阅读与表达，阅读短文，根据其内容回答问题。
A Different Kind of Spring Break
For many American university students, the weeklong spring break holiday means an endless party on a sunny beach. In Panama City Beach, Florida more than half a million university students arrive during the month of March to play and party, making it the number one spring break place in the United States.
A weeklong party is not for everyone, however, and a growing number of American university students have found a way to make spring break matter. For them, joining or leading a group of volunteers to help solve problems such as homelessness or environmental damage makes spring break a special learning experience that university students can feel good about.
During one spring break week, students from James Madison University in Virginia took part in 15 “spring break” trips to nearby states, three others to more distant parts of the United States, and five international trips. One group of JMU students traveled to Bogalusa, Louisiana, to help rebuild homes damaged by Hurricane (飓风) Katrina. Another group traveled to Mississippi to organize creative activities for children living in a homeless shelter. One group of students did go to Florida, but not to lie on the sand. They did some work to help protect the native Florida plants.
Students who take part in spring break projects find them very rewarding (值得的). While most university students have to get their degrees before they can start helping people, student volunteers are able to help people right now without degrees. On the other hand, the buildings or rooms they live or stay are far from attractive. Students often sleep on the floor of a school or church. But they only pay around $250 for meals and transportation, which is much less than some of their friends spend traveling to more traditional spring break hot spots.
Spring break projects appear to be growing in popularity at universities across the United States. Some students take the opportunity to meet new friends. Others want to exercise their beliefs to make the world a better place. Whatever their reasons, these students have discovered something that give them rich rewards along with a break from school work.
1.What’s the number one spring break place in the United States?
2.What is the way to make spring break matter for some students?
3.How did the students help in Bogalusa, Louisiana?
4.Where do the student volunteers often sleep?
5.What makes the spring break projects more rewarding?
阅读还原句子，阅读下面短文，从短文后的五个选项中选出能填入空白处的最佳选项。每个选项只能用一次。
Hollywood
To many people, the word Hollywood has two meanings. 1._______. Second, Hollywood is also the US movie industry.
Hollywood was just a farmland at the beginning of this century. Early American movies were made in other places; for example, in New York and Chicago.
In 1917 a director was making a movie in Chicago. Because of cold weather, he couldn’t finish the movie. 2.________. And there he found just the weather and scenery he needed to finish his movie. The director realized that southern California was the perfect place for making movies. The next year his company built a movie studio in Hollywood. 3.________. Before long nearly all important American movie studios were in Hollywood, Los Angeles.
The next thirty years were Hollywood’s greatest years. Thousands of movies were made, most by a few large and powerful studios. 4.________.
Hollywood also reached its high point in these years. Many famous movie stars, like Bette Davis and Clark Gable, lived in Hollywood.
5. ________. More movies are made outside of Hollywood. Many studios have moved. The movie stars have also moved to areas like Beverly Hills and Malibu.
But visitors to Hollywood today can go to the famous Chinese Theatre and see the footprints and autographs of movie stars. They can go down the Walk of Fame, on Hollywood Boulevard, and see the golden stars in the sidewalk.
A. Other companies followed
B. Toda, Hollywood is not what it was
C. So he took a trip to southern California
D. First, Hollywood is an area in Los Angeles
E. Some movies today are still considered great art
Traditionally, business people would get to know each other over a round of golf. But road cycling is fast catching up as the preferred way of networking recently.
“When you play golf with somebody you have to decide if you’re going to beat them, or let them beat you,” says Peter Murray, a chairman of the NLA centre. “If they’re your customers and you don’t want to beat them, sometimes you might have to make some kind of cheating in order to lose. That seems to me not a good way of doing things.”
Group cycling, and especially long-distance riding, is a shared experience, Mr Murray says. Riders often work together and help each other out, taking turns to be at the front so that the riders in their group can save almost a third of the effort needed to travel at the same speed.
