【推荐2】It can be incredibly difficult to encourage ourselves to go for a run during winter, particularly when it’s wet and windy outside. But new research has found that even a super-quick run could have great health benefits. In fact, it seems that just a 10-minute session will not only make us feel better, but could actually improve brain health, too. Now, we all know that exercise can improve mental and physical health in many ways.

But when it comes to mental well-being, there’s been relatively little research done on the specific benefits of running, compared with other physical activities, such as cycling. So this was something put to the test during a recent study. Researchers from University of Tsukuba in Japan asked participants (参加者) to run on a treadmill (跑步机) for just 10 minutes. They then had to take a Stroop Color and Word Test which is used to measure reaction time in brain processing. Results showed there was a highest point in self-reported pleasure and an increase in degree of activity of the brain.

In other words, runners were found to have an increase in blood flow in the part of the brain that’s associated with dealing with functions and controlling mood (情绪). Researchers then compared these results to a similar study on cycling, which also showed improved cognition (认知), but no mood improvement. Therefore, it seems various types of exercise can make us feel differently.

The authors noted, “Given exercise is medicine, the effects of drugs differ depending on the type of drug, and different types of exercise such as running and cycling should be observed to have different effects on mental health and brain functions as well.”

So pushing ourselves to get outside for a run really will make us feel better, probably more than other fitness activities. And these findings show that we don’t necessarily need to do a lot of exercise to feel the benefit of it.

1. What did the new research find?

A．Running fast benefits all of us.

B．Running is the best exercise.

C．A short time run can be beneficial.

D．A healthy mind encourages us to run.

2. How did the researchers get the result?

A．By using different drugs on participants.

B．By interviewing some sportsmen.

C．By collecting information on the Internet.

D．By doing experiments and comparisons.

3. Which is related to our happiness?

A．Cycling.

B．Medicine.

C．Blood flow.

D．Colors.

4. What is the main idea of the text?

A．We should go for a run in winter.

B．Running really benefits us mentally.

C．We don’t need a lot of exercise.

D．Running on a treadmill is better than running outside.

【推荐3】We all love bank holidays. In the UK, we only get eight bank holidays in one year, and atleast five of those occur around Christmas time and Easter time! A bank holiday is a British English term. This is an official day that is decided by the government, when banks, shops and offices close for the day even though it’s a weekday — usually a M onday, and a lot of people have a day off work.

Bank holidays are different in Colombia — firstly, they are called “festivos”. There are twenty festivos for the whole country in one year ! In Britain, people get more holiday allowance (津贴) than Colombians but fewer bank holidays. There can be even more festivos in Colombia, depending on which region of Colombia you live in. This is because different regions have their own holidays. For example, some regions have a patron saint                    (守护神) in their region, so they have an extra festivo to celebrate that saint.

However, there are some days that are national holidays for historical reasons. There is an Independence Day celebration on July 20 every year. This is just like Bastille Day in France on July 14, or Independence Day in the United States on July 4. Other important festivos in Colombia are： Labor Day, on May 1, and Columbus Day on October 12. Columbus Day is a historical bank holiday that almost every country on the continent of A merica celebrates. This includes Colombia, Chile, Peru, Argentina, Mexico and the United States. It is a memorialization of the day that the Italian sailor, Christopher Columbus, first reached land on the continent in the year 1492. Many people criticize this day and say it is not something to celebrate because of the way Columbus and his teams treated the people that were already living there.

1. What is a “bank holiday” according to the text?

A．A holiday only for the bank staff.

B．A British traditional religion festival.

C．A celebration for Christmas and Easter.

D．An official nationwide rest day.

2. What can we learn from paragraph 2?

A．Colombia and Britain have the same number of festivos.

B．All Colombians have the same number of festivos.

C．Colombians have more bank holidays than the British.

D．Different regions in Colombia have different patron saits to celebrate.

3. Why do many Americans refuse to celebrate Columbus Day?

A．Because Columbus wasn’t an American at all.

B．Because Columbus once treated the locals badly.

C．Because it wasn’t Columbus that found America first.

D．Because Columbus didn’t live in the continent of America.

4. What is the suitable title for the text?

A．Bank Holidays in Western World

B．How to Celebrate Bank Holidays

C．Celebrations of National Holidays

D．Why People Celebrate National Holidays

【推荐1】A New Chapter

The day I heard that Rainbow Bookstore was closing after 50 years of business, I was heartbroken. The bookstore, which was a legendary fixture in the neighbourhood, was a place where anyone could drop in and connect through their love of books.

