Homestay provides English language students with the opportunity to speak English outside the classroom and the experience of being part of a British home.
What to Expect
The host will provide accommodation and meals. Rooms will be cleaned and bedcovers changed at least once a week. You will be given the house key and the host is there to offer help and advice as well as to take an interest in your physical and mental health.
Accommodation Zones
Homestays are located in London mainly in Zones2,3 and 4 of the transport system. Most hosts do not live in the town center as much of central London is commercial and not residential（居住的）.Zones3 and 4often offer larger accommodation in a less crowed area. It is very convenient to travel in London by Underground.
Meal Plans Available
♢Continental Breakfast
♢Breakfast and Dinner
♢Breakfast, Packed Lunch and Dinner
It’s important to note that few English families still provide a traditional cooked breakfast.Your accommodation includes Continental Breakfast which normally consists of fruit juice, cereal (谷物类食品), bread and tea or coffee. Cheese, fruit and cold meat are not normally part of a Continental Breakfast in England. Dinners usually consist of meat or fish with vegetables followed by desert, fruit and coffee.
Friends
If you wish to invite a friend over to visit, you must first ask your host’s permission. You have no right to entertain friends in a family home as some families feel it is an invasion of their privacy.
Self-Catering Accommodation in Private Homes
Accommodation on a room-only basis includes shared kitchen and bathroom facilities and often a main living room. This kind of accommodation offers an independent lifestyle and is more suitable for the long-stay student. However, it does not provide the same family atmosphere as an ordinary homestay and may not benefit those who need to practice English at home quite as much. What can be inferred from Paragraph3?
| A．Zone 4 is more crowded than Zone 2. |
| B．Hosts dislike travelling to the city centre. |
| C．The business centre of London is in Zone1. |
| D．Accommodation in the city center is not provided. |
According to the passage, what does Continental Breakfast include?
| A．Dessert and coffee. |
| B．Bread and fruit juice. |
| C．Fruit and vegetables. |
| D．Centre and cold meat. |
Why do some people choose self-catering accommodation?
| A．To experience a warmer family atmosphere. |
| B．To enrich their knowledge of English. |
| C．To enjoy much more freedom. |
| D．To entertain friends as they like. |
I believe in leaving work at five o’clock. In a nation with such a strict work ethic(道德规范) , this is considered strange. Working only 40 hours a week? I just don’t know many people who punch out (打卡下班) at five o’clock anymore.
My father tried to teach me the importance of hard work, long hours and devotion to a career. But then there are the things he taught me unintentionally, like when he arrived home from work for the last time and crawled up the stairs.
My father, a self-employed sales trainer, was that sick, that tired. His body was wracked with liver cancer, and he suffered the effects of a diabetic ulcer（糖尿病）. Despite all this, he insisted on traveling a long way to give a lecture. He probably earned a lot of money that day, but he paid the price. He returned to the hospital soon afterwards and was dead within three months, aged just 58.
It’s been 10 years since I saw my father come home that night and since then, I’ve thought a lot about work. I’ve decided something: I will never crawl up the stairs exhausted. As much as I love my job as a newspaper reporter, I will never work myself into the ground, physically or emotionally. Not taking my work home didn’t come easily to me at first. After all, I am my father’s daughter. In college, I was the girl who sat on the library steps each morning, waiting for the doors to open. I even dreamt about schoolwork.
My dad once told me he was unable to just gaze at a sunset; he had to be doing something as he looked at it—writing, reading, playing chess. You could say he was a success: He was a published author, an accomplished musician, fluent in many languages. That’s an impressive list, but the thing is I want to gaze at sunsets. I don’t want to meet a deadline during them or be writing a column at the same time, or glance at them over the top of a book.
This raises the question: If I leave work at five o’ clock to watch the sunset, what are the consequences? Do I risk not reaching the top of my profession? Maybe, because honestly, knocking off after eight hours probably won’t earn me the best promotion. But hey, leaving work at five o’ clock means I eat dinner with my family. I get to hop on my bike and cycle through the streets of my hometown when there is no traffic.
And I get to take in a lot of sunsets. That’s got to be worth something.Which of the following about the author’s father is true?
| A．He set a good example to his daughter. |
| B．He tried to force his values on his daughter. |
| C．He gained much pleasure from his work. |
| D．He achieved great success at the expense of his health. |
What does the author mean by saying “Not taking my work home did not come easily at first” in Paragraph 4?
| A．There was so much work to do. |
| B．All her colleagues took work home. |
| C．She was educated to be a workaholic. |
| D．She wanted a promotion in her work. |
What’s the author’s attitude toward promotion?
| A．She doesn’t care about it at all. |
| B．She is eager to get promoted |
| C．She thinks it’s for the ambitious people |
| D．Getting promoted at all costs is not worthwhile |
This text is developed________.
| A．by giving examples | B．by making comparisons |
| C．by describing process | D．by order of time |
What does the writer intend to tell us?
| A．To praise his father’s diligence |
| B．To ask us to take time off work to enjoy life |
| C．To complain about the strict work ethic |
| D．To stress the importance of hard work |
Not all bodies of water are so evidently alive as the Atlantic Ocean, an S-shaped body of water covering 33 million square miles. The Atlantic has, in a sense, replaced the Mediterranean as the inland sea of Western civilization. Unlike real inland seas, which seem strangely still, the Atlantic is rich in oceanic liveliness. It is perhaps not surprising that its vitality has been much written about by ancient poets.
