【推荐2】Waterbuurt is a residential(住宅的) development in Amsterdam, which consists of nearly 100 floating homes on Lake Eimer.

The floating homes are not ordinary houseboats but real floating houses. They only move with the changing tide(朝水). Designed by Dutch architect Marlies Rohmer, the houses have a basic design but are also comfortable. Although Waterbuurt is still a work in progress, there are some of the houses where there are already residents.

Two thirds of the Netherlands’ people live below sea-level, and with the flooding(发洪水) becoming a serious concern, there are many who believe that living on water in the European country is much safer than living on land. The prices of land homes in large city centers like Amsterdam has risen in recent years. But water is not that expensive.

“Moreover, houses in the cities have to stay there for 50 or 70 years,” Dutch architect Koen Olthuis said. “And as cities change, the only choice is to demolish these houses and build new ones. But floating buildings can be moved and adapted.”

The floating homes are built atop underwater platforms, and consists of a light steel frame(钢架) and wooden walls and paneling(嵌板). The bedrooms and bathroom are located on the lower floor, which is partially flooded. The kitchen and dining room are located on the raised ground floor, while the main living area and the outdoor terrace are on the top level.

All floating homes are designed with a lot of extras that buyers can choose, like floating terraces, a second entry, or a boardwalk around the house.

Waterbuurt is set to become the largest water settlement in the history of the Netherlands. Apart from floating houses, it will include floating parks and even floating high buildings. It is sure to meet even the most difficult buyers and win more acceptance from local people.

1. What can we infer about the floating houses?

A．They are easy to take down.	B．They are free from flooding.
C．The prices are slightly lower.	D．The total completion is done.

2. What does the underlined word “demolish” in Paragraph 4 probably mean?

A．Build.	B．Buy.
C．Design.	D．Destroy.

3. What is Paragraph 5 mainly about?

A．The structure of floating houses.

B．Preferable construction materials.

C．Unique functions of floating houses.

D．Advantages of buying floating houses.

4. What is the best title for the text?

A．The Development of Amsterdam’s Floating Houses

B．Waterbuurt — Amsterdam’s Floating Neighborhood

C．Reasons for Choosing to Live in the Floating Houses

D．Waterbuurt — an Especially Successful Floating Project

【推荐3】Most people probably wondered who would voluntarily choose to live in a cooperative house with 14 other people. Well I would, and for me, it’s one of the best decisions I've made for myself.

The house has three floors and 15 bedrooms. It has communal spaces such as the kitchen, bathrooms, living room, and a big old dining room table, where we talk, laugh, disagree, play games, learn from each other, and most importantly break bread together.

My housemates and I share the housework and do the cook cycle, which generally means cooking dinner for the house about once every two weeks and we attend weekly house meetings where we make decisions about the operations of the house together.

What I worried most about at first was how my son might feel about the new housing situation. To my surprise, he loved it by the first visit to the house! He has never complained about this house being smaller than his dad’s. One of my housemates has two children his age, so he now has two new friends. This is important for me as a parent because I want to teach him that happiness doesn’t come from the size of your home, but from the love that is inside.

When I lived with a roommate in college, we never discussed about any agreements on quiet hours, cleaning up the communal areas and so on. Every cause of conflict during that time was due to lack of communication. On the contrary, in our house we talk about and have policies on almost everything.

Besides less cost on housing, I'm more concerned about the connection with other people that I was longing for. Cooperative living isn’t for everyone, but with increasing costs of living and decreasing connection with other people, it can definitely be a great option for more people.

1. What might the underlined “break bread” in Paragraph 2 mean?

A．Having dinner.

B．Cooking dinner.

C．Earning bread.

D．Baking bread.

2. How does the son feel about living in this house?

A．It’s fun with new friends.	B．It’s small and crowded.
C．It’s annoying in discussions.	D．It’s tiring to do cleaning.

3. Why does the author mention her college life?

A．To convey the gratitude to her roommates.

B．To express the regret at those wasted days.

C．To show the importance of good relationships.

D．To stress the necessity of communication and rules.

4. What matters most for the author's choice of cooperative living?

A．Cutting down on living cost.	B．Learning to be independent.
C．Getting connected with people.	D．Offering a home for her son.

【推荐1】The "cloud war" is taking place as the dispute between the United States and China about data hacking and computer network security grows stronger. Chinese companies such as Alibaba, Baidu and Huawei are expanding within their country and gaining customers in other countries. They are creating data centers in multiple countries and trying to sell data management services throughout the world.

