Planning a visit to the UK? Here we help with ways to cut your costs.

AVOID BIG EVENTS  Big sporting events, concerts and exhibitions can increase the cost of accommodation and make it harder to find a room. A standard double room at the Thistle Brighton on the final Friday of the Brighton Comedy Festival (19 Oct.) cost £169.15 at Booking.com. A week later, the same room cost £118.15.

If you can be flexible and want to know dates to avoid—or you’re looking for a big event to pass your time—check out sites such as Whatsonwhen.com, which allow you to search for events in the UK by city, date and category.

STAYAWAY FROM THE STATION If traveling to your destination by train, you may want to find a good base close to the station, but you could end up paying more for the sake of convenience at the start of your holiday.

Don’t be too choosy about the part of town you stay in. Booking two months in advance, the cheapest room at Travelodge’s Central Euston hotel in London for Saturday 22 September was £95.95. A room just a tube journey away at its Covent Garden hotel was £75.75. And at Farringdon, a double room cost just £62.95.

LOOK AFTER YOURSELF Really central hotels in cities such as London, Edinburgh and Cardiff can cost a fortune, especially at weekends and during big events. As an alternative consider checking into a self-catering flat with its own kitchen. Often these flats are hidden away on the top floors of city centre buildings. A great example is the historic O’Neill Flat on Edinburgh’s Royal Mile, available for £420 for five days in late September, with room for four adults.

GET ON A BIKE London’s ‘Boris bikes’ have attracted the most attention, but other cities also have similar programmes that let you rent a bicycle and explore at your own pace, saving you on public transport or car parking costs.

Among the smaller cities with their own programmes are Newcastle (casual members pay around £1.50 for two hours) and Cardiff (free for up to 30 minutes, or £5 per day). (358 words)

1.The Brighton Comedy Festival is mentioned mainly to show big events may __________.

A．help travelers pass time

B．attract lots of travelers to the UK

C．allow travelers to make flexible plans

D．cause travelers to pay more for accommodation

2.“Farringdon” in Paragraph 5 is most probably __________.

A．a hotel away from the train station          B．the tube line to Covent Garden

C．an ideal holiday destination                D．the name of a travel agency

3.The passage shows that the O’Neill Flat __________.

A．lies on the ground floor

B．is located in central London

C．provides cooking facilities for tourists

D．costs over £100 on average per day in late September

4.Cardiff’s program allows a free bike for a maximum period of __________.

A．half an hour                           B．one hour

C．one hour and a half                      D．two hours

5.The main purpose of the passage is __________.

A．to tell visitors how to book in advance

B．to supply visitors with hotel information

C．to show visitors the importance of self-help

D．to offer visitors some money-saving tips

短文填词(共10小题，每小题1分，满分10分)  阅读下面短文，根据以下提示：1)汉语提示，2)首字母提示，3)语境提示，在每个空格内填人一个适当的英语单词，并将该词完整地写在右边相对应的横线上。所填单词要求意义准确，拼写正确。

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen! I’m Sue                  

Allow me, first of all, on b        of my teachers and classmates1.      

to give you a warm welcome to all of you c         from London. 2.     

It really gives us a great           （快乐）to have you in our school3.       

for a           （短暂的）visit. I believe that you will be glad to 4.     

see how well we Chinese students are          along with our English5.        

learning. We think it a bridge to the        （友谊）between us and6.    

the people throughout the o        world. But, you know, there are still7.      

some students, most of         are boys of science, learning English with8.      

much trouble. So, we hope you would give us some a         on the9.     

language sudy. Finally, let me wish you a pleasant        （停留）here. 10.         

Usually, when your teacher asks a question, there is only one correct answer．But there is one question that has millions of current answers．That question is “What’s your name?” Everyone gives a different answer, but everyone is correct．

       Have you ever wondered about people’s names? Where do they come from? What do they mean?

