The Hearst Castle
Hearst Castle is a palatial park on the central California coast and a National Historic Landmark．It was designed by architect Julia Morgan for William Randolph Hearst from 1919 until 1947．In 1957 , the Hearst Coiporation donated the fortune to the state of California．Since that time it has been maintained as a state historic park where the estate and its considerable collection of art and antiques are open for public tours．Despite its location far from any urban center, the site attracts roughly one million visitors per year．
Guided Tours
There are several tours which highlight various parts of the castle and gardens．
●Tour One is recommended for first time visitor．It now includes the movie, Hearst Castle Building the Dream．
●Tour Two gives visitors a closer look at the main house's upper floors, Mr．Hearst's private suite, the libraries, and the kitchen．
●Tour Three looks at the Castle's North Wing, guest rooms and guest house Casa Del Monte．
●Tour Four features the impressive gardens and grounds, the largest guesthouse, the wine basement, and the Hidden Terrace．
●The evening tour is a special tour that allows visitors to experience the Castle at night as one of the Hearst's own visitors might have．
Ticket Prices
Hearst Castle accepts VISA, MasterCard, American Express and Discover．Free day use parking is available for automobiles, motorcycles, tour buses and recreational vehicles．
| TOURS |
ADULT |
Ages 6 – 17 |
| Experience Tour |
$24 |
$12 |
| Tours 2, 3 or 4 |
$ 24 |
$ 12 |
| Evening tour |
$30 |
$15 |
* Children under 6 are free when accompanied by a paying adult．
Reservation Information
While tickets may be purchased at the Visitor Center upon arrival, tour reservations are strongly recommended and may be reserved online now or by calling 1 - 800 - 444 - 4445, see below for times．
| Reservation Call Center Hours |
||
| Dates |
Monday-Friday |
Saturday-Sunday |
| March-September |
8AM to 6PM |
8AM to 6PM |
| October-February |
9AM to 5PM |
9AM to 3PM |
Visit www．hearstcastle．org for more information．Who does the Hearst Castle belong to at present?
| A．William Randolph Hearst． | B．Julia Morgan． |
| C．The state of California． | D．The Hearst Corporation． |
If you are quite interested in wine, which tour will you choose?
| A．Tour One． | B．Tour Two． |
| C．Tour Three． | D．Tour Four． |
If a young couple take Tour One with their 5-year-old son, how much will they pay for the tickets?
| A．36． | B．60． | C．48． | D．75． |
Which of the following is the available time to book tickets by phone?
| A．At 8 AM on Monday in February． | B．At 9 AM on Sunday in March． |
| C．At 7 PM on Friday in September． | D．At 6 PM on Saturday in October． |
often teach about happiness and what has become clear is this：There are some qualities always unhappy people have．Here are some of them．
Happy people know life can be hard and tend to live through hard times．They take responsibility for how they got themselves into a mess，and focus on getting themselves out of it as soon as possible．Unhappy people see themselves as victims of life and stay stuck in the“look what happened to me” attitude instead of finding a way through and out to the other side．
Most happy people believe in the good in people instead of thinking everyone is out to get them．Generally open and friendly towards people they meet，happy people foster(培养)a sense of community around themselves and meet new people with all open heart．Unhappy people are distrustful of most people they meet and don’t think strangers can be trusted．Unfortunately，this behavior slowly closes all chances of meeting new friends．
Unhappy people believe someone else’s good fortune steals from their own．They believe there’s not enough goodness to go around and always compare others’against theirs．This leads to jealousy(嫉妒)．Happy people know that others’good luck and circumstance are just signs of what they also can achieve if they try hard enough．They believe in unlimited possibilities and don’t get stuck in thinking one person’s good fortune limits their possible outcome in life．
There’s only so much space between the two ears．Unhappy people fill that space with constant worry and fear．Happy people experience fear and worry too，but make an important difference between feeling it and living with it．When fear or worry crosses a happy person’s mind，they’ll ask themselves if there’s an action they can take to prevent their fear or worry from happening and they take it．If not，they realize they’re spinning in fear and they lay it down．Paragraph 2 mainly shows that unhappy people tend to _______________．
| A．focus on what they really want |
| B．get worried about what will happen |
| C．stay focused on the past misfortunes |
| D．find a way to live through hard times |
According to paragraph 3 and 4，unhappy people ______________．
| A．like making some new friends |
| B．hate seeing others with good fortune |
| C．are more likely to be cheated by strangers |
| D．believe they can get good luck by working hard |
What is implied about happy people?
