Welcome to Arundel Castle which is situated in West Sussex, England. The castle has a history of nearly 1000 years and has welcomed visitors traveling from all over the world. Arundel Castle also plays a starring role in many films.

The Gardens

The White Garden is planted with soft white Iceberg Roses, and Snow White Lilies.

The Rose Garden is newly planted with lovely old-fashioned English roses that are at their very best in June and July.

The Organic Kitchen Garden produces a wide range of seasonal fruit and vegetables, pears, cherries and apples.

The Castle Shop

In the Castle Shop, you will discover a wide and interesting range of gift ideas for everyone. It offers gifts and souvenirs designed to appeal to all tastes and pockets. Foods, china, books, and stationery (文具)are all available. Many are sold in this Castle Shop only.

At Arundel Castle we pride ourselves on supporting local suppliers and actively encourage environmentally friendly products.

The Arundel Festival 2014

Saturday 16th to Monday 25th August

The annual Arundel Festival gets bigger and better every year. It is one of the most amazing, diverse and easily accessible arts festivals in the UK, offering a mix of visual arts, music, theatre and street entertainment.

Parking

Coaches and mini-buses can drop off at the main Castle entrance in Mill Road and park in the main town car park that is opposite the Castle entrance. Please inform us when making your booking of how many parking permits are required.

1.When visiting the castle, you can____________.
A. get old-fashioned English roses as gifts
B. buy eco-friendly products in the Castle Shop
C. get seasonal fruit and vegetables for free
D. see how the local gifts are being made

2.How long does the Arundel Festival last this year?

A. 10 daysB. One weekC. 16 daysD. One month

3.Where can you park the coach?

A. In Mill RoadB. Inside the Castle

C. In the main town car parkD. At the main Castle entrance

Humans have been keeping animals as pets for tens of thousands of years, but Dr Jean-Loup Rault, an animal scientist at the University of Melbourne in Australia, believes new companions are coming: robot pets.

“Technology is moving very fast,” Rault told ABC News, “The Tamagotchi in the early 1990s was really the first robotic pet, and now Sony and other big companies have improved them a lot.”

This may not sit well with pet lovers. After all, who would choose a plastic toy over a lovely puppy? But Rault argues that the robotic kind has a lot going for it: “You don’t have to feed it, you don’t have to walk it, it won’t make a mess in your house, and you can go on a holiday without feeling guilty.” The technology also benefits those who are allergic to pets, short on space, or fearful of real animals.

It’s not clear whether robot pets can replace real ones. But studies do suggest that we can bond with these smart machines. People give their cars names and kids give their toy animals life stories. It’s the same with robots. When Sony stopped its repair service for its robot dog Aibo in March 2014, owners in Japan held funerals.

As an animal welfare researcher, Rault is concerned about how robotic pets could affect our attitudes towards live animals. “If we become used to a robotic companion that doesn’t need food, water or exercises, perhaps it will change how humans care about other living beings,” he said.

So are dogs and cats a thing of the past, as Rault predicts? For those who grew up with living and breathing pets, the mechanical kind might not do. But for our next generation who are in constant touch with smart technology, a future in which lovely pets needn’t have a heartbeat might not be a far-fetched dream.

1.What does the underlined phrase “sit well with” means?

A. be refused by B. be beneficial to

C. make a difference to D. receive support from

2.What are the advantages of robot pets?

a. They are plastic and feel smooth.

b. Owners needn’t worry about them when going out.

c. They can help cure allergies(过敏).

d. They save space and costs.

A. ab B. bc

C. bd D. cd

3.We can learn from the passage that___________.

A. Sony is the first company to produce robot pets Aibo.

B. People can develop strong bond(联系、关系) with their robot pets.

C. Rault thinks robot pets still have a long way to go.

D. Robot toys may help people care more about living beings.

4.The passage mainly tells us___________.

A. the advantages of robot toys B. the popularity of robot pets

C. living pets are dying out. D. robot pets are coming.

Christmas was near a season that we took seriously in our house. But a week or so before the 25th, my father would give each of his children $ 20. This was the 1970s, and $ 20 was quite a bit of money.

