1 . The view from the top of Marina Bay Sands, a giant hotel, mall and casino, takes in the skyscrapers of Singapore, the fleets of ships entering and leaving the city's ports, the scattered tropical islands of the Singapore Strait and the crowds of soggy but determined selfie- takers trying to capture a perfect image of it all from the enormous infinity pool. Among the celebrities the hotel has lured (吸引) for a damp snap are Jing Boran and Fu Xinbo, Chinese film and music stars. China Daily, a Chinese state-owned newspaper, has declared the spot the eighth most romantic in the world. The place displays itself all over Chinese social media and offers special discounts and packages to visitors from China.

Such spin is increasingly important. Last year, for the first time, China was the biggest source of tourists to Singapore, accounting for 3. 2m of its 17. 4m visitors. Between January and September alone they spent more than $3bn ($ 2.3bn).

All across South-East Asia， tourism is booming. The number of visitors jumped by 49% between 2010 and 2015， to more than 109m. Tourism in Asia and the Pacific is growing faster than anywhere else in the world. The region receives a quarter of the world's holidaymakers (Europe’s share is still a half).

South-East Asia’s Edenic islands, ancient temples and delicious food are strong enticements (诱惑，怂恿). Visitors also flock to countries with cheap currencies: the weakness of the ringgit last year helped draw visitors to Malaysia, for example. Many countries in the region depend on the cash: tourism accounts for about 28% of Cambodia’s GDP and more than 20% of Thailand’s.

The most remarkable growth has been in tourists from China. The number visiting South-East Asia has increased fivefold over the past decade. Newly wealthy Chinese spent almost $ 26lbn travelling abroad in 2016, up from $73bn in 2011.

Indonesia, for one, has relaxed its visa rules to attract more of them. More seats on cheap flights have also helped pull in tourists: between 2013 and 2016 the number available each week on flights to South East Asia from China increased from 92,000 to 188,500.

But for the frenzied holidaying to continue to grow, infrastructure must improve, reckons Paul Yong of DBS, a Singaporean bank. Airports in places such as Manila and Jakarta are crumbling and surrounded by snaking traffic. Plans are afoot to increase annual capacity at Bangkok’s airports by tens of millions over the next four years. Hanoi’s Noi Bai will be expanded at a cost of $5.5bn to accommodate 35m passengers by 2020. Airports in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur are to be upgraded too.

Other threats to thriving tourism are far harder to plan around, Travel operators tremble at the thought of economic downturns, volcanic eruptions and epidemic diseases. The head of one luxury holiday company says the regional outbreak of SARS, a respiratory disease, more than 15 years ago almost brought the industry to its knees. Political spats between China and its neighbours are another problem. So too is the manner in which Chinese visitors have been vilified in the region for snaffling prawns at buffets, barging into queues and misbehaving on planes. It makes many of them feel unwanted. But given that just 135m of China's 1. 4bn people have ever travelled abroad, South East Asian countries should prepare to welcome many more Chinese — even when they clog up the infinity pool.

1. What can Marina Bay Sands be defined as?

A．A base for making films and musicals.

B．A complex for consumption and recreation.

C．A romantic spot for newly-married couples.

D．A financial center for international businessmen.

2. Who account for the biggest share of holidaymakers to South-East Asia?

A．Locals.

B．Chinese.

C．Singaporeans.

D．Europeans.

3. Which of the following factors may attract more foreigners to South-East Asia?

A．The convenient transportation.

B．The improvement of local security.

C．The relatively economical prices.

D．The extreme poorness in that region.

4. Which may NOT explain the sharp growth in tourists from China?

A．The rise of Chinese financial capacity.

B．The strong desire to consume in cash.

C．Various preferential treatments in that region.

D．Rich resources of tourism in these countries.

5. What is the top priority of these South-East Asian countries?

A．To upgrade their basic facilities.

B．To advertise their quality service.

C．To weaken their cheap currencies.

D．To slow down the growth in tourism.

6. What should Chinese visitors pay attention to while traveling in that area?

A．They should mind their manners.

B．They should handle political conflicts.

C．They should prevent epidemic diseases.

D．They should avoid natural disasters.

2 . Our first welcome to the UK wasn’t from the staff of Heathrow Airport or the coach driver who entered into our lives to take us to our new city and new home for the next three weeks.It was, in fact, the noisy and energetic seagulls(海鸥) full of songs that flew down to us. When left from the planes’ exits passage, we still could hear their loud and clear songs through the glasses. It was amazing that they lifted our spirits and cheered us up after our stupidly long and awful journey.

These seagulls welcomed my Chinese people into their home with open wings and if they could speak instead of merely squawk(鸟叫), I’m sure we would’ve struck up some bright and harmonious relationship. They liked to hover(盘旋) overhead around with childlike greetings they sang or just simply walk fearlessly close to our feet. Some of us saved bread our host family prepared in the lunchboxes for these friends. And lovely, we would like to share what we have for the rest of eternity(永恒).

But Julie，the mother of my host family，who then I stayed with，does not think so. Strangely as well, she could not give any reasons. The closed and squawk-proof double-glazing explains. Perhaps she prefers to sleep with her windows open but she always fails to do that, because those birds seemed to like staying up till next morning, wholly screaming for her on and on. And they decide to keep doing so every single night. Furthermore, every time she has to wash the marble floor of the gardens, Julie would look up around and swear to the droppings(鸟粪) shortly followed by a smile on her face towards me and said: “They are friendly to you.”

