Four Books That Will Interest You to Travel the World

   There’s truly nothing like travel when it comes to gaining life experience. To get you in the adventuring mood, we asked Amazon Senior Editor Chiris Schlep to help us come up with a list of books that transport readers to another time and place. Below, see his list of four books that will interest you to travel the world.

SEATTLE: Where You’g Go, Bernadette? By Maria Sample

Maria Sample’s first novel is not exactly a love story to Seattle, but if you read it, you just might want to come here to see if people are really as self-involved as the characters in her book. What really shines through is the strange storytelling and the amusing incidents. Buy it on Amazon. price: $26.60.

ENGLAND: Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel

You can’t travel to Thomas Cromwell’s England without a time machine, but reading Hilary Mantel’s prize-winning novel is the next best thing. It will make you long to see the ancient buildings and green grass of the English countryside, much of which is still there. Buy it on Amazon. price$25.10.

NANTUCKET: Here’s to Us by Eli Hildebrand

Eli Hildebrand has built a writing career out of writing about her hometown island of Nantucket. Her latest is Here’s to Us, which, perhaps not surprisingly, is a great beach read. Buy it on Amazon. price: $30.80.

ITALY: Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter

This book by the popular author Jess Walters is a love story that begins on the Italian Coast in the early 60s and eventually concludes in contemporary Hollywood. As the settings shift from Italy to Edinburgh to Los Angeles, you will find yourself longing to go as well. Buy it on Amazon.price:$28.90.

21. What’s the feature of the Where You’d Go, Bernadette?

A. Its content about love       B. Its plot and laughs

C. Its characters              D. Its low price

22. Which book has been made into a film according to the next?

A. Beautiful Ruins             B. Wolf Hall

C. Here’s to Us                D. Where You’d Go, Bernadette

23. What is the common point about the four books?

A. Its price            B. Its author        C. Its content     D. Its sales place

   Are you so sure your mistakes are just mistakes? Or could they be building blocks to a success beyond any you imagined?

   When my friend Dorothy goes home to visit her family each Thanksgiving, her mother serves the traditional “mistake salad”. The dish was born many years ago. Dorothy explains, when mother was using a cookbook to make a salad. In the process, mother accidentally included half the salad ingredients(原料)from a recipe(食谱)on the left side of the open cookbook, and half the ingredients from a different salad recipe on the opposite page. Everyone enjoyed the salad so much that she continue to serve it every year. So it was really not a mistake at all.

   Then there was the fellow named Alfred, who invented dynamite(炸药). When Alfred’s brother died, the city newspaper confused the two and printed an abituary(讣告)saying that the dead’s most notable act was the creation of bombs. Surprised to consider that his name would forever be connected with destruction, Alfred sought to leave a more positive fame to humanity. So he set a prize for people who contributed to world peace. Now the Nobel Prize, established by Alfred Nobel, is the most respected award in the world.

   Everything is part of something bigger, and mistakes are no exception. In his brilliant book Illusions, Richard Bach explains that every problem comes to you with a gift. If you focus only on what went wrong, you miss the gift. If you are willing to look deeper and ask for the bright, the problem will disappear. You are left only with the learning, and you go forward on your path.

24. What does the underlined word “it” in the second paragraph refer to?

   A. the cookbook

   B. the “mistake salad”

   C. the recipe

D. the ingredient

25. Why did Alfred Nobel set an award for those who made great contributions to the world peace?

   A. Because his brother was dead in an explosion

   B. Because he wanted people to connect him with peace

   C. Because he wanted to make the world a better place

   D. Because he wanted to show off his fortune

26. What should we do when we make a mistake according to the passage?

   A. We should correct the mistake as soon as possible

   B. We should find out what causes the mistake and fix it timely

   C. We should look deeper and find something better from it

   D. We should find the solutions from the book called Illusions

27. Who will most probably like to read this passage?

   A. A cook who is good at making salad

   B. A person who wants to have a reputation

   C. A student who is afraid of making mistakes

   D. A writer who is a good friend of Richard Bach

   Mariah, 35, was a single mother. She had four kids under the age 9, and was hardly keeping up payments on her small two-bedroom home by working extra weekend hours as a waitress. There were times when she lay in bed and cried. She didn’t know how she could pay that bill. But she knew she must find a way to change her life.

   She knew how hard it was to mop(拖)the floor. “I was tired of bending down, putting my hands in dirty water and wringing (拧)out a mop,” Mariah says. “So, I got a better way.” How about a “self-wringing” mop? She designed a special tool. You could twist in two directions and still keep your hands clean and dry.

   She set out to sell her mops, but the mops didn’t sell well at the market. Then Mariah met with the media. But would people buy a mop by reading an advertisement? They gave it a try, and it failed. Mariah was sure it would sell well if they let her do the on-camera show. “Get me on that stage, and I will sell this mop because it’s a great thing,” said Mariah. So QVC let her have a try. “I got on the stage and the phones went crazy. We sold every mop in minutes.”

   Today Mariah is the president of Ingenious designs, a multimillion-dollar company, and one of the stars of HSN, the Home Shopping Network. Talking about hr household inventions is as natural for her it is for parents to talk about their child.

