Homestay provides English language students with the opportunity to speak English outside the classroom and the experience of being part of a British home.

What to Expect

The host will provide accommodation and meals. Rooms will be cleaned and bedcovers changed at least once a week.You will be given the house key and the host is there to offer help and advice as well as to take an interest in your physical and mental health.

Accommodation Zones

Homestays are located in London mainly in Zones 2, 3 and 4 of the transport system. Most hosts do not live in the town centre as much of central London is commercial and not residential . Zones 3 and 4 often offer larger accommodation in a less crowded area. It is very convenient to travel in London by Underground.

Meal Plans Available

u        Continental Breakfast

u        Breakfast and Dinner

u        Breakfast, Packed Lunch and Dinner

It's important to note that few English families still provide a traditional cooked breakfast. Your accommodation includes Continental Breakfast which normally consists of fruit juice, cereal, bread and tea or coffee. Cheese, fruit and cold meat are not normally part of a Continental Breakfast in England. Dinners usually consist of meat or fish with vegetables followed by dessert, fruit and coffee.

Friends

If you wish to invite a friend over to visit, you must first ask your host's permission. You have no right to entertain friends in a family home as some families feel it is an invasion of their privacy.

Self­Catering Accommodation in Private Homes

Accommodation on a room­-only basis includes shared kitchen and bathroom facilities and often a main living room.This kind of accommodation offers an independent lifestyle and is more suitable for the long­stay student. However, it does not provide the same family atmosphere as an ordinary homestay and may not benefit those who need to practise English at home quite as much.

21．The passage is probably written for ________.

A．foreigners hoping to build British culture    

B．hosts willing to receive foreign students

C．English learners applying to live in English homes

D．travellers planning to visit families in London

22．Which of the following will the host provide?

A．Medical care.   B．Room cleaning.　　C．Physical training.   D．Free transport.        

23．What can be inferred from Paragraph 3?

A．The business centre of London is probably in Zone 1.

B．Zone 4 is more crowded than Zone 2.   

C．Hosts dislike travelling to the city centre.

D．Accommodation in the city centre is not provided.

24．Why do some people choose self­catering accommodation?

A．To enrich their knowledge of English.  B．To experience a warmer family atmosphere.

C．To enjoy much more freedom.        D．To entertain friends as they like.

In the fall of 1985, I was a bright­-eyed girl heading off to Howard University, aiming at a legal career and dreaming of sitting on a Supreme Court bench somewhere. Twenty­-one years later I am still a bright­-eyed dreamer and one with quite a different tale to tell.

My grandma, an amazing woman, graduated from college at the age of 65. She was the first in our family to reach that goal. But one year after I started college, she developed cancer. I made the choice to withdraw from college to care for her. It meant that school and my personal dream would have to wait.

Then I got married with another dream: building my family with a combination of adopted and biological children. In 1999, we adopted our first son. To lay eyes on him was fantastic—and very emotional. A year later came our second adopted boy. Then followed son No.3. In 2003, I gave birth to another boy.

You can imagine how fully occupied I became, raising four boys under the age of 8! Our home was a complete zoo—a joyous zoo. Not surprising, I never did make it back to college full­time. But I never gave up on the dream either. I had only one choice: to find a way. That meant taking as few as one class each semester.

The hardest part was feeling guilty about the time I spent away from the boys. They often wanted me to stay home with them. There certainly were times I wanted to quit, but I knew I should set an example for them to follow through the rest of their lives.

In 2007, I graduated from the University of North Carolina. It took me over 21 years to get my college degree!

I am not special, just single­-minded. It always struck me that when you're looking at a big challenge from the outside it looks huge, but when you're in the midst of it, it just seems normal. Everything you want won't arrive in your life on one day. It's a process. Remember: little steps add up to big dreams.

25．Why did the author quit school in her second year of college?

A．She suffered from a serious illness.  

B．She decided to look after her grandma.

C.  She wanted to study by herself.      

D．She fell in love and got married.

26．What can we learn about the author from Paragraphs 4 and 5?

A．She wanted to remain a full­time housewife.

B．She was too confused to make a correct choice.

C．She was busy yet happy with her family life.    

D．She ignored her guilty feeling for her sons.   

27．What does the author mostly want to tell us in the last paragraph?

A．Every coin has two sides.         B．Well begun, half done.

C．Failure is the mother of success.    D．Little by little, one goes far.   

28．Which of the following can best describe the author?

A．Ambitious and sensitive.          B．Innocent and single­minded.

C．Caring and determined.           D．Honest and responsible. 

In business, there's a speed difference: It's the difference between how important a firm's leaders say speed is to their competitive strategy and how fast the company actually moves. The difference is important regardless of industry and company size. Companies fearful of losing their competitive advantage spend much time and money looking for ways to pick up the speed.

In our study of 343 businesses, the companies that chose to go, go, go to try to gain_an_edge ended up with lower sales and operating incomes than those that paused at key moments to make sure they were on the right track. What's more, the firms that “slowed down to speed up” improved their top and bottom lines, averaging 40% higher sales and 52% higher operating incomes over a three­-year period.

How did they dis-obey the laws of business physics, taking more time than competitors  yet performing better? They thought differently about what “slower” and “faster” mean. Firms sometimes fail to understand the difference between operational speed (moving quickly) and strategic speed (reducing the time it takes to deliver value). Simply increasing the speed of production, for example, may be one way to try to reduce the speed difference. But that often leads to reduced value over time, in the form of lower­ quality products and services.

