【推荐1】5 Ways to Get Work Done

As the day draws to a close,are you having trouble finishing your work? You don't need to end up with a sense of failure.In the hours left,the following ways can help you get things done to have a sense of achievement.

1.Trick yourself.

    1    .So,try this: add something to your to-do-list that takes only 30 seconds to finish.Feeling a bit inspired? Then use as short a deadline to deal with another.Or focus on something by giving yourself only five minutes,and then work as long as you can.

2.Take lots of breaks.

Find yourself checking your cellphone or reading the Internet?    2    .Have some breaks,and you'll be able to face your work again with delight.

3.Use rewards.

One-hundred more words on this report,and you can have a cup of coffee.One more phone call,and you can check your personal email.    3    .

4.    4    .

Most of us spend too much of our day sitting.It's bad for our health and bad for our concentration.Take a walk or do some jumping in a free meeting room—anything to get you refreshed and your brain working again.

5.Work as a team.

When you have a big project deadline coming up,you can even keep a meeting room and work in the same place.    5    ,but also you'll feel more connected to your co-workers while doing it.

A．Get physical exercise

B．Don't feel guilty

C．Do things energetically

D．Not only will you get more done

E．Rewards are wonderful motivators

F．Endless work makes us busy and tired every day

G．A feeling of having made progress will inspire you

【推荐2】“No act of kindness,no matter how small,is ever wasted."

－Aesop

Today is Random Acts of Kindness Day.It's a day set aside to show extra kindness to the people around us-those we know and those we don't.Smiling and saying a few encouraging words is easy. But an act of kindness is something you actually do.A random act of kindness is usually unexpected and unplanned.Maybe you help someone carry groceries.Maybe you pay for a stranger's coffee.Or maybe send an encouraging note to a friend.

Caring for others is nothing new.In fact,the Bible tells everyone to"Love your neighbor as yourself."But who is your neighbor?There is an example in the story of"The Good Samaritan”。

It tells of a traveler who was robbed and beaten.A religious leader saw the man lying in the road but didn't stop to help.Another religious man also ignored him.But a Samaritan came along.He was a foreigner.He showed compassion and took care of the strangers' needs.He showed mercy.

Is helping strangers a thing of the past?Are people today too busy or too afraid to help someone they don't know?I know from experience that goodwill between strangers still exists.

One Sunday morning I was running late for church.As I started to drive off,I noticed an elderly lady.She was dragging a large piece of wood out of the rain.I was in a hurry,but I hesitated.Then I stopped my car,got out and helped her move the wood.

Months went by.Then one day,I saw some workmen cleaning out an old store.There in the pile of trash was a large Coca-cola cooler.How fun!A worker said I could have it,so I picked it up and started home.I didn't get very far.It was much heavier than I thought.Then out of the blue,the elderly lady appeared with a cart!I had helped her,and she was returning the favor.Go and help your neighbor today!

1. Which of the following is NOT a random act of kindness?

A．Smiling and saying a few encouraging words.

B．Helping an old man cross the street.

C．Paying for a stranger's breakfast.

D．Sending an encouraging note to a friend.

2. What does the underlined phrase"out of the blue"in the last paragraph mean?

A．Happily

B．Fortunately

C．Surprisingly

D．Excitedly

3. How does the author show that kindness between strangers still exists?

A．By making a comparison.	B．By giving an example.
C．By explaining reasons.	D．By stating opinions.

4. Which can be the best title of the passage ?

A．Love Your Neighbors	B．Random Acts of kindness
C．Random Kindness Pays Off	D．It's Never Too Late to Help Others

【推荐1】Much information can be clearly conveyed, purely through our eyes, so the expression “eyes also talk” is often heard.

Can you think of any experience that further proves this? On a bus you may quickly glance at a stranger, but not make eye contact. If he senses that he is being stared at, he may feel uncomfortable.

It is the same in daily life. If you are looked at for more than necessary, you will look at yourself up and down to see if there is anything wrong with you. If nothing goes wrong, you will feel angry about other’s staring at you that way. Eyes do speak, right?

Looking too long at someone may seem to be rude and aggressive. But things are different when it comes to staring at the opposite sex. If a man continues to glance at a woman for more than 10 seconds, his intentions are obvious. That is, he wishes to make her understand that he is admiring her.

