Sri Lanka is known as the “Pearl of the Indian Ocean”, and it is easy to see why. This little country never fails to please visitors.

Arrive

The national airline is Sri Lankan Airlines, which flies from Colombo to London and a couple of other European cities. The country’s main airport is Colombo Bandaranaike, located 29km north of the capital city.

Why now?

    The best time to visit Sri Lanka’s southern beaches is from November to April. So by going early in the season, you’ll get the best weather. Also in November, Deepavali, known as “Diwali” or the “Festival of Lights”, is Sri Lanka’s main religious festival, celebrated throughout the country.

See

    There is plenty to see in Sri Lanka. The ancient capital cities of Polonnaruwa and Anuradhapura are worth seeing, and so are many outstanding ruins. Other mustsees are the rock fortress (要塞) of Sigiriya, towering over the jungle as far as the eye can see, and Dambulla’s cave temple, the country’s largest and best preserved. Both are UNESCO World Heritage (遗产) Sites. Kandy is a picture-like town, which was the last stronghold of the Kandyan Kings. Today it is a cultural relic centre where age-old customs, arts, and crafts remain.

Do

    Sri Lanka owns about 1,600km of beautiful palm-shaded beaches as well as warm, pure seas and colourful coral reefs. You can explore the underwater world, and surfing and diving are available too. Away from the shore, wildlife is a big draw for Sri Lanka, and Yala National Park is one of the best places in the world to see wild animals including leopards (豹) and elephants.

Taste

Sri Lanka is celebrated for its excellent food, with a particular emphasis on fresh fruit and vegetables on menus everywhere. Fish and seafood are a big part of the local diet.

Did you know?

Sri Lanka is known for its tea, but it is also the world’s largest producer and exporter of cinnamon(肉桂).

1.Which of the following is a cultural relic centre of Sri Lanka?

   A. Anuradhapura.            B. Kandy.             C. Colombo.          D. Polonnaruwa.

2.If you want to know something about “Diwali”, you’d better go there in           .

   A. November.      B. May.            C. September.            D. October.  

3.We can learn from the passage that Sri Lanka           .

    A. is in the Pacific Ocean                         B. is famous for its excellent food

  C. is the world’s largest producer of tea           D. has only flights to London

4.The author wrote the article in order to           .

    A. let readers know what is famous in Sri Lanka

    B. introduce the picturesque landscape of Sri Lanka

   C. let people get more travel information about Sri Lanka

    D. make Sri Lanka well known throughout the world

People from East Asia tend to have more difficulty than those from Europe in distinguishing facial expressions--and a new report published online in Current Biology explains why．

    Rachael Jack, University of Glasgow researcher, said that rather than scanning evenly(均匀的) across a face as Westerners do, Easterners fix their attention on the eyes．

   “We show that Easterners and Westerners look at different face features to read facial expressions,” Jack said．“Westerners look at the eyes and the mouth in equal measure, whereas Easterners favor the eyes and neglect (忽略) the mouth．”

    According to Jack and her colleagues, the discovery shows that human communication of emotion is more complex than previously believed．As a result, facial expressions that had been considered universally recognizable cannot be used to reliably convey emotion in cross-cultural situations．

    The researchers studied cultural differences in the recognition of facial expressions by recording the eye movements of 13 Western Caucasian and 13 East Asian people while they observed pictures of expressive faces and put them into categories: happy, sad, surprised, fearful, disgusted, angry, or neutral．They compared how accurately participants read those facial expressions using their particular eye movement strategies．

    It turned out that Easterners focused much greater attention on the eyes and made significantly more errors than Westerners did．“The cultural difference in eye movements that they show is probably a reflection of cultural difference in facial expressions,” Jack said．“Our data suggest that whereas Westerners use the whole face to convey emotion, Easterners use the eyes more and the mouth less．”

    In short, the data show that facial expressions are not universal signals of human emotion．From here on, examining how cultural factors have diversified these basic social skills will help our understanding of human emotion．Otherwise, when it comes to communicating emotions across cultures, Easterners and Westerners will find themselves lost in translation．

1.The discovery shows that Westerners ________.

    A．consider facial expressions universally reliable

    B．pay equal attention to the eyes and the mouth

    C．have more difficulty in recognizing facial expressions

    D． observe the eyes and the mouth in different ways

2.What were the people asked to do in the study?

A．To get their faces impressive．                  B． To make a face at each other．

C．To observe the researchers' faces．                  D． To classify some face pictures．

3.What does the underlined word "they" in Paragraph 6 refer to?

A．The researchers of the study．            B． The participants in the study．

C．The data collected from the study．                  D． The errors made during the study．

4.In comparison with Westerners, Easterners are likely to ______.

A． read facial expressions more correctly            B． examine the eyes more attentively

C．study the mouth more frequently            D．do translation more successfully

A new study warns that about thirty percent of the world's people may not have enough water by the year 2025.

   A private American organization called Population Action International did the new study. It says more than three-hundred-thirty-five-million people lack enough water now. The people live in twenty-eight countries. Most of the countries are in Africa or the Middle East.

   P-A-I researcher Robert Engelman says by the year 2025, about three-thousand-million people may lack water. At least 18 more countries are expected to have severe water problems. The demand for water keeps increasing. Yet the amount of water on Earth stays the same.

   Mr. Engelman says the population in countries that lack water is growing faster than in other parts of the world. He says population growth in these countries will continue to increase.

   The report says lack of water in the future may result in several problems. It may increase health problems. Lack of water often means drinking waters are not safe. Mr. Engelman says there are problems all over the world because of diseases, such as cholera, which are carried in water. Lack of water may also result in more international conflict. Countries may have to compete for water in the future. Some countries now get sixty percent of their fresh water from other countries. This is true of Egypt, the Netherlands, Cambodia, Syria, Sudan, and Iraq. And the report says lack of water would affect the ability of developing to improve their economies. This is because new industries often need a large amount of water when they are beginning.

