【推荐1】ONE day my 5-year-old daughter, Mini, ran to the window crying: “A Cabuliwallah (从喀布尔来的水果商贩)! A Cabuliwallah!” In the street below was a Cabuliwallah, passing slowly along. Mini called him loudly but when he looked at her she ran away scared. Shortly after this, the two became friends.
They started to hang out together, laughing and talking. Mini’s new friend would give her raisins (葡萄干) and almonds (杏仁) , spending the little money he had on her.
The two of them enjoyed joking together. The Cabuliwallah, who was called Rahmun, would say: “Well, little one, when are you going to the father-in-law’s house?” Mini did not understand this and was puzzled.
One morning, I heard uproar (骚动) in the street, and saw Rahmun being led away by the police. There were bloodstains on his clothes. I gathered that a neighbor had owed Rahmun money for a shawl (披肩) but had falsely denied having bought it, and that in the course of the quarrel Rahmun had struck him. On a charge of murderous assault (攻击), Rahmun was sentenced to jail.
Time passed, and he was not remembered. Mini grew up and we were making arrangements for her wedding. I was sitting in my study when someone entered. It was Rahmun, the Cabuliwallah, released from prison.
Barely recognizable now, he asked to see Mini and said that all those years ago she had reminded him of his own daughter in Kabul. It was his belief that Mini was still the same. He had pictured her running to him calling “Cabuliwallah!”. He had imagined that they would laugh and talk together. In fact, he had brought her, wrapped up in paper, a few almonds and grapes.
The two were reunited but Mini had grown up. She now understood the meaning of the word “father-in-law,” and when he made this joke once more she flushed up (脸红) at the question. He could not revive (还原) their old friendship.
When Rahmun left, I gave him a bank note, saying: “Go back to your own daughter, and may the happiness of your meeting bring good fortune to my child!”
Having made this present, I had to give up the electric lights and the military band I had intended for the wedding and the ladies in the house were disappointed. But to me the wedding feast was all the brighter for the thought that in a distant land a long-lost father met again with his child.
Adapted from Tagore’s (泰戈尔) short novel The Cabuliwallah
1. Which of the following is TRUE about Mini and Rahmun’s friendship?

A．They felt close to each other at first sight.

B．The author didn’t like Mini making friends with Rahmun.

C．Rahmun liked Mini more when the author often bought fruits from him.

D．Though not understanding all Rahmun’s jokes, Mini liked hanging out with him.

2. Why was Rahmun put into prison?

A．He hurt a man.

B．He stole a shawl.

C．He cheated his neighbor.

D．He was dishonest in his business.

3. From the article, we can conclude that the author was ______ Rahmun.

A．not fond of

B．worried about

C．not supportive of

D．sympathetic to

【推荐2】Have you ever had a troubling problem that has left you wondering where to turn for help?

Eve Hobsbawm is a life adviser. She offers advice to people struggling with all kinds of problems, from relationship difficulties to what to cook for dinner. She does this through a website inviting people to email her with their problems. There's nothing unusual about that, except for the fact that Eve is only eight years old.

This junior trouble-shooter, who also goes by the name "Miss Evie Mouse" lives in London with her parents. Not only is Miss Mouse willing to lend an ear to her clients, she will also offer them a helping hand, for a fee of course. She charges between 10p for advice on little, everyday worries and ￡1 for more complicated problems. Her areas of expert knowledge, if not of experience, are problems about love, life and work-life balance.

A problem shared is a problem halved, but Eve can't always help. A note on the site states that she can't answer questions like "Does space ever end?" and she won't solve schoolwork-related problems, especially not maths.

She explained to the Guardian newspaper that she was inspired to set up the company by her father who runs a tech start-up. Eve said, "As soon as I saw his business and understood the kinds of things businesses do, I thought that's what I'm going to do."

But since setting up her company in December she has been so overwhelmed with messages that she has had to take a step back. "There has been a lot of sudden interest in my site, which is nice," she says, "but I need to do my homework too, so I won't be solving any more problems for a bit."

1. Eve Hobsbawm is an unusual adviser because she__________.

A．asks for fees for her advice

B．is just a pupil at primary school

C．is an expert in work-life balance

D．answers questions on the Internet

2. What is people's attitude towards Eve's website?

A．Interested	B．Disapproving
C．Doubtful	D．Unconcerned

3. Which of the following can best describe Eve?

A．She has a lot of experience in life.

