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She is always diplomatic when she deals with naughty students. firm tactful outspoken rude
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He was resolute in his attempt to climb up to the top of the mountain. disgusted determined tried disappointed
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That student is discourteous; he grumbles no matter how one tries to please him. giggles scolds complains sneers
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The chemist analyzed that there was no trace of poison in the coffee. indication taste color smell
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This kind of animals are on the verge of extinction, because so many are being killed for their fur. drying up dying out being exported being transplanted
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Only his relatives knew he had a fatal illness. strange deadly serious unknown
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Let’s postulate that she is a lawyer,then what’s her opinion about it? challenged assumed deducted decreed
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You should cultivate the habit of reading carefully. invent begin develop initiate
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The index is the government’s chief gauge of future economic activity. method measure way manner
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She is slender,with delicate wrists and ankles. sick weak slim pale
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Tom searched his pockets looking for the keys. went on was after went through cleared up
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He is in a rather difficult situation at present. location position preparation station
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This custom is still prevailing among members of the older generation. well-known widespread used celebrated
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During the SARS period,it is especially important to ventilate the room. dust clean remove air
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The moon was obscured by thick clouds. held prevented darkened blackened
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The First Settlement in North America
It is very difficult to say that when colonization began.The first hundred years after Christopher Columbus’s journey of discovery in 1492 did not produce any settlement on the North American continent but rather some Spanish trading posts further south, a great interest in gold and adventure, and some colorful crimes in which the English had their part.John Cabot, originally from Genoa but a citizen of Venice, was established as a trader in Bristol, England, when he made a journey in 1497.But his ship, the Matthew, with its crew of eighteen, did no more than see an island (probably off the New England coast) and return home.He and his son made further voyages across the north Atlantic, which enabled the English Crown to claim a “legal“ title to North America.But for a long time afterwards the Europeans’ interest in America was mainly confined to the Spanish activities further south.
The first beginning of permanent settlement in North America was nearly a hundred years after Columbus’s first voyage.The Englishman Sir Walter Raleigh claimed the whole of North America for England, calling it Virginia.In 1585 he sent a small group of people who landed in Roanoke Island, but they stayed only for a year and then went back to England with another expedition, led by Drake, in 1587.A second group who landed in 1587 had all disappeared when a further expedition arrived in 1590.
The first permanent settlement in North America was in 1607.English capitalists founded two Virginia companies, a southern one based in London and a northern one based in Bristol.It was decided to give the name New England to the northern area.The first settlers in Virginia were little more than wage slaves to the company.All were men and the experiment was not very successful.Many died.Those who survived lived in miserable conditions.By 1619 the colony had only a thousand people.
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A.those unexpected, unknown and inaccessible places.
B.a travel writer for a famous magazine tells us a little about her life and profession
C.never been anywhere
D.a journalist on a local paper
E.been to London the remotest place for me at that time
F.tells us some interesting tourist resorts all over the world
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Travelling Is My Life
1.I am very fortunate.I am now a much-travelled woman, but until I was 20 I had never been anywhere more remote than Londan.And coming from a country village in the far south I was struck by the architectural beauty of the capital.I understood immediately why foreign tourists descend on it in their thousands.
2.The first time I traveled abroad was when I went over to France on a cross Channel ferry.It was a school trip to Paris for a week,and I thought it was wonderful.The sights, the sounds,the smells,the language—they were all wonderful.I had never experienced anything like it, and the week had a profound effect on me. It gave me the travel bug!
3.As a young girl I was always shy of strangers.I certainly had no plans to travel a lot.I left school and trained as a journalist on a local paper, and somehow slowly began to concentrate on travel. I had a procession of jobs before I got this one with the magazine.Although I still write ar-
ticles on other subjects,my main occupation now is writing travel and tourism.
