【推荐3】Tom liked to make up stories about the giants that threatened(威胁)the peace of his own land ,but he knew that the real giant in his life was Janice. Of course, it wasn't only Tom and his best friend John that Janice was after. She had two friends, Wilma and Bobby, who were almost as big as she was,and the three of them would wander around the playground, grabbing up rocks, running through jump ropes, and laughing while second graders screamed. They would even stand outside the girls' room every morning and make the little girls give them their milk money before they'd let them go to the bathroom.

Belle, Johns little sister, unfortunately, was a slow learner. Her daddy had brought her a package of Twinkies, and she was so proud that as soon as she got on the school bus, she forgot every-thing she knew and yelled to another first grader, "Guess what I got in my lunch today, Billy?”

“What?”

“Twinkies!”she shouted so loud that you could have heard her in the back seat even if you were deaf in both ears. Out of the corner of his eye, John thought he saw Janice brighten up.

When they sat down, Belle was still talking about her Twinkies loudly. "My daddy brought them to me from Washington.”

John threw another look at the back seat. “You better shut up about those Twinkies”he said in her ear. “You just jealous(嫉妒的) because Daddy did bring you none.” “OK.” He turned to Tom to say, “warned her,didn’t I ? and Tom nodded back.

Neither of them was too surprised to see Belle come screaming toward them at rest time. “She stole my Twinkies!”John sighed. “Belle, didn't I tell you?”

1. From the first paragraph, what do you know?

A．Tom liked to be a writer.

B．Janice was a real giant in their lives.

C．Wilma and Bobby were almost as big as Janice.

D．Tom and John would wander around the playground.

2. How did Belle feel when she received the Twinkies?

A．Bored	B．Helpless
C．Admired	D．Happy

3. When John let Belle shut up about those Twinkies, he wanted________

A．to represent her.	B．to protect her.
C．to attack her.	D．to impress her.

4. According to the passage, who might steal Belle’s Twinkies?

A．Janice	B．Bill
C．John	D．Tom

【推荐1】My family lives in Texas. I was born and brought up in Texas and I am a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin. However, around my second year in the law school, I wanted to make a great change, which was almost unheard of for Texans: I wanted to leave!

I realized this after completing my first-year internship (实习期). I knew I wanted something different and my chance came during the 2011 Super Bowl in Dallas. A snowstorm blanketed the entire city in snow and thousands of people were gathered. I overheard that StubHub, a big company from a great city, San Francisco, was throwing a party next door to my hotel. I thought if I could get an internship, I could leave for the summer and at least see what it was like. Yes, it was a huge leap. I told myself I was ready.

There was just one problem: I wasn't invited to the StubHub party. But you know I’m the type of person who goes for something she wants. Needless to say, I crashed the party and found my way to the president. I kindly introduced myself and then asked if they had a legal internship program. Guess what? They accepted my request to be a legal intern, even though no such program existed.

Although the legal department didn't have a permanent position for me, the experience has shaped my life Working for a great company in San Francisco, I’m incredibly happy for making my decision to leave Texas.

By leaving Texas, I learned that it is so much more rewarding to try the unfamiliar than to stay in the comfortable. Exploring the unfamiliar is how you'll understand what fits your life. I say, dive in first.

1. What happened to the author in Dallas in 2011?

A．She was accepted as a legal intern.

B．She played in the Super Bowl.

C．She escaped from San Francisco.

D．She met up with her family.

2. The author was able to leave Texas because

A．she watched the 2011 Super Bowl in Dallas.

B．she introduced herself to the president of StubHuk.

C．she dropped out of the University of Texas at Austin.

D．a snowstorm blanketed the entire city in snow.

3. Which is the biggest lesson that the author learned from the experience?

A．You must choose a career that you like.

B．Jumping out of your comfort zone is rewarding.

C．Accepting who you are makes you realize your strengths.

D．You should listen to your family to learn about your potential.

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

A．Patient and modest.

B．Supportive and energetic.

C．Intelligent and humorous.

D．Determined and adventurous.

【推荐2】On my first day of high school, going into math class, I was pointed and laughed at by two of my classmates. I initially thought my fly was open, or that something was stuck in my teeth. But as I took my seat, I heard one student whisper, “Why is a black boy taking Honors?” So, my fly wasn’t open. An honors level class had simply been taken by a student whose skin was brown.

Many people think my clothes should be big enough for me to live in, or expect me to listen to only “black music.” In seventh grade, a group of my classmates fixed their cold stares on my clothes. They called out to me, “Go get your gangsta clothes.” In one of my Spanish classes, the teacher asked me, “Do you like rap music or rock music more?” I replied, “Rock.” The look of shock on my classmates’ faces made me uncomfortable.