B．She is very popular among students.

C．She has a natural talent for business.

D．She is warm-hearted and ready to help.

4. Where is the passage most likely to have been taken from?

A．A book review.	B．A speech.
C．An advertisement.	D．A news report.

【推荐2】Just before Christmas in 1994, a letter arrived at our house. The postmark was from Tuskegee, Alabama, so we all knew who it was from. We excitedly gathered around mother as she opened it.

My Dear Mother,

I didn’t get the leave I expected for Christmas. I’ll miss all of you. Please leave the Christmas tree up until I make it back. I hope to be home by March.

Love from your son,

Clifton

My heart sank. I felt extreme sadness that my favorite brother wouldn’t be home for Christmas. My mother, being the optimist she always was, said, “Well, it looks like we’ll get to have two Christmases this year!”

After Christmas, my sister and I worked together to make sure we kept that Christmas tree looking as pretty as possible. This was no easy feat. By mid-January, the branches drooped so low to the ground. Each day, ornaments would come crashing to the ground and there were brand new sprinklings of pine needles all over the wooden floor. My sister and I took turns sweeping them up. We repositioned the ornaments to the stronger branches on the tree, hoping they would stay on.

Each time we freshened that tree up, my sister and I were full of thoughts about Clifton and how happy we would be to see him again. It made us feel that he was close by, even though he was hundreds of miles away.

On March 5, the doorbell rang. We ran to the door and gave Clifton a big hug. As he hugged mother, I could see him peek over her head at the Christmas tree.

“It’s beautiful,” he said. “Thank you.” Clifton opened his presents and told us all sorts of stories about his work in Tuskegee. That night as we slept, we heard a crash in the living room. We all ran to see what had happened. The tree had toppled onto the sofa and there were needles and broken ornaments everywhere. We all had a good laugh. It was fortuitous (巧合的) Clifton got home when he did.

1. How did the author feel when he read the letter?

A．Deeply sad.	B．Quite annoyed.
C．Very regretful.	D．A little disappointed.

2. Why did the author try hard to freshen the Christmas tree up?

A．Because his mother asked him to keep the tree up.

B．Because he wanted to keep all the ornaments on the tree.

C．Because he longed to have another Christmas with his brother.

D．Because he intended to keep the Christmas tree alive until next December.

3. What do you think is the tone of the passage?

A．Satisfied.

B．Upsetting.

C．Unconcerned.

D．Hopeful.

【推荐1】I grew up in libraries, or at least it feels that way. I was raised in the suburbs of Cleveland, just a few blocks from the brick-faced Bertram Woods branch of the Shaker Heights Public Library system. I went there several times a week with my mother. She and I would walk in together, but as soon as we passed through the door, we each headed towards our favorite sections. The library might have been the first place I was ever given autonomy.

Even when I was maybe four or five years old, I was allowed to head off on my own. Then, after a while, my mother and I would reunite at the checkout counter with our finds. Together we’d wait as the librarian pulled out the date card and stamped it with the checkout machine — that giant fist thumping the card with a loud chunk-chunk, printing a crooked due date underneath a score of previous crooked due dates that belonged to other people, other times.

Those visits were dreamy, frictionless (没有摩擦的) periods that held the promise of leaving me richer than I’d arrived. It wasn’t like going to a store with my mom, which guaranteed a tug-of-war between what I wanted and what my mother was willing to buy me; in the library, I could have anything I wanted.

After we had finished checking out the books, I loved being in the car and having all the books we’d gotten stacked on my lap, pressing me under their solid, warm weight, their Mylar covers sticking a bit to my thighs. It was such a thrill leaving a place with things you hadn’t paid for; such a thrill expecting the new books we would read. On the ride home, my mother and I talked about the order in which we were going to read our books, a serious conversation in which we planned how to pace ourselves through this charmed period of grace until the books were due.

When I was older, I usually walked to the library by myself, lugging back as many books as I could carry. Occasionally, I did go with my mother, and the trip would be as engaging as it had been when I was small. Even when I was in my last year of high school and could drive myself to the library, my mother and I still went together every now and then, and the trip unfolded exactly as it had when I was a child, with all the same beats and pauses ‘and comments and daydreaming, the same perfect rhythm we’d followed so many times before. After my mother passed away two years ago, I plunged into a deep shadow of grief for a long time. When I miss my mother these days, I like to picture us in the car together, going for one more magnificent trip to Bertram Woods, during which we talked, laughed — as if she were still in my company, giving me inexhaustible strength.

