【推荐1】In 1947 a group of famous people from the art world headed by an Austrian conductor decided to hold an international festival of music, dance and theatre in Edinburgh. The idea was to reunite Europe after the Second World War.

It quickly attracted famous names such as Alec Guinness, Richard Burton, Dame Margot Fonteyn and Marlene Dietrich as well as the big symphony orchestras(交响乐团). It became a fixed event every August and now attracts 400,000 people yearly.

At the same time, the “Fringe” appeared as a challenge(挑战) to the official festival. Eight theatre groups turned up uninvited in 1947, in the belief that everyone should have the right to perform, and they did so in a public house disused for years.

Soon, groups of students firstly from Edinburgh University, and later from the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, Durham and Birmingham were making the journey to the Scottish capital each summer to perform theatre by little -- known writers of plays in small church halls to the people of Edinburgh.

Today the “Fringe”, once less recognized, has far outgrown the festival with around 1,500 performances of theatre, music and dance on every one of the 21 days it lasts. And yet as early as 1959,with only 19 theatre groups performing, some said it was getting too big.

A paid administrator(行政人员) was first employed only in 1971, and today there are eight administrators working all year round and the number rises to 150 during August itself. In 2004 there were 200 places housing 1,695 shows by over 600 different groups from 50 different countries. More than 1.25 million tickets were sold.

1. What was the purpose of Edinburgh Festival at the beginning?

A．To bring Europe together again.	B．To honor heroes of World War II.
C．To introduce young theatre groups.	D．To attract great artists from Europe.

2. Why did some uninvited theatre groups come to Edinburgh in 1947?

A．They owned a public house there.	B．They came to take up a challenge.
C．They thought they were also famous.	D．They wanted to take part in the festival.

3. What does the “Fringe” mean in the third paragraph?

A．unpopular groups	B．non-official groups
C．foreign groups	D．local groups

4. We may learn from the text that Edinburgh Festival      .

A．has become a non-official event	B．has gone beyond an art festival
C．gives shows all year round	D．keeps growing rapidly

【推荐2】Researchers in the psychology department at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) have discovered a major difference in the way men and women respond to stress. This difference may explain why men are more likely to suffer from stress-related disorders.

Until now, psychological research has maintained that both men and women have the same “fight-or-flight“ reaction to stress. In other words, individuals either react with aggressive behavior, such as verbal or physical conflict (“fight”), or they react by withdrawing from the stressful situation (“flight”). However, the UCLA research team found that men and women have quite different biological and behavioral responses to stress. While men often react to stress in the fight-or-flight response, women often have another kind of reaction which could be called “tend and befriend. ” That is, they often react to stressful conditions by protecting and nurturing their young (“tend”), and by looking for social contact and support from others—especially other females (“befriend”).

Scientists have long known that in the fight-or-flight reaction to stress, an important role is played by certain hormones (激素) released by the body. The UCLA research team suggests that the female tend-or-befriend response is also based on a hormone. This hormone, called oxytocin (催产素), has been studied in the context of childbirth, but now it is being studied for its role in the response of both men and women to stress. The principal investigator, Dr. Shelley E. Taylor, explained that “animals and people with high levels of oxytocin are calmer, more relaxed, more social, and less anxious.” While men also secrete (分泌) oxytocin, its effects are reduced by male hormones.

In terms of everyday behavior, the UCLA study found that women are far more likely than men to seek social contact when they are feeling stressed. They may phone relatives or friends, or ask directions if they are lost.

The study also showed how fathers and mothers responded differently when they came home to their family after a stressful day at work. The typical father wanted to be left alone to enjoy some peace and quiet. For a typical mother, tackling a bad day at work meant focusing her attention on her children and their needs.

The differences in responding to stress may explain the fact that women have lower frequency of stress-related disorders such as high blood pressure or aggressive behavior. The tend-and-befriend regulatory (调节的) system may protect women against stress, and this may explain why women on average live longer than men.

