Pack your bags. Hold the mail. It's time to turn your dream vacation into a real trip. ''I haven't seen a buyer's market like this in 25 years," says travel expert Peter Greenberg. "Everything is on sale. Even the high end of the market is quietly offering add-ons : a free night here, a spa(水疗) pass there. " In a bad economy, this comes as good news for many. Whether you want to fly across the country or drive across the state line, here are places that offer plenty to do. For anyone who can't bear to sit still, big cities are the best choice for weekend trips. Zero in on cities that attract business travelers during the week. The big-name hotels empty out on the weekends and will give tourists a better deal. Chicago, Illinois: One of America's best-looking city centers, especially in the spring and summer. Spend a sunny day in Millennium Park, or consider an evening at Grant Achatz' s Alinea restaurant in Lincoln Park. Las Vegas, Nevada: It's never been so easy to score a deal on the Strip. Five-star hotels are marked down to three-star prices. Book a luxury suite(豪华套房) for $89 a night at www, trumplasvegashotel. com. San Francisco, California: It' s rare for a major city to have such an extraordinary physical setting—the views of the bay (海湾) from the hills and the Ferry Building Marketplace are striking. It's also a walkable city with great museums. You can visit the new California Academy of Sciences building in Golden Gate Park. Go early! Portland, Oregon: The International Rose Test Garden is the one place one never tires of visiting. It's green, friendly, and laid-back. There are over 10,000 rosebushes, and because it's a test garden, the public has never seen many of these 550 varieties. The Rose Festival is one of the biggest celebrations in the city and runs May 22 to June 14.

Where does this conversation take place?

One afternoon I was sitting at my favorite table in a restaurant, waiting for the food I had ordered. Suddenly I【C1】______ that a man sitting at a table near the window kept glancing in my direction【C2】______ he knew me. The man had a newspaper【C3】______ in front of him, which he was【C4】______ to read, but I could【C5】______ that he was keeping an eye on me. When the waiter brought my【C6】______ , the man was clearly puzzled (困惑) by the【C7】______ way in which the waiter and I【C8】______ each other. He seemed even more puzzled as【C9】______ went on and it became【C10】______ that all the waiters in the restaurant knew me. Finally he got up and went into the【C11】______ . When he came out, he paid his bill and【C12】______ without another glance in my direction. I called the owner of the restaurant and asked what the man had【C13】______"Well," he said, "that man was a detective(侦探). He【C14】______ you here because he thought you were the man he【C15】______ . " "What?" I said, showing my【C16】______ . The owner continued, "He came into the kitchen and showed me a photo of the wanted man. I【C17】______ say he looked very much like you! Of course, since we know you, we told him that he had made a【C18】______ . " "Well, it' s really【C19】______ I came to a restaurant where I' m known," I said. "【C20】______ , I might have been in trouble."

In July 1994 Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system, was struck by 21 pieces of a comet (彗星). When the fragments (碎片) landed in the southern part of the giant planet, the explosions were watched by scientists here on earth. But what if our own planet was hit by a comet?The year is 2094. It has been announced that a comet is heading towards the Earth. Most of it will miss our planet, but two fragments will probably hit the southern part of the Earth. The news has caused panic. On 17 July, a fragment four kilometres wide enters the Earth's atmosphere with a huge explosion. About half of the fragment is destroyed. But the major part survives and hits the South Atlantic at 200 times the speed of sound. The sea boils and an enormous wave is created and spreads. The wall of water rushes towards southern Africa at 800 kilometres an hour. Cities on the African coast are totally destroyed and millions of people are drowned. The wave moves into the Indian Ocean and heads towards Asia. Millions of people are already dead in the southern part of the Earth, but the north won' t escape for long. Tons of broken pieces are thrown into the atmosphere by the explosions. As the sun is hidden by clouds of dust, temperatures around the world fall to almost zero. Crops are ruined. Wars break out as countries fight for food. A year later civilization has collapsed. No more than 10 million people have survived. Could it really happen? In fact, it has already happened more than once in the history of the Earth. The dinosaurs(恐龙) were on the Earth for over 160 million years. Then 65 million years ago they suddenly disappeared. Many scientists believe that the Earth was hit by a space fragment. The dinosaurs couldn't survive in the cold climate that followed and they became extinct. Will we meet the same end?

