1 . There were smiling children all the way. Clearly they knew at what time the train passed their homes and they made it their business to stand along the railway, wave to complete strangers and cheer them up as they rushed towards Penang. Often whole families stood outside their homes and waved and smiled as if those on the trains were their favorite relatives. This is the simple village people of Malaysia. I was moved.

I had always traveled to Malaysia by plane or car, so this was the first time I was on a train. I did not particularly relish the long train journey and had brought along a dozen magazines to read and reread. I looked about the train. There was not one familiar face. I sighed and sat down to read my Economics.

It was not long before the train was across the Causeway and in Malaysia. Johore Baru was just another city like Singapore, so I was tired of looking at the crowds of people as they hurried past. As we went beyond the city, I watched the straight rows of rubber trees and miles and miles of green. Then the first village came into sight. Immediately I came alive; I decided to wave back.

From then on my journey became interesting. I threw my magazines into the waste basket and decided to join in Malaysian life. Then everything came alive. The mountains seemed to speak to me. Even the trees were smiling. I stared at everything as if I was looking at it for the first time.

The day passed fast and I even forgot to have my lunch until I felt hungry. I looked at my watch and was surprised that it was 3:00 pm. Soon the train pulled up at Butterworth. I looked at the people all around me. They all looked beautiful. When my uncle arrived with a smile, I threw my arms around him to give him a warm hug. I had never done this before. He seemed surprised and then his weather-beaten face warmed up with a huge smile. We walked arm in arm to his car. I looked forward to the return journey.

1. The author expected the train trip to be________ .

A．adventurous

B．pleasant

C．exciting

D．dull

2. What did the author remember most fondly of her train trip?

A．The simple lunch served on the train.	B．The mountains along the way.
C．The crowds of people in the streets.	D．The friendly country people.

3. Which of the following words can best take the place of the word “relish” in the second paragraph?

A．Choose.

B．Prepare for.

C．Enjoy.

D．Carry on.

4. What can we learn from the story?

A．Comfort in traveling by train.	B．Smiles brighten people up.
C．Reading gives people delight.	D．Pleasure of living in the country.

3 . You may have your favorite family spots on Long Island where you frequently take the kids. But there may be unexpected places you haven't explored yet.

Animal Exhibit

Not only will you see fish, reptiles and amphibians here, but you'll also see baby alligators and other rescued animals. Kids can also learn about science and participate in programs and workshops throughout the year. The Animal Exhibit is also a hotspot for science-themed birthday parties.

The Mattituck Strawberry Festival

The Mattituck Strawberry Festival kicks off the summer season with sweet treats and more. Long Island is known for numerous and extremely popular fairs and festivals that take place throughout the year. Other summer festivals include the Sayville SummerFest, St. Rocco's Feast, Brookhaven Fair and more. The fall season offers the largest abundance of fairs and festivals, such as the Pickle Festival, Oyster Festival, Long Island Fall Festival and many Hallo ween-themed festivals in Nassau and Suffolk.

Home Depot Kids Workshop

Does your kid enjoy making things by hand? You may want to take a trip to Home Depot Kids Workshop. Offered on the first Saturday morning of each month, workshops allow little ones to build and craft items, such as a skateboard pencil box that they can decorate and keep.

Chuck E. Cheesed

As soon as you. walk through the doors you're instantly greeted by the sounds of other kids laughing as they play arcade games to win prizes and enjoy an animatronic show. After hours of play, check out their restaurant with kid-friendly options.

1. Who is the text specially targeted at?

A．Children.

B．Tour guides.

C．Parents.

D．Students.

2. Which sees the most fairs and festivals on Long Island?

A．Spring.

B．Summer

C．Autumn.

D．Winter.

3. Where will science fans prefer to celebrate their birthday?

A．At Animal Exhibit.	B．At The Mattituck Strawberry Festival.
C．At Home Depot Kids Workshop.	D．At Chuck E. Cheese's.

