【推荐2】While money can’t technically buy happiness, it can buy you a mood-lifting, outlook-improving vacation. Haven’t made plan yet to skip town this winter? These money-saving travel tips can help you book the destination of your choice and enjoy you time there—without breaking the bank.

1.FLY THE COOP FAST

If you’re planning to set off for an adventure right away, try the GTFO(Get The Flight Out) app. It lists the cheapest round-trip flights departing from your local airport that day or by the next morning. At press time, airfare was down 12 percent from last August and round-trip tickets for domestic flights averaged $218.

2.SNAG A DISCOUNTED HOTEL ROOM

If Airbnb, an online service that provide apartment exchange, isn’t your style, reserve marked-down accommodations on Tingo, which lists almost all the rooms in more than 155,000 locations worldwide. After you book a price drop room, the site monitors rates until, typically, 24 to 48 hours before check-in. If the price drops, Tingo refunds you the difference.

3.LIVE IT UP LOCALLY

If you’re planning a staycation(宅度假) this winter, try an affordable escape close to home. The free app HotelTonight offers lodging(租住) deals in more than 100 U.S. and Canadian cities and regions, and has a location-based feature that gives extea saving on already discounted prices on spots closest to you. Same-day prices fall even lower after 6 P.M.

1. The GTFO app is most useful to those who     .

A．Take a regular business trip	B．Seek a last-minutes travel
C．can’t afford a comfortable travel	D．Plan a short-distance flight

2. Which of the following can best replace the underlined word “marked-down” in Paragraph?

A．highlighted	B．written
C．discounted	D．scored

3. What can we infer about the app HotelTonight?

A．Only the U.S natives can use it	B．Its deals include the whole America
C．Prices stay the same within a day	D．Its services vary from place to place

4. What is the aim of the passage?

A．To persuade	B．To inform
C．To describe	D．To instruct

【推荐3】Researchers at Stanford University have developed a new material that can move heat out of buildings and into space.The researchers say the material can cool buildings even on hot days.The cooling material is a very thin sheet with many layers that could be placed on a roof like solar panels(板)．However，instead of turning sunlight into energy as solar panels do，the material turns heat into radiation.

Shanhui Fan is an electrical engineering professor at Stanford University.He says that the panels have a layer of material that is like sand.The panels act like a mirror.They take heat out of buildings and reflect the light from the sun.And he says both the heat and sunlight are sent 100 kilometers into outer space.“It’s a structure that cools itself without electricity input，even under the sun.So，what it does is basically radiate heat to outer space and also reflect the sunlight so it doesn’t get heated up by the sun.Mr Fan says it is like having a window into space.The heat is sent directly into space without warming the air.”

He says buildings in developing countries that do not have electricity or air conditioning could use the panels.“In areas where electricity is out of reach for many people，there is a potential benefit for storing medicine or even food.In many of these situations，being able to reduce the temperature is important.And this would provide a way to do it.”

The researchers say the main problem is creating actual cooling systems using the high­tech panels.They say it may be possible to develop a cooling spray(喷涂)that could be used on present solid structures.They believe the cooling spray technology could be developed in the next three to five years.They say as much as 15 percent of the energy used in the United States is spent providing power to air conditioning systems.

1. The first paragraph mainly tells us             .

A．a new material is created to cool the buildings

B．living on hot days is no longer a big problem now

C．researchers are developing new solar panels on roofs

D．the new material is a very thin sheet with many layers

2. How does the panel work?

A．It takes in the heat and cools it down.

B．It uses a mirror to reflect the sunlight.

C．It sends heat away right into space.

D．It has a window to let out the heat.

3. The new material is especially useful in areas that               .

A．suffer high temperature

B．have poor air conditioning

C．have plenty of food

D．are short of power

4. What can you infer from the passage?

A．Some people got benefits from producing the panels.

B．The appliance of the new panel is still under research.

C．People may have problems in using the new material.

D．The new panels may save 15 percent of the energy.

【推荐1】Plastic is used for food packaging(包装) and water bottles as well as many other things you use every day. Look around, plastic is all over! Sadly, much of plastic waste is thrown into waste lands or washed into the sea, breaking down into particles. Particles are often taken in by animals or fish. Unless you are the one who only eats vegetables, it is highly likely that you are also eating this plastic. Besides, when you drink soft drinks from a plastic bottle, you also have the danger of drinking a dangerous chemical. It has been proved that plastic is connected with some types of diseases and young children’s growth.

