Tips for Cycle Trips

Cycling has many advantages as a form of travel, as it is the fastest way to travel by human power, and slow enough to allow the type of local involvement that is impossible with powered travel．Cycle travel is a cheap form of transportation．

Distance

On level terrain（地形）,without a headwind, a cyclist of average fitness on a touring bike can comfortably cover 60-120km a day．Distances of up to 250km a day are possible, but anything much beyond 120km will require considerable physical tension and not allow many stops to enjoy the places you visit．For many,80-100km a day will be the most suitable distance to aim for, as it will give a sense of achievement and also leave plenty of time for meals and activities．

Geography

The gradient（坡度）of the trip will reduce your range．A basic rule is that for every 100 metres of altitude you climb, you should add an extra 15 minutes to your journey time．In hilly or mountainous areas, the easiest routes for cycling are downstream along major rivers, as overall they will be downhill．A long, roundabout route along a river will usually be easier than a short, direct route over a hill or mountain pass．However, it is worth bearing in mind that the most scenic routes often come from hilly terrain．

Eat

Food choice depends largely on where you are, so see the respective sections for more information about foods. As you will be working hard, it's important to get enough energy in your food. On long trips away from major towns-there may be little quality food available, so be prepared to live on candy bars, prepared meat products and the like if the need arises.

Sleep

While you can take a tent with you, many hotels and especially campsites can accommodate cyclists. However, there are also some hotels that may be less used to accommodating cyclists. If you are exploring an unfamiliar word, asking about the accommodation spares you the search for a new place to stay after a long exhausting day of travel.

21．Which of the following distance does the author suggest to ordinary cyclists a day?

A．50km.        B．90km.       C．130km.        D．250km.

22．Form the passage, we can learn that_____________.

A．high quality food is easy to get on long trips

B．hotels seldom provide accommodation for cyclists

C．cycling over a mountain is challenging but worthy

D．it takes cyclists 15 minutes to climb 100m of altitude

23．We can probably read this passage in___________.

A．a geography book          B．a research report

C．a science fiction            D．a travel magazine

The spread of Western eating habits around the world is bad for human health and the environment. These findings come from a new report in the journal Nature.

David Tillman, a professor of ecology at the University of Minnesota, America, examined information from 100 countries to identify what people ate and how diet affected health. He noted a movement beginning in the 1960s. He found that as nations industrialized, population increased and earnings rose, more people began to adopt what has been called the Western diet.

The Western diet is high in sugar, fat, oil and meat. By eating these foods, people began to get fatter and sicker. David Tillman says overweight people are at greater risk for non-infectious diseases like diabetes(糖尿病) and heart disease.

Unfortunately when people become industrialized, if they adopt this Western diet, they are going to have these health problems, especially in developing countries in Asia. China is an example where the number of diabetes cases has been jumping from less than one percent to 10 percent of the population as they began to industrialized over a 20-year period. And that is happening all across the world, in Nigeria and so on.

And , a diet bad for  human beings, is also bad for the environment. As the world’s population grows, more forests and tropical areas will become farmland for crops or grasslands for cattle. We are likely to have more greenhouse gas in the future from agriculture than that coming out of all forms of transportation right now.

Mr. Tillman calls the link between diet, the environment and human health, “a dilemma”, a problem offering a difficult choice. He says one possible solution is leaving the Western diet behind.

24. David Tillman believes that ________.

A.diet, the environment and human health are closely connected

B.the Western diet is the only choice as the nation industrializes

C.people in tropical areas are more likely to have heart disease

D.traditional diets are more balanced than the Western diet

25. According to the passage, more greenhouse gas might be given off in the future from_____.

A.transportation          B.developing countries

C.agriculture             D.developed countries

26.We can infer from the passage that ______.

A.Nigeria has the largest munber of diabetes cases

B.overweight people are at higher risk of infectious diseases

C.the examined information comes from developing countries

D.industrialization contributes to the spread of the Western diet

27.The main purpose of the passage is to _______.

A.call on us to protect the environment 

B.warn us of the danger of the Western diet

C.remind us of the importance of health

D.advise us to have a balanced diet

Time Travel

If you could travel in time, where would you go? Perhaps you would watch an original performance of a Shakespeare’s play in Elizabethan England? What about hanging out with Laozi in the Spring and Autumn Period? Or maybe you’d voyage far ahead of the present day to see what the future holds. The possibility of time travel is indeed appealing. Stories exploring the subject have been around for hundreds of years. Perhaps the best known example is science fiction novel The Time Machine, which was written by H.G. Wells and published in 1895 for the first time. It was adapted into at least two feature films of the same name, as well as two television versions, and a large number of comic book adaptations. It is generally credited with the popularization of the concept of time travel using a vehicle that allows an operator to travel purposefully and selectively. The term “time machine”, coined by Wells, is now universally used to refer to a vehicle transporting people into the far future.

