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If you are driving out of Montpellier, a city in France, please look out for the signboard(路标) with the words “Millau Viaduct(米洛高架桥)”. Turn towards it and get ready to take the drive of a lifetime.
The Millau Viaduct is the world’s tallest bridge. It is 343 meters high and about 2.5 kilometers long. The bridge is between Paris and Montpellier, and it was built in 2004 at the cost of $530 million. And why was it built?
For years, the French government thought over the problem of traffic congestion for people travelling from Paris to the south of France. Many ideas were suggested, but one idea was finally accepted. Instead of choosing to build a highway that went
through the hilly(多山) south of France, they decided to build a bridge over the Tarn River. This bridge would not just be like any other bridge. It would start at the top of one hill and connect to another hill on the other side of the river. This bridge would shorten the highway by 60 kilometers. It would save people’s time and money. _____________________
Engineers had to find out a way to build the bridge quickly, over 300 meters up in the air and about 2.52kilometers long across the river. It was very hard, but finally engineers succeeded in finding a quickest way to build it. It is very convenient for people to travel and it has been consistently(一致地)ranked as one of the great engineering achievements of all time.
1.The Millau Viaduct is in_________.
A.America B.France C.Canada D.England
2.What does paragraph 3 mainly talk about?
A.Why the Millau Viaduct was built.
B.When people built the Millau Viaduct.
C.The details of the Millau Viaduct.
D.The designer of the Millau Viaduct.
3.What does the underlined word “congestion” mean?
A.The state of being crowded. B.The risk of accidents.
C.The situation of traffic. D.The traffic rules.
4.Which of the following sentences can be put in “__________________”?
A.What’s more, it is an easy job to build it.
B.But it is impossible to complete this project.
C.In less than one year, this bridge was completed.
D.However, it presented a very big challenge to engineers.
5.Where does this passage most probably come from?
A.A storybook. B.A science fiction book. C.A dictionary D.A geography magazine.
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American and British people both speak English of course. But sometimes it does not seem like the same language. In fact, there are some important differences between British English and American English.
1.Often, Americans don’t say each word separately. They say several words together. Americans may say “I dunno” instead of “I don’t know”. Or they may say “Whaddya say?” instead of “What did you say?” However, the British are more careful in their speech. They usually say all the words and keep them separate.
Sound is not the only difference between British English and American English. Words sometimes have different meanings too.2.Americans drive trucks, but in England people drive lorries.
3. In England, if you are going to telephone your friends, you “phone them up”. In America, you “give them a call”. There are also some differences in grammar. For example, Americans usually use the helping verb “do” when they ask a question. They say “Do you have a storybook?” But the British often leave out the helping verb. 4.
Most languages are like this. Languages change over time. When people live in separate places, the languages Change in different ways. This is what has happened to English. 5. Many people in Canada speak French but their French is very different from the French of France.
A.It can also happen to other languages, such as French.
B.For example, the vocabulary for cars and driving is very different.
C.They say “Have you a storybook?”
D.English in these two counties is different only in sound.
E.First of all, they sound very different.
F.Many expressions are also different in the two countries.
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American and British people both speak English of course. But sometimes it does not seem like the same language. In fact, there are some important differences between British English and American English.
1.Often, Americans don’t say each word separately. They say several words together. Americans may say “I dunno” instead of “I don’t know”. Or they may say “Whaddya say?” instead of “What did you say?” However, the British are more careful in their speech. They usually say all the words and keep them separate.
Sound is not only the difference between British English and American English. Words sometimes have different meanings too.2.Americans drive trucks, but in England people drive lorries.
3.In England, if you are going to telephone your friends, you “phone them up”. In America, you “give them a call”.
There are also some differences in grammar. For example, Americans usually use the helping verb “do” when they ask a question. They say “Do you have a storybook?” But the British often leave out the helping verb.4.
Most languages are like this. Languages change over time. When people live in separate places, the languages change in different ways. This is what has happened to English. It can also happen to other languages, such as French. Many people in Canada speak French but their French is very different from the French of France.
阅读上面短文，从下面选项中选择合适的句子填入文中空白处，有一项为多余选项。
A.They say “Have you a storybook?”
B.It can also happen to other languages, such as French.
C.For example, the vocabulary for cars and driving is very different.
D.First of all, they sound very different.