A plastic bottle can break down into enough small pieces on each seaside in the whole world. They have also been discovered to collect in large amount in sea locations where winds and currents(洋流) are weak.

How do you help to solve the problem? Use a stainless steel(不锈钢) bottle. It is an obvious way to deal with the problem that has been ignored for many years. Many countries become increasingly more familiar with the pollution that is damaging the environment. It’s easy to understand why steps are being taken to discover things to replace the plastic.

If you use a stainless steel water bottle, you can help cut the number of using plastic bottles, which are thrown away and break down gradually. It may even take 1000 years to fade away. In a word, even by doing something as small as changing your water bottle to a stainless steel one, you could make the world a better place to live for future generations.

1. What does the underlined word “particles” mean in paragraph 1?

A．Tiny pieces of plastic.	B．Healthy drinks to humans.
C．New bottles.	D．Useful materials.

2. What bad influence do plastic products have on people according to the text?

A．They change people’s eating habits.

B．They affect people’s ways of choosing food.

C．They change people’s attitudes to soft drinks.

D．They may make people suffer from some kinds of diseases.

3. Which of the following does the author want to express?

A．Winds in the sea are often weak in some seasons.

B．Chemicals of animals in the sea are easy to collect.

C．Many countries are suffering the pollution of plastic.

D．Plastic will completely be replaced by other things in the future.

4. What is the text mainly about?

A．A major use of plastic bottles.

B．A large amount of plastic on the seaside.

C．The future development of plastic bottles.

D．The bad influence of plastic bottles and its solution.

【推荐3】As the proverb goes，man struggles upwards；water flows downwards．Water runs downhill from mountaintops to streams, to rivers and to oceans．But downhill isn't the only way that water moves．A new study measures how water travels from country to country for human consumption．This flow isn't the type we usually think about．These scientists looked at the water used to grow and make the products which get shipped from nation to nation as imports or exports．They call this a flow of “virtual water”．

We typically think about water as the liquid that flows from a tap．However，92% of the water used by people goes into growing crops, according to a water researcher Arjen Hoekstra．He recently studied the hidden travels of virtual water used in products made from things like crops and meats．These products are shipped around the world．

For example, consider a sugary soft drink．Hoekstra estimated that to produce one half-liter of the drink requires between 170 and 310 liters of water-about 95% is used to grow and process the ingredients. Another 4% goes into the packaging and labeling．In Hoekstra's calculation, when one country produces a half-liter of soda and sells it abroad，it exports as much virtual water as would fill a large refrigerator．

According to Hoekstra's new report, dry countries like Israel and Kuwait, both in the Middle East, get the majority of their virtual water from other countries，through imported products. More surprisingly, some wetter countries, like the Netherlands and the United Kingdom，also get the majority of their virtual water from other places．That means that most of the water used to grow or produce the products and food consumed in those countries came from other countries．

1. The underlined proverb in Paragraph 1 is used to        ．

A．inspire readers to struggle upward	B．tell a law of nature
C．introduce the topic of the passage	D．summarize the main idea of the passage

2. In which countries does most part of virtual water come from outside？

A．The United Kingdom and China	B．America and Israel
C．The Netherlands and Kuwait	D．The Netherlands and America

3. What can be a suitable title for the passage？

A．Benefits of Virtual Water	B．Hidden Uses of Water
C．Crops and Virtual Water	D．Virtual Water’s Worldwide Travels

4. Where does the passage probably come from？

A．A science news report	B．A newspaper advertisement
C．A book review	D．A science fiction story

【推荐1】FIRE plays an important role in maintaining woodland ecosystems but fire introduced to undergrowth too often destroys too much; as humans remain the leading cause of wildfire, the responsibility to minimize the damage done falls on our shoulders. Here are four man-made fires that highlight the mission to fight fire and help to replant the world’s forests to counter the effects of deforestation.

Heilongjiang Fire—China, 1987

One of the largest fires ever to occur in history, the Heilongiiang Fire devoured three million acres of forest in the Greater Khingan Range. Reports attributed the fire’s easy spread to dry conditions in the area-but it was excessive logging activity without any effort to let the forest regrow that really let it rage unhindered. 34,000 soldiers were deployed to put the fire out, and 33,000 people were left homeless.

