B

When you’re lying on the white sands of the Mexican Riviera, the stresses(壓力) of the world seem a million miles away. Hey, stop! This is no vacation-you have to finish something!

Here lies the problem for travel writer and tood critic(評(píng)論家),Edie Jarolim “I always loved traveling and always liked to eat, but it never occurred to me that I could make money doing both of those things,” Jarolim said. Now you can read her travel advice everywhere in Arts and Antiques, in Brides, or in one of her there books, The Complate Idiot’s Travel Guide to Mexican Beach Resarts.

……writing began some eight years ago. After getting a PhD in English in Canada, she took a

Test Frommer’s travel guides, passed it, and got the job. After working at Frommer’s, Jarolim worked

for a while at Rough Guides in London, then Fodor’s, where she fell so in love with a description of the Southwest of the U.S. that she moved there.

Now as a travel writer, she spends one-third of her year on the road. The rest of the time is spent completing her tasks and writing reviews of restaurants at home in Tucson, Arigona.

As adventurous as the job sounds, the hard part is fact-checking all the information. Sure, it’s great to write about a tourist attraction, but you’d better get the local(當(dāng)?shù)氐?museum hours correct or you could really ruin someone’s vacation.

46. Which country does Jarolim live in now?

A．Mexico    B．The U.S.    C．The U.K.    D．Canada

47. What is most difficrlt for Jarolim?

A．Working in different places to collect information

B．Checking all the facts to be written in the guides

C．Finishing her work as soon as possible

D．Passing a test to write travel guides

48. What do we know about Jarllim from the text?

A．She is successful in her job

B．She finds her life full of stresses

C．She spends half of her time traveling

D．She is especially interested in museums

49. What would be the best title for the text?

A．Adventures in Travel Writing

B．Working as a Food Critic

C．Travel Guides on the Market

D．Vacationing for a Living

 

Free Fun Guides

Free Admission to Hundreds of Museums Sept.25 What a weekend! This Saturday, Sept.25, hundreds of U.S. museums admission free for the Smithsonian’s annual Museum Day. Unlike previous Museum Day celebrations, you must sign up for a free ticket that admits two people to any of the participating museums. That means filling out a form and having the ticket emailed to you. Not bad for a freebie that will give you admission to museums such as the Adler Planetarium in Chicago and the Air & Space Museum in San Diego. Some participating museums are closed on Saturday, so they offer free admission on Sunday, Sept.26, instead.
Free Admission to National Parks & Public Lands Would you rather visit a National Park for free instead of a museum for free? The choice is yours on Saturday, Sept.25, as all 392National Parks and all other national public lands are admission free for National Public Lands Day. The fee-free day for national parks, forests, monuments and other public lands falls on the same day as the Smithsonian Museum Day, when hundreds of U. S. museums are also admission free. If you love the outdoors, consider signing up or just show up for one of the volunteer projects at the public lands sites on Saturday. Spend the morning helping clean up and restore our national natural treasures, then spend the afternoon just enjoying and exploring them.
Free Books for Kid @ Barnes & Noble! If your kids love to read—and we hope they do!—be sure to sign them up for Barnes & Noble’s summer reading programs so they can earn a free book! It’s easy for kids ages 12 and under to participate. For Barnes & Noble’s Passport to Summer Reading program, just download and print out your passport. Read any eight books, log them into the passport and bring it to any Barnes & Noble by September 7. Choose your free book from the list on the back of the passport.
FREE Night of Theater Across the U. S in October Hark! ‘Tis a chance to see this thing called the play, and not just Mr. Shakespeare’s! It’s the annual run of the Free Night of Theater, when hundreds of theaters in 120 U. S. cities give away thousands of tickets to local productions. While the kickoff date is October 15, many of the theaters start releasing their free tickets by Oct. 1 or in waves during the month of October for performance dates throughout the month. Ticket seekers are limited to two tickets for one performance. Find your city on the Free Night of Theater Website and check the listings for performances, their dates and their ticket giveaway times and locations.

【小題1】What is new about this year’s Museum Day?