The increasing competition in cloud computing and storage incurs the new challenge and worries some experts. They are concerned about the safety of data. After all, companies often use the cloud to store important, confidential information and to operate such activities as data-driven machinery, telecommunications, banking and transport systems — including plans for driverless vehicles.

Lee Branstetter is an associate professor of economics at the Heinz School of Policy and Management of the Carnegie Mellon University. He told many multi-national companies "have serious concerns about the protection of their intellectual property （知识产权）."Branstetter said some of these large companies already believe they have lost valuable information.

Sheila Jasanoff is the director of the program on science, technology and society at Harvard's Kennedy School. She called the cloud computing industry "unruly". In other words, the industry is not strictly governed.

"People （in the business） are making rules as they go along or taking advantage of the lack of rules," Jasanoff said. She said cloud computing companies are not clear about what security measures they are promising customers. She is worried that a major accident may happen before governments realize the need for stronger rules in the cloud computing industry. She believes there should be internationally-accepted rules to meet the new challenge. But she does not believe an international agreement will be reached anytime soon.

1. What does the "cloud war" refer to?

A．The war up in the sky.

B．Some kind of cold war.

C．The China-US relationship.

D．The competition on the "cloud".

2. What concerns some experts according to Paragraph 2?

A．Information security.

B．Wars among countries.

C．The storage of “cloud”.

D．The lack of technology.

3. Which of the following may be consistent with Jasanoff's opinion?

A．A major accident is bound to take place soon.

B．An agreement is to be reached in the near future.

C．The cloud industry needs guiding and monitoring.

D．Governments have kept an eye on cloud industry.

4. What is the best title for the text?

A．China's Rise or Not

B．New War, New Challenge

C．Chances on Cloud Information

D．Growth of Cloud Computing Industry

【推荐2】Working on holidays has always been something of a class divide. From the 1870s through the 1920s, upper-middle-class Americans often lived with “the help”—mostly women of color whose job was to cook and clean and care for others, day and night. While shows like Downton Abbey seek to give life to servants, they also sanitize (粉饰) what was a cruel existence. It was common for a housemaid (女仆)’s day to begin well before the family rose and extend until after they retired for the evening. They did so seven days a week; working more than 80 hours a week — more than the 65 hours most factory workers worked at the time. While we often imagine that these women were young and single, Evelyn Nakano Glenn’s research on such care providers has shown that over 30% of them were married, many with children. As they worked very hard for families not of their own, they left their children, parents, brothers and sisters, and husbands behind. November and December was no doubt one of the hardest times of the year, and their own families felt their absence.

The labor movement was central to changing this sorry situation (though labor laws almost never cover domestic workers). Unions raised salaries, lowered hours, had a minimum salary and secured holidays off for workers. Those who did have to work on national holidays were guaranteed (保证的) overtime pay. When unions were strong, such benefits even extended to non-unionized workers. But as unions have declined, part-time work has increased. And this has meant lower salaries and greater uncertainty. For most part-time workers, that’s one of the better jobs. And still, it’s a job without health insurance, or a retirement plan, with changes that make it hard to take additional employment. Most of these workers wish they could work more, but employers would rather hire other part-timers. So when the boss says, “Can you work Thanksgiving?”, workers have no real choice but to be “willing”.

Today, working on holidays carries no guarantee of extra pay in the United States, and not working can mean losing one’s job. That is the irony (讽刺的) to the trend of stores opening on Thanksgiving. On the same day that we give thanks for all we have, why must we also rush out to buy more? Someone might say, “It’s just the law of the market!” But the law of the market is not some mysterious process. It is the result of the decisions that we make.

1. According to the author, what do shows like Downton Abbey sanitize?

A．The workload of domestic servants was very heavy.

B．Most of the house helpers should be of color.

C．Housemaids were usually married women, many with children.

D．The class divide was not that obvious in real life.

2. After the labor movement, powerful unions helped a lot EXCEPT that ______.

A．housemaids could also have the holidays off

B．even non-unionized workers enjoyed more benefits

C．people were given higher wages on the same position

D．most workers worked for fewer hours every week

3. The workers have no choice but to be “willing” to work on Thanksgiving because ______.

A．part-time workers’ salaries are lower and they wish to earn more

B．part-time work itself means a lot of changes

C．they want to take any additional employment when possible

D．they may otherwise be replaced by other willing part-timers

4. What does the writer think of the trend of shopping on holidays?

A．It is dangerous because a lot of workers will stop working.

B．It is a kind of protection to help those poor part-time workers.

C．It is against the true holiday spirits, especially Thanksgiving.

D．It is ironic because the law of the market decides what we do.

