【推荐1】阅读理解
阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出最佳选项。

At the beginning of the century there was a big farm called Hollywood Ranch. It was near Los Angeles in California. A few years later Hollywood was one of the famous places in the world. From the 1910s to the 1950s Hollywood was the film center of the world. Every family knew the names of its film stars—Charlie Chaplin，Greta Garbo，Bergman and hundreds more.

The reason why people went to Hollywood to make films was the sun. At first people made films in New York on the east coast of the United States. But then they heard about Los Angeles where there are 350 days of sun every year. As they made all the films by sunlight，the west coast was a much better place to work. Also near Hollywood you can find mountains and sea and desert. They did not have to travel far to make any kind of film.

When TV became popular，Hollywood started making films for television. Then in 1970s they discovered people still went to the cinema to see big expensive films. After twenty years they are still making films in Hollywood and people watch them all over the world.

1. Hollywood used to be a ________.

A．cinema	B．big farm
C．park	D．market

2. In the 1910s Hollywood became a ________.

A．famous theater

B．good place to have holidays

C．film center

D．home for stars

3. Who was not mentioned as a film star in the passage?

A．Charlie Chaplin.	B．Marilyn Monroe.
C．Ingrid Bergman.	D．Greta Garbo.

4. People went to Hollywood to make films because ______.

A．it was a beautiful place

B．you can find many film stars

C．there was a lot of sunlight there

D．it was a famous place

【推荐3】British towns and cities have rich experience in providing accommodation (膳宿) for students and there are many cheap, comfortable and safe places to live.

You should always try to arrange your long-term accommodation before leaving home. Your school should be able to help you with it. When you are accepted by a school, you will usually receive a package of information including accommodation information. Complete the accommodation application form and return it before the deadline. If the school accommodation is not available, the accommodation advisory(顾问的) office of your school can help you find private accommodation.

If you’re coming to the UK for the first time, accommodation provided by your school might be the most suitable choice. This is a choice taken by more than half of the international students. There are plenty of advantages of living in accommodation provided by the school: you can live close to where you are studying; you will get to know other students easily; and most importantly, you will be living in a safer environment. This kind of accommodation is also affordable: a room in a self-catering(自己做饭的) student apartment usually costs from 180 to 360 pounds per month. To live in a place where meals are included you are expected to pay from 320 to 400 pounds per month.

If you choose to rent accommodation in private houses, the choices are lodging, private hostels (招待所) and bedsits(卧室兼起居室). In a lodging, your landlord / landlady lives in the same house, possibly with his / her family, and prepares meals for you. For hostel accommodation and lodgings where meals are included, you can expect to pay from 300 to 400 pounds per month. For a bedsit, you would pay from 200 to 380 pounds per month.

Accommodation in Britain
Application	Types of accommodation
If you plan to study in Britain for a     1    time, you should arrange your accommodation when you are still at home . Your school will     2     you the application form for you to     3     in. Remember that you had better return it by the     4    date required.	School accommodation	5     accommodation
	It’s the     6    choice for international students. They can enjoy many     7     if living on campus. Besides, the cost of school accommodation is relatively     8    .	You can     9     among, lodgings, private hostels and bedsits. For the first choice, you have to            10     a house with your landlord / landlady.

【推荐2】Internet dating has become one of the biggest and most successful business ventures on the Internet. Basically, Internet dating is a way to meet people for either friendship or dating without actually having to meet them in person first.

The first thing to do if you decide to try Internet dating is to build your profile(简介) which can include your hobbies, hopes for the future, and so on. A photograph is optional, but many sites claim that a photograph increases the number of people who look at your profile. Many Internet dating sites will charge a one-time registration fee to use their services.

Internet dating makes it possible to meet people from all over the world. You can even narrow the search down to your area by zip code. Another advantage is that you can   communicate by email before you meet in person. Thousands of people have met, fallen in love, and married through Internet dating. It is an excellent way for shy people to meet. It is also a way for people with busy lives to connect with others, and an easy way to meet people who share your interests.

Just as in conventional dating and love, there are some pitfalls to be aware of in Internet dating. The person you have been talking to on the net may not be who they say they are. Be very aware that there are some people who misrepresent their appearance or private details, such as marital status, income, and so on, for their own reasons. It would not be the first time that someone has been taken in, and talk shows are full of cheating partners who have been caught dating over the Internet in their spare time. Nevertheless, taking a few simple precautions should help ensure that your Internet dating experience is fun.