A．People can visit a museum for free	B．Two museums offer free admission
C．People will get free tickets online	D．Some museums open for free on Sunday

【小題2】How is National Public Lands Day different from the other three events?

A．It comes on Sept. 25	B．Visitors may offer help
C．All can visit the parks for free	D．Visitors may choose what to do

【小題3】 How can kids get a free book?

A．By choosing one of the books they have read	B．By downloading and printing out a passport
C．By reading eight books at any Barnes & Noble	D．By listening to B & N’s free online stories

【小題4】Which of the following shows the similarity between Museum Day and Free Night of Theater?

A．They take place once a year	B．They last for the same length of time
C．The tickets can be used in any U.S cities	D．The same number of free tickets is given away

【小題5】 The main purpose of the passage is to     .

A．help people who are very poor	B．introduce ways to save money
C．give guidance on how to have some fun	D．provide information about free things to do

The space shuttle Discovery has had a long and busy career. For 27 years, it has worked for NASA, carrying astronauts to space and back on 39 missions. On March 9, 2011, after returning from its final voyage, the world’s most traveled spaceship was retired.

A crowd of shuttle workers, reporters and schoolchildren waited to greet Discovery at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Three minutes before noon, they watched as the shuttle appeared in the sky and made one last touchdown. “For the final time: wheels stop,” Discovery’s commander Steven Lindsey said when the shuttle rolled to a stop.

Discovery’s final trip was to the International Space Station (ISS), a giant space lab in the sky. Discovery’s crew took care of the last U.S. construction project at ISS. They delivered 10 tons of supplies for the ISS. The six-person crew also dropped off an unusual companion for ISS’s researchers: a human-like robot named Robonaut 2. Astronauts will assemble（組裝）R2 at the ISS over several months.

Now, NASA is winding down its shuttle programme. NASA is to begin work on new spaceships that can travel longer distances. Discovery’s retirement is the first of three. Endeavor, another shuttle, is scheduled to make its final voyage soon. And Atlantis’s last trip is planned for the end of June.

Museums across the country have requested the retired shuttles. The Smithsonian’s Air and Space Museum, in Washington, D.C., was the lucky recipient（接收者）of Discovery. The museum’s collection contains hundreds of NASA artifacts.

Where will the other shuttles go? You’ll have to wait to find out. NASA will announce its decision on April 12, the 30^th anniversary of the first space shuttle launching. Stay tuned!

1.As part of the final mission, Discovery’s crew___________.

A. carried researches to space             

B. assembled the Robonaut 2 at the ISS

C. brought supplies to the ISS             

D. went on a spacewalk

2.The underlined phrase “winding down” in Paragraph 4 probably means _________.

A. improving            B. ending       C. changing         D. testing

3.What can we infer from the text?

A. Discovery completed 39 missions during its two decades of space travel.

B. The ISS is a big project and six researchers live on the station.

C. American space exploration will focus on longer missions.

D. The shuttles Endeavor and Atlantis will make their last missions next month.

4.According to the text, we can learn about ___________.

A. people’s opinions of Discovery’s retirement

B. the government’s concern about the shuttles’ future

C. the shuttles’ final homes after retirement

D. museums’ great interest in the retired shuttles

 

7 ways a government shutdown will affect your daily life

(CNN) -- Democrats and Republicans were unable to resolve (解決) their differences over Obamacare (奧巴馬醫(yī)改計(jì)劃）and now the government is shut down. The two previous shutdowns — 1995 and early 1996 — cost the country $1.4 billion. But what will the shutdown mean for you? Here are 7 ways the government shutdown will affect you.

7. Vacation all I ever wanted: Need to get away? Well, you can’t. At least not to national parks. Or to national zoos. Or to national museums. They'll be closed. Were you thinking more along the lines of a trip to France? If you don’t already have a passport, you might not get your blue book in time. The last time the government shut down, 200,000 applications for passports went unprocessed.

6. If you drive a car, I'll tax the street: You may be thinking, “No functioning government, no need to pay taxes.” Think again. The Man would continue to collect taxes. U.S. bonds would still be issued. And other essential banking functions will go on.

