【推荐1】Spring is a wonderful season to celebrate rebirth and new life. The long, cold winter is over. The weather is warmer and sunnier. The trees again have leaves and the flowers are blooming. The season represents hope, joy and beauty. At this time, many people think of this classical music piece — Spring, which shows happiness. Italian composer Antonio Vivaldi wrote it in the seventeen hundred.

However, not all songs about spring are happy. This song written and sung by K.D. Lang is about dreaming of spring in cold dark places. She recorded I Dream of Spring in 2008.

Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein wrote It Might as Well Be Spring for the movie State Fair in 1945. Frank Sinatra sings it. It is a feeling of restlessness or excitement brought on by the coming of spring. Richard Rodgers also wrote Spring Is Here, this time with Lorenz Hart. Ella Fitzgerald sings this song about feeling lonely during this season.

Frank Loesser wrote the sad song, Spring Will be a Little Late This Year. Why has the season been delayed? Because the singer’s lover has left her. Sarah Vaughn released(发行) her version of the song in 1953.

By now you may be thinking, “Enough with the sad songs, already!” Ok, then how about a cowboy song? Gene Autry was one of America’s most famous singing cowboys. He recorded When It’s Springtime in the Rockies in 1937.

And finally, we’ll leave you with a sunny song called Up Jumped Spring. Freddie Hubbard wrote this jazz song in 1977 and Billy Taylor Trio performs it.

1. If you are in a bad mood, you’d better listen to _____.

A．Up Jumped Spring	B．I Dream of Spring
C．Spring Is Here	D．Spring Will be a Little Late This Year

2. It Might as Well Be Spring is a song that ______.

A．is also called State Fair	B．is sung by Ella Fitzgerald
C．has a lonely feeling	D．was written by two people

3. According to the passage, which of the following is TRUE?

A．Most songs about spring are written by Italian composers.

B．K.D. Lang was good at writing happy songs.

C．Sarah Vaughn sang the song Up Jumped Spring first.

D．Gene Autry was a famous cowboy singer before K.D. Lang.

4. Which of the following songs was first written or recorded?

A．Spring.

B．I Dream of Spring.

C．When It’s Springtime in the Rockies.

D．Spring Will be a Little Late This Year.

5. What’s the purpose of the author to write the passage?

A．Introduce some songs about spring.

B．Introduce some wonderful music.

C．Introduce some famous singers.

D．Express his/ her love to spring.

【推荐3】Adele’s new album, “ 30 ” , is finally available. Last month, hundreds of millions of us streamed its first single, “ Easy On Me. ” This song arouses feelings not easily put into words, but we can probably agree it is a sad song.     1     Yet sad music does pull us in and lift us up.

    2     When we experience real-life loss, or empathize (体会) with another’s pain, certain hormones are released within us. These help us to tackle loss and pain. They do so by making us feel calmed and supported. Feeling Adele’s pain, or recalling our own, may cause such chemical changes within us.

Psychologically, a key reason we enjoy sad songs is that they profoundly move us. Feeling moved can come from us suddenly feeling closer to other people. Indeed, when we have listened to “ 30 ” , we may turn to reaction videos to see how others feel.     3     And it boosts our feeling of being moved and triggers feelings of comfort and belonging.

We can also think at the spiritual level. Adele’s songs allow us to view the pleasure in terms of the meaning she helps us make. Adele takes hard life experiences and makes sense of them.     4     It takes the pain and suffering of the world and gives it meaning. As philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche once put it, someone who has a why to live can bear almost any how.

Ultimately, we listen to Adele’s songs when we want to recall, reflect, or belong. They let us feel her sadness, share our suffering, and connect with others. To all of us, Adele’s songs say:     5    

A．You are not alone in your pain.

B．Music is the source of sadness.

C．This is what much sad music does.

D．Let’s start with a biological theory.

E．Few people are aware sad music makes us feel good.

F．This lets us share an emotional experience with others.

G．This may make us feel uncomfortable when real loss strikes.

【推荐1】Booking flights can be really exciting, but the prices might shock you into not booking your dream vacation. Never fear! We’ve offered some best tips for finding the cheapest airfares.

◆ Be Flexible with Your Travel Dates and Times

Airline ticket prices vary greatly depending on the day of the week and time of the year. In general, Fridays and Sundays are the most desirable days, so tickets will be pricier. Prices are cheaper if you fly after a major holiday. Airlines know when a festival, holiday, or school break is coming up — and they raise prices accordingly. Be flexible with your dates and times, and you’ll save yourself some major money.

◆ Use Multiple Flight Platforms

Checking between the different platforms can often provide you with better insights into flight combinations and prices — for the same exact flights. Different platforms have different advantages and features, so play around with them all. You’ll quickly determine the one(s) you like best!