How someone rides a bike can give you a real insight into what a person is like, says Jean-Jacques Lorraine, founding director of Morrow Lorraine, a team member of Cycle to Cannes. “Some riders are very single-minded, others more collaborative; some are skillful, others an open book.” “If I walk into a meeting and somebody says „I’ve done Cycle to Cannes‟, it’s a done deal really,” says Mr Lorraine.
Mr Mottram, CEO of Rapha, believes it is easier to get to know people by cycling than in other situations. “There is an easy environment about conversations on a bike.” Mr Lorraine makes the point more directly: “I feel open and honest to others. I often find I’m saying things on a bike which I wouldn’t normally say, and equally I’ve been confided (吐露秘密) in when I wasn’t expecting it.”
Why do cycle rides lend riders so well to networking? “Getting a quick lunch or drink after work doesn’t give you long enough to get to know someone,” Mr. Murray says. He believes long rides get people together. “A younger rider can be cycling along with a boss and help him in some way and you get a reversal of the relationship. This changes the relationship when they are off the ride too.”
Perhaps the main reason why cycling is a good way to network is that it’s a passion (激情) and a way of life. “Getting out on the bike is what we’re all dreaming of doing while we’re sitting at our computers,” says Mr. Mottram. And a shared passion is a fantastic way to start any relationship.
1.We can infer from Paragraph 2 that ______.
A. golf is a sport full of cheating
B. cycling is less popular than golf
C. deciding on winners in golf is hard
D. golf might also have disadvantages
2.In Paragraph 4, Mr. Lorraine thinks that ______.
A. getting a quick lunch after work helps get people together
B. telling what a person is really like by cycling is a way of life
C. riders need to volunteer to be at the front to save their energy
D. it’s much easier for people to make a deal if they are all riders
3.Which of the following is TRUE about cycling?
A. Businessmen used to prefer cycling to golf.
B. Cycling is a good way to get to know people.
C. Group cycling is always a long-distance riding.
D. It‟s not acceptable for the riders to talk on the bike.
4.What could be the best title of the passage?
A. Advantages and Disadvantages of Cycling.
B. Two Good Ways of Networking.
C. Cycling Is the New Golf.
D. Cycling Develops Fast.
Artificial intelligence: Google’s AlphaGo beats Go master Lee Se-dol
A computer program has beaten a master Go player 3-0 in a best-of-five competition, in what is seen as a landmark moment for artificial intelligence (人工智能).
Google‟s AlphaGo program was playing against Lee Se-dol in Seoul, in South Korea.
Mr Lee had been confident he would win before the competition started.
“AlphaGo played consistently (稳定地) from beginning to the end while Lee, as he is only human, showed some mental weakness,” one of Lee’s coaches, Kwon Kap-Yong, told the AFP news agency.
Mr Lee is considered as a successful Go player, having won many competitions in his career.
Go is a game of two players who take turns putting black or white stones on a 19-by-19 grid (棋格). Players win by surrounding their competitors pieces with their own.
In the first game of the series (系列赛), AlphaGo won by a very small chance – Mr Lee had led for most of the match, but AlphaGo managed to build up a strong lead in its closing stages.
After losing the second match to DeepMind, Lee Se-dol said he was “speechless” adding that the AlphaGo machine played a “nearly perfect game”.
Experts said that Lee Se-dol had brought his “top game” but that AlphaGo had won “in great style”.
The AlphaGo system was developed by British computer company DeepMind which was bought by Google in 2014. It has built up its special skills by studying older games and teasing out so many kinds of ways of play. And, according to DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis, it has also spent a lot of time just playing the game.
“It played itself, millions and millions of times and each time got a little better – it learns from its mistakes,” he told the BBC before the matches started.
This good circle of continuous improvement meant the super computer went into the five-match series stronger than when it beat the European player late last year.
Does this mean artificial intelligence is now smarter than us and will kill us humans? Certainly not. AlphaGo doesn‟t care if it wins or loses. Does it mean that artificial intelligence will soon take your job? Possibly you should be more worried about that.
1.What had Lee Se-dol thought about the competition before it started?
