【推荐1】I remember doing the household chores to help my mother when I was nine. I hated changing the vacuum cleaner (真空吸尘器) bag and picking up things the machine did not suck up. Twenty years later, in 1978, with this lifelong dislike of the way the machine worked, I decided to make a bagless one.

Easier said than done, of course. I didn’t realize that I would spend the next five years perfecting my design, a process that resulted in 5,127 different prototypes (样机). By the time I made my 15th prototype, my third child was born. By 2,627, my wife and I were really counting our pennies. By 3,727, my wife was giving art lessons for some extra cash, and we were getting further and further into debt. These were tough times, but each failure brought me closer to solving the problem.

In the early 1980s, I started trying to get licensing agreements for my technology. The reality was very different, however. The major vacuum makers had built a business model based on the profits from bags and filters (滤网). No one would license my idea, not because it was a bad one, but because it was bad for business. But soon after, the companies that I had talked with started making machines like mine. I had to fight legal battles on both sides of the Atlantic to protect the patents on my vacuum cleaner.

I was still in financial difficulties until 1993, when my bank manager personally persuaded Lloyds Bank to lend me $1 million. Then I was able to go into production. Within two years, the Dyson vacuum cleaner became a best-seller in Britain.

Today, I still embrace risk and the potential for failure as part of the process. Nothing beats the excitement of invention,

1. What drove the author to make a bagless vacuum cleaner?

A．His willingness to help mom.

B．His curiosity about machines.

C．His trouble in doing family chores.

D．His discontent with existing cleaners.

2. What does paragraph 2 mainly tell us?

A．The help from the author’s wife.

B．The financial problems of the family.

C．The tough process of the new invention.

D．The procedures of making a bagless cleaner.

3. Why did the companies refuse to license the author’s technology?

A．They thought they might suffer loss.

B．They considered it not good enough.

C．They faced legal problems themselves.

D．They had begun making such machines.

4. What lesson may the author learn from the experience?

A．Think twice before acting.

B．Failure is the mother of success.

C．Actions speak louder than words.

D．A good beginning makes a good ending.

【推荐3】The e-mail request came in to Ekiben restaurant in Baltimore late on a Thursday afternoon. The man, Brandon Jones was writing for his mother-in-law, who loved the dish. He explained that she was now in the final stages of lung cancer at her home in Vermont and that he was hoping to get the recipe to make it for her there.

Steve Chu, one of the Asian fusion restaurant’s co-owners, read the e-mail and quickly replied with another suggestion, ”Thanks for reaching out, “he wrote. ”We’d like to met you in Vermont and make it fresh for you.”

For the past six years, every time Brandon’s mother-in-law visited Baltimore, the first place she wanted to go was Ekiben so she could order that dish. “She had always told us, ‘When I’m on my deathbed, I want to have that broccoli (花椰菜),’” recalls Brandon’s wife, Rina Jones.

That Friday after work, a day after receiving Brandon’s e-mail, Chu prepared all the food ingredients (原料) and then headed for Vermont with his business partner and an employee. They stayed overnight in an Airbnb rental and drove the next day to where Rina’s mother lived. After cooking and boxing everything up, they knocked on their customer’s door.

“As soon as she opened the door, she recognized the amazing smell,” Brandon says.

Rina says her mother also recognized Chu and his coworkers. “My mom kept saying, ‘You drove all the way up here to cook for me?’ She was so happy and touched to have that broccoli.”

“It was an honor to help make the family’s wishes come true,” Chu says.“There was a lot of good positive energy in doing this.” Rina was happy that her mother was able to enjoy her beloved broccoli with a side order of excellent kindness one last time.“My mom cried later about their generosity, and so did I.” Rina says.“I’ll carry that positive memory with me always.”

1. Why did Brandon send the e-mail to Ekiben restaurant?

A．To learn how to cook the dish for his mother-in-law.

