Holiday News

    Vacancies (空位) now and in the school holidays at a country hotel in Devon. This comfortable, friendly home-from-home lies near the beautiful quiet countryside, but just a drive away from the sea. The food is simple but good. Children and pets are welcome.Reduced prices for low season.

The Snowdonia Center

The Snowdonia Center for young mountain climbers has a mountain 1068.The beginners’ costs are ￡57 for a week, including food and rooms. Equipment is included except walking shoes, which can be hired at a low cost.

    You must be in good health and prepared to go through a period of body exercises. This could be the beginning of a lifetime of mountain climbing adventure.

The World Sea Trip of a Lifetime

    Our World Sea Trip of 2008 will be unlike any holiday you have ever been on before. Instead of one hotel after another, with all its packing and unpacking waiting and traveling, you just go to bed in one country and wake up in another.

    On board the ship, you will be well taken care of. Every meal will be first-class and every cabin like your home.

    During the trip, you can rest on deck(甲板), enjoy yourself in the games rooms and in the evening dance to our musical team and watch our wonderful play.

You will visit all the places most people only dream about – from Acapulco and Hawaii to Tokyo and Hong Kong.

    For a few thousand pounds, all you’ve ever hoped for can be yours.

1. What can you do if you like to go on holidays with pets?

A. Choose the holiday in Devon.     B. Go to the Snowdonia Centre

C. Join the World Sea Trip of 2008  D. Visit Acapulco and Hawaii

2. In what way is the Snowdonia Centre different from the other two holidays?

A. It provides chances of family gatherings.

B. It provides customers with good food.

C. It offers a sport lesson.              

D. It offers comfortable room.

3. What is special about the World Sea Trip of 2008?

A. You can have free meals on deck every day.

B. You can sleep on a ship and tour many places.

C. You will have chances to watch and act in a play.

D. You have to do your own packing and unpacking.

4. At the Snowdonia Centre, the beginners’ costs of ￡57 do not cover ______.

A. food           B. rooms   C. body exercises       D. walking shoes

Every year there are hundreds of earthquakes in different parts of the world. In September, 1923, Tokyo and Yokohama were both destroyed by an earthquake and the fires that followed it. They had to be completely rebuilt. One of the most serious earthquakes was in China’s Shanxi province in 1556. It killed almost one million people.

We measure an earthquake’s strength on the Richter Scale. The Richter Scale was introduced in 1935 in Southern California in the USA. It measures earthquakes on a scale of one to ten. Any earthquake measuring five or more is usually serious.

The Earth’s crust(地殼) is made up of rock called plates. As these plates move, they sometimes crash against each other, causing the crust to quake. In cities such as Tokyo, where small quakes happen quite often, many modern buildings are designed to be flexible so when the Earth moves, they move with it.

Earthquakes can also break up gas and oil pipes. This can cause fires to break out, which can do as much damage as the earthquake itself.

Another effect of earthquakes is tsunamis. These are huge waves created by earthquakes beneath the sea. They can be many meters high and cause great damage to coastal towns and cities, China, Japan, Russia and the USA have the highest occurrence(發(fā)生) of earthquakes in the world.

1.The passage is mainly about       .

    A. scientists who study earthquakes     B. the way of measuring earthquakes

C. a usual natural disaster             D. what people should do in the earthquake

2.The earthquake in Shanxi Province       , which in NOT true?

    A. happened in 1556                 B. killed one million people

C. was the only earthquake in China     D. caused a lot of damage

3. Earthquakes        

    A. don’t cause much damage             B. are not serious

C. most possibly happen in Japan            D. happen all over the world

4.According to the passage we know that tsunamis        .

    A. can cause earthquakes           

B. are caused by earthquakes

C. only happen on land             

D. are a way of measuring earthquakes

任務(wù)型閱讀（共10小題;每小題1分，滿分10分）

請認(rèn)真閱讀下列短文，并根據(jù)所讀內(nèi)容在文章后表格中的空格里填入最恰當(dāng)?shù)膯卧~。

注意：每空一詞。

It is an all too familiar story. A natural disaster strikes in a remote part of the world, causing destruction and suffering. Villages are flattened and people are forced into camps. It is now happening in China, after the earthquake of magnitude（里氏）8 that was centered on Wenchuan but shook the entire country.

Actually, in the past centuries, there were hundreds of thousands of earthquakes in different parts of the world. In Sept. 1923, Tokyo and Yokohama were both destroyed by an earthquake and the fires that followed it. They had to be completely rebuilt. One of the most serious earthquakes was in China’s Shanxi Province in 1556. It claimed almost one million people.

We measure an earthquake’s strength on the Richter scale. The Richter scale was introduced in 1935 in Southern California in the USA. It measures earthquakes on a scale of one to ten. Any earthquake measuring five or more is usually serious.

The earth’s crust (地殼) is made up of layers of rock called plates. As these plates move, they sometimes crash against each other, causing the crust to quake. In cities such as Tokyo, where small quakes happen quite often, many modern buildings are designed to be flexible so when the earth moves, they move with it.

Earthquakes can also break up gas or oil pipes. This can cause fires to break out, which can do as much damage as the earthquake itself.