Wallow Fire—USA, 2011

Still the largest wildfire in Arizona’s history, Wallow got its name when two men accidentally started it while camping in the Bear Wallow Wilderness. Their campfire blew out of control and burned through over half a million acres of land, costing $72 million to extinguish, and a further $37 million to clean up and rebuild after the damage. More than 6,000 people had to be evacuated.

Uttarakhand fires—India, 2016

Throughout the year, man-made fires plagued the pine forests of the Uttarakhand Region. Widespread media coverage eventually spurred the government on to intervene, sending Indian Air Force helicopters to put them out. It’s suspected that these increased numbers could be the result of honey or seed collectors trying to frighten off animals.

Brandenburg Fire—Germany, 2018

Largely thanks to longer, dryer summers than usual—the forested area of Brandenburg, Germany, caught alight. Results of investigation suggested that evidence pointed to arson (纵火). Brandenburg lost nearly 1,000 acres of its forested land and three nearby villages had to be evacuated. A choking, smoky haze drifted twelve miles to Berlin, causing residents to have to shut themselves in their home.

1. The underlined word “counter” in the first paragraph has the closest meaning to ________.

A．reverse	B．multiply
C．achieve	D．enhance

2. Which of the following is true about the four fires?

A．The dry condition of the Greater Khingan Range was mainly responsible for the rage of Heilongjiang Fire.

B．A total of $72 million was poured in putting out the Wallow Fire alone.

C．Uttarakhand fires claimed so many lives that Air Force helicopters came to the rescue.

D．Excessive heat from the Brandenburg Fire confined the residents nearby to their homes.

3. The most suitable title for this passage might be ________.

A．hot weather setting the globe on fire

B．forest blazes caused by human hands

C．forest fires consuming people and money

D．uncontained forest fires raging worldwide

【推荐2】Getting around in Australia

You know Australia is a big country, but you may not know how easy it is to get around. The untouched beaches that go for miles and deserts that touch the horizon are just there, waiting to be reached and explored. Following are the different ways you can explore our vast country.

Air

Flying is the best way to cover large distances in a short time. You can spend more time on the Australia's can’t-miss landscapes and relaxing lifestyle. Moreover, competition among airlines makes great flying fees available for you.

Drive

Australia has a vast network of well-maintained roads and some of the most beautiful touring routes in the world. You have no difficulty finding car rental companies at major airports, central city locations, suburbs and attractions.

Bus

Bus travel in Australia is comfortable, easy and economical. Buses generally have air conditioning ,reading lights, adjustable seats and videos. Services are frequent, affordable and efficient.

Rail

Train travel is the cheapest and gives you an insight into Australians size and variety, all from the comfort of your carriage. Scheduled services are a great way to get quickly between our cities and regional centers.

Ferry

The Spirit of Tasmania runs a passenger and vehicle ferry service between Melbourne and Tasmania nightly. Extra services are running during summer rush hours. Sea Jink ferries connect South Australia and Kangaroo Island several times a day. Ferries connect suburbs in our capital cities.

Walk

With easy — on — the — feet pedestrian streets, walking is a great way to get around our cities.

Besides all of above, you can also experience some of the longest tracks and trails in the world in central Australia — impressive journeys of a thousand kilometers or more that can take several weeks to complete.

1. If you have only 5 days and want to visit Australia's famous attractions that are far away from each other, which way of travelling best suits you?

A．By air.

B．By car.

C．By bus.

D．On foot.

2. Ferry service between Melbourne and Tasmania usually runs .

A．only during rush hours	B．at night hours
C．several times a day	D．in summer

3. Which of the following is TRUE about travelling in Australia?

A．More travelers make the flying fees among airlines higher than before.

B．You can easily rent a car to explore its most beautiful touring routes.

C．Taking a bus tour is the most comfortable, economical and efficient way.

D．Train services can offer you more comfort than any other means of transport.

