It is the season for long lines and frayed(紧张的) nerves. Here are some ways to survive a holiday flight.
Lighten up
Do yourself a favor and ship your presents. Nearly every US airline charges a fee to check a bag, so shipping gifts is now cheaper and more convenient than carrying them in your luggage.
Weigh your options
Not knowing what you’re going to pay for your luggage is annoying. So calculate your overweight-luggage fees at home. You can find the fees out in advance by visiting new site Luggage Limits, which provides the latest information on more than 90 airlines.
Leave amateurs in the dust
Trust us and get to the airport an extra half-hour early. The check-in and security lines are filled with inexperienced files, and it’s a hard walking. Plus, if you decide to cut it close you may not get onto the flight at all. To reduce costs, airlines have reduced on flights and routes. The remaining flights are more likely to be oversold, especially on busy travel days. Fliers who check in early are the least likely to get bumped from oversold flights.
Take it public
The rates for renting a car at the airport have more than doubled over the past year because rental lot inventories have decreased dramatically(现住地). True, renting at the airport is convenient, but it’s just not worth it anymore. Unless you really need a car, take public transportation, hop a cab, or beg a friend to pick you up at the airport instead.
Say no to bumper cars
Tell the people picking you up to avoid parking their car. They can hang out in their car for free while waiting to get a call from you when you land. Many airports, including JFK and LAX now feature this sensible choice.
1.How does the author think of shipping gifts?
A. Unnecessary. B. Expensive. C. Inconvenient. D. Wonderful.
2.Airlines have reduced flights to _________.
A. deal with crisis B. reduce the time for leave
C. lower the cost D. provide more job chances
3. It can be learned from the passage that ______.
A. renting a car at the airport is expensive B. taxis stay at the airport free of charge
C. cars can park at the airport for free D. JFK encourages people to take a taxi
4. What’s the best title for the passage?
A. Five ways to survive a holiday flight. B. Good seasons for flight.
C. Cars at the airport. D. How to board a flight
My friend Dr. Dong had a wonderful chance to go to Seattle to present a paper at a professional meeting. When he got back to Beijing, he told me his experience.
Dr. Dong enjoyed his first days very much. At the medical conference, he felt quite confident in his area of research and was able to perform well in his presentation. But after a few days, he began to feel uncomfortable. His medical English was fine, but the social communication skills were different.
He got more and more worried that he was misunderstanding simple English greetings and table talk conventions(习俗). When someone greeted him with, “Hi, how’s it going?” he thought they had asked him “Where are you going?” and answered with the name of the conference hall, only to get a surprised stare from them. At a western style dinner, a colleague asked, “So how’re you enjoyin’ the States?” he thought he heard, “how are you enjoying your steak?” and answered that he was eating chicken, not beef. That time, they smiled, and patiently repeated the question, then both laughed at the error.
By the end of the meetings, Dr. Dong felt a deep sense of “cultural stress” and was worn out from having to pay attention to so many new expressions and ways of dealing with things. He felt his handshake was not as firm as Americans’, found that people reacted unusually when he modestly insisted his English was not good after they complimented(称赞) him, didn’t know how to accept dinner invitations properly and therefore missed out on going to several lunches, and so on. Eventually, he was so confused that he felt the full impact of “culture shock”.
1.Why did Dr. Dong travel to Seattle?
A. To improve his spoken English. B. To experience culture shock.
C. To give lectures on his research. D. To attend a medical conference.
2. Which of the following best describes Dr. Dong’s experience in Seattle?
A. Comfortable—very uncomfortable—uncomfortable.
B. comfortable—very uncomfortable—comfortable.
C. Comfortable—uncomfortable – very uncomfortable.
D. Comfortable—uncomfortable – very comfortable.
3.Dr. Dong felt a deep sense of “cultural stress” mainly because_______.
A. he was too modest B. he didn’t understand cultural differences
C. he lacked confidence D. he was not good at English listening
4.
完型填空（共20小题；每小题1.5分，满分30分）
When a person is curious about something, it means he is interested in it and wishes to know something about it. There is 16 wrong with curiosity in itself. Whether it is good or bad 17 on what people are curious about.
Curiosity 18 can be foolish or wrong. Some people with nothing to do are 19 of curiosity about what their neighbors are doing. They have a strong wish to know what they are 20 home or taking outside, or why they have come home so 21 or late. To be interested in these things is silly because it is none of their 22 to know what their neighbors do or are doing. Such curiosity is not only foolish but also 23 . For most probably, it may lead to a small talk 24 often brings harm, loss of honor or disrespect to others, and thus 25 their feelings.
On the other hand, there is a 26 curiosity- the curiosity of wise men, who 27 at all the great things and try to find out all they 28 learn about them. Columbus could 29 have found America if he had not been 30 . James Walt would not have made the steam engine 31 his curiosity about the rising of the kettle lid. All the 32 in human history have been made as a 33 of curiosity, 34 the clever curiosity is never about unimportant things which have 35 or nothing to do with the happiness of the public.
1.A. anything B. everything C. nothing D. something
2. A. keeps B. puts C. takes D. depends
3. A. always B. sometimes C. unusually D. seldom
4. A. full B. certain C. proud D. careful
5.A. taking B. bringing C. going D. coming
6. A. quickly B. hurriedly C. early D. happily
7.A. business B. task C. duty D. work
8. A. instructive B. useful C. harmful D. proper
9. A. who B. which C. when D. where
10.A. hurts B. injures C. breaks D. destroys
11.A. terrible B. sudden C. strange D. clever
12. A. expect B. like C. wonder D. doubt
13.A. need B. must C. may D. can
14. A. never B. certainly C. surely D. probably
15.A. famous B. careful C. curious D. hard
16. A. for B. without C. with D. in
17. A. products B. goods C. discoveries D. machines
18. A. profit B. product C. fruit D. result
19. A. but B. however C. so D. or
20.A. little B. few C. some D. any
He tried his best to solve the problem, ______ difficult it was.
A. however B. no matter C. whatever D. although
–David, it’s Frank. Do you have a few minutes? I need to see you.
-- _______. But I hope “a few minutes” doesn’t turn into an hour.
A. I’m afraid not B. It doesn’t matter C. I don’t think so D. I guess so
The novel is said _______ the month before.
A. to publish B. to be published C. publish D. to have been published
