Spring is just around the corner and it’s a time to get outside and enjoy the great outdoors. Here is a selection of festivals around the country that are a great excuse to get back in the spring sunshine.
Dana Point Festival of the Whales
Dana Point, CaliforniaMarch 7 to 8 and 14 to 15,2010
Each year, over two sunny weekends in March the town of Dana Point, California celebrates the return of migratory California Gray wh
ales to this part of the Pacific Ocean. Festivities include whale-watching, an arts festival and educational hands-on activities for the entire family. Prices start at $ 29 per adult and $ 19 for children. For more information, visit www.dpfestivalofwhales.com. Chandler Ostrich Festival
Chandler, ArizonaMarch 13 to 15, 2010
Chandler is the center of Ostrich(舵鸟) ranching in the U.S. You can see jockeys ride these feathered around the ostrich track at Tubleweed Park. General admission is $9 for adults, $8 for seniors, $7 for children aged five to 12 and kids four and under are free. For more information visit www.ostrichfestival.com.
Festival of Houses and Gardens
Charleston, South CarolinaMarch 19 to April 18, 2010
The Historic Charleston Foundation gives curious travelers the opportunity to explore gardens of some of the finest private residences in America. Each three hour tour (afternoons from 2 to 5pm and evenings from 6 to 9 pm) lets you visit eight to ten properties dating from the American colonial period. Prices range from $25 to $45. For more information, visit www.historiccharleston.org.
Tulip Time Festival
Holland, MichiganMay 1 to 9, 2010
You don’t need to travel to the Netherlands this spring to see and smell some of the world’s finest tulips(郁金香). The town of Holland is home to millions of colorful bulbs. The 81st annual Tulip Time Festival, one of the largest flower festivals in America will kick off with fireworks on May 1. Admission fee ranges from $6 for the children’s area to $38 for theatre tickets. Tickets and more information are available at www.tuliptime.com.
| A．$77 | B．$ 58 | C．$ 38 | D．$ 48 |
The underlined word “jockeys” in the second ad is closest in meaning to .
| A．judges | B．riders | C．children | D．travelers |
If you want to learn about the history of American colonial period, you can visit .
| A．Tulip Time | B．Houses and Gardens |
| C．Dana Point of the whales | D．Chandler Ostrich |
It can be concluded that .
A. All the festivals are held in March.
B. All the Festivals are concerned with animals
C. All the Festivals are held in the U.S.A.
D. All the Festivals surely interest children.
Pete Richards was the loneliest man in town on the day that little Jean Grace opened the door of his shop.
Pete's grandfather had owned the shop until his death. Then the shop became Pete's. The front window was full of beautiful old things: jewelry of a hundred years ago, gold and silver boxes, carved figures from China and Japan and other nations.
On this winter afternoon, a child stood there, her face close to the window. With large and serious eyes, she studied each piece in the window. Then, looking pleased, she stepped back from the window and went into the shop. Pete himself stood behind the counter. His eyes were cold as he looked at the small girl. “Please,” she began, “would you let me look at the pretty string of blue beads in the window?” Pete took the string of blue beads from the window. The beads were beautiful against his hand as he held the necklace up for her to see.
“They are just right,” said the child as though she were alone with the beads. “Will you wrap them up in pretty paper for me, please? I've been looking for a really wonderful Christmas present for my sister.”
“How much money do you have?” asked Pete.
She put a handful of pennies on the counter. “This is all I have,” she explained simply. “I've been saving the money for my sister's present.”
Pete looked at her, his eyes thoughtful. Then he carefully closed his hand over the price mark on the necklace so that she could not see it. How could he tell her the price? The happy look in her big blue eyes struck him like the pain of an old wound.
“Just a minute,” he said and went to the back of the shop. “What's your name?” he called out. He was very busy about something.
“Jean Grace,” answered the child.
When Pete returned to the front of the shop, he held a package in his hand. It was wrapped in pretty Christmas paper.
“There you are,” he said. “Don't lose it on the way home.”
She smiled happily at him as she ran out of the door. Through the window he watched her go. He felt more alone than ever.
