Having reached the highest point of our route according to plan, we discovered something the map had not told us. It was impossible to climb down into the Kingo valley. The river lay deep between mountain sides that were almost vertical（垂直）.We couldn’t find any animal tracks, which usually show the best way across country, and the slopes were covered so thickly with bushes that we could not see the nature of the ground. We had somehow to break through to the river which would give us our direction out of the mountains into the inhabited lowlands.
Our guide cut a narrow path through the bushes with his long knife and we followed in single file. Progress was slow. Then, when we thought we had really reached the river, we found ourselves instead on the edge of a cliff with a straight drop of 1,000 feet to the water below. We climbed back up the slope and began to look for another way down. We climbed slipped, sweated and scratched our hands to pieces and finally arrived at the river. Happily we came downhill along its bank without having to cut our way. However, after a few miles the river entered a steep-sided gap between rocks and suddenly dropped thirty-five feet over a waterfall. There was no path alongside it and no way round it.
Then one of the guides saw a way of overcoming the difficulty. There was a fallen tree lying upside down over the waterfall with its leafy top resting on the opposite bank below the falls. Without hesitation he climbed down the slippery trunk to show us how easy it was. Having got to the fork of the tree, he moved hand over hand along a branch for four or five feet with his legs hanging in space, then he dropped onto the flat bank the other side, throwing his arms in the air like a footballer who has scored goal, and cheerfully waving us on.
74．Having reached the highest point on their route, the travelers expected to be able to .
A．track animals to the river
B．put away the maps they had been using
C．come near to the river from a different direction
D．get down to the river without much difficulty.
75．The travelers wanted to get to the river because .
A．it would lead them to the waterfall
B．it would show them which way to go
C．it was the only possible way out of the mountains
D．it was a quicker way than going over the mountains
76．One reason why the travelers took so long to get to the river was that .
A．it was too hot to move quickly
B．there was no proper path
C．they all tried to go different ways
D．they could not follow the animal tracks
77．To get past the waterfall the guide had to .
A．use a fallen tree as a kind of bridge
B．cross the river above the waterfall
C．slide down a steep river bank
D．swing across the river from a high branch
Why Melbourne? Having long lived in the shadow of Sydney, Melbourne has become a wonderful place for fashion and design and the cultural center of Australia, with an enjoyable program of festival.
What to see? The city center’s grid(格子)system of streets hides a maze(迷宫) of lanes and turn-of-the-century shopping malls where you will find the best cafes, bars and shops. The Hidden Secrets Tour (00 613 9329 9665, hiddensecretstours. com) guides will make sure you find what you’re after, whether it’s fashion, art and design or wine. £34 per person.
Where to eat? Melbourne is a paradise for those who enjoy eating delicious food, and its top chefs use fresh produce and have talent for the experimental. But for something different, enjoy yourself with an Australian Wine Tour Company trip. Departing from the city center daily, you’ll taste wines at four of the region’s best vineyards(葡萄园). It costs £48 per person, including all wine tasting, lunch and a visit to Domaine Chandon (00-613-9419-4444, austwinetourco. Com. au)
Where to stay? The Nunnery is an old convent(修道院)on the edge of the city. It has double rooms with breakfast costing £ 54 per night (00-613-9419-8637, nunnery. com. au)
How to get there? Qantas (0845-7747-767, qantas. com. au) flies from Heathrow to Melbourne twice a day £766, including taxes.
More information: Contact the official tourism site for Melbourne at visitmelbourne. com/uk
Use the links below for more on
Destination guide: Melbourne
Click here for our Melbourne page
ours in Melbourne Why is Melbourne a popular destination for Australians?
| A．Because it’s the most important city. |
| B．Because it’s well-known for festivals. |
| C．Because it is a cultural center in Australia. |
| D．Because it attracts lots of religious followers. |
To get more information about Hidden Secret Tour, you should call _____.
| A．00-613-9329-9665 |
| B．00-613-9419-4444 |
| C．00-613-9419-8637 |
| D．0845-7747-767 |
If you are interested in tasting Australian wines, you have to pay _____.
| A．£34 |
| B．£48 |
| C．£54 |
| D．£76 |
For those who make journeys across the world, the speed of travel today has turned the countries into a series of villages. Distances between them appear no greater to a modern traveler than those which once faced men as they walked from village to village. Jet planes fly people fro one end of the earth to the other, allowing them a freedom of movement undreamt of a hundred years ago.
Yet some people wonder if the revolution in travel has gone too far. A price has been paid, they say, for the conquest(征服) of time and distance. Travel is something to be enjoyed, not endured(忍受). The boat offers leisure and time enough to appreciate the ever-changing sights and sounds of a journey. A journey by train also has a special charm about it. Lakes and forests and wild, open plains sweeping past your carriage window create a grand view in which time and distance mean nothing. On board a plane, however, there is just the blank blue of the sky filling the narrow windows of the airplane. The soft lighting, in-flight films and gentle music make up the only world you know, and the hours progress slowly.