1. In this passage, the word “autonomy” (paragraph 1) is closest in meaning to “________”.

A．vitality

B．freedom

C．inspiration

D．entitlement

2. It can be inferred from the second and third paragraphs that ________.

A．the author and her mother borrowed books that no other people had ever read before

B．the author and her mother were dreaming of going to the library

C．the author and her mother would play some games when they were shopping

D．the author would fail to buy what she wanted in the store

3. After the author and her mother left the library, ________.

A．they would plan to read their newly-borrowed books with feverish enthusiasm

B．they would have a serious conversation about which book attracted them the most

C．they would be anxious to recommend to each other the books they had borrowed

D．they would agree on buying the books they had just borrowed if they enjoyed them

4. How does the author feel when she imagines herself in the car with her mother on the way to the library?

A．Grieved.

B．Shocked.

C．Miserable.

D．Comforted.

5. Following the last paragraph of this article, what would the author most likely go on to write about?

A．One specific memory of a childhood trip to the library.

B．The fond childhood memories of her mother taking good care of her.

C．How her affection for going to the library has endured into her own motherhood.

D．Why her own child made up their mind to become a librarian after finishing college.

【推荐1】Data collected by the World Food Program shows that every year over 847 million people worldwide suffer from malnutrition and about 3.1 million children under the age of 5 die of starvation.

While dealing with world hunger is an important thing for scientists, it is not easy, considering natural resources. But thanks to new ideas like Livingbox, there may be some hope.

The Israeli scientists Nitzan Solan and Moti Cohen say Livingbox is an environment-friendly ecosystem made of some connected boxes to form a mini-farm. This means that the vegetables are grown in water instead of soil.

While professional farmers have been doing that for years, Livingbox is the first system built to gain nutrients from common waste. Better yet, it can run without electricity and requires no farming skills to keep. This means that city people who cannot get fresh vegetables can use Livingbox to grow vegetables.

It is easy for all farmers to set up the boxes. Then they fill them with fresh water and add the required seeds. As soon as they add one or all three types of waste, the system will self-produce the nitrogen needed for the plants to take root.

Those that use fish waste have a double advantage — they can cultivate both fish and vegetables at the same time. The fish can provide the waste needed for the plants to grow, while the plants naturally filter the water and help keep a clean home for the fish.

Once the vegetables are ready to pick, farmers simply harvest them and begin the cycle all over again. While the 15-square foot box provides enough vegetables for a family of four, it is easy to make a larger Livingbox in order to build larger farms.

The one thing that can prevent Livingbox from being used in developing countries is the cost. However, some businessmen with several non-profit organizations have promised to keep it affordable, so that poor people living in cities of developing countries can get the chance to eat nutritious food.

1. Why do scientists find it hard to solve world hunger?

A．Because it needs a lot of money to solve the problem.

B．Because there are too many people are starving in the world.

C．Because the population grows rapidly and there are not enough resources.

D．Because most of the natural resources have been damaged.

2. What do we know about Livingbox?

A．It is not harmful to the environment.

B．It is made of boxes filled with rich soil.

C．It requires electricity.

D．It requires farmers to learn some special skills.

3. Livingbox is designed to _________.

A．help developing countries become rich

B．get rid of the waste produced by animals

C．get clean water for people living in cities

D．let poor people living in cities get fresh vegetables

4. From the last two paragraphs, we can infer that __________.

A．farmers can use the boxes again

B．it will not cost much money to build Livingbox

C．Livingbox has been built by businessmen in the world

D．Livingbox has become popular in developing countries

【推荐2】The year 2020 is stormy, but rainbows are everywhere. Across the COVID-19 stricken world, bright and happy rainbows have become window colors and choices on store shelves.

The rainbows started appearing all over Italy within a few days of schools closing for the first lockdown, back in March. Crayon drawings were taped to the inside of windows; poster-painted banners hung from balconies.

When the pandemic came to Britain, the rainbows came too, with the Italian message of positivity morphing into thanks to the NHS. Then, during the months of lockdown, the rainbows moved inside our homes, with a craze for arranging books by colour in pursuit of an aesthetically pleasant Zoom background.