“Storm at Sea”, a short poem written around 700, is generally regarded as one of mankind’s earliest artistic representations of the Atlantic.
When the wind is from the west
All the waves that cannot rest
To the east must thunder on
Where the bright tree of the sun
Is rooted in the ocean’s breast.
As the poem suggests, the Atlantic is never dead and dull. It is an ocean that moves, impressively and endlessly. It makes all kinds of noise—it is forever thundering, boiling, crashing, and whistling.
It is easy to imagine the Atlantic trying to draw breath—perhaps not so noticeably out in mid-ocean, but where it meets land, its waters bathing up and down a sandy beach. It mimics(模仿) nearly perfectly the steady breathing of a living creature. It is filled with symbiotic (共生的) existences, too: unimaginable quantities of creatures, little and large alike, mix within its depths in a kind of oceanic harmony, giving to the waters a feeling of heartbeat, a kind of sub-ocean vitality. And it has a psychology. It has personalities: sometimes peaceful and pleasant, on rare occasions rough and wild; always it is strong and striking.Unlike real inland seas, the Atlantic Ocean is______.
| A．always energetic | B．lacking in liveliness |
| C．shaped like a square | D．favored by ancient poets |
What is the purpose of using the poem “Storm at Sea” in the passage?
| A．To describe the movement of the waves. |
| B．To show the strength of the storm. |
| C．To represent the vitality of the ocean. |
| D．To prove the vastness of the sea. |
In the last paragraph, the Atlantic is compared to______.
| A．a beautiful and poetic place | B．a flesh and blood person |
| C．a wonderful world | D．a lovely animal |
Dutch treat is a late-nineteenth-century term, and it originally refers to a dinner where everyone is expected to pay for his own share of the food and drink. If people go “Dutch treat”, or simply “go Dutch”, it means that they will share the expenses of a social engagement.
There are many other “Dutch” expressions in English, many of which were invented in Britain in the seventeenth century, when the Dutch and the English were commercial and military rivals. The British used “Dutch” to refer to something bad, cheap and shameful. A “Dutch bargain” at that time was an uneven, one-sided deal; “Dutch reckoning” was an unitemized(未逐条记载的) account; and “Dutch widow” was slang for prostitute. Later centuries brought in “Dutch courage”, for bravery caused by drink; “Dutch concert”, for noisy music; “Dutch nightingale”, meaning a frog; and “double Dutch”, for incomprehensible language or talk.
Some of the expressions are still in use today, but some are not. In fact, in American English, some “Dutch” expressions have nothing to do with the Dutch, but something with the German. It was probably because of the similar spelling and pronunciation that people made a mistake in distinguishing between “Dutch” and “Deutsch” (the German word for German), when German immigrants came to America in the 1700s. For instance, “the Pennsylvania Dutch” refers to the German descendants, instead of the Dutch descendants, living in Pennsylvania. Many of the “Dutch” expressions were invented with negative sense, because ___________.
| A．The Dutch were underdeveloped people. |
| B．Britain and Holland were competitors at that time. |
| C．The Dutch had many bad habits. |
| D．The British were superior to the Dutch. |
With the information you get from Paragraph 2, make a guess at the meaning of the sentence “You are in Dutch”. It probably means ____________ .
| A．You are in Holland. | B．You are welcome. |
| C．You are in trouble. | D．You are lucky. |
According to the passage, some native American “Dutch” expressions were related to the German instead of the Dutch, simply because ______________.
| A．People hated the German as much as the Dutch. |
| B．People made a mistake at the beginning. |
| C．People made a joke about the German. |
| D．The German immigrants proclaimed that they were Dutch. |
Mark and his brother Jason both were looking at the shining new computer enviously, Jason was determined not to go against their father’s wishes but Mark was more adventurous than his brother. He loved experimenting and his aim was to become a scientist like his father.
“Dad will be really mad if he finds out you’ve been playing with his new computer.” Jason said, “He told us not to touch it.”
“He won’t find out,” Mark said. “I’ll just have a quick look and shut it down.”
Mark had been scolded before for touching his father’s equipment. But his curiosity was difficult to control and this new computer really puzzled him.