【推荐3】All her life,my mother wanted busy children.It was very important that her house should remain at all times clean and tidy.
You could turn your back for a moment in my mother’s house,leave a half-written letter on the dining room table,a magazine open on the chair,and turn around to find that my mother had “put it back where it belonged,”as she explained.
My wife,one of her first visits to my mother’s house,placed a packet of biscuits on an end table and went to the kitchen to fetch a drink.When she returned,she found the packet had been removed.Confused(疑惑的),she set down her drink and went back to the kitchen for more biscuits,only to return to find that her drink had disappeared.Up to then she had guessed that everyone in my family held onto their drinks,so as not to make water rings on the end tables.Now she knows better.
These disappearances had a confusing effect on our family.We were all inclined to(有……的倾向) forgetfulness,and it was common for one of us,upon returning from the bathroom,to find that every sign of his work in progress had disappeared suddenly.“Do you remember what I was doing?”was a question frequently asked,but rarely answered.
Now my sister has developed a second-hand love of clean windows ,and my brother does the cleaning in his house,perhaps to avoid having to be the one to lift his feet.I try not to think about it too much,but I have at this later time started to dust the furniture once a week.
We have all become busy persons.
1. Which of the following is TRUE about my mother?

A．She enjoyed removing others’ drinks.

B．She became more and more forgetful.

C．She preferred to do everything by herself.

D．She wanted to keep her house in good order.

2. My wife could not find her biscuits and drink in my mother’s house because _______.

A．she had already finished them

B．my mother had taken them away

C．she forgot where she had left them

D．someone in my family was holding them

3. The underlined part in the fifth paragraph suggests that my sister _______.

A．is happy to clean windows

B．loves to clean used windows

C．is fond of clean used windows

D．likes clean windows as my mother did

4. This passage mainly tells us that _______.

A．my mother often made us confused

B．my family members had a poor memory

C．my mother helped us to form a good habit

D．my wife was surprised when she visited my mother

【推荐1】For more than 2,000 years the Chinese people have been guided by the ideals of Confucianism. Its founder and greatest teacher was Confucius, whose humane philosophy also influenced the civilization of all of eastern Asia. Many legends were spread to illustrate Confucius’ beliefs. According to one story, he and his followers passed a cemetery where a woman was weeping at a graveside. She told them she was crying because “my husband’s father was killed here by a tiger, and my husband also, and now my son has met the same fate”. When they asked her why she did not leave such a fatal spot, she answered that in this place there was no oppressive government. “Remember this, my children,” said Confucius, “oppressive government is fiercer and more feared than a tiger”.

In such teaching and with such wise sayings, Confucius tried to bring people a respect for the teachings of the wise men of older generations. He always said of himself that he was a “transmitter, not a maker”. He collected and edited the poetry, the music, and the historical writings of what he considered the golden age.

Confucius laid no claim to being more than a man. Yet when he died he was admired almost as god. Temples were constructed in his honor in every city of China. His grave at Kufow, in what is now Shandong Province, became a place of pilgrimage.

Though Confucianism is commonly called a religion, it is rather a system of moral conduct. Confucius did not talk of God but of goodness. He did not teach about any god, simply saying, “Respect the gods, but have as little to do with them as possible.” His attention was centered on making people better in their lifetime, and his Analects are wise sayings similar to the Proverbs in the Bible.

Confucius is the Latinized form of the philosopher’s Chinese name, which was K’ung-fu-tzu, meaning Master K’ung. He was born in a poor but noble family. His father died when the boy was 3 years old. When he was only 6, people noted his fondness for setting out sacrifices and for ceremony. After his marriage at age 19, he worked for the governor of his district, first a keeper of stores and then as an overseer of parks and livestock. At the age of 22 he began his life as a teacher by establishing a school. He accepted valuable aid from some of his students, but he also welcomed students who could afford to pay only a small fee.

After some years of teaching and travel, he settled in Shandong for 15 years. When he was 52 years old, he was rewarded with an appointment as governor of a province and never failed to win the credit he deserved. He performed his task so well that a neighboring governor became jealous. Later, Confucius traveled around other kingdoms and wandered about for 13 years. Eventually, he returned to his native state of Lu in his 69th year and died three years later.

1. The story of the woman in Para.1 is mentioned to show____.

A．Confucius was creative and sympathetic

B．the government then was fiercer than a tiger

C．Confucius’ beliefs are very popular

D．Confucius often wanted to influence people

2. According to the author, Confucius himself____.

A．was tired of spreading his teachings in his late year.

B．was not interested in reforming the society

C．did not want people to worship him as god

D．showed great disrespect for the noble families

3. What does the underlined sentence in Para.4 mean?

A．Confucianism is different from common religion.

B．God blesses those who show respect and goodness.

C．People are advised to keep a distance from gods.

