If you want to fully enjoy your vacation, then you’d better check the Durban City Tours! This is actually one of the best choices in South Africa today.
There is nothing more relaxing than to think about it that there is a place to go and relax, right? City life is stressful, but you can escape this situation and be in the place where there is noting but fun. Here in Durban you will get to see all the amazing tourist attractions. If you love animals and want to see some elephants wandering around the streets, then Durban is the place to go. You can even get to ride one if you want!
Here you will also get to taste all the delicious South African food. You can choose from Italian cooking to its native dishes. Durban is a great place to tour with your friends and family. You will learn a lot about its history through th
e landmarks you will see down the streets. Tourists and even the local villagers just can’t get enough of these treats!
However, it is important that you make the necessary arrangements. There are actually lots of tour guides that will help you as you make your journey along the streets of Durban. But if you prefer the best tour guides here in Durban, then you’d better settle for the Street Scene Tours. Their staff are all well-trained and professional. Th
ey will certainly make your stay here an unforgettable one. No wonder tourists prefer the Street Scene Tours when it comes to Durban City Tours.What is the main idea of Paragraph 2?
| A．Durban is a relaxing city. |
| B．City life means high pressure. |
| C．It is good to have a place to relax. |
| D．One can have fun riding elephants. |
If you walk in the stre
et of Durban, what will impress you most?
| A．Tourists from all over the world. |
| B．The buildings and many kinds of animals. |
| C．The streets and some wandering elephants. |
| D．The friendly local people and the scenery. |
. What does the last sentence in Paragraph 3 show?
| A．The food can’t satisfy them. |
| B．They are bored with the streets. |
| C．They are treated very well here. |
| D．They never get tired of the sights. |
The author wrote the last paragraph mainly to .
| A．attract tourists to Durban |
| B．help readers make arrangement |
| C．introduce the tour guides in Durban |
| D．persuade tourists to choose the Street Scene Tours |
The cost of college textbooks has risen sharply from 2002 to 2014. As a result, students have to look for other less expensive options(选择) , such as renting books. Now, they find another way, that is, using textbooks on the Internet, uploaded by other students. It is hard to know how popular this practice will be, but many college students around the country are uploading their expensive college textbooks onto the Internet, so that other students can download them for free and avoid the big fees.
A year ago, a student wrote a blog called Children of the Stars about a professor who insisted that students buy the newest edition of a specific sociology（社会学） book for more than $200 and didn’t allow them to purchase an older paperback(平装本) edition of the same book for $5. The student wrote, “The newest edition of the book is so expensive. Fortunately, we found the electronic one online, which is very cheap. This is why we downloaded. ” The blog is followed by a list of websites where people can download books.
Curious about how varied the selection of books was and how easy it was to download them, Vocativ.com decided to do an experiment. The workers of it picked five typical and important courses of freshmen and tried downloading all these textbooks on the websites offered by the student who wrote Children of the Stars. They typed the titles of these textbooks into a computer, and found them immediately. Within minutes, they had four textbooks on their hard drive.
It is illegal to upload or download copyrighted materials without permission, but students still do it due to its advantages. Besides, schools haven’t taken action to stop it.According to the passage, why do many students choose to download textbooks?
| A．Because it is lower in cost. |
| B．Because it is required by their teachers. |
| C．Because it can help them gain the latest knowledge. |
| D．Because it can do less harm to the environment. |
What did Vocativ.com find out from its experiment?
| A．Downloading textbooks was easy. |
| B．Downloading textbooks was illegal. |
| C．Downloading textbooks was expensive. |
| D．Downloading textbooks was impossible. |
What’s the author’s attitude towards downloading textbooks?
| A．Uninterested | B．Doubtful |
| C．Objective | D．Disappointed |
The passage is most probably taken from a(n) ________ .
| A．health report | B．education report |
| C．art report | D．technology report |
When people imagine a classroom, they usually think of older people teaching younger ones. But when it comes to learning about high-technology devices, the opposite can often be true. A training program called the 50 Plus Center in the eastern American city of Columbia, Maryland offers free technology classes to adults over 50.
