A
One day in March, seven years ago, during happy hours at a bar in my hometown of Fayetteville, Arkansas, I made a surprise announcement to my friends: I was going to shut down my law practice and attempt to travel around the globe in a year. What's more, I would do it without taking any flights or making a single advance reservation of any kind. My announcement drew mixed reactions from my friends. Some offered support and encouragement, while others were more doubtful.
Once I had said the words, there was no turning back. It took months to shut down my practice and get things in order. Once I set off on my adventure in December 2008，I found travelling without using planes was not easy. Trying to circle the globe in 16 months(it took me a bit longer than the initial 12 months planned)made it even harder. Even so, travelling overland was the most amazing way to truly understand the immensity(浩瀚无际)of our wonderful planet.
I took three consecutive(连续的)overnight buses to travel 3，000 km through Argentina, from Ushuaia to the capital Buenos Aires. I would look out of the windows for hours continuously at the completely unspoiled plains, as if humans had never touched it.
It took seven consecutive days and nights on trains to get from Moscow to Beijing, each day spent staring out of the windows for hours as the Siberian plains swept by. Sometimes, I wouldn't see a village or a human being for 10 hours. Later in my journey, it took 22 days on a cargo freighter(货船)to get from New Zealand through the Panama Canal and back to Philadelphia, to finish my roundtheworld adventure.
It turned out that travelling with no reservations was far less difficult than I had imagined.Pulling into a city on a bus with a backpack，looking in a guidebook for a few suggestions of accommodations，and then finding an empty room was never much of a problem anywhere.It also kept me flexible and open about all my travel plans，which is advice I give everyone who asks—plan far less than you think you should.
( D )21．The author most probably returned to the United States in ________．
A. June 2009 B. December 2009
C. February 2010 D. April 2010
( B )22．What does the underlined word“unspoiled”mean in Paragraph 3?
A. Unimportant. B. Undamaged.
C. Invaluable. D. Priceless.
( A )23．What does the author think of his roundtheworld tour?
A. Challenging but pleasant.
B. Dangerous but wonderful.
C. Boring and disappointing.
D. Costly and painful.
答案及解析：
【语篇解读】这是一篇记叙文。文章主要讲了作者在没有任何计划的前提下进行了环球旅行，结果证明毫无准备的旅行比想象的要容易得多。
21．D 细节理解题。根据第二段中的“Once I set off on my adventure in December 2008, I found travelling without using planes was not easy. Trying to circle the globe in 16 months (it took me a bit longer than the initial 12 months planned) made it even harder.可知，作者在2008年12月开始环球之旅，用16个月绕地球一圈(比他最初计划的12个月花的时间要长一点)，由此可知，作者很可能是2010年4月回到了美国。故选D项。
22．B 词义猜测题。根据画线词后“as if humans had never touched it”可知，人类似乎从来没有碰过这些平原，所以“unspoiled”意为“未遭破坏的”，故选B项。
23．A 推理判断题。根据第二段中的“I found travelling without using planes was not easy.”可知，作者在2008年12月开始他的环球之旅时，他发现不坐飞机旅行并不容易；结合最后一段的“It turned out that travelling with no reservations was far less difficult than I had imagined.”可知，没有计划的旅行远没有想象中那么困难。所以作者的旅行有一定的挑战性，但总体上是愉快的。故选A项。
