【推荐2】Jessica Bucknam shouts "tiao!" and her fourth-grade students jump."dun!" she commands,and they crouch.They smile as the commands keep coming in Mandarin（普通话）Chinese.Most of the kids have studied Chinese since they were in kindergarten.

They are part of a Chinese-learning program at Woodstock Elementary School,in Portland,Oregon Bucknam, who is from China introduces her students to nearly 150 new Chinese characters each year.Students read stories,sing songs and learn math and science,all in Chinese.Half of the 340 students at the K-5 school join in the program.They can continue studying Chinese in middle and high school.The goal: to speak like natives.

About 24,000 American students are currently learning Chinese.Most are in high school.But the number of younger students is growing in response to China's emergence（浮现）as a global superpower.The US government is helping to pay for language instruction.Recently,the Defense Department gave Oregon Schools $7000,000 for classes like Bucknam's.The Senate is considering giving $1.3 billion for Chinese classes in public schools.

"China has become a strong partner of the United States,says Mary Patterson,Woodstock’s principal.Children who learn Chinese at a young age will have more opportunities for jobs in the future."

Isabel Weiss,9,isn't thinking about the future,"When you hear people speaking in Chine,you know what they're saying,"she says."And they don't know that you know."

You have to memorize 3,500 characters to really know it all!Start with these Chinese characters and their pronunciations.To hear some words and phrases spoken in this 6,000-year-old language,visit timeforkids.com/ mandarin.

1. When Jessica Buckuam shouts “tiao” and “dun!”,______.

A．she is giving a Chinese lesson to the students

B．the students are having a PE lesson

C．the students are taking part in a sports meeting

D．she is putting on apply

2. Why are American high school students learning Chinese?

A．Because Chinese has the largest number of speakers.

B．Because Chinese is easy to learn.

C．Because China is becoming a more powerful country.

D．Because its pronunciation is interesting.

3. From the passage we can infer that_______.

A．the America government encourages schools to have the program

B．most American high school students are learning Chinese

C．students in most American high school are learning Chinese

D．all the money needed for the program is offered by the government

4. In timeforkids.com/mandarin,_______.

A．people can learn 3,500 Chinese characters

B．people can sign to join the program

C．people can find about 6,000 languages

D．people can hear Mandarin Chinese

【推荐3】International Summer Program: Spiderman at Hoyts Cinema Carousel

Join us for an afternoon of superheroes as you watch Spider-Man: No Way Home at Hoyts, and catch up with other Curtin international students also staying in Perth over the summer break.

SCHEDULE

 1 pm: Students arrive at Hoyts, sign in and purchase any food or drink that they would like.

 1:30 pm: The film begins!

 4 pm: The film concludes, and students depart from the cinema.

As Curtin has paid part of the cost of the film, the reduced student ticket is $10. If you would like any food or drink, please bring additional money to purchase it.

This activity is only available to international students who have currently registered for a course at Curtin University.

Places are limited so book your spot now! Please use your Curtin student email to register for the event.

Important Information

●By signing up for this activity, you declare that you are a Curtin international student over the age of 18 and have read the information above. You also agree to:

*Declare any medical or accessibility requirements that organizers must be aware of and inform the organizers of any illnesses or injuries on the day.

*Behave according to the Curtin Student Charter (章程) and accept that any behaviour going against the Charter may result in your removal from the activity.

●If you are under the age of 18, please contact us on 9266 3954 for further information on how to proceed (继续).

1. Who is the activity targeted at?

A．International students in Perth.

B．Students desiring to attend Curtin University.

C．Students loving superhero movies.

D．Newly-admitted Curtin International students.

2. Which of the following will prevent you from getting involved?

A．Being under the age of 18.

B．Failing to follow the Charter.

C．Being in poor medical condition.

D．Buying food or drink by yourself.

3. What is the text?

A．A film review.	B．An admission notice.
C．A theatre programme.	D．An activity announcement.

【推荐1】Events Long March exhibit

The Shanghai History Museum is putting on an exhibition to mark the 60th anniversary of the Long March. On show are more than 220 photos and 40 items that explain with pictures how the communist Red Army drew back from its besieged ( 被围困的) bases in Jiangxi Province and fought its way to northern Shanxi province in the mid-1930s. Explanations are all in Chinese. The show will end on November 20.

Time: 10:00 am—4:00 pm.

Address: 1286 Hongqiao Road

Admission: 8 yuan for Chinese/ 15 yuan for foreigners

Thai elephants

Eight elephants from Thailand are entertaining visitors at Changfeng Park by riding bikes, playing basketball, balancing on a beam, dancing and blowing a mouth-organ. People are encouraged to have a tug-of-war (拔河比赛) with the animals or lie on the ground and have the elephants walk over them. The elephants give three shows a day at 9:30 am, 3:30 pm and 8:00 pm and there is an additional show at 1:30 pm at weekends. The show will end on November 15.Address: 189 Daduhe Road

Admission: 30-40 yuan

Dancing dolphins

Dolphins jumping from the water to touch a ball, swaying their bodies to music, kissing people and solving math by tapping their tails have made the dolphinarium in Peace Park an attraction for children. Seals and sea lions also perform.