1. The UCLA study shows that in response to stress, men are more likely than women to ____________.

A．turn to friends for help	B．solve a conflict calmly
C．seek comfort from children	D．find an escape from reality

2. Which of the following is true about oxytocin according to the passage?

A．Men have the same level of oxytocin as women do.

B．Oxytocin used to be studied in both men and women.

C．Oxytocin has more of an effect on women than on men.

D．Both animals and people have high levels of oxytocin.

3. What can be learned from the passage?

A．Biological differences lead to different behavioral responses to stress.

B．In a family a mother cares more about children than a father does.

C．Male hormones help build up the body’s resistance to stress.

D．The UCLA study was designed to confirm previous research findings.

4. The underlined word in the Paragraph 5 may mean ___________.

A．anticipating

B．managing

C．claiming

D．dealing

5. Which of the following might be the best title of the passage?

A．How researchers handle stress-related disorders

B．How men and women suffer from stress

C．How researchers overcome stress problems

D．How men and women get over stress

【推荐3】City trees grow faster and die younger than trees in rural forestry, a new study finds. Over their lifetimes,then, urban trees will likely absorb less CO2 from the air thah forest trees.

As we all know, the earth would be freezing or burning hot without CO2. However, CO2 is a greenhouse gas, meaning it traps energy from the sun as/heat. That makes temperatures near the ground rise. Human activities, especially the widespread burning-of fossil(化石）fuels，have been sending extra greenhouse gases into the air. This has led to a rise in average temperatures across the globe.

Studies had shown forests readily absorb CO2，but there hadn’t been much data on whether city trees grow， die and absorb CO2 at the same rate as forest trees do. So some researchers decided to find out.

To figure out how quickly trees were growing, researchers tracked their diameters (the width of their trunks) between 2005 and 2014. A tree’s diameter increases as it grows, just as a person’s waist size increases as they gain weight. About half the weight of a tree is carbon, research has shown. Most of the rest is water. Over the nine years’ tracking, the researchers found city trees absorbed four times as much carbon from the air as forest trees. However, they were twice as likely to die. So over the lifetime of each type of tree, forest trees actually absorbed more CO2.

City trees grew faster because they had less competition for light from their neighbors. In a forest，trees tend to grow close together，shading their neighbors. Street trees also benefit from higher levels of nitrogen (氮）in rainwater. Nitrogen helps plants grow. Waste gases from gas-burning cars also contain nitrogen, thus enriching city air with nitrogen. Later, rainwater may wash much of it to the ground. Some street trees may also have better access to water than trees in the country because the underground water pipes can leak.

1. What can he known about CO2 from paragraph 2?

A．It is one of the side effects of greenhouses.

B．It greatly accelerates the process of global warming.

C．It results from the widespread burning of fossil fuels.

D．It prevents the earth from becoming unsuitable to live on.

2. Why did researchers track the diameters of trees?

A．To know about their growth rates.

B．To find out how much they weigh.

C．To check whether they were healthy.

D．To assess the carbon amounts in them.

3. What advantage do city trees have over forest trees?

A．They are more likely to access growth promoters.

B．They can enjoy more water coming from the air.

C．They can enjoy more shade from neighbors.

D．They are better at competing for light.

4. What will probably be talked about if the passage is continued?

A．How urban trees can live longer.

B．Why city living makes trees die young.

C．How trees respond to dry soil conditions.

D．Why faster-growing trees absorb more CO2.

【推荐1】The practice of students endlessly copying letters and sentences from a blackboard is a thing of the past. With the coming of new technologies like computers and smartphone, writing by hand has become something of nostalgic (怀旧的）skill. However，while today’s educators are using more and more technology in their teaching, many believe basic handwriting skills are still necessary for students to be successful---both in school and in life.

Virginia Berninger, professor of educational psychology at the University of Washington, says it’s important to continue teaching handwriting and help children acquire the skill of writing by hand.

