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 4,633一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!一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 Willy is 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. Yon can relax in the main bedroom, go up a few steps of the loft 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 outside.
Gamirasu Cave Hotel
Where: A yvali, 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 is the similarity of the four hotels?
| A．Being expensive. | B．Being unique. |
| C．Being beautiful. | D．Being natural. |
What does the underlined part “Sweet Willy” refer to?
A. The name of a guest.
B. The name of a pet dog of the hotel owner.
C. The name of the hotel owner.
D. The building of Dog Bark Park Inn B & B.Which of the hotel makes you have a feeling of living in the far past?
| A．Gamirasu Cave Hotel |
| B．Green Magic Nature Resort |
| C．Dog Bark Park Inn B & B |
| D．Tayka Hotel De Sal |
What may be the purpose of the writer writing the passage?
| A．To show his wide knowledge. |
| B．To attract attention from the readers. |
| C．To develop business in tourism. |
| D．To introduce some interesting hotels. |
After moving to the United States, immigrant groups trying to fit in tend to choose high-calorie, fatty foods in an attempt to appear more American, a new study finds. That's one reason why immigrants approach U.S. levels of obesity within 15 years of moving to America.
The researchers also did an experiment that measured whether or not the threat of appearing un-American influenced respondents' food choices．After being questioned about their ability to speak English，75 percent of Asian-Americans identified a typical American food as their favorite. Only 25 percent of Asian-Americans who had not been asked if they spoke English did the same.
When their American identity was called into question during a follow-up study, Asian-American participants also tended to choose typical American dishes, such as hamburgers and grilled cheese sandwiches, over more Asian fare. In that experiment, 55 Asian-Americans were asked to choose a meal from a local Asian or American restaurant. Some participants were told that only Americans could participate in the study. Those who chose the more typical American fare ended up consuming an extra 182 calories, including 12 grams of fat and seven grams of saturated fat(饱和脂肪).
"People who feel like they need to prove they belong in a culture will change their habits in an attempt to fit in," said Sapna Cheryan, an author of the study and assistant professor of psychology at the University of Washington. "If immigrants and their children choose unhealthy American foods over healthier traditional foods across their lives, this process of fitting in could lead to poorer health," Cheryan added.
Social pressures, the study concluded, are at the heart of the problem. "In American society today, being American is associated with being white. Americans who don't fit this image even if they were born here and speak English feel that pressure to prove that they're American," said Cheryan.According to the survey, _____.
| A．Asia-Americans care less about their health. |
| B．25 percent of Americans like junk food. |
| C．choosing food is related to Asian-American’s situation |
| D．immigrants are forced to eat junk food. |
The underlined word “fare” in Paragraph 3 most probably means “_____”
| A．food offered as a meal | B．a person taking a taxi |
| C．money spent on food | D．an arranged thing to do |
According to Sauna Cheryan, ________.
| A．what immigrants have done is ridiculous |
| B．American traditional foods are healthier |
| C．immigrants risk their health in order to fit in |
| D．American culture affects immigrants deeply |
Which of the following should take the blame for the bad eating habit?
| A．The situation of employment | B．The traditional culture |
| C．The American government | D．The pressures from society |
What's your idea of a good time? What about dancing in a rainy field with one hundred and fifty thousand other people while a famous rock band plays on a stage so far away that the performers look like ants?
It may sound strange but that is what many hundreds of thousands of young people in the UK do every summer. Why? Because summer is the time for outdoor music festivals.
Held on a farm, the Glastonbury Festival is the most well-known and popular in the UK. It began in 1970 and was attended by one thousand five hundred people each paying an admission price of £1 including free milk from the farm.
Since then the Glastonbury Festival has gone from strength to strength --- in 2004 one hundred and fifty thousand fans attended, paying £112 for tickets to the three-day event. Tickets for the event sold out within three hours. Acts included veteran superstars, such as Paul McCartney and James Brown, as well as new talent, like Franz Ferdinand and Joss Stone. Although many summer festivals are run on a profit-making basis, Glastonbury is a charity event, donating millions of pounds to local and international charities.
Glastonbury is not unique in using live music to raise money for global poverty. In July of this year, the Live 8 concerts will be held simultaneously in London, Paris, Rome and Berlin. Superstars, such as Madonna, Sir Elton John and Stevie Wonder will perform in order to highlight international poverty and debt.