B．To ask the owner to treat his mother-in-law.

C．To invite the owner to cook for his mother-in-law.

D．To enjoy the food himself.

2. What do we know about Steve Chu from the passage?

A．He was generous to his coworkers.

B．He had a strong desire for charity.

C．He felt honored to deliver positive energy to the family.

D．He was unwilling to share the recipe with others.

3. How did Brandon’s mother-in-law feel when she saw Chu and his coworkers?

A．Puzzled and amazed.	B．Surprised and moved.
C．Anxious and thankful.	D．Stressed and concerned.

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

A．A special order.	B．A generous restaurant owner.
C．Positive memory, valued.	D．Kindness, delivered.

【推荐1】Grey clouds move as low as smoke over the treetops at Lolo Pass. The ground is white. The day is June 10. It has been snowing for the past four days in the Bitterroot Mountains. Wayne Fairchild is getting worried about our trek over the Lolo Trail — 95 miles from Lolo Montana to Weippe in Idaho, across the roughest country in the West. Lewis and Clark were nearly defeated 200 years ago by snowstorms on the Lolo. Today Fairchild is nervously checking the weather reports. He has agreed to take me across the toughest, middle section of the trail.

When Lewis climbed on top of Lemhi Pass, 140 miles south of Missoula, on August 12, 1805, he was astonished by what was in front of him; “high mountain chains still to the West of us with their tops partially covered with snow.” Nobody in what was then the US knew the Rocky Mountains existed, with peaks twice as high as anything in the Appalachians back East.

Today their pathway through those mountains holds more attraction than any other ground over which they traveled, for its raw wilderness is an evidence to the character of two cultures: the explorers who braved its hardships and the Native Americans who prize and conserve the path as a sacred (神圣的) gift. It remains today the same condition as when Lewis and Clark walked it.

The Lolo is passable only from July to mid-September. Our luck is holding with the weather, although the snow keeps getting deeper. As we climb to Indian Post Office, the highest point on the trail at 7,033 ft, we have covered 13 miles in soft snow, and we hardly have enough energy to make dinner. After a meal of chicken, I sit on a rock on top of the ridge (山脊). There is no light visible in any direction, not even another campfire. For four days we do not see another human being. We are occupied with the things that mix fear with joy. In our imagination we have finally caught up with Lewis and Clark.

1. According to the passage, the word “trek” in Paragraph 1 is closest in meaning to ________.

A．a comfortable walk in a separate country

B．a pleasant journey across the countryside

C．a journey over untraveled pathways

D．a long, hard journey over rough areas

2. We learn from the text that before 1805 ________.

A．the Rocky Mountains were wholly covered with snow

B．there were no people living in the western part of America

C．no Americans knew of the existence of the Rocky Mountains

D．the Appalachians were the western frontier of the United States

3. We learn from the text that the Lolo Pass ________.

A．remains much the same as it was 200 years ago

B．is the meeting point of three cultures

C．has changed a lot since 1805

D．now attracts a large number of tourists to visit

4. Judging from the text, Lewis and Clark were most probably ________.

A．two native Indians

B．explorers of the early 19th century

C．merchants who did business with the Indians

D．travelers whose curiosity took them over the Lolo Pass

5. We can infer from the text that when crossing the Lolo Pass the author ________.

A．was attempting the impossible

B．was trying to set a world record

C．was following the trail of Lewis and Clark

D．was fighting with weather and taking unnecessary risks

【推荐2】The room was full of the smell of ink. It was nice, but I wondered what I was doing there. I felt butterflies in my stomach when I started calligraphy (书法) class. At that moment, I couldn’t have known that I’d just made one of the best choices of my life.

I sat down and listened to the teacher introducing the writing brush. Then it was time for me to try my hand. I took up the brush, using the correct gesture, dipped (蘸) it in the ink, and carefully wrote “one” in Chinese.