Berninger and her colleagues conducted a study that looked at the ability of students to complete various writing tasks---both on a computer and by hand. The study, published in 2009, found that when writing with a pen and paper, participants wrote longer essays and more complete sentences and had a faster word production rate.

In a more recent study, Berninger looked at what role spelling plays in a student’s writing skills and found that how well children spell is tied to know well they can write. “Spelling makes some of the thinking parts of the brain active which helps us access our vocabulary, word meaning and concepts. It is allowing our written language to connect with ideas.” Berninger said.

Spelling helps students translate ideas into words in their mind first and then to transcribe(转换）“those words in the mind written symbols on paper or keyboard and screen,” the study said. Seeing the words in the “mind’s eye” helps children not only to turn their ideas into words, says Berninger, but also to spot spelling mistakes when they write the words down and to correct then over time.

“In our computer age, some people believe that we don’t have to teach spelling because we have spell checks,” she said. “But until a child functional spelling ability of about a fifth grade level, they won't have knowledge to choose the correct spelling among the options given by the computer.”

1. What makes writing by hand a thing of the past?

A．The absence of blackboard in classroom.

B．The use of new technologies in teaching.

C．The lack of practice in handwriting.

D．The popular use of smartphones.

2. Berninger’s study published in 2009 .

A．focused on the difference between writing by hand and on a computer.

B．indicated that students prefer to write with a pen and paper.

C．found that good essays are made up of long sentences.

D．discussed the importance of writing speed.

3. Which of the following best shows the role of spelling?

A．Spelling improves one’s memory of words.

B．Spelling ability is closely related to writing ability.

C．Spelling benefits the translation from words into ideas.

D．Spelling slows down finding exact words to express ideas.

4. What does “mind’s eye” in paragraph 5 mean?

A．Window.	B．Soul
C．Picture.	D．Imagination.

5. What conclusion could be drawn from the passage?

A．Computers can help people with their choice of words.

B．Spell checks can take the place of spelling teaching.

C．Handwriting still has a place in today’s classrooms.

D．Functional spelling ability develops fast in the fifth grade.

【推荐2】Languages have been coming and going for thousands of years, but in recent time there has been less coming and a lot more going. When the world was still populated by hunter-gatherers, small, tightly knit (联系) groups developed their own patterns of speech independent of each other. Some language experts believe that 10,000 years ago, when the world had just five to ten million people, they spoke perhaps 12,000 languages between them.

Soon afterwards, many of those people started settling down to become farmers, and their languages too became more settled and fewer in number. In recent centuries, trade, industrialization, the development of the nation-state and the spread of universal compulsory education, especially globalization and better communications in the past few decades, all have caused many languages to disappear, and dominant (占优势的) languages such as English, Spanish and Chinese are increasingly taking over.

At present, the world has about 6,800 languages. The distribution of these languages is hugely uneven. The general rule is that mild zones have relatively few languages, often spoken by many people while hot, wet zones have lots, often spoken by small numbers. Europe has only around 200 languages; the America about 1,000; Africa 2,400; and Asia and the Pacific perhaps 3,200, of which Papua New Cuinea alone accounts for well over 800. The median number (中位数) of speakers is a mere 6,000, which means that half the world’s languages are spoken by fewer people than that.

Already well over 400 of the total of 6,800 languages are close to extinction (消亡), with only a few elderly speakers left. Pick, at random, Busuu in Cameroon (8 remaining speakers), Chiapaneco in Mexico (150), Lipan Apache in the United States (2 or 3) or Wadjigu in Australia (1, with a question-mark); none of these seems to have much chance of survival.

1. What can we learn about language development from the passage?

A．Globalization has brought about more new languages.

B．Settling down makes people develop more kinds of languages.

C．Education is one of the reasons for some languages’ disappearance.

D．Around 1,000 languages only have a few elderly speakers left.

