Planning a visit to the UK? Here we help with ways to cut your costs.

AVOID BIG EVNENTS big sporting events, concerts and exhibitions can increase the cost of accommodation and make it harder to find a room. A standard double room at the Thistle Brighton on the final Friday of the Brighton Comedy Festival(19 Oct.) cost ￡118.15.

If you can be flexible and want to know dates to avoid—or you're looking for a big event to pass your time­check out sites such as Whatsonwhen.com, which allow you to search for events in the UK by city, date and category.

STAY AWAY FROM THE STATION If traveling to your destination by train, you may want to find a good base close to the station, but you could end up paying more for the sake of convenience at the start of your holiday.

Don't be too choosy about the part of town you stay in. Booking two months in advance, the cheapest room at Travelodge's Central Euston hotel in London for Saturday 22 September was ￡95.95. A room just a tube journey away at its covent Garden hotel was ￡75.75. And at Farringdon, a double room cost just ￡62.95.

LOOK AFTER YOURSELF Really central hotels in cities such as London, Edinburgh and Cardiff can cost a fortune, especially at weekends and during big events. As an alternative consider checking into a self­catering flat with its own kitchen. Often these flats are hidden away on the top floors of city centre buildings. A great example is the historic O'Neill Flat on Edinburgh's Royal Mile, available for ￡420 for five days in late September, with room for four adults.

GET ON A BIKE London's ‘Boris bikes’ have attracted the most attention, but other cities also have similar programmes that let you rent a bicycle and explore at your own pace, saving you on public transport or car parking costs.

Among the smaller cities with their own programmes are Newcastle (casual members pay around ￡1.50 for two hours) and Cardiff (free for up to 30 minutes, or ￡5 per day)．

56．The Brighton Comedy Festival is mentioned mainly to show big events may________．

A．help travelers pass time

B．attract lots of travelers to the UK

C．allow travelers to make flexible plans

D．cause travelers to pay more for accommodation

57．“Farringdon” in Paragraph 5 is most probably ________．

A．a hotel away from the train station

B．the tube line to Covent Garden

C．an ideal holiday desinationo

D．the name of a travel agency

58．The passage shows that the O'Neill Flat ________．

A．lies on the ground floor

B．is located in central London

C．provides cooking facilities for tourists

D．costs over ￡100 on average per day in late September

59．Cardiff's program allows a free bike for a maximum period of ________．

A．half an hour　　　　　　　 B．one hour

C．one hour and a half  D．tow  hours

60．The main purpose of the passage is ________．

A．to tell visitors how to book in advance

B．to supply visitors with hotel information

C．to show visitors the importance of self­help

D．to offer visitors some money­saving tips

Here is the Eight O’clock News.
…
Chinese people spent about 120 billion yuan during the first three days of the May Golden Week last year. This year it has increased to 140 billion yuan.
The children of Beijing No.2 Middle School sang with students from Toronto in Canada to celebrate the 20th anniversary. They had been sister schools since 1986. They spent about two weeks together in Beijing. They visited the Great Wall and the Summer Palace. They took a lot of photos in Beihai Park.
Have you ever got tired of heavy shopping bags? A new shopping assistant robot which was invented by a Japanese company could be the answer. The helpful robot can follow you around and carry several bags. The robot was tested at a shopping center in February 2006.
About 500 people from different countries were in the 2006 “Rock Paper Scissors (剪刀)” World Match in Canada. This event was founded in 1842. It is said that playing this game is fun, and also a good way to solve problems among people.
…
And now it’s time for Morning Music.
【小题1】The students from Canada and Beijing No. 2 Middle School didn’t _________.

完形填空：

　　Three men came to Dover Station at about nine o'clock one evening. They asked the assistant what time the next train was for London. The assistant said, “You've just 1 one. They go every hour. The next one is at ten o'clock. ”“That is 2 ,”they said, “we'll go and have a drink.”So they went to the nearest bar. A minute or two after ten o'clock, they came 3 and said to the assistant, “Has the train gone?” “Yes,” he said, “it went at ten o'clock 4 I told you. The next is at eleven o'clock.”

　　“That's OK,” they said, “we'll go and have another 5 .”So they went back to the bar.

　　They missed the eleven o'clock train in 6 way, and the assistant said, “Now, the next train is the 7 one; If you miss that, you 8 to London tonight.”

　　Twelve o'clock came, and the last train 9 out, when 10 of them came out of the bar running as hard as they 11 . Two of them got into a carriage just 12 the train was leaving but the third one didn't run 13 , and the train went out leaving him 14 . He stood there looking at the train and 15 , as if 16 a train was the best joke (玩笑) in the world. The assistant went up to him and said, “I told you that this was the last train. Why didn't you come 17 ?”

　　The man couldn't answer because of laughing. He laughed 18 the tears came into his eyes. Then he said, “Did you see those two fellows 19 into the train and leave me here?”

　　“Yes, I saw them,” said the assistant.

　　“Well, I was the one who was going to London; they only came 20 to see me off!”

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America’s greatest technological achievement, the Hoover Dam, now has a companion piece, a bridge held up by the longest arch in the Western Hemisphere（半球）. The Mike O’Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge, which opened this month and connects the U.S. states of Arizona and Nevada, crosses the vast chasm（峡谷）890 feet above the Colorado River that is controlled by the dam.

The striking 1,900-foot-long structure will improve traffic in the region and help protect the dam from being destroyed. It is the seventh highest bridge in the world, behind four in China, one in Papua New Guinea and one in the US state of Colorado.

“The Hoover Dam is the greatest civil engineering achievement in America’s history,” said the bridge project manager Dave Zanatell. “Our goal was not to outdo or outshine it. Our goal was to, in a respectful way, do something that would be great for our generation and that would stand besides Hoover Dam in a respectful and quality way that would become a part of Hoover’s legacy（遗产）.”

Just as the Hoover Dam was built in the heart of the Great Depression（大萧条）and was seen as an example of the nation’s can-do spirit, some hope this project can also provide some uplift.

The bridge is surprising: at 1,050 feet, its support arch holds up a roadway that lies on 300-foot-long concrete pillars（柱子）, some of the tallest in the world. It contains 16 million pounds of steel.

　　The idea of the bridge came into being in the 1960s because the top of the Hoover Dam has been a narrow two-lane road that is the fastest route from Arizona to Las Vegas and then the Pacific Northwest and Canada.

  　Access to the dam from each direction is a dangerously winding route, but massive trucks and passenger vehicles shared it for decades. During the day, when thousands of tourists travel to the dam from Las Vegas three times as many accidents as on a normal road will happen.

  　The bridge has a sidewalk on the side facing the dam. The wall on both sides is 54 inches high, so walkers can take photos there.

Which of the following is true of the Hoover Dam?

   A. It was completed recently.

   B. It was built during the hard times.

   C. It has the longest arch.

   D. It’s the seventh highest dam in the world.

What is one of the purposes of building the bridge?

   A. To protect the dam.                                 B. To save the cultures.

   C. To outdo the dam.                                       D. To develop the tourism.

The underlined word “uplift” in Paragraph 4 means _____.

   A. lift of the heavy object                            B. support in money

   C. spiritual encouragement                           D. instruction in technology

Which of the followings shows the right position of the bridge and dam?

The text is mainly about ______.

   A. the Hoover Dam                                    

   B. American western development

   C. a tour along the Colorado River               

   D. a recently built bridge