C. make sure about your booking by yourself.
D. turn to travel agent if your flight is cancelled.
23. What's the purpose of the passage?
A. To make an advertisement about several online travel sites. B. To inform us of some tricks of online travel sites.
C. To convince us not to book on an online travel site. D. To introduce the convenience of online travel.
B
Cultural trends are greatly influenced by famous people. When Oprah goes on a 21-day vegan diet (素食), it makes headlines. When Amal Clooney wears a Stella McCartney dress, sales
go way up. However, one trend that seems harmless – but is actually damaging --is the pressure on famous people to have their photos taken with exotic(奇异的) animals.
Famous people asked to have photos taken with wild animals for a magazine spread have good intentions and even love animals. This makes them easy targets for the greedy amusement parks and fake animal centers. Kind people are naturally drawn to places that claim to offer exotic animals safety and are eager to hug baby bears or to swim with dolphins. However, it has shown that many of these businessmen are breeders, dealers or exhibitors that are using Hollywood’s goodwill for their own profits.
At the recently closed Tiger Temple in Thailand, 40 dead tiger cubs(幼崽) were found
secretly killed to make tiger wine and other folk medicine for sale on the black market. The number of tourist traps using word like ―rescue‖ in their names has
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increased greatly in recent years.
Many businessmen continually breed the animals, so they’ll have a constant supply of young animals to charge people money for photos. Of course the babies are cute but they grow fast, and within a few weeks they are too big to handle. They’ll spend the rest of their lives, sometimes decades, in small and empty cages — or even be killed.
In some Asian countries, elephants are kept in camps. A few camps are working to help elephants in trouble, but the vast majority are not, and training methods are cruel. As soon as the cameras are gone after someone like Prince William takes a photo with an elephant, the chains go back on.
Fans, tell the stars: Stay away from exotic animal photos, and the animals
will be grateful.
24. The author intends to make an appeal that _.
A. all people including stars should refuse to take photos with exotic animals B. measures should be taken to protect the exotic animals C. bans should be issued to limit celebrities’ behavior D. warns of wild animals should be given to the public 25. Businessmen breed animals to . A. attract visitors C. rescue exotic animals
B. make profits
D. maintain their population
26. To have a constant supply of young animals, businessmen . A. continue to be breeders C. turned to the local government
B. charged more for photographing D. brought in more baby animals
27. What will happen to the animals after they’ve been taken photos?
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A. They will be well fed. C. They remain badly treated.
B. They might be helped out. D. They are to be handled properly.
Every day I see advertisements in the newspapers and on the buses claiming that it is easy and quick to learn English. There is even a reference to William Shakespeare or Charles Dickens to encourage learners even more. When I see advertisements like this, I don’t know whether to laugh or cry. But many people must believe these ridiculous claims, or else the advertisements would not appear.
Of course it is clear that students who go to England to learn English have a great advantage over others, but too many cannot afford to do so. Some go to the opposite extreme and think they can teach themselves at home with dictionaries. But it is wrong to assume that each word in English has a precise equivalent in another language, let alone produces good pronunciation and intonation.
Most teaching is still based on behaviorist psychology. Behaviorists are fond of making students repeat phrases and making sentences. If we were parrots or chimpanzees, these methods might be successful. A large number of theorists seem to think it is a pity we aren’t, because it would make it easier to use their methods.
In my personal opinion, no one can ever learn to speak English or any other language unless he is interested in it. Human beings, unlike parrots and chimpanzees, do not like making noises unless they understand what the noises mean and can relate them to their own lives. It is worth remembering that language is a means of communication. What they listen to and read cannot be a formula. It must be real.
There is another relevant point worth mentioning here. We need other people to talk to and listen to when we communicate. They can work with us and practice the unfamiliar forms with us in real situations, talking to each other about real life language.
28. Many people believe advertisements in the newspapers and on the buses probably because .
A. they are encouraged by William Shakespeare or Charles Dickens
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B. they are eager to learn and then believe them
C. the ways advertised can help them to save time and efforts D. the ways advertised prove effective and helpful 29. What may behaviorists argue towards English learning? A. Human beings make more interesting noises than parrots and chimpanzees. B. Human beings should relate their speech to their own lives.
C. Language is a formula with lots of repetitions and practices. D. Language is a means of communication. 30. What opinion does the author hold?
A. A quick method that suits all the students does exist. B. English can be mastered within a very short period of time. C. Each word in English has a precise equivalent in another language. D. No one can learn English well without being interested in it.
31. What ways of learning is suggested by the author? A. Study abroad.
B. Learn communicatively and
situationally. C. Follow the behaviorists’ approach. D. Teach oneself at home with dictionaries.
The philosopher Robert Nozick used the idea of an ―experience machine‖ to refute the view that good experiences are all we want from life. He thought that most of us would not choose the machine and prefer reality. ―But why?‖ he encouraged us to ask.
Nozick’s experience machine existed only in his imagination. There was no such thing as
virtual reality(虚拟现实) in 1974 when he was writing. The question raised by Nozick has become a real issue. Why should you prefer the trouble and expense of actually visiting Angkor Wat or
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Niagara Falls when you can get all the experiences of being there by putting on goggles and a body suit?
One answer is that the emotions you feel when you have a virtual experience are not as valuable. When you actually see Niagara Falls, you feel awe and even fear in the face of an overpowering force of nature. Being in the presence of something that causes you these feelings is part of the pleasure.
Visiting a virtual Niagara Falls may also cause you feelings of awe and fear but they are cheapened by your knowledge that the danger is not real and that your mind is being tricked into thinking that it is.
Reality also holds a potential for making discoveries that virtual reality lacks. Those who visit Angkor Wat hope to see more than they expected from tourist information, perhaps even
discover what have been missed. Computer simulations(模拟), however good, contain only what
have been put into them.
There is a further reason for preferring a real experience. Real experiences connect us to the deeds of past people and place us in contexts where history was made. Viewing an actual painting by Rembrandt is a more valuable experience than viewing a copy, however good. The genuine painting was the work of the man himself. We see his brush strokes on the canvas. We are in the presence of genius.
Virtual reality can take us to places we can never go. It can be exiting, amusing and a good way of spending leisure time. But it will never be a substitute(替代品) for connections with the real thing.
32. What does the underlined word ―refute‖ in Paragraph 1 mean? A. argue against C. be in favor of
B. show the meaning of D. make corrections to
33. What does the author think of virtual reality?
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