"Four great inventions" in ancient China are important symbols of the country. Now China has "new four great inventions"， high﹣speed trains， mobile payment， bike sharing and online shopping. They are changing people's lives in China and maybe all over the world.
High﹣speed trains
By the end of 2016， China had the world's largest high﹣speed railway network. More than 2，500 high﹣speed trains are running across China each day.
Lin Jinlong， an overseas student from Cambodia， shared his experience of traveling by Chinese high﹣speed train from Beijing to Tianjin. The two cities are over 100 km away， but the trip took only about half an hour. "That was amazing!" Lin said.
Mobile payment
Mobile payment has become a part of Chinese people's everyday life. It makes their lives much more convenient. "My wallet is not in use any longer. I can buy almost anything I want simply with my mobile phone，" said Lin. "Even vegetable sellers are using mobile payment."
Bike sharing
Bike sharing is not new itself， but the bike sharing in China is special﹣it allows users to pick a bike anywhere in the city and leave it anywhere at the end of their journey. It's really convenient， cheap and green. A bike sharing company called Mobike has even brought the service to other countries.
Online shopping
You are out if you have never shopped online. Now you can buy almost everything from websites like Taobao and JD， and get what you've bought within days. China's online shopping makes many foreigners feel both excited and amazed.
（1）Do "new four great inventions" only change people's lives in China？
（2）When did China have the world's largest high﹣speed railway network？
（3）Why does Lin say his wallet is no longer in use？
（4）What does the writer think of bike sharing？
（5）Where can you buy almost everything if you shop online？
Cyril Dick’s house is neither a modern house nor a house of the future. It is 40 years old. There are more houses like that in the south of France. They are called “bubble houses”, and you can see why!
Cyril Dick is a designer and he loves round things. He collects old records and clocks. He also collects round furniture. And now he has a completely round house.
Everything in the “bubble house” is round. The centre of the house is one very big bubble. This is both the living room and dining room. There are round armchairs, a round table, and a big round rug(地毯) in front of a round fireplace. Around the living room are three small bubbles. One bubble is a kitchen with round shelves, another bubble is the garden room, and the third bubble is a music room. Upstairs there are two more bubbles—a bedroom and a bathroom.
The doors and windows are also round, of course. The window are like eyes. There aren’t any curtains(窗帘) in the house, because Cyril likes to see the garden all the time.
Bubble houses are the idea of a Hungarian architect(建筑师), Antti Lovag. “A lot of modern houses are bad for us, especially tall buildings of flats,” says Lovag. “Because round homes are more natural, people feel happy in them.” Cyril agrees with this. “Some people think my house is funny,” he says, “but for me, this is the perfect home.”You can find more “bubble houses” in the south of France.
Cyril Dick is a designer and he loves _____________________________________.
What is the third bubble around the living room?
____________________________________________________________________._____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
It is true that people with better education are usually able to get better paying jobs. In other words, they have more chances to choose a good job while people with little or no education don’t. It seems that the purpose of education is to make people get jobs. But this isn’t accepted by all people.
Some people may think that a person should spend the best years of his life to get education only for a way of living. This was probably one of the earliest reasons of education. In fact, if education is just a way of making a living, people don’t need to spend so much time in school. People can get education for a living in a short time. Subjects like history and geography need not be taught to everyone. Even language and mathematics need not be taught in detail(详细地), either. Here it is clear that education is much more than teaching a man to get a way of living.
Education is well-rounded and it is mainly for improving a man. It is not only to teach him to speak, read and write, but also to develop his creative thinking and other abilities. After that, it is to make him a wise man and thankfully enjoy the achievements of human. Education is to make a man lead a better life. Educated people are expected to be able to listen to good music, read good books, watch plays and most of all take an interest in the world.
I would agree that making a good living is an important reason for education, but certainly not the most important or the main reason.People with little education usually ____.
| A．spend a long time in school | B．have a good chance to get a job |
| C．spend the best years to choose jobs | D．have fewer chances to get a good job |
The earliest education was probably to ______.
| A．make a man lead a better life | B．teach a man to write and think |
| C．make people get a way of living | D．teach people to read good books |
The underlined word “well-rounded” in the passage means “_______” in Chinese.
| A．圆满的 | B．崭新的 | C．公平的 | D．全面的 |
It is expected that educated people will be able to _____.
| A．accept education as a way of living |
| B．take an interest in the whole world |
| C．develop their abilities to make plays |
| D．learn subjects like language and math |
The passage mainly tells us that _______.
| A．education should make a man improve |
| B．people can get education in a short time |
| C．people should be able to get better paying jobs |
| D．all subjects are so important for a way of living |
Table of hotels from the Tour Guide(指南) for the city of Mystic and Mystic nearby.