◆ Check for a Student Discount

As a student, you might be in luck. Some airlines, say, SAS (Scandinavian Airlines), have a student ticket which means that for up to one week before departure, students pay the cheapest fare. Normal travelers at that time have to pay a much higher price, but a SAS Youth Ticket may be only one quarter the price of a normal ticket.

◆ Keep an Eye for Special Deals

Before looking for specific flights, make sure you’ve signed up for some newsletters. Joining the mailing list for airlines will give you access to the absolute best deals. More often than not, cheap flights are only available for a limited window (usually 24 hours). Keeping your eye on the deals will ensure you don’t miss an amazing opportunity.

1. When might the airfares be the cheapest?

A．The first day of Christmas Holiday.

B．The middle day of Christmas Holiday.

C．The Friday before Christmas Holiday.

D．The Wednesday after Christmas Holiday.

2. Why is joining the mailing list for airlines advised according to the text?

A．To make travel time flexible.

B．To get access to special deals.

C．To check for a student discount.

D．To take advantage of different platforms.

3. In which section of a travel website can we read this text?

A．Book your trip.	B．Design your route.
C．Enjoy your tour.	D．Research your destination.

【推荐2】Being stuck at home doesn’t mean that learning stops. In fact, it's just the opposite. Here are some activities and resources to foster (促进) kids' imagination and build their curiosity at home.

Let's Get down to Science

The science lab at school may be closed, but kids can still put on goggles and a white lab coat and learn at home. This Test Tube Experiment Kit will make them feel like a genius in no time. Kids will get the chance to learn about basic chemistry, physics, and more by creating pop-resistant bubbles, bouncy balls, and other objects.

To Infinity (无穷) and Beyond

Earth is a part of the Milky Way, but do kids know how many galaxies there are in the universe? There are so many fun and fascinating things to learn about space that the possibilities truly go to infinity and beyond. A great way to start your child's educational space adventure is with this Discovery Real Life Sticker and Activity Book: Space.

Take a Walk on the Wild Side

Biology class is in session! Here's kids' chance to get up close and personal with a great white shark without putting on a wetsuit. This 4D Great White Shark Anatomy Kit allows them to get an inside look at what makes these predators of the deep so powerful. And then take an even deeper dive into a shark's world with I'm a Shark.

Let your kid take advantage of this time at home and find new ways to keep exploring the world around him.

1. What is common among these activities above?

A．They are all performed outdoors.

B．They are all associated with physics.

C．They all recommend some resources for kids to study.

D．They are all carried out by the way of experimenting.

2. Which resource favors children interested in stars?

A．The Test Tube Experiment Kit.

B．Discovery Real Life Sticker and Activity Book: Space.

C．The 4D Great White Shark Anatomy Kit.

D．I'm a Shark.

3. What's the shared goal of the activities?

A．To gain financial benefits.	B．To save kids from boredom.
C．To explore new technologies.	D．To inspire kids to study at home.

【推荐2】Tobacco has long been recognized as a huge health threat. It is known to cause lung and heart problems to many long-term users. According to the World Health Organization, 3,000,000 people die early each year because of tobacco use, including 890,000 deaths from second-hand smoke exposure.

E-cigarettes, an alternative (替代品) to smoking, have become popular. Also known as vaporizers (汽化器), they are electric devices that heat liquid nicotine into a vapor that can he taken in. This vapor is less harmful to inhale than smoke. For example, it does not produce tar (焦油), which can build up in a smoker’s lungs. Inhaling vapor - called vaping - is not without its own risks, however. Exposure to nicotine during youth can lead to addiction and cause long-term harm to brain development. The vapor may also contain harmful things. The Center for Disease Control has linked vaping to more than 805 cases of lung disease and 12 deaths so far in the US.

Vaping has greatly increased in popularity in the US, especially among teenagers. About 37 % of US high school seniors were reported vaping in 2018, up from 28% the year before, Harvard Health Publishing reported. Michael Blaha, a researcher at the Johns Hopkins Ciccarone Center for the Prevention of Heart Disease, listed 3 reasons that contributed to vaping’s popularity among young people. First, many teens eve that vaping is less harmful than smoking. Second, ecigarettes have a lower per-use cost than traditional cigrattes. Finally, e-cigarettes come in a wide range of sweet flavors, like apple pie and watermelon.

Blaha is most concerned that more teenagers are taking up vaping as a habit. “It’s one thing if you change from cigarette smoking to vaping. It’s quite another thing to start up nicotine use with vaping. And, it often leads to using traditional tobacco products down the road,” he said.