【推荐3】More than half of the 1,000 consumers surveyed by Credit Karma said they have impulsively (冲动地) shopped to deal with feelings of stress, anxiety or depression. Twenty-three percent of respondents said they’ve maxed out (刷爆) a credit card in the past year.

As for age, 68 percent youngsters, responded by saying they have experienced it in the past, compared to 53 percent of the middle-aged and only 26 percent of the old.

In regards to genders, 48 percent of men and 31 percent of women who have stress spent said they had purchased alcohol when stressed. Eighty-two percent of women stress spent on clothing compared to 52 percent of men. Women also lead stress spending for jewellery, 42 percent, compared to 22 percent for men with men stress spending more for electronics 44 percent while 30 percent for women.

In fact, shopping to reduce stress can actually help you live a healthier life by making sure that your blood pressure is lowered. Shopping to relieve stress is also called shopping therapy (疗法) as a form of reducing stress.

The survey found that 82 percent had only positive feelings about their purchases and that the positive mood boost that followed those purchases was long-lasting.

However, the side effect of shopping therapy, for many, can start out as a relatively harmless mood booster but could possibly grow into a financial loss, cause conflict, and therefore add a large amount of stress to a person’s life.

1. How is the passage mainly developed?

A．By giving numbers.	B．By stating arguments.
C．By giving examples.	D．By giving explanations.

2. The figures in Paragraph 3 show that _______.

A．Women were less likely to buy jewellery when stressed.

B．Over half of men had purchased alcohol when stressed.

C．More women preferred to buy clothes than men when stressed.

D．The favourite goods for men to reduce pressure was electronics.

3. What can we know about the shopping therapy?

A．Shopping therapy may increase pressure.

B．Shopping therapy can totally relieve pressure.

C．Shopping therapy’s positive effect can not last long.

D．Shopping therapy is not suitable for someone whose blood pressure is low.

4. What is the author’s attitude toward shopping therapy?

A．Concerned.

B．Subjective.

C．Indifferent.

D．Objective.

【推荐2】The local government killed more than 34,000 stray dogs (流浪狗) several months ago because those officials were afraid that the dogs would spread rabies (狂犬病).

This caused a debate across the country. Some people said that it was very cruel to dogs. There might be a better way to prevent the disease.

In the future, killing stray dogs might be seen as a crime. Last month, the Chinese government published a draft of animal rights laws. It says that a person who kills a stray dog without one good reason will be put in prison.

The draft also says that animal abuse and abandoning animals will be considered crimes under the criminal law.

The government published the draft so that the public could read it and discuss their thoughts. People have different reactions. Some think the law is good. They say other countries like Britain and Japan have similar laws. They say we will do better at protecting animals if there is one. But others say it’s not crucial to fight animal abuse with a new law. Criticism and fines can do the job.

Some people also say that the draft doesn’t deal with the biggest issues facing the country’s development. The country should make progress to give all people equal rights, they say, before turning attention to animals.

Another part of the draft is causing discussion. It says that people should not force animals to do something dangerous, like jumping through a ring of fire. But many people enjoy watching this kind of performance at the circus, especially kids. They say that if the animal does it properly, it will not get hurt.

1. Why did the local government kill many dogs?

A．The dogs were dirty.	B．Those officials wanted to prevent rabies.
C．The dogs were homeless.	D．Those officials wanted to eat the dogs.

2. Which of the following is acceptable according to the draft of animal rights laws?

A．Killing a dog with rabies.	B．Beating an animal for fun.
C．Abandoning a blind pet dog.	D．Forcing a cat to jump through a ring of fire.

3. What can we tell from the text?

A．All people agree with the law.

B．Criticism and fines can protect animals.

C．Protecting animals is the biggest issue in China.

D．People have different opinions on the law.

4. What will happen if the law takes effect?

A．People can’t kill stray dogs any longer.

B．The country won’t have human right problems.

C．Kids may not be able to watch animals’ performances in a circus.

D．Animals will not be killed.

【推荐1】Football T-shirts are more commonly connected with boys than girls. This can often cause a problem when you want to find a cool shirt for a girl. That is not to say that there are no cool shirts out there for girls to wear. The problem is that they are often harder to find than the ones for boys.
You can get custom (订制的) shirt printed for girls from a number of custom print stores. Of course you have to make sure that they are legally allowed to use the logos (商标) and colours of the team you want to support.
You can also go through official channels to get the shirt you want. The official channels will generally be the large sportswear stores or the official stores of the teams. These stores will be able to use the colours of the teams and even put the name of the person who the shirt is for on it.
If you do not feel like you have to try the T-shirts on, then an online store may be your best choice. The reason for this is that you can visit various stores and find the best ones.
If you want to see what the T-shirt looks like in real life, then going to a store is the best choice. Large sportswear stores often have football shirts. These are the best places to go if you do not live close to an official store. And these stores usually have lower prices than the official stores.
1. According to the text, football T-shirts ________.