2. What does he underlined word “ uneven” in Paragraph 3 probably means

A．Not equal.	B．Not narrow.
C．Not limited.	D．Not good.

3. About how many kinds of languages are spoken by less than 6,000 people at present?

A．6,800.	B．2,400.
C．3,400.	D．1,200.

4. What is mainly discussed in the passage?

A．Human being has created a great number of languages.

B．Language disappearance leads to the extinction of some cultures.

C．Geography is one factor of language evolution.

D．Globalized events cause languages to be fewer.

【推荐3】DNA analysis has revealed family relationships between more than 10 generations of Stone Age people at megalithic(巨石的) tombs in Ireland and Sweden.

The evidence suggests that megaliths, prehistoric large stone structures, sometimes acted as graves for family groups in northwestern Europe thousands of years ago. The latest findings throw new light on the origins and social structure of the groups that built megaliths in this region—a history that has long been hidden in mystery.

For their study, the international team of researchers analyzed the genomes—the complete set of genetic material in a cell—of 24 Stone Age individuals from five megalithic burial sites in lreland, Scotland and Gotland, a large Swedish island in the Baltic Sea.

This analysis showed that many of the individuals buried at each megalith, who all lived between 3,800 B.C. and 2,600 B.C., according to radiocarbon-dating of their remains, were closely related via family ties.

The results also showed that the individuals buried at the megaliths were related to Neolithic(新石器时代的) farmers in northern and western Europe but genetically distinct from other hunter-gatherers. This was particularly noticeable at the Ansarve site on the island of Gotland.

“The people buried in the Ansarve tomb are remarkably different on a genetic level compared to the individuals dug out from hunter-gather contexts, showing that the burial tradition in this megalithic tomb, which lasted for over 700 years, was performed by distinct groups with roots in the European Neolithic expansion,” Magdalena Fraser, co-first author from Uppsala University, said in the statement

1. What’s the significance of the new finding?

A．It reveals the family ties between people in Ireland and Sweden.

B．It implies that many people buried in the tombs were closely related.

C．It indicates the long-hidden mystery concerning DNA analysis.

D．It suggests that the megaliths became tombs thousands of years ago.

2. How did the researchers reach their findings?

A．By interviewing individuals.	B．By travelling to different regions.
C．By analyzing genes.	D．By studying the burial sites.

3. What’s the main idea of this passage?

A．Megaliths served as tombs thousands of year ago.

B．People buried at the megaliths were recently analyzed.

C．Latest findings shed light on a mystery about burials.

D．Stone-age people in Ireland and Sweden had close ties.

【推荐1】At the 4th Street Photo Gallery on the comer of the Bowery, many photos are strung together like clothes on a laundry line. There are portraits of Muhammad Ali and Jean-Michel Basquiat, plus a series of cityscapes detailedly captured over 60 years by Alex Harsley, a neglected but talented New York photographer.

The city has been Mr Harsley’s home since 1948, when, aged ten, he moved there from South Carolina. He took his first photograph ten years later, and became the first black photographer to work for the city’s district attorney’s office. His vivid pictures freeze moments in New York’s evolution from the 1950s to the present. “It could start with the smell of something burning.” he says of his method. “And then you see a family sitting on the steps of a funeral home sadly looking at the firemen going through their routine.”

Some of the scenes in the collection were captured from the window of his old apartment in Harlem; they include images of black activists, streets submerged in snow and shots of the Crown Heights riots of 1991. A.D. Coleman, a photography critic, says Mr. Harsley has been able to capture the lives of minority groups by making himself “invisible”. His aim has been to assemble these fragments (片段) into an extended history of the city.

Mr. Harsley’s gallery is a time capsule. For decades, it is also a hub for the city’s artistic underworld. In the 1970s New York’s photography scene was flourishing, but exclusive. As Mr. Harsley puts it, “a number of great artists were swept aside” because they lacked connections. Helping talent became part of his mission. In 1971 he established The Minority Photographers, an organization that helps up-and-coming artists exhibit their work. He opened his gallery two years later; many photographers have had their first shows there.

