back to the 11th century, making it one of the world’s oldest. Carnivals are held in many Catholic countries: such as Spain and Brazil, where they serve as a last chance to cat, drink end be merry before the deprivations or Lent, the 40 days of fasting (斋戒) that precede Easter.

It is thought that the masks allowed Venetians to hide their identities, allowing the poor to mix with the wealthy, breaking strict social order, even if only for a brief and controlled period.

    2     The theme of Carnival 2019 is “Tutta cope della Luna,” or “Blame the moon”, marking a half-century since man first walked on the satellite

To prevent overcrowding, authorities have installed turnstiles at the entrances to the historic St. Marks’Square, closing it off to new visitors once 23,000 revelers have entered. Costumed revelers are also searched as they enter the square.

Venice is situated across a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The islands are located in the shallow Venetian Lagoon, an enclosed bay that lies between the mouths of the Po and the Piave Rivers       3     The lagoon and a part of the city are listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Although most visitors stick to the traditional Carnival costumes of baroque gowns and be jeweled masks for women and black capes and threatening masks for men, more and more people are opting for their own unique interpretations.

Some visitors use Carnival as an opportunity to show off a fantastic creation they’ve always reamed of wearing. It doesn’t have to be Venetian       4     At Carnival, everybody is free to who-or what-they want to be. Perhaps a different gender-or even species. That’s the joy of the mask-nobody knows who or what the person wearing it was before Carnival.

A．This year’s Carnival festivities kicked off on February 16 and go on until March 5.

B．During the 18 days of Carnival, the city fills with thousands of tourists from across Italy and around the world.

C．Parts of Venice are well known for the beauty of their settings, their architectureand artwork.

D．The Italian government decided to bring back the history and culture of Venice by seeking to use the traditional Carnival.

E．It doesn’t have to be traditional.

F．Carnival virtually disappeared when Napoleon’s troops brought an end to the Venetian Republic in 1797.