However, the normal eye contact for two people engaged in conversation is that the speaker will only look at the listener from time to time, In order to make sure that the listener does pay attention to what the former is speaking. As for the listener, he will, to a certain degree, look continuously at the speaker to tell him that he is attentive.

If a speaker looks at you continuously when speaking, as if he tries to control you, you will feel uneasy. A poor liar usually exposes himself by looking too long at the victim, since he believes the false idea that to look straight in the eye is a sign of honest communication.

In fact, continuous eye contact is limited to lovers only, who will enjoy looking at each other gently for a long time, to show affection that words cannot express.

Clearly, eye contact should be done according to the relationship between two people and specific situation.

1. What may person usually do on a bus?

A．Stare at a stranger for more than necessary.	B．Use eyes to talk to a stranger politely.
C．Talk to a stranger politely after a quick glance.	D．Glance at a stranger without eye contact.

2. What does it mean if a man looks at a woman for over 10 second??

A．He likes her eyes.	B．He knows her well.
C．He admires her.	D．He makes contact with her.

3. Why is a poor liar easy to be seen through?

A．He looks straight at the victim for too long a time.	B．He feels uneasy about others’ eye contact.
C．He wants to control the victim.	D．He thinks that he is honest.

4. What’s the main idea of the text?

A．Eye contact matters.	B．Eyes can speak.
C．Don’t stare at others.	D．Use your eye contact.

【推荐3】For years experts have argued that poor households are consuming less nourishing food than the rest of the population.
But a survey of some of the lowest earners in Britain shows the nutritional value of what they eat is little different to everyone else.
In fact, the same deficiencies in diet were shared by all the population and the findings suggest that poor eating choices are far more widespread than previously suspected - affecting many wealthier families.
These included low fruit and vegetable consumption, not eating enough oily fish and eating too much saturated fat and sugar.
“This is a large and significant study and it shows we are all eating just as bad a diet as each other,” said Tim Lang, professor of food policy at City University.
The poorest families were eating only slightly more sugar and slightly less fruit and vegetables, according to the study of 3,728 respondents in the bottom of the population.
Alison Tedstone, head of nutritional science at the Food Standard Agency, said: “Overall, people on low incomes have less than ideal diets, but their diets are only slightly worse than those of the rest of the population.”
The study also showed that low earners are choosing to eat unhealthily. Their food choices were not linked to their income, their access to shops or their cooking skills.
The findings appear to contradict assumptions that the poor cannot afford healthier foods or are too far away from shops that sell them.
The Low Income Nutrition and Diet Survey showed that like the rest of the population, the poor's daily fruit and vegetable intake on average is below the recommended five portions. Fewer than 10 per cent of respondents hit this target, while around 20 per cent ate less than a portion per day.
More than three quarters (76 per cent) of men and 81 per cent of women did less than one 30-minute session of moderate or vigorous exercise per week.
Some 45 per cent of men and 40 per cent of women were smokers.
This compares with 28 per cent of men and 24 per cent of women in the general population.
1. According to the passage, which of the following is true?

A．Whether the poor or the rich maybe have a bad diet.

B．Even the poor can enjoy enough fruit and fish consumption.

C．Only the poor have a bad diet.

D．The study was conveyed in both the rich and the poor.

2. What kind of persons maybe eat most sugar?

A．The rich.

B．Men.

C．The poorest.

D．Women

3. From the passage, we can learn __________.

A．the poor choose unhealthy food because of low income

B．having no access to shops also leads to the poor’s bad diet

C．the poor’s daily fruit intake is as much as general people

D．the number of smokers in the poor is bigger than that in general people

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

A．The poor’s healthy problem.	B．Keep off junk food.
C．How to have a good diet.	D．A diet survey.

【推荐2】Any foreigner who has tried to learn Chinese can tell how hard it is to master the tones required to speak and understand. And anyone who has tried to learn to play the violin or other instruments can report similar challenges.

Now researchers have found that people with musical training have an easier time learning Chinese. Writing in the online edition of Nature Neuroscience, researchers from Northwestern University say that both skills depend on the same parts of the brain that help people discover changes in pitch(音调).

