You often hear people refer to Africa as a country, not a continent. It is often a region that is described as being unified around poverty, disease and despair. Africa is far from being a homogenized continent. It has more than 50 countries, each with unique culture, landscape and tradition.
Africa’s diversity is apparent to anyone who travels to the continent. In the north, you have countries like Morocco, Algeria and Egypt, which have a long tradition of welcoming visitors. Further south there is Kenya and Tanzania, both renowned for their wildlife and for Africa’s tallest peak, Mt. Kilimanjaro. On the southern tip of the continent is South Africa, the region’s economic and political superpower which in itself lies many fascinating cultures. There are also the trouble spots like Congo and Sudan which are almost all but avoided by travelers.
Travel in Africa can be rough. It can also be a great joy. If you have patience, a willingness to maintain an open mind, a desire to explore and the ability to laugh at the strange, your African travels will change your life.
There are many entry points to Africa. Your best bet in terms of cheap airfare is to fly into one of the bigger cities like Johannesburg or Nairobi. Depending on where you are starting from flights to Africa can be either quite cheap or outrageously expensive. As is true nearly everywhere, flying into the biggest cities is usually your best bet for a cheap ticket.
Many people who travel to Africa prefer to do so in a group or through an organized adventure trip. This is especially the case with safari trips. BootsnAll has some of the best African adventure trips and safaris in the world. We work closely with local tour providers to offer you many options at very affordable rates.
If you are looking for a place to stay in, check out the hotels in Africa or the hostels in Africa for those on a tighter budget.
Still want more? You can learn from those who have been to Africa by sharingideas and thoughts on our Africa community message board.
1.From the first paragraph, we know when mentioning Africa, people often_______.
A．regard it as a continent, nota country
B．connect it with poverty, disease and despair
C．consider it a nice place to travel in
D．admit there are more than 50 countries.
2.Africa’s tallest peak, Mt. Kilimanjaro is________.
A．in the north B．in the south C．in the middle D．off the sea shore
3.What can we infer from the underlined part in Para.2?
A．Travelers seldom go to visit Congo or Sudan.
B．People in Congo and Sudan are trouble-makers.
C．Congo and Sudan are as powerful as South Africa.
D．There are few sightseeing spots in Congo or Sudan.
4.Your African travels will be a great joy, if you have_________.
①patience ②a willingness to maintain an open mind
③a desire to explore ④the ability to laugh at the strange
A．①②③ B．①③④ C．②③④ D．①②③④
5.What’s the author’s purpose in writing this passage?
A．Introducing some information of Africa.
B．Encouraging people to travel in Africa.
C．Reminding travelers of the danger in Africa.
D．Telling people the cheap air fare to Africa.
Extract 1（摘录一）
A computer
A computer is an "information processor". It is given information, called "data", instructed to do certain things and then show us the results. The data put into the computer is called the" input" and the results which come out are the "output". Some people say the circle of large standing stones at Stonehenge is a kind of computer. Prehistory people worked out their calendar from the position of the shadows made by the sun shining on the stones.
Extract 2
Teach yourself new subjects and skills at your own pace with a home computer. Use it to help with schoolwork, for self-improvement, even to improve your career skills. Learn touchtyping.
Foreign languages or computer programming. A home computer can help children of all ages learn classroom subjects such as spelling, geography and others. In fact it makes learning fun. So if you want to teach yourself, or help your children teach themselves---get a home computer. It can also help you manage your personal finances(经济）or help you to work taxes and plan household budgets(预算）.You can make business a pleasure with a home computer.The writer introduces the words such as "input" and "output" in order to_____.
| A．introduce people to computer language |
| B．show computer language is the same as English |
| C．help people some scientific language |
| D．give people some scientific language |
Why does the writer talk about Stonehenge in Extract 1?
| A．To give an example of the very first computer. |
| B．To show that computers are older than mankind. |
| C．To tell the difference between the past and the present. |
| D．To give another way of explaining computers. |
If you think of the circle of large standing stones as a computer,_____.
| A．the shadow is the input and the position is the output |
| B．the sunlight is the input and the calendar is the output |
| C．the position is the input and the sunlight is the output |
| D．the calendar is the input and the shadow is the output |
Extract 2 is probably taken from_____.
| A．a computer textbook | B．a company's advertisement |
| C．a teach-yourself computer book | D．a children's guide to computers |
A rat looked through a crack in the wall to see the farmer and his wife opening a package. What food might it contain? But he discovered that it was a rattrap (捕鼠夹）.