Now I still take all Honors courses. I still wear clothes that fit me. My music library covers from rock to pop to techno, and almost everything in between. When it comes to choosing my friends, I am still colorblind. I continue to do my best to work in school in order to reach my goals; and yet, when I look in the mirror, I still see skin of that same brown.

I believe in being myself. I believe that I myself should decide who I am and what actions I take in life. In high school, popularity often depends on your willingness to follow trends. And I’ve been told that it doesn’t get much easier going into adulthood. But the only other option is to sacrifice my personality for the satisfaction and approval of others. This can be appealing, but I’m not going to do that.

1. Why did his classmates laugh at him?

A．His fly was open.

B．Something was stuck in his teeth.

C．He went into the wrong classroom.

D．They had prejudice against him.

2. What are black people usually believed to do?

A．Listen to rap music.	B．Wear small clothes.
C．Take Honors courses.	D．Attend Spanish classes.

3. What does the underlined word “colorblind” probably mean?

A．Making friends of the same skin color.

B．Having no idea what friends to make.

C．Treating people equally and fairly.

D．Feeling hurt and offended inside.

4. What can be a suitable title for the text?

A．Following Popular Trends	B．Being Content with Myself
C．Having Faith in Skin Color	D．Changing My Personality

【推荐3】It was a winter morning, just a couple of weeks before Christmas 2005. While most people were warming up their cars, Trevor, my husband, had to get up early to ride his bike four kilometers away from home to work. On arrival, he parked his bike outside the back door as he usually does. After putting in 10 hours of labor, he returned to find his bike gone.
The bike, a black Kona 18 speed, was our only transport. Trevor used it to get to work, putting in 60-hour weeks to support his young family. And the bike was also used to get groceries（食品杂货），saving us from having to walk long distances from where we live.
I was so sad that someone would steal our bike that I wrote to the newspaper and told them our story. Shortly after that, several people in our area offered to help. One wonderful stranger even bought a bike, then called my husband to pick it up. Once again my husband had a way to get to and from his job. It really is an honor that a complete stranger would go out of their way for someone they have never met before.
People say that a smile can be passed from one person to another, but acts of kindness from strangers are even more so. This experience has had a spreading effect in our lives because it strengthened our faith in humanity（人性）as a whole. And it has influenced（影响）us to be more mindful of ways we, too, can share with others. No matter how big or how small, an act of kindness shows that someone cares. And the results can be everlasting.
1. Why was the bike so important to the couple?

A．The man’s job was bike racing.	B．It was their only possession.
C．It was a nice Kona 18 speed.	D．They used it for work and daily life.

2. We can infer from the text that ____________.

A．the couple worked 60 hours a week.	B．people were busy before Christmas
C．the stranger brought over the bike	D．life was hard for the young family.

3. How did people get to know the couple’s problem?

A．From radio broadcasts.	B．From a newspaper.
C．From TV news.	D．From a stranger.

4. What do the couple learn from their experience?

A．Strangers are usually of little help.	B．One should take care of their bike.
C．News reports make people famous.	D．An act of kindness can mean a lot.

【推荐2】Ben Underwood is blind. Both eyes were removed when he was just three years old, leaving him with no vision at all. So how on earth does he ride his bicycle, play football and basketball?

Ben uses many common aids for the blind, like speaking software. He’s also written a book and does his schoolwork on a hi-tech Braille writer. But what’s unusual is what he doesn’t use. Ben has no guide dog and never uses a white cane. He doesn’t even use his hands. Instead, he sees with sound. Amazingly, Ben’s ears pick up the echoes (回声) and he can precisely locate where things are. Ben is the only person in the world who sees using nothing but echolocation.

Ben was born perfectly healthy, with dark eyes like his mum. But, when he was two she looked into his eyes and saw something was terribly wrong. This is a rare infant eye cancer that affects only one in every six million. In an attempt to save his sight, doctors immediately began intense chemo and radio therapy, but like a lead balloon. His eyes had been removed.

Just one year after the operation to remove his eyes, in the car he asked his mum what the big building was that they were passing. Ben’s ears were picking up the sounds of the city traffic reflecting from the building’s surfaces. His mum let him play in the street because his sound pictures seemed to make him more aware of danger than his sighted friends.

There’s nothing his friends can do that Ben Underwood won’t attempt and conquer. Doctors suspect that Ben Underwood has developed super-hearing to make for his loss of sight. However, tests show that he has only normal hearing. So, has Ben’s brain learned to translate the sound he hears into visual information?