In April this year, the largest cabin hospital in the Philippines was completed, divided into six wards of different colors. The colors of the rainbow were not only pleasing to the eye, but also conveying a positive and optimistic spirit to patients.

The rainbow is to 2020 what “keep calm and carry on” was to 1939. And just as “keep calm and carry on” began as a public information campaign but became a tea towel industry, what began as a gesture of hope is now a big business. John Lewis reports that a rainbow baubles nearly festive bestseller. Tracksuit enthusiasts are sitting out the second lockdown in Olivia Rubin’s £150 rainbow stripe tracksuits.

Optimism is the hottest commodity of 2020. But some people are irritated by the way consumer culture commodifies the human experience, packaging our hopes and dreams as if they were just another product in the warehouse. But the fashion editor-turned-designer JJ Martin says, “It’s great to have the colourful dress, but the magic of a rainbow isn’t really about the pot of gold. What actually counts is the flame you turn on inside yourself. ”

1. Where might people see the rainbow?

A．In the Italian message of thanks to the NHS.	B．On the banners of the schools under lockdown.
C．In the study with the books sorted by color.	D．On the outside of Britain’s largest cabin hospital.

2. What does the underlined word “irritated” in Paragraph 6 probably mean?

A．Fascinated.

B．Angered.

C．Challenged.

D．Embarrassed.

3. What do the campaigns in1939 and in 2020 have in common?

A．They helped people out of the lockdown.	B．They conveyed thanks to the medical staff.
C．They came to the same end	D．They displayed a feature of the towel industry.

4. What can we infer from what JJ Martin said?

A．The relaxation of mind is equal to wealth.

B．The tracksuits of Olivia Rubin are to be mass-produced.

C．The commercialization of feelings is somewhat reasonable.

D．The significance of the rainbow is to lift people up.

【推荐3】Automatic dishwashers have been around for more than 100 years. It started in 1886 with Josephine Cochrane, a woman in Shelbyville, Illinois. She was a rich woman who could afford servants to wash her dishes, so she really didn’t mind the work. What she did mind was that her servants broke the dishes. She hosted quite a few dinner parties, and after every party the servants broke more of her expensive dishes.

Finally, Cochrane took action. First, she measured her dishes and bent wire into racks to hold them. Next, she put the racks on a wheel in a large copper boiler. Then, the boiler sprayed hot, soapy water on the dishes as a motor turned the wheel. After a hot water rinse(冲洗), the dishes were clean!

Josephine Cochrane’s friends were impressed with the machine and asked her to build more. After that, word got out fast. Soon hotel and restaurant owners who didn’t like broken dishes also were interested. Cochrane then knew that she had a wonderful machine, so she received a patent from the government, which said that only the inventor can make money from an invention. Then in 1893 Chicago held a World’s Fair where inventions from all over the world were shown. Cochrane’s labor-saving machine was a big hit. Her dishwasher won the highest award.

Cochrane’s company came out with a smaller machine in 1914. It was supposed to be for the ordinary home, but it wasn’t an immediate success. Many homes couldn’t produce the extremely hot water it needed. Also, in most homes, dishwashing wasn’t considered very difficult compared to most other housework. In fact some people liked to relax at the sink after a hard day! Sales of the home model finally picked up in the 1950s when people had more money and wanted to have more time to enjoy themselves. Now many homes have electric dishwashers that aren’t very different from the one Josephine Cochrane invented more than 100 years ago.

1. Why did Josephine Cochrane invent the dishwasher?

A．To reduce the number of servants.

B．To avoid possible damage to the dishes.

C．To host more dinner parties.​

D．To make the dishes cleaner.

2. What does the underlined words in Paragraph 3 suggest?

A．The machine wasn’t as efficient as described.

B．Josephine Cochrane could no longer keep it a secret.

C．Josephine’s friends soon began to talk about the new machine.

D．The invention drew immediate attention of the public.

3. The smaller machine became popular only when_____.

A．people’s living conditions improved​

B．hot water was not needed

C．housework became easier​

D．people had more relaxing jobs

4. Compared with Cochrane’s invention, modern electric dishwashers _____.

A．cost less money

B．are quite different

C．wash many other things

D．are much the same