【推荐1】Nothing stays the same for long: things and people change.

I grew up on a small farm, where a flock of sheep wandered around the surrounding mountains. My father was not highly educated, but he was smart. He was a man made of leather and chewing tobacco who rarely tried to talk with my brother or me. He was quiet and distant, I might say.     1    

One day I came home and his car was already there.     2     In fact, when he came home, he went to the barn (谷仓) to labour even more. I still remember hiding around the corner and stealing a look at my father lying bitterly on the bed that day. Multiple myeloma, I learned, is a type of blood cancer.     3     For the last year of my father’s life, his entire day consisted of rising from his bed and walking to his chair to sit and think alone.

He was predictably in that chair on his own when I came in.     4     He told me about his life, his heartbreaks and his loves. It was as if a pipe had burst, his inner self rushing out to me in a great flood. He had been speaking for maybe an hour or more when I realized that he was doing more than telling. He was asking to be understood in a way that he had never done before.

    5     I realize, though, that if he hadn’t, I might never have come to know him and love him.

A．My father never missed work.

B．I did not like him very much.

C．He was skillful at any farm work.

D．He became better after some special treatment.

E．I’m certainly not glad that my father got sick.

F．As the disease develops, the person who has it shrinks.

G．What followed still moves me these decades later

【推荐2】Sure, you talk to your parents, but what if you need to really talk? Maybe you have a problem you can't solve alone, or it could be that you want to feel closer to Mom and Dad.

It's easy to say" Hi, Mom" or "Dad, can you pass the potatoes?", but it can be harder to start a discussion about tougher topics. When you were younger, it probably felt easy to tell your parents about your trouble. Even though you're older now, it's still perfectly OK to believe in your parents. In fact, it can help a lot.

So why does it seem so uncomfortable at times? Why is it hard to bring up the important stuff? Sometimes kids don't speak up because they don't want to feel embarrassed. Let's face it—talking about personal stuff can make you feel embarrassed. But remember, your parents know you pretty well, and they were your age once, too! So don't let a little embarrassment stop you. It's OK to go ahead and share the personal stuff.

Other times, kids might not want to make their parents anxious or upset. As you explain your problem, your mom might look sad or your dad might look worried. But that's OK. Your mom and dad can deal with knowing about your problem, big or small. That look on their face just means they care, and they feel for you. That's what families do—we feel for the people we love.

Sometimes, kids don't bring up a problem because they just don't want to think about it. They hope it will just go away. When meeting a problem, they will likely choose not to face it or just keep it for themselves. But running away from a problem hardly ever solves it. And bottling up your feelings can make you feel stressed.

Talking things over with a parent can help you feel less stressed. Together, you can think of ways to solve the problem and make you feel better. Just knowing your parent understands and cares about what you're going through can reduce your stress a lot.

1. Some kids don't want to share their problems with parents because they________

A．believe they can solve the problems themselves

B．are afraid their parents may know their secrets

C．don't think their parents will understand them

D．don't want to make themselves embarrassed

2. What is the advantage of talking with parents about your problems?

A．It makes your problems less difficult.

B．It improves the family relationship.

C．It helps a lot to reduce pressure.

D．It improves your ability to solve problems.

3. What might be the title of the passage?

A．Let's talk to each other

B．When you need to talk to your parents

C．Why you don't want a talk

D．Come and talk to your parents

【推荐3】A few months ago as I wandered through my parents’ house, the same house I grew up in, I had a sudden, scary realization. When my parents bought the house, in 1982, they were only two years older than I am now. I tried to imagine myself in two years, ready to settle down and buy the house I’d still be living in almost 30 years later.
It seemed ridiculous. On a practical level, there’s no way I could afford to buy a house anytime soon. More importantly, I wouldn’t want to. I’m not sure where I’ll be living in two years, or what kind of job I’ll have. And I don’t think I’ll be ready to settle down and stay in one place.
So this is probably the generation gap that divides my friends and me from our parents. When our parents were our age, they’d gotten their education, chosen a career, and were starting to settle into responsible adult lives.
My friends and I – “Generation Y” – still aren’t sure what we want to do with our lives. Whatever we end up doing, we want to make sure we’re happy doing it. We’d rather take risks first, try out different jobs, and move from one city to another until we find our favorite place. We’d rather spend our money on travel than put it in a savings account.
This casual attitude towards responsibility has caused some critics to call my generation “arrogant”, “impatient”, and “overprotected”. Some of these complaints have a point. As children we were encouraged to succeed in school, but also to have fun. We grew up in a world full of technological innovation: cellphones, the Internet, instant messaging, and video games.
Our parents looked to rise vertically（垂直的）– starting at the bottom of the ladder and slowly making their way to the top, on the same track, often for the same company. That doesn’t apply to my generation.
Because of that, it may take us longer than our parents to arrive at responsible, stable adulthood. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing. In our desire to find satisfaction, we will work harder, struggle for ways to keep life interesting, and gain a broader set of experiences and knowledge than our parents’ generation did.
1. What is the main “generation gap” between the author and her friends and their parents according to the article?