1. Which of the following is a must to make an Internet dating possible?

A．A photo.	B．A profile.
C．Registration fee.	D．Business experience.

2. One advantage of Internet dating is that _______.

A．you can avoid a face-to-face meeting in the beginning

B．you're sure to find a partner with the same interests

C．you'll find absolutely reliable information of others

D．you'll gain fame and money overnight

3. The underlined word "pitfalls" in Paragraph 4 most probably means ________.

A．rules	B．trends
C．problems	D．skills

4. What is probably talked about following the last paragraph?

A．Conventional dating.	B．Hidden advantages.
C．Safety measures.	D．Romantic love.

【推荐1】The lander-ascender (上升器) combination of China's Chang’e 5 robotic lunar probe (探测器) has finished gathering subsurface samples and packed them in vacuum container and is continuing collecting surface samples, according to the China National Space Administration.

The administration said in a statement on Wednesday morning that the drilling and packing processes of rocks and soil from 2 meters beneath lunar surface concluded at 4:53 am. A mechanical arm is continuing gathering surface samples.

The combination landed on the moon at 11:11 pm on Tuesday, becoming the third spacecraft that has successfully touched down on the lunar surface this century. The first two aircraft that had achieved this are also from China — the Chang’e 3 and 4. The combination is tasked with collecting about 2 kilograms of samples.

China’s largest and most sophisticated lunar probe, Chang’e 5 was launched by a Long March 5 heavy-lift carrier rocket early on Nov 24 at the Wenchang Space Launch Center in Hainan province, undertaking the world’s first mission since 1976 to return lunar samples to Earth. The spacecraft is composed of four parts — orbiter (轨道飞行器), lander, ascender and re-entry capsule (返回舱).

Before the landing, Chang’e 5 separated into two parts — the orbiter-reentry capsule combination and the lander-ascender combination — in a lunar orbit early on Monday morning so as to prepare for the landing operation.

While the lander-ascender combination is carrying out surface operations, the orbiter-reentry capsule combination is traveling in a lunar orbit at an average altitude of around 200 km above the moon. After all surface operations are done, an engine on the ascender will lift it to meet the reentry module. It will transfer the lunar samples to the module and then separate from it.

The orbiter-reentry combination capsule will then return to the Earth’s orbit, where the pair will break up and the reentry capsule will return to a preset landing site in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region in mid-December.

If the mission is successful, it will make China the third nation to bring samples back from the moon, after the United States and the former Soviet Union.

1. What does the underlined word “sophisticated” in Paragraph 4 refer to?

A．Popular.

B．Advanced.

C．Necessary.

D．Difficult.

2. Which one shows the correct order of the whole operation?
a. landing on the moon.
b. separating Chang’e 5 into two parts.
c. launching Chang’e 5 lunar probe from the rocket.
d. collecting subsurface and surface samples.
e. returning to the Earth’s orbit.

A．cbade.

B．baced.

C．bcaed.

D．cbdae.

3. What can we infer from the text?

A．Chang’e 5 has finished collecting samples on the surface.

B．The reentry capsule will return with the lunar samples.

C．The orbiter-reentry capsule will be together all the time.

D．The reentry capsule will return to the launch center.

4. Where can we most probably read this text?

A．In a travel brochure.	B．In a geography textbook.
C．In a science newspaper.	D．In a personal diary.

【推荐3】Sleep, considered a luxury by many, is essential for a person's wellbeing. Researchers have found that insufficient sleep and tiredness increase a person's risk of developing severe medical conditions, such as obesity (being very overweight), high blood sugar levels, and heart disease. Now, a new study has found that getting sufficient sleep is also the key to improving academic performance.

Jeffrey Gross, the university science professor who led the research, was not trying to find the relationship between sleep and grades when he handed out smart watches to the 100 students in his chemistry class. Instead, the professor hoped the wrist-worm devices, which track a person's physical activity, would show a connection between exercise and academic achievement.

While Gross's data showed no relationship between these two factors, the study found something surprising. As the researchers were analyzing their data, they noticed that there was a straight-line relationship between the average amount of sleep a student got and their results in the course's 11 quizzes, three midterm tests, and the final exam.

