Nowadays airfare isn’t getting any cheaper with fuel costs rising every day. Luckily, there are plenty of ways to find the most affordable fares and also avoid paying as many extra charges as possible when you plan ahead.
♦ Getting the best fare Fly during the least popular times. Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday are the slowest days to fly, which means cheaper deals than the rest of the week. You can also find reduced rates on early morning flights, since many people don’t like to get up before the sun to get to the airport. Earlier boarding times can also considerably cut down your chances of getting delayed because of other delayed flights or mechanical issues. Choose your seat later. Some airlines charge you to pick your seat when you book online, adding even more to the bottom line of your ticket cost. If you show up early on your travel day, you can still have a chance to get suitable seats that others are not willing to pay extra for ahead of time. Fly on holidays. You already know that summer is the most expensive time to fly, but the days surrounding holidays can also be crazy. Save big if you’re willing to travel on major holidays, such as Thanksgiving and Christmas. Don’t wait until the last-minute to book. Book too early or too late and you could end up paying more than you need to. The best time to book is between three months and six weeks from when you want to travel. ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ♦Avoiding extra fees Avoid the upgrade(升级). It’s not necessary. Sometimes upgrades are free, but mostly you will be charged for seeking a last-minute bump to first class, and the cost can be very high. Fly carry-on only. Baggage fees vary wildly, but almost all airlines charge them and charge big. It’s easy to reduce the amount of stuff if you pack less clothes and only travel-sized toiletries. Planning to do a bit of laundry on your trip will also do. Pack your own snacks. Unless you’re flying internationally, it’s rare your flight comes with a free meal. So put some of your own snacks — homemade muffins, fruit and granola bars all make fantastic travel foods — into your bag and eat a lot better, and cheaper, than other passengers. |
1. Which advice can help you get the best fare?
A. Take a flight on Monday or Saturday.
B. Pay the flight fare in advance.
C. Never travel on Christmas Day.
D. Book a ticket two months earlier.
2.If you arrive early on your flying day, you can probably ______.
A. reduce the chances of delaying
B. avoid getting up early
C. get a discount(折扣) on the flight fare
D. have the seats you want
3.Which is NOT true according to the passage?
A. Flying internationally, you may get a free meal.
B. You should always try to avoid upgrading.
C. Planning to do a bit of laundry can help you travel light.
D. Your bill may be larger if you check (托运) your bag.
Do you often feel lonely? What do you do when you feel that way? Hide yourself away and spend your time reading, watching TV or walking around?
You might think that feeling lonely is just like feeling happy, sad or scared — that it’s just one of your various moods. That is true. However, if you let yourself be lonely for too long without dealing with it, you could be making a serious mistake.
Doctors have known for some time that feeling lonely is bad for the mind. It can lead to mental health problems such as depression, stress and reduce confidence. “Being lonely means not feeling connected or cared for, but it’s not about being mentally alone,” Lisa Jaremka, scientist from Ohio State University, US, told Live Science in January. And there’s growing evidence that not having friends is connected with physical illness as well.
In 2006, for example, scientists studied 2,800 women who had cancer. They found that those who had few friends or family were five times more likely to die of their disease than women with many social contacts. Also, even healthy people had a better chance of falling ill if they felt left out by others, according to the BBC.
The results have scientists thinking that loneliness might hurt the immune system(免疫系统), which protects the body from diseases.
Hoping to prove this theory, Jaremka and her research team put volunteers(志愿者) through a stress test. During the test, volunteers were asked to make an unprepared speech in front of a group of stony-faced people. The researchers found that volunteers who said they were lonely in their daily lives felt more stress during the test. And their blood samples showed that all the stress had managed to cause harmful changes to their immune system.
“Loneliness has been thought of in many ways as a chronic stressor(慢性增压器) — a socially painful situation that can last for quite a long time, ” explained Jaremka, who led the study.
The number of people suffering from loneliness is increasing all over the world. However, solving the problem is easier said than done. It won’t work to just “tell anyone to go out and find someone to love you”, said Jaremka. “We need to create support networks.”
1.If people feel lonely for a long time, ________.