A. He would beat AlphaGo.
B. AlphaGo would lead the match.
C. It was hard to tell who would win.
D. AlphaGo would have some weakness.
2.What happened in the first game of the series?
A. Mr Lee won by a very small chance.
B. AlphaGo had led for most of the match.
C. Mr Lee was beaten by AlphaGo finally.
D. AlphaGo built up a strong lead at the beginning.
3.What does the underlined phrase “teasing out” probably mean?
A. Giving out. B. Working out.
C. Running out. D. Pointing out.
4.The writer may agree that ______ in the future.
A. human will be killed by artificial intelligence
B. artificial intelligence will do everything for human
C. people might lose jobs because of artificial intelligence
D. artificial intelligence will be much smarter than human
When I began to move to Auckland to study the law, my mother was a little worried about the uncertainty of living in a place that was so different from India, where we lived. She worried about the shortage of jobs and the cultural differences that I would face.
I came to New Zealand in July 2013. I found the people were very nice and supportive. Soon after I arrived, I realized the importance of getting a part time job to make a living.
Deciding to do this on my own, I spent a whole day going from door to door for a job. However, I received a little or no reply. This became my daily activity after college for a few weeks.
One afternoon, I walked into a building to ask if there were any job chances. The people there were very surprised, and advised me not to continue my job search in that way. As I was about to leave, a secretary in the building came up to me and encouraged me to stay confident. He then offered to take me to the Royal Oak area to search for a job.
Along the way, I realized I had run out of copies of my resume (简历). The man stopped at his friend’s office to make me 15 extra copies. He also gave me tips on dressing and speaking. I handed out my resume and went home. The following day, I received a call from a store in Royal Oak offering me a job.
It seemed that the world always gives back to you when you need it. And this time, it was a complete stranger who turned out to be a real blessing (祝福).
1. The writer moved to Auckland to ______.
A. avoid the job shortage
B. face the cultural differences
C. start his life in a new place
D. study the law in college
2.After staying in New Zealand for a short time, the writer realized ______.
A. he needed to find a job to make a living
B. people there were not very friendly
C. he should always stay confident
D. it was easy to get a new job
3.What is the story mainly about?
A. How a secretary offered the writer a job.
B. How a secretary turned out to be a real hero.
C. How a stranger helped the writer to get a job.
D. How the writer made a living in a new country.
A
Hearst Castle is a park on the central California coast. Although it’s far from any urban center, it attracts about one million visitors per year.
Tour 1 is for first—time visitors. It now includes the movie, Hearst Castle: Building the Dream.
Tour 2 looks at the Castle’s North Wing, guest rooms and guest house Casa del Monte.
Tour 3 includes the gardens and grounds, the largest guest house, and the wine basement.
Tour 4 gives visitors a closer look at the main house’s upper floors, the libraries, and the kitchen.
The evening tour allows visitors to experience the Castle at night as one of the Hearst’s own visitors might have.
Ticket Price
Tours | Adult | Aged 6—17 | Children under 6 |
Tour 1—4 | ﹩20 | ﹩10 | Free |
Evening tour | ﹩25 | ﹩15 |
Reservation(预定)Information
Tickets may be bought at the Visitor Centre. They can also be booked online now or by calling 1—800—444—4445. See below for times.
Reservation Call Centre Hours | |
Months | Monday—Sunday |
March—September | 8 am to 5 pm |
October—February | 9 am to 4 pm |
1.You can choose Tour 1 to ______.
A. take a look at the kitchen
B. see a movie
C. visit the largest guest house
D. experience the Castle at night
2.If a father takes Tour 2 with his 3-year-old son, how much will they pay?
A. $40. B. $30. C. $25. D. $20.
3.Which tour will you choose if you are interested in libraries?
A. Tour 1. B. Tour 2. C. Tour 3. D. Tour 4.
4.What time can we book tickets by calling?
A. At 8 am on Monday in March.
B. At 9 pm on Tuesday in March.
C. At 7 am on Friday in September.
D. At 6 pm on Saturday in October.