The training program also offers many other kinds of lectures from Qigong and Tai Chi to yoga and Latin jam dance. There are a lot of exercise programs including playing cards and physical exercises where many people just relax and spend some time together.
Myra Stafford is 73 years old. She signed up for the class to learn how to use her iPad. She is learning quickly with the help of the young and she enjoys learning from them. She says she is more confident today than she was before. Working with young people makes her feel wonderful because they don’t make her feel that she is old or dumb.
Eleven-year-old Zhion Perekins is a teacher of the technology class. He says some of the older adults know nothing about high-technology devices and they are very anxious, so patience is very important when working with them.
He gains more than just social skills from teaching older residents. He has learned a lot on how to communicate with people. He used to be a shy person, but now he has become outgoing.
There is a huge growing population over 60. The training program offers an opportunity for the old people to buy products online using high-technology devices. As senior citizens get more excited about what they want to buy, it is likely that they will go into the market and buy it, so that could lead to an increase in economy.Who usually act as the teachers in the 50 Plus Center?
| A．The young. | B．Adults over 50. |
| C．The older people. | D．High-technology devices. |
What can we learn about the 50 Plus Center?
| A．It teaches the students social skills. |
| B．There are a variety of activities for students. |
| C．People have to pay for attending the classes. |
| D．It is popular with both the young and the old. |
Which of the following is TRUE according to the text?
| A．Myra Stafford is not satisfied with the classes. |
| B．The training program may do good to economy. |
| C．Myra Stafford is too old to learn technology well. |
| D．More and more senior citizens will attend the classes. |
What’s the best title for the text?
| A．A program called the 50 Plus Center |
| B．Teens teach the old about high-technology |
| C．How to help the senior citizens shop online |
| D．The old learn to use high-technology devices |
When Caleb Forbes got his first job at an advertising company at the age of 20, he thought he would be at the company for years. But after seven months he was bored. Soon after that, Forbes moved to London. He took four different jobs at three companies over the next five years. Forbes wanted a better job and higher pay---he was never quite satisfied.
Welcome to the world of a job hopper. Forbes’s story isn’t unusual these days and such frequent movement from one job to the next will become more common. The main reason: the nature of employment is changing. There are a lot more contracts and part-time jobs or flexible employment. That leads to people having a greater number of jobs. What’s more, layoffs(解雇) and pay freezes(冻薪), among other things, have pushed people from one job to another. In some cases, a bad worldwide job market has limited opportunities for star employees, promoting them to seek new challenges at other companies.
However, employers often think that if a person jumped from his last employer after a short period, he will likely do the same again --- there is a significant financial risk in hiring someone who leaves in short order.
What’s more, moving from company to company frequently doesn’t mean workers are climbing the corporate ladder(公司官阶) faster. In 2005, Monika Hamori, a professor at Spain’s IE Business School, looked at CEOs at about 55 to see if those who moved around more frequently climbed the ladder faster.
She found that executives who stayed with one company became CEOs after 23 years, while executives who changed companies many times became CEOs after 26 years. One reason: workers within the same organization tend to be promoted more frequently and be offered better jobs.How did Forbes feel about his first job at first?
| A．It was easy. | B．It was boring. |
| C．It was satisfying. | D．It was dangerous. |
What does Paragraph 2 mainly talk about?
| A．The causes for job hopping. |
| B．The popularity of job hopping. |
| C．The consequences of job hopping. |
| D．The measures against job hopping. |
Employers usually think those who left their former job in a short time ________.
| A．can do their new work better |
| B．are hard-working and easy-going |
| C．have more experiences |
| D．will quit their new job again after a short time |
Monika Hamori’s research showed that ________.
| A．old workers are more likely to move around |
| B．young workers are more likely to be given better jobs |
| C．the less someone moves around, the more he may be paid |
| D．the more someone moves around, the more he may be paid |
International travel has become popular. So, what can we do to enjoy ourselves and also leave a lasting, good impression on the people and places we visit? It goes without saying that we should respect local customs and beliefs. Therefore, a little research into the area where you are travelling may help you.
