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    With fuel costs rising  a nd airlines  finding  more  fess to  impose  on  travelers  everyday ,airfare isn't getting any cheaper. Since you can’t drive to all your dream destinations, flying is the only way to go sometimes and, undeniably, the fastest. Luckily, there are plenty of ways to find the most affordable fares and also avoid paying as many extra charges as possible when you plan ahead.  
   Getting the best fare  Airlines put out their fare sales on Tuesday morning, making this day the best day to book a flight for less.
    Fly during the least popular times. Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday are the slowest days to fly, which means cheaper deals than the rest of the week. You can also find reduced rates on early morning flights, since many people don’t like to get up before the sun to get to the airport. Earlier boarding times can also considerably cut down your chances of getting bumped on an overbooked flight or delayed because of other delayed flights or mechanical issues.
    Choose your seat later. Some airlines charge you to pick your seat when you book online, adding even more to the bottom line of your ticket cost. If you show up early on your travel day, you can still get suitable seats. Some of the best seats get held back until flight day, unless others are willing to pay extra for them ahead of time, so you still have the chance at one of those.
    Fly on holidays. You already know that summer is the most expensive time to fly, and even though most other times are more affordable, the days surrounding holidays can be crazy. Save big if you’re willing to travel on major holidays, such as Thanksgiving and Christmas.
    Don't wait until the last-minute to book. Many travelers don’t know that there’s a sweet spot for booking and getting the best price on your tickets. Book too early or too late and you could end up paying more than you need to. The best time to book is between three months and six weeks from when you want to travel.  
    Avoiding extra fees  Airlines will charge for just about anything these days. Some have even toyed around with charging customers for using the restroom. All those extra fees can certainly add up, but there’s no reason to pay them if you don’t have to. Here are some tips to keep money in your wallet once you get to the airport.
    Avoid the upgrade it's not necessary. Sometimes upgrades are free, but mostly you will be charged for seeking a last-minute bump to first class, and the cost can be hefty.
    Fly carry-on only. Baggage fees vary wildly, but almost all airlines charge them and charge big. Why pay for your clothes to fly with you? If everyone in your travel party checks a bag, your bill can be astronomical before you ever even get to your destination. It’s easy to reduce the amount of stuff you pack: Make sure all your clothing coordinates, so you can take less and still make more outfit combinations, take only two pair of shoes, plan to do a bit of laundry on your trip and bring only travel-sized toiletries.
    Pack your own snacks. Unless you’re flying internationally, it’s rare your flight comes with a free meal. Snacks on the plane are not cheap and almost never healthy. Don’t rely on what’s on the small menu and instead tuck some of your own snacks – granola bars, homemade muffins, fruit and trail mix all make fantastic travel foods – into your bag and eat a lot better, and cheaper, than other passengers.
Do you have a tried and true method of getting  the best deal on your   flights?  Let  us know.
25. Tuesday is the best to book   ticket at a  lower for   .
A. fewer people  traves  on Tuesday.
B. the flights are slower than  usual.
C. fare sales  are  usually announced on Tuesday.
D. flights  are  seldom delayed on Tuesday.
26. Which of the following will help to cost you less for a  flight?
A. Book your flight on Thursday.
B.Travel surrounding Christmas.
C. Pick your seat the moment you book online.
D.Book early morning flights.
27.The underlined  word “hefty” here has  the  same meaning as     .
A. large  B.heavy   C. fierce   D. acceptable
28. To save the eost fo r the  flight, you  should     .
A.check whether the upgrade  is free  befo re you hump to th e first class.
B.make sure youclothes and are fit for a  lot of walk.  
C.share your own snacks  with other passenngers.
D.plan to do the washes on flight.
C
   My  mom takes   pride in the  fact that I  was  talking in three and four word sentences before I was ten months old. Some say it’s a gift while others simply think I talk too much.
    As my thirties came to a close, I found myself reflecting on my life. I’m very happy and have no significant regrets. However, when I looked back on those times of difficulty, I saw a clear common denominator(特征); I didn’t seem to know when to stop talking. Whether it was hurting someone’s feelings, or having carelessly told a secret, the incident could have been avoided had I closed my mouth sooner. So I decided to practice the power of quiet.
    To take this step, I needed to understand how people could sit comfortably in a group and not talk. Why does my husband feel completely content to say nothing in a conversation? He’s highly intelligent and has wonderful opinions but he’ll sit quietly and just listen. Even when he’s asked a pointed question, he’ll answer with few words while still communicating effectively. What a talent!