Hours: 10:30 am, 4:00 pm, and 7:30 pm

Admission: 20 yuan for adults and 10 yuan for children.

1. If you go to visit the Long March exhibit with an Australian, how much will you pay altogether for the admission?

A．16 yuan	B．20 yuan
C．30 yuan	D．23yuan

2. At the exhibition, you will see ________.

A．many articles written by famous writers

B．many things left by the Red Army

C．books on the Long March

D．many photos and pictures about the Long Match.

3. Which of the following is NOT done by the Thai elephants?

A．Doing math	B．Blowing a mouth-organ
C．Riding bicycles.	D．Having a tug-of-war with people.

【推荐1】America is the world’s largest food exporter. But the worst drought in half a century is hitting corn and wheat harvests. The drought across the central United States adds to concerns about world food supplies and prices in the coming years.

Experts say by 2050, the world will have to produce at least sixty percent more food to feed a population growing bigger and bigger. China, a major food importer, is looking for producers around the world to guarantee future food supplies.

China has invested in food production in Australia and New Zealand. A new source of supply is Ukraine. Ukraine was known as the breadbasket of Europe because of rich corn and wheat harvests a century ago.

Galyna Kovtok is chief executive of Ukraine’s largest agricultural business, ULF. She predicts that within a few months her company will be approved to export corn to China. That will make Ukraine the first country outside the Americas to do so.

ULF will soon have almost two million tons of elevator storage capacity as it prepares for the Chinese market. Chinese money is financing the building of six grain elevators. But the company’s equipment is largely American, including half-million-dollar John Deere combines to harvest wheat.

ULF’S grain production per hectare (公顷) is now halfway between Ukrainian averages and the high yields of the American Midwest. But farming depends on the weather. Across the Black Sea region—in Ukraine, Russia and Kazakhstan--drought this year is pushing harvests down by fifteen to twenty percent.

Traditionally, the Black Sea region is the main source of wheat for North Africa and the Middle East. But this year, on the supply side, Russia may have to stop exports. And, on the demand side, Africa and the Middle East are now competing with China.

At the same time, a new report says large parts of Asia may face long periods of severe drought within ten years. It says northern China, India, Afghanistan, Mongolia and Pakistan will be especially hard hit. It says other parts of Asia are likely to face longer and wetter monsoon seasons (雨季) because of climate change.

1. We can learn from the first paragraph that in the future ________.

A．food supplies will become a big worry

B．corn and wheat will be the most important food

C．prices will be able to change our food patterns

D．corn and wheat harvests will change the whole world

2. Which of the following can be supported by Paragraph 2?

A．The world will surely produce more food by 2050.

B．China is producing more food in the coming years.

C．A large population may produce more supplies.

D．China is now seeking producers all over the world.

3. Which of the following is NOT true?

A．China is investing in food production in foreign countries.

B．The Black Sea region is rich in wheat.

C．ULF produces more grain per hectare than the American Midwest does.

D．Drought is one of the reasons that affect the wheat harvest.

4. Where is the text most likely to have been taken from?

A．A book review.	B．An agriculture report.
C．A tour plan.	D．An advertisement.

【推荐2】What does it take to be a good neighbor? Over the years I have had all kinds of neighbors, ones that were enjoyable and others that were to be avoided at all costs.

One of the most important things in being a good neighbor is to respect a person’s privacy(隐私).When someone new moves into the neighborhood it is a good idea to watch them to see how friendly you should be. If you go rushing over as soon as they move in they may think you are going to be one of those neighbors that come over at all times of the day, not respecting their privacy.

It is a good idea always to be friendly to everyone in the neighborhood. This can not only put you on good terms with them, but will also be a form of protection for your family and home. If you wave as they drive by or offer a friendly hello while they are out in their yard this shows that you respect them. If you are friendly to them they are much more likely to watch out for any wrong doings going on around your home while you are out and let you know if anything happens.

Another way of being a good neighbor is to be helpful in times of need. If you see that they are in need of a helping hand doing something or in times of a disaster, it is good to offer your help. Even though you have never really talked to the people down the street, they are willing to take the time to help out a neighbor in need.

In conclusion, if you respect a person’s privacy, treat them kindly and be helpful when you see they are in need, you will be a great neighbor and anyone would be happy to have you next door!

1. When someone moves into your neighborhood you should_______.

A．visit them frequently	B．know their privacy
C．respect them always	D．avoid meeting them

2. If you are always friendly to your neighbors you can________.

A．keep your family safe	B．often visit their yard
C．make friends with them	D．have your own privacy

3. In the opinion of the author, neighbors should always be_______.

A．helpful, strong and kind	B．respectful, friendly and helpful
C．honest, active and friendly	D．polite, honest and kind

4. The author develops the passage based on his_______.

A．wide knowledge	B．scientific experiments
C．careful research	D．real experiences

【推荐3】My parents owned a neighborhood bar called the M Ninety-Seven, named for a nearby highway, on the comer of State Fair and Hoover Avenues in Detroit. Built in the '30s, it had a long wooden bar that was on the right as you walked in. I grew up in the bar. When most kids my age were at the park playing ball or riding bikes, I was watching old men shoot pool and play shuffleboard （沙狐球）.