It was a strange-looking machine — one his dad had brought home from the laboratory where he worked. “It’s an experimental model,” his father had explained, “so don’t touch it under any circumstances.” But his father’s warning only served to make Mark more curious. Without any further thought, Mark turned on the power switch. The computer burst into life and seconds later, the screen turned into colors, shifting and changing and then two big white words appeared in the centre of the screen: “SPACE TRANSPORTER.” “Yes!” Mark cried excitedly, “It’s a computer game. I knew it! Dad’s only been pretending to work. He’s really been playing games instead.” A new message appeared on the screen: “ENTER NAMES
VOYAGER 1:…
VOYAGER 2:…”
Mark’s fingers flew across the keyboard as he typed in both of their names.
“INPUT ACCEPTED. START TRANSPORT PROGRAM. AUTO-RETRIEVE INITIATED (自动回收程序已启动).”
The screen turned even brighter and a noise suddenly rose in volume.
“I think we’d better shut it off, Mark,” Jason yelled, reaching for the power switch. He was really frightened.
But his hand never reached the switch. A single beam of dazzling white light burst out of the computer screen, wrapping the boys in its glow(光芒) , until they themselves seemed to be glowing. Then it died down just as suddenly as it had burst into life. And the boys were no longer there. On the screen, the letters changed.
“TRANSPORT SUCCESSFUL. DESTINATION (目的地)：MARS. RETRIEVE DATE: 2025.”Why did Mark touch the computer against his father’s warning?
| A．He wanted to take a voyage. | B．He wanted to practice his skill. |
| C．He was so much attracted by it. | D．He was eager to do an experiment. |
Where did the boys’ father most likely work?
| A．In an electronic factory. |
| B．In a computer company. |
| C．In a scientific research center. |
| D．In an information processing center. |
Mark thought “SPACE TRANSPORTER” on the screen was the name of______.
| A．a computer game | B．a company website |
| C．a software producer | D．an astronomy |
Why did Jason want to shut off the computer?
| A．He was afraid of being scolded. |
| B．He didn’t like the loud noise and light. |
| C．He didn’t want to play games any more. |
| D．He was afraid something dangerous might happen. |
Whathappenedtotheboysattheendofthestory?
| A．Theywereblownintotheair. |
| B．Theyweresenttoanotherplanet. |
| C．Theywerehiddeninthestronglight. |
| D．Theywerecarriedawaytoanothercountry. |
Searching for airfares often seems like a game that passengers are bound to lose.
Prices change from day to day, even minute to minute. Looking through multiple websites for the best deal can be a big challenge. Even when you do book, there’s no guarantee that you are going to get the best price.
“You just don’t know when to pull the trigger. It’s not like buying anything else I can think of,” said George Hobica, founder of Airfarewatchdog.com.
Harriet Levy paid $179 for a recent round-trip flight on American Airlines between New York and Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Sitting just one row behind her, Shirley Harrison paid $215. A few rows back, Ellis and Dianne Traub paid $317 each. There were at least 12 fares on the flight, ranging from $169 to $360.
There’s no reason for it, Harrison said.
Fares can vary significantly in just a few hours. One Delta flight from New York to Los Angeles jumped from $755 to $1,143 from a Friday to Saturday in late April, then fell to $718 on Sunday.
The flight was one of a dozen the Associated Press (美国联合通讯社)followed over three months for a vacation between July 16 and 22. The number one finding: avoid booking tickets on weekends. It’s the most expensive time to buy.
There’s no way to guarantee the best fare. But before booking, travelers should pay attention to this additional advice:
● Book on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. That’s when airlines most often offer sales.
● Buy in advance, but not too early. The best time is four to six weeks before traveling. In general, prices for any given flight are highest eight to ten weeks and two to three weeks in advance.
● Make use of social media. Airlines are giving more benefits like exclusive (独家) sales to travelers who interact (互动) with them on Twitter and Facebook. Those specials are often gone within hours.
● The so-called discount airlines – JetBlue, Air-Tran, Southwest and Frontier – adjust their fares less frequently than other airlines, so you can feel more confident that the price will stay the same. But their prices aren’t always the lowest. Researching multiple airlines’ fares is the only way to get a good deal. What can we infer from the first sentence of the text?
| A．Passengers are unable to search for airfares. |
| B．Airlines often play games with passengers. |
| C．Airfares are set in different situations. |
| D．It’s difficult for passengers to get the best price. |
Theunderlinedphrase“pullthetrigger”inParagraph3probablymeans_______.
| A．startsearching | B．getthehighestprice |
| C．makeapurchase | D．getonboardtheplane |
By using a lot of figures, the author intends to _______.
| A．show there is standard price for every single airline |
| B．discover the rules behind airfares |
| C．guarantee passengers a low price |
| D．prove airfares can vary widely |
Passengers are advised to book flights _______.
| A．in the middle of the week |
| B．on special websites |
| C．several months before traveling |
| D．with airlines which are famous for offering discount prices |