What does the author mean by saying “the Glastonbury Festival has gone from strength to strength” in the fourth paragraph?
| A．The festival has achieved growing success. |
| B．Great efforts have been made to hold the festival. |
| C．The festival has brought in a large amount of money. |
| D．There have been thousands of fans attending the festival |
Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
| A．The Glastonbury Festival is run on a profit-making basis. |
| B．Tickets for the 2004 Glastonbury Festival were in great demand despite the high price. |
| C．Both James Brown and Joss Stone were born in poor families. |
| D．In the 1970 Glastonbury Festival, one could have lunch on the farm for free. |
We can learn from the last paragraph that __________.
| A．the Glastonbury Festival is not so popular as the Live 8 concerts |
| B．the Live 8 concerts are held every year in London. |
| C．London, Paris, Rome and Berlin are famous for outdoor music festivals |
| D．some superstars are concerned about global poverty. |
What is the best title for the passage?
| A．How to have a good time |
| B．Charity events around the world |
| C．The Glastonbury Festival |
| D．Superstars’ performances in charity events |
There has been an outpouring of love for a 23-year-old disabled woman whose dog was killed in front of her while a groomer(美容师) tried to trim(修剪) its claws.
Calls and e-mails came from as far away as the Upper Peninsula and Arizona as well as Oakland and Macomb counties, offering Laurie Crouch, who uses a wheelchair because of multiple sclerosis(硬化症), everything from dogs to money, such as that from Jason Daly of Roseville who said, “ I would like to buy her a new dog.”
A story about the death of Crouch’s pet, Gooch, was printed on the front page of Macomb Daily. Crouch said a man sat on the dog to trim its nails. Gooch died after one claw was trimmed.
Crouch yelled at the groomer to stop when she saw Gooch was struggling to breathe, but she said she was ignored. “If I could have walked, I would have put my hands on her and pulled her off my dog and physically stopped her, but I can’t do that.” Gooch was not a trained service animal, but naturally helped Crouch by picking up things for her.
“This case is absolute animal abuse(虐待),” Larry Obrecht, division manager of the Oakland County Animal Shelter in Auburn Hills, said.
People who read the story contacted Oakland Press to offer help. A message, from Rebecca Amett of Giggles N Wiggles Puppy Rescue, in Roseville, said, “We have puppies to donate … and want to help the young woman who lost her service dog.”
“When Gooch was with me, I was happy,” Crouch said, “I think I can be happy again but no animal can replace Gooch. There’s never going to be another Gooch out there but I think I will find a dog that can bring me joy again.” What does the passage mainly tell us?
| A．A disabled woman’s service dog. |
| B．A cruel groomer killed a disabled woman’s dog. |
| C．People’s love for a disabled woman who lost her dog. |
| D．Disabled woman loves to have the dog as company. |
People called and emailed to .
| A．offer help and care to Laurie Crouch. |
| B．give their angry voice to the groomer. |
| C．offer a cure for Crouch’s disease. |
| D．tell Crouch how to punish the groomer. |
We can infer from the passage that .
| A．Crouch refused to take another dog. |
| B．Crouch must be sad after losing her dog. |
| C．Crouch has accepted another dog from a stranger. |
| D．Crouch can live well without a dog’s company. |
Most people know precious gemstones (宝石) by their appearances. An emerald flashes deep green, a ruby seems to hold a red fire inside, and a diamond shines like a star. It’s more difficult to tell where the gem was mined, since a diamond from Australia or Arkansas may appear the same to one from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. However, recently, a team of scientists has found a way to identify a gemstone’s origin.
Beneath the surface of a gemstone, on the tiny level of atoms and molecules（分子）, lie clues (线索) to its origin. At this year’s meeting of the Geological Society of America in Minneapolis, Catherine McManus reported on a technique that uses lasers (激光) to clarify these clues and identify a stone’s homeland. McManus directs scientific research at Materialytics, in Killeen, Texas. The company is developing the technique. “With enough data, we could identify which country, which mining place, even the individual mine a gemstone comes from,” McManus told Science News.
Some gemstones, including many diamonds, come from war-torn countries. Sales of those “blood minerals” may encourage violent civil wars where innocent people are injured or killed. In an effort to reduce the trade in blood minerals, the U.S. government passed law in July 2010 that requires companies that sell gemstones to determine the origins of their stones.
To figure out where gemstones come from, McManus and her team focus a powerful laser on a small sample of the gemstone. The technique is called laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy. Just as heat can turn ice into water or water into steam, energy from the laser changes the state of matter of the stone. The laser changes a miniscule part of the gemstone into plasma, a gas state of matter in which tiny particles（微粒）called electrons separate from atoms.
The plasma, which is superhot, produces a light pattern. (The science of analyzing this kind of light pattern is called spectroscopy.) Different elements produce different patterns, but McManus and her team say that gemstones from the same area produce similar patterns. Materialytics has already collected patterns from thousands of gemstones, including more than 200 from diamonds. They can compare the light pattern from an unknown gemstone to patterns they do know and look for a match. The light pattern acts like a signature, telling the researchers the origin of the gemstone.