5. Wait a minute, Mr. Postman: You know that whole “Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night” thing? Apparently, the U.S. Postal Service works through shutdowns as well. Sorry, you won’t catch a break from the junk mail.

4. I want a new drug: Oh, the irony (諷刺的). Republicans still want to defund, delay or otherwise withdraw gradually at Obamacare in exchange for funding the government. But the health care act at the center of this storm would continue its process during a shutdown. That is because its funds aren’t dependent on the congressional budget (預(yù)算) process.

3. Pass the ammunition (軍火): Not so fast. A shutdown would affect the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Translation: That gun permit you wanted processed won’t happen anytime soon if this goes on for a while.

2. Money (that's what I want): Well, if you owned a small business and needed a loan from the government, you would have to wait, depending on how long this lasts. If you were planning to buy a house and needed a federal loan, you would have to wait.

1. I'm proud to be an American: Perhaps the biggest hit would be to the collective psyche (下意識(shí)心理). America is the largest economy in the world and a beacon for how democracy ought to work. A recent CNN Research Corporation found that 51% would blame Republicans for the shutdown. The United States has operated without a budget since 2009 and has avoided a government shutdown with last-minute deals. Not only did the government run out of money on Tuesday, but the nation is set to hit its borrowing limit and potentially default on its debt in mid-October. Together, they serve as a double whammy (打擊）.

1.Which is the most probably meaning of the underlined word?

A. Raise some money.                           B. Take the money back.

C. Borrow some money.                       D. went on a strike.

2.When the government’s shut down, what can the Americans do?

A. Apply for a gun permit.      B. Apply for a new passport. 

C. Apply for a loan.                     D. Pay taxes.

3.How many times has the American government ever shut down so far?

A. Once.                 B. Twice.    C. Three times.               D. Not mentioned.

4. According to the essay, what led to the shutdown of the American government?

A. The government of America ran out of money.

B. The government of America is on debts.

C. America is set to hit the borrowing limit of its debts.

D. The American government ran out of money and may fail in repaying its debts.

 

There are many famous museums throughout the world where people can enjoy art. Washington, D.C. has the National Gallery of Art; Paris has the Luvre; London, the British Museum. Florida International University (FIU) in Miami also shows art for people to see. And it does so without building, or even a wall for its drawing and paintings. FIU has opened what it says is the first computer art museum in the United States. You don’t have to visit the University to see the art. You just need a computer linked to a telephone. You can call the telephone number of a university computer and connect your own computer to it. All of the art is stored in the school computer. It is computer art, produced electronically by artists on their own computers. In only a few minutes, your computer can receive and copy all the pictures and drawings. Robert Shostak is direction of the new computer museum. He says he starts the museum because computer artists had no place to show their works.
A computer artist can only record his pictures electronically and send the records to others to see on their computers. He can also put his pictures on paper. But to print good pictures on paper, the computer artist needs an expensive laser printer (激光印刷) . Robert Shostak says the electronic（電子的） museum is mostly for art or computer students at school and universities. Many of the pictures in the museum are made by students. Mr Shostake said the FIU museum will take computer art more fun for computer artists because more people can see it. He says artists enjoy their work much more if they have an audience. And the great number of home computers in America could mean a huge audience for the electronic museum.
【小題1】The main purpose of this text is to give information about_______.
A. museums throughout the world
B. an electronic art museum in Miami, U.S.A.
C. art exhibitions（展覽會(huì)） in Florida International University
D. latest development of computer art
【小題2】To see the art in FIU museum, you need______.

A．floppy discs（軟盤(pán)）

B．a(chǎn) computer and a printer

C．pictures and drawings on paper

D．a(chǎn) computer connect to the museum by telephone line

【小題3】The museum was started when______.
A Robert Shostak wanted to do something for computer scientists
B. Robert Shostak wanted to help computer artists
C. art students needed a place to show their works
D. computer scientists wanted to do something about art
【小題4】The words “an audience” in the last paragraph refer to ________.

A．a(chǎn)rt students	B．computer owners
C．exhibits in the museum	D．those who will enjoy art.