D．Confucius highlights the importance of virtue.

4. In the eyes of the author, Confucius’ political life____.

A．was highly successful

B．turned out to be a surprise

C．was bound to fail because of his belief

D．was not so important as his teaching life

5. As regards Confucius and his teachings, the tone of the passage is marked with____.

A．objective spirit	B．deep admiration
C．great openness	D．obvious surprise

【推荐2】Scientists have long known a reliable way to lose weight in lab animals; Cut the amount of calories(卡路里) by 10 percent to 40 percent. A new study suggests that in young and middle-aged adults, taking in 300 caloric less every day can also have a big influence on their body weight and health.

In the new study published this month in the Lancet, researchers looked at a group of 143 healthy men and women aging from 21 to 50. They could eat the foods they wanted as long as they cut about 12 percent of their total calories, or roughly 300 calories a day.

The group saw their health improve. For example, their blood pressure fell, and they had better blood sugar control.

“The benefits came from the fact that they lost about 16 pounds over the two years of the study,” said William Kraus, the lead author of the study and a professor of medicine at Duke University.

“We were surprised by these changes,” he added. “In a disease population, there aren't five drugs in combination(组合) that would get such a big improvement.”

Calories cut may be useful for better health and weight loss, said Frank Hu, the chairman of the nutrition department at the Harvard School of Public Health. But he questioned whether caloric cut would be possible for most people since we are living in an environment with so many energy-rich, nutrient-poor foods that are cheap, and heavily advertised.

He suggested, however, that some people might find calorie cut possible if they combined it with other popular diets like the Mediterranean diet.

Dr. Kraus said, “It’s not that hard to cut as little as 300 calories a day from their diets. It just takes an after-dinner snack.”

1. How much calories does a middle-aged adult usually take in each day?

A．About 300.

B．About 750.

C．About 2,500.

D．About3,000.

2. What led to the health benefits in the new study according to William Kraus?

A．The combination of five drugs.	B．The weight loss.
C．The energy-rich snacks.	D．The delicious foods.

3. What is Frank Hu’s attitude toward the advice in the new study?

A．Doubtful.

B．Favorable.

C．Uncaring.

D．Curious.

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

A．Hot Debate on Different Weight-losing Diets

B．New Health Guidelines Published for the Adults

C．The Easiest Way to Stay Fit and Healthy Ever Found

D．Cutting 300 Calories a Day to Stay Healthy Every Day

【推荐3】Thanks to this new hands free suitcase, carrying around heavy luggage (行李) may soon become a thing of the past. Designed by Israeli company NUA Robotics, this smart suitcase is the achievement of Mary’s little lamb—it’ll follow you everywhere you go.

The carry-on suitcase connects to a smartphone app via bluetooth. It has a built-in camera sensor (传感器) that can “see” you and follow you around on flat surfaces like airport floors. It comes with an anti-theft alarm to prevent someone stealing it from you and it has a backup battery (电池) that you can use to charge all your devices.

“It can follow and carry things for people around while communicating with their smartphone and avoiding obstacles(障碍物),” explained Alex Libman, founder of NUA Robotics. “We’re combining sensor network, computer vision, and robotics. So if you download our app, press the ‘follow me’ button, the luggage recognizes the specific user and knows to follow and communicate.”

NUA is still testing the device (设备) and trying to improve features like speed and customization, but they hope to make the suitcase available to customers in a year’s time. If it proves successful, they want to use the bluetooth pairing technology to automate lots of other devices, like shopping carts at the supermarket. These devices are especially meant to be useful to the physically disabled and elderly. “Any object can be smart and robotic,” Libman said. “We want to bring robots into everyday life.”

1. The carry-on suitcase has many functions except ________.

A．following you upstairs

B．charging your smartphone

C．giving an alarm when it is stolen

D．avoiding obstacles automatically (自动地)

2. What can we infer from the passage?

A．The carry-on suitcase is on the market now.

B．Robots have already been widely used in our daily life.

C．The bluetooth pairing technology has great application prospects (前景).

D．Shopping carts are mostly used by disabled and old people at the supermarket.

3. What’s the attitude of Libman towards robotics?

A．Indifferent.	B．Optimistic.
C．Doubtful.	D．Unclear.

4. Where is the article probably from?

A．A poster.	B．A tourist brochure.
C．A website.	D．A biography.