The Best Way to See Lakeland
TOUR A
Lake District Spectacular
The Lake District is famous for being"the most beautiful corner of England"and the tour introduces you to just that．Fantastic scenery of mountains，valleys and lakes from the south to the north．The tour includes a lake cruise（乘船游览），a visit to the 4，000year old Castlerigg Stone Circle set high on the hills．You travel over passes，through beautiful valleys，see waterfalls and traditional Lakeland villages．You have plenty of stops for admiring the views and taking photographs．
This is a tour not to be missed．
When & Where Every day from Windermere
Prices Adult﹣£36.00，Child﹣£26.00（up to 16years of age）
A．£84.00 B．£109.00 C．£104.00
TOUR B
Beatrix Potter's Favorite Countryside
The tour is the ideal way to explore the favourite places associated with（与…有关） Beatrix Potter．Our journey is through the beautiful Yewdale Valley，passing Yew Tree Tarn and Skelwith Bridge making our way to Coniston Water for our lake cruise．We visit the Beatrix Potter's Hill Top farm where she wrote many of her famous children's stories in this little old stone house．You have the chance to go in the shop and explore her garden．
When & Where Every day from Windermere
Prices Adult﹣£26.00，Child﹣£21.00（up to 16years of age）
Price Includes Lake Cruise on Coniston，& Hill Top Gardens
Times Leaves Windermere 12.00hrs，returns approx.16.30hrs．
1.What can you see if you choose Tour A？
A. Yewdale Valley B. Coniston Water
C. Castlerigg Stone Circle D. Beatrix Potter's Hill Top farm
2.How much will Simon，a boy of 12，and his father pay if they want to choose Tour A and Tour B？
A. £84.00 B. £109.00 C. £104.00 D. £144.00
3.When does the coach leave Windermere if you choose Tour B？
A. 09.45hrs B. 17.00hrs C. 12.00hrs D. 16.30hrs．
Uncle Li and Uncle Wang are good friends．They live next to each other and their farms are both at the foot of the mountain．So they can help each other．But neither of them likes to use his head．They're both poor though they work hard．Most villagers have built new houses，but they still live in the low and broken houses．They never find out why．
Once Uncle Li went to town to buy some medicine for his wife．In the town he heard the apples in a city were expensive．He told Uncle Wang about it as soon as he went back．They decided to carry some apples to the city．They borrowed some money from their friends and bought nearly 1，000kilograms of apples in the villages and carried them to the city on a tractor．Bad luck!A lot of apples has already been carried there when they arrived．A few days later they had to sell them at a low price （价格）．They felt unhappy and returned to their village．
"I can't understand why we sustained （蒙受） losses in business while others always profit （盈利）"Uncle Li asked one day．
"The tractor was too small"Uncle Wang said without thinking．"We'll carry more apples on a truck next time!"
"I agree!"said Uncle Li．"How foolish （傻的） we were!"
1.Uncle Li and Uncle Wang live in the low and broken houses because ．
A. they hope to save money
B. they're both poor
C. their farms are at the foot of the mountain
D. they're not far from their farms
2.The two farmers carried the apples to the city to ．
A. make a journey B. visit some places of interest
C. meet their friends D. make a profit
3.The two farmers had to sell their apples at a low price because ．
A. theirs weren't as good as the others'
B. theirs were much less than the others'
C. a lot of apples had been already carried to the city
D. they forgot to carry them on a truck
4.Uncle Li and Uncle Wang were unhappy because ．
A. they had sustained losses in business
B. they had lost some money in the city
C. something was wrong with the tractor
D. other people profited in the city
5.Which of the following is true？
A. The two farmers found out why they were poor．
B. The two farmers will soon get rich．
C. Neither of the farmers is clever．
D. The two farmers decided to buy a truck．
William Shakespeare was a writer of plays and poems．Some of his most famous plays are Hamlet，Romeo and Juliet，Macbeth．He wrote thirty﹣seven plays in all．They are still popular today．
He was born in England．At school he liked watching plays．He decided to be an actor when he finished school at the age of fourteen．In 1582，he married a farmer's daughter．She was eight years older than he was．Their first child was a daughter．Later they had twins．In 1585，Shakespeare left his hometown，Stratford﹣upon﹣Avon．His wife and children stayed behind．No one knows why he left or what he did between 1585and 1592．
At twenty﹣eight，he moved to London and joined a theatre company which opened the Globe Theatre in 1599．He became an actor，and he also wrote plays．He usually acted in his own plays．He made almost no money from his writing．But he made a lot of money from acting．With the money he bought a large house in his hometown．
At the age of forty﹣nine，Shakespeare retired（退休）and went to live in Stratford﹣upon﹣Avon．He died at the age of fifty﹣two in 1616．He left his money to his family．He left the genius（天才）to the world．You still see his plays in English and in many other languages．He is one of the most famous writers in the world．
1.Shakespeare wrote many famous plays except ．
A. Hamlet B. Macbeth
C. Romeo and Juliet D. Man and Superman
2.Shakespeare decided to be an actor in ．
A. 1578 B. 1582 C. 1599 D. 1616
3.In 1585，Shakespeare left his hometown Stratford﹣upon﹣Avon ．
A. with his wife B. with his daughter
C. with his wife and childrenD．alone
4.Shakespeare got much money from ．
A. writing B．plays C．actingD．retirement
5.According to the passage，which of the following is TRUE？
A. Shakespeare had two children．
B. Shakespeare wrote both plays and poems．
C. Shakespeare left his money to the Globe Theatre．
D. Shakespeare wrote plays in English and some other languages．
"God made the world，but the Dutch made Holland．"True to this saying，the people of the Netherlands are again"making"their land．
About 1980 the Netherlands will complete a project begun in the 1920's：
transforming the Zyuder Zee，an inlet of the North Sea into dry land and a freshwater lake．By stages，550，000 acres of land will serve several
purposes：industrial，recreational，military，and agricultural．Fed by the river Yssel，the remaining water basin Lake Yssel，about 300，000 acres will irrigate the surrounding land and help in the fight against salination （盐化作用）．Excess water will drain through sluices into the sea．
