单选题 I was dirty, smelly, hungry and somewhere beneath all that, suntanned. It was the end of an Inter-Rail holiday. My body couldn't take any more punishment. My mind couldn't deal with any more foreign timetables, currencies or languages.
" Never again, "I said, as I stepped onto home ground. I said exactly the same thing the following year. And the next. All I had to do was buy one train ticket and because I was under twentyfive years old, I could spend a whole month going anywhere I wanted in Europe. Ordinary beds are never the same once you've learnt to sleep in the corridor of a train, the thythm rocking you into a deep sleep.
Carrying all your possessions on your back in a rucksack makes you have a very basic approach to travel, and encourages incredible wastefulness that can lead to buming socks that have become too anti-social, and getting rid of books when finished. On the other hand, this way of looking at life is entirely in the spirit of Inter-Rail, for common sense and reasoning can be thrown out of the window along with the paperback book and the socks. All it takes to achieve this carefree attitude is one of those tickets in your hand.
Any system that enables young people to travel through countries at a rate of more than once a day must be pretty special. On that first trip, my friends and I were at first unaware of the possibilities of this type of train ticket, thinking it was just an inexpensive way of getting to and from our chosen camp site in southern France. But the idea of non-stop travel proved too tempting, for there was always just one more country over the border, always that little bit further to go. And what did the extra miles cost us? Nothing.
We were not completely uninterested in culture. But this was a first holiday without parents, as it was for most other Inter-Railers, and in organizing our own timetable we left out everything except the most immediately available sights. This was the chance to escape the guided tour, an opportunity to do something different. I took great pride in the fact that, in many places, all I could be bothered to see was the view from the station. We were just there to get by, and to have a good time doing so. In this we were no different from most of the other Inter-Railers with whom we shared corridor floors, food and water, money and music.
The excitement of travel comes from the sudden reality of somewhere that was previously just a name. It is as if the city in which you arrive never actually existed until the train pulls in at the station and you are able to see it with your own tired eyes for the first time.

单选题 At the end of his first trip, the writer said "Never again" because ______.
A. he felt ill B. he disliked trains
C. he was tired from the journey D. he had lost money
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】[解析] 根据第一段的描写,作者旅途归来风尘仆仆,饥肠辘辘,饱经日晒。作者觉得这是元以复加的体罚。所以第二段开始说”再也不要了“。答案为C项。
单选题 What does the writer mean by" this way of looking at life"in Paragraph 3?
A. Worrying about your clothes. B. Throwing unwanted things away.
C. Behaving in an anti-social way. D. Looking after your possessions.
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】[解析] 第三段作者谈论了另外一种旅行的方式,采用了夸张的手法说,常识、理性与书本、袜子都被抛出车窗外。需要携带的只有手中的车票。故B项表述与文意符合。
单选题 Why did the writer originally buy an Inter-Rail ticket?
A. To get to one place cheaply. B. To meet other young people.
C. To see a lot of famous places. D. To go on a tour of Europe.
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】[解析] 根据第四段内容可知,作者和他的朋友们起初并没有意识到这种车票的多种用途,而只是想尽量少花钱达到法国南部的目的地。所以A项正确。
单选题 What the writer liked about traveling without his parents was that ______.
A. he could see more interesting places B. he could spend more time sightseeing
C. he could stay away from home longer D. he could make his own decisions
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】[解析] 根据第四段内容可知,这是第一次没有父母陪同的旅游,可以自由地按排时间。
单选题 What does"it"in Line 3. Paragraph 6, refer to?
A. A name. B. The city. C. The train. D. The station.
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】[解析] 该代词所在的句子是说,将要达到的城市似乎根本不存在,除非到了触目可及的时候。代词it指the city。