For Canadians, backpacking Europe is a special ceremony signifying a new life stage. Unlike package tours, backpacking is a struggle, full of discovery and chance connections. It is about focusing on something different from our own lives and losing ourselves in a new world, if only for a moment.
Well, that's what backpacking Europe is supposed to do. That’s what it used to do before modern communications, social media, and commercial hostelling (旅社). Older Canadians would not recognize the Europe that they backpacked in the 1960s, 1970s and even the 1980s. Far from a rough adventure into foreign cultures, the European experience has been shattered in part by today's technology.
A few years ago, I took my then 60-year-old father on a backpacking trip across part of Europe and Turkey. As he is an experienced traveler and someone who possesses a strong sense of adventure, I decided that we'd travel on a budget, staying in hostel dorms. For him, backpacking through Europe in 1969 was about independence and struggle. But two things surprised him at the end of our journey. First was how technology-based backpacking had become: Young people were so directly connected to home that they were hardly away in any meaningful sense. Second, the lack of connections we made with locals. Instead of making us feel closer to a place, he found commercial hostelling actually made us more alienated (疏远的).
But there was some room for hope. While technology takes our attention away from the beauty and history before us, there were also ways in which it helped us to connect with our surroundings. Websites like Airbnb have made it easier to stay with enthusiastic locals. Couch Surfing helps organize meet-ups between locals and travelers. The online marketplace Dopios offers a chance to meet locals through enjoyable experiences like a personalized city tour.
Backpacking can never be the way it was for our parents’ generation. But doing a little study of history and culture before leaving, and bravely getting rid of any electronic devices while traveling, will help give young travelers a taste of the glory days.
1.The underlined word “shattered” in Paragraph 2 most probably means ________.
A. broadened B. relived C. ruined D. acquired
2.After the recent backpacking trip in Europe, the author’s father finds ________.
A. backpackers connect less with locals than before
B. young people dislike getting in touch with their family
C. a hostel is a nice place for travelers to meet each other
D. backpacking in Europe becomes more difficult than before
3.What’s the author’s attitude towards technology?
A. Negative. B. Objective.
C. Uncertain. D. Uninterested.
4. The text mainly discusses the relationship between ________.
A. adventures and cultures
B. technology and traveling
C. young people and their family
D. Canadian travelers and Europeans
Visitor Oyster cards are electronic smartcards that come fully charged with credit. Whether you're making a one-off trip to London or you’re a regular visitor, using an Oyster travel smartcard is the easiest way to travel around the city's public transport network. Simply touch the card on the yellow card reader at the doors when you start and end your journey.
Advantages of a Visitor Oyster Card
A Visitor Oyster card is one of the cheapest ways to pay for single journeys on the bus, Tube, DLR, tram, London Over-ground and most National Rail services in London:
● Save time----your card is ready to use as soon as you arrive in London.
● It's more than 50% cheaper than buying a paper travel card or single tickets with cash.
● There is a daily price cap----once you have reached this limit, you won’t pay any more.
● Enjoy special offers and promotions at leading London restaurants, shops and entertainment venues----plus discounts on the Emirates Air Line cable car and Thames Clippers river buses.
Buy a Visitor Oyster card
Buy a Visitor Oyster card before you visit London and get it delivered to your home address. A card costs ￡3 (non-refundable) plus postage. Order online and arrive with your Oyster in hand! You can also buy a Visitor Oyster card from Gatwick Express ticket offices at Gatwick Airport Station and on board Eurostar trains travelling to London.
Add Credit to Your Visitor Oyster Card
You can choose how much credit to add to your card. If you are visiting London for two days, you can start with ￡20 credit. If you run out of credit, add credit at the following locations:
● Touch screen ticket machines in Tube, DLR, London Over-ground and some National Rail stations.
● Around 4,000 Oyster Ticket Stops found in newsagents and small shops across London.
● TFL Visitor and Travel Information Centers.
● Tube and London Over-ground station ticket offices.
● Emirates Air Line terminals.
1.When can you use your Visitor Oyster Card?
A. After you become a regular visitor.
B. Only when you end your journey.
C. Once you arrive in London.
D. Before you leave home.
2.What can we learn about the Visitor Oyster card?