Another effect of the earthquakes is tsunamis (海嘯). These are huge waves created by earthquakes beneath the sea. They can be many meters high and cause great damage to costal towns and cities.

China, Japan, Russia and the USA have the highest occurrence of earthquakes in the world.

C
Tokyo is one of those places that you can love and hate at the same time.
　　In Tokyo there are always too many people in the places where I want to be. Of course there are too many cars. The Japanese drive very fast, but in Tokyo they often spend a long time in traffic jams(擁擠).Tokyo is not different from London, Paris and New York in that. It is different when one wants to walk.
　　At certain times of the day there are a lot of people on foot in London’s Oxford Street. But the streets near the Ginza in Tokyo always have a lot of people on foot, and sometimes it is really difficult to walk. People are very polite; there are just too many of them.
　　The worst time to be in the street is at 11:30 at night. That is when the night-clubs are closing and everybody wants to go home. There are 35 000 night-clubs in Tokyo, and you do not often see one that is empty.
　　During the day, most people travel to and from work by train. Tokyo people buy six million train tickets every day. At most stations, trains arrive every two or three minutes but at certain hours there do not seem to be enough trains. Although they are usually crowded, Japanese trains are very good. They always leave and arrive on time. On a London train you would see everybody reading a newspaper. In Tokyo trains everybody in a seat seems to be asleep, whether his journey is long or short.
　　In Tokyo, I stood outside the station for five minutes. Three fire-engines(消防車) race past on the way to one of the many fires that Tokyo has every day .Tokyo has so many surprises that none of them can really surprise me now.
48.Tokyo is different from London in that___________.
A. it has a larger population                 
B. there are more traffic jams
C. it is more difficult to go somewhere on foot 　
D. night clubs are sometimes empty
49.Japanese trains _____________.
A. often leave and arrive on time         
B. are often crowded
C. are the main means(手段，方法) people use to travel to and from work  
D. all of the above
50.Where can you find everybody reading a newspaper? _____________.
A. At most London train stations               B. At most Tokyo train stations
C. On a Tokyo train                                          D. On a London train
51.Fires break out _______ in Tokyo according to the writer.
A. quite frequently (頻繁)                       B. only several times a day　
C. not very often　                                          D. very seldom
52.Which of the following is NOT true about Tokyo? ___________.
A. The streets become more crowded at 11:30 at night 
B. There are more trains than cars
C. Fire-engines are very busy in the city             
D. Tokyo people are polite

Nuclear­powered aircraft carriers are considered one of the most important marine weapons in the 20th century. So far, only two countries in the world, the USA and France, have ever produced them. But these fearful fighting machines are about to enter Asia.

The US Navy said last month that one of its nine nuclear­powered aircraft carriers will be sent to Japan to replace the diesel(柴油)­powered carrier Kitty Hawk in 2008. In an agreement on October 30, the two countries also planned to level up their military (軍事的) cooperation and the USA called for Japan to take a larger role in alliance (聯(lián)盟)military moves.

It will be the first time that a nuclear­powered carrier is based in Japan. Bombed by US forces in World War Ⅱ at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan is the only world country to have been attacked by a nuclear weapon. Therefore, the citizens are highly sensitive to where nuclear­powered weapons are based.

“A radiation leak at Yokosuka would kill 100,000 people as far away as Tokyo, and could cause billions of dollars in damage，” said Masahiko Goto, leader of a protest group in Yokosuka. His group has collected more than 300,000 signatures of people across Japan opposed to the nuclear carrier.

The 44­year­old Kitty Hawk, the US Navy's oldest active ship, has been based in Yokosuka since 1998. It had returned to the US to be decommissioned(廢棄核武器) in 2008. The new carrier will travel faster, be capable of supporting longer operations and carry with it the Navy's most modern technology.

Experts pointed that this change is not only to strengthen the US­Japan military alliance but also to keep the military power of China and North Korea within limits. However, even Japanese experts don't believe that the two countries are threats to the region.

“There is no need for Japan to have a nuclear carrier as defense，” said Tetsuo Maeda, an international relations professor at Tokyo International University. He said that the change of ship indicates an increased military capability in the region, much more than what is needed.

1.With such a powerful weapon to enter its country, Japanese citizens ________.

A．a(chǎn)re aware of its benefits to the country

B．a(chǎn)re anxious about its potential danger

C．a(chǎn)re curious about the advanced technology

D．a(chǎn)re against where the carrier will be based

2.The replacement of the aircraft carrier is intended to________.

A．set up a kind of base in Japan

B．strengthen the US­Japan military alliance

C．show Japan's greater military capability

D．get rid of the dated marine weapon

3.From the story, we learn that________.

A．no other countries except the USA and France possess aircraft carriers

B．Japan has long planned to increase its military capability with new weapons

C．Japan will be the first country in Asia to have a nuclear aircraft carrier

D．Japan will be the third country to produce a nuclear­powered aircraft carrier

4.By his remark in the last paragraph, the professor means that________.

A．he is quite confident of their military defense

B．he is completely opposed to a new nuclear carrier

C．what is needed is far more than a nuclear carrier

D．it is unnecessary to guard against the two countries