Part I Listening Task

Script for the recording:

We live busy lives with so little time to enjoy the world around us that oftentimes we almost forget it is there.
Living in the Niagara region, an area that has so much to offer both scenically and historically, we forget about the diversity of nature and the fact that not everyone lives as we do.
Going to university in Toronto this year, I was surprised to learn that Niagara is one of the top crop producers in not only Ontario, but also Canada. I was even more surprised that many of the people I met who were from Toronto had never seen a farm before, or enjoyed the small pleasures of picking their own fruit or going for hikes in scenic areas. I realized that I was lucky to have experienced both the urban and rural life.
Intrigued by the question of how I felt about living so close to Niagara Falls, I decided to stop by after work one night and really look at them. I felt as though I was really seeing the falls for the first time, and they truly were everything that the tourists had promised. Staring into the never-ending cascades of water, I was mystified by it all.
Here I was, standing at the top of such a glorious sight that I had seen so many times before, but for the first time in my life, I was truly seeing it the way that it was meant to be seen: through the eyes of a tourist.

After Listening
1. one of the top crop producers in Canada
2. she went to college
3. mystified by it all
4. through the eyes of a tourist

Part II Reading task

Comprehension

Possible answers to content questions:
1. They went to the Napo River in the Ecuadorian jungle. Besides her, there were three North Americans and four Ecuadorians.
2. They were guides.
3. She wrote about birds singing, people talking, insects hunting, fireflies illumining, enormous trees, sweet night air, distant music. All in all, the night was beautiful and relaxing.
4. For village girls to play with it in the morning, like what they had done that afternoon.
5. He enjoyed it so much that he wondered why he would go back home.
6. It is simply to see what is there, not to see the most spectacular anything.
7. Floating foams and logs and branches from the jungle, water animals, and palm-thatch shelters for overnight fishing trips.
8. To get warm in the river water.
9. Trees, animals, long lakes.
10. Birds and fish.
11. They ate chicken, rice, onion, and fruit. They saw school children singing.
12. Simple life brings pleasure and peace.

Text Organization

1. Parts Paragraphs Main Ideas

 Part One Paras 1-5 Description of the Napo River and surrounding jungle scenery at night, together with the author's reflections on it
 Part Two Paras 6-8 Recalling what happened to her on their arrival at the village and what others felt about the Napo River and the people there
 Part Three Paras 9-18 Detailed description of journeying in the jungle and her feelings about it
2.
 1) Birds, insects and animals of all descriptions
 2) The sweet air
 3) Various kinds of trees and other plants
 4) River abundant in fish
 5) Little girls who liked to play with the writer's hair
 6) Children singing lovely songs
 7) Treating guests with wonderful foods
 8) People and nature in harmony

Language Sense Enhancement

1
1) on the planet 2) a feel for
3) fringes and hollows 4) half a continent
5) in detail 6) sucking
7) shade 8) smeared with
9) in flocks 10) are reputed to

Vocabulary

I.

1.
1) heap 2) was smeared
3) warmed 4) dissolve
5) thrash 6) out of the way
7) hollows 8) tangled
9) get his hands on 10) opaque
11) at the edge of, illumined 12）hop

2.
1) take (the clock) apart 2) result from
3) run out of 4) feed on
5) come forward 6) woke up
7) focused on 8) settled over

3.
1) After reading the book Little Women, Mary was dying to see the movie based on it.
2) Street noises do not penetrate to the 20th floor of our office building because, as a rule, the sheer distance mutes all sounds from the ground.
3) You will inevitably lose sight of the overall objective if you fuss too much over details.
4) Back at home from his long journey, Tom slumped into an armchair, (feeling) completely exhausted.
5) Dorothy Parker, an American poet and short-story writer, was reputed to be the wittiest woman of her time.

4.
1) Thousands of people swarmed to the East Lake yesterday to watch the spectacular boat race between the world champions, who paddled their boats like mad.
2) The Smiths live in the heart of a large forest, far out of the range of all the noises of the modern city. The house itself, the ivy trailing over the stone walls and the swans gliding in the lake nearby all make for an ideal place to live in.
3) Day after day he came to the narrow strip of beach, watching the heaving waves of the sea slap angrily at the rocks of the shore.

