It is exciting to visit different places. As you travel, you will see beautiful sceneries typical of the region. Besides, you can meet and make friends with people of different color1s and races. Finally, you can get to know the customs and living habits of the local people. Today people are so fond of travelling that tourism has become one of the fastest growing industries in most countries. The main reason why people travel is, perhaps, for pleasure. For example, having worked hard throughout the weekdays, people will find a widened trip to the nearby mountains or beaches for a relaxation. For another example, spending an annual holiday travelling abroad is an especially satisfying experience for those who do not have much of an opportunity to be away from their homelands. When people return from their travel, they will generally feel fresh and energetic, ready to work harder. Travelling is also one of the best means for learning. You may have read or heard about something but you can never get an accurate picture of it until you see it for yourself.  _ . Furthermore, if you are a careful observer, you can learn much during your travel about the geography, biology, and history of the places you visit. No matter how well educated you are, there is always a lot for you to learn through travelling. The knowledge _ from travel, as you have found in your life, is no less valuable than that from any influential reference books. According to the author, the most important reason for people to go travelling may be   _ A) making friends B) sightseeing C) learning D) enjoyment
D

The Celerifere, an early version of the bicycle, was built around 1791 by a French man, Comte Mede de Sivrac. It was basically a scooter with a high seat. There were no pedals---you had to push with your feet like you do with a skateboard or a scooter. Around 1816 Baron Karl Drais de Sauerbrun in Germany added a moveable steering handle. These early machines were often known as dandy horses or hobby horses, but weren't very popular. The improvement that made them popular was added by a Scottish blacksmith around 1839. Kirkpatrick Macmillan added pedals to enable it to get up hills. It was this improvement that made the bicycle a serious form of transportation. Bike were called velocipedes or bone-shakers, because of the lack of the proper tires made for a rough ride! It wasn't until around 1869 that they began to be called bicycles ("two-wheels"). Carriage makers in Paris (either Pierre and Ernest Michaux, or their employee Pierre Lallement) switched the pedal to the front wheel. That's why it is usually either Lallement or the Michauxs, not Macmillan, who are considered as the inventor of the bicycle. In 1869 the penny-farthing or high-wheeler was invented. With the large wheel the rider could go much farther with each push of the pedal, but caused many accidents because the seat was so far off the ground. In the mid-1880s Englishman James Starley manufactured what he called the "safety bicycle" , which had two similarly-sized wheels and a major improvement--- a chain and sprocket  driven rear wheel, with the pedals between the two wheels like modern bicycles. One more historical note---it's possible that the idea of the bicycle was thought of almost 400 years before it was actually invented. There is a drawing of a bicycle-like machine in one of Leonardo da Vinci's notebooks, which dates back to about 1493. Why was the bicycle not popular in the early 1800's? A) It was too expensive. B) The seat was too high. C) There were no pedals. D) It had no tires.
C

I felt encouraged by his words and began to swim more calmly.But my clothes stuck to me like a heavy weight.I could hardly stay above the surface. Counsel saw this."Shall I cut them?"he asked. With a knife he cut my clothes from top to bottom and took them of quickly while I swam for both of us. Then I did the same for Counsel,and we continued to swim near each other. But we were in serious trouble.The crew might not have noticed our disappearance. And if they had,they could not return because the rudder had broken.Counsel thought of all this,and calmly made his plans.We decided to wait for the ship as long as possible,because we had no other hope of safety.I suggested that we save our strength so that both of us would not be tired out at the same time.This was how we did it:While one of us lay on his back,quite _ ,with arms crossed and legs stretched out ,the other would swim and push him along.We changed every ten minutes or so.In this way we could swim for hours,perhaps till daylight.The crash of the ship and the whale had appeared at about eleven o'clock.We had about eight hours to swim before daylight.This seemed possible,if the sea remained calm. n order to save their strength,  _  . A) one of them pushed the other while swimming and then they changed B) they both swam calmly C) they crossed their arms and stretched their legs on the water D) they lay on their backs instead of swimming
A

With its 190 million inhabitants, Brazil has the largest population in Latin America and ranks fifth in the world.  However, Brazil's population growth rate has dropped greatly and Brazilian women now have only 2.7 children on average. This achievement really becomes the envy of many other Third World countries. Brazil has become one of the developing world's great successes at reducing population growth-----but more by accident than design. While countries such as India have made joint efforts to reduce birth rates, Brazil has had a better result without really trying, says George Martine at Harvard. Martine  _ , among other things, soap operas(TV series) and installment  plans introduced in the 1970s. Both played an important, although indirect role in lowering the birth rate. Brazil is one of the world's biggest producers of soap operas. Globo, Brazil's most popular television network, shows three hours of soaps six nights a week, while three others show at least one hour a night. Most TV series are based on wealthy characters living the high life in big cities. "Although they have never really tried to work in a message towards the problems of reproduction , they describe middle and upper class values-----not many children, different attitudes towards sex, women working," says Martine. "They sent this image to all parts of Brazil and made people conscious of other patterns of behavior and other values, which were put into a very attractive package." Meanwhile, the installment plans tried to encourage the poor to become consumers. "This led to an enormous change in consumption patterns and showed that consumption was in contradiction with unlimited reproduction," says Martine. According to the passage, many Third World countries  _  . A) haven't attached much importance to birth control B) would soon join Brazil in controlling their birth rate C) neglected the role of TV plays in family planning D) haven't yet found effective measures to control their population

D