Going back to the farmyard, the rat started to give a warning.
The rat turned to the pig and told him：“There is a rattrap in the house, a rattrap in the house!”
‘Tm sorry，Mr. Rat，” said the pig，“I can only say this is something terrible to you, but it is of no influence to me. I cannot be bothered with it.”
The rat turned to the cow. But the cow said，“Like wow，Mr. Rat? A rattrap? I am in danger, Huh?”
The rat returned to the house, head down and dejected. So the rat had to face the farmer's rattrap alone.
That very night, a sound was heard throughout the house，like the sound of a rattrap catching its prey (猎物）The farmer's wife rushed to see what was caught. In the darkness，she did not notice that it was a poisonous snake whose tail had been caught by the trap. The snake bit her.
The farmer rushed her to hospital. She returned home with a fever. Everyone knows that a fever could be treated with fresh chicken soup, so the farmer took his knife to the farmyard for the soup. However, his wife's sickness continued.
The farmer's friends and neighbors came to sit with her around the clock. To feed them, the farmer killed the pig. But she didn't get well. Finally, she diedand so many people came for the last sight that the farmer had the cow killed to provide meat for all of them.
So the next time you hear that someone is facing a problem and think that it does not concern you, remember that the whole farmyard is at risk when there is a rattrap in the house.From the passage we know that______.
| A．the pig helped the rat get rid of the trap |
| B．the cow strongly believed in what the rat said |
| C．no animals showed concern over the rat's warning |
| D．the snake was killed immediately after being caught |
The underlined word ‘‘dejected” is the closest in meaning to______.
| A．disappointed | B．surprised | C．determined | D．excited |
We can learn from the article that_____.
| A．the farmer had planned to kill the rat |
| B．the rat was very wise in avoiding the trap |
| C．the farmer's wife got good treatment in hospital |
| D．the rat had expected what would happen to the pig and cow |
What message does the story intend to pass?
| A．We should mind our own business. |
| B．Everything is related to something else. |
| C．We'd better treat animals in a friendly way. |
| D．The farmer couple and their friends are all foolish. |
My son Jack, a fourth grader, was having a hard time in getting interested in story books recently, so I offered to read the first few chapters to him. In the early pages of ‘Incident at Halk Hill’, a quiet little boy has a special meeting with a female badger (獾).Soon after, another badger is caught in a steel leg trap(陷阱), and the author describes in detail the pain and scare of an animal struggling to its death. We meet the cruel hunter and his ill treatment of a dog; we see the badger being skinned by the boy's father；and we experience the child's confusion when beaten by his father in anger. Pretty heavy going for ten-year-olds, I thought.
Last night , I returned from a weekend away to find that Jack had finished the whole book on his own. “It was really, really good and sad, and violent，” he reported. “There was a lot of killing.”
“Were there any happy parts?" I asked,
"The boy's life was saved by the badger, and that was good. But then that badger got caught in a trap again and at the end it's dying, too. ” Jack said, "It was so sad that I almost cried. ”
I told him that many books have made me cry, beginning with Heidi, when I was just his age, right on up to the novel I finished last week.
“Well，” he admitted then, “I actually did cry. Reading that book just reminded me of all the sadness in the world, and it made me feel sad ,too. ”
So, I think, now he has been through the sad tone of the passage , the discovery that words on a printed page can give rise to such strong emotion ，that a book can move you right out of your own comfortable little self and into someone else's pain. Thus we come to realize that if we are to remain fully engaged in life, open to its mysteries and feel sorry towards its suffering, we indeed need stories to grab（抓住） us by the neck and remind us of the sadness in the world that is not our own.‘Incident at Halk Hill’ is a _______story.
| A．sad | B．happy | C．funny | D．boring |
The underlined sentence “Pretty heavy going for ten-year-olds" means____
| A．the book is too long for a ten year old child |
| B．the book is too difficult for a ten year old child |
| C．the book is too violent(暴力) for a ten year old child |
| D．the book is too pretty for a ten year old child |
According to the passage , stories can be something to help you_____
| A．enjoy your spare time | B．develop your care for animals |
| C．realize the truth of life | D．think about your own life |
By writing the passage, the writer mainly wants to____.