| A．They don’t think life is hard． |
| B．They hardly ever fear anything． |
| C．They try to get out of their fear or worries． |
| D．They don’t believe in every people they meet． |
How is the text mainly developed?
| A．By making comparisons． |
| B．By giving examples． |
| C．By showing detailed data． |
| D．By proving some theories． |
Hello everybody．You can use this website to learn English and other languages．Click the links below to explore our language learning resources．
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You can speak English online with another person or practice any other language on our Live English Conversation Linkup service through Skype，Google Talk，MSN，etc．You can use the service to get information about travel，language，food，customs，climate，travel，business，work，study etc．Or，you can speak any foreign language on our Live Language Linkup page．
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Real conversations
We provide recordings of real conversations and interviews，with transcripts(文字记录)of the conversations so you can read and listen at the same time．It is a good way to learn real English．
This website mainly provides users with _____________．
| A．free courses on traveling abroad |
| B．plenty of language resources |
| C．interesting conversations |
| D．1ots of amazing stories |
If one wants to enrich his grammar and words，he should click _____________．
| A．Be Aware | B．The Water Car |
| C．The Business Trip | D．Interactive Stories |
Which of the following is designed for intermediate level learners?
| A．The Children of Kenji Takeuehi． |
| B．A New Life in Mosquito City |
| C．Hiromi’s Trip to Thailand． |
| D．Miyako’s Education． |
Real conversations is a good may to learn real English because ____________．
| A．you can read while listening |
| B．you can see a native speaker |
| C．you can record your own voice and listen to it |
| D．you can transcript every word of real speakers |
You may have experienced the annoyance of being fined because of parking illegally or finding your car towed away(拖走)after leaving it parked somewhere for a couple of minutes．But now a high-tech car sticker that’s designed to be stuck to a car’s windscreen could help motorists avoid such a situation．
The TowStop sticker sends a text message to a driver when touched by a traffic policeman，to allow motorists to send a reply and give them time to move their cars immediately．Frankfurt-based IT consultant，Daniel Kalliontzis，came up with the idea and is raising money to put his €54(￡43) sticker into production．
Car owners can put the sticker inside their car’s windscreen，having set it up with key information，such as their phone number．The slim design will include a sensor(传感器)that，when touched by a traffic policeman，will send a text message warning a driver of a possible fine．The driver could then type a reply for the policeman using a smartphone，which will appear on the sticker’s screen．
The smart sticker system will rely on the good will of traffic policemen and in a way，a German law．The law states：an officer has to choose the most efficient and inexpensive way for the car owner to remove the vehicle．It could be cheaper for the government to call the driver than to tow his car．
Mail Online asked the Department of Transport whether the sticker could be used in the UK in a similar way．A spokesman said，“In England there is no legal duty to warn the motorist before issuing the ticket．However，a policeman does have the discretion not to issue a ticket if he doesn’t think the situation is that bad or he just wants to issue a warning．”
So far，Mr．Kalliontzis has raised just over €3，000(￡2，362)of his €50，000(￡39，381) goal．If he manages to raise the money，the stickers will be shipped in June 2015．But it appears that car owners using the smart system could get some unnecessary warning messages，because anyone could touch the smart sticker．The author wrote the third paragraph to _______________．
| A．explain how a smart car sticker works |
| B．advise drivers to buy a car sticker |
| C．show the importance of a sensor |
| D．tell drivers how to park a car |
We may infer from the text that in Britain _______________．
| A．car owners don’t have to worry about a parking ticket |
| B．smart car stickers wouldn’t work as well as in Germany |
| C．traffic policemen prefer to call a driver rather than tow his car |
| D．the Department of Transport thinks highly of smart car stickers |
The underlined word“discretion” in Paragraph 5 can best be replaced by“____________”．
| A．trouble | B．pressure |
| C．freedom | D．opportunity |
What would be the best title for the text?