One of the study’s authors, Nina Kraus, said the findings suggested that studying music “actually tunes(调整) our sensory system”. This means that schools that want children to do well in languages should hesitate before cutting music programs, Dr. Kraus said. She said music training might also help children with language problems.

Mandarin(普通话)speakers have been shown to have a more complex encoding(编码) of pitch patterns in their brains than English speakers do. This is because in Mandarin and other Asian languages, pitch plays a central role. A single­ syllable word can have several meanings depending on how it is pronounced.

For this study, the researchers looked at 20 non­Chinese speaking volunteers, half with no musical background and half who have studied an instrument for at least six years.

As they were shown a movie, the volunteers also heard an audio tape of the Mandarin word “mi” in three of its meanings: squint(眯), bewilder (迷) and rice. The researchers recorded activities in their brain stems to see how well they were processing the sounds. Those with a music background showed much more brain activities in response to the Chinese sounds.

The lead author of the study, Patrick C.M.Wong, said it might work both ways. It appears that native speakers of tonal languages may do better at learning instruments.

1. When learning Chinese, a foreigner will find        .

A．he has a difficult time learning music at the same time

B．he has an easier time learning music at the same time

C．it is hard to master the tones required to speak and understand

D．it is easy to use the brain to help him discover changes in pitch

2. Why does Chinese learning have something to do with music training?

A．Because there is the same difficulty in learning Chinese and music.

B．Because skills to learn the two make use of the same parts of the brain.

C．Because music training might help people with language study.

D．Because people who do well in Chinese study do well in music.

3. How did the researchers do the research for the study?

A．They chose 20 non-Chinese speaking volunteers with no musical background.

B．20 volunteers were shown a movie about the Mandarin word “mi”.

C．They only heard an audio tape of the Mandarin word “mi”.

D．They studied how well 20 volunteers were processing the Chinese sounds they heard.

4. What would be the best title for this passage?

A．Mandarin Speakers Are Smarter than English Speakers

B．Skilled Ear for Music May Help Language Study

C．Pitch Plays a Central Role in Chinese Learning

D．Schools Need to Develop Music Programs

【推荐1】Most people agree that eating healthy food is important. But sometimes making good food choices can be difficult. Now, there are apps that can help people learn about the food they eat to improve their health and their dining out experience.

Open Table app

Open Table app helps people choose restaurants when they want to go out to eat. It is a free service that shows users restaurant available based on where and when they want to dine. It gives users points when they make reservations(预定),which can add up to discounts on restaurant visits.

Max McCalman's Cheese&Wine Pairing app

Wine and cheese can be a great combination. But which wines go best with which cheeses? Max McCalman's Cheese&Wine Pairing app can help. It provides information about hundreds of different cheeses and suggests wines to pair with each. Max McCalman's Cheese&Wine Pairing app is free.

HappyCow app

Vegetarians do not eat animal meat. Vegans do not eat any animal products. The HappyCow app is made for both groups. Users can search for vegetarian-vegan restaurants and stores around the world.

LocalEats app

Restaurant chains, like McDonalds, can be found almost anywhere a person might travel. But sometimes travelers want to eat like locals. The LocalEats app is designed for that. It can help you find local restaurants in major cities in the US and in other countries. It costs about a dollar.

Where Chefs Eat app

“Where Chefs Eat”is a 975-pagc book. Most people would not want to carry that around. But there is a much lighter app version of the same name for just $15. Six hundred chefs provide information on 3,000 restaurants around the world on the Where Chefs Eat app.

1. What do the first two apps have in common?

A．They are both free of charge.	B．Discounts are provided on both
C．Best wines can be reserved on both	D．They tell you where to have the best food.

2. Who is HappyCow app probably designed for?

A．Friends drinking wines together.	B．Chefs enjoying meat very much．
C．People who want to go on a diet.	D．Those often eating in a restaurant.

3. Where can we most likely see the text?

A．On a tourism guide.	B．In a cellphone application introduction
C．In a students' textbook	D．On a scientific discovery TV program

【推荐2】British chemist David Evans has become an overnight celebrity on Chinese social media. His chemistry experiments have attracted over 2 million followers in just a few months. Evans is a chemistry professor at the Beijing University of Chemical Technology. The 60-year-old always wears a white lab coat, a pair of safety goggles(护目镜），and smiles often.Some web users say he looks just like the "grandpa of KFC".