In our study, higher­ performing companies with strategic speed always made changes when necessary. They became more open to ideas and discussion. They encouraged new ways of thinking. And they allowed time to look back and learn. By contrast, performance suffered at firms that moved fast all the time, paid too much attention to improving efficiency, stuck to tested methods, didn't develop team spirit among their employees, and had little time thinking about changes.

Strategic speed serves as a kind of leadership. Teams that regularly take time to get things right, rather than plough ahead full bore, are more successful in meeting their business goals. That kind of strategy must come from the top.

29．What does the underlined part “gain an edge” in Paragraph 2 mean?

A．Reach the limit.               B．Set a goal.

C．Increase the speed. 　　　      D．Get an advantage.

30．What can we learn from the text?

A．Firms guided by strategic speed take time to make necessary changes.

B．Firms guided by operational speed take time to develop necessary team spirit.

C．How fast a firm moves depends on how big it is.

D．How competitive a firm is depends on what it produces.

31．Which could be the best title for the text?

A．Reduce time? Move faster.       B．Need speed? Slow down.

C．Improve quality? Serve better.    D．Deliver value? Plough ahead.

Since the 1970s, scientists have been searching for ways to link the brain with computers. Brain­computer interface (BCI) technology could help people with disabilities send commands to machines.

Recently, two researchers, Jose Millan and Michele Tavella from the Federal Polytechnic School in Lausanne, Switzerland, demonstrated a small robotic wheelchair directed by a person's thoughts.

In the laboratory, Tavella operated the wheelchair just by thinking about moving his left or right hand. He could even talk as he watched the vehicle and guided it with his thoughts.

“Our brain has billions of nerve cells. These send signals through the spinal cord (脊髓) to the muscles to give us the ability to move. But spinal cord injuries or other conditions can prevent these weak electrical signals from reaching the muscles.” Tavella says. “Our system allows disabled people to communicate with external world and also to control devices.”

The researchers designed a special cap for the user. This head cover picks up the signals from the scalp (头皮) and sends them to a computer. The computer interprets the signals and commands the motorized wheelchair. The wheelchair also has two cameras that identify objects in its path. They help the computer react to commands from the brain.

Prof. Millan, the team leader, says scientists keep improving the computer software that interprets brain signals and turns them into simple commands. “The practical possibilities that BCI technology offers to disabled people can be grouped in two categories: communication, and controlling devices. One example is this wheelchair.”

He says his team has set two goals. One is testing with real patients, so as to prove that this is a technology they can benefit from. And the other is to guarantee that they can use the technology over long periods of time.

32．BCI is a technology that can ________.

A. help the disabled to recover           B. control a person's thoughts

C. help to update computer systems       D. link the human brain with computers

33．How did Tavella operate the wheelchair in the laboratory?

A. By moving his hand.                 B. By using his mind.

C. By controlling his muscles.            D. By talking to the machine.

34．Which of the following shows the path of the signals described in Paragraph 5?

A. scalp→cap→computer→wheelchair

B. cap→computer→scalp→wheelchair

C. scalp→computer→cap→wheelchair

D. computer→cap→scalp→wheelchair

35．Which of the following would be the best title for the text?

A. BCI Could Mean More Freedom for the Disabled

B. Robotic Vehicles Could Help to Cure Brain Injuries

C. Switzerland, the BCI Research Center

D. New Findings About How the Human Brain Works

A great life doesn't happen by accident. It is the result of allocating(分配) your time, energy, thoughts, and hard work towards what you want your life to be. Stop setting yourself up for stress and failure, and start setting up your life to support success and ease. It is the result of using what you get in a creative and thoughtful way, instead of just what comes next.36.______________

S—Simplify. A great life is the result of simplifying your life. People often misinterpret what simplify means. It's not a way to remove work from your life. 37.____________ In order to create a great life, you will have to make room for it in yours first.

E—Effort. A great life is the result of your best effort. Creating it requires that you make some adjustments. It may mean re-evaluating how you spend your time, or choosing to spend your money in a different way. Life will reward your best effort.

C—Create priorities（首要事情）. A great life is the result of creating priorities. It's easy to spend your days just responding to the next thing that gets your attention, instead of intentionally using the time, energy and money you have in a way that's important to you. 38._____________

R—Remove distractions (分心). A great life is the result of removing distractions. 39.______________ Removing distractions can be a difficult concept to many people, since they haven't really considered that there is another way to live. Find ways to free up your mental energy for things that are more important to you.

T—Thoughts. 40.____________ Your belief in the outcome will directly determine how successful you are. Motivated people have specific goals and look for ways to achieve them. Believing there is a solution to the same old problems you encounter year after year is vitally important to creating a life that you love.

A. A great life is the result of controlling your mind so that you accept and allow for the possibility that it actually can happen to you!

B. A great life is the result of having reserves—reserves of things, time, space, energy and money.

C. Focus on removing the obstacles that get in the way of you making sure you are honoring your priorities.　

D. Today, right now, is the right day to start to take a step in the direction of your heart’s desires.

E. When you focus on simplifying your life, you free up energy and time for the work that you enjoy and the purpose for which you are here.

F. Now please use “secrets” to fit your own needs and style, and start creating your own great life today.

G. Up to 75% of your mental energy can be tied up in things that stop you concentrating.