Prague VS Vienna: Which One to Visit?

    Prague and Vienna are both wonderful and exciting cities with modern cosmopolitanism and ancient history and culture. But if you've got a European vacation planned and are trying to decide which one of these amazing cities to visit, it can be daunting(困难)for sure.

    Sightseeing

    While both cities are rich in sightseeing adventures, Prague is definitely more beautiful as a city. You can walk along the Danube River for breathtaking views, sit in one of the many cafes that dot the urban landscape, and breathe in the amazing architecture  both old and modern that makes up this Central European metropolis(都市).Vienna is a hotbed of history, home to such great sites such as The Hofburg, Schonbrunn Palace and Gardens, and St. Stephen' S Cathedral.

    Shopping

    You most likely didn't travel all the way to Europe just to go shopping. But, if you happen to be a shopaholic, Vienna is definitely better. But be warned: fine goods you buy in Vienna will sometimes be three times more expensive than what they are in the United States or Canada.

    Cuisine

    When it comes to great dining, both cities are equally fascinating. Austrians are known for their love of sweets and pastries(糕点), which is reflected in the many bakeries, cafés, and restaurants scattered around Vienna. Some restaurants in either city offer local cuisine, though you're more likely to be eating a combination of Western European or even Americanized food. Bear in mind that Prague(being that it is in Central Europe)will be far less pricey than Vienna.

    Culture

    What do you hope to see on your trip? Palaces? Medieval Cathedrals? The Opera? How about museums? If you do happen to visit both cities, you'll find that culture equally as enriching. However, Vienna has more world—class museums which display the rich history of the area.

    Nancy Ballard, 60, went for a routine checkup that turned into something extraordinary. She had just completed her master's in botanical illustration. In fact, she was canting a painting of a plant she'd done when she arrived at her doctor's San Francisco office. “It would be great if we had artwork like that for our chemotherapy(化疗)rooms, ”the nurse said. Ballard asked to see one.

    She was shocked by what she found. The walls were bare, and the paint was chipping(剥落).She could tell where old artwork had hung because of the naked nails. It was a depressing room for a depressing routine—patients had chemo drips for perhaps several hours, often with nothing to look at other than those sad walls. She couldn't imagine how anyone could even think about getting healthy in a room like that. As it happened, Ballard's physician, Stephen Hufford was ill with cancer himself, so finding time to decorate the rooms was low on his to-do list. So Ballard made it her mission to brighten up the place.

    She wrote to 20 local interior designers and asked whether they would donate their time and money to transform just one of Dr. Hufford's rooms each. Six of them wrote back almost immediately. Each of them ultimately chose a theme: The dragonfly room, for example, now features bright artwork and dragonfly wall ornaments. Most rooms got new paint, light fixtures, artwork, and furniture. Each room cost about $5, 000.

    Dr. Hufford was delighted.“ All the patients feel soothed by it.” he noted. He even said that his own tone of voice was different in the rooms and that he was better able to connect with his patients.

    Ballard was so encouraged that she created a nonprofit to raise money and decorate more spaces. Since then, she has worked on 20 projects, including one in Pennsylvania. She once went to Philadelphia for a ribbon cutting, and a woman there was on her third battle with cancer. When she saw what Ballard had done, she said, “I'm gonna beat it this time.I thought I wasn't going to, but now I know I'm gonna beat it.”

    Millions of people all over the world use the word okay. In fact，some people say the word is used more often than any other word in the world.

    It may be common，but no one can seem to agree on how the “OK” came to be.

    Okay means “all right” or “acceptable”. It expresses agreement or approval. You might ask your brother，“Is it okay if I borrow your car?” Or if someone asks you to do something，you might say，“Okay ， I will.” Still，language experts do not agree about where the word came from.

    Some people say it came from the Native American Indian tribe known as the Choctaw. The Choctaw word “okeh” means the same as the American word okay. Experts say early explorers in the American West spoke the Choctaw language in the nineteenth century. The language spread across the country.

    But many people dispute(不同意)this.

    Language expert Allen Walker Read wrote about the word okay in reports published in the 1960s.He said the word began being used in the 1830s.It was a short way of writing a different spelling of the words “all correct.” Some foreign-born people wrote “all correct” as“o-l-l k-o-r-r-e-c-t.” and used the letters O.K.

    Other people say a railroad worker named Obadiah Kelly invented the word long ago. They said he put the first letters of his names—O and K—on each object people gave him to send on the train.

    Still others say a political organization invented the word. The organization supported Martin Van Buren for president in 1840.They called their group，the O.K. Club. The letters were taken from the name of the town where Martin Van Buren was born—Old Kinderhook，New York.

    Not everyone agrees with this explanation，either. But experts do agree that the word is purely American. And it has spread to almost every country on Earth.

    As our closest neighbor in space, the moon has been the subject of popular myths, songs and poems since ancient times. And it has no less fascinated scientists. But even after centuries of research many questions remain to be answered about Earth's only satellite. Perhaps the Chang'e-4 lunar probe will be able to reveal more of its secrets.

    On Dec 8, the probe lifted off from Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan Province. It is the first probe to the far side of moon.

    The Earth's gravity slows the moon's rotation, matching it to the speed of its orbit. Thus, the far side of the moon is always dark and has never been seen. It's this sense of the unknown that makes the far side of the moon such an interesting place for scientific and space exploration.

Long exposed to solar winds, the far side may have the special soil and minerals in its upper mantle(地幔).For this reason, Chang'e-4 will study the effect of solar winds on the lunar surface and any minerals found beneath the spacecraft.