Evans has posted videos of various experiments. His most popular experiments have attracted millions of hits on video-sharing apps. Excited children's cheers and shouts can be heard in his videos. “I hope my experiments can arouse people's interest in science,” he says.

Evans has been interested in China since childhood.In the early 1970s, before the reform and opening-up,he viewed it as a “country full of mysteries". He first visited the Chinese mainland in 1987 to attend a chemistry conference in Nanjing,Jiangsu Province. He quit his job in the United Kingdom and moved to Beijing in 1996. Many of his friends thought he was crazy. But Evans says they just saw China's challenges but not its potential.

Since 2011, Evans has turned to the Internet to popularize science. He learned short-video apps are also popular in small cities and rural areas. And he realized this enables him to reach more students, who lack opportunities to perform fun experiments. But even a one-minute video requires a considerable amount of work. Still, he thinks it's worth it to fulfill his responsibility to popularize science.

His experiments always fill schools' lecture halls with laughter. Some viewers call him "a Harry Potter-like magician”, but he disagrees. “A magician never tells the secrets behind his tricks, but a scientist always gives an explanation.” He sees himself as a teacher. He performs experiments to spread knowledge, inspire thinking, remove misunderstandings and show that science can create change. Evans says he looks forward to more "chemical reactions" with China.

1. Who is David Evans according to the passage?

A．A film celebrity.

B．A chemistry teacher.

C．A manager of KFC.

D．A British magician.

2. Why did Evans begin to post videos of experiments on the Internet?

A．To popularize science.

B．To rise to fame.

C．To apply short-video apps.

D．To make a fortune.

3. Which of the following statements is true according to paragraph 3?

A．Evans considered UK to be a country full of mysteries.

B．Evans first visited Chinese mainland in his childhood.

C．Evans went to China for a chemistry meeting in 1987.

D．Evans moved to Beijing with the support of his friends.

4. What can we infer from the passage?

A．Evans knows exactly how a magic works.

B．Evans was a serious scientist and barely smiled.

C．Evans will continue to post videos of experiments in China.

D．Evans' students like to interrupt his experiments with laughter.

【推荐3】A star athlete at the college where I work recently stopped by my office. After committing a few unforced errors during a weekend match, she suffered severely by self-criticism.

This student, like many I teach, strongly believes she should be able to control the outcomes of her life by virtue of her hard work. In her mind, “Nothing can stop me but myself”. So when these students fall short of what they imagine they should accomplish, they are filled with self-blame, reasoning, “If my accomplishments are mine to control, my failures must be entirely my faults, too”, which makes it extremely difficult for them to move on.

We often owe young adults struggling with failure to their parents’ overprotection of them from discomfort. But there is another factor at play: a message transmitted by indulging (纵容的) parents who have falsely promised them that they can achieve anything if they are willing to work for it. However, the cruel reality of life is that you can do everything in your power — and still fail. Then what should be done to help?

Psychologists Luthar and Kumar urge parents and teachers to spend time helping students find purpose, or goals they genuinely love to pursue and that make an impact on the world, which may help them gain greater life satisfaction and become more psychologically mature. Besides, instead of allowing our kids to beat themselves up when things don’t go their way, we might all question a culture where one is considered lazy without full devotion. The point is to remind them that life has a way of sucker-punching (出其不意) us when we least expect it. It’s often the people who learn to say “stuff happens” who get up the fastest.

1. What does the underlined phrase “by virtue of” in paragraph 2 mean?

A．in addition to

B．in spite of

C．by means of

D．for fear of

2. The author believes that young adults find it hard to struggle with failure because __________.

A．they are not taught how to deal with difficulties

B．they are short of the ability to handle failure

C．they are under the protection of their parents

D．they are misled by their parents’ false message

3. What did psychologists Luthar and Kumar urge parents and teachers to do?

A．To teach students how to avoid faults.

B．To lead students to set their truly loved goals.

C．To help students to discover a path to success.

D．To allow kids to blame themselves.

4. What can be inferred from the passage?

A．Students don’t care about failure at all.

B．Students are sure to succeed if they try their best.

C．Students should bear all the failures on their own.

D．Students with positive attitudes can move on more easily.