Something about Jean Grace and her string of beads had made him feel once more the pain of his old grief. The child's hair was as yellow as the sunlight; her eyes were as blue as the sea. Once upon a time, Pete had loved a girl with hair of that same yellow and with eyes just as blue. And the necklace of blue stones had been meant for her.
But one rainy night, a car had gone off the road and struck the girl. After she died, Pete felt that he had nothing left in the world except his grief. The blue eyes of Jean Grace brought him out of that world of self-pity and made him remember again all that he had lost. The pain of remembering was so great that Pete wanted to run away from the happy Christmas shoppers who came to look at his beautiful old things during the next ten days.
When the last shopper had gone, late on Christmas Eve, the door opened and a young woman came in. Pete could not understand it, but he felt that he had seen her before. Her hair was sunlight yellow and her eyes were sea-blue. Without speaking, she put on the counter a package wrapped in pretty Christmas paper. When Pete opened the package, the string of blue beads lay again before him.
“Did this come from your shop?” she asked.
Pete looked at her with eyes no longer cold. “Yes, it did,” he said.
“Are the stones real?”
“Yes. They aren't the best turquoise(绿松石), but they are real.”
“Can you remember to whom you sold them?”
“She was a small girl. Her name was Jean. She wanted them for her sister's Christmas present.”
“How much were they?”
“I can't tell you that,” he said. “The seller never tells anyone else what a buyer pays.”
“But Jean has never had more than a few pennies. How could she pay for them?”
“She paid the biggest price one can ever pay,” he said.
For a moment there was no sound in the little shop. Then somewhere in the city, church bells began to ring. It was midnight and the beginning of another Christmas Day.
“But why did you do it?” the girl asked.
Pete put the package into her hands.
“There is no one else to whom I can give a Christmas present,” he said. “It is already Christmas morning. Will you let me take you to your home? I would like to wish you a Merry Christmas at your door.”
And so, to the sound of many bells, Pete Richards and a girl whose name he had not yet learned walked out into the hope and happiness of a new Christmas Day.When Pete saw Jean Grace, he was ______.
| A．very enthusiastic, hoping for some business to be done |
| B．cold but he still served the young customer |
| C．cold, unwilling to serve the young customer |
| D．very warm to the young customer though he did not want to sell anything to her |
Pete did not say the price of the necklace because ______.
| A．the seller never tells anyone else what a buyer pays |
| B．he priced the necklace too high |
| C．he knew it would disappoint the girl |
| D．he didn't want to sell the necklace |
The eyes of Jean Grace brought Pete out of his world of self-pity and he ______.
| A．tried to forget the memory of his sweetheart |
| B．began to look at the world optimistically |
| C．remembered his lost love |
| D．no longer felt the pain in him |
A young woman came into the shop because ______.
| A．she was afraid that there might be some mistake |
| B．she thought that the stones she had bought were not real |
| C．she was not sure if she could get more stones like those |
| D．she did not like what she had once bought |
By saying “She paid the biggest price one can ever pay,” Pete meant that Jean Grace .
| A．gave the most money for the necklace |
| B．gave all she had with her for the necklace |
| C．appreciated the value of the necklace |
| D．wanted to have the best thing in the shop |
At the end of the story we see that Pete _____.
| A．found another girl that he could trust |
| B．met someone who truly loved him |
| C．found a place to go at last |
| D．regained his ability to love |
Rene Descartes’ explanation of pain has long been acknowledged in medicine. He proposed that pain is a purely physical phenomenon – that tissue injury makes specific nerves send a signal to the brain, causing the mind to notice pain. The phenomenon, he said, is like pulling on a rope to ring a bell in the brain. It is hard to overstate how deeply fixed this account has become. In medicine, doctors see pain in Descartes’ terms— as a physical process, a sign of tissue injury.
The limitations of this explanation, however, have been apparent for some time, since people with obvious injuries sometimes report feeling no pain at all. Later, researchers proposed that Descartes’ model be replaced with what they called the gate control theory of pain. They argued that before pain signals reach the brain, they must first go through a gating mechanism in the spinal cord(脊髓). In some cases, this imaginary gate could simply stop pain signals from getting to the brain.
