Great Wall Xmas BBQ Beijing Hikers is organizing a three-hour hike on a rarely-visited part of the Great Wall and will celebrate Christmas afterwards with a Christmas barbecue  dinner in a small hotel at the foot of the Great Wall.Meet at 8:30 am.Dec 25 in front ofStarbucks at Lido Holiday Inn, Jiangtai Lu.Please write to _ or 139-100-25516.Pingyao tour High Club will guide a weekend trip to Pingyao, an ancient-walled town near Taiyuan, capital city of Shanxi Province.The town is among one of the best-preserved  featuring a number of courtyard buildings of the Ming and Qing dynasties(1368-1911).Among them is the Qiao family courtyard house, the shooting location of Zhang Yimou's " Raise the Red Lantern (')".Leave on Friday (December 23) night by train and back to Beijing on Sunday morning.For sign-up and more information, contact Lucy at  _ or 8580-5080, 130-11171326. New year Harbin trip The Chinese Culture Club is running a new year trip to Harbin, to catch a fresh view of its yearly ice and snow lantern festival. As the temperature is expected to fall between minus 20 degC to 30 degC, visitors are warned to prepare well with down jackets, masks, fur gloves and boots.The trip sets out by train at night on December 31 and gets back on the morning January 2.The cost is 2,300 yuan (US $284).Reservation   is required at 8457-2772 or 138-101-33998. The term "BBQ" in the topic Great WallXmas BBQ should mean a kind of   _  . A) food B) tour C) transportation D) dance
A


Japan is an island country in the Pacific Ocean. As the Japanese students already know, four main islands and more than 3,000 small ones stretch from north to south for about 1,300 miles. As for the climate of the country, well, it's hot and humid  in summer, but it is quite cold and wet in Japan during winter. Typhoons, which are violent tropical storms, often threaten Japan during the fall. That's, of course, during the harvest season. The population of Japan is about 110,5 million. It may seem hard to believe, but the average population density  of the country is about 678 persons per square mile. About two thirds of the entire population lives in Japan's cities. The other one third lives in the suburbs or in the countryside. No other country in southern or eastern Asia has such a large urban, or city population. Tokyo, the capital city of Japan, is the most density-populated city in the world. At last count there were more than 11.5 million people living in Tokyo. Typhoons often attack Japan during  _  . A) spring B) summer C) autumn D) winter
C


Q: Mail lay scattered across the kitchen table. I couldn't put off sorting through it any longer. I checked the envelopes, putting aside the ones addressed to my husband. It had been over three years since Bob had died. To friends and family it looked like I had moved past the worst of my sorrow. I took care of my house, socialized and kept up with community. On the outside everything appeared to be normal. But inside I was anything but I worried I would never get better, never be myself again. They say sorrow has no set time limit, but I was so tired of feeling empty and hopeless. My sorrow was sharp and fresh as ever. It was like a wall of pressure in my chest, pressing my heart. I picked up a piece of Bob's mail and held it out to tear in half, but stopped myself from cutting up the envelope. The letter was from an organization that funded a Haitian orphanage called _ . Its founder, Carol Hawthorne, had given a presentation at our church. Bob and I had donated, and Bob ended up on the mailing list to receive the newsletter   with updates on the children. I hadn't read one since Bob died. But just three months before, in January 2012, the country had been hit by a terrible earthquake. In my depressed state, it hadn't even occurred to me to wonder whether the orphanage had survived. I opened the newsletter and was surprised to find out that My Father's House was still standing. Of course now it was more crowded than ever. At the bottom of the page was an announcement about an upcoming trip to visit the orphanage in person. "I should go." The thought wouldn't leave me. I contacted Carol Hawthorne."What would I do if I go?" I asked."Build houses?" "The Haitian people there are eager to work and they know what they're doing," said Carol. "What they need are raw materials, and we provide them. We also visit with the children. We go to clinics and schools, pass out supplies. You'll be very busy, I promise!" I reserved a seat but didn't mention it to any of my friends. Just a few weeks later, I was at the airport... The writer enjoyed herself at   _  . A) driving over the roads B) viewing the landscape C) seeing the expressions on children's faces D) observing water buckets on women's heads
A: C


prefix = st1 /Indonesiais known as the country of islands. It has 17,508. But in recent years, the popular tourist destination has lost some of its shine.    Due to rising sea levels caused by global warming, 24 Indonesian islands have gone under the sea. Scientists say 2,000 more will disappear before 2030. In the past three years, the southeast Asian nation also witnessed its islands destroyed by a tsunami  and typhoons.    "If no measures are taken to fight climate change, the beautiful islands will go forever." scientists told environmental ministers from about 190 countries at a UN climate change meeting.    This week they are meeting in Bali, an Indonesian islands. They are trying to reach a deal to cut the world's emissions  of CO2, which makes the earth warmer. Indonesia is not alone. This year has been more  _  hit the world.Canadaand US suffered heavy storms and typhoons, While Australians were caught in the heaviest drought in a century. In China, the average temperature this year went up by 1.2degC from last year, reaching the highest on record since 1951. From Jiangxi and Hunan in the south to Heilongjiang andJilinin the northeast , one -third of farmland has suffered from a drought. However, other parts of the country got too much rain. More than 700 people were killed in floods, landslides  and storms. "These weather extreme are the more obvious effects of global warming," said Song Lianchun, a climate expert. Scientists say time is running out. To escape from the worst effects, global CO2 emissions need to be cut from the levels they were at in 2000 by 50 to 85 percent by 2050. But in recent years climate change talks have been bogged down by arguments over  who will pay the bill for cleaner technology. Developing countries are worried that the cut in emissions will slow their economic development. "Chinawill play a responsible and constructive role in the meeting," said Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao. The nation is now the world's second largest greenhouse gas emitter  ."However, developed... Climate change talks have become bogged down because countries cannot agree on   _  . A) who should be responsible for causing climate change B) who will pay for the cleaner technology needed to tackle  climate change C) whether developed nations should help developing nations in solving climate change D) whether developing nations should cut emission of CO2

B