| A．tell a story that interested his son |
| B．show the importance of reading stories |
| C．share an experience between himself and his son |
| D．show how to make children interested in books |
On July 4，1986，Americans celebrated the Statue of Liberty’s（自由女神） 100th birthday．Parades，speeches，fireworks，and other activities contributed to the great joy of the event．The celebration caused reporters and the 1ocal people to 1ook back a century to the similar great joy that marked the official opening of the statue．The Statue of Liberty was completed in 1886，but the story began earlier．The idea for a statue was first suggested at a dinner party by Edouard de Laboulaye， a French historian ．A guest at the party was Frederic Bartholdi，a young sculptor．
Most people who attended the dinner party soon forgot the idea，but Laboulaye and Bartholdi remembered it．In 187l， Bartholdi came to the United States to interest Americans in a statue that would link France and the United States in friendship．Many people in France had already been persuaded and contributed money to the project．Americans were also persuaded to build a fund （基金）for the statue．Much of the money came from school children．
After the idea had been accepted，Bartholdi set to work． He worked hard for many years．His friend Laboulaye died before the statue was completed．At last，in 1885，the statue was sent to the United States．It had to be shipped in sections and then put together for its weight and size．
Ever since then， 1886，the Statue of Liberty has stood as a symbol of freedom to millions of immigrants entering New York Harbor．Bartholdi made his first trip to the United States to talk about the Statue of Liberty in________．
| A．1986 | B．187l | C．1885 | D．1886 |
The Statue of Liberty was shipped in sections because_______．
| A．it was too 1arge and heavy to move to USA as a whole |
| B．USA had better means of putting it together than France |
| C．the completed statue was a symbol of friendship for Americans |
| D．putting it together cost less money and labour in USA |
From the content，we may feel that the writer is _______when he is writing the passage．
| A．calm | B．curious | C．worried | D．Modest(谦虚) |
Which of the following titles best summarizes(归纳) the content of the passage？
| A．Labou1aye and Bartholdi：Makers of the Statue of the Liberty |
| B．How People Made the Statue of Liberty Possible |
| C．The l00th Birthday of the Statue of Liberty |
| D．The True Story of the Statue of Liberty |
Research has shown that music has an important effect on one’s body and psyche (心灵). In fact, there is a growing field of health care known as music therapy(治疗), which uses music to treat diseases. Even hospitals are beginning to use music therapy. This is not surprising, as music affects the body and mind in many powerful ways.
Research has shown that quick music can make a person feel more alert（警觉戒备）, while slow music can produce a calm, deep thinking state. Also, research has found that music can change brainwave activity levels. This can help the brain to change speeds more easily on its own as needed, which means that music can bring lasting benefits to your state of mind, even after you’ve stopped listening.
Breathing and heart rates can also be influenced by music. This can mean slower breathing, slower heart rate. This is why music and music therapy can help reduce the damaging effects of long-term stress, greatly promoting (促进) not only relaxation, but health.
Music can also be used to bring about a more positive state of mind by helping to keep worries away. Music has also been found to bring many other benefits, such as lowering blood pressure and reducing the risk of strokes（中风）. It is no surprise that so many people are considering music as an important tool to help the body become or stay healthy.What can we infer about music therapy(治疗)?
| A．It is a type of music. |
| B．It is a research about music. |
| C．It is a kind of musical effect on diseases. |
| D．It is the use of music method to help treat diseases. |
According to the second paragraph, we can know that ________.
| A．music with different speeds has different effects |
| B．quick music is not good for one’s health |
| C．slow music can help one to think more calmly and slowly |
| D．music will have less benefit after one stops listening |
The reason why music can help deal with stress is that ________.
| A．it is used by many hospitals |
| B．it can help change brainwaves |
| C．it does good to breathing and heart rates |
| D．it can bring a more positive state of mind |
According to the passage, music can help deal with all the following EXCEPT ______.
| A．nervousness | B．mind illnesses |
| C．strokes | D．high blood pressure |