Today one of her favorite products is Huggable Hangers(衣架). The thin, space-saving tool are the most successful goods ever sold on HSN, with 100 million hanging out in closets across the country.

28. According to Paragraph 1, Mariah _______.

   A. had no way to take care of her children

   B. lived a hard life but she didn’t give up

   C. was depressed for she couldn’t pay the bill

   D. did a part-time job every day to support her family

29. What was the secret of Mariah’s success?

   A. She worked hard enough

   B. She sold the mops herself

   C. She had a lot of friends

   D. She knew the needs of the market

30. From the passage we know that HSN__________.

   A. is a famous TV station

   B. is run by Mariah

   C. sells some home-use goods

   D. makes people show goods on the stages

31. It can be inferred from the passage that _______.

   A. Mariah loves her career very much

   B. Huggable Hangers is Mariah’s best invention

   C. one cannot succeed without the help of others

   D. Mariah is very popular in her country

A total of 34 Chinese cities with a combined population of nearly 300 million took park in a pet adoption day at the weekend, promoting the adoption of rescued stray (流浪的)animals.

The live broadcast of China Pet Adoption Day events in Shanghai, Beijing, Chengdu, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Nanjin, Qingdao, Tianjin and Xi’an was watched by 562,000 people.

From Urumqi in the far northwest to Fuzhou on the southeast coast, people gathered to raise awareness of animal care and to help stray find loving homes.

Sun Quanhui, manager and senior adviser of World Animal Protection, said, “Planet Earth is not only home to humanity but also a home that we share with other animals. It is mankind’s duty and important to treat animals kindly in a civilized society.”

As China’s population becomes richer, pet ownership has increased rapidly, but problems, such as pet abandonment and cruelty, are also growing.

In recent years, more and more adoption events have taken place all over the country, which indicates an awakening of the Chinese public consciousness to animal protection.

“Adopting a pet instead of buying one has been gaining a wider acceptance.”

American Edward Dumpe, who has been working on designs for stray animal shelters in Beijing, said, “It surely sounds super sweet and I have no doubt that it must have been the result of great efforts.”

“I think it is a good step in the right direction, and should be taken as evidence that Chinese society is becoming more aware of stray animals who should be taken care of and treated with respect.”

In real life, “Rabbit-eating Carrot” is fashion designer who has created clothes embroidered(刺绣)with slogans(口号)such has “Please adopt a pet” and images of her cats, with all earnings going to the Qiming Small Animal Protection Center in Sichuan Province.

“I didn’t know that there were events like this in China. This is fantastic. Impressive.” Said George Philippe, a french living in Beijing and father of two, at an event in the capital.

32. What is the aim of live broadcast of China Pet Adoption Day event?

   A. To improve the awareness of animal adoption

   B. To attract more attention to the Event

   C. To encourage more and more people to take part in the live broadcast.

   D. To introduce some useful western practice of animal adoption

33. What will be a problem with the increase of pet ownership?

   A. More pets are in great need in China

   B. There is not enough related service for pets and their owners

   C. Some pets need to be given large space to enjoy themselves

   D. Some people throw their old or disabled pets away

34. From the story of “Rabbit-eating Carrot”, which word can be used to describe her?

   A. Smart and cute

   B. Creative and independent

   C. Fashionable and kind-hearted

   D. Wealthy and healthy

35. What is the best title for the passage?

   A. The animal right in China

   B. No trading, no killing

   C. How to treat your pets with hearts

   D. Live broadcast promotes animal adoptions

   With modern technology, much written communication tends to focus on the keyboard, but handwriting is still a necessary and important skill.   36   Here are some tips for you to improve your handwriting.

   Examine Your Handwriting

    ___ 37   Look through your writing to decide what makes it difficult to read or what makes it unattractive. Perhaps you write your letters too small. Check on spacing of letters and words, and proper formation of letters. If your letters are small, put more effort into writing larger letters. If certain letters trip you up, practice those letters separately and within words.

   Write Correctly

   Positioning and technique play a role in how your handwriting looks. Hold the pen between your thumb and first two fingers so that it rests against your fingers. Hold it firmly enough to control the tip but not so hard that it hurts your fingers. Lighter pressure on the paper helps you create smooth lines and focus on your letter formation.   38

   ___39 

   Letters are formed from several basic strokes(笔划). Practice those strokes separately to get your hand used to forming them. Strokes found in letters include vertical lines, horizontal lines, and circles. Build on those to practice specific letters.

   Write for a Purpose

   Teach young children handwriting in meaningful contexts. Use that same idea by picking up a pen to write lists and notes by hand instead of typing. Keep a journal daily with slow, correct strokes.   40   These true and sincere writing opportunities make the practice meaningful.

A. Build on Basics.

B. Practice makes perfect

C. Focus on improving your correctness instead of speed

D. Writing at a slower speed also helps you focus on letter formation

E. Put a handwritten letter in the mail to surprise a friend or a relative

F. Handwriting requires your brain, eyes and hands to work together to form letters.

G. Before you can improve your handwriting, you need to know where you’re falling apart.