A．Their ways of gaining experience.

B．Their attitude towards responsibility.

C．Their attitude toward high technology.

D．Their ways of making their way to the top.

2. Which of the following might the author agree with?

A．It involves too much effort to rise vertically.

B．It’s better to take adult responsibility earlier.

C．It’s all right to try more before settling down.

D．It’s ridiculous to call her generation “arrogant”.

3. What can we conclude from the article?

A．The author is envious of her parents enjoying a big house at her age.

B．“Generation Y” people don’t want to grow up and rush into adulthood.

C．Growing up in a hi-tech world makes “Generation Y” feel insecure about relationships.

D．The author wrote this article so that others would be able to understand her generation better.

4. What is the main theme of the article?

A．Criticisms of the young generation.

B．The sudden realization of growing up.

C．A comparison between lifestyles of generations.

D．The factors that have changed the young generation.

【推荐1】There are usually few people who want to do housework. But a new study has found it is important to our general health and happiness to wash the dishes, dust the shelves and do troublesome things alike.

Actually, scientists now believe cleaning up the house is more important to mental and physical health than other factors (因素), such as the area you live in or how much you earn. Researchers at Case Western Reserve University say doing housework is helpful because of the exercise it takes to get the daily job done, which in turn affects mental health.

Dr. Kathy Wright and a research team at the university’s Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing wanted to find out how property (财产), education, environment and health behaviors, like smoking, affect an older person’s health. The study’s 337 participants (参与者), from 65 to 90 years old, had at least one chronic (慢性的) illness which prevented them from doing at least one basic daily task, such as bathing and dressing.

Dr. Wright said she was surprised to learn that doing housework and keeping their property affected the participants’ mental and physical health more than other factors. “House cleaning kept them up and moving,” said Dr. Wright. “A clean environment is helpful in treating some illnesses. And poverty (贫穷) did not directly affect mental or physical health.”

The study proved what Dr. Wright had observed in her visits: people living in a dirty environment seemed less satisfied than those in a place that was neat and tidy. Dr. Wright hopes the study shows how important it is for older people with chronic illnesses to continue physical activities, such as doing reaching exercises while sitting, standing up and sitting down in a chair.

1. Why does the author mention “few people want to do housework” in paragraph 1?

A．To track a study.	B．To describe a fact.
C．To Introduce the topic.	D．To attract readers’ attention.

2. What can we benefit from doing housework?

A．Learn to share.	B．Get some exercise.
C．Learn to be responsible.	D．Enjoy staying with family members.

3. How did Dr. Wright and the team do the research?

A．They chose those who were weak as their participants.

B．They observed the changes of the participants’ behaviors.

C．They tried different treatments for the participants’ illnesses.

D．They limited the participants’ moving areas to certain places.

4. What is the text mainly about?

A．The best ways to do housework.	B．How people improve their health.
C．Different attitudes towards housework.	D．Housework does good to people’s fitness.

【推荐2】When I was first married to my wife, I lived and worked in Ontario, moving from small town to big city as I pursued my career as a radio broadcaster. We have two sons, both of whom were born in Toronto, but they moved, with us, to Ottawa when they were quite young. They grew up there, and then, chasing their own careers, they also moved. One went to Canada's east coast near a city called Halifax and the other headed to the west coast to Vancouver. We had a dilemma; we were left in the middle.

At the time I was still working and my job was in Ottawa. However, as we began to consider retirement we wondered where we should spend our final years. We couldn't be close to both of our children and there was no telling when they might again relocate. For several reasons we settled on a small town on Vancouver Island. At least we were close to one of them. However, he had his sights set on Hollywood and, when an opportunity presented itself, he left Canada and headed south. I helped him move.

So, there we were, and still are, in our little west coast town. We love our little corner of paradise but we have paid a price. We have not been there for some important events such as the births of two of our grandchildren. We have missed watching each of them grow up; we have missed the normal, noisy households that have young people in them. Our home, while very comfortable, is also very quiet.

Every fall we travel to see the children. We usually fly, first to California to see our son Scott and spend a week or more with him trying to catch up on everything we've missed. Then, usually in November, we make the even longer trip east across Canada to see Travis and our grandchildren, who are now teenagers, actually into their twenties. They seldom come to visit us. The distances are just too great and it is costly.

