The Taj Mahal

Shah Jahan finished building Taj Mahal in 1648. He was a rich and powerful emperor, and he built the Taj Mahal as a memorial for his wife.  1.  The word “taj” means crown, “Mahal” was the name of his wife. Twenty thousand people worked for 18 years to complete this beautiful domed(圆顶屋) building. A thousand elephants carried huge stones and jewels from all over India and central Asia to the Taj. Shah Jahan wanted this memorial to be a burial place for himself and his wife.

The Taj Mahal is on the Yamuna River in Agra in northern India.  2.   Its picture is in most travel books and brochures. It is open daily from sunrise to sunset. For about fifteen rupees (or about US$0.33), anyone can enter this peaceful and quiet place.

As you enter, you pass through beautiful, silent gardens. From the gardens, you cross a wide courtyard. Suddenly, you see the dome of the main building through a tall, red sandstone gate. At daybreak, the Taj Mahal’s white walls turn rose. At noon, they blaze（发光）white. At dusk, they become dark grey.  3.  

After you pass through the gate, you step onto a wide stone platform. You look over another garden with pools. Everything is arranged carefully in fours.  4.  The garden is divided into four parts. There are straight rows of colorful flowers and trees in each of the parts. At the four corners of the Taj Mahal, there are pointed tall towers. After the gardens, you go down stone steps towards the main building with the tomb and the graves of Shah Jahan and his wife.

After hundreds of years, the Taj Mahal remains a lovely and peaceful place.  5.  

E. The Taj Mahal is most beautiful by the light of the full moon.

F. To many people around the world, the Taj Mahal is a symbol of India.

G. From the cool, dark gates, the Taj Mahal seems to float between earth and sky.

The Taj Mahal
Shah Jahan finished building Taj Mahal in 1648. He was a rich and powerful emperor, and he built the Taj Mahal as a memorial for his wife.  【小题1】  The word “taj” means crown, “Mahal” was the name of his wife. Twenty thousand people worked for 18 years to complete this beautiful domed(圆顶屋) building. A thousand elephants carried huge stones and jewels from all over India and central Asia to the Taj. Shah Jahan wanted this memorial to be a burial place for himself and his wife.
The Taj Mahal is on the Yamuna River in Agra in northern India.  【小题2】   Its picture is in most travel books and brochures. It is open daily from sunrise to sunset. For about fifteen rupees (or about US$0.33), anyone can enter this peaceful and quiet place.
As you enter, you pass through beautiful, silent gardens. From the gardens, you cross a wide courtyard. Suddenly, you see the dome of the main building through a tall, red sandstone gate. At daybreak, the Taj Mahal’s white walls turn rose. At noon, they blaze（发光）white. At dusk, they become dark grey.  【小题3】  
After you pass through the gate, you step onto a wide stone platform. You look over another garden with pools. Everything is arranged carefully in fours.  【小题4】  The garden is divided into four parts. There are straight rows of colorful flowers and trees in each of the parts. At the four corners of the Taj Mahal, there are pointed tall towers. After the gardens, you go down stone steps towards the main building with the tomb and the graves of Shah Jahan and his wife.
After hundreds of years, the Taj Mahal remains a lovely and peaceful place.  【小题5】  

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 1. He had more money than he could ever spend, and he was admired and looked up to by his community．2.  He wasn’t happy．All his life he had been pursuing happiness and striving (奋斗) for happiness, but he had never been able to find it.

Then one day he heard about a hidden temple in Nepal that had a special room that contained the secret of happiness．3. After many years of searching and countless hardships he arrived there．He was tired and penniless, but he knew that none of that mattered now because he had found the temple．He asked a wise, smiling monk (僧侣) if he could enter the special room．The monk agreed and showed him the stairs leading to the room．4.  He stared into the room with sunlight steaming through the window and saw what he had come so far to find．There hanging on the wall was the secret of happiness．The man gazed at his reflection in the mirror and laughed.

5. Happiness is a choice that we can make．Don’t spend the rest of your life searching the world for happiness then．Just look in the mirror and laugh．Just let the happiness flow from your heart, mind, and soul until it fills your life and the lives of all those around you．

         A．He immediately sold all that he owned and set out to find this hidden temple.

         B．It was difficult to find the temple in Nepal.

         C．No one found the secret of happiness at last.

         D．But he knew that something was missing in his life.

         E．There once was a very wealthy and successful man.

         F．He climbed them with legs shaking with expectation and slowly opened the door.

         G．It is time that we all realized that we were the secret of our own happiness.

根据短文内容，从短文后的选项中选出能填入空白处的最佳选项。选项中有两项为多余选项。

More perhaps than any other European nation, the Swiss are accustomed to looking after foreign travelers. As early as the 18th century, wealthy French, Germans and Italians were treating the country as a amusement center. _____1_____. Today, it attracts visitors from all over the world.

The Swiss are clear about the importance of tourism to their economy, which contributes about eight percent of Gross National Product, and helps the industry greatly. _____2_____ , and a generally high standard can be expected from the great majority of the country's hotels, most of which are small and pride themselves on a personalized service. _____3_____.  Both the Swiss Federal railways and the private railways are fully electrified, and the total network is made up of about 5000 kilometers of track.

Under the Fly Baggage system passengers can check luggage in at 116 railway stations and have it automatically carried to their flight. The national highway system is equally well planned, and the mountain roads offer views of some of the country's most breathtaking scenery. Also serving the mountains is an effective system of railways and cable ways, while more than 160 passenger cars cross the lakes and rivers to and fro. _____4_____.  For those who want to view the country from a height without having to climb the mountain themselves, it is always possible to take in the view from a balloon.

_____5_____ . For lovers of ancient remains, the Bernese Mitelland offers magnificently preserved buildings of the Middle Ages, while the Bernese Oberland has some of the wrold's most attractive mountain scenery.

A．Modern means of transportations are under construction.

B．Public transport is the best in Europe.

C．In cultural terms, the Swiss capital in many respects is Montreux, on the shores of Lake Geneva.

D．Hiking in the mountains is equally popular with Swiss nationals and foreign visitors.

E. For travellers of different kinds, Switzerland has different capitals.

F. Managers of hotels the world over go to Switzerland to learn how to do the job

G. However, in the 19^th century, it became the major holiday playground for the British nobles.