阅读下面的对话，根据其内容写一篇有关Zoe面试的记叙文。要求：1．所写短文应与对话相关内容意义相符，涵盖其要点。2．用你自己的语言来表达，可以改写对话中的句子，但不可以照抄原句。注意：词数80词左右。Bob: Hi, Zoe!Zoe: Hi, Bob. Are you on your way to the library?Bob: Yes. You know, I' m planning to further my studies abroad, so I have to work hard. How did your interview go yesterday?Zoe: Not so well. I don't think I' m going to get the job.Bob: What happened?Zoe: First of all, I was late for the interview.Bob: Oh, that's too bad. I thought you went early.Zoe: Yes, I did! The bus ride took me an hour and a half. What's worse, when I got off, I just couldn't find the place. According to the address they gave me, it should be just there, and the place was so remote I couldn't get a taxi.Bob: What did you do?Zoe: I asked several people along the way, and walked for another 15 minutes until I finally saw the building.Bob: Thank goodness.Zoe: When I got to their office, they asked me to do a product design in half an hour.Bob: That' s crazy. Did you finish it in time?Zoe: No. Then a woman came and asked me some questions about why I want to work for their company, what salary I expect, etc. But I don' t think they are going to hire me.Bob: Not your fault.Zoe: Yeah. I know.

Jonny: Hey! I' m just practicing Tai Chi(太极). Would you like to join me?Peter: I know nothing about it. Is it difficult?Jonny: It seems easy, but you need a lot of practice. You just follow me like this.Peter: OK. Don't laugh【K1】______ me. I may look funny.Jonny: Bend your knees slightly and reach out your arms like tree branches, naturally and【K2】______ (soft). Try to keep your body straight. Move slowly, then be sure to keep your balance and don't let your body shake.Peter: I cannot control my body well. My legs become【K3】______ (pain).Jonny: Keep【K4】______ (hold) your position for a while. It helps develop your strength and flexibility. Raise your leg and let【K5】______ stay in the air for seconds.Peter: I feel my legs shaking. I cannot do this any longer.Jonny: Be patient! Tai Chi is【K6】______ (call) "shadow boxing" in English. It asks you to act like water: to be flexible as well【K7】______ strong. In real competition, a Tai Chi master borrows the strength of the competitor and uses this energy to fight back. The【K8】______ ( hard) you try to beat him, the more likely you will get hit. He controls you!Peter: Unbelievable! Oh. ..【K9】______ you don't mind, I'll stop and take a deep【K10】______ .

I was in my third year of teaching writing at Ralph High School in New York, when one of my students, 15-year-old Mikey, gave me a note from his mother. It explained his absence (缺席) from class the day before: "Dear Mr. McCort, Mikey's grandmother, who is eighty years of age, fell down the stairs from too much coffee and I kept Mikey at home to take care of her and his baby sister so I could go to my job. Please excuse Mikey and he'll do his best in the future. P. S. His grandmother is OK." I had seen Mikey writing the note at his desk. I said nothing. Most parental-excuse notes I received were penned by my students. If I were to deal with them, I'd be busy 24 hours a day. The writers of those notes didn't realize that honest excuse notes were usually dull: "Peter was late because the alarm clock didn't go off. " The students always said it was hard putting 200 words together on any subject, but when they produced excuse notes, they were excellent. So I decided to type out a dozen excuse notes and gave them to my classes. I said, "They're supposed to be written by parents, but actually they are not. True, Mikey?" The students looked at me nervously. "Now, this will be the first class to study the art of the excuse note-the first class, ever, to practice writing them." Everyone smiled as I went on, "Today I'd like you to write ' An Excuse Note from Adam to God' or ' An Excuse Note from Eve to God'. " Heads went down. Pens raced across paper. For the first time ever I saw students so immersed (专心的) in their writing, they had to be asked to go to lunch by their friends. The next day everyone had excuse notes. Heated discussions followed. But suddenly I saw the headmaster at the door. He entered the classroom and walked up and down, looking at papers, and then said, "I'd like you to see me in my office." My heart sank. When I stepped into his office, he came to shake my hand and said, " I just want to tell you that that lesson, that task, whatever the hell you were doing, was great. Those kids were writing on the college level. Thank you."