Governments around the world the divided about vaping. 39 countries and regions have banned the sale of e-cigarettes, according to the Global State of Tobacco Harm Reduction 2018. Last September, US President Donald Trump said the use of e-cigarettes might be negatively affecting young people and that it should be kept off the market until proved harmless.

1. The underlined word “inhale” in Paragraph 2 probably means “__________”.

A．blow away	B．spread out
C．give off	D．breathe in

2. In what way are e-cigarettes different from traditional tobacco products?

A．E-cigarettes do not produce tar.

B．E-cigarettes are not bad to smokers’ health.

C．E-cigarettes are less likely to cause nicotine addiction.

D．E-cigarettes do more harm to smokers’ brains than their lungs.

3. Why is vaping popular with young people according to Blaha?

A．Vaping is allowed at school.

B．Vaping makes them look cool.

C．They like the liquid taken from fruits.

D．They think it’s safer and cheaper than smoking.

4. What can we learn from Blaha’s words in Paragraph 4?

A．Those who smoke e-cigarettes tend to smoke tobacco later.

B．Vaping is more likely to attract teenagers than older people.

C．It usually takes a long time for smokers to enjoy e-cigarettes.

D．E-cigarettes should be encouraged to replace traditional tobacco products.

【推荐3】When I was ten years old, I went to the USA to visit some family friends. We travelled around California—Los Angeles, San Francisco and Las Vegas. I noticed something funny about the way everyone spoke English. I remember thinking, "This is the way they speak in films!" The only times I had really heard an American accent before were when I watched films such as Mean Girls and Freaky Friday. Most of the films I watched when I was a child were American.

One moment I remember very clearly was at the beginning of the holiday, when my friend asked me if I wanted to order ‘French fries’. I couldn't imagine what French fries were. What was fried and French? Snails? Cheese? She was amazed that I had never tried them and she ordered a portion for us to share. When the waiter brought us some chips, I asked her where the French fries were. She pointed to the plate of chips! Later that week she said she was going to buy some ‘chips’ from the supermarket. She came out with a packet of crisps! I was very confused.

During that holiday we were also offered ‘biscuits and gravy’ with our lunch. This was a very strange idea to me, because in England biscuits are sweet. Gravy is a salty, meat-based sauce. I later realized that ‘biscuits’ in America are salty snacks. What we call ‘biscuits’, they call ‘cookies’.

I was also embarrassed when a stranger told me she liked my ‘pants’. I remember thinking, “How can she see my underwear?” My mum then told me that they call ‘pants’ what we call ‘trousers’, the outer clothing that you wear on your legs!

I was disgusted when I saw an ‘eggplant’ pizza on the menu in a restaurant. Eggs do not grow on plants, I thought. What on earth could an ‘egg plant’ be? Something eggy and leafy? My dad ordered this pizza and it was covered in aubergines. I asked him where the “egg plant” was. He laughed and pointed to the aubergines. “They call this ‘eggplant’ in America!” he told me.

Although the same ‘language’ may be spoken in different countries, there are likely to be many differences, not just in vocabulary but also in spelling, grammar and pronunciation! I think part of the excitement of learning a language is learning about the differences that exist in how it is spoken in different places.

1. What did the writer think funny in the first paragraph?

A．English films.	B．American English
C．American customs.	D．British English.

2. We can infer that the writer comes from      .

A．the UK	B．Australia
C．France	D．the USA

3. The underlined word “disgusted” probably means      .

A．exhausted	B．annoyed
C．confused	D．interested

4. Which group words are both used in California?

A．Chips; Biscuits	B．Eggplant; Underwear
C．Pants; Cookies	D．French fries; Trousers

【推荐1】Dolphins are universally regarded as some of the cleverest creatures in the world. In captivity ( 圈养), they can be trained to complete complex tasks such as jumping through hoops and somersaulting through the air.

But their intelligence doesn’t stop there. In a recent study of cetaceans (鲸目动物)--a group of animals that includes dolphins and whales--researchers created a list of intelligent behaviors observed in 90 different cetacean species, reported the Guardian. For example, the smartest cetaceans hunt in groups, share knowledge through mimicry (模仿) and even care for each other's children. Some even consider their behavior to be human-like.

“There is the saying that ‘it takes a village to raise a child’ seems to be true for both whales and humans,”

Michael Muthukrishna of the London School of Economics, co-author of the study, told the Guardian.

However, cetaceans don’t just use their brain power for survival. The study suggests that dolphins might even gossip. That's because some species greet each other with specific whistles, just as humans greet each other by name, the Guardian reported. Sometimes, a group of dolphins whistles the “name” of a dolphin that isn't there. Could they be speaking about their “friend” behind its back?