Their most amazing suggestion was that what controlled the gate was not just signals from sensory nerves but also emotions and other “output” from the brain. They were saying that pulling on the rope need not make the bell ring. The bell itself—the mind— could stop it. This theory led to a great deal of research into how such factors as mood, gender, and beliefs influence the experience of pain. In a British study, for example, researchers measured pain threshold and tolerance levels in 53 ballet dancers and 53 university students by using a common measurement: after immersing your hand in body-temperature water for two minutes to establish a baseline condition, you put your hand in a bowl of ice water and start a clock running. You mark the time when it begins to hurt: that is your pain threshold. Then you mark the time when it hurts too much to keep your hand in the water: that is your pain tolerance. The test is always stopped at 120 seconds, to prevent injury.
The results were striking. On average female students reported pain at 16 seconds and pulled their hands out of the ice water at 37 seconds. Female dancers were almost three times as long on both counts. Men in both groups had a higher threshold and tolerance for pain, but the difference between male dancers and male nondancers was nearly as large. What explains that difference? Probably it has something to do with the psychology of ballet dancers—a group known for self-discipline, physical fitness, and competitiveness, as well as by a high rate of chronic(慢性) injury. Their driven personalities and competitive culture evidently accustom them to pain. Other studies along these lines have shown that outgoing people have greater pain tolerance and that, with training, one can reduce one’s sensitivity to pain.
There is also striking evidence that very simple kinds of mental suggestion can have powerful effects on pain. In one study of 500 patients undergoing dental procedures, those who were given a placebo(安慰剂) injection and promised that it would relieve their pain had the least discomfort— not only less than the patients who got a placebo and were told nothing but also less than the patients who got actual drug without any promise that it would work.
Today it is abundantly evident that the brain is actively involved in the experience of pain and is no more bell on a string. Today every medical textbook teaches the gate control theory as fact. There’s a problem with it, though. It explains people who have injuries but feel no pain, but it doesn’t explain the reverse, which is far more common— the millions of people who experience chronic pain, such as back pain, with no signs of injury whatsoever. So where does the pain come from? The rope and clapper are gone, but the bell is still ringing.The primary purpose of the passage is to .
| A．describe how modern research has updated an old explanation |
| B．support a traditional view with new data |
| C．promote a particular attitude towards physical experience |
| D．suggest a creative treatment for a medical condition |
Which statement best describes Descartes theory of pain presented in paragraph 1?
| A．The brain can shut pain off at will. |
| B．The brain plays no part in the body’s experience of pain. |
| C．Pain can be caused in many different ways. |
| D．Pain is an automatic response to bodily injury. |
The author implies that the reason why the gate control was “amazing” was that it .
| A．offered an extremely new and original explanation |
| B．was just opposite to people’s everyday experiences |
| C．was grounded in an ridiculous logic |
| D．was so sensible it should have been proposed centuries before |
The author refers to “chronic back pain” as an example of something that is .
| A．costly, because it troubles millions of people |
| B．puzzling, because it sometimes has no obvious cause |
| C．disappointing, because it does not improve with treatment |
| D．worrying, because it lies beyond the reach of medicine |
The last sentence of the passage serves mainly to express that .
| A．scientific judgments are difficult to understand |
| B．theoretical investigations are generally useless |
| C．researchers still have a long way to go before the puzzle is made clear |
| D．there is always something puzzling at the heart of science |
Tayka Hotel De Sal
Where: Tahua, Bolivia
How much: About $95 a night
Why it’s cool: You’ve stayed at hotels made of brick or wood, but salt? That’s something few can claim. Tayka Hotel de Sal is made totally of salt—including the beds (though you’ll sleep on regular mattresses(床垫) and blankets). The hotel sits on the Salar de Uyuni, a prehistoric dried-up lake that’s the world’s biggest salt flat. Builders use the salt from the 4,633-square-mile flat to make the bricks, and glue them together with a paste of wet salt that hardens when it dries. When rain starts to dissolve the hotel, the owners just mix up more salt paste to strengthen the bricks.