1. How does the author describe Alex Harsley in the first paragraph?

A．Undervalued but expert.	B．Gifted but exclusive.
C．Unknown but devoted.	D．Gifted but awkward.

2. What does the underlined sentence mean?

A．His pictures show freezing weather in New York from the 1950s to the present.

B．His pictures capture the cheerful moments in New York since the 1950s.

C．His pictures record some historic occasions of New York over the past decades.

D．His pictures illustrate the vivid lives of minority groups in New York over the past decades.

3. Why does Mr. Harsley make himself “invisible”?

A．To assemble the minority groups of the city.

B．To highlight the lives of minority groups.

C．To help promising artists attract more public attention.

D．To build connections between the minority groups and himself.

4. How did Mr. Harsley help the other artists?

A．He excluded those who looked down upon the unknown artists.

B．He set an organization displaying their works.

C．He established the connections between up-and-coming artists and famous ones.

D．He reduced the rents of the gallery where their photography works were shown.

【推荐3】Every year migratory（迁徙的） bats travel from Mexico to Bracken Cave, where they spend the summer consuming insects that would otherwise hungrily eat common food crops. But the bats have been showing up far earlier than they did two decades ago.

In a study, scientists at Rothamsted Research, used radar data from 160 U.S. weather stations to analyze activity in the Texas bat colony from 1995 through 2017. They discovered the creatures were leaving their winter quarters in Mexico earlier and reproducing sooner. They were also astonished to find increasing numbers of bats overwintering（过冬）at Bracken Cave instead of heading back to their cold weather quarters in Mexico. Overwintering is a sign that warmer temperatures change the bats' annual rhythms, Rothamsted biologist Phillip Stepanian says.

A separate study of migratory bats in Indiana, published last year, found that temperature variations affected arrival and departure times-likewise hinting at the potential influence of climate change. Joy O'Keefe, a biology professor and co-author of that study, says early arrival at their summer habitats could expose these bats to cold snaps（寒流）, and they could freeze to death.

Joy O’Keefe and her colleagues also found that changing bat migration times can also clash with rainfall patterns. Many insects that bats eat breed in seasonal lakes and puddles. If the bats arrive too early to benefit from summer rainfall and the resulting abundance of insects, they may struggle to feed their pups（幼崽） or skip reproduction altogether, O’Keefe says. She fears this shift could cause Midwestern bats to decrease toward extinction, which would be bad news for humans. “Declines in bat populations could have severe effects for crop success,” she says, adding that bats also “control significant disease vectors, such as mosquitoes.”

However, scientists are not certain that climate change alone is causing the Bracken Cave bat colony to migrate earlier. They have found a direct link between seasonal temperatures and bird migration, but bats are also influenced by factors such as changes in wind speed and direction. And there are other complications. “Bats are mysterious little animals that move mostly at night and are difficult to observe and track ,”   Stepanian says. “We have this conceptual picture of what might be happening, but really tying it to the cause is the next step.”

1. What is the best title for the passage?

A．Bats’ habitants	B．Endangered bats
C．Bats’ migration	D．Bats, our good friends

2. Scientists at Rothamsted Research found that ______.

A．bats prefer heading back to Mexico	B．bats delay their reproduction
C．warming affects bat migration	D．radar can be used to observe bats

3. Joy O’Keefe discovered that ______.

A．bats are used to living in rainfall seasons

B．bats’ earlier migration might harm farming

C．insects' reproduction helps to spread disease

D．insects shortage makes bats reproduce earlier

4. What does the underlined word they refer to?

A．Insects.	B．migration times.
C．Bats.	D．lakes and puddles.

5. What does the last paragraph want to tell us?

A．Wind speed and direction affect bats.

B．It is difficult to observe and track bats.

C．Climate change makes bats migrate earlier.

