B
There are many special hotels around the world. In Sweden, you can stay in a hotel made out of ice, open between December and April every year. In Turkey, you can stay in a cave (洞穴) hotel. And in Bolivia, you can stay at the hotel—the Palace of Salt.
Thousands of years ago, the area around the Palace of Salt was a large lake. But over time, all the water went away. Today, the area has only two small lakes and two salt deserts.
The larger of the two deserts, the Uyuni Salt Desert, is 12,000 square kilometres. During the day, the desert is bright white because of the salt. There are no roads across the Uyuni Salt Desert, so local people must show visitors the way to the Palace of Salt.
In the early 1990s, a man named Juan Quesada cut big blocks of salt from the desert. He used the blocks to build the hotel—the Palace of Salt. Everything in the hotel is made out of salt: the walls, the roof, even the furniture (家具), so the tables, the chairs, the beds and the hotel's bar are all made of salt.
The sun heats (加热) the walls and roof during the day. At night the desert is very cold, but the rooms stay warm. The hotel has sixteen rooms. A single room (单人间) costs about $ 100 a night, and a double room costs about $ 130.
A sign on the hotel's wall says, "Please do not taste the walls."
(
D
) 5. What is special about the Palace of Salt?
A. Its long history.
B. The visitors that stay there.
C. The price (价格) of the rooms.
D. The building material.
(
C
) 6. Who may Juan Quesada be?
A. A hotel guest (客人).
B. A guide.
C. The hotel's owner (主人).
D. A local teacher.
(
B
) 7. Where did the salt used for the hotel come from?
A. A salt factory.
B. The salt desert.
C. A cave.
D. The lake.
(
B
) 8. Which of the following about the area around the Palace of Salt is NOT true?
A. It was a lake many years ago.
B. There are many roads to the hotel.
C. It is white during the day.
D. It is more than 10,000 square kilometres.