Green Magic Nature Resort
Where: Vythiri, India
How much: About $240 a night
Why it’s cool: Ridding a pulley(滑轮)-operated lift 86 feet to your treetop room is just the start of your adventure. As you look out of your open window—there is no glass!—you watch monkeys and birds in the rain forest canopy. Later you might test your fear of heights by crossing the handmade rope bridge to the main part of the hotel, or just sit on your bamboo bed and read. You don’t even have to come down for breakfast—the hotel will send it up on the pulley-drawn “elevator”.
Dog Bark Park Inn B&B
Where: Cottonwood, Idaho
How much: $92 a night
Why it’s cool: This doghouse isn’t just for the family pet．Sweet Willyis a 30-foot-tall dog with guest rooms in his belly. Climb the wooden stairs beside his hind leg to enter the door in his side. You can relax in the main bedroom, go up a few steps of the loft(阁楼）in Willy’s head, or hang out inside his nose. Although you have a full private bathroom in your quarters, there is also a toilet in the 12-foot-tall fire hydrant (消防栓）outside.
Gamirasu Cave Hotel
Where: Ayvali, Turkey
How much: Between $130 and $475 a night
Why it’s cool: This is caveman cool! Experience what it was like 5,000 years ago, when people lived in these mountain caves formed by volcanic ash. But your stay will be much more modern. Bathrooms and electricity provide what you expect from a modern hotel, and the white volcanic ash, called tufa, keeps the rooms cool, about 65℉in summer. (Don’t worry—there is heat in winter.)What do we know about Tayka Hotel de Sal?
| A．It is located on a prehistoric lake. |
| B．It should be protected against the rain. |
| C．Everything in the hotel is made of salt. |
| D．You have to cross a rope bridge to the hotel. |
What is the similarity of the four hotels?
| A．Being expensive. | B．Being comfortable. |
| C．Being natural. | D．Being unique. |
What does the underlined part “Sweet Willy” refer to?
A. The name of the hotel.
B. The name of the hotel owner.
C. The building of Dog Bark Park Inn B&B.
D. The name of a pet dog of the hotel owner.Which of the hotels makes you have a feeling of living in the far past?
| A．Tayka Hotel De Sal | B．Green Magic Nature Resort |
| C．Dog Bark Park Inn B&B | D．Gamirasu Cave Hotel |
What may be the purpose of the writer writing the passage?
| A．To show his wide knowledge |
| B．To introduce some interesting hotels |
| C．To develop business in tourism |
| D．To attract attention from the readers |
Tensions have erupted over some barren rocks in the Pacific that you may never have heard of, but stay tuned—this is a boundary dispute(争端) that could get ugly and some day have far-reaching consequences for China, Japan, Taiwan and the United States.
The islands in dispute are called the Senkaku chain by Japan, the Diaoyu islands by China, and the Diaoyutai by Taiwan. All three claim the islands, which are really just five small islands and three barren rocks northeast of Taiwan, 200 miles off the Chinese coast.
The latest conflict occurred when a Chinese fishing boat collided(碰撞) with two Japanese naval ships trying to stop it near the islands. The Japanese prevented the Chinese captain from leaving the place for questioning and the two countries have been exchanging angry protests.
The reason to worry is that nationalists in both China and Taiwan see the islands as unquestionably theirs and think that their government has been weak in claiming this authority.
So far, wiser heads have generally won the argument on each side, but at some point a weakened Chinese leader might try to gain the legal right with the public by pushing the issue and recovering the islands. It would be a dangerous game and would have a disastrous impact on China-Japan relations, but if successful it would raise the popularity of the Chinese government.
In reality, of course, there is zero chance that the U.S. will honor its treaty(条约) with Japan over a few barren rocks. We're not going to risk a nuclear conflict with China over some islands that may well be China's. But if we don't help, our security relationship with Japan will be at the breaking point.
So which country has a better claim to the islands? My feeling is that it's China, although the answer isn't clear-cut. Chinese navigational records show the islands as Chinese for many centuries, and a 1783 Japanese map shows them as Chinese as well. Japan purported to “discover” the islands only in 1884 and took control of them by force only in 1895 when it also grabbed Taiwan.
The best approach would be for China and Japan to agree to refer the dispute to the International Court of Justice, but realistically that won't happen. And since some believe that the area is rich with oil and gas reserves, the claims from each side have become more insistent.
