If only I _______ more confidence in the...

Coolest Hotels in the World

Artau Aragon Towers

The Ariau Amazon Towers hotel lets you sleep in a tree house. Eight towers make up this hotel that offers over 300 rooms. If you really want to get into the spirit, book the Tarzan Suite which is large enough for a big family. You'll be thirty feet up in the air and can travel between the towers through their wooden walkways.

Prices: starting at $300 one night for each person for a regular room and going all the way up to $3000 for the Tarzan Suite.

For more information, visit the website: http://Hwww.ariautowers.com

The Ice Hotel

Every winter in Jukkasjarvi, Sweden, a special kind of hotel called the lce Hotel is built. Each year, world-famous artists are invited to design and produce works of art from the ice, many of which can be found in the rooms. You'll have your choice between hot or cold rooms but you will be well advised to stay at least one night in a cold room for a true experience.

Prices: starting at $318 one night for each person for either a cold room or a warm one. For more information, visit the website: http:Hwww.icehotel.com

Propeller Island

Propeller Island City Lodge is a very special hotel that was designed by a German artist. Each room provides you with the possibility of living in a work of art. Every single piece of furniture in the thirty rooms of the hotel has been hand-made and each room is completely different. You'll be able to choose a room based on your own personal tastes.

Prices: starting at just $91 a night, and an additional (另外) person for only 20 extra dollars. For more information, visit the website: http://www.propeller-island.com

For information about other cool hotels In the world, visit the website: http://www.bahamabeachclub.com

1.What is special about the Ariau Amazon Towers hotel?

2.For more persons spending a night in one of these hotels, they have to pay at least

A $111                  B. $182              C. $600         D. $636

3.Which website should you visit if you want to find out whether there exists a hotel under the sea?

4.Which hotel would invite artists to come to work every year?

Language is always changing. In a society where life continues year after year with few changes, the language does not change either. The earliest known languages had difficult grammar but a small, limited vocabulary. Over the century, the grammar changed, and the vocabulary grew. For example, the English and Spanish people who came to America during the sixteenth century gave names to all the new plants and animals they found. In this way, hundreds of new words were introduced into English and Spanish vocabularies. Today life is changing very fast, and language is changing fast too.

There are several major language families in the world. Some scientists say there are nine main families, but other scientists divide them differently. The languages in each family are connected, and scientists think that they came from the same parent language. About 3 percent of the people in the world speak languages that are not in these major families.

1.The early language had ________.

2.In the next few hundred years we can expect language to _____.

3.What this article shows is that _____.

There are many ways to find a job. It can be as easy as walking into a neighborhood store to look at its announcement board. Local stores often have areas where people can put small signs telling what kind of service they need or can provide. Such services include caring for children or cleaning houses.

Or, job searchers can look in the newspaper. Local newspapers have employment announcements placed by companies seeking workers.

Another popular tool for finding jobs is the Internet. For example, people in four hundred and fifty cities around the world can use the Craigslist Web site to buy objects, meet people or find a job. Craigslist says that it receives two million new job listings each month.

Another useful way to find a job is through a college or university. For example, students at the University of Texas in Austin can go to the Career Exploration Center to get help in finding a job. Of course, looking for a job requires knowing what kind of work you want to do. For example, there is a book called “What Color is Your Parachute (降落伞)?” by Richard Bolles. This book has been helping people choose a career (职业) since it was first published in nineteen seventy.

Some experts also help people find jobs. Susan W. Miller owns a company called California Career Services in Los Angeles. She says her company helps people find jobs by first helping them understand their strengths, goals and interests. Then she provides them with methods and resources to help them find the right job.

1.What is the passage mainly about?

2.“What Color is Your Parachute?” is a book which gives tips to those who want to _____.

3.It can be learned from the passage that ______.

4.How many ways of finding a job are mentioned in the passage?

Frank Woolworth was born in Rodman, New York., in 1852. His family were very poor farmers, and there was never enough to eat. Frank decided he did not want to be farmer. He took a short business course, and went to work as a salesman in a large city.

Woolworth realized he had a natural skill for showing goods to attract people’s interest, but he soon learned something more important. One day his boss told him to sell some odds and ends (小商品 ) for as much as he could get. Frank put all these things on one table with a sign which said five cents each. People fought and pushed to buy the things and the table was soon cleared.

Soon afterwards, Woolworth opened his own store., selling goods at five and ten cents. But he had another lesson to learn before he became successful. That is, if you want to make money by selling low-price goods, you have to buy them in large quantities directly from the factories. Once, for example, Woolworth went to Germany and placed an order for knives. The order was so large that the factory had to keep running 24 hours a day for a whole year. In this way, the price of the knives was cut down by half.

By 1919, Woolworth had over 1000 stores in the US and Canada, and opened his first store in London. He made many millions and his name became famous throughout the world. He always run his business according to strict rules, of which the most important was: “ The customer is always right.”

1.Frank took a short business course in order to ____________.

2.The price of the knives was cut down by half because ______________.

3._____________ make Woolworth a world-famous man.

4.The belief that : “ The customer is always right” suggests that _______________.

I shall never forget the day when the earthquake took place. It was about 5 o’clock in the afternoon and I was   26  to my daughter’s school. Our plan was to go   27 together. I’d stopped at a   28  to get some fresh fruit. We like to have some fruit to eat   29  our swim. I was driving along a high road on the way.  30  my road was another road which was built like a   31 . I was hungry so I put the bag of apples   32  me and started to eat one.  33  I saw the cars in front of me start to   34  from side to side. Then my car started to shake! I didn’t know what was happening. Perhaps something had   35  wrong with my car. I drove a little more slowly and then I   36  the car and at the same moment the road   37  onto the cars in front of me. I found myself in the __38 . I couldn’t move. My legs and feet were hurting badly and I couldn’t move them. All round me was   39 But above me I could hear shouts and a lot of noise. Then I memorized what had happened. I had been   40  an earthquake. For about two hours nobody came. Luckily I could reach the bag of   41 , so at least I had plenty to eat. Then I heard people   42  towards me. A team of people had come to   43  if anyone was under the   44  road. I called out, “I’m here!” I heard a shout. Soon a stranger climbed to my car. “How are you   45 ?”He asked. “Not too bad,”I said. They didn’t get me out until the next morning.

2. A. shopping      B. dancing    C. swimming   Dsightseeing

8.A. Finally        B. Actually    C. Suddenly    DSlowly