A road is just like a bridge between two places. The Silk Road has been a bridge between East and West. But the Silk Road is not a single route! It is a series of trade and cultural transmission routes. From the time Zhang Qian opened up the world-famous Silk Road during the Han Dynasty, until the Yuan Dynasty, it enjoyed a history of about 1,600 years.

 This ancient road begins at Chang'an (now Xi'an), and it reaches Dunhuang, where it divides into three, the Southern Route, Central Route and Northern Route. And then it ends in Eastern Europe, near the Mediterranean Sea(地中海). The Silk Road is about 6,500 kilometers long. It goes across one-fourth of the planet. (3)In fact, there is another trade road which is called the “Silk Road on the Sea” in the southwest of China.

 The Silk Road was very important to both China and the rest of the world. Besides trade, knowledge about science, arts and technologies were shared across the Silk Road. The Four Great Inventions of China was introduced to the West and Chinese also knew about the religions of the West. (4)In this way, languages and cultures developed and influenced each other. Today, places along the Silk Road are great places of interest, such as the Terracotta Warriors in Xi'an and Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang, Gansu.

      It's Sunday morning. There are many people in Garden Shopping Mall. Mrs. Green and her son, Jim, are also in the shopping mall.

      It is Mr. Green's birthday next Thursday. Mrs. Green wants to buy a new shirt for him. Soon she finds a good one. She thinks it matches Mr. Green's black suit very well. It's $45. But Mrs. Green takes it at a 20% discount (折扣) at last.

      Jim likes sports and he is a member of the school football team. His school will have a football match next Friday, so Mrs. Green buys a pair of new sports shoes for him. Jim's sister, Kate, is busy at school with her dancing lessons. She is going to dance at New Year's party. Mrs. Green buys a pink dress for her because Mrs. Green thinks her daughter (女儿) looks pretty in pink. She also buys some pink hair clips for Kate. She thinks they match Kate's new dress well.

      As for(至于) Mrs. Green, she buys some nice food for herself because she is a food lover.

    Billy Smith loves water. His hobbies are swimming and diving (潜水). And he likes golf too. Billy's a very lucky man because his interests are part of his job.

    Billy lives in the USA with his wife, Linda. They got married ten years ago. At that time, Billy worked in an office in New York. He worked with computers. He worked five days a week, from eight in the morning to seven in the evening. He hated his job. There was no time for diving or golf. Linda worked in a shop and she didn't like her boss (老板). She hated the cold winters in New York too. So Billy and Linda decided to leave their jobs in New York and buy a house in Florida. The weather is fantastic in Florida. The days are sunny and hot.

    Now Billy goes diving every day and he goes to golf courses (球场) every day. But he doesn't play golf very much—he works at the golf course. He travels around Florida and he goes to lots of different golf courses. Sometimes Linda goes with him and sometimes she stays at home. There are lakes on many golf courses and Billy only goes to golf courses with lakes. Players often hit their golf balls into the water.

    In his new job, Billy dives in the lakes for these golf balls. On some days, Billy collects two thousand golf balls. Linda has an office in their home and she works there. She sells the lost golf balls that Billy finds. For golfers, they are cheaper than new golf balls.

    Both Billy and Linda are very happy now.

根据材料内容简要回答下列问题。

    Some experts believe that burpee (立卧撑) is the best exercise in the world because this exercise is one that anyone can do very easily and extremely cheaply.

    How to perform the basic burpee correctly:

A.      B.      C.      D.

    {#blank#}1{#/blank#} Keep your back straight, squat (下蹲) down and place your hands on the floor.

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#} Begin in a standing position with your back straight and your arms at your sides.

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#} Bring your feet back to the squat position by placing your hands on the floor. Then jump straight up as high as you can after the squat position, holding your arms up directly over your head.

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#} Move your feet back behind you, so that you move from a squat position to a full-length leg extension. Keep both arms and legs straight and strong.

   As a form of exercise, the burpee is {#blank#}5{#/blank#}.

A. difficult and boring

B. useful but difficult

C. simple and inexpensive

D. simple but expensive

    Good morning, everyone! I'm Miss Li. I am an English teacher.  There are twenty boys and twenty-two girls in my class. This is Betty. She is an American girl. She likes football. This is Tony. He is an English boy. He likes basketball. His favourite day is Saturday. Yellow is his favourite colour. This is Daming and he is Chinese. He likes white best. Table tennis is his favourite sport.

    Have you ever heard of the story The Ant and the Grasshopper(蚱蜢) ?

    One fine winter day some ants were working in the field. They were very busy. Just then a grasshopper passed by." Good day, kind ants," said the grasshopper, "I am very hungry. Will you lend me a little food? I have nothing to eat. I will pay you before the next autumn."

    "You have no food of your own? Why didn't you gather any food during the summer? You know there was much food in the field last summer. What were you doing then?" asked an old ant. The grasshopper answered, "I was singing all day and night during the summer. So I had no time to gather any food. Please lend me some." "Well, then, "said the ant, "you could sing all the summer, and you also could dance all the winter. You only played and did not work during the summer. We'll never lend you any food." And the ants went on working.