Venice is an attractive city in Italy. Tourists throughout the world love traveling to Venice. But sometimes you’ll have such strange experiences. One moment you walk across the Rialto Bridge, and there’s nothing special. Unfortunately, when you come back to the bridge an hour later, it’s underwater and everyone’s wearing rain boots.
That’s just the way it has always been, which may be considered seriously by Italian government. Before the sea comes to Venice, the government has decided to build the MOSE gates. Actually(实际上), there were many kinds of gates that were built to stop the floods, but all the gates were just built on the ground. Besides, the flooding was becoming worse. Industrial(工业的)factories built nearby on the mainland also made the condition get worse, causing the city to sink about 0.75 feet in the 20th century.
So the Italian government asked some of Italy’s biggest construction and engineering companies to build the MOST project, which was planned to be built under the sea water to stop floods. Now the government are using 3 000 people and expect to spend nearly five billion euros(欧元) on it. The MOSE gates are being built at the inlets(海湾).Each MOST gate is 197 feet long ,28.5 to 37 feel tall, and weight up to 22 tons. It’s nearly the size of a 20-story building. Before the gates are in use, under the sea full of water. When the flood comes, the water in the gates will be poured out, and then the gates will be filled with air. So the gates can go up with the sea water. Once they’re in the right place, they will stop the sea water pouring into Venice. These gates will be able to deal with floods up to 10feet,and as long as the sea level(平面)rises no more than two feet in the next 100 years, the MOSE will work as expected.
The MOSE project is now two-thirds done. The head engineer, Giovanni Cecconi, said, “This is a war. During the war, it’s not important that you win. It’s important that you’re alive. We’ve alive.” Anyway, this project is saving Venice from falling.
根据短文内容选择最佳答案。
【小题1】The underlined word “construction” in the passage means “_______”in Chinese.
A.建筑  B. 农业  C. 交通
【小题2】Before building the MOSE gates, the Italian government _______ to stop the floods.
A. never built gates on the ground
B. built many kinds of gates on the ground
C. built some gates which were under the ground
【小题3】When the flood comes, _______ can describe the working steps of the MOSE gates.

【小题4】Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
A. The Italian government ate using 3000 people and expect to spend nearly five billion dollars on the MOSE.
B. The MOSE project is half done now.
C. Each MOSE gate is 197 feet long, 28.5 to 37 feet tall, and weighs up to 22 tons.
【小题5】The best title for this passage should be _______.
A. The Journey to Venice
B. The MOSE Project in Venice
C. Several Kinds of Floods in Venice

“Homestay is a form of study abroad program. It allows the visitor to rent a room from a local(当地的) family to better understand the local lifestyle. It also helps to improve the visitor’s language ability,” said a teacher during a school meeting last term.” Students who wish to learn more about foreign cultures or to get foreign experience should join this kind of holiday. I am sure you won’t be disappointed(失望的).”
After this special meeting, I always thought about this kind of holiday. Last month, I had a chance at last to go on such a holiday with some of my schoolmates and we went to London, a place where I had wanted to go since years ago.
As we were still young, we had a group leader who planned things for us and looked after us. After we got to London, we went to stay with different families. I was lucky that my host family(寄宿家庭) was a white couple who had a daughter about my age. They treated me as a daughter of their family during my stay there. They were interested in me and I learnt a lot of things from them, too.
The holiday was filled with activities every day. After breakfast, a local teacher would come to take us in his car. Then we would have classes or go on a sight-seeing trip to different places of interest like the Big Ben, the London Bridge, and the Buckingham Palace. We would go back to our own homes after the activities.
The holiday was a valuable experience for me. I enjoyed every minute of it. Yet, time really flew fast. Three weeks later, we had to leave “home” for Hong Kong.
【小题1】In the “homestay” program, a visitor can _____.

This is not a diet. It’s a simple way to lose weight. And you don’t even have to give up the food you love or join a gym (参加体育锻炼). You just follow some habits that thin people have. Keep them, and you’ll become thin.
(1) Wake - up
When you wake up in the morning, sit up slowly without using your hands. With legs straight out, bend（弯曲） forward until you feel sore（酸痛） in your back. It will burn about 10 calories.
(2) Start with soup
When you have a meal, order a clear soup, and have it before having the main food. In this way, you’ll feel fuller, so you’ll eat less when the main food comes.
(3) An apple (or more) a day
Apples are full of fiber（纤维） and water, so your stomach will want less. The study shows that people who eat at least three apples a day lose weight.
(4) Stand up and walk around
Every time you use the mobile phone, stand up and walk around. Heavy people sit on average (平均) two and a half hours more each day than thin people. This skill is very important as standing up and walking around will burn 50 0r more calories.
Use these skills, and you will have a big weight loss.
【小题1】Why does eating apples make one’s stomach want less food?