Even more interesting, it was not sufficient for students to just head to bed early the night before a test. Instead, it's the sleep you get during the days when learning is happening that matters most.

The time students went to bed each night was similarly important. Those who went to bed in early hours of the morning performed poorly, even if the total sleep time was the same as a higher-performing student. "When you go to bed matters," Gross says, "If you go to bed at 10, or 12, or 1 at night, and sleep for seven hours, your performance is the same. But if you go to bed after 2, your performance starts to go down even if you get the same seven hours. So, quantity isn't everything."

Perhaps the most interesting was the huge impact that small differences in sleep patterns had on the students' grades. The overall course grades for students averaging six and a half hours of sleep each night were 25% lower than students who averaged just one hour more sleep. Similarly, students who varied their bedtime by even one hour each night had grades that dropped 45% below those with more regular bedtimes.

Who knew getting A's just required some extra ZZZ's?

1. Based on his original objectives, which best describes Professor Gross's research findings?

A．Accidental.

B．Complete.

C．Convincing.

D．Doubtful.

2. Who were the people taking part in the study?

A．Middle school chemistry students.	B．Volunteers from different universities.
C．Professor Gross's own students.	D．University student athletes.

3. How did Professor Gross's team measure academic performance?

A．Making the students wear a special watch.

B．Using students' university entrance test results.

C．Giving the students regular after class quizzes.

D．Using the students' normal test and quiz grades.

4. Based on the study's findings, who is likely to perform best academically.

A．A person who has a good night's sleep the night before an important test.

B．A person whose normal bedtime varies between 9 p.m. and 12 p.m.

C．A person who sleeps from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. each day.

D．A person who sleeps for a total of 7 hours each night.

【推荐1】Becoming a parent brings out the best in many animals. Although parenting is usually left to the females, males from many species go above and beyond to care for the offspring. Take anemone fish (海葵鱼) for example. In finding Nemo, Marlin swims over 1,000 miles from the Great Barrier Reef to Sydney to rescue his son Nemo, who has been caught by divers. In reality, anemone fish rarely move so far away from their home.

Despite their smaller size, the males help the females defend the nest, but only the male anemone fish take care of it. They use their fins as fans to provide a constant flow of oxygen and keep the surroundings clean. They also put a lot of effort in building the nest.

The eggs take about five days to hatch. During this important period, dads fan them to provide oxygen and remove the rubbish. They also pick up the eggs in their mouths and move them around to remove any bacteria. One of the biggest threats comes from female sticklebacks (刺鱼), who form organized groups and attack the nests to eat all the eggs.

Males defend the newborn fish and bring back the ones who move too far from the nest. Once the fish grow up, they become a little bit more independent and start to swim away. The dad swims after them, picks them up in his mouth, and spits them back into his nest. Eventually, he gets to the point where he can’t keep track of them and that’s when they separate.

Doting (溺爱的) fathers are not restricted to the world of fish. In some poison frog species, the dads also warn the moms when the young ones are hungry and need to be fed. It’s generally believed that moms are the caregivers. In fish and frogs, it’s actually more common for the dads to provide care.

1. What does the underlined word “offspring” in paragraph 1 probably mean?

A．Children.

B．Relatives.

C．Friends.

D．Colleagues.

2. What can we infer about male anemone fish?

A．They take full responsibility for building the nest.

B．They are much larger than female anemone fish.

C．They are actually extremely excellent fathers.

D．They frequently make attacks on other fishes.

3. What does it mean when the dad can’t track its young fish?

A．The dad can’t tend to the young fish.

B．The young fish are already independent.

C．The living environment is worse.

D．The dad is in a state of aging.

