30^th June

Dear Aihua,

How are you? Sorry I haven’t written for so long. I’ve been quite busy planning my holiday with may older brother, Coin. Do you still remember the trip I told you about? I told you Colin and I would spend a few weeks traveling before he goes to university. Well, now we’re ready to go! We’re going to visit so many exciting places and do lots of astonishing things. We will go to Africa first. I can’t wait! Have you been there?

We leave London on 15^th July, and we’ll be flying to Morocco, in Northern Africa. We’re going to travel on camels through the Sahara Desert. It’s the biggest desert in the world-about the size of The US! I expect it will be very hot, dry and dusty there. We’ll be traveling by camel, with local guides, camping in tents and sleeping on the ground in our big, thick sleeping bags. I’ve heard that we can se beautiful stars on clear nights. I’ll bring a torch with me so that I’ll be able to see in the dark. The whole trip will take six days. That means I’ll have to sit on a came for almost a week-how uncomfortable! I hope my camel likes me!

After the trip by camel, we’ve going to travel down the River Nile. We’ll start at Lake Victoria. A little way down the river from Victoria, the water actually gets quite rough. So, we’ll go white-water rafting. It’s quite dangerous, but very exciting! We have to wear special clothing, a helmet and a life jacket, just in case the raft gets turned upside down or sinks after white-water rafting, we’re going on a trip to see wild animals in Kenya. We’ll live with the local people in their villages, and eat and drink like they do, including cow’s blood! Do you think I should drink it?

Since we’ll be walking every day for almost two weeks, I’ll need to buy a large, strong, light backpack to carry my supplies of food and water. During the day, we’ll walk across the land, following the footprints of big animals such as elephants, lions and giraffes. We’ll try to get as close as possible to the animals, even though they’re dangerous, so that I can take some really good photos. But don’t worry about me―our Guides will have guns with them to scare the animals away if they come too close. I really want to see an elephant up close. Colin wants to see a giraffe.

After that, we’ll be moving on to Tanzania, where we’re going to climb Mount Kilimanjaro. Mountain climbing can be very tiring, and many people feel sick as the air gets thinner, so Colin and I will make sure that we will get enough rest after sunset. The African part of our trip will take about four weeks. Then we’re going to the Himalayas. I’ll send you postcards from all the different places we visit!

                                                            Love

                                                             Toby

36. According to Paragraph 1, ______.

 A. Toby is planning a business trip.                           B. Toby usually travels in his summer holiday.

 C. Colin wants to travel before starting university       D. Toby is not very excited about the trip.

37. The underlined “there” refers to _____.

   A. the United States    B. Morocco     C. northern Africa    D. the Sahara Desert

38. According to paragraph 2, _____.

   A. Toby enjoys the traveling on camels                    B. Toby is worried about traveling on camels

   C. Toby will feed the camels                                  D. Colin loves camels

39. According to Paragraph 5, Toby wants to _____.

   A. see a giraffe up close                                         B. scare animals away

   C. take photographs animals                                    D. shoot an elephant

40. According to the letter, Toby enjoys _____.

   A. comfortable, expensive holidays                          B. cultural holidays

   C. adventure holidays                                             D. staying at home

— Are you going to travel during this summer vacation?
— No, I’ll have to do some part-time job for my study. __________, there’s a disease spreading.

— Are you going to travel during this summer vacation?

— No, I’ll have to do some part-time job for my study. __________, there’s a disease spreading.

A．Also             B．Therefore         C．However          D．Unluckily

I’m glad I went over all my notes; otherwise _____ . 

To face the music

Like every language, American English is full of special expressions, phrases that come from the day-to-day life of the people and develop in their own way. Our expression today is “to face the music”.

When someone says, “well, I guess I’ll have to face the music,” it does not mean he’s planning to go to the concert. It is something far less pleasant, like being called in by your boss to explain why you did this and did that, and why you didn’t do this or that. Sour music indeed, but it has to be faced. At sometime or another, every one of us has had to face the music, especially as children. We can all remember father’s angry voice, “I want to talk to you.” and only because we did not obey him. What an unpleasant business it was!

The phrase “to face the music” is familiar to every American, young and old. It is at least 100 years old. And where did this expression come from? The first explanation comes from the American novelist, James Fenimore Looper. He said, in 1851, that the expression was first used by actors while waiting in the wings to go on the stage. When they got their cue to go on, they often said, “Well, it’s time to face the music.” And that was exactly what they did — facing the orchestra which was just below them. And an actor might be frightened or nervous as he moved on to the stage in front of an audience that might be friendly or perhaps hostile, especially if he forgot his lines. But he had to go out. If he did not, there would be no play. So the expression “to face the music” come to mean “having to go through something, no matter how unpleasant the experience might be, because you knew you had no choice.”

Other explanations about the expression go back to the army. When the men faced an inspection by their leader, the soldiers would be worried about how well they looked. Was their equipment clean, shinny enough to pass the inspection? Still the men had to go out and face the music of the band as well as the inspection. What else could they do? 

Another army explanation is more closely related to the idea of facing the results and accepting the responsibility for something that should not have been done. As, for example when a man is forced out of the army because he did something terrible, he is dishonored. The band does not play. Only the drums tap a sad, slow beat. The soldier is forced to leave, facing such music as it is and facing the back of his horse.

1.How many ways does the phrase “to face the music” comes from?

A. 1        B. 2        C. 3       D. 4

2. What’s the meaning of “to face the music?”

A. To face something far less pleasant.   B. To face the stage.

C. To face the back of one’s horse.       D. To face one’s leader.

3.Which of the following is a situation of facing the music?

A. When we are playing basketball.   B. When we are making a speech.

C. When we are having a party.    D. When we are talking with somebody. 

4. The underlined word “hostile” means _______. 

A. unfriendly       B. dislike      C. unkind   D. unnecessary