He would go out for ___________ for making an inventory of antique feature for a local museum, he would be able to search every English farmhouse around London for what he wanted.

What did he do all this for?

A．To amuse the reader with an unlikely answer to the chicken-or-egg puzzle.

B．To know if animals like chickens could be posted.

D．To know if eggs would break on the way to their destination.

D．To show that he was highly intelligent.

Nick was bored because his life wasn't ______ .

A．very pleasant

B．very easy

C．full of amusement

D．interesting

What did he do all this for.

A．To know if animals like chickens could be posted.

B．To amuse the reader with an unlikely answer to the chicken-or-egg puzzle.

C．To know if eggs would break on the way to their destination.

D．To show that he was highly intelligent.

The most useful bit of the media is disappearing. A cause for concern, but not for panic.

"A good newspaper, I suppose, is a nation talking to itself," mused Arthur Miller in 1961. A decade later, two reporters from the Washington Post wrote a series of articles that brought down President Nixon and the status of print journalism soared. At their best, newspapers hold governments and companies to account. They usually set the news agenda for the rest of the media. But in the rich world newspapers are now an endangered species. The business of selling words to readers and selling readers to advertisers, which has sustained their role in society, is falling apart.

Of all the "old" media, newspapers have the most to lose from the internet. Circulation has been falling in America, western Europe, Latin America, Australia and New Zealand for decades (elsewhere, sales are rising). But in the past few years the web has hastened the decline. In his book The Vanishing Newspaper, Philip Meyer calculates that the first quarter of 2043 will be the moment when newsprint dies in America as the last exhausted reader tosses aside the last crumpled edition That sort of extrapolation would have produced a harrumph from a Beaverbrook or a Hearst, but even the most cynical news baron could not dismiss the way that ever more young people are getting their news online. Britons aged between 15 and 24 say they spend almost 30% less time reading national newspapers once they start using the web.

Advertising is following readers out of the door. The rush is almost unseemly, largely because the internet is a seductive medium that supposedly matches buyers with sellers and proves to advertisers that their money is well spent. Classified ads, in particular, are quickly shifting online. Rupert Murdoch, the Beaverbrook of our age, once described them as the industry's rivers of gold— but, as he said last year, "Sometimes rivers dry up." In Switzerland and the Netherlands newspapers have lost half their classified advertising to the internet.

Newspapers have not yet started to shut down in large numbers, but it is only a matter of time. Over the next few decades half the rich world's general papers may fold. Jobs are already disappearing. According to the Newspaper Association of America, the number of people employed in the industry fell by 18% between 1990 and 2004. Tumbling shares of listed newspaper firms have prompted fury from investors. In 2005 a group of shareholders in Knight Ridder, the owner of several big American dailies, got the firm to sell its papers and thus end a 114-year history. This year Morgan Stanley, an investment bank, attacked the New York Times Company, the most august journalistic institution of all, because its share price had fallen by nearly half in four years.

Having ignored reality for years, newspapers are at last doing something. In order to cut costs, they are already spending less on journalism. Many are also trying to attract younger readers by shifting the mix of their stories towards entertainment, lifestyle. and subjects that may seem more relevant to people's daily lives than international affairs and politics are. They are trying to create new businesses on-and offline. And they are investing in free daily papers, which do not use up any of their meager editorial resources on uncovering political corruption or corporate fraud. So far, this fit of activity looks unlikely to save many of them. Even if it does, it bodes ill for the public role of the Fourth Estate.

In future, argues Carnegie, some high-quality journalism will also be backed by non-profit organizations. Already, a few respected news organizations sustain themselves that way—including the Guardian, the Christian Science Monitor and National Public Radio. An elite group of serious newspapers available everywhere online, independent journalism backed by charitie

[1] One day Walt Disney had a vision. It was a vision of a place where children and parents could have fun together. The more Walt dreamed of a “magical park”, the more imaginative and elaborate it became.

[2] The original plans for the park were on 8 acres next to the Disney Studio lot on Hyperion Avenue in Burbank where his employees and families could go to relax. However, the amusement parks of the 1920’s and 30’s were tawdry, dirty, sleazy places. Other parks across the country were no better. As Walt Disney sat at a bench, at an amusement park, watching his daughters play, he noticed how ragged and filthy the small amusement park was. He also observed people’s reactions to different rides, and noticed how children’s parents had nothing to do. They would be anxious to go home, while their children were still having fun, and playing.

[3] This is where Walt was conjuring, and planning a new type of amusement park; one that would be clean, and would have attractions for parents and children together. He dreamed and hoped of building a “little family park” where parents could take their children for a day of fun—for both kids and adults. Still, Walt felt that it was possible to build a different kind of park…a “themed” park that had fun attractions and a beautiful atmosphere…a park that wouldn’t decline into an ugly, gaudy, cheap place… a park that “would never be completed—as long as there is imagination in the world.” The Second World War had a devastating effect on the Disney Studios. With no money, Walt shelved his ideas for the time being. However, during the war, Walt had time to come up with new ideas, and creations for his magical park. Disneyland in Los Angeles opened to a star-studded fanfare on July 17th, 1955. Construction of “The Happiest Place on Earth” was completed in one year, a tremendous engineering and planning success that is still to be admired. Its opening was a media event that even as late as the 1990’s, has rarely been exceeded for glitz, glamour, excitement, and drama.