When I hurried to the store, I saw that the books were already being packed into boxes. I had a long chat with Casey, the store’s elderly owner. Sighing deeply, he told me how it was becoming difficult to run an independent bookstore. Most young people preferred reading e-books on tablets. More and more customers were being attracted by chain stores and online discounts. I tried to think of some words of sympathy, but I had to admit that the Rainbow Bookstore couldn’t stay in business much longer.

A few months later, I was back in the neighbourhood during my spring break and was surprised to see that the bookstore was still there and opened for business. Its old brick walls hadn’t been decorated, but inside it was like a different world. In one area, a book reading was being delivered. Nearby, customers were poring over shelves selling stationery, posters and other best-seller-themed gifts. The large board in the corner where customers’ comments on the books were being displayed had been replaced by a big screen. Clearly, the Rainbow Bookstore was in good, creative hands.

I was told that the community had decided to work together on a program to save Rainbow Bookstore. The campaign had been led by Jennifer Oakley, a saleswoman who had grown up in the neighbourhood and who had now taken over the bookstore from Casey.

Under Jennifer’s leadership, the bookstore was being turned into a place for literature-loving members of the community to get together. It had a cafe selling organic food, and there were now more community events such as book readings, poetry recitals and even jazz concerts and movie nights, where people could gather to share an experience that couldn’t be downloaded.

I joined old Casey, who was looking up at the screen on which readers’ comments kept popping up. “Well, as you can see, corporate knowledge combined with creativity has brought my humble bookstore into the 21st century! I’m so pleased to see that everything I wanted to offer to the community is still here.”

1. Why did Rainbow Bookstore face close down?

A．Because it had a long history.

B．Because people no longer loved reading.

C．Because it was affected by e-books and online stores.

D．Because there were fewer residents in the neighbourhood.

2. What made Rainbow Bookstore survive?

A．New books	B．Lower price
C．Inside decorations	D．Creative management

3. Which of the following best explains “popping up” underlined in the last paragraph?

A．Flashing up

B．Looking up

C．Putting down

D．Handing in

4. What can we infer about the new bookstore from the text?

A．People are not allowed to eat anything in the bookstore.

B．The bookstore creates a literary bond between readers.

C．Casey couldn’t accept the new style of the bookstore.

D．Customers can write their comments on the books on a large board.

5. What is the new bookstore’s advantage over online stores?

A．People could buy many things that can’t be bought online.

B．People could share their feeling and thoughts about reading together.

C．People could read what they like there.

D．People could get away from computers and phones in the bookstore.

【推荐2】Who needs friends? According to most psychologists (心理学家), we all do, especially nowadays when so many other aspects (方面) of modern life are changing. It seems that having friends keeps us both healthy and happy.

The number of TV series about groups of friends shows just how important friendship is to us. Psychologist Dorothy Rowe says that many of us now turn to our friends, instead of our families, for advice, comfort and security (安全感). One woman named Rebecca she interviewed even told her that if she had got to choose between her husband and her friend, she would choose her friend.

Since our friends mean so much to us, it is not surprising that the happiest marriages are also friendships. “Once the romantic stage of a relationship has passed, it is friendship that holds people together,” says Rowe. If the couple do not make some change, they will either get tired of each other and break up or stay together and seek friendship with others.

But is friendship equally important to women and men? According to author Rhonda Pritchard, women are more likely than men to have close friends. “You tell a friend things that you’d never tell a partner”, says one woman she interviewed. For men, friendship is usually based on doing things together rather than the private conversations that are typical of women friend. Men share time and activities like building a fence or a business, running, riding a bike, fishing or watching football, but they don’t often share their feelings.

Although many women find their relationships with a husband or boyfriend is not enough, many men say that their partner is their best friend. Even women who are very happily married are likely to become very unhappy without a close friend and can even find the breakup of a close friend as painful as the end of a marriage.

1. What did Rebecca think about friendship?

A．Families are reliable forever.

B．Her friend means more to her than her husband

C．One needn’t have too many friends.

D．Friends are as important as families.

2. Some couples look for friends outside their relationships because         .

A．they are encouraged by their partners.

B．they are not fairly treated by their partners

C．they don’t get what they need from their partners.

D．they think their friends are more romantic.

3. What is the main difference between men’s and women’s friendships?

A．Women often do things together.

B．Women often talk about business with friends.

C．Men seldom talk about their feelings.

D．Men often talk to their friends about work and family.

4. When a friendship ends, some women may      .

A．feel as upset as when a marriage ends.

B．share feelings with their partners.

C．treat their partners as friends.