There are ____ hotels with indoor swimming pools.
| A．two | B．four | C．six | D．eight |
To get the free Internet, you’d better choose______.
| A．Sleep Hotel | B．Groton Hotel | C．Quality Hotel | D．Hampton Hotel |
You can _____ if you live in Roadway Hotel for holidays.
| A．swim indoors | B．play tennis | C．ride bikes | D．do running |
The cheapest hotel with a restaurant is ______.
| A．Howard Hotel | B．Roadway Hotel | C．Holiday Hotel | D．Comfort Hotel |
We can find out that ____ from the table above.
| A．the largest hotel has 136 rooms |
| B．five hotels have meeting rooms |
| C．people can’t smoke in Sleep Hotel |
| D．kids needn’t pay for meals in Holiday Hotel |
“Homestay is a form of study abroad program. It allows the visitor to rent a room from a local(当地的) family to better understand the local lifestyle. It also helps to improve the visitor’s language ability,” said a teacher during a school meeting last term.” Students who wish to learn more about foreign cultures or to get foreign experience should join this kind of holiday. I am sure you won’t be disappointed(失望的).”
After this special meeting, I always thought about this kind of holiday. Last month, I had a chance at last to go on such a holiday with some of my schoolmates and we went to London, a place where I had wanted to go since years ago.
As we were still young, we had a group leader who planned things for us and looked after us. After we got to London, we went to stay with different families. I was lucky that my host family(寄宿家庭) was a white couple who had a daughter about my age. They treated me as a daughter of their family during my stay there. They were interested in me and I learnt a lot of things from them, too.
The holiday was filled with activities every day. After breakfast, a local teacher would come to take us in his car. Then we would have classes or go on a sight-seeing trip to different places of interest like the Big Ben, the London Bridge, and the Buckingham Palace. We would go back to our own homes after the activities.
The holiday was a valuable experience for me. I enjoyed every minute of it. Yet, time really flew fast. Three weeks later, we had to leave “home” for Hong Kong.In the “homestay” program, a visitor can _____.
| A．learn more about holidays | B．understand his culture better |
| C．improve the language ability | D．take part in foreign meetings |
The writer had wanted to visit London since _______.
| A．last month | B．years ago |
| C．the special meeting | D．her stay abroad |
The group leader should ______.
| A．make plans for the family | B．take care of the students |
| C．stay with different families | D．rent rooms to the students |
The writer’s host family ______.
| A．was very kind to her | B．went sight-seeing with her |
| C．had two white daughters | D．was interested in her activities |
From the passage, we know that the writer ______ in London.
| A．wished to stay a little longer |
| B．spent three weeks in her home |
| C．had classes in mnay interesting places |
| D．helped the teacher take the students in a car |
Are two holidays not enough? Do you dream of three, or even four? 这不再是梦想! Last month, the State Council(国务院) encouraged primary and high schools to give students a spring or autumn break without changing the total number of student vacation days.
Students in China currently only have long holidays in two seasons —summer and winter. These holidays are usually 10 to 12 weeks in total.“If we had spring and autumn breaks, I would have time to taste all four seasons instead of burying (埋) myself in my studies,”Gao Yiran, a 15-year-old boy told China Daily. Seasonal holidays during autumn and spring may be something new in China, but not in other countries.
In the US, students usually have three holidays. Summer holiday is the longest one, and runs from mid-June until early September. Summer camp is one of kids’ favorite places to go to, where they can make new friends and try some new activities. Winter holiday starts from mid-December and ends in early January. Most kids and their parents go to spend time together over the Christmas period. Spring break comes in mid- March and it is usually a 10-day holiday.
Schools in Japan start in April, as most people think that spring is the perfect time for new things. For school children ,summer holiday lasts from July 20 to August 31. Most kids are busy with club activities including sports and dancing. Spring break starts at the end of March and continues till early April. It is a good chance for a short family trip around the city.
阅读短文，按要求完成下面的任务。
任务一 将处的中文翻译成英文。
任务二 将处斜体部分的英文翻译成中文。
任务三 写出处“it”指代的内容。
任务四 What do Japanese kids usually do in their spring break?
任务五 为该文段拟写一个标题。