[4] Nowadays, the entertainment giant has Walt Disney Parks and Resorts in five different places around the world. They are the Disneyland Resort in Los Angeles, Walt Disney World in Florida, Tokyo Disney Resort, Tokyo Disney Sea, Disneyland Resort Paris and Hong Kong Disneyland respectively. The Wall Street Journal reported on January 9, 2009 that Disney and the Shanghai government had signed a proposal outlining the legal and financial framework for its first theme park in mainland China, targeting one of the largest and most prosperous markets in Asia. Now the proposal is waiting for being approved by the central government. This is really a sensation among Chinese children and their parents.

[5] Among the exciting Disney parks and resorts, Disney World in Florida is the biggest amusement resort, twice the size of Manhattan. It was opened on October 1, 1971, five years after Walt Disney’s death. It attracts people of most tastes and most income groups, and people of all ages, from toddlers to grandpas. Within Walt Disney World Resort there are 4 Theme Parks, 2 Water Parks, 2 shopping, dining and entertainment areas and one world-class sports complex. The central attraction of the resort is the Magic Kingdom. This theme Park features enchanting entertainment and classic attractions across seven whimsical lands. Tourists can meet beloved Disney Characters, watch parades and spectacular fireworks and see how fairytale dreams can come true. Almost everywhere you go, there are models of people and animals. Besides, they move and talk most realistically. There is, for example, the Hall of Fame, which displays models of all the American Presidents since George Washington. The Presidents talk, using the actual words they once used as living Presidents. There is much else to see: Adventureland, Frontierland, Fantasyland, Tomorrowland, New Orleans Square, and Toontown. Each of the original lands has been altered —— and had new attractions added —— over the years.

[6] Disneyland near Los Angeles has a lot of wonderful things to see and do, but Walt Disney World in Florida has a huge number of wonderful things to see and do. The two places are almost incomparable. If you had a single day to spend at a Disney theme park you would choose Disneyland without a passing thought. If you have a week, though, you’ll go to Walt Disney World. In fact, in one full week it’s not possible to see everything at the Florida complex.

[7] Even though Walt Disney wasn’t able to see how his park prospered and grew into the 21st Century, his legacy still lives on with us. Throughout Disneyland and throughout the entire world, he will always be there. “The Happiest Place on Earth” will always be there, too.

51、What impelled Walt Disney to have the idea of building his “magical parks”?()

A.The tawdry, dirty, and sleazy amusement parks of the 1920s and 1930s.

B.His daughters’ love for “magical parks”.

C.His own love for “magical parks”.

D.Americans’ love for “magical parks”.

52、What does the third paragraph mainly talk about?()

A.Because of lack of money, Walt shelved his ideas for the time being during the Second World War.

B.What Walt’s amusement parks look like.

C.The Second World War had a devastating effect on the Disney Studios.

D.The opening of Disneyland in Los Angeles was a media event.

53、So far, how many Walt Disney Parks have been opened around the world?()

A.3

B.2

C.5

D.4

54、In which city of the mainland China will the Disney World be opened very soon?()

A.Beijing

B.Guangzhou

C.Shenzhen

D.Shanghai

55、Among the existing Disney parks and resorts, which one is the biggest?()

A.Walt Disney World in Florida

B.Disneyland Resort in Los Angeles

C.Hong Kong Disneyland

D.Tokyo Disney Resort

Most countries in the world now welcome tourists because of the money they bring in. Many countries make great efforts to encourage tourism, and many also depend on what they earn from it to keep their economies going.

People who like adventure will even try to visit countries where travel is difficult and costs are high. Companies regularly arrange trips throughout the Sahara desert, or to the Himalayan Mountains for whoever enjoys such trips, but the numbers of visitors are small. Most tourists try to choose whichever places have fairly comfortable, cheap hotels, quite good food, reasonable safety, sunny weather and plenty of amusements or unusual things to see. Their choice of a place for a holiday also depends very much on when they can get away; it is not very pleasant to go to a place when it is having its worst weather.

One of the big problems for a nation wishing to attract a lot of tourists is the cost of building hotels for them. Building big hotels swallows up a lot of money, and many of the countries that need the tourists are poor. What they spend on building has to be borrowed from foreign banks. And sometimes the money they can afford to borrow produces only chains of ugly hotels wherever there are beauty spots that are supposed to attract the tourists.

Another problem is that more and more big international companies are building hotels all over the world, so that the profits from a hotel often do not stay in the country in which it has been built. And there is also the question of training staff; teaching them foreign languages, how to cook the kind of food that the foreign tourists expect, and so on. In many countries, special colleges and courses have been set up for this.

Crime can also be a problem. Seeing tourists who seem to be much richer than them selves, the local inhabitants are often tempted to stem from them. Sometimes tourists resist and get killed, and then other tourists refuse to come to the country. But an even greater problem in many countries is the effect that the sight of foreigners has on the local population. A man who lives in a very small house, owns almost nothing, works very hard for his living and has very strong roles about modesty in dress and not drinking alcohol sees foreign tourists rejoicing in what to him is great luxury, owning radios, wearing very few clothes and drinking a lot of beer. These tourists may be ordinary workers back home, but to the poor inhabitant they seem to be very rich. And of course, he either feels envy for them or thinks them shameless.

Tourists, too, often feel shocked by the different customs and habits that they see around them. They refuse the local food, and insist on having only what they eat back home. They say that travel broadens the mind; but it is doubtful whether this is so, often, it narrows it.

What would happen to some countries if they don't have tourism?

A．Their economies would be mined.

B．It would keep their economies going.

C．There would be no more environmental pollution there.

D．People have no chance to travel there.