    Chang'e-4 is also carrying flower seeds and potato and silkworm eggs to see whether life is possible on the moon. If it is, then the moon will become a more likely destination for space travel in the future. However, due to communication problems, exploration of the dark side will not be easy.

    As the far side is blocked off from us, radio noise coming off Earth is also blocked. This is why China launched the relay satellite Queqiao in May—so that communication between Earth and the probe could go ahead. Power supply will also be a challenge to the mission.

    Chang'e-4 gets energy from the sun through its solar panels. However, a lunar day has the length of 28 Earth days. This means that the probe will need to orbit the moon for over 20 days to be in a position to be able to land in moon daylight and so use its solar panels.

    According to Xinhua, if everything goes well, the satellite will land on the far side on Jan 2.

    The New York Times described the journey as “groundbreaking”, and wrote that it will “give clues to the history and development of the moon”.

    Air pollution is a killer. The World Health Organization says it kills an estimated seven million people around the world each year.       , it can make us very sick.

    However, breathing dirty air may do more than hurt your body.       .A new study shows that air pollution can cause a “huge” reduction in our intelligence. The researchers reposed that long-time exposure to air pollution can affect a person's mental abilities in two areas: language and mathematics.

           .Between 2010 and 2014, these Chinese men, women and children were given language and math tests. Then they compared the test results with measurements of pollution in the air, namely nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide, and found that breathing polluted air can reduce a person's education level by about one year.

    It has found that the effect generally is worse for those over 64 years of age, for men and for those with little or no education.

    “       .And we find, quite interestingly, males are more affected than females. And people working outdoors are more affected than people working indoors, ”one of researchers said.

    He noted that the youngest people in the study were 10 years old, while the oldest was 90.They came from 25 of China'S 33 provinces.      .

    The researchers also noted that the effect of pollution on verbal ability is even more serious as people age, especially among men and the less educated.

A. Even if polluted air does not kill us

B. The elderly people are more affected

C. Therefore, some measures should be taken

D. Air pollution is one of the major problems of China

E. It can also affect your brain and your ability to think

F. The researchers studied about 25, 000 people across China

G. This range of ages and locations provided a “good representative sample”

    In October, I told the eight-year-olds in my class about my plan. “I'd like all of you to do 1  jobs around the house to earn some money, ”I said.“ Then we'll 2  food for a Thanksgiving dinner for someone who might not have a nice dinner  3  .”

    Early in Thanksgiving week, the boys and girls arrived in the  4 , clutching their hard-earned money. I watched them running up and down, busily doing their 5  .At last we headed toward the checkout, pushing a  6  filled with turkey and all the trimmings(配料).Then someone spotted a “necessity” that sent them racing.

    “Flowers!' Kristine cried. The group 7 toward the holiday plants.

Stuck in the middle was a pot of purple mums. “She'11 like this one.” the children  8 , and put the purple plant into the cart.

    We finally 9 in front of a small bungalow in the woods. A slightly-built woman with a weary face came to the door to 10  us.

    My little group hurried to get the 11. As each box was carried in, the old woman oohed and aahed(欢天喜地)—much to her visitors' 12 .When Amy put the mums on the counter, the woman seemed surprised. She's 13 it was a bag of flour, I thought.

    We returned to the car. We could see the kitchen 14 .The woman inside waved15, then turned and walked 16the room, past the turkey, past the trimmings, straight to the 17. She put her face in their petals(花瓣).When she raised her head, there was a 18on her lips.

    The children were quiet. In that one brief moment, they had seen for themselves the 19 they possessed to make another's 20 better.

    Traditional Chinese medicine has been practised for around 3, 000 years, but it        (be) relatively recent in the West, and acupuncture(针灸)only really became well known in the West in the 1970s as people began to travel        (much)frequently between the two areas of the world.

    A significant event in the history of acupuncture        (come)in 1971, when a journalist from the New York Times had his appendix(阑尾)        (remove)in China, when on a trip to the country with Henry Kissinger, the Secretary of State for the USA. Surgeons used acupuncture to deaden the pain of the operation,       greatly impressed Kissinger.

    Although at first doctors in the West were often sceptical of the        (medicine)value of acupuncture, in the last few years it has become more established        an alternative to Western medical treatments, since clinical tests have shown that acupuncture is effective for         number of conditions.

    In the West, the treatment is often used        (relieve)headaches, dental pain, back pain and arthritis, and to treat depression, asthma, stress, high blood pressure and anxiety. Cherie Blair, a well-known human rights lawyer and the wife of the British Prime Minister, was recently spotted        (wear)an acupuncture needle in her ear, suggesting that she uses the treatment to deal with stress.

增加：在缺词处加一个漏字符号(∧)，并在其下面写出该加的词。

删除：把多余的词用(＼)划掉。

修改：在错的词下画一横线，并在该词下面写出修改后的词。

注意：1．每处错误及其修改均仅限一词；

2．只允许修改10处，多者(从第11处起)不计分。

    Our school offers many a kinds of hobby classes. We take it in our free periods or after school. Last year, I took a freely Wednesday evening piano class, which I made friends with Li Hua. We chanced to live in the same residential community, but after class, we often walked home together. Little by little, we found that we shared a lot in common, though we were in different grade. Since then we had been very good friends. This summer Li Hua will finish high school and taking her College Entrance Examination. I wish her better luck, and also that we could keep close touch with each other and be good friends forever.

注意：

1）词数100左右；

2）可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯；

3）短文中不得出现本校或地区名称。