    Can you imagine being happy just listening? In surveying those I know who talk less than I do, I got two answers—they either didn’t feel confident enough to speak up, or they just didn’t feel the need to participate in the conversation. Of course there were other reasons for not talking, but these were the two most popular answers.
    The first one didn’t work for me. I’m just fine letting people know what I think about them, and hopefully it will make the conversation much more interesting. The second one didn’t work either. I do feel the need to participate. I feel it physically like an electrical pulse through my body; sometimes it’s so strong that it causes me to behave badly in the form of interrupting or speaking in an unusually loud voice. I had to look further.
   An interesting thing happened on this journey to the power of quiet. During my weekly yoga class, it came to me like an answer so clear that the words rang in my head like soft, heavenly bells.
   I talked too much so people would know I cared about them. It was my way of taking care of those I love. I decided before my fortieth birthday, that from that day forward, those around me would know I loved them, and cared what they thought and felt, but I was going to practice the power of quiet.
   As my forty-second birthday approaches, I can say that deciding to talk less has been more about focusing on quality rather than quantity. I’ve found that listening more shows those who I care about that I really do care how they feel. Now when I break in, it means more to them. Oh, sure, I still have my short periods of talking too much, but for the most part this has been one resolution that I can call a success.
29. In Paragraph 3 the writer mentions her husband mainly ______.
A. to show how one communicates effectively
B. to explain the reason for his silence in a conversation
C. to give her high opinion of his communication skills
D. to give an example of those who have the power of quiet
30. By “I had to look further”, the writer means she had to ______.
A. look into the future in order to succeed in practicing the power of quiet
B. try harder to prevent herself from talking too much
C. find out other reasons why she should talk less  
D. survey people in other areas who talk little
31. Which of the following best describe the writer’s character?
A. Kind but pessimistic.     B. Selfless but proud.
C. Loving and active.        D. Stubborn and sensitive.
D
    A team of engineers at Harvard Univesity has been inspired by Nature to create the first robotic fly.The mechanical fly has become a platform for a series of new high-tech integrated systems. Designed to do what a fly does naturally, the tiny machine is the size of a fat housefly. Its mini wings allow it to stay in the air and perform controlled flight tasks.
    “It’s extremely important for us to think about this as a whole system and not just the sum of a bunch of individual components (元件),” said Robert Wood, the Harvard engineering professor who has been working on the robotic fly project for over a decade. A few years ago, his team got the go-ahead to start piecing together the components. “The added difficulty with a project like this is that actually none of those components are off the shelf and so we have to develop them all on our own,” he said.
    They engineered a series of systems to start and drive the robotic fly. “The seemingly simple system which just moves the wings has a number of interdependencies on the individual components, each of which individually has to perform well, but then has to be matched well to everything it’s connected to,” said Wood. The flight device was built into a set of power, computation, sensing and control systems. Wood says the success of the project proves that the flying robot with these tiny components can be built and manufactured.
    While this first robotic flyer is linked to a small, off-board power source, the goal is eventually to equip it with a built-in power source, so that it might someday perform data-gathering work at rescue sites, in farmers’ fields or on the battlefield. “Basically it should be able to take off, land and fly around,” he said.
    Wood says the design offers a new way to study flight mechanics and control at insect-scale. Yet, the power, sensing and computation technologies on board could have much broader applications. “You can start thinking about using them to answer open scientific questions, you know, to study biology in ways that would be difficult with the animals, but using these robots instead,” he said. “So there are a lot of technologies and open interesting scientific questions that are really what drives us on a day to day basis.”
32.The difficulty the team of engineers met with while making the robotic fly was that __________.
A．they had no model in their mind
B．they did not have sufficient time
C．they had no ready-made components
D．they could not assemble the components
33.It can be inferred from paragraphs 3 and 4 that the robotic fly __________.
A．consists of a flight device and a control system
B．can just fly in limited areas at the present time
C．can collect information from many sources
D．has been put into wide application
34.Which of the following can be learned from the passage?
A．The robotic flyer is designed to learn about insects.
B．Animals are not allowed in biological experiments.
C．There used to be few ways to study how insects fly.
D．Wood’s design can replace animals in some experiments.
35.Which of the following might be the best title of the passage?
A．Father of Robotic Fly
B．Inspiration from Engineering Science
C．Robotic Fly Imitates Real Life Insect
D．Harvard Breaks Through in Insect Study
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