II.

1.
1) worth 2) worthy
3) worthwhile 4) worth, worth
5) worthwhile 6) worthy
2.
1) lone 2) alone
3) alone 4) lonely
5) lonely 6) alone, lonely

III

1 ice-cream 2 teas
3 wines 4 cloth
5 soap 6 beer
7 fuels 8 soils
9 sugars 10 grass

Comprehensive Exercises

I. Cloze

1.
1) are dying to 2) in the heart of
3) tangled 4) paddles
5)loop 6) out of sight
7) in flocks 8) hopping
9) gliding 10) opaque
11) thrashing 12) darting
13) swarms 14) spectacular

2.
1) running 2) fancy 3) incorporate 4) exploring 5) guide
6) adventure 7) rarely 8) diverse 9) survive 10) lucky

II. Translation

1
1) Janet was just the kind of girl Mike knew he could trust, so he bared his heart to her on their first date.
2) At first the girls played on the fringe of the dark forest, now laughing, now screaming, but before long they were out of sight.
3) The moment the football players disembarked from the plane, they saw a fleet of cars waiting for their arrival
4) Carson condemned his opponent for using misleading information to smear his character..
5) Alex gave the policeman a wallet stuffed with banknotes. He said he had found it on the curb when he hopped off his school bus.

2.
Last Wednesday, my classmate Caroline and I visited Zhouzhuang, a well-known town looped all around by streams. When we arrived at the town, Caroline was so excited that she darted towards the first bridge she saw and began singing loudly there. Suddenly her voice hushed when she found that she had startled a flock of ducks not too far from us. Now as Caroline was dying for a boat ride, we decided to tour the town by boat. Now loud, now soft, Caroline talked to all the creatures in the stream and was fussing about everything while I looked at the boats gliding over the water in all silence. Though we did not see anything spectacular, we enjoyed every minute in the town that lies out of the range of the heavy traffic and noise of the large city.
Zhouzhuang is worth visiting and, time permitting, I’d like to go there again.

Part III Home Reading Task

Comprehension Check

1) c 2) b 3) d 4) d 5) c 6) b

Translation

1他们家位于纳尔逊城外绵延起伏的山丘中，我们的车子开进了他们满是尘土的私用车道，我们遇到了比我们预想要多的面孔：他们的大群毛茸茸的羊驼也蹦蹦跳跳来到篱笆边。

2. 要是能与西蒙、苏和埃拉一起多过几天就好了，但是往南还有这么多美好景色要看，而时间又这么紧，我们又只好上路了。

3. 在维多利亚时代的照片上，我们看到有旅行者划着小船在这儿冰川脚下转悠，这说明在以往的一个世纪中，冰已经退缩了很多——这又是一个地球变暖的迹象。

4. 在开往哈斯特山口的路上，我们经过了看上去像是史前的海滩和沼泽地。我们在船溪停下，观看赫氏海豚（世界上最小的海豚，仅一米长）冲浪。它们为旅游者表演，一般说来还挺高兴的！

Language Practice

1.
1) b 2) h 3) e 4) g
5) c 6) d 7) f 8) a
2.
1) embarked on 2) at the foot of
3) to live up to 4) refreshing
5) glimpse 6) would/will hit the road
7) emigrated 8) snatched
9) wind/snake its way 10) in action
11) pop in 12) is geared to/towards

Part IV Comprehensive Language Practice

Sample Letter of reservation

10 Mill Lane
London
N6 2RT
2 February 2011
The Landlord
The Holly Tree Inn
Ambleside
KN3 5MN

Dear Landlord,
I am planning a walking holiday in the Lake District this spring and would like to book a single room at your inn for the night of 11 April. I cannot give a definite time of arrival as this will all depend on the weather — if it is fine, I may well not arrive until late. Kindly let me know by return of post whether you will be able to accommodate me on the date mentioned so that I can complete plans for my trip. Should you require a deposit I shall be happy to provide one.
Yours faithfully,
H. Wainwright
H. Wainwright