E.Many expressions are also different in the two countries.
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No Car Day was first started by 34 cities in France on September 22,1998. It was started to protect the environment. By now, more than 1,000 cities around the world have had a No Car Day.
The first No Car Day in China was in Chengdu in 2001. Other cities,including Taipei,Shanghai and Wuhan, also support the day.
In Bejjing, more and more people are joining the campaign. It asks drivers to leave their cars at home for one day each month and walk or ride a bike to work. It also calls on Beijingers not to use cars on June 5（World Environment Day）. The slogan（口号）for the day is,“If we drive for one less day, we can have one more nice day.”
So far more than 200, 000 drivers have shown their support.“We can't control（控制）the weather, but we can choose not to drive, ”said Wu Zonghua, a car club chairman. Beijing is trying to have 238 blue sky days this year. In the first quarter of 2007, Bejjing only had 52 blue sky days. This was 11 days less than the number for the same period last year. Much of the dust comes from the desert, but cars cause most of the air pollution. We must do more for No Car Day.
1.No Car Day was started________.
A.to save money B.to control the weather
C.to make the air cleaner D.to keep out dust from the desert
2.The No Car Day campaign asks Beijing drivers________.
A.to work hard to get fewer blue sky days
B.not to work on World Environment Day
C.to ride a bike or walk instead of driving to work
D.to leave their cars at home for a week each month
3.Which of the following about No Car Day is WRONG?
A.It was first started in France in September, 1998.
B.It was first stared in China in 2001.
C.It is supported by over 1,000 cities around the world.
D.It was first started by a car club chairman in Bejjing.
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Since COVID-19 outbreak (爆发), most people in Wuhan have avoided 1. (go) out to reduce the risk of being infected (感染). All 2. (health) people know it is very important not to go to hospitals in the city if it isn't necessary, because many infected patients are being treated there.
However, a large number of local 3. (volunteer) are doing this by driving doctors and nurses to work. As these doctors and nurses are treating patients 4. (care) every day, they are in close contact (接触) with patients. If things continue like this, the risk of being infected 5. (become) higher. But many people have taken part in the activity so far. They are called "ferrymen (摆渡人) of hope" by the local people.
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Would you like to live in a city where buildings turn the light off for you, and self-driving cars will find the nearest parking space themselves? Although it might sound a little far from you, living in a “smart” city like this could happen sooner than you think.
Great changes have taken place in towns that we have lived in for centuries, while completely new cities are being built. One such place is the city of Songdo. Every home there will have a “telepresence” system(远程遥控系统)---allowing users to control the heating and looks, take part in video meeting, and receive education, healthcare and around the city, escalators(自动扶梯) will only move when someone is on them, and offices and schools will all be connected to the system.
The great mind behind Songdo is from the company Cisco. In fact, technology companies around the world such as IBM, Siemens and Microsoft are already in the business.
About 75% of the world's population will live in cities by 2050, so cities will need to be more modern to deal with the coming problems. “Making cities smarter is one way out, and I think this will in turn make cities greener," said Dan Hill, head of a research company.
1.According to the text, living in a “smart” city________.
A.is not a green way B.will be far from you
C.will soon become true D.is completely impossible
2.What is Paragraph 2 mainly about?
A.A city of the future. B.A meeting in Songdo.
C.A plan to build a house. D.A report on public health.
3.Dan Hill thinks that making cities smarter is one way to_________.
A.drive people out of cities B.control the world's population
C.develop his own company D.solve the cities' coming problems
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If you are free to walk through out city, please ________ us.
A drop in B drop in at C. drop in on
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Go on a road trip? Check out these roadside attractions and museums.
World’s Largest Ball of Paint
In 1977, Michael Carmichael created the biggest ball of paint. Starting with a baseball as the center, he painted layer(层)after layer. After over 20.000 layers of paint. the ball weighs over 1. 300 pounds. Visitors can paint the balls themselves and become part of history.
Dinosaur Park
The land can be found outside Rapid City. On a hill overlooking the city, dinosaurs made out of brightly painted concrete(混凝土) stand guard. The park was built as a work project in 1936 by Debbie Sardone. The five dinosaurs are life-sized and can be seen from miles away.