Pay attention to how people greet each other. In Western countries such as America, it is common to shake hands and look at one another in the eyes when you are greeting someone. In other countries people prefer not to touch each other when they meet.
For example, in Thailand, it is considered to be discourteous to put your hand on someone’s head, especially children’s. The head is considered sacred(神圣的) and by touching someone on their head you can prevent their spiritual growth.
Everyone likes to relax when traveling. This can also include wearing more casual or different clothing. It is always good to keep in mind the local culture about dressing. For example, if you go to a country with strong religious beliefs such as those in the Middle East, all of above are banned. So, it is always good to dress modestly, such as in dark-colored clothes.
The better you prepare the more fun you will have. If you are aware of the special foods and customs and have learnt some simple expressions, you might be lucky enough to find yourself invited to a local festival of gathering where you can experience something very special. By meeting some local people you could also discover some special attractions or places of interest.The author raises a question in Paragraph 1 to ________ .
| A．make readers answer it |
| B．introduce the topic of the text |
| C．help readers choose where to go |
| D．prove the popularity of international travel |
According to the text, when greeting a man from America, ________ .
| A．staring at him should be avoided |
| B．you’d better wear dark-colored clothes |
| C．you may shake hands firmly with him |
| D．you are very likely to be invited to a gathering |
The underlined word “discourteous” in Paragraph 3 is closest in meaning to “________”.
| A．polite | B．evil | C．welcome | D．rude |
Larry was on another of his underwater expeditions(探险)but this time, it was different. He decided to take his daughter along with him. She was only ten years old. This would be her first trip with her father on what he had always been famous for.
Larry first began diving when he was his daughter’s age. Similarly, his father had taken him along on one of his expeditions. Since then, he had never looked back. Larry started out by renting diving suits from the small diving shop just along the shore. He had hated them. They were either too big or too small. Then, there was the instructor. He gave him a short lesson before allowing him into the water with his father. He had made an exception. Larry would never have been able to go down without at least five hours of theory and another similar number of hours on practical lessons with a guide. Children at his age were not even allowed to dive.
After the first expedition, Larry’s later diving adventures only got better and better. There was never a dull moment. In his black and blue suit and with an oxygen tank fastened on his back, Larry dived from boats into the middle of the ocean. Dangerous areas did not prevent him from continuing his search. Sometimes, he was limited to a cage underwater but that did not bother him. At least, he was still able to take photographs of the underwater creatures.
Larry’s first expedition without his father was in the Cayman Islands. There were numerous diving spots in the area and Larry was determined to visit all of them .Fortuna for him, a man offered to take him around the different spots for free. Larry didn’t even know what the time was, how many spots he dived into or how many photographs he had taken. The diving spots afforded such a wide range of fish and sea creatures that Larry saw more than thirty varieties of creatures.
Larry looked at his daughter. She looked as excited as he had been when he was her age. He hoped she would be able to continue the family tradition. Already, she looked like she was much braver than had been then. This was the key to a successful underwater expedition.In what way was this expedition different for Larry?
| A．His daughter had grown up. |
| B．He had become a famous diver. |
| C．His father would dive with him. |
| D．His daughter would dive with him. |
What can be inferred from Paragraph2?
| A．Larry had some privileges. |
| B．Larry liked the rented diving suits. |
| C．Divers had to buy diving equipment. |
| D．Ten-year-old children were permitted to dive. |
Why did Larry have to stay in a cage underwater sometimes?
| A．To protect himself from danger. |
| B．To dive into the deep water. |
| C．To admire the underwater view. |
| D．To take photo more conveniently. |
What can be learned from the underlined sentence?
| A．Larry didn’t wear a watch. |
| B．Larry was not good at math. |
| C．Larry had a poor memory. |
| D．Larry enjoyed the adventure. |