In the UK, bus journeys are very common. Buses are often convenient(便利的) for the people who live or work in the city centre. Passengers can avoid heavy traffic and do not have to pay for the parking. However, taking the bus is just a necessary but boring part of life: They get on the bus, pay for it and sit down or find a place to stand when it is crowded. Everyone seems sad and bored.

    In Latin America, however, bus trips can be wonderful. For a start, films are showed on the buses between cities for passengers to have fun along the journeys. Local buses do not show films, but drivers usually turn on the radio and it can be great for passengers to listen to songs and get relaxed.

    Even better than films and music are the sights and sounds on the buses. Local buses always go to parts of the town that passengers would not visit by themselves. There passengers can see shops that they have never heard about. And they can also see other cultures of the town from the windows of the buses.

    Besides, passengers' luggage(行李) is also interesting. It is common to see a happy dog's head getting out of somebody's bag or a lovely chicken "speaking cheerfully" under somebody's arm. Once on a bus in Peru, a farmer even tied a sheep to the top of the bus. It was quite surprising.

    In all, taking the bus in Latin America is really fun and unforgettable.

A

    Nina and Julia are two lovely girls．They are 14 years old and go to school in London．But they weren't at school last week—they were doing work experience．And this week they are back in the classroom．Now a school reporter is talking with them about their work．

(Q=Question；N=Nina；J=Julia)

O：Where did you work?

N：I worked in a restaurant．

J：I worked for a TV company(公司)．

O：What did you do?

N：I cleaned the tables and swept the floor and I also served the customers（顾客）．I gave them their food and drinks and took the money．I started really early—at 6：00 a．m．The restaurant opened at 7：00 a．m．and closed at 6：00 p．m．I didn't stay until 6：00 p．m．一I finished work at 2：00p．m．The staff(全体员工)were friendly but we didn't have much time for talking．We were all really busy!

J：I worked in an office of the TV company．I started at 10：00 a．m．and finished at 6：00 p．m．I helped my boss(领导)with different jobs．Sometimes he told me to answer the phone．Other times he asked me to use the computer to look for  information he needed．I was really busy all day!

Q：Did you enjoy it?

N：No．I didn't! I wanted to work in a restaurant because I like cooking．But I didn't do any cooking all week．I am very happy to go back to school．

J：Yes，I did! The boss was kind and the staff were nice．I've really learned a lot from them．

    I had a good time on my vacation. I spent my vacation trekking(徒步旅行)in Nepal, a small country in the Himalaya Mountains of Asia.

    On the trekking vacation, I walked for a long time through the mountains. There are very few roads in Nepal, so trekking is the best way to travel. It will be better if you have a guide. The guides know the best paths to take and they can also help trekkers with their bags. Sometimes our guide cooked food for us. Every day, we trekked for about four hours in the morning, and two hours in the afternoon. We slept in the large tents. It was very interesting. I didn't want to go home in the end.

    Information Card

    English words like other languages change all the time. People need new words for new ideas and inventions. Different words come into use and older words are used in a new way. Here are some ways to change.

    English words can change by borrowing words from other languages. The word “tomato” was from Mexico, and “tea” came from China. Now new words are made by joining two words together. “Weekend” and “cookbook” are examples. A latest one “brunch” comes from breakfast and lunch. Do you have brunch every day? Sometimes new words are shorter forms (形式) of the longer words. For example, the word “photo” was from “photograph” by cutting off the end of the longer words. “Plane” and “phone” were made by cutting off the front part of “airplane” and “telephone”. The names of people and products(产品)can also become new words. Our food “sandwich” was from a man called Sandwich.

    Can you find any other examples for each of these ways to make new words?

⑴～⑵题完成句子；(3)题简略回答问题；(4)题找出全文的主题句；(5)题将文中画线句子译成汉语。

    Students generally find it difficult to prepare for a speaking test because they have nobody to practise    (A)    or correct their mistakes. But that doesn't mean you can't test yourself.

    Whether you're taking an end-of-course test or an official (官方 ) exam like PET or IELTS, there's one great tool you can use: your mobile phone. Nearly every smartphone these days has an inbuilt recording feature (内置录音功能) which you can use to test your speaking skills. You can record yourself speaking, play the recording back, and correct your own mistakes.

    I practised this way in Italian. I chose some speaking questions from PET and did the exercise three times. The first time, I made a few grammar mistakes and didn't speak for long enough. The second time was a bit better, and the third time was nearly perfect.

    All in all, I made a real improvement with my grammar, pronunciation and how long I spoke. Also, recording myself put me under the pressure (压力) I would experience during an important speaking test.

    Many students found this method    (B)   . Nelia, from Brazil, said that she could hear her mistakes when she listened to her voice. She was mainly using the wrong verb tense (时态) and using prepositions(介词) incorrectly. When she tried the exercise again, she got its right! Donghyeon, from South Korea, said that the exercise helped him to improve his English skills in general.

    Look at this boy. He is an English boy. His first name is Alan. His last name is Brown. This is his school. His school ID card is three six eight seven two three six eight. His teacher is Miss Black. She is a nice teacher. Look! What's that? It's a bag(包). It's blue. It's Alan's bag. His red jacket is in it. Where is his pen? Oh,

    Alan lost(丢失)it this morning.