4 . Recently, my husband and three kids were playing in the Mediterranean, swimming and floating in the picture-perfect sea. It was very beautiful in Majorca, Spain. The way the sun danced across the water and how the blue horizon was dotted with sailboats were such beautiful scenes. I couldn’t believe my eyes.

My husband and I always dreamed about taking our kids on a trip around the world. It was something we always wanted to do “one day”. It was one of the things we talked about when we imagined our life with the children.

Fourteen years later, we had three boys who were growing up faster by the day. It was time to make good on those plans. We spent dozens of hours discussing, researching and planning.

We had to learn how to “road school” our kids and arrange time off from work. We renewed our passports, and then packed our bags. We showed our kids the world. It was about experiencing the dozens of flights and trains and taxis together. We wanted them to learn all that we had learned ourselves, through our own travels as young adults.

But there was something more than that: What we really wanted is to slow down time. We wanted the days to last a bit longer, and the weeks to take their time. The years with our children are going too fast. We wanted to control our busy lives, and just be with our kids. We wanted a break from the daily morning timetable of making lunches, eating breakfast rushing out the door in time for school. We need a family time-out.

It was a wonderful two-month trip in Europe, full of wonderful moments. And when we looked back at our lives, I know we’ll be glad we did it. I know we’ll be happy that this is a part of the story of our family.

1. How do you understand “one day” in the 2^nd paragraph? (no more than 10 words)
________________
2. How long was their trip in Europe? (no more than 5 words)
________________
3. What does the underlined word “that” refer to? (no more than 10 words)
________________
4. What’s the main idea of the 5^th paragraph? (no more than 10 words)
________________
5. Think about the trips you’ve taken with your parents. Do you have the similar feelings to the author? What did you learn from those trips? (no more than 25 words)
________________

5 . Edinburgh is the world’s festival city. There are 12 festivals throughout the year, half of which are celebrated during the months of July and August.

Hundreds of thousands of people visit the Scottish capital during the summer.

Here are some of the events:

The Edinburgh International Festival

This is the original Edinburgh festival, which began in 1947. Actors, musicians, dancers and opera singers from all over the world perform to huge audiences. You need tickets for most events which take place in theatres around the city.

The Edinburgh Festival Fringe

This is the largest arts festival in the world with thousands of shows taking place across the city. More than 20,000 artists take part, as the festival is open to anyone. Visitors can choose from a huge variety of acts.

Join thousands of visitors and locals at the Royal Mile, Edinburgh’s main street, to watch all kinds of performers and shows.

The Edinburgh International Book Festival

The largest book festival in the world began in 1983 and takes place every year in Charlotte Square Gardens, in the center of Edinburgh. There are more than 700 events for children and adults who love books. You can meet many authors, talk to them, ask them to sign a book or listen to them talk about their stories. Children can listen to stories and watch illustrators (插图作者) draw pictures.

The Edinburgh Jazz and Blues Festival

Music lovers come to this festival to enjoy music shows around the city. One of the highlights of this musical event is the street carnival (嘉年华), which is free to all. Artists perform street theatre, dance and circus shows in amazing costumes, and everyone can join in the dancing.

1. Which is true about Edinburgh?

A．It’s the Scottish capital city.

B．It’s the largest city in the world.

C．The festivals are celebrated every month.

D．Tourists around the world come to the city after winter.

2. What do we know about the Edinburgh International Festival from the article?

A．It’s free to Scottish people.

B．It’s held at the Royal Mile.

C．It takes place in July every year.

D．The artists mainly perform in theatres.

3. Which is the largest arts festival in the world?

A．The Edinburgh International Festival.

B．The Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

C．The Edinburgh International Book Festival.

D．The Edinburgh Jazz and Blues Festival.

4. What can visitors do at the Edinburgh Jazz and Blues Festival, according to the article?

A．They can try on different costumes.

B．They can join a singing competition.

C．They can take part in a street carnival.

D．They can get pictures from famous painters.