As the first stop a nineteen﹣mile﹣long barrier dam，rising twenty﹣five feet above sea level，closed the entrance to the Zuider Zee．Then the experimental polder of a hundred acres preceded the first and smallest of the main polders fifty thousand acres that became dry land in 1930．The fifth and largest polder 150，000 acres will be the last of the Zuider Zee works．
Farmers for the new polder come from every province．The Eastern Flevoland polder，completed in 1957，became farmland for many from the province of Zealand which was badly hit by the disastrous floods of 1953．
1.This article gives a present﹣day example of how ．
A. salty soils are desalinated
B. the Netherlands has increased its land area
C. irrigation systems are built
D. dams are constructed
2.The period taken for the Zuider Zee project is ．
A. from 1900 up to 1960
B. from the 1920 till about 1980
C. from 1930 to 1957
D. less than fifty years
3.The Zuider Zee will be replaced by ．
A. 550，000 acres of land
B. 300，000 acres of fresh water
C. both A and B
D. Neither A nor B
4.The article gives a measurement for the ．
A. height of the barrier dam
B. width of the barrier dam
C. width of the road along the dam
D. height above sea level of the area on the land side of dam
5.Implied but not stated：
A. The first step in the project was a barrier dam．
B. The polder recipe was first used in this century．
C. Half of the Netherlands is below sea level．
D. There is more than one method of fighting salination．
David worked in a shoe factory，but he was not very good，and he lost his job one day．
His wife looked in the newspaper and said，"One of the banks wants a guard．""I‟m going to go there tomorrow，"David said，"I want that job，the guard' s job．"A man gave him a piece of paper．There were a lot of questions on it．"Please write your answers under the questions．"he said to David．One of the questions was，"Have you ever been in prison？"David smiled and wrote"No．"Then he looked at the next question．It was"Why？"He thought for a long time and then he wrote，"Because the police have never caught me．"
1.David lost his job because ．
A. he was ill badly B. he wasn't good
C. he didn‟t like the job D. his factory was too far away
2.How did he know one of the banks needed a guard？
A. His wife saw it in the newspaper．
B. His wife worked in that bank．
C. His wife saw it on the computer．
D. His friend told him the information．
3.David went to the bank to ．
A. deposit （储蓄） money B. draw money
C. ask for that job D. work hard
4.The man asked David to ．
A. write his answers under the questions
B. clean the bank
C. show how strong he was
D. give himself up （投案自首）
5.From the text we know David is ．
A. clever B. foolish C. old D. tall．
7 January, 2014
A new report says more and more international students are attending colleges and universities in the United States. It also notes a large increase in the number of international students from China.
These findings are from the latest Open Doors Report. The report documents the record number of international students in the United States during 2012, 2013 school year. It says more than seven hundred sixty-four thousand four-hundred such students were attending American colleges and universities during the last two years. That represents an increase of almost six percent than one year earlier.
On the other hand, the number of Americans studying overseas (海外) increased by one percent, which reached nineteen thousand this year.
The report says one hundred ninety-four thousand students at American colleges and universities were from
China. That is an increase of more than twenty-three percent over the year before. Peggy Blumenthal, an expert(专家) of international education, described the effect of the increase in Chinese students.
"Now they have been coming for some time. But this year was the highest level ever." She says many Chinese families are able to pay for the highest-quality education for their children. The children mainly choose to study in America.
"We know many of them have enough income to be able to afford to send them anywhere in the world that they want to go. And for the most part, looking around the world, Chinese students still prefer to come to the United States as their choice."
Chinese students are not the only ones who want to attend American colleges and universities. After China, India sends the second largest number of students to the United States for higher education. India has about one hundred thousand students in American schools. South Korea is third with about seventy two thousand students.
Why do so many foreign students study in the United States? Peggy Blumenthal provides one reason.
"The advantage America has is that we have a huge system and a very perfect system. So there are over four thousand universities and colleges in the United States. Among them are some top ones in the world, and what that tells us is there is still a lot of room to host international students."
Foreign students represent less than four percent of the total student population in American higher education. And from Learning English, that's the VOA Special English Education Report. I'm Bob Doughty. Thanks for listening.
1.Bob Doughty seems to be ________.
A. an exchange student from the USA
B. an expert of international education
C. a viewer of VOA
D. a reporter from VOA
2.Which country below has the fewest students studying overseas?
A. South Korea B. India C. China D. America
3.Which is NOT the reason why so many Chinese students go to the USA for further study?
A. Lots of Chinese families are able to pay for the highest-quality education for their children
B. The USA has a huge and a very perfect education system.
C. There is a lot of room to host international students in the USA.
D. The USA has some top universities and colleges in the world.
4.Which of the following statement is true?
A. China has 122,000 more students than South Korea at American colleges and universities.
B. The number of Americans studying overseas is becoming smaller and smaller.
C. The number of Asian students has an increase of 6% over the past two years.
D. Most of the international students in the United States are Chinese.
5.This passage from VOA Special English is most likely to be ________.
A. An advertisement B. A radio programme C. A science report D. A tour guide