A. they won’t feel happy anymore
B. they are more mentally harmed than physically
C. they will find the feeling goes away by itself
D. they are more likely to fall ill
2.What was the purpose of the stress test carried out by Jaremka’s team?
A. To find out how people fight diseases.
B. To prove loneliness hurts people’s immune systems.
C. To find out the relationship between loneliness and stress.
D. To see how people’s emotions change when they give unprepared speeches.
3.What made scientists think loneliness might make the body worse at fighting diseases?
A. Growing evidence of mental problems related to loneliness.
B. Some research results about the relationship between cancer and loneliness.
C. Some studies showing that people suffering from loneliness fell ill or died more easily than those who didn’t.
D. The result of a test where volunteers were asked to make an unprepared speech.
4.We can conclude from the article that ________.
A. loneliness has become the No. 1 killer in the world
B. loneliness is increasing due to advanced technologies
C. websites must be set up to help people deal with loneliness
D. much more work needs to be done to fight loneliness
Love it or hate it, there is no escape from Internet slang(俚语).
This is especially true among young people in some English-speaking countries such as Australia, the UK and the US. These days, if they haven’t caught up with the latest popular Internet slang, chances are that they often feel behind the times.
Take these posts by The Washington Post for example: “David Bowie dying is totes tradge” and “When Cookie hugged Jamal, it made me totes emosh. ”
What on earth do these mean? Well, “totes” is a short form of the adverb “totally”. Likewise, “tradge” means “tragic” and “emosh” means “emotional”.
It seems that, for millennials (those born between the early 1980s and late 1990s), typing in this abbreviated form is not only time-saving but also in.
Many millennial slang words are formed by what linguists(语言学家) call the practice of “totesing” —the systematic abbreviation of words, according to a recent article in The Washington Post.
Some people think that millennial slang affects the English language negatively. However, Melbourne University linguist Rosey Billington doesn’t agree.
“When you are able to use language in a creative way, you show you are linguistically knowledgeable because you know the language rules well enough to use words in a different way.” Billington told News.com.au.
Her view is supported by two linguists, Lauren Spradlin and Taylor Jones, from the City University of New York and the University of Pennsylvania respectively. The two believe that totes-speak is a highly-organized system that can only be used by speakers who have mastered English pronunciation.
The ability to break apart syllables(音节) and mix different sounds together is key. “Totesing is about sounds, and it follows the sometimes-complex sound system of English,” Jones told The Washington Post. “Totesing is considered random by some people, but it’s not true. Instead, it has strict rules to follow. You need to be very fluent in the English language to be able to understand totes-speak. ”
1.How does the author explain the meaning of totesing?
A. With comparisons.
B. Through examples.
C. By listing facts.
D. By analyzing causes and effects.
2.What is Lauren Spradlin’s attitude toward the practice of totesing?
A. Worried. B. Indifferent(漠不关心的).
C. Positive. D. Doubtful.
3.The underlined word “random” in the last paragraph probably means _______.
A. complex B. organized
C. irregular D. meaningless
4.What is the main idea of this passage?
A. The reasons why totesing is popular among the young.
B. The ways that the young use in totesing.
C. The popularity of totesing and linguists’ attitude to it.
D. The definition(定义) and practice of totesing.
One evening after dinner, Mr. and Mrs. Tisich called a family meeting. —We’ve had to make a difficult decision, Mr. Tisich announced. —You see, your mother has been offered a post as co-director of a television station in Chicago. Unfortunately, the station is not here. After thinking long and hard about it, we’ve concluded that the right decision is to move to Chicago.
Marc looked shocked, while his sister Rachel breathlessly started asking when they’d be moving. —It’s surprising, but exciting! she said. Marc simply said, —We can’t go—I can’t leave all my friends. I’d rather stay here and live with Tommy Lyons!
The Tisichs hoped that by the time they moved in August, Marc would grow more used to the idea of leaving. However, he showed no signs of accepting the news, refusing to pack his belongings.
When the morning of the move arrived, Marc was nowhere to be found. His parents called Tommy Lyon’s house, but Mrs. Lyons said she hadn’t seen Marc. Mrs. Tisich became increasingly concerned, while her husband felt angry with their son for behaving so irresponsibly.