5. This passage is most probably taken from ________.

A．an advertisement

B．a tour journal

C．a news report

D．an announcement

6 . Still seeking a destination for your weekend break? There are some places which are probably a mere wall away from your college.

King’s Art Centre

A day at the Centre could mean a visit to an exhibition of the work of one of the most interesting contemporary artists on show anywhere. This weekend sees the opening of an exhibition of four local artists.

You could attend a class teaching you how to learn from the masters or get more creative with paint – free of charge.

The Centre also runs two life drawing classes for which there is a small fee.

The Botanic Garden

The Garden has over 8,000 plant species; it holds the research and teaching collection of living plants for Cambridge University.

The multi-branched Torch Aloe here is impressive. The African plant produces red flowers above blue-green leaves, and is not one to miss.

Get to the display house to see Dionaea muscipula, a plant more commonly known as the Venus Flytrap that feeds on insects and other small animals.

The Garden is also a place for wildlife-enthusiasts. Look for grass snakes in the lake. A snake called Hissing Sid is regularly seen lying in the heat of the warm sun.

Byron’s Pool

Many stories surround Lord Byron’s time as a student of Cambridge University. Arriving in 1805, he wrote a letter complaining that it was a place of “mess and drunkenness”. However, it seems as though Byron did manage to pass the time pleasantly enough. I’m not just talking about the pet bear he kept in his rooms. He spent a great deal of time walking in the village.

It is also said that on occasion Byron swam naked by moonlight in the lake, which is now known as Byron’s Pool. A couple of miles past Grantchester in the south Cambridgeshire countryside, the pool is surrounded by the fields. The cries of invisible birds make the trip a lovely experience and on the way home you can drop into the village for afternoon tea. If you don’t trust me, then perhaps you’ll take it from Virginia Woolf ,a famous writer,—over a century after Byron, she reportedly took a trip to swim in the same pool.

1. The passage is mainly about__________.

A．interesting stories of Lord Byron

B．an approach to becoming creative in art

C．the colorful life in the countryside

D．some places for weekend break

2. If you are a wildlife enthusiast, you’d better go to__________.

A．Byron’s Pool	B．the Botanic Garden
C．King’s Art Centre	D．Cambridgeshire

3. The author’s purpose in mentioning Virginia Woolf is to show__________.

A．she was a famous writer

B．she was keen on swimming

C．she was Byron’s admirer

D．Byron’s Pool is a pleasant place

7 . On an island in northern Norway, the sun doesn’t set from May 18 right through to July 26. The locals, having spent the long polar night from November to January, when the sun doesn’t rise at all, make the most of these months, with no regard to conventional timekeeping. The island intends to exchange its watches for flower garlands (花环) and declare itself the world’s first time-free zone.

“There’s constant daylight, and we act accordingly,” says islander Kjell Ove Hveding in a statement. “In the middle of the night, which citizens might call ‘2 am’, you can spot children playing soccer, people painting their houses or mowing their lawns, and teens going for a swim.”

Now they want to make it official. Islanders gathered at a town hall meeting to sign a petition (请愿) for a time-free zone and on June 13, Hveding met with a Norwegian member of parliament (国会) to hand over the locals’ signatures and to discuss the practical and legal challenges.

“To us, getting this in writing would simply mean formalizing the lifestyle we have been living for generations,” he says.

Islanders hope to be free of traditional opening hours and to introduce flexibility in school and working hours. Fishing and tourism are the main industries on this island with a population of little more than 300 people. Local fisher and women often spend days on the ocean for their catch, with little regard to timetable.

It’s clear that they mean business. When visitors cross the bridge to the island from the mainland, they aren’t greeted with padlocks (symbolizing love locks) like on similar bridges worldwide. The bridge is covered with watches, as people prepare for entry to the land time forgot.

1. What do the islanders normally do at midnight from May 18 to July 26?

A．Do daily work or have fun.	B．Sleep like outside people.
C．Struggle with strong light.	D．Turn watches into flowers.