Fortunately, both our boys are doing well and our grandchildren are growing up straight and tall. We love all of them and we are secure in the knowledge that they love us but the reality is that they don't need us. We have done our jobs and, at least in theory, we can sit back, relax and enjoy the time remaining to us. They have also missed having a set of parents and grandparents around.

Life has been good for our family but we have all paid a price.

1. What's the dilemma ( Pa. 1) to the author and his wife?

A．The situation where they were not happy about their sons' absence.

B．The fact that they were unwilling to separate from their sons.

C．The fact that they were not yet prepared for retirement at that time.

D．The situation where they couldn't decide which son to live with.

2. The reason why the author says they have paid a price is that ______.

A．they have lost lots of money because of his retirement

B．they have to pay a large sum of money to their sons

C．they have been absent from their children's life

D．they have to afford very expensive fare to visit their sons

3. Why do not the authors grandchildren visit them regularly?

A．They are quite occupied with their homework.

B．It's not easy for the kids to visit their grandparents.

C．They don't need their grandparents any more.

D．The weather of winter in Canada is very awful.

4. What is the best title for the text?

A．A Price to Pay	B．Suffering Separation
C．Love Actually	D．Hidden Emotions

【推荐2】There are an extremely large number of ants worldwide. Each individual ant hardly weigh anything, but together they weigh almost the same as all of mankind. They also live nearly everywhere, except on frozen mountain tops or around the poles. For animals their size, ants have been surprisingly successful, largely due to their wonderful social behavior.

In groups that range in size from a few hundred to tens of millions, they organize their lives with a clear distribution of labor. Even more amazing is how they achieve this level of organization. While we use sound and sight to communicate, ants depend mostly on pheromone (信息素), which is a kind of chemical released by individuals and smelled or tasted by fellow members of a group. When an ant finds food, it produces a pheromone that will lead others straight to where the food is. When an ant comes under attack or is dying, it sends out an alarm pheromone to warn the whole group to prepare for a defensive fight.

In fact, when it comes to the art of war, ants have no equal. They are completely fearless and will take on an animal much larger than themselves, attacking in large groups and beating their target. They show so much devotion to their group that not only soldier ants but also worker ants will sacrifice their lives to help defeat an enemy.

United and devoted, these little creatures have survived on the earth for more than 140 million years, far longer than dinosaurs. Because they think as one, they have a united intelligence greater than you would expect from one small individual ant.

1. We can learn from the passage that ants are__________.

A．unwilling to share food

B．more successful than mankind

C．not used to living in cold environment

D．too many to achieve any level of organization

2. Ants can use pheromones for __________.

A．tasting food	B．communication
C．warning enemies	D．arranging labor

3. What does the underlined expression “take on” in Paragraph 3 mean?

A．help out	B．give in to
C．play with	D．fight against

4. Ants have survived for so long mainly because of ____________.

A．their behavior	B．their large group size
C．their fearless attack	D．their individual intelligence

【推荐1】With chip (芯片)readers, auto-reload apps, and one-dick online purchasing, it’s only too easy to buy something without fully registering how much it costs. That said, even if you’re not counting out small change for the cashier these days, you’ve probably still noticed how often prices end in .99.

Maybe you assumed it had something to do with tax laws, or else it was a leftover practice from decades ago, when things cost less and pennies mattered more. In fact, it’s actually a clever psychological tool that tricks your brain into thinking the price of an item is lower. “Because we read from left to right, we pay less attention to the end of the number versus (与……相比) the beginning,” DealNews.com consumer analyst Julie Ramhold told Reader’s Digest. So, for example, your mind will interpret $9.99 as $9. though it’s obviously much closer to $10.

Just one dollar’s difference might not seem like enough to a fleet your decision on whether to buy something, but it can push an item into a lower price range—and that’s enough to make your mind think it costs significantly less. To your subconscious brain, a one-digit (一位数的)price like $9 seems a lot cheaper than a two-digit price like $10.

Though ending prices in 9 might be the norm, there is a fair amount of variation when it comes to retailers’ pricing tactics (定价策略). Live Science reports that because we often see a price ending in 9 as a cheap deal, some stores—like J. Crew and Ralph Lauren—save the nines for their sale items, and use numbers ending in 0 for their full-priced items, giving the impression that those items are high-quality. Thrift stores (二手商店),on the other hand, often use whole numbers for all their products.

1. What does the underlined word “it” refer to?

A．an auto-reload app	B．a chip
C．one-click	D．something

2. What can we learn from the second paragraph?

A．Ending in .99 is a mentally low price.