I watched the ink spread. The character I wrote wasn’t pretty at all. I lost heart. My teacher noticed my sadness and encouraged me to try as many times as possible. I dipped the brush and tried again. After I had written the word repeatedly for two hours, perhaps thousands of times, I finally made a “one” that looked neat and clear.

I walked out of the classroom with a pile of paper, seeing the sunlight fall through the spaces between the leaves to the ground, and everything seemed to shine. With the calligraphy I’d learned, I realized that I could discover the world’s beauty.

Since that time, I have been interested in calligraphy.

After nearly five years of practicing, I became quite good at it. I started to make versions of well-known poems. In the quiet room full of the smell of ink, calligraphy seemed like a bridge, which connected me to writers from centuries past. Stroke (笔画) by stroke, word by word? I touched the author’s feelings about wars, the pain of not being appreciated and difficulties in their work. I could feel their emotions — their sadness, anger and loneliness. During that time, I cherished (珍惜) my own peace and learned to appreciate my daily life.

1. How did the writer feel when she started calligraphy class?

A．Nervous.

B．Excited.

C．Relaxed.

D．Confident.

2. Which of the following can describe the writer’s experience in learning calligraphy?

A．Seeing is believing.

B．Time waits for no man.

C．Practice makes perfect.

D．Think twice before taking action.

3. How did the writer learn to cherish her daily life?

A．By creating poems of her own.

B．Through writing words from poems.

C．By reading the poems from centuries ago.

D．By learning about the writers of the poems.

【推荐3】The International Painting Contest on Google’s homepage in 2015 may look pretty strange, but it spotlightings a very serious issue: clean water, which is unusual for an 11-year-old from Long Island.

Audrey Zhang, a fifth-grader from Levittown, N.Y, is the winner of this year’s Doodle 4 Google contest, rising to the top of some 100, 000 entries on the theme of “draw one thing to make the world a better place.”

Her piece, titled “Back to Mother Nature,” describes a detailed water-cleaning machine. Zhang worked with a team of artists at Google to animate(使……生动)her drawing.

“To make the world a better place, I came up with a transformative water purifier, a machine used to remove dirty or harmful substances,” Google quoted Zhang as saying. “It takes in dirty and polluted water from rivers, lakes and even oceans, then massively transforms the water into clean, safe and pure water. When humans and animals drink this water, they will live a healthier life.”

She created a whole world around the device—one populated by humans, a whale in a top hat and dragons.

Zhang,'s piece is “so vivid and so rich and so full and so complete,’’ Google Doodle team leader Ryan Germick told the Washington Post. “Every leaf seemed to have life in it.”

Along with having her artwork featured on Google’s homepage, Zhang wins a $30,000 college scholarship. In addition, her school will receive a $50,000 Google for Education technology grant, and the company is donating $20,000 in her name to a charity devoted to bringing clean water to schools in Bangladesh.

On Sunday, the night before her work was revealed on net, Zhang told Newsday she was excited by the big win, but said she wouldn’t be awake when her art first went online at midnight.

“I have school-tomorrow, so I can’t stay up late,” she told the paper.

1. What’s the passage mainly about?

A．The winner and her work in the painting contest.

B．The team of artists at Google to animate drawings.

C．The painting contest of Google’s homepage in 2015.

D．The water-cleaning machine in the painting contest.

2. According to the passage, we know that______.

A．Audrey Zhang is creative and self-disciplined

B．a water-cleaning device was made in the contest

C．$50, 000 will be donated in Audrey Zhang’s name

D．Zhang’s piece was printed in all major newspapers

3. The underlined word in Paragraph l probably means “_____”.

A．put up with	B．look forward to
C．breakaway from	D．focus attention on

【推荐3】Every time I stare at the rows of jars filled with my parents’ homemade tomato sauce, I wonder: “Should I really use one?”

I have been keeping these jars like precious treasures. No matter how hard I try to find alternatives, nothing compares. Store bought sauce? It doesn’t taste right. Even if I try to recreate it, it will never taste the same.