As Chinese nationalism grows, as China's navy and ability to project power in the ocean gains, we could see some military conflicts over the islands.
Taken from NewYork TimesThe underlined word “purported” (in Para.7) is closest in meaning to “_____”.
| A．happened | B．claimed | C．pretended | D．intended |
The latest conflict referred to in the passage occurred because _____.
| A．the Japanese government has bought the Diaoyu Islands from the Liyuans |
| B．two Japanese naval ships sailed in the Chinese sea around the Diaoyu Islands |
| C．the Japanese kept the captain of a fishing boat from returning for questioning |
| D．a fishing boat collided with two Japanese naval ships by design in the Japanese sea |
Which of the following is the author's personal idea?
| A．It is the two Japanese naval ships that are to blame for the conflict. |
| B．It is the Chinese captain of a fishing boat that is to blame for the conflict. |
| C．It is the U.S. that will honor its treaty with Japan over a few barren rocks. |
| D．It is China that has a better claim to the islands because of its navigational records. |
What can be inferred according to the passage?
| A．The claim from both sides has become more insistent. |
| B．Japan has navy and ability to power the Diaoyu Islands. |
| C．China is developing so quickly that it will declare a war on Japan. |
| D．The dispute between China and Japan has put the U.S. in a dilemma. |
The past week was possibly the most eventful in the history of customer technology markets,or to be precise, the 7-inch (17.8-cm) tablet (平板电脑)market. Never before have three of thebiggest players in the industry scheduled what could be truly historic productlaunches (上市）so close together.
Despite its name, the 7.9-inch iPad Mini is one of the largest among the mini-tablets. It's gotall the aesthetics of its earlier 9.7-inch iPad and is unbelievably thin-just 7.2 mm, 23 percentthinner than the iPad.
Apple's iPad Mini
Release date: Nov 2,2012 (Wi-Fi version)
Operating system: iOS 6
Size: 19.9 x 13.5 x 0.7 cm
Prices: $329 (16GB Wi-Fi), $429 (32GB Wi-Fi), $519 (64GB Wi-Fi), or $459 (16GB Data)
$559 (32GB Data), $659 (64GB Data)
Google may have been forced to cancel its Android event in New York City on Oct 29 due to the threat of hurricane Sandy, but that isn't stopping it from making same big announcements. For starters, Google has confirmed (证实）that the Nexus 10 will be running Android 4.2 out of the box, so get excited. It will also come equipped with a 10-inch display running at an impressive 2560x1600 resolution. On the inside, it'll have a A15 dual-core (双核）processor running alongside 2GB of RAM(内存)，so expect the Nexus 10 to be a speedy little tablet. Google's Nexus 10 Release date: Nov 13，2012 Operating system: Android 4.2 Jelly Bean Size: 26.4 x 17.8x0.9 cm Prices: $399 (16GB), $449 (32GB)
Microsoft's Surface is a bold product with some great touches. It doesn't feature a camera and focuses on Office software, which suggests Microsoft is focusing this product on an executive toy. There's no 3G connection (only Wi-Fi) so owners won't have to worry about an extra contract.
The real delight, however, is Metro, the impressive navigation interface (导航界面).It is beautifully designed with brightly colored squares for navigation. Pre-orders for Surface in the US sold out over the weekend, so it would seem customers are excited.
Microsoft's Surface
Release date: Oct 26,2012
Operating system: Windows 8 RT
Size: 27.5 x 17.2 x 0.9 cm
Prices: $499 (32GB M-Fi)What can be inferred from the first paragraph?
| A．The three biggest companies made a new product together. |
| B．A technology has been introduced to tablet industry. |
| C．The three companies launched their new products nearly at the same time. |
| D．The tablet market, in October was out of control. |
What is the 7.9-inch iPad Mini's major contribution to the customers?
| A．Wi-Fi version | B．Operating system |
| C．Prices | D．Size |
How many technologies will be introduced to the Nexus 10 according to Google?
| A．6 | B．5 | C．4 | D．3 |
Which tablet with 32GB Wi-Fi is the most expensive?
| A．Microsoft's Surface. | B．Apple's iPad Mini. |
| C．Google's Nexus 10. | D．A15 dual-core processor. |
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