B．Ending in .99 is a reasonable price.

C．Ending in .99 is a fit to tax laws.

D．Ending in .99 is a one-digit lower price.

3. Why do some retailers use whole numbers for their items?

A．To show the items are cheap enough.

B．To show the items are in high-quality.

C．To show the items are fit for the norm.

D．To show the items are different enough.

4. What would be the best title for this passage?

A．Buy What You Want at the Right Prices

B．Why Are So Many Prices Lower?

C．The Reason So Many Prices End in .99

D．Saving the Nines for Your Purchasing Items

【推荐2】Growing up in a city has a lifelong negative impact on a person's ability to navigate, according to a vast global survey.

In a new study, scientists led by Antonine Coutrot at Nantes University in France and Hugo Spiers at University College London describe how they used a dataset（数据集）gathered from 4 millions players of a computer game called "Sea Hero Quest", which tests way-finding skills by asking players to memorise a map showing the location of checkpoints and then measuring how well players can steer a boat to find them.

Dr. Spiers found that the strongest indicator of a high score was a player's age——older people performed relatively poorly. But the benefit of rural living was strong enough to offset（抵消）some of that, Data from American players showed that a 70-year-old who grew up in the countryside had the navigational abilities of an average 60-year-old across the dataset.

"The gap between the navigation skills of rural and city people was largest in America, and the researchers think they know why. They found that countries dominated by simple layouts of grid-based（网格式的）cities dragged down navigation skills more than growing up in a city based around more complicated networks of streets, such as Prague.

Dr. Spiers says that the brain's navigational abilities probably weaken in the city environment because they are not being used as much. Although cities may appear more complicated, they also feature more clues to help residents find their way, such as numbered streets. As many city-dwellers on a visit to the countryside can prove, one field tends to look much the same as another, so there are fewer external（外部的）landmarks to help guide the way.

While people who live in cities should not be alarmed, the study does raise some interesting ideas for urban planners: keep their city designs not so simple perhaps. And for everyone else, it might be an idea to turn off Google Maps.

1. Why did the researchers use the dataset from a computer game?

A．To study the players' memory.

B．To measure how well people control boats.

C．To improve the players' skill to find way out.

D．To see what influences people's way-finding skills.

2. What does the underlined word "that" in paragraph 3 refer to?

A．Strong indicator.	B．Poor performance.
C．Old age.	D．High score.

3. What weakens the brain's navigational abilities according to Dr. Spiers?

A．Lack of practice.	B．Few external landmarks.
C．Living in the countryside.	D．Complicated city environment.

4. What is the best title of the passage?

A．Ways to Improve Navigational Skills

B．Reasons to Design Complicated Cities

C．Urban Living Weakens Navigational Skills

D．Turn off Google Maps while Exploring City

【推荐3】Inspiration Tower

Inspiration Tower is on the highest point in Southwest Missouri. Take a glass lift to the spacious observation deck (甲板). The views are absolutely phenomenal in any season. On a clear day, you can see over 90 miles. Opens from 9 am to 5 pm daily: closes at 4 pm on Mondays and Tuesdays.

Titanic Museum Attraction

You’ll enter as a guest and leave as a Titanic Passenger! The exhibits you see throughout the ship are real and valued at over 4 million dollars. Visit a room where you can touch an authentic iceberg (冰山) and experience the coldness of the icy waters where the Titanic sank. Walk along decks at the same angle as the decks when the ship went down.

Shepherd of the Hills

Celebrate the Spirit of the Season at Shepherd of the Hills. NEW this year is "The North Pole Adventure". This All-New Family Walk Through Experience takes you on a journey through thousands of bright lights, hot chocolate stands and man-made objects. Don't forget to visit Santa's Workshop for a visit without Santa. This experience requires good weather.

7D Dark Ride Adventure

For an interactive game like you've never experienced before, gather your courage and check out the 7 D Dark Ride Adventure! Put all seven of your senses to the test today, at the 7D Dark Ride Adventure, a 3D ride guaranteed to get your heart pumping. Not recommended for visitors with back or heart problems.

1. When can you visit Inspiration Tower?

A．At 8:30 am, Friday.	B．At 5:00 pm, Thursday.
C．At 1:30 pm, Monday.	D．At 6:00 pm, Sunday.

2. What can you do at Titanic Museum Attraction?

A．Have a bird view.	B．Walk along decks,
C．Enjoy hot chocolate.	D．Test your bravery.

3. Which program is unsuitable for a visitor with heart problems?

A．Inspiration Tower.	B．Titanic Museum Attraction.
C．Shepherd of the Hills.	D．7D Dark Ride Adventure.