Then there is the time spent being "processed" at a modern airport. People are conveyed like robots along walkways; baggage is weighed, tickets produced, examined and produced yet again before the passengers move to another waiting area. Journeys by rail and sea take longer, yes, but the hours devoted to being "processed" at departure and arrival in airports are luckily absent. No wonder, then, that the modern high-speed trains are winning back passengers from the airlines.
Man, however, is now a world traveler and cannot turn his back on the airplane. The working lives of too many people depend upon it; whole new industries have been built around its design and operation. The holiday-maker, too, with limited time to spend, patiently endures the busy airports and the limited space of the flight to gain those extra hours and even days, relaxing in the sun. Speed controls people’s lives; time saved, in work or play, is the important thing –or so we are told. . Perhaps those first horsemen, riding free across the wild, open plains, were enjoying a better world than the one we know today.
They could travel at will, and the clock was not their master.What does the writer try to express in Paragraph 1 ?
| A．Travel by plane has speeded up the growth of villages. |
| B．The speed of modern travel has made distances relatively short. |
| C．The freedom of has helped people realize their dreams. |
| D．Man has been fond of traveling rather than staying in one place. |
How does the writer support the underlined statement in Paragraph 2 ?
| A．By giving instructions. |
| B．By analyzing cause and effect. |
| C．By following the order of time. |
| D．By giving example. |
According to Paragraph 3, passengers are turning back to modern high-speed trains because__________.
| A．they pay less for the tickets |
| B．they feel safer during the travel |
| C．they can enjoy higher speed of travel |
| D．they don’t have to waste time being “processed” |
What does the last sentence of the passenger mean?
| A．They could enjoy free and relaxing travel. |
| B．They needed the clock to tell the time. |
| C．They preferred traveling on horseback. |
| D．They could travel with their master. |
What is the main idea of the passage?
| A．Air travel benefits people and industries. |
| B．Train travel has some advantages over air travel. |
| C．Great changes have taken place in modern travel. |
| D．The high speed of air travel is gained at a cost. |
San Francisco has its cable cars. Seattle has its Space Needle. And. Longview has its squirrel bridge. The bridge, which has attracted international attention, is now a local landmark.
The Nutty Narrows Bridge was built in 1963 by a local builder, Amos Peters, to give squirrels a way to cross the busy road without getting flattened by passing cars.
The original bridge was built over Olympia Way on the west edge of the library grounds. Before the bridge was built, squirrels had to avoid traffic to and from the Park Plaza office building where office staff put out a nutty feast for the squirrels. Many times，Peters and others who worked in and near Park Plaza witnessed squirrels being run over.
One day Peters found a dead squirrel with a nut still in its mouth, and that day's coffee break discussion turned into squirrel safety. The group of businessmen cooked up the squirrel bridge idea and formed a committee to ask the blessing of the City Council(市政会). The Council approved, and councilwoman Bess LaRiviere jokingly named the bridge "Nutty Narrows".
After architects designed the bridge, Amos Peters and Bill Hutch started Construction. They built the 60-foot bridge from aluminum and lengths of fire hose(消防水带). It cost $l,000.
It didn't take long before reports of squirrel, using the bridge started. Squirrels were even seen guiding their young and teaching them the ropes. The story was picked up by the media, and Nutty Narrows became known in newspapers all over the world
In 1983, after 20 years of use, Peters took down the worn-out bridge. Repairs were made and cross-pieces were replaced. The faded sign was repainted and in July 1983, hundreds of animal lovers attended the completion ceremony of the new bridge.
Peters died in l084, and a ten-foot wooden squirrel sculpture was placed near the bridge in memory of its builder and his devotion to the project.The Nutty Narrows Bridge was built in order to______.
| A．offer squirrels a place to cat nuts |
| B．set up a local landmark |
| C．help improve traffic |
| D．protect squirrels |
What happened over the coffee break discussion?
| A．The committee got the Council's blessing |
| B．The squirrel bridge idea was born |
| C．A councilwoman named the bridge. |
| D．A squirrel was found dead |
What does the underlined phrase “teaching them the ropes” in Paragraph 6 probably mean?
| A．Passing them a rope. |
| B．Directing them to store food for winter. |
| C．Teaching them a lesson. |
| D．Showing them how to use the bridge. |
Which of the following is TRUE of the squirrel bridge?
| A．It was replaced by a longer one. . |
| B．It was built from wood and metal. |
| C．It was rebuilt after years of use. . |
| D．It was designed by Bill Hutch. |
What can we learn about Amos Peters?
| A．He is remembered for his love of animals. |
| B．He donated $ l,000 to build the bridge. |
| C．He was a member of the City Council. |
| D．He was awarded a medal for building the bridge. |
Wugging, or web use giving, describes the act of giving to charity at no cost to the user. By using Everyclick.com, which is being added to a number of university computers across the UK, students can raise money every time they search, but it won’t cost them a penny.