A．are all made by boys

B．are seldom loved by girls

C．are only designed for boys

D．are difficult to find for girls

2. According to the text, custom print stores ________.

A．could use any colours and logos as they like

B．should be operated by the football teams

C．could print anything that official stores sell

D．should legally use your favourite logos

3. If you don’t need to try the T-shirts on, you can visit ________.

A．official stores

B．online stores

C．large sportswear stores

D．custom print stores

4. What kind of readers is this passage for?

A．Football players.

B．Clothes store owners.

C．Female football fans.

D．Physical education teacher

【推荐2】My family has had a great influence on me. When I was a kid, I learnt how to work from my family. My mum would never let me get away when there was something to be done. I learnt the importance of education. My parents would give me 50 dollars if I got As in school. They taught me how to use and save money. My mum taught me how to cook, how to clean, and basically everything I needed to know to live on my own. My dad taught me how to garden, how to do home improvement, how to treat women and girls with respect, and how to put other people's needs above my own. My brothers and sisters taught me how to make a decision in conflict（矛盾）. I'm 22 now, and I'll get married next year. I learn things from my parents' marriage by examples. For example, I've never seen my parents really fight. They had disagreements, but they were always in control and never let anger get the best of them. I think that's great, and I'm going to work towards that in my marriage.

I have a great family. I'm grateful that my parents chose to make it a great family.

1. Who taught the writer to do some housework?

A．The mother.

B．The father.

C．The sisters.

D．The brothers.

2. When will the writer have a new family?

A．At the age of 22.	B．At the age of 24.
C．At the age of 23.	D．At the age of 21.

3. Which of the following is NOT true?

A．The writer's family influence the writer a lot.

B．The writer learns to save money.

C．The writer is a girl in the family.

D．The writer's parents never fight with each other.

4. How will the writer's new family be according to the passage?

A．It will be a large family.

B．It will be a great family.

C．The family members will be different.

D．The family members will never get angry.

【推荐3】Having spring around makes you feel different after such a long winter journey. The power   of sunshine brings us a lot of comfort, optimism, self-confidence and of course a smile. Imagine how great it will be if we are so positive all year round!

Living like this is possible if you really think about it. In order to exist in such a state of happiness, we must have sunshine radiating from within ourselves, shining from our   hearts,   minds and souls. Actually, that's your choice, and if you think that way then your own life will reflect that attitude of yours!

In order to make “sunshine” or rather “light” part of our being, it is so important that you watch your thoughts, your words and your actions so that you will accept what you really feel you'd like to create in your own life. Watch your thoughts and really become aware of how many negative thoughts pass through your mind about yourself and other people around you. Watch to see how often you gossip ( 说 闲 话 ) about other people, which is actually often attached with feelings of jealousy (妒忌) and insecurity(不安全感) about yourself.

You are also supposed to take a close look at your “intention”. How many of you do something for another person without expecting to receive something in return? It might not even have to be a material or physical thing you expect; expecting to be recognized for what you have done is enough to create conditions on your intention. Think about it!

Putting all of these together, it seems that most of us are creating monsters inside us just by simply talking, thinking and not putting our heart out with the right intention towards helping someone else. If you take all your negative attitudes in one hand and measure your need to feel “sunshine” in the other, you will see how both these elements really contradict each other.

Be brave and break your patterns and your habits this spring, and by doing so, you will allow the true sunshine to take place by radiating out from your heart and into your life and the lives of the people around you!

1. You can have sunshine shining   from your inside .

A．by watching what you think, say and do

B．by helping someone else

C．by measuring what you need

D．by changing your intention

2. According to the writer, you don't feel secure about yourself when you .

A．expect to be recognized for what you've done

B．take a close look at your intention

C．gossip about other people

D．become aware of your negative thoughts

3. What can be inferred from the passage?

A．Breaking our patterns is the most important to get true sunshine.

B．Expecting something in return for our help isn't the right intention.

C．If we don't intend to help others, we create monsters inside us.

D．Negative attitudes have little to do with happiness.

4. The passage is written mainly to .

A．stress the importance of the positive lifestyle

B．analyze the intentions and thoughts in our mind

C．warn us about the bad effects of negative attitudes

D．offer advice on having sunshine from our inside