| A．Daniel Kalliontzis — a great inventor |
| B．Environment-friendly car stickers |
| C．Parking systems in Europe |
| D．End of the parking ticket? |
SALT LAKE CITY—The Utah Jazz basketball team signed a 5-year-old．Free-agent player to a one-day contract for a special performance in October．The Utah Jazz has just made his dream come true．The boy has suffered from blood cancer since 2012．
JP Gibson，who was diagnosed with severe blood cancer，signed his contract with Jazz President Randy Rigby before joining the team for the pre-season training play at Utah Jazz’s sport center．JP was joined by his parents，Josh and Megan，and his 2-year-old sister，Elsie．
The activity was hosted by the Jazz and photographer Jon Diaz’s“Anything Can Be”project，which provides support and hope to families like the Gibsons．Jon Diaz asks children with cancer what their dreams and wishes are，and he writes their stories in a book．
JP，wearing a No．1 shirt，even got to play in the play．He passed the ball，and Rudy obert，a player of Utah Jazz，lifted him up so he could dunk(扣篮)and shake hands with some players as fans were cheerful．
“JP loves most sports，but basketball is absolutely his favorite，” Megan Gibson said in a statement released by the Jazz．“When he was just over one year old，he would sit with my husband，Josh，watching games．He started insisting on shooting hoops(投篮)for an hour each night before bedtime when he was just 15 months old．He knows he has to be 6 before he can play Junior Jazz，and he reminds us all the time that he can’t wait until he’s 6．”Utah Jazz signs a 5-year-old JP Gibson just to _____________．
| A．make the team more famous |
| B．realize the dream of JP Gibson |
| C．satisfy the taste of the fans |
| D．promote the“Anything Can Be” project |
“Anything Can Be”project ____________．
| A．raises money to help the development of NBA |
| B．provides support and hope to kids loving basketball |
| C．has kids with cancer write their stories in a book |
| D．offers assistance to those who are in misfortune |
According to the passage，JP Gibson _____________．
| A．will play on Utah Jazz team when he grows up |
| B．can earn much money by signing Utah Jazz |
| C．has been a basketball lover since very young age |
| D．won’t live long due to his severe blood cancer |
Robots make me nervous-especially the ones which seem to think for themselves．I was embarrassed to admit this till I heard that Bill Gates，the founder of Microsoft，felt the same way．Gates said in an interview with the website Reddit：“I am in the camp that is concerned about super intelligence．First the machines will do a lot of jobs for us and not be super intelligent．That should be positive if we manage well．A few decades after that though the intelligence is strong enough to be a concern．”
Well，maybe I don’t have to worry about my laptop and kitchen appliances yet．After I use them I can always pull the plug．But in the future，machines might find a way to prevent us from switching them off．There’s a scary thought!
Professor Stephen Hawking warned a few months ago about the possibility that artificial intelligence could evolve and end up beyond human contro1．He suggested that machines could“spell the end of the human race”．
Maybe the problem with computers too clever for us is not that they are evil or rebellious．What could put us in danger is that they might be too efficient．That’s what philosopher Nick Bostrom from the Future of Humanity Institute at Oxford University believes．He says that machines are indifferent to humans and in pursuit of their own goals，the destruction of people might be just collateral(附带的)damage．A machine would not take pity on you．
I’m glad my machines at home are“dumb”．All my vacuum cleaner wants to take over is the carpet in my living room．Let’s hope they don’t create an appliance which wants to take over the world!
We can conclude from Gates’statements that ___________．
| A．he is embarrassed that he is afraid of robots |
| B．he doesn’t think machines are intelligent |
| C．machines should be fully employed |
| D．machines’super intelligence should be a concern |
The underlined word“spell”in Paragraph 3 is closest in meaning to _____________．
| A．record | B．cause | C．explain | D．develop |
Why are computers dangerous according to Nick Bostrom?
| A．They are too evil and rebellious． |
| B．They are indifferent to humans． |
| C．They show pity on humans． |
| D．They are too clever and efficient． |
What can be inferred about the author?
| A．He doesn’t agree with Bill Gates． |
| B．He is not content with the present kitchen appliances． |
| C．He is scared about the super intelligence of machines． |
| D．He expects that machines will take place of humans． |
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