Research shows that students are extremely passionate about supporting charity — 88% of full time students have used the Internet to give to charity. This age group is often the least likely to have their own income. 19% of 22 to 24 year olds have short-term debts of more than £5,000. With rising personal debt levels in this age group, due to university tuition fees or personal loans and a lack of long-term savings, traditional methods of donating to charity are often not appealing (有感染力的) or possible.
Beth Truman, a 21 year old recent university graduate, has used Everyclick.com to donate to her chosen charity, the RSPCA, for two years and has seen the “wugging” movement grow in popularity with students. “When you’re at university you become more socially aware, but it’s sometimes hard to give to others when you have little money yourself,” says Beth. “Wugging is great for people in this age group as it allows them to use the technology on a daily basis to give to charity, without costing them a single penny.”
Wugging is perfect for people who want to be more socially aware and supportive but don’t feel they have the means to do so. Students using the web can raise money for causes they care about without costing them anything in terms of time or money, and charities get a valuable source of funding.
Everyclick.com works like any other search engine, allowing users to search for information, news and images but users can decide which of the UK’s 170,000 charities they would like to support through their clicks. Everyclick.com then makes monthly payments to every registered charity. Launched in June 2005, Everyclick.com is now the eighth largest search engine and one of the busiest charity websites in the UK.According to the passage, “wugging” is actually ______.
| A．a website |
| B．a charity-related action |
| C．a school organization |
| D．a student movement |
In the case of charity, Everyclick.com ______.
| A．frees students of the financial worries |
| B．receives much money from students |
| C．offers valuable information to students |
| D．praises students for their money-raising |
What does Beth Truman think of the “wugging” movement?
| A．It makes Everyclick.com popular in the UK. |
| B．It becomes easy to do charity because of it. |
| C．It results in students’ more social awareness. |
| D．It helps students to save money. |
From the passage, we can conclude that ______.
| A．most full time students do charity on the Internet every day |
| B．Everyclick.com helps students pay for the college education |
| C．“wugging” is a win-win idea for both students and charities |
| D．Everyclick.com is the most successful search engine in the UK |
What would be the best title for this passage?
| A．“Wugging”,a new popular term on the Internet. |
| B．British people show strong interest in charity. |
| C．More Britain charities benefit from the Internet. |
| D．Students raise money for charity by “wugging”. |
"The noise made by boats of whale-watching tourists may be causing communication problems for the animals," British researchers said last week.
Whale watching is a popular tourist activity in places where groups of killer whales (虎鲸) live. Every day, dozens of boats filled with tourists go to watch the beautiful animal. Unfortunately, the engines of the boats make a lot of noise, and that may be causing problems for the whales, according to a report in the US science magazine Nature .
The whales travel in groups, and communicate with each other through sonic (声波的) calls that some scientists refer to as singing. The sounds of the boat engines may be creating too much background noise for the whales to be able to hear each other.
The researchers listened to recordings of whale calls made between 15 and 25 years ago, before whale-watching became popular. These were compared to more recent recordings.
They found that the animals have started to sing for longer than they used to, like a person shouting to a friend across a noisy room.
It is believed that the whales are trying to communicate hunting or breeding(繁殖) information. Scientists said that, "if this is prevented, the future of the world's whale population could be in danger."
"Animals became slow in mind and repeat themselves in noisy areas," said Volker Deecke, a Canadian biologist. "They have to say things twice or three times in order to be understood.”
The killer whales studied were living off the coast of northwestern America. The number of killer whales in this area has been falling for several years, but scientists are not sure why.The passage mainly tells us______.
| A．The problems of whale-watching |
| B．how killer whales communicate with each other |
| C．the reduced population of killer whales caused by whale-watching |
| D．hearing problems of the killer whales caused by whale watching. |
Now in a noisy background, the killer whales have to__________.
| A．sing in a louder voice |
| B．sing longer |
| C．travel in smaller groups |
| D．get nearer to each other |
Scientists believe that killer whales sing to_______.
| A．warn each other of dangers |
| B．keep in the same group |
| C．send useful information |
| D．enjoy themselves |
From the passage, we can feel that the author is_______.
| A．angry |
| B．hopeful |
| C．worried |
| D．disappointed |
Which of the following is the possible result of whale-watching?
| A．Fewer fish in the ocean. |
| B．Misunderstanding between the whales. |
| C．Reduced number of the whales in the area. |
| D．Serious water pollution along the coast. |