D．Further research on the cause is necessary.

【推荐1】Feel the Music

We’ve all heard of smart phones, but how about smart clothing? The CuteCircuit company has stepped up the technology beat and invented the SoundShirt, which was designed specifically for people who are deaf or hard of hearing. How does this incredible shirt work?

First, let’s talk about a little science. People who have either all or some hearing loss don’t actually listen to music the way that hearing people do, but they can feel it. Sound is made up of vibrations, called sound waves, which hearing people can hear through their ears with the help of the brain. What’s really cool is that deaf people sense vibrations in the part of the brain that others use for hearing!

So how is this remarkable technology able to function? First, CuteCircuit had to figure out a way to send signals to the body, kind of like how you can feel when your phone vibrates in silent mode. Those connections the body can feel are called haptics, a use of technology that simulates the senses of touch and motion. The SoundShirt has tiny sensors woven into the shirt to pick up sound and transfer signals to the brain and body.

To test this music-to-shirt-to-wearer’s brain connection, CuteCircuit set microphones around the stage of a symphony orchestra. The shirt’s computer system digitally received the sounds coming from the instruments. Then the sensors, working like little motors, changed the signals into vibrations and the shirt wearer’s brain did the rest.

The SoundShirt lets people who are deaf or hard of hearing enjoy music in a unique way. The very deep musical sound, or pitch, of instruments like drums and basses vibrates in the lower part of the shirt. Higher pitched sounds from instruments like the flute or violin vibrate higher, around the neck and arms. As the music plays, the sensations combine while the brain gets to work putting together all the different vibrations, allowing the wearer to “hear” the concert.

You might think this innovation would look like something out of a science fiction movie, but in fact, these shirts are wireless! And the decorative laser-lined design on the shirt looks like an image of sound waves.

Technology’s purpose is to help people and make life better. Think of all the amazing things designers, engineers, and producers of wearable tech will be able to do for humankind.

1. What’s the passage mainly about?

A．Wearable technology like the SoundShirt is the wave of the future.

B．CuteCircut tested the SoundShirt with a symphony orchestra.

C．The SoundShirt lets people who are deaf or hard of hearing enjoy music.

D．Deep musical sounds from drums vibrate in the lower part of the SoundShirt.

2. Which of the following statements is an opinion?

A．Tiny sensors in the SoundShirt change sound signals into vibrations.

B．Those who have hearing loss are able to sense sound vibrations.

C．Deep musical sounds vibrate in the lower part of the SoundShirt.

D．It’s amazing that the SoundShirt is made without any wires.

3. What can be inferred about the SoundShirt described in the passage?

A．Before the SoundShirt, deaf people had no way of feeling sound.

B．The SoundShirt doesn’t work without the power of the human brain.

C．The SoundShirt works when the wearer is listening to a symphony orchestra.

D．CuteCircuit is giving away its SoundShirts to those deaf or hard of hearing.

4. The author probably wrote this passage to .

A．advise that companies should focus on applying wearable technology

B．advocate that technology can be used to create products that help others

C．prove that the design of wearable technology is a rewarding industry in future

D．exemplify that musical instruments can be used to change technology for the better