1. What is the main idea of the passage?

A．How to see with ears.	B．A boy’s poor life without eyes.
C．The way to fight with fate.	D．A boy who “sees” without eyes.

2. In what way does Ben have much common with other blind people?

A．He uses a white cane in his everyday life.

B．He takes advantaged of computer software.

C．He feels the same echolocation as others do.

D．He uses his ears instead of his both hands.

3. What does the underlined part mean in Paragraph 3?

A．His eye looked like a ball.	B．The doctor stopped their efforts.
C．Nothing really worked.	D．His mother was frightened.

4. What can we infer from the passage?

A．The case of Ben has shocked the doctors.

B．The case of Ben is common to children.

C．Quite a few believe what Ben has said.

D．lien does have the super-hearing ability.

【推荐3】Several years ago, I needed to deliver some furniture from our department to my daughter’s house in London. I should have paid a man to do it for me. However, foolishly confident in my driving ability, I decided to hire a van and drive it myself. It was a Ford Transit 280, long and wide; you couldn’t see out of the back. You never really knew how close you were to anything else on the road.

Reversing(倒车) in my home yard, I crashed into a small shed, causing permanent damage. At least I owned the shed.

Loading up the furniture I set off. By now it was rush hour. My nerves broke down, as I drove the huge van through the heavy traffic, across oncoming vehicles, at last to Charl Street.

There, I eventually found a space to park the van. After reversing into it, I noticed there were three people at a café waving to me. I got out, trembling violently. “You’ve shifted the car parked behind you three feet and it belonged to a disabled person.” they said. I examined the car. There were white scratches along its front. It bore a disabled sign. So, now I was a bad driver and a bad man. Under the gaze of the three, I left an apologetic note with my phone number on the damaged car’s windscreen.

I unloaded the furniture, sweat trickling down my face. With the aim of escaping the monster, I drove the van back to its base on the Highway Road. On arrival, the hire man told me I must fill it up with petrol before returning it. “Just charge me,” I cried, still shaking with fear. He gazed at me with understanding. No doubt he’d witnessed others in this state before. “Is that OK if I drive you to a petrol station, you fill up, and I drive her back?” he asked.

Had it not been for my gratefulness, I would have been ashamed when he danced the great van through the traffic so casually.

1. The writer felt regretful that he had _____.

A．transported the furniture himself	B．asked his son to do the delivery
C．rented a small van for his goods	D．hired someone to drive for him

2. In the parking lot, _____.

A．the writer saw a disabled man who had some trouble in parking his car

B．the writer ran into his friends whom he hadn’t seen for a long time

C．the writer hit another vehicle owned by a disabled man

D．three men waved to the writer and asked him for help

3. The writer uses the word “monster” (para.5) to refer to _____.

A．the bad experience	B．the vehicle he drove
C．the guy at the base	D．the heavy furniture

【推荐1】Americans use many expressions with the word dog. People in the United States love their dogs and treat them well. They take their dogs for walks, let them play outside and give them good food and medical care. However, dogs without owners to care for them lead a different kind of life. The expression, to lead a dog’s life, describes a person who has an unhappy life.
Some people say we live in a dog-eat-dog world. That means many people are competing for the same things, like good jobs. They say that to be successful, a person has to work like a dog. This means they have to work very, very hard. Such hard work can make people dog-tired. And, the situation would be even worse if they became sick as a dog.
Still, people say every dog has its day. This means that every person enjoys a successful period during his or her life. To be successful, people often have to learn new skills. Yet, some people say that you can never teach an old dog new tricks. They believe that older people do not like to learn new things and will not change the way they do things.
Some people are compared to dogs in bad ways. People who are unkind or uncaring can be described as meaner than a junkyard dog. Junkyard dogs live in places where people throw away things they do not want. But mean dogs are often used to guard this property. They bark or attack people who try to enter the property. However, sometimes a person who appears to be mean and threatening is really not so bad. We say his bark is worse than his bite.
Dog expressions also are used to describe the weather. The dog days of summer are the hottest days of the year. A rainstorm may cool the weather. But we do not want it to rain too hard. We do not want it to rain cats and dogs.
1. What does the passage mainly discuss?

A．Dogs in our daily lives

B．Expressions with dogs

C．The role dogs take in America

D．Attitude of the American citizens to dogs

2. What does “dog-tired” describe in the passage?

A．Describe a very successful person.

B．Describe the dogs are very tired after a long walk.

C．Describe a rainy and cloudy weather.

D．Describe the heavy degree of exhaustion of people after long time work.