In a small test, the laser technique correctly identified the origins of 95 out of every 100 diamonds. For gemstones like emeralds and rubies, the technique proved successful for 98 out of every 100 stones. The scientists need to collect and analyze more samples, including those from war-torn countries, before the tool is ready for commercial use.
Scientists like Barbara Dutrow, a mineralogist from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, find the technique exciting. “This is a basic new tool that could provide a better fingerprint of a material from a particular locality,” she told Science News.We learn from Paragraph 1 that __________.
| A．an emerald and a ruby are names of diamonds. |
| B．it’s not difficult to tell where the gem was mined. |
| C．appearances help to identify the origin of gemstones. |
| D．diamonds from different places may appear the same. |
Why did the U.S. government pass law that requires companies selling gemstones to determine the origins of their stones?
| A．To look for more gemstones. |
| B．To encourage violent civil wars. |
| C．To reduce the trade in blood minerals. |
| D．To develop the economy. |
Which of the following facts most probably helps McManus and her team in identifying the origin of stones?
| A．Heat can turn ice into water or water into steam. |
| B．Gemstones from the same area produce similar light patterns. |
| C．Laser can change a miniscule part of the gemstone into plasma. |
| D．Materialytics has already collected patterns from thousands of gemstones. |
From the last two paragraphs, what can be inferred about the laser technique?
| A．It is ready for commercial use. |
| B．People can use the new tool to find more gemstones. |
| C．It can significantly reduce the gemstones trade in blood minerals. |
| D．It will bring about a revolutionary change in identifying the origin of minerals. |
The author wrote this passage mainly to __________.
| A．tell us how to identify the origin of diamonds. |
| B．introduce a laser technique in identifying a stone’s origin |
| C．prove identifying the origin of gemstones are difficult |
| D．attract our attention to reducing trade in blood minerals |
Primary schools could be told to remove some traditional subject-based lessons and replace them with “personal development” classes to encourage children to improve their social and practical skill. Parents, teachers and pupils, who took part in the investigation carried out for the biggest ever official review of the primary curriculum, argued that the number of subjects taught to very young people should be reduced.
The review, being conducted by the government’s school’s director Sir Jim Rose, will consider how to redesign the primary school day to handle concerns that too many pupils leave primary school unable to read, write and do maths at the level expected of them. It will also address criticisms that pupils are expected to study so many subjects there is little time for creative learning.
The 60 focus groups brought together 1,500 parents, pupils and school staff and is expected to heavily influence the thinking of the Rose review, which the government is promising to back. Instead of a broad range of subjects, pupils should study in-depth literacy and maths lessons alongside a more creative curriculum that encourages pupils to develop personal, learning and thinking skills, they say. Such lessons might include “healthy lifestyles, sex and relationships education, drugs and alcohol education”.
“Child and personal development as priorities have been shamefully neglected in recent years in the rush to hit targets in the basics.” John Bangs, head of education at the National Union of Teachers, said, “The worst thing would be to evaluate child development through the current high stakes testing system. That would weaken the capacity of teachers to meet children’s unique needs.”
However, the shadow schools minister, Nick Gibb, said, “If lessons on lifestyle are given the same status as traditional subjects, it is the most disadvantaged children who will be worst affected.” “Children are not able to personally develop and succeed in the future if they don’t have a grasp of basic subjects such as maths and English early on in primary school. Removing high requirement from the primary curriculum would increase the inequality gap between less well-off pupils and the rest.” Nick added. A spokeswoman for the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) said, “This is a summary of stake holder’s view, not the views of the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority or the DCSF, and has been submitted to Sir Jim Rose’s review as evidence to consider.” According to the focus groups, the result of learning too many subjects is most likely to be that __________.
| A．children may not have any freedom |
| B．children may not have enough time for personal interest |
| C．children may not know anything outside the classroom |
| D．children may not have creative ability |
Which of the following is False about the review conducted by Sir Jim Rose?
| A．It will greatly influence the country’s future primary curriculum. |
| B．It will remove high requirement from the primary curriculum. |
| C．It is supported by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority or the DCSF. |
| D．It needs to take fully into account varied views from the society. |
John Bangs’s attitude towards the current high stakes testing system is __________.
| A．negative | B．positive |
| C．uncertain | D．cautious |
According to Nick Gibb, grasp of basic subjects early on in primary school is important for _______.
| A．the primary curriculum reform |
| B．children’s development in the future |
| C．children’s educational equality |
| D．increasing the children’s confidence |
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