But stop thinking that she hates the creatures and never plans to have a change. Because there is another side to her evident feelings towards the birds. We will do some shopping at weekends and every time there Julie doesn’t forget to put a big bag of wild birdseed(鸟食) into her carriage which costs quite more than milks or juices for one week. I can see what it goes for since she refills the wild bird feeder(喂食器) before a big hurry to drive to work every morning and when working she knows what is happening back at home — seagulls are enjoying the seed and leaving for next morning.

I’m leaving soon and not likely, I guess, though I hope not, to get back to see my friends here in England in the future. I said I would miss all friends living here including the seagulls. And when Julie was refilling the feeder again, she said: “They’re nice but they are not my friends.”

1. According to the first paragraph, we can know that _____.

A．they felt disappointed at not being welcomed by any local people as they landed

B．they felt surprised to find seagulls there shortly after they landed

C．they didn’t like to be welcomed by the seagulls because they were noisy and stupid

D．those birds were more energetic and friendly than the local people

2. What does “squawk-proof double-glazing” underlined in Paragraph 3 refer to？

A．a shotgun used for fowling(捕鸟)

B．a cage used for keeping birds

C．birdseed used to feed the seagulls

D．a window used to keep noise out

3. Julie said the seagulls were nice but not her friends for the following reasons EXCEPT that _____.

A．the seagulls disturbed her every night

B．the seagulls dirtied her garden

C．the birdseeds were not cheap

D．the seagulls were friendly to her guests

4. What’s the best title for this passage？

A．Birds Can Welcome	B．Birds in London
C．Bite the Hand that Feed You	D．Feed What You Want to Kill

5. The passage is most possibly taken from _____.

A．a magazine about birds	B．a book about London
C．an advertisement attracting visitors to London	D．a magazine about travelling

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.

What historical site impresses you most? I’ve always been fascinated by the pyramids in Egypt. A few years ago I braved a long queue and climbed through a narrow passage to reach the main chamber deep inside one of them. Like millions of other tourists, I marveled (赞叹) at stone-walled rooms full of the magic of this ancient civilization.

    1     Take Tutankhamun’s tomb in the Valley of the Kings for example. It lay untouched for more than 3,000 years until the British archaeologist Howard Carter uncovered it in 1922. Now more than 1,000 people a day walk through it.

But as more and more people visit, the temperature and humidity inside the tomb change. As a result, the beautifully decorated plaster is coming away from the rock.

    2     Specialists have recorded every detail of Tutankhamun’s tomb and used the data to recreate it.

Adam Lowe from the organization behind the project says the copy is identical (完全相同的) to the original. He believes visitors will want to become part of the force that protects it rather than a force that is leading to its destruction. So they won’t mind seeing a replica (复制品).

But for historian Tom Holland, a copy is still a copy.     3     He says it was built by people who believed in the world of the spirits, the dead and the supernatural. You don’t have to believe in a god or gods to feel a place is consecrated (使圣化) and has a particular quality that can’t be reproduced.

What about you?     4    

A．But popularity might be the.destruction of such archaeological treasures.

B．Would you visit a replica of a monument rather than the original to help preserve it?

C．He believes that although preservation is important, there is something unique about places like Tutankhamun’s tomb.

D．In order to preserve its heritage (文化遗产), a replica of the monument is being opened about 1 kilometer away from the actual burial site.

E．He considers it urgent to preserve such incomparable ancient sites as Tutankhamun’s tomb.

F．However, wars and natural disasters have put many archaeological sites at risk.

4 . Traveling abroad for leisure is becoming more and more popular for Chinese. The UK is high up in the list of places that the Chinese want to visit. There is a sense of mystery about the UK: it’s often the images of England’s green parks, countryside and Victorian houses that people point to as an alternative to polluted, overcrowded cities such as Beijing and Guangzhou.

The capital is viewed as modern and dynamic, while being filled deep with history. When asked what other images are thought of by the UK, the reply is often “the Queen, tea and Oxbridge”. So what’s stopping them actually coming? Sebastian Wood, the British ambassador in Beijing, has described the UK as a “fortress”, and while this is perhaps an exaggeration (夸张), Britain does have a reputation as a country that is harder to access.

The main problem for Chinese tourists is obvious. Although visa applications are now completed online, visitors are still required to visit one of 12 UK centers across the country for a face-to-face interview and fingerprinting. If you don’t live near one of these centers already, you’d have to travel some distance to get there.

Another problem is also to be mentioned. If travelers from China visit the UK, they also want to cover as much ground as possible. But the UK is not included in the Schengen visa, which allows access to a host of 26 European countries such as France and Germany. So it makes the former seem less worth it.

There is also the issue of cost:￡47 for a Schengen visa, ￡82 for the UK. On top of this, the UK is viewed as stricter in its handling of visas compared with the rest of Europe, fed by urban legends of rejected applications. In the end, the decision comes down to one question: Is Britain worth a visit?

1. The underlined word “fortress” in Paragraph 2 is something similar to ______.

A．Castle	B．apartment
C．temple	D．market

2. Which of the following statements is NOT true for the UK visa?

A．One must have a face-to -face interview.

B．One can apply for a visa online.

C．No one needs to travel a long distance to get to a center.

D．No one can get a visa without a fingerprinting.

3. What can a visitor do if the he gets a Schengen visa?

A．He can only visit the UK．

B．He can visit the UK and France.

C．He can only visit 26 European countries．

D．He can travel to any country he likes．

4. What is the author’s attitude towards visiting the UK?

A．He really supports Chinese people to visit the UK．

B．He suggests Chinese people visit London strongly．

C．He believes everyone should go to see the Queen and Oxbridge

D．He thinks it is troublesome to visit the UK．