4.I can appreciate now why tourists go halfway across the world to visit a place.I was brought up in the vicinity of a major British tourist attraction, but never went there myself and couldn’t understand foreign visitors.You read about something halfway across the world and want to see it for yourself.I remember that was just why I went walking in the Himalayas and looked up at Everest, and why I went on a strange but wonderful cruise in the Antarctic.You can read about a place,but it is totally different to be there, to see, feel, smell and hear everything yourself.
5.Perhaps not surprisingly I have been to a lot of popular tourist resorts in Europe, Africa, the Far East and the West Indies,for example.But I like to try and find those unknown,inaccessible places—not only for myself, but also for people who want something different.Sometimes it’s frightening.I remember visiting a village on the side of a steep hill in Bolivia where the inhabitants stood motionless as I walked in and didn’t move until I walked out.
6.The career of the previous travel writer on the magazine I work for now came to an abrupt end when he quite simply disappeared somewhere in South America.He was on a special journey and had told someone at his hotel that he had found a native to ferry him up a river to some remote villages in the jungle.Nothing has been heard from him since then.One day I’d like to try and find out what happened to him.
A.The Tourist Mentality
B.Always Looking For the Unexpected
C.A Late Developer
D.The Road to Being A Travel Writer
E.A Sudden End to A Career
F.The First Taste of Travel
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US Blacks Hard-hit by Cancer
Death rates for cancer are falling for all Americans, but black Americans are still more likely to-die of cancer than whites, the American Cancer Society said Monday.
In a special report on cancer and blacks, the organization said blacks are usually diagnosed with cancer later than whites, and they are more likely to die of the disease.
This could be because of unequal access to medical care, because blacks are more likely to have other diseases like diabetes as well, and perhaps because of differences in the biology of the cancer itself, the report added.
“ In general, African Americans have less likelihood of surviving five years after diagnosis than whites for all cancer sites and all stages of diagnosis,“ the report said.
“In describing cancer statistics for African Americans, this report recognizes that socioeconomic disparities and unequal access to medical care may underlie many of the differences associated with race.“
The Cancer Society said blacks should be encouraged to get check-ups earlier, when cancer was more treatable, and it said more research is needed to see if biological differences play a role.“The new statistics emphasize the continuing importance of eliminating these social disparities through public policy and education efforts,“ the organization said in a statement.But it also noted a drop in cancer death rates.
“ Cancer death rates in both sexes for all sites combined have declined substantially among black Americans since 1992, as have incidence rates,“ said the report.
“Increased efforts to improve economic conditions in combination with education about the relationship of lifestyle choices to cancer could further reduce the burden of cancer among African Americans.“
About 36 million Americans describe themselves as black, representing about 12 percent of the population.
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A Ride in a Cable-car
A ride in a cable-car is one of the exciting and enjoyable experiences a child can have.In Switzerland, which is the home of the cable-car, it is used mostly to take tourists up the slope of a mountain, to a restaurant from which one can have a bird-eye view of the surrounding country, or to a top of a ski-run, from which, in winter, skiers glide down the snow covered the slope on skis.In Singapore, however, the cable-car takes one from the summit of a hill on the main island to a low hill on Sentosa, a resort island just off the southern coast.
The cable-car is really a carriage which hangs from a strong steel cable suspended in the air.It moves along the cable with other cars on pulleys, the wheels of which are turned by electric motors. The cars are painted in eye-catching colours and spaced at regular intervals. Each car can seat up six persons. After the passengers have entered a car, they are locked in from outside by an attendant, they have no control over the movement of the car.
Before long, the passengers get a breath-taking view through the glass windows of the modern city, the bustling harbour, and the several islands off the coast.The car is suspended so high in the air that slips on the sea look like small boats, and boats like toys.On a clear day, both the sky above and the sea below look beautifully blue.
In contrast to the fast-moving traffic on the ground, the cars in the air move in a leisurely manner, allowing passengers more than enough time to take in the scenery during the brief trip to the island of Sentosa.After a few hours on Sentosa, it will be time again to take a cable-car back to Mount Faber.The return journey is no less exciting than the outward trip.