But could time travel actually be possible? Some scientists say yes, in theory. They propose using cracks in time and space called “wormholes”, which could be used as shortcuts to other periods．Einstein's theory of relativity allows time travel in extreme circumstances．And British physicist Stephen Hawking says you could travel into the future with a really fast spaceship—going at nearly the speed of light．Though building such a spaceship would of course be no simple task．

Even if you could travel into the past, there is something called the “grandfather paradox”．It asks what would happen if a time traveler were to go back in time and have his own grandfather killed for some reason, and therefore prevent himself from being born．If the time traveler wasn't born, how would he travel back in time？

And would you really like to visit the future？In H．G．Wells' book, the main character travels into distant time where he arrives at a beach and is attacked by giant crabs．He then voyages 30 million years into the future where the only living thing is a black object with tentacles（触角）．

If that's what's in store, maybe we are better just living in the present day after all．

28．The novel The Time Machine mentioned in Paragraph 2 aims to show___________．

A．People's interest in time travel      　B．the special feature of the book

C．the long history of time travel　      D．the contribution of H．G．Wells

29．Einstein's and Hawking's theories_________．

A．have similarities in many ways

B．push the invention of the first spaceship

C．have proved wrong by some time travelers

D．suggest the possibility to invent the time machine

30．In Paragraph 4,“grandfather paradox” probably refers to the idea that__________．

A．the traveler is prevented from meeting his grandfather

B．the traveler goes back in time to seek for his grandfather

C．the grandfather's death makes the traveler's birth impossible

D．The reunion of the traveler and his grandfather brings happiness

31．According to the passage, what is probably the author's attitude towards time travel？

A．Unclear．      B．Skeptical．     C．Supportive．    D．Unconcerned．

Speed-reading is a necessary skill in the Internet age．We skim over articles, e-mails and WeChat to try to grasp key words and the essential meaning of a certain text．Surrounded with information from our electronic devices, it would be impossible to cope if we read word by word, line by line．But a new trend calls on people to unplug and enjoy reading slowly, listing benefits beyond the intelligent stimulation．

A recent story from The Wall Street Journal reported on a book club in Wellington, New Zealand, where members meet in a cafe and turn off their smartphones．They sink into cozy chairs and read in silence for an hour．Unlike traditional book clubs, the point of the slow reading club isn't exchanging ideas about a certain book, but to get away from electronic devices and read in a quiet, relaxed environment． According to the Journal, the Wellington book club is just one example of a movement started by book lovers who miss the old-fashioned way of reading before the Internet and smartphones．

Slow readers, such as The Atlantic's Maura Kelly, say a regular reading habit sharpens the

mind, improves concentration, reduces stress levels and deepens the ability to sympathize． Another study published last year in Science showed that reading novels helps

people understand other's mental states and beliefs, a fundamental skill in building relationships．

Yet technology has made us less attentive readers． Screens have changed our reading patterns from the straight and information．left-to-right sequence to a wild skimming and skipping pattern as we hunt for important words and information. Reading text punctuated with links leads to weaker comprehension than reading plain text. The Internet may have made us stupider, says Patrick Kingsley from The Guardian． Because of the Internet, he says, we have become very good at collecting a wide range of interesting news, but we are also gradually forgetting how to sit back, reflect, and relate all these facts to each other．

Slow reading means a return to an uninterrupted, straight pattern, in a quiet environment free of distractions． Aim for 30 minutes a day, advises Kelly from The Atlantic． “You can squeeze in that half hour pretty easily if only during your free moments, you pick up a meaningful work of literature,” Kelly said． “Reach for your e-reader, if you like． Kindles make books like War and Peace less heavy, not less substantive, and also ensure you'll never lose your place．”

32．The book club in Wellington mentioned in Paragraph 2 shows____________．

A．the new trend of slow reading 　 　 B．the decline of electronic devices

C．the importance of exchanging ideas   D．the increasing number of club readers

33．According to Patrick Kingsley, people are stupider partly because of_____________．

A．a non-stop reading pattern        B．the straight, left-to-right screen

C．a wide range of interesting news   D．the lack of reflection

34．According to the passage, slow reading___________．

A．contributes to understanding among people

B．promotes the current technology advances

C．provides people with a quiet environment

D．cures the memory loss of elderly people

35．What's the best title for the passage?

A．Benefit of Reading Clubs．         B．Return of Slow Reading．

C．Reading of the Internet Age．       D．Influence of Speed Reading．

   Building Trust in a Relationship Again

Trust is a learned behavior that we gain from past experiences.    36    That is a risk. But you can’t be successful when there’s a lack of trust in a relationship that results from an action where the wrongdoer takes no responsibility to fix the mistake.

Unfortunately, we’ve all been victims of betrayal. Whether we’ve been suffer from, lied to , misled, or cheated on, there are different levels of losing trust. Sometimes people simply can’t trust anymore.    37    It’s understandable, but if you’re willing to build trust in a relationship again, we have some steps you can take to get you there.

    38    Having confidence in yourself will help you make better choices because you can see what the best outcome would be for your well-being.

    39    If you’ve been betrayed, you are the victim of your circumstance. But there’s a difference between being a victim and living with a “victim mentality”. At some point in all of our lives, we’ll have our trust tested or violated.

You didn’t lose “everything”. Once trust is lost, what is left? Instead of looking at the situation from this hopeless angle, look at everything you still have and be thankful for all of the good in your life.    40    Instead, it’s a healthy way to work through the experience to allow room for positive growth and forgiveness.

A. Learn to really trust yourself.

B. It is putting confidence in someone.

C. Stop regarding yourself as the victim.

D. Remember that you can expect the best in return.

E. They’ve been too badly hurt and they can’t bear to let it happen again.

F. This knowledge carries over in their attitude toward their future relationships.

G. Seeing the positive side of things doesn’t mean you’re ignoring what happened.