While growing up, I hated the tomato season. My parents would use the basement to ripen the tomatoes they had collected locally in September. Like the other Italian families in the area, we would then take them to the garage when they were ripe enough. There they were cleaned and boiled.

Having been stewed (炖), whole tomatoes were passed through my father’s homemade machine to. Separate the sauce from the skins. Jars at the ready. We filled them with sauce and seasoning. The jars would be hot for a few days, sealed (密封) to keep their own heat. They would then be lined up and ready to use.

This tradition was hard to carry on when my father got ill. After being diagnosed (诊断) with cancer in 2019, he spent most of his time in hospital. In September that year he came home, and on the weekend we decided to continue the tradition. I have glorious memories of that day as we once again made the sauce. It was a beautiful but short-lived moment. My father died soon after.

I can’t keep these jars forever. But it doesn’t make it any easier to open one. Every time I go to reach for one, something stops me. My mother, ever practical, is visiting us recently and just stares at them.

“You should use these or they will go to waste.”

What will it feel like to use that last jar? It would mean the end of an era. Who knows? Maybe it’s time to bring new traditions into life.

1. What stops the author from using the tomato sauce?

A．It has gone bad.	B．He doesn’t like tomato sauce.
C．He keeps it for future use.	D．He values it too much.

2. What do Para.3 and Para.4 mainly talk about?

A．The tomato harvest.	B．The homemade machine.
C．The fruitful tomato season.	D．The making of tomato sauce.

3. What will the author most probably do next?

A．Open one jar.	B．Keep the jars.
C．Collect tomatoes.	D．Make tomato sauce.

4. Which of the following words can best describe the author?

A．Practical.

B．Faithful.

C．Loving.

D．Sensitive.

【推荐1】There is an old saying that America and Britain are “two nations divided by a common language.” No one knows exactly who said this, but it reflects the way many Brits feel about American English. But are American and British English really so different?

Vocabulary

The most obvious difference between American and British English is vocabulary. There are hundreds of everyday words that are different. For example, Americans go on vacation while Brits go on holidays; New Yorkers live in apartments while Londoners live in flats. There are far more examples than we can talk about here. Fortunately, most Americans and Brits can usually guess the meaning through the context of a sentence.

Past Tense Verbs

You’ll also find some differences with past forms of irregular verbs. The past tense of “learn” in American English is “learned”. British English has the option(选择) of “learned” or “learnt”. The same rule applies to “dreamed” and “dreamt”, “burned” and “burnt”, and “leaned” and “leant”. Americans tend to use the -ed ending; Brits tend to use the-t ending.

Spelling

There are hundreds of slight spelling differences between British and American English. Noah Webster, an author, politician and teacher, made an effort to reform English spelling in the late 1700s.

Webster wanted to spell words the way they sounded. You can see Webster’s legacy(遗产) in the American spelling of words like color (from colour), honor (from honour), and labor(from labour).

Not So Different After All

British and American English have far more similarities than differences. With the exception of some regional dialects, most Brits and Americans can understand each other without too much difficulty. They watch each other’s TV shows, sing each other’s songs and read each other’s books. They even make fun of each others’ accents.

1. Which of the following is a group of American words?

A．Vacation; holiday.	B．Apartment; flat.
C．Vacation; apartment.	D．Holiday; flat.

2. What do we know about British and American English from the last paragraph?

A．They both have some strange words.

B．They are affecting people using them.

C．They connect people of the two countries.

D．Their differences have little effect on communication.

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

A．Ways to tell British English from American English

B．Differences between British and American English

C．Development of British and American English

D．Difficulty for Brits and Americans to understand each other

【推荐2】The day Madelyn McClarey’s twin sons, Aaron and Aubrey Hough, each received scholarships(奖学金)to Florida A&M University, she figured that after they moved seven hours north from Hollywood to Tallahassee, she’d be lucky to see them on weekends.