The Museum of Dirt
The museum is the idea of Glenn Johanson. labeled glass bottles contain dirt from the Great Wall of China and sand from a desert in Sandi Arabia and Omaha Beach in France. Johanson has collected material from the Amazon River and from Times Square after a New Year's Eve celebration, lava(火山岩)from Mt Fuji in Japan and shells from the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. Best of all, visiting this museum is free.
Paper House
Ellis Stenman built a two-room house almost completely out of newspapers in 1922. At that time, “recycling" wasn't even a word yet. The house was framed(框起来) with wood, but the walls were made of 215 layers of newspapers. The furniture was also made of newspapers. In all. it used about 100, 000 newspapers.
1.If you want to paint the balls, you can visit .
A.Paper House B.Dinosaur Park
C.World’s Largest Ball of Paint D.The Museum of Dirt
2.The five dinosaurs in Dinosaur Park can be seen from miles away because .
A.they were built on a hill
B.they were built outside Rapid City
C.they were made out of brightly painted concrete
D.they were built to be as big as the real one
3. is free for visitors.
A.Paper House B.Dinosaur Park
C.The Museum of Dirt D.World's largest Ball of Paint
4.Paper house was created by .
A.Glenn Johanson B.Elis Stenman
C.Michael Carmichael D.Debbie Sardone
5.You can see from Times Square after a New Year's Eve celebration in the Museum of Dirt.
A.material B.shells C.sand D.lava
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When I lived in Spain（西班牙）, some Spanish friends of mine decided to visit England by car. Before they left, they asked me to give them some advice about how to find accommodation（住所）. I suggested that they should stay at "bed and breakfast" houses, because this kind of accommodation gives a foreign visitor a good chance to speak English with the family. My friends followed my advice, but they came back with some funny stories.
"We didn't stay at bed and breakfast houses, " they said, "because we found that most families were away on holiday."
I thought this was strange. Finally I understood what had happened. My friends spoke little English, and they thought "VACANCIES" meant "holidays", because the Spanish word for
"holidays" is "vacaciones". So they did not go to houses where the sign outside said "VACANCIES”, which in English means there are free rooms. Then my friends went to houses where the sign said "NO VACANCIES", because they thought this meant the people who owned the houses were not away on vacation. But they found that these houses were all full. As a result, they stayed at hotels
We laughed about this and about mistakes my friends made in reading other signs. In Spanish, the word "DIVERSION" means fun. In English, it means that workmen are repairing the road, and that you must take a different road. When my friends saw the word "DIVERSION" on a road sign, they thought they were going to have fun. Instead, the road ended in a large hole.
English people have problems too when they learn foreign languages. Once in Paris, when someone offered me some more coffee, I said "Merci", which means "Thank you" in French. I meant that I would like some more. However, to my surprise, the coffee pot was taken away! Later
I found out that "Thank you" in French means "No, thank you."
1.The writer's Spanish friends wanted to know before they went to England.
A.how to find a place to stay in
B.how to memorize English words
C.how to drive on English roads
D.how to behave at the dinner table.
2.According to the passage, which of the following is true about the writer's Spanish friends?
A.They learned quite a lot of funny stories in England.
B.They had trouble understanding the English language.
C.Most of their families were also on vacation with them.
D.They found some strange signs on the streets in England.
3.In England, a house with the sign "NO VANCANCIES" outside means .
A.its owner isn't away on holiday
B.an accident has happened in it
C.none of its rooms are available
D.there are some free rooms in it
4.If you see the road sign "DIVERTION" in England, .
A.you can go ahead and enjoy yourself
B.you must stop to repair the road ahead
C.you will find a large hole in the road
D.you are supposed to take another road
5.In the last paragraph, the writer mainly talks about .
A.one of his experiences in France
B.the value of learning foreign languages
C.the meaning of "No, Thank you."
D.the location of the capital city of France
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If you haven’t watched the Voice of China in 2012, you are OUT. This program was 1. from Holland. Since it showed in last summer 2., it has become more and more 3. . It was popular from north to 4.. All the mobile TVs on buses, subways, and in 5. etc. were replaying videotape of the Voice of China. You must watch it 6. when you don’t want. Perfect performances of teachers 7. Yu Chengqing, Liu Huan, Na Ying and Yang Kun made sure audience rating(收视率)of the 8. . And it had 9. of hits in famous video websites. Without doubt, it was the 10. show in 2012.