The hospital agreed to give care free of charge to________with low incomes.

How many tube lines are there in London?

What are the speakers talking about?

What do we know about the man?

While car sharing is a concept that' s catching on, old-fashioned carpooling where a group of people take turns driving each other to work has always faced a resistance (抗拒). In a study on traffic problems by ABC News, 84% of those who drive to work say that they still do it alone. More than half of those lone riders insist that carpooling is just too inconvenient, and 18% say they simply don' t know anyone to share a ride with. Now technology makes carpooling easier and more fun. NuRide, a company provided an online carpooling service last year, offers daily travelers in the Washington area not just a web-based list of would-be carpoolers but also a way to arrange a trip online. Here' s how it works: rider seekers enter the positions where their trip will begin and end, the time they want to leave and if they' re willing to drive or just ride in someone else' s car. The website' s search engine then looks for matches and makes lists of the names of traveling companions, along with the car model and the exact time and place to meet for each trip. People who want to share the ride can show their interest in joining in online and then meet their car mates when it' s time to go. NuRide users aren' t riding with total strangers. They are required to provide the name of their employer and a work e-mail address, both of which need to be checked before being listed on the website. To attract users, NuRide offers a frequent rider prize: anyone who shares a ride gets a $1 credit. So far, 2,300 people have signed up. NuRide CEO Rick Steele said that more than 50,000 rides have been arranged on the website, resulting in 1.4 million fewer miles driven and 650 fewer tons of automobile emissions(机动车排放).

________going to French evening classes twice a week, Ann does V ai Chi on Wednesdays.

Where does Jane work?

It has been raining for two weeks, completely________our holiday.

I'm told that during an international game of chess (国际象棋), many beautiful moves could be made on a chessboard. In a decisive【C1】______ in which he was evenly matched with a Russian master【C2】______ , Marshall found his queen under serious attack. There were several ways of【C3】______ , and since the queen is the most【C4】______ piece, spectators (观众) thought Marshall would naturally move his queen to【C5】______ . Deep in thought, Marshall used all his time to consider the【C6】______ . He picked up his queen, paused, and placed it down on the most【C7】______ square of all—a square from which the queen could be【C8】______ by any one of three enemy pieces. Marshall had sacrificed (牺牲) his queen—an unthinkable move. Everyone else was【C9】______ . Then the Russian, and the【C10】______ , realized that Marshall had actually made a【C11】______ move. It was clear that no matter how the【C12】______ was taken, the Russian would soon be in a【C13】______ position. Seeing this, the Russian admitted his defeat. When spectators recovered from the【C14】______ of Marshall's daring, they showered the chessboard with money. Marshall had achieved【C15】______ in a very unusual and daring fashion—he had【C16】______ by sacrificing the queen. To me, it's not【C17】______ that he won. What counts is that Marshall had broken with standard【C18】______ to make such a move. He had looked【C19】______ the usual patterns of play and had been willing to consider an imaginative risk on the basis of his judgment and his judgment alone. No matter how the game【C20】______ , Marshall was the winner.

How much do the things cost?

What seems to be the man' s problem?

There are a growing number of pet owners who feed pets on raw, which means, "uncooked" meat and bones. William Burk, a pet food specialist from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) , believes that feeding raw meat to pets is against its goal of protecting the public from health dangers; besides, raw meat and bones do not have all the required nutrition(营养)that a pet needs every day. Recognizing how popular these foods are, the FDA has provided guidelines for producers of pet foods that contain uncooked meat for dogs, cats, and other pets. The guidelines give rules to protect pet owners and pets from dangers about food safety and lack of nutrition. Pet owners who feed raw meat and bones should deal with these products very carefully to protect themselves against possible dangers, says Burk. Just as when preparing foods for humans, use hot water and soap to wash hands, containers, and surfaces that come into contact (接触) with the food. Don't put your hands near your mouth until you've washed them, and don' t allow your pet to touch your face right after it has eaten meat. If owners choose to feed bones to their pets, they should watch their pet carefully when it is eating bones. Burk also says, "If the pet eats a big piece of bone that won't pass through the digestive system(消化系统) , it could kill the pet."

Dose the woman like Chinese food?