D．turn to their husband for comfort.

【推荐3】A dozen international coffee experts moved around a long wooden table, pausing at each steaming cup, heads dipping,smelling and tasting. In the wings, coffee farmer Yang Fan watches attentively as the judges’ circle, awaiting a decision on her latest crop of beans.

In recent years, China is fast developing a reputation as a top coffee producer. This tasting was a side event to the first ever Pu’er International Specialty Coffee Expo in China’s southwestern Yunnan province, which ran this winter and drew more than a thousand attendees, including industry aficionados (酷爱者) from across the globe.

“Coffee has huge potential in China,” says Liu Ying, who is working in private investment in Beijing to grow coffee in Pu’er five years ago. “The younger generation prefers to drink coffee in their offices much more than tea.” Still, Pu’er remains synonymous with tea. In a region of China known for thousands of years of tea growing, a new crop is beginning to change the country’s landscape: coffee. This town near the Laos border is surrounded by the green hills scored with tea plantations; it produces a variety of tea which is also called Pu’er. But the region’s mild climate is also perfect for growing Arabica coffee. And as China’s young people move away from traditional tea in favor of the invigorating coffee, Pu’er’s farmers are catering to the demand. Yunnan accounts for 98% of China’s coffee harvest, with half coming from the misty landscape around Pu’er. Today, China is the 13th biggest coffee producer in the world - rising from zero output three decades ago to 136,000 tons annually today.

In April, Seattle’s annual Specialty Coffee Expo decided to showcase China as its portrait country of origin. It follows on the heels of Starbucks’ launching its first single-origin Yunnan coffee last year after eight years of partnership with Yunnan farmers.

With global coffee prices at record lows, Yunnan farmers are processing beans in bespoke (定制的) ways to create distinct flavors -allowing them to enter the market of specialty coffee. “At current coffee prices, I can’t even feed my family,” says the farmer Yang. “My only way out is to produce specialty coffee, to make the best coffee beans.” That means letting beans dry in their cherries, thus producing a wild, fruity flavor, or allowing them to “honey” in their sugary inner layer, which adds a slight sweetness.

“If I told you this was Colombian or Panama coffee, nobody would argue with me,” says Samuel Gurel, CEO of Pu’er’s Torch Coffee Roasters, as Yang breaks into a laughter. “It’s a great example of how Chinese coffee is evolving.”

1. What is the best title of the passage?

A．Coffee gains ground in China’s tea-growing heartland

B．Coffee is taking the place of Pu’er tea in Yunnan province.

C．Bespoke coffee in Ynnnan has a variety of flavors.

D．China has become a top coffee producer in the world.

2. People grow coffee in Pu’er because ________.

A．they have the tradition to plant coffee

B．Starbuck needs coffee from Yunnan province

C．coffee planted there has a special flavor

D．they think coffee has great potential in China

3. What does the underlined sentence in the third paragraph mean?

A．Pu’er cannot produce coffee.

B．Coffee enjoys a good reputation.

C．Pu’er is most famous for its tea.

D．Coffee is as popular as coffee.

4. What does Samuel Gurel think of Yang’s coffee beans?

A．He is worried about it.	B．He thinks highly of it.
C．He doubts about its future.	D．He shows no interest in it.

【推荐1】The Netflix series Tidying Up with Marie Kondo, which offers tips for reorganizing personal space and getting rid of untidiness, has inspired many to shrink their overstuffed closets. Charity shops have seen an increase in donations of used clothing, a phenomenon that’s been credited to the influence of the show.

But people have a popular method of dealing with unwanted clothing. They simply throw it in the trash. And that’s become a real problem.

According to Fast Company, people of New York City throw 200 million pounds of clothing into the garbage each year. The used clothing goes on to take up space in landfills for an unlimited period of time. The Environmental Protection Agency reported in 2015 that 10.5 million tons of clothing wound up in the trash that year. New York’s fashion leaders and the city’s sanitation (公共卫生) agencies have started an advertising campaign directing people to cover 1,000 drop-off points where unwanted clothes can be deposited for recycling or repurposing. But if you can’t find one of the collection points in your neighborhood, what can you do with your old clothes?

Selling is one option. Local clothes stores may offer only a modest price for your used clothing collections, but they’ll likely fall into other hands rather than a landfill. There are also online marketplaces like ThredUP and Material World that pay cash or offer store credit for designer or chain-store clothing that you mail in. To maximize their value, it’s best to present clothing folded, buttoned, and cleaned.

