1 . I was dirty, smelly, hungry and somewhere beneath all that, suntanned (晒黑的). It was the end of an Inter-Rail holiday. My body couldn’t take any more punishment. My mind couldn’t deal with any more foreign timetables, currencies or languages.
“Never again,” I said, as I stepped onto home ground. I said exactly the same thing the following year. And the next, all I had to do was to buy one train ticket and, because I was under twenty-five years old, I could spend a whole month going anywhere I wanted in Europe. Ordinary beds are never the same once you’ve learnt to sleep in the passage of a train, the rhythm rocking you into a deep sleep.
Carrying all your possessions on your back in a rucksack (背包) makes you have a very basic approach to travel, and encourages incredible wastefulness that can lead to burning socks that have become too anti-social, and getting rid of books when finished. On the other hand, this way of looking at life is entirely in the spirit of Inter-Rail, for common sense and reasoning can be thrown out of the window along with the paperback book and the socks. All it takes to achieve this carefree attitude is one of those tickets in your hand.
Any system that enables young people to travel through countries at a rate of more than one a day must be pretty social. On that first trip, my friends and I were at first unaware of the possibilities of this type of train ticket, thinking it was just an inexpensive way of getting to and from our chosen camp-site in southern France. But the idea of non-stop travel proved too attractive, for there was always just one more country over the border, always that little bit further to go. And what did the extra miles cost us? Nothing.
We were not completely uninterested in culture. But this was a first holiday without parents, as it was for most other Inter-Railers, and in organizing our own timetable we left out everything except the most available sights. This was the chance to escape the guided tour, an opportunity to do something different. I took great pride in the fact that, in many places, all I could be bothered to see was the view from the station. We were just there to get by, and to have good time doing so. In this we were not different from most of the other Inter-Railers with whom we shared passage floors, food and water, money and music.
The excitement of travel comes from the sudden reality of somewhere that was previously just a name. It is as if the city in which you arrive never actually existed until the train pulls in at the station and you are able to see it with your own tired eyes for the first time.
1. At the end of his first trip, the writer said “Never again” because ________.| A．he fell ill |
| B．he disliked trains |
| C．he was tired from the journey |
| D．he had lost money |
| A．Worrying about your clothes. |
| B．Throwing unwanted things away. |
| C．Behaving in an anti-social way. |
| D．Looking after your possessions. |
| A．To get to one place cheaply. |
| B．To meet other young people. |
| C．To see a lot of famous places. |
| D．To go on a tour of Europe. |
| A．he could see more interesting places |
| B．he could spend more time sightseeing |
| C．he could stay away from home longer |
| D．he could make his own decisions |
| A．A name. |
| B．The city. |
| C．The train. |
| D．The station. |
2 . The World’s Most Impressive Subways
The Tokyo Metro And Toei Lines
The Tokyo Metro and Toei lines that compose Tokyo’s massive subway system carry almost 8 million people each day, making it the busiest system in the world. The system is famous for its oshiya—literally, “pusher”—who pushes passengers into crowded subway cars so the doors can. close. And you think your ride is hell.
The Moscow Metro
The Moscow Metro has some of the most beautiful stations in the world. The best of them were built during the Stalinist era and feature beautiful lamps, marble moldings (大理石装饰) and fantastic wall paintings. With more than 7 million riders a day, keeping all that marble clean has got to be a burden.
The Hong Kong MTR
The Hong Kong MTR has the distinction of being one of the few subway systems in the world that actually turns a profit. It’s privately owned and uses real estate (房地产) development along its tracks to increase income and ridership. It also introduced “Octopus cards” that allow people to not only pay their fares electronically, but buy things at convenience stores, supermarkets, restaurants and even parking meters. It’s estimated that 95% of all adults in Hong Kong own an Octopus card.
Shanghai Metro
Shanghai is the third city in China to build a metro system, and it has become the country’s largest in the 12 years since it opened. Shanghai Metro has 142 miles of track and plans to add another 180 miles within five years. By that point, it would be three times larger than Chicago “L”. The system carries about 2. 18 million people a day.
The London Metro
Londoners call their subway the Underground, even though 55 percent of it lies above ground. No matter when you access the oldest public transportation system in the world, you can call it anything you like. Trains started in 1863 and they’ve been running ever since. Some 3 million people ride each day, every one of them remembering to “Mind the gap”.
1. Which of the following can provide the riders with some wonderful decorations at the stations?| A．The Moscow Metro. | B．The Tokyo Metro and Toei Lines |
| C．The London Metro. | D．The Hong Kong MTR. |
| A．the Tokyo Metro and Toei Lines | B．the Moscow Metro |
| C．the Hong Kong MTR | D．the London Metro |
| A．carries the most people each day | B．is the world’s largest |
| C．is the busiest in the world | D．may be larger than the Chicago Subway in the future |
| A．It has become the country’s largest subway since it opened. |
| B．It is not owned by the government |
| C．It carries the most people every day. |
| D．It is the busiest system in the world. |
| A．development | B．features | C．background | D．system |
3 . Last February, I went on a trip to Switzerland. What a trip! The first morning, I got into a cable car (缆车). I wanted to go to the top of the mountain and ski (滑雪) down. The cable car started up the mountain. Then there was a terrible sound. Soon the car stopped.
It was cold, and it began to snow. I was there for one hour, two hours. I thought, “They’ve forgotten me!” I waited for another hour, and the car started back down the mountain very fast. “Sorry,” an old woman said when I climbed out of the car. “We’ve never had this problem before. Please, try again tomorrow.” “I’ve had enough of cable cars for a lifetime,” I thought.
—Robert
Last summer, I went on a trip to Australia. On the first day, I went fishing on a beautiful lake. Unluckily, I didn’t catch any fish, and I got bored. I decided to go swimming. When I stood up, my wallet fell into the water. It had all my money and my plane ticket. I jumped into the lake to look for it, but I didn’t find anything.
The next morning, I wasn’t able to leave the hotel. I had no money to pay for anything and no plane ticket to go home. So what did I do? I called my friend and asked for some money. I have never had such a trip!
—Nick
1. The cable car stopped ________.| A．because of too many riders | B．because of the bad weather |
| C．when it went up the mountain | D．when it went down the mountain |
| A．For one hour. | B．For two hours. | C．For three hours. | D．For four hours. |
| A．fishing | B．swimming |
| C．staying in the hotel | D．looking for his wallet |
| A．To say sorry. | B．To say thanks. |
| C．To ask for help. | D．To share his story. |
| A．They were both careless. | B．They both had a terrible trip. |
| C．They won’t take cable cars again. | D．They don’t like travelling by plane. |