My father spent his entire life serving drinks and bringing cheer to customers. There were the white-collars who would stop in to unwind from the day's stress. They would bend elbows with the blue-collars and day laborers on either side of them. It always surprised me that they were able to mingle（交往）.I would sit at the last table by the kitchen, sipping Cokes and eating a bag of Better Made potato chips with my twin sister, watching it all.

It was the 1960s version of a reality show. There was Big Bill, the tough talking policeman who stood six and a half feet tall and weighed just shy of the beer truck he drank daily. His views on society could be hard to listen to at times. But one night, he showed that he was all talk. While Bill was on patrol （巡逻）,a call came over the radio about an apartment fire. He raced scout car to the scene, beating even the fire crew. The building was ablaze. He ran up three flights of stairs through smoke and flames to rescue two frightened children. Bill carried them out in his arms like each was a carton of eggs. The man with an explosive mouth but a keg-sized heart had saved the day.

Years passed, my father died, and the bar was sold. Like secondhand smoke, the words and the scenes from that bar stayed with me.

1. What did the author want to tell us by the underlined sentence in paragraph 1?

A．His family built a wooden bar.

B．He didn't play with kids at the park.

C．He liked making friends with old men.

D．He was familiar with everything in the bar.

2. What's the purpose for the white-collars to go to the bar?

A．To drink beer.	B．To watch others.
C．To communicate.	D．To relax themselves.

3. Which of the following can best describe Bill?

A．Rude and careless.	B．lough but a little bit shy.
C．Complaining but responsible.	D．Talkative and narrow-hearted.

4. What can we infer from the last paragraph?

A．The bar impressed the writer a lot.

B．The father didn't manage the bar well.

C．Secondhand smoke is similar to the bar.

D．The writer has nothing to do with the bar.

【推荐2】In 1995, Ray Kroc visited a small restaurant in California. The owner of it was the Mc Donald brothers, They built it by the road, so people could drive up to the restaurant, buy food without getting out of their cars and drive away easily. They called it “drive-in” restaurant.

Ray Kroc saw the bright future of the restaurant of this kind. He bought the restaurant and used the brothers’ family name for his new restaurant. The first Mc Donald’s restaurant chain was born.

Now there are more than 5, 000 restaurants in the United States and in 60 other countries. The largest Me Donald's restaurant is in Beijing, China. It has 1,000 workers. About seven hundred people can sit and eat there at one time.

1. Who opened the first Mc Donald’s restaurant chain?

A．Two brothers.

B．Me Donald.

C．Two brothers’ father.

D．Ray Kroc.

2. Why did Ray Kroc buy the two brothers’ restaurant? Because         .

A．the two brothers were nice to him	B．it was a small restaurant
C．it would bring him a lot of money	D．the food in the restaurant was yummy

3. Where can we find a Mc Donald’s restaurant?

A．All over the world.	B．In many parts of the world.
C．Only in America.	D．Everywhere except 60 places.

【推荐3】It is widely known that any English conversation begins with The Weather. Such a fixation with the weather finds expression in Dr. Johnson’s famous comment that “When two English meet, their first talk is of weather.” Though Johnson’s observation is as accurate now as it was over two hundred years ago, most commentators fail to come up with a convincing explanation for this English weather-speak.

Bill Bryson, for example, concludes that, as the English weather is not at all exciting, the obsession with it can hardly be understood. He argues that “To an outsider, the most striking thing about the English weather is that there is not very much of it” Simply, the reason is that the unusual and unpredictable weather is almost unknown in the British Isles.

Jeremy Paxman, however, disagrees with Bryson, arguing that the English weather is by nature attractive. Bryson is wrong, he says, because the English preference for the weather has nothing to do with the natural phenomena. “The interest is less in the phenomena themselves, but in uncertainty.” According to him, the weather in England is very changeable and uncertain and it attracts the English as well as the outsider.

Bryson and Paxman stand for common misconceptions about the weather-speak among the English. Both commentators, somehow, are missing the point. The English weather conversation is not really about the weather at all. English weather-speak is a system of signs, which is developed to help the speakers overcome the natural reserve and actually talk to each other. Everyone knows conversations starting with weather-speak are not requests for weather data. Rather, they are routine greetings, conversation starters or the blank “fillers”. In other words, English weather-speak is a means of social bonding.

1. The author mentions Dr. Johnson’s comment to show that________.

A．most commentators agree with Dr. Johnson

B．Dr. Johnson is famous for his weather observation

C．the comment was accurate two hundred years ago

D．English conversations usually start with the weather

2. According to the passage, Jeremy Paxman believes that__________.

A．Bill Bryson has little knowledge of the weather

B．there is nothing special about the English weather

C．the English weather attracts people to the British Isles

D．English people talk about the weather for its uncertainty

3. What is the author’s main purpose of writing the passage?

A．To explain what English weather-speak is about.

B．To analyze misconceptions about the English weather.

C．To find fault with both Bill Bryson and Jeremy Paxman.

D．To convince people that the English weather is changeable.