3. How are people compared to dogs in bad ways?

A．By mean dogs and junkyard dogs.

B．By lazy dogs and bad dogs.

C．By sick dogs and tired dogs.

D．None of them is right.

4. What can we learn from the text?

A．Everyone can be successful if he learns from the old.

B．It might be difficult for the young to learn new skills.

C．Junkyard dogs are careful in money arrangement.

D．Fierce persons aren’t so awful as their appearance sometimes.

【推荐2】With its wonderful coastline and many historic sites, Croatia is the ideal destination for the family wishing to combine beach with a bit of culture.

BEST TIME TO GO

High season for Croatia is from July to August but the Croatian coast is wonderful from spring on. Swimming is generally possible from May to September when the sea is still around 23°C. But if you arrive in April, you may enjoy Carnival in Rijeka.

COST

Croatia is still reasonably inexpensive as a Mediterranean destination, but prices go up in July and August. Privately-run rooms are also often a better bet than hotels, which tend to be unfriendly. If you haven’t made a reservation, the local tourist offices or travel agencies will be able to help. There is usually a 30% discount for stays longer than three nights. The agencies offer a very reasonable deal on a flight plus car hire.

GETTING AROUND

Croatia is a small country; it only takes a few hours at most to travel from one region to another. It might be worth staying in one place for the whole holiday and doing day trips. The buses, rather than the trains, reach the places of great distance.

1. When is Croatia most visited?

A．In May.

B．In September.

C．In July.

D．In April.

2. Which is true about local travel agencies?

A．They tend to be unfriendly.

B．They offer a 30% discount.

C．They charge a little more in winter.

D．They arrange flight plus car hire at good price.

3. Where is the text probably from?

A．A book review.	B．A science report.
C．A travel magazine.	D．A diary.

【推荐3】You may be able to deliver killer speeches, wonderful presentations and professions and professional talks on topics of your choice. But can you make small talk? There are times in life when you need to make casual conversation. And in business, the social aspect of a business relationship is often as important as the professional one. Here are our top tips for making small talk.
Listen
The number-one rule when making small talk is to listen. Make a conscious effort to remember what the other person is saying. Then you can use this information to generate more conversation.
Interest
While you’re talking to someone, focus exclusively on that person. And use your body language to show that you’re interested: face the person, use eye contact and nod your head at   appropriate moments. Also, use conversational fillers such as “ah ha/ really? /amazing!” to show that you’re interested in what they’re saying…even if you aren’t.
Ego check
Try to avoid always turning the attention of the conversation back on yourself. For example, if someone mentions that they’ve just been to Italy, don’t respond with, “Oh, I’ve been there. We went there last year.” Instead, use this information as an opportunity to ask lots of questions about the other person’s trip: where did you go? Who did you go with? What was it like? What did you see?
Watch out!
Avoid saying anything that could be interpreted as criticism or judgment; and above all, keep away from potentially controversial topics such as religion and politics.
Write it down
Write down any interesting stories you hear, or details of funny things that have happened to you. Later, you can use these anecdotes to brighten up a dull conversation.
Think “situation”!
Think carefully about where you are. For example, if you’re at a wedding, think of all the relevant things you could ask: How do you know the bride? How long have you been friends with the groom? How did you get there? Where are you staying? Or, if you’re visiting a new company, you could ask the following: What’s it like working here? How easy is it to get into the city centre? Where’s a good place to get lunch round here? Etc.
Top topics
If you’re ever running out of conversation, use one of these fail-safe conversation topics:
the news, film, football, sport, music, the weather, fashion, literature, cars hobbies, the weekend, videogames, the theatre, family, local topics（shops, clubs, etc.）, TV, celebrities, entertainment, your home town, food, traditions, customs.
Small talk can be a lot of fun, but you need to prepare for it and practice. And remember, small talk can lead to big business!
1. The passage is mainly about_______.

A．customs and social manners

B．casual conversation tricks

C．communication types

D．business strategies

2. When making small talks, you’d better avoid _______.

A．asking some open questions

B．using some body languages

C．talking about something that can arouse conflict

D．asking some questions relevant to the situation

3. In order to make your small talk go smoothly, you can do the following things except that ________.

A．you can talk some topics about yourself all the time

B．you can pay attention to what others are saying and listen carefully

C．you can choose a topic that is suitable to everyone

D．you can say something funny that you have written down

4. When you are attending a party held by your friend, which is the most suitable question to start a conversation with a stranger?

A．How often do you get to play?

B．How old are you?

C．What are you doing this weekend?

D．How do you know the host, my friend David?