You can also try sites like Rehash Clothes to promote a clothing exchange with others who are looking to clear up their closet. If you want to throw clothing because it’s damaged, give some thought to repairing it instead. Things like loose or missing buttons can be simple fixes; stains can be covered by dyeing material (染料). All of these options can keep some of your clothing’s value.

Whatever you decide to do, it’s best to keep clothing on someone’s back in one form or another—not in the trash.

1. What do we know from the passage?

A．New Yorkers give away lots of clothing annually.

B．Unwanted clothing has to be donated to charity shops.

C．The advertising campaign aims to promote the sales of used clothes.

D．Tidying Up with Marie Kondo encourages more people to donate used clothes.

2. What does the underlined phrase “wound up” in Paragraph 3 probably mean?

A．backed up	B．gave up
C．ended up	D．took up

3. Which of the following does the author suggest?

A．Throw seriously damaged clothing into the trash.

B．Fix the damaged clothing before it is donated.

C．Sell the used clothes online rather than in local stores.

D．Care about the details of used clothes when selling them online.

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

A．To offer practical tips for clothing exchanges.

B．To present the problem with unwanted clothing.

C．To advocate dealing with old clothing effectively.

D．To raise public awareness of environmental protection.

【推荐2】At Denver there was an crowd of passengers into the coaches（车厢） on the eastbound B. & M. express. In one coach there sat a very pretty young woman dressed in elegant taste and surrounded by all the luxurious comforts of an experienced traveler. Among the newcomers were two young men, one of handsome presence with a bold, frank face expression and manner; the other a ruffled, glum-faced person, heavily built and roughly dressed. The two were handcuffed（拷上手铐） together.
As they passed down the aisle of the coach the only available seat offered was a reversed one facing the attractive young woman. Here the linked couple seated themselves. The young woman's glance fell upon them with a distant, swift disinterest; then with a lovely smile brightening her face and a tender pink tingeing（稍加染色，影响） her rounded cheeks, she held out a little gray-gloved hand. When she spoke her voice, full, sweet, and deliberate, proclaimed that its owner was accustomed to speak and be heard.
"Well, Mr. Easton, if you will make me speak first, I suppose I must. Don't you ever recognize old friends when you meet them in the West?"
The younger man aroused himself sharply at the sound of her voice, seemed to struggle with a slight embarrassment which he threw off instantly, and then clasped her fingers with his left hand.
"It's Miss Fairchild," he said, with a smile. "I'll ask you to excuse the other hand; "it's otherwise engaged just at present."
He slightly raised his right hand, bound at the wrist by the shining "bracelet" to the left one of his companion. The glad look in the girl's eyes slowly changed to a bewildered horror. The glow faded from her cheeks. Her lips parted in a vague（含糊，犹豫）, relaxing distress. Easton, with a little laugh, as if amused, was about to speak again when the other forestalled him. The glum-faced man had been watching the girl's face expression with veiled glances from his keen, shrewd eyes.
"You'll excuse me for speaking, miss, but, I see you're acquainted with（认识，熟悉） the officer here. If you'll ask him to speak a word for me when we get to the pen（围栏，监狱） he'll do it, and it'll make things easier for me there. He's taking me to Leavenworth prison. It's seven years for cheating."
"Oh!" said the girl, with a deep breath and returning color. "So that is what you are doing out here? An officer!"
"My dear Miss Fairchild," said Easton, calmly, "I had to do something. Money has a way of taking wings with itself, and you know it takes money to keep step with our crowd in Washington. I saw this opening（通道） in the West,and____well, an officer isn't quite as high a position as that of ambassador, but--"
"The ambassador," said the girl, warmly, "doesn't call any more. I needn't ever have done so. You ought to know that. And so now you are one of these brave Western heroes, and you ride and shoot and go into all kinds of dangers. That's different from the Washington life. You have been missed from the old crowd."
The girl's eyes, fascinated, went back, widening a little, to rest upon the glittering handcuffs.
"Don't you worry about them, miss," said the other man. "All officers handcuff themselves to their prisoners to keep them from getting away. Mr. Easton knows his business."
"Will we see you again soon in Washington?" asked the girl.
"Not soon, I think," said Easton. __________________"
"I love the West," said the girl irrelevantly. Her eyes were shining softly. She looked away out the car window. She began to speak truly and simply without the gloss of style and manner: "Mamma and I spent the summer in Denver. She went home a week ago because father was slightly ill. I could live and be happy in the West. I think the air here agrees with me. Money isn't everything. But people always misunderstand things and remain stupid--"
"Say, officer," shouted the glum-faced man. "This isn't quite fair. I'm needing a drink, and haven't had a smoke all day. Haven't you talked long enough? Take me in the smoker now, won't you? I'm half dead for a pipe."
The bound travelers rose to their feet, Easton with the same slow smile on his face.
"I can't deny a require for tobacco," he said, lightly. "It's the one friend of the unfortunate. Good-bye, Miss Fairchild. Duty calls, you know." He held out his hand for a farewell.
"It's too bad you are not going East," she said, reclothing herself with manner and style. "But you must go on to Leavenworth, I suppose?"
"Yes," said Easton, "I must go on to Leavenworth."
The two men sidled down the aisle into the smoker.
The two passengers in a seat near by had heard most of the conversation. Said one of them: "That officer is a good sort of man. Some of these Western fellows are all right."
"Pretty young to hold an office like that, isn't he?" asked the other.
"Young!" exclaimed the first speaker, "why--Oh! Didn't you catch on? Say--did you ever know an officer to handcuff a prisoner to his right hand?"
1. From the first three paragraphs, we know that_________