【推荐2】Sometimes just when we need the power of miracles to change our beliefs， they materialize in the places we’d least expect. They can come to us as a drastic alteration in our physical reality or as a simple synchronicity in our lives. Sometimes they’re big and can’t be missed Other times they’re so subtle that if we aren’t aware， we may miss them altogether. They can come from the lips of a stranger we suddenly and mysteriously encounter at just the right instant. If we listen carefully, we’ll always hear the right words，at the right time， to dazzle us into a realization of something that we may have failed to notice only moments before.
On a cold January afternoon in 1989，I was hiking up the trail that leads to the top of Egypt’s Mt. Horeb. I’d spent the day at St. Catherine’s Monastery and wanted to get to the peak by sunset to see the valley below. As I was winding up the narrow path，I’d occasionally see other hikers who were coming down from a day on the mountain. While they would generally pass with simply a nod or a greeting in another language，there was one man that day who did neither.
I saw him coming from the last switchback on the trail that led to the backside of the mountain. As he got closer，I could see that he was dressed differently from the other hikers I’d seen. Rather than the high-tech fabrics and styles that had been the norm，this man was wearing traditional Egyptian clothing. He wore a tattered， rust-colored galabia and obviously old and thick-soled sandals that were covered in dust. What made his appearance so odd，though，was that the man didn’t even appear to be Egyptian！ He was a small-framed Asian man, had very little hair，and was wearing round，wire-rimmed glasses.
As we neared one another，I was the first to speak.“Hello，”I said，stopping on the trail for a moment to catch my breath. Not a sound came from the man as he walked closer. I thought that maybe he hadn’t heard me or the wind had carried my voice away from him in another direction. Suddenly he stopped directly in front of me on the high side of the trail， looked up from the ground， and spoke a single sentence to me in English，“Sometimes you don’t know what you have lost until you’ve lost it.”As I took in what I had just heard，he simply stepped around me and continued his descent down the trail.
That moment in my life was a small miracle. The reason is less about what the man said and more about the timing and the context. The year was 1989，and the Cold War was drawing to a close. What the man on the trail couldn’t have known is that it was during my Egyptian pilgrimage， and specifically during my hike to the top of Moses’s mountain，that I’d set the time aside to make decisions that would affect my career in the defense industry，my friends，my family，and，ultimately，my life.
I had to ask myself what the chances were of an Asian man dressed in an Egyptian galabia coming down from the top of this historic mountain just when I was walking up，stopping before me，and offering his wisdom，seemingly from out of nowhere. My answer to my own question was easy： the odds were slim to none！ In an encounter that lasted less than two minutes on a mountain halfway around the world from my home， a total stranger had brought clarity， and the hint of a warning， regarding the huge changes that I would make within a matter of days. In my way of thinking，that’s a miracle.
I suspect that we all experience small miracles in our lives every day. Sometimes we have the wisdom and the courage to recognize them for what they are. In the moments when we don’t，that’s okay as well. It seems that our miracles have a way of coming back to us again and again. And each time they do，they become a little less subtle ，until we can’t possibly miss the message that they bring to our lives！
The key is that they’re everywhere and occur every day for different reasons， in response to the different needs that we may have in the moment. Our job may be less about questioning the extraordinary things that happen in our daily lives and more about accepting the gifts they bring.
1. Why did the author make a pilgrimage to Mt. Horeb in Egypt?

A．He was in search of a miracle in his life.

B．It was a holy place for a religious person to head for.

C．He intended to make arrangements for his life in the future.

D．He waited patiently in expectation of meeting a wise person.

2. What does the underlined part “my own question” refer to in Paragraph 6?

A．For what reason did the man stop before me?

B．Why did the Asian man go to the mountain?

C．What change would I make within a matter of days?

D．What was the probability that others told us the right words?

3. Which of the following is closest in meaning to the underlined word “subtle” in Paragraph 7?

A．Apparent.	B．Delicate.
C．Precise.	D．Sufficient.

4. The author viewed the encounter with the Asian man as a miracle in his life in that     .

A．the Asian man’s appearance had a deciding effect on his future life

B．his words were in perfect response to the need he had at that moment

C．what the Asian man said was abundant in the philosophy of life

D．the Asian man impressed on him the worth of what he had possessed

5. What might be the best title for the passage?

A．Can you recognize a miracle?

B．Is a miracle significant to us?

C．When might a miracle occur?

D．Why do we need a miracle?

【推荐3】The age of adulthood is by definition arbitrary. If everyone matured at the same, fixed rate, it wouldn’t be a human process. Indeed, maturation happens at varying speeds across different categories within the same individual, so I’d say I was easily old enough to vote at 16, but nobody should have given me a credit card until I was 32, and I’ve got the county court judgment to prove it.