What they didn’t know was that Marc had started walking over to Tommy’s house, with a faint idea of hiding in Lyons’s attic(阁楼) for a few days. But something happened on the way as Marc walked past all the familiar landscape of the neighborhood: the fence that he and his mother painted, the tree that he and his sister used to climb, and the park where he and his father often took evening walks together. How much would these mean without his family? Who make them special in the first place? Marc didn’t take the time to answer that question but instead hurried back to his house, wondering if there were any moving cartons(纸板箱) the right size to hold his record collection.
1.The conflict(分歧) in this story was caused by_______.
A. Marc’s disagreement with his parents about their move
B. a quarrel between Tommy Lyons and Marc
C. Marc and Rachel’s different tempers(脾气)
D. Mr. and Mrs. Tisich’s words of Marc’s irresponsibility
2.Hearing the decision to move to Chicago, Marc and Rachel both felt _______.
A. angry and upset
B. surprised
C. anxious for more details
D. worried about packing
3.The reason for Marc’s going home was that _______.
A. he did not want to be left behind
B. he wished to be a more responsible person
C. he hoped to reach an agreement with his parents
D. he realized his family was very important to him
4.What would most likely happen next?
A. Marc would bring his records over to the Lyons’s house.
B. Mr. and Mrs. Tisich would call the police.
C. Mr. and Mrs. Tisich would start searching for Marc.
D. Marc would join his family for house moving.
阅读下面短文, 根据其内容写一篇60词左右的内容概要。
With global warming and melting ice, it isn’t easy being a polar bear anymore. Some studies have predicted that polar bears could die out by the end of the century. The good news is not all researchers think the bears are absolutely disappearing. Scientists at the American Museum of Natural History(AMNH) have published a new paper indicating that things might not be as bad for polar bears as some scientists expect.
To understand the reason for the researchers’ cautious optimism, we must first understand the factors that are threatening the polar bear’s existence. Polar bears consume a diet of mainly young seals. In order to hunt these seals, polar bears need to rest at the top of sea ice---the same ice that is increasingly melting for most of the year thanks to climate change. In another 50 years, experts expect that the Arctic will be too warm for sea ice to form for half of the year, leaving polar bears without a reliable food source and in serious danger of starvation.
As it turns out, alternative food sources for the polar bears aren’t completely out of the question. For as long as biologists have tailed after the animals, they’ve seen polar bears eating animals found on land like caribou(驯鹿) and snow geese---as well as the snow geese’s eggs.
Can polar bears actually survive off these alternative food sources for long periods of time? To figure this out, researchers calculated the nutrients that a caribou and snow geese diet would provide. They found that even adult male polar bears would be able to obtain more calories than would burn in hunting these meals. Moreover, the food would provide the food lecessary to avoid starvation during the summer months.
Unfortunately, not all polar bears have tended to seek food on land. That said, the researchers expect that necessity would push more polar bears to hunt on land to avoid starvation. They also expect that the bears could learn from their fellow bears how to hunt on land until the practice becomes second nature.
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语法填空
阅读下面材料, 在空白处填入适当的内容（不多于3个单词）或括号内单词的正确形式。
Many people travel during the holiday season but do not make sure that their houses and homes ___1.___(protect). Crimes go up ____2.____(rapid) during the winter an summer holiday seasons. Here are some things that you should keep in mind when you go on holiday.
Always give ___3.____(strange) the feeling that you are at home. Have the snow __4.___( clean ) off your stairs or out of your driveway during the winter season. You might ask someone to park his/her car in ___5.___(you) driveway.
Tell your newspaper deliverer that you are not at home. ____6.__(have) a pile of newspapers and other mail on your doorsteps tells people that you are not at home, so you could also have a neighbor ___7.____ a relative get your mail every day.
Fix a timer(定时器) in some of your rooms ____8._turns lights on and __9.____ during different time of the day. Some TVs also come with a timer that you could set to be turned on during certain time. Have motion(运动) sensitive lights outside your house that keep thieves away ____10.___ you are not at home.