A．the two young were seated opposite to the young woman by accident.

B．it was not difficult for the woman to find the men were handcuffed

C．the young woman found she knew one of the men at the first sight of them.

D．the young woman may not be good at communicate

2. What would be the possible sentence following the underlined “and –-“

A．and it is not easy to make such a fortune

B．and I do the cheating things to collect money

C．and I tried my best to be a good officer

D．and the West is bond to be wealthy

3. When Easton uttered the underlined sentence "My butterfly days are over, I fear", his real meaning was that__________

A．he would have to focus on his work

B．he would be put in prison

C．his chance of being with butterfly is small

D．his workload as an officer was heavy

4. Why did the glum-faced man urge Easton to the smoker?

A．Because he needed a drink and tobacco badly.

B．Because he was angry that Miss Fairchild did not say any good words for him

C．Because he was bored and tired with Miss Fairchild and Easton’s talk.

D．Because he was afraid Miss Fairchild would find the truth.

5. Which of the following can NOT be inferred from the passage?

A．Miss Fairchild was an ambassador

B．Easton was an officer with his prisoner

C．the glum-faced was considerate and careful

D．Easton had been trying to make a big fortune in the West

6. What was the best title of the passage?

A．Miss Fairchild’s Trip	B．Hearts and Hands
C．The Story of a Handcuff	D．The Meeting of Two Friends

【推荐3】Nothing is “new and improved” anymore. It's all about the plus.

“Something exciting is happening in March,” flowed out an email from CBS All Access, alerting subscribers that the streaming service is being renamed Paramount + . The company seeks to keep pace with Apple TV+, ESPN +, Disney +, BET +, AMC + and others.

Video services didn't start this. The Apple II + came out in 1979 and Crest + toothpaste in 2002, But TV streaming companies now apparently must be branded plus, for fear that consumers perceive their offerings as a minus. Much of this has to do with justifying a monthly charge for television-which used to be free. A more complete name would be “Paramount + a Bill.”

Hulu used to have a "plus" service, which was a misnomer since what customers got with it was the absence of ads. "We've had fun with our old friend Plus, the company explained in a 2015 email, “but it's time to move on. We just wanted to let you know that we are retiring the Hulu Plus name. From now on, we will just be known as Hulu. No Plus.

Yet other streaming services have been drawn to the plus, thanks in large part to the success of Disney+, which added 86 million subscribers during its first year. Disney also operates ESPN + and , outside the U. S. ,Star + .

A funny thing about marketing: A plus is always a plus but a minus is never a minus—even though more products are notable for what they cut down. Budweiser wouldn't call its lower- calorie beer Bud-. There are fat-free potato chips and cookies, but Pringles- or Oreos- is abandoned.

Americans have a fondness for plus-size portions, plus-size clothing and media that have plus signs in their names. Mercifully, the plus thing hasn't yet reached more important aspects of our lives.

1. What does the underlined word "this" in paragraph 3 refer to?

A．Apple service.

B．Video service.

C．Plus service.

D．Streaming service.

2. What can we learn about Hulu?

A．Hulu has no ads put in.	B．Hulu no longer follows suit.
C．Hulu suffered a great loss.	D．Hulu cheated its subscribers.

3. Why wouldn't Budweiser call its lower-calorie beer Bud- ?

A．To avoid misunderstandings	B．To improve the beer's quality.
C．To keep pace with other companies.	D．To protect the consumers' interests.

4. What's the author's attitude towards the trend?

A．Objective.

B．Critical.

C．Tolerant.

D．Skeptical.