But I saw it differently. My father trusted me to have the smart to spend money wisely. Even better, he gave me the means to get it. On a very basic level, my father was giving me a shopping spree (狂欢) every year.. But he was also giving me charge over my own fun, trusting my ability to manage money and making me feel like a grown-up. He didn’t buy me Sherlock Holmes, but he gave me the means to walk into the bookstore and choose it for myself, so it felt like a gift from him.

My mother had a gift for giving me what I needed, usually right at the moment I needed it most. This was when I was 25, I failed at being an adult on my very first try. I had quitted my previous job but had no new one. But when my mother paid me a visit, I put on a good show, telling her I had started my own company.

My mother knew that I was trying hard and failing at that time. It wasn’t until after she left that I noticed at the foot of my bed an envelope thick with cash. She knew how desperately I needed it. She knew that had she just shown up with groceries, or offered to pay my rent, she would have made me feel much worse. The cold, hard cash meant she was helping me. And, funnily enough, the distance with which she gave the gift felt like she was giving me space to fix my life and preserve my dignity. My mother and father both did the same thing. One was giving me the means to take my own decisions, and the other was giving me a second chance when those decisions had cost me dearly.

1.What can we learn about the author from the first two paragraphs?

A. His family once celebrated Christmas happily.

B. His father gave the author chances to make decisions.

C. His best memories about Christmas were in the 1970s.

D. He used to choose books as his father’s gift on Christmas.

2.What does the underlined word “it” in Paragraph 2 refer to?

A. money offered by his father. B. father generous with money.

C. Christmas being important. D. the means of spending money.

3.When he was 25 years old, the author .

A. planned to open his company B. became interested in shows

C. gave his mother a gift D. was out of work

4.Which word can best describe the author’s mother?

A. sensitive. B. optimistic.

C. considerate. D. determined.

Getting rid of dirt, in the opinion of most people, is a good thing. However, there is nothing fixed about attitudes to dirt.

In the early 16thcentury, people thought that dirt on the skin was a means to block out disease, as medical opinion had it that washing off dirt with hot water could open up the skin and let ills in. A particular danger was thought to lie in public baths. By 1538, the French king had closed the bath houses in his kingdom. So did the king of England in 1546. Thus began a long time when the rich and the poor in Europe lived with dirt in a friendly way. Henry IV, King of France, was famously dirty. Upon learning that a nobleman had taken a bath, the king ordered that, to avoid the attack of disease, the nobleman should not go out.

Though the belief in the merit of dirt was long-lived, dirt has no longer been regarded as a nice neighbor ever since the 18thcentury. Scientifically speaking, cleaning away dirt is good to health. Clean water supply and hand washing are practical means of preventing disease. Yet, it seems that standards of cleanliness have moved beyond science since World War Ⅱ. Advertisements repeatedly sell the idea; clothes need to be whiter than white, cloths ever softer, surfaces to shine. Has the hate for dirt, however, gone too far?

Attitudes to dirt still differ hugely nowadays. Many first-time parents nervously try to warn their children off touching dirt, which might be responsible for the spread of disease. On the contrary, Mary Ruebush, an American immunologist(免疫学家),encourages children to play in the dirt to build up a strong immune system. And the latter position is gaining some ground.

1.The kings of France and England in the 16thcentury closed bath houses because .

A. they lived healthily in a dirty environment.

B. they thought bath houses were to dirty to stay in

C. they believed disease could be spread in public baths

D. they considered bathing as the cause of skin disease

2.Which of the following best describes Henry IV’s attitude to bathing?

A. Afraid. B. Curious.

C. Approving. D. Uninterested.

3.How does the passage mainly develop?

A. By providing examples.

B. By making comparisons.

C. By following the order of time.

D. By following the order of importance.

4.What is the author’s purpose in writing the passage?

A. To stress the role of dirt.

B. To introduce the history of dirt.

C. To call attention to the danger of dirt.

D. To present the change of views on dirt.

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