阅读理解

(A)

If you’re the type of traveler who just wants a suitable place to hang your hat and you don’t want to spend a fortune to do it, here are several ways to save on your next hotel room:

*Be Flexible Hotel rates are based on supply and demand, so be aware of peak periods. If your destination’s high season is from December through April and you’re trying to book near the end of April, you might find considerable savings if you change your travel dates by a week or two.

*Check Hotel Web Sites The large travel-booking Web sites often sell rooms from the middlemen who have bought up empty hotel moms. But the major hotel chains also offer last-minute discounts, and because they’re not paying the middleman, they sometimes have better deals than the travel sites.

*Don’t be Afraid to Bargain Most people are so intimidated (畏缩的) by know-it-all hotel desk clerks that they don’t bargain for a better deal. But bargaining for a better deal is often worth the trouble, because most hotel general managers would prefer having a customer paying a lower-than-usual rate to no customer at all. And if you find something unfair on your hotel bill, don’t be afraid to complain. To keep your goodwill, hotels will often reduce or cancel such charges.

*Avoid Hidden Costs Expensive little extras hotels never mention can increase the cost of your stay. Don’t let this happen. Find out about resort fees, fees for parking and Internet use before you agree to stay. And don’t touch the hotel’s phone unless you absolutely have to — the rates can be more than $2 a minute even inside the United States.

36. According to the passage, which of the following will save you some money?

A. Change your visiting places in high season.

B. Book rooms through Web sites.

C. Use the hotel’s phone.

D. Bargain with desk clerks for your room,

37. That travelers can bargain for better deal is often based on the fact that _______.

A. managers often prefer a lower-paid customer to no customer

B. there are many places which should not be charged

C. customers are often afraid to complain the price

D. the desk clerks and managers often cheat the travelers

38. The passage was mainly written to ________.

A. advertise hotels B. complain high costs

C. serve the travelers D. introduce hotel services

(B)

Children who spend more time reading with their parents have a greater chance of becoming better readers than those who don’t. With help from their parents, children can learn techniques to improve their reading skills.

“A lot of parents think after their child learns to read, they should stop reading to them,” Donna George said. “They are sadly mistaken.”

George offers her services to parents at the Title I Learning Centers. She said reading aloud to children may be the most valuable thing parents can do. “It is better for children to hear things at a higher level than where they are,” George said. “Parents are their child’s first teacher.” Parents help their children build listening, phonics, comprehension and vocabulary skills when they read aloud to them.

Before parents can identify reading problems, they should escape the enemy-television and limit the time their children spend watching television. George suggested not allowing kids to have a TV in their bedrooms, setting a schedule of when kids can watch or keeping a list of how many programs children watch. Louise Joines said while her 14-year-old daughter and 10-year-old son enjoy reading, the television sometimes becomes a distraction. So she tries to build the situation by suggesting books the entire family will enjoy reading together, like the Harry Potter series.

Parents who do not read themselves should not count on their children being enthusiastic about it. If parents would read to their children at least 15 minutes every day, children would not have so many problems in school. It is the patents’ job to help build that desire in their children, and of course to know what kind of books to read is also important.

39. According to George, reading aloud to children ________.

A. help them correct mistakes

B. is helpful to their reading

C. is parents’ first duty to their children

D. can get children out of television’s attraction

40. The underlined word (in Paragraph 4 ) means something that __________.

A. can improve children’s reading

B. can help children’s right way of reading

C. can make children interested in reading

D. can make children not attentive

41. What does the fourth paragraph mainly want to show is important?

A. reading skills B. reading speed

C. feeding materials D. reading environment

42. If the passage is not completed, which of the following can follow the fifth paragraph?

A. Parents choose reading materials for their children.

B. Advice is given to control their children.

C. What TV programs children can watch during reading.

D. How children improve their reading by themselves.

43. Which one would be the best title for the passage?

A. Children Spend More Time Reading with Parents.

B. Parents Are Their Child’s First Teacher.

C. How Parents Make Their Child a Better Render.

D. How to Improve Children’s Reading Ability.