A. It can reach you before your journey to London.
B. It requires you to pay as much as the daily price cap.
C. It can provide you a 50% discount at a London shop.
D. It can be delivered to your home address free of charge.
3.Where can you add credit to your Visitor Oyster card?
A. On the Internet.
B. At a Tube station ticket office.
C. On Eurostar trains.
D. At Gatwick Express ticket offices.
书面表达
你的美国笔友Lucy来信告知她寒假期间将来京旅游，打算买几个风筝作为纪念品(souvenir)带回美国。请你根据以下提示给Lucy写回信。
1. 表示欢迎；
2. 就她购买纪念品的计划说说你的看法；
3. 推荐一个你认为最值得参观的古迹，并说明原因。
注意：1. 词数不少于50；
2. 可适当增加细节，以使行文连贯；
3. 开头和结尾已给出，不计入总词数。
Dear Lucy，
I learned about your plan from your mail. ____________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
Best wishes!
Yours，
Li Hua
根据中文补全句子，并将答案写在相应位置。
1.Mary是一个总是愿意帮助他人的热心女孩儿。
Mary is a warm-hearted girl ________________.
2.救援人员为那些家园被毁的幸存者盖起了避难所。
Rescue workers built shelters for survivors ________________.
3.我们老师总是让我们使用字典。
Our teacher always ________ dictionaries.
4.Tom问这本书是属于谁的。
Tom asks ________________.
5.我和我的同学们相处得很好，我们已经成为好朋友了。
________ and we have become good friends.
6.她下定决心之后会告诉我们她的选择的。
She will tell us about her choice ________________.
根据句意，选择方框中的单词，将其正确形式填入句中空格，并将答案写在相应位置。
devote; purpose; generous; graduate; outdoors; recognize; doubt; actually |
1.After ________ from college, we finally got the chance to take a bike trip down the Mekong River.
2.Lisa! I’m sorry I didn’t ________ you. You’ve changed so much!
3.He looked calm, but ________ he was very nervous.
4.Little kids sometimes will make noises on ________ to catch adults’ attention.
5.It is ________ of you to lend your car to him every weekend.
6.There is no ________ that advertising helps improve sales.
7.Playing ________ is good for children’s health.
8.She is so ________ to her work that she always works late into the night.
阅读短文，根据短文回答问题，并将答案写在相应位置。
Doctor Seuss was the name used by Theodor Seuss Geisel, who was famous because of the books he wrote for children. They combine funny words, funny pictures, and social opinion.
Theodor Geisel was born in Springfield, Massachusetts in 1904. After graduating from Dartmouth College in 1924, he spent a year studying literature(文学) at Oxford University in England. When he returned to the United States in 1927, he hoped to become a writer of serious literature. But the economic depression(经济萧条) in the United States delayed his dreams of becoming a serious writer. In 1937, he wrote his first book for children, which is called “And To Think I Saw It on Mulberry Street.” However, a number of publishers refused to accept it. They said it was too different from ordinary books. A friend finally published it. Soon other successful books followed. Over the years he wrote more than forty children’s books, which were fun to read. Yet his books sometimes dealt with serious subjects including equality, responsibility and protecting the environment.
Doctor Seuss had a strong desire to help children. In 1954, Life magazine published a report about school children who could not read. The report said many children’s books were not interesting. Reading the report, Doctor Seuss decided to write books that were interesting and easy to read. To make his book easy to read, he used words with the same ending sound, like fish and wish.
In 1957, Dr. Seuss wrote “The Cat in the Hat”, in which he used less than two hundred twenty-five words. This was the number of words a six-year-old should be able to read. The book was an immediate success. Children loved it. Their parents loved it, too. Today many adults say it is still one of the stories they like best. The success of the book made him want to write more books for children. He started a series called Beginner Books, which remain well liked among children today.
In 1984, Mr. Geisel won a Pulitzer Prize for children’s literature. At that time he had been writing children’s books for almost fifty years. He was honored for the education and enjoyment his books provided American children and their parents, and his influence remains through the books he wrote. Experts say his books helped change the way American children learned to read.
1.What was Theodor Geisel’s dream when he returned from England?
2.What did Theodor Geisel decide to do after he read the report published in Life magazine?
3.Why did Theodor Geisel finally set his simple writing style?