2. What can we learn about the islanders’ living a life free of time?

A．It is difficult to describe.	B．It has been a long tradition.
C．It is a new kind of lifestyle.	D．It proves practical and legal.

3. What does the underlined part “they mean business” mean in the last paragraph?

A．Visitors actually prefer watches on bridges.	B．Visitors are ready to enter a time-free island.
C．The islanders intend to treat tourism as business.	D．The islanders are serious about being free of time.

4. What is the main idea of the text?

A．An island wants to be a time-free zone officially.	B．Islanders in Norway have been free from time.
C．It’s time to lead a life without the limit of time.	D．An island won’t be open to the world any longer.

9 . To see the world is one ting. To have someone to share it with is another. Indeed, travel becomes more interesting when you have a travel partner.     1    

You can have someone to talk to. Traveling alone is fun, but wouldn't you feel lonely?     2     This is especially true if you can get a travel companion who is very familiar with the place you're traveling to. You don't have to ask any information from the locals and you can increase the time you spend in the country.

    3     One of the major headaches in traveling is the costs involved. You can't simply ignore the rising price of hotels or plan tickets. You should also think about your daily needs such as your food. Of course, you can't simply go back without bringing any souvenirs（纪念品）to your friends and family. All these can ruin your budget. However, when you have a travel friend, you can have someone to share the expenses with.

You can meet a good friend.     4    You can never count the number of couples who actually found their way into each other's heart while traveling together in another country.

You can have someone to watch out for you. When you're in a foreign land, you'll never be really safe. You don't know the rules as well as the culture of the people. A travel partner will be perfect to remind you of your duties in the country and to watch your back just in case you get lost.     5    

A．You can have someone to share the expenses with.

B．Here are some reasons why a travel partner is important.

C．You can have someone to turn to when you're in trouble.

D．Having a travel partner can remove the feeling of loneliness.

E．Traveling with a mate enables us to meet a new friend or even a lifelong partner.

F．Traveling is a good way to enrich our life.

G．So why don't you find a travel partner now?

10 . France Tours

Best of Paris — 13 Days Tour

Date/Price: August 7-August 19/$2, 295+Air.

On this tour, you will be guided around the very best of Paris: the Louvre, Orsay Museum. Orangerie Museum, Sainte-Chapelle, and Palace of Versailles. You'll also enjoy guided neighborhood walks through the city's historic heart.

Loire to the South of France — 13 Days Tour

Date /Price: October 18-October 30/$3, 795 + Air

This tour begins in the historic town of Chartres-an easy train ride from Paris. Then, with your guide, you'll visit the chateaux of the Loire, prehistoric caves, traditional markets of the Dordogne, the city of Carcassonne and the Roman Pont du Gard.

Best of Eastern France — 14 Days Tour

Date /Price: September 29-October 12/$4: 195+Air

Staring from the champagne capital (香槟之都) of Reims. you'll spend 14 wonderful days with your guide, visiting Colmar's cobbled lanes (鹅卵石小道), Verdun's historic fields of honor. Chamonix's great mountains, Provence's beautiful Cotes du Rhone. and ending with a wine party in Aix-en-Provence.

My Way France — 13 Days Tour

Date /Price: September 21-October 3/$2, 795 + Air

Your vacation to France starts by following a route that connects France's must see sights — from lovely Paris to sunny Nice, with the Loire Valley, Lyon, Annecy, the French Alps and Avignon in between. This money — saving My Way vacation gives you the freedom to decide your own daily sightseeing pace. We cut the stress by providing comfortable rooms in hotels an private bus transportation from city to city.

1. Which tour will you choose if you plan to visit France in summer?

A．Best of Paris.	B．Loire to the South of France.
C．Best of Eastern France.	D．My Way France.

2. What makes My Way France different from other thee tours?

A．It's the cheapest one.	B．It provides us with a guided tour.
C．It allows us to visit many places.	D．It allows us to travel at our own pace.

3. The author's purpose in writing the text is to________.

A．introduce tourist spots in France	B．draw more customers
C．give traveling advice	D．share traveling experience