4. What can be the best title for the text?

A．The Model Father in the Animal Kingdom

B．The New Role of the Male Anemone Fish

C．The Really Caring Caregivers in Life

D．A Strange Phenomenon in Nature

【推荐2】Can you believe your eyes? A recent experiment suggests that the answer to that question may depend on your age.
Martin Doherty, a psychologist at the University of Stirling in Scotland, led the team of scientists. In this experiment, Doherty and his team tested the perception(观察力) of some people, using pictures of some orange circles. The researchers showed the same pictures to two groups of people. The first group included 151 children aged 4 to 10, and the second group included 24 adults aged 18 to 25.
The first group of pictures showed two circles alone on a white background. One of the circles was larger than the other, and these people were asked to identify the larger one. Four-year-olds identified the correct circle 79 percent of the time. Adults identified the correct circle 95 percent of the time.
Next, both groups were shown a picture where the orange circles, again of different sizes, were surrounded by gray circles. Here’s where the trick lies in. In some of the pictures, the smaller orange circle was surrounded by even smaller gray circles — making the orange circle appear larger than the other orange circle, which was the real larger one. And the larger orange circle was surrounded by even bigger gray circles — so it appeared to be smaller than the real smaller orange circle.
When young children aged 4 to 6 looked at these tricky pictures, they weren’t fooled—they were still able to find the bigger circle with roughly the same accuracy as before. Older children and adults, on the other hand, did not do as well. Older children often identified the smaller circle as the larger one, and adults got it wrong most of the time.
As children get older, Doherty said, their brains may develop the ability to identify visual context. In other words, they will begin to process the whole picture at once: the tricky gray circles, as well as the orange circle in the middle. As a result, they’re more likely to fall for this kind of visual trick.
1. Doherty and his team of scientists did an experiment to evaluate            .

A．children’s and adults’ eye-sight

B．people’s ability to see accurately

C．children’s and adults’ brains

D．the influence of people’s age

2. When asked to find the larger circle，________.

A．children at 6 got it wrong 79 % of the time with no gray ones around

B．only adults over 18 got it right 95% of the time with gray ones around

C．children at 4 got it right about 79 % of the time with gray ones around

D．adults got it right most of the time with gray ones around

3. According to the passage, we can know that________.

A．a smaller orange circle appears bigger on a white background

B．an orange circle appears bigger than a gray one of the same size

C．a circle surrounded by other circles looks bigger than its real size

D．a circle surrounded by bigger ones looks smaller than its real size

4. Visual context may work when children get older than________.

A．4

B．6

C．10

D．18

5. Why are younger children not fooled?

A．Because they are smarter than older children and adults.

B．Because older people are influenced by their experience.

C．Because people’s eyes become weaker as they grow older.

D．Because their brain can hardly notice related things together.

【推荐3】I came to Rio, Brazil to work one year ago. So what have I found here?

You need to learn Portuguese

I started studying Portuguese about two years ago. I didn’t end up improving my Portuguese as much as I’d hoped before I came here. While Spanish and Portuguese are structurally quite similar, there are huge differences between the two. You can’t just magically understand Brazilians if you speak Spanish.

I didn’t need to bring heels.

Going out in cities like Buenos Aires is a big deal. You get dressed up, you do your hair, and you definitely wear heels—at least if you’re going out to dance. I had no idea how wrong I was. Yes, Rio is a city, but it’s a city on the beach. Of course, there are fancy clubs that probably expect everyone to show up in dress shoes(时装鞋), but most of the places I’ve been to are fine with sneakers, even for dancing.

Learning about pop music is a must.

Whenever I go out and a pop song comes on, every single other person there sings along to all the words. I still haven’t understood if there are only 25 songs that get played in public or if people really do just have a fantastic memory for lyrics, but either way, I wish I’d spent a bit more time practicing Brazilian pop music so I wouldn’t look like such a lost foreigner.

Airplanes are a surprisingly sensitive subject

In Brazil, the credit for modern flight goes to Alberto Santos Dumont. Brazilians say the Wright Brothers’ use of a catapult(飞机弹射器) was technically cheating and point to their man as the real pioneer of the plane. Therefore, be careful before bringing up the subject of planes in Brazil unless you’re ready for a lecture.

1. What can we infer about Brazilians?

A．They are fond of dancing.	B．They understand Spanish.
C．They have a good memory.	D．They are informally dressed.

2. How did the author react when the others were singing?

A．She felt like an outsider.	B．She felt ashamed.
C．She sang along.	D．She pretended to be lost.

3. What topic should you avoid in Rio?

A．Pop music.	B．Dressing styles.
C．The history of planes.	D．Spanish.

4. What’s the author’s purpose in writing the text?

A．To tell us something about Brazil.

B．To give foreigners in Rio some suggestions.

C．To share her life in Rio as a foreigner.

D．To encourage us to learn a foreign language.