However, we broadly agree that there’s a difference between a child and an adult, even if we might argue about the transition point. So the political theorist David Runciman’s view that six-year-olds should be allowed to vote goes against any standard argument about the age of civic responsibility. Nobody would say that a six-year-old could be held criminally responsible, could be sent to war, could be capable of consent, could be given responsibility for anything. So allowing them the vote—along with, unavoidably, seven-year-olds who are even sillier, if anything—is quite an amusing proposal.

Runciman’s argument is that this is the only way to rebalance political life, which is currently twisted in favor of the old, who don’t (he added) ever need to demonstrate mental capacity, even long after they’ve lost it.

The first part of his case is self-evident: pensions are protected while children’s centers are closed, concepts such as sovereignty (最高权威) are prioritized over the far more urgent business of the future: climate change. Nostalgia (怀念) for a past the young wouldn’t even recognize plays a central role, which is completely unfair.

Most of the arguments against giving six-year-olds a vote are that children would end up voting for something damaging and chaotic, if someone made unrealistic promises to them, which could never be realized. Well, it’s not children’s fault.

Having said that, children do tend towards the progressive, having a natural sense of justice (which kicks in at the age of six months, psychologists have shown, by creating scenes of great unfairness to babies, and making them cry) and an underdeveloped sense of self-interest. My kid, when he was six, made quite a forceful case against private property, on the basis that, since everybody needed a house, they shouldn’t cost money, because nobody would want anyone else not to have one. Also, food should be free. It was a kind of pre-Marx communism, where you limit the coverage of the market to only those things that you wouldn’t mind someone else not having.

On that particular day, when we were registered as voters, my kid was quite far to the left of me, but in the normal run of things, we’re united, which brings us to the point of the problem: children obey you on almost nothing, but they do seem to believe in your politics until they’re adolescent. So giving kids the vote is really just a way of giving parents extra votes. And what can stop us having even more children, once there’s so much enfranchisement (选举权) in it for us?

Now, if parents could be trusted to use their influence wisely, and hammer into children the politics it will take to assure a better future, then I wouldn’t necessarily have a problem with that, apart from, obviously, that culture is already wildly twisted towards parents, and I can imagine a few non-parents boiling with fierce anger. But that’s not worth talking about anyway, because parents can’t be trusted, otherwise we’d all already vote Green(绿党).

In short: no, six-year-olds should not get the vote; but while we’re here, if any votes come up in the near future, which will have an impact on the next five decades of British political life, alongside EU migrants, 16-year-olds certainly should be enfranchised.

1. The author refers to his age of adulthood to prove that ________.

A．certain rights are granted at different stages of life

B．there’s a common standard for the age of adulthood

C．people mature at different rates in various aspects

D．a credit card is more difficult to get than the vote

2. People reject David Runciman’s proposal because ________.

A．they believe children are far from mature in many ways

B．they are uncertain whether children can assume responsibility

C．they know the age to get the vote is not to be questioned

D．they don’t think a child can grow into adulthood earlier

3. What is the base for David Runciman’s argument?

A．Public ignorance of children’s abilities.	B．Inequalities of opportunity.
C．A cultural preference for the old.	D．The imbalance in political life.

4. The author talks about his kid to indicate that ________.

A．children are in favor of a just society and tend to be idealistic

B．children are innocent and don’t want to be involved in politics

C．children are simple-minded and can fall for an adult’s trick

D．children are good-natured and like to help people in need

5. The author thinks allowing children the vote may lead to ________.

A．twisted culture

B．parents’ objections

C．misuse of rights

D．unusual maturation

6. What is the main point of the passage?

A．There is a difference between adults and children.

B．Allowing children the vote is not altogether absurd.

C．The definition of adulthood is quite controversial.

D．Parents should introduce politics to their children.