But her sons had something else in mind. The twins told her they’d move to Tallahassee on one condition. She had to go with them—and work toward the college degree she’d always wanted. And that is how McClarey ended up in a green cap and gown this month at FAMU. Cheering her on were her twins. “Our mom is so determined and dedicated, we’re lucky to have her as our mother,” said Aaron. “It was a lot of hard work, but she never gave up.”

McClarey’s sons jumped as she was awarded a bachelor’s degree (学士学位)in English with a minor in education, excited that their mom finally had the degree she’d dreamed about for more than twenty years. Her professional goals were put on hold when she became a single mom looking after two kids. Before motherhood, before divorce, McClarey had gone to business school.

McClarey, who described herself as “40ish,” said that when her sons insisted she go with them to college four years ago, her jaw dropped, having known most teens are eager to start lives away from their parents once they graduate from high school. She said, “But I was also delighted when I realized they weren’t joking and weren’t going to leave home unless I moved with them, so I said, ‘Well, all right—let’s go, then.’”

Now that McClarey has graduated, she doesn’t plan to leave Tallahassee anytime soon. She wants to stick around to encourage and support her sons, but there is also another matter to deal with. “My goal is to become an author someday,” she said. “So this summer, I’ll be working on getting my master’s degree.”

1. After being admitted to university, the twin sons wanted their mom to          .

A．move to Tallahassee	B．see them on weekends
C．live with them in college	D．continue her college education

2. What does the underlined phrase “put on hold” in Paragraph 3 mean?

A．To be done later.	B．To be improved.
C．To be taken off.	D．To be set up.

3. How did McClarey feel when hearing her sons’ suggestion four years ago?

A．Surprised.	B．Delighted.
C．Disappointed.	D．Anxious.

4. What would McClarey do after graduation?

A．Find a job as a writer.	B．Realize her dream.
C．Deal with important matters.	D．Move back to Hollywood.

【推荐3】It is a common sight on Japanese public transportation: Children troop through train cars, alone or in small groups, looking for seats.

They wear knee socks, polished leather shoes, and school uniforms, with train passes pinned to their backpacks. The kids are as young as six or seven on their way to and from school, and there is no parent in sight. They may chat happily, listening to music or just reading books quietly.

Kakaito, a 12-year-old boy in Tokyo, has been riding the train by himself between the homes of his parents, since he was nine. “At first, I was a little worried,” he admitted, “whether I could ride the train alone, but only a little worried.” Now, he says, “It’s easy.” His parents were worried at first, too. But they went ahead because they felt he was old enough, and lots of other kids were doing it safely.

“Honestly, what I remember thinking at this time is, the trains are safe and on time, and he is a smart boy,” Kakaito’s stepmother says. “I took the train on my own when I was younger than him in Tokyo,” she recalls. “We didn’t have cellphones back in my day, but I still managed to go from point A to point B on the train, If he gets lost, he can call us.”

Kakaito’s stepmother says she wouldn’t let a nine-year-old boy ride the subway alone in London or New York-just in Tokyo. Japan has a very low crime rate, which is surely a key reason parents feel confident about sending their kids out alone. But small-sized urban spaces and a culture of walking and public transportation use also bring people safety.

1. The writer describes the scene at the beginning in order to__________.

A．encourage the readers	B．introduce the topic
C．make a sharp comparison	D．show us the beauty of riding the train

2. What might be Kakaito’s reaction if he gets lost?

A．Ask his classmates for help.	B．Get off the train and take another.
C．Contact his family members.	D．Wait for his parents to pick him up.

3. What’s the last paragraph about?

A．The reasons why Japanese kids take trains alone.

B．The reasons why London or New York has a high crime rate.

C．Japanese people like walking and take public transportation.

D．The reason why Kakito’s stepmother is worried about his safety.