       People’s first names, or given names, are chosen by their parents．Sometimes the name of a grandparent or other member of the family is used．Some parents choose the name of a well-known person．A boy could be named George Washington Smith; a girl could be named Helen Keller Jones．

       Some people give their children names that mean good things．Clara means “bright”; Beatrice means “one who gives happiness”; Donald means “world ruler”; Leonard means “as brave as a lion”．

       The earliest last names, or surnames, were taken from place names．A family with the name Brook or Brooks probably lived near a brook；someone who was called Longstreet probably lived on a long, paved road．The Greenwood family lived in or near a leafy forest．

       Other early surnames came from people’s occupations．The most common occupational name is Smith, which means a person who makes things with iron or other metals．In the past, smiths were very important workers in every town and village．Some other occupational names are: Carter — a person who owned or drove a cart; Potter — a person who made pots and pans．

       The ancestors of the Baker family probably baked bread for their neighbors in their native village．The Carpenter’s great-great-great-grandfather probably built houses and furniture．

       Sometimes people were known for the color of their hair or skin, or their size, or their special abilities．When there were two men who were named John in the same village, the John with the gray hair probably became John Gray．Or the John was very tall could call himself John Tallman．John Fish was probably an excellent swimmer and John Lightfoot was probably a fast runner or a good dancer．

       Some family names were made by adding something to the father’s name．English-speaking people added–s or–son．The Johnsons are descendants of John; the Roberts family’s ancestor was Robert．Irish and Scottish people added Mac or Mc or O．Perhaps all of the MacDonnells and the McDonnells and the O’Donnells are descendants of the same Donnell．

Which of the following aspects do the surnames in the passage NOT cover?

       A．Places where people lived．                    B．People’s characters．

       C．Talents that people possessed．                   D．People’s occupations．

According to the passage, the ancestors of the Potter family most probably ________．

       A．owned or drove a cart                          B．made things with metals

       C．made kitchen tools or containers                D．built houses and furniture

Suppose an English couple whose ancestors lived near a leafy forest wanted their new-born son to become a world leader, the baby might be named ________．

A．Beatrice Smith       B．Leonard Carter        C．George Longstreet   D．Donald Greenwood

The underlined word “descendants” in the last paragraph means a person’s ________．

       A．later generations                                 B．friends and relatives

       C．colleagues and partners                            D．later sponsors

单词拼写。(每题0.5分，共5分)

1.      Sometimes I wonder how _________（相关的） chemistry is to these students.

2.      Please raise your hand if you are in f________ of the new plan.

3.      It was such a __________( 特权 ) to have spend a day with Tombe’s family.

4.      I thought my explanation would calm him down, but it turned out to have the o_______ effect.

5.      He p________ a beautiful birthday gift for his girlfriend in Xinhua Shopping Center last month.

6.      The sales team is working hard to achieve the _________( 目标 ) of selling 5,000 books this month.

7.      He told us that he wouldn’t have done the job well without the __________ ( 鼓励 ) of his wife.

8.      It wasn’t wise to r_________ from your job during such a crisis.

9.      What a sweet victory to be __________ ( 羡慕 ) by those women!

10.  That the famous magazine Reader’s Digest has d_______ it will close down comes as a shock to all of us.

单词拼写（共10小题；每小题1分，满分10分）
【小题1】In Chinese culture, dragons are g_____________(慷慨豁达的) and wise, though they can be unpredictable.
【小题2】Look through newspapers every day and you can keep up with the r____________(迅速) developing situation.
【小题3】I’m writing in r____________(回应) to your advertisement for an electrician.
【小题4】There are many ______________ (神秘的)stories about the Egyptian pyramids.
【小题5】The scientist contributed a lot to the world and built up his r_____________(声望).
【小题6】His vivid and amusing accounts of life on the Mississippi e______________(确立) himself as a giant in American literature.
【小题7】He made several a_____________(尝试) but all of them were in vain.
【小题8】The o__________(起源) of Carnival is that in Europe people enjoyed eating, drinking and dressing up before forty days without meat.
【小题9】She has made great contributions to the world, c___________(创造) much wealth.
【小题10】O_____________ (显而易见), Tom didn’t catch what I said, so he couldn’t know how to answer my question.