   The Population Action International study gives several solutions to the water problem. One way, it says, is to find ways to use water for more than one purpose. Another way is to teach people to be careful not to waste water. A third way is to use less water of agriculture.

   The report also says long-term solutions to the water problem must include controls on population growth. It says countries cannot provide clean water unless they slow population growth by limiting the number of children people have.

1.            are expected to have severe water problems by the year 2025.

A. 18 countries                                 B. No countries

    C. 46 countries                                D. 28 countries

2.All the following are true except            .

    A. New industries need a lot of water

    B. There are solutions to the water problem

    C. Egypt now has enough fresh water

    D. Lack of water may cause conflict between countries

3.It can be learned that           .

  A. The ability of developing has nothing to do with lack of water.

    B. . It is not known whether diseases have something to do with lack of water

    C. Lack of water may also result from international conflict

    D There is connection between providing clean water and slowing population growth

4.The best title of the passage would be          .

  A. World Water Shortage                     B. Population and Water

    C. World Conflict                              D. Diseases and Water

A woman decorating her Christmas tree Monday was shot in her left arm when a bullet went through her living room window．Police said the incident occurred at about 5:00 p.m. A .22 caliber shell（口径的弹壳） casing was found across the street from the victim's home．Police did not find a weapon in the neighborhood．

Mrs．Wilma Johnson was treated at a local hospital and allowed to go home．A hospital spokesman said she should recover nicely．She is in her late 50s, divorced, and living with Bob, the older of her two adult sons．Bob wasn’t home at the time of the shooting．

Police will patrol the area more frequently as a result of this shooting．They don't know if the shooting was intentional or accidental．They are asking the public to help if they know anything．They interviewed the neighbors．One neighbor said he heard a gunshot, but in this neighborhood, he said, he was used to hearing gunshots．

The police also questioned Mrs．Johnson’s ex-husband, Joe, who lives three blocks away．Joe said if he was going to shoot at his ex-wife, he’d make sure he shot her in her butt（头）．“That’s a target you could hit from a mile away as she is like a Tele-tubby.” he laughed．Despite such remarks, the police spokesperson said Joe is not a suspect at this time．

1.What was the woman doing when she was shot?

         A．She was decorating her room．                         B． She was cooking dinner．

         C．She was sleeping in her room.         D． She was decorating her Christmas tree．

2.Where is Mrs. Wilma Johnson now ?

         A．She is in hospital．                                             B． She is at home．

         C．She is in another world.                                     D． She is in a funeral．        

3.Which of the following is true according to the third paragraph?

         A．Some neighbors saw the gunman by accident.

         B．The police found the gunman soon after the gunshot．

         C．There used to be gunshots in the area.

         D．The gunshot happened by intention.

4.What was her ex-husband’s words “That’s a target you could hit from a mile away”?

         A. His ex-wife was too fat                                             B．He still loved his ex-wife．

         C．She was sensitive to anything.                            D． He hated his ex-wife．

The park bench was deserted as I sat down to read beneath the long branches of an old willow tree.   31   at life, I have a good reason to frown, for the world was intent on   32   me down.

And if that weren't enough to ruin my day, a young boy out of breath   33  me, all tired from play. He stood   34   in front of me with his head tilted down and said with great excitement, "Look what I found!" In his hand was a   35  . What a pitiful sight, its petals were all worn - not enough rain, or too little light. Wanting him to take his dead flower away and go off to play, I   36   a small smile and then looked away.

But instead of   37   , he sat next to my side and placed the flower to his nose and   38   loudly with certainty, "It sure smells pretty and it must be beautiful, too. That's why I picked it; here, it's for you." The weed before me was dying or dead, not vibrant of   39  , orange, yellow or red. But I knew I must take it, or he might never leave. So I  40  for the flower, and replied, "Just what I need." Again,  41   placing the flower in my hand, he held it mid-air without reason or plan. It was then  42  I noticed for the very first time that the boy could not see: he was  43 .

I heard my voice trembling. Tears shone like the sun as I thanked him for picking the very best one. "You're welcome," he smiled, and then ran off to play, not realizing the  44  he'd had on my day. I sat there and wondered how he managed to see a  45   woman beneath an old willow tree. How did he 46  my self-indulged plight(困境)? Perhaps he'd been  47  with true sight from his heart by God.

Through the eyes of a blind child, at last I could see, the problem was not with the world; the problem was me. For all of those times I myself had been blind. I decided to see beauty, and  48  every second that belongs to mine.  49  I held that dead flower up to my nose and breathed in the  50  of a beautiful rose , I smiled as that young boy. Another flower in his hand was about to change the life of an unsuspecting old man.

David was extremely excited at the good news that he would get a chance to the Rock Club to see the great man he admired ___________.

  A. in his honor  B. in the distance                   C. in the shadow         D. in the flesh

We can hardly ________ what he really means on this controversial problem, as he doesn’t show his clear stand to anyone of us.

  A. stick out                B. let out               C. try out              D.figure out

The bank refused to give the company more time, and ________, it broke down.

  A. legally         B. consequently                     C. constantly                           D. temporarily

People are convinced that her ________ policies will succeed on condition that it can be carried out seriously by the local government.

  A. delicate                 B. stubborn                   C. tough                           D. determined

It seems that he is always pretty _________ in most cases, for his judgment always goes with strong evidence.[��Դ:Z&xx&k.Com]

A. subjective                B.objective                      C. persuasive                         D. logical