For the researchers, dolphin small talk is a big deal. As they found that the most social cetaceans also have the largest brains, they argue that cetacean intelligence developed to meet the demands of complex social groups.

Known as the “cultural brain hypothesis (假设),” it had only been used to explain the intelligence of humans and other primates (灵长目动物). The new study aimed to find a common pathway for the evolution of intelligence among biologically different species.

“It is interesting to think that whale and human brains are different in their structure but have brought us to the same patterns in behavior, ” Luke Rendell, a biologist at the University of St Andrews, told the Guardian.

Indeed, we still have a lot to learn about our intelligent ocean-dwelling neighbors. “We don’ t have to look at other planets to look for aliens,” Muthukrishna told the Guardian, “because we know that underwater there are these amazing species with so many parallels to us in their complex behaviors.”

1. The recent study was intended to ______.

A．learn more about intelligent creatures of the sea

B．explain the intelligence of humans and cetaceans

C．create a list of intelligent behaviors of different cetacean species

D．see whether the intelligence of different species evolved in the same way

2. The implied   meaning of the underlined part in Paragraph 3 is that ______.

A．villagers have the responsibility   to raise any child in the village

B．like human beings, whales even help raise each other’s babies

C．cetaceans have social behaviors very similar to human beings

D．it is not easy for one villager to take care of his or her own child

3. It can be inferred from the passage that ______.

A．it is unnecessary to look for aliens and do research into them

B．some cetaceans have the same intelligence as human beings

C．both dolphins and whales greet each other with specific whistles

D．both dolphins and whales have a lot in common with humans in behaviors

4. What is the best title for this passage?

A．Aliens living underwater	B．A study of intelligent dolphins
C．Intelligent creatures of the sea	D．Reasons for the intelligence of sea creatures

【推荐2】Great Yarmouth is an English seaside town situated at the mouth of the River Yare, about 120 miles to the northeast of London. Around 5 million people visit Great Yarmouth every year, making it one of Britain’s most popular seaside resorts.
Formerly the home of one of the most profitable fishing industries, Great Yarmouth is a busy and very popular seaside resort. Undoubtedly, one of the most popular attractions is Great Yarmouth Pleasure Beach, a historic free entry pleasure park, which draws annually 1.5 million visitors. The two piers(码头), Britannia Pier and Wellington Pier, both contain family-orientated entertainment. As well as the usual thrills one would expect on a classic British seafront, Great Yarmouth also has a quieter side, with a fascinating heritage quarter to explore. Not many people know that Great Yarmouth has the most complete city walls after York, with heritage walks to help you discover this medieval (中世纪的) attraction along with several museums and houses dating back to many centuries. If ghost walks are more your cup of tea, Eerie Tales and Yarmouth Yarns is the tour for you.
Great Yarmouth is also a centre for the North Sea oil and gas industry and increasingly for offshore wind power. The Great Yarmouth Outer Harbour is a huge development currently taking place which can see larger ships coming to the town. The Great Yarmouth Maritime(海上的) Festival in September each year celebrates Great Yarmouth’s maritime heritage.
Over the past few years, Great Yarmouth has seen significant construction spending to improve and modernize the popular seafront area and to ensure it is linked to the town centre. Regent Road has a brilliant ceiling of light which is lit up in the evenings and is now a lovely street leading from the town centre to the seafront area.
1. What can we infer about the tour of the heritage area?

A．It must be thrilling.

B．It is family-orientated.

C．You are advised to keep calm.

D．The visitors must love peace.

2. Which of the following is making rapid progress?

A．The fishing industry.

B．The oil and gas industry.

C．The wind power industry.

D．The tourist industry.

3. What can we know about Great Yarmouth from the last paragraph?

A．Money is spent handling the traffic jams.

B．Efforts are made to make it more convenient.

C．The housing conditions are greatly improved.

D．The service quality is being considered.

4. What’s the best title for the passage?

A．A dreaming tourist place — Great Yarmouth

B．A fishing town into a modern city

C．Main industries of Great Yarmouth

D．The rise of Great Yarmouth

【推荐3】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 to the official festival. Eight uninvited theatre groups turned up in 1947, in the belief that everyone should have the right to perform, and they did so in a public house no longer used for years.

Soon, groups of students firstly from Edinburgh University, and later from the universities of Oxford, Cambridge, Durham and Birmingham were making the journey to the Scottish capital each summer to perform theatre by little-known playwrights(剧作家) 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 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(给……提供场地) 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 in the beginning?

A．To bring Europe together again.

B．To honor heroes of World WarⅡ.

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. Who joined the “Fringe” after it appeared?

A．Popular writers.

B．University students.

C．Artists from around the world.

D．Performers of music and dance.

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