【推荐1】From quiet paths by a stream in a forest to busy roads running through a city, people have created various forms of routes in different places. These now exist all around us, and their use is imperative for societies. These routes have enabled people to move, transport things, and send information from one place to another quickly and safely. Throughout history, they have been important in our daily lives.

Early routes were often formed naturally on land. They gradually developed over long periods of time while people traveled them on foot or horseback. A significant turning point in their history arrived when the first wheeled carts appeared in ancient times. Once this happened, people recognized the importance of well-maintained routes. Therefore, towns, cities, and entire countries improved them. As a result, life became more convenient, communities grew, economies evolved, and cultures expanded.

People have established routes on water, too. Rivers and canals have served as effective routes for people to move around and carry things. For instance, in the old, Japanese city of Edo, water routes were used for the transportation of agricultural products, seafood, and wood. People have also opened routes across the sea. The seaways were critical for the navigation of ships, particularly in the days when they moved mainly by wind power. Using these sea routes, people could travel great distances, and go to places they had not previously been able to reach.

People have gone on to open routes in the sky as well. Since the invention of the airplane, they have made it possible to travel long distances easily. Eventually, people became able to travel safely and comfortably high in the sky, and going vast distances only took a small amount of time.

Today, we have a new type of route, the Internet. By using this worldwide route, people can easily obtain information that once was available mainly from books and face-to-face communication. They can also instantly send messages to large numbers of people all at once.

As long as there have been people, there have been routes to connect them. Currently unknown routes will surely take us even further in the future.

1. Which of the following is closest to the meaning of the underlined word imperative in paragraph 1?

A．accidental	B．industrial
C．essential	D．traditional

2. Why is the example of Edo introduced in paragraph 3?

A．To describe the difficulty of creating routes on the water.

B．To emphasize the fact that it was an important city.

C．To explain the use of water routes to move along the coastlines.

D．To illustrate the important roles of water routes for cities.

3. What does paragraph 5 tell us about routes?

A．Routes can be thought of as existing invisibly in the world.

B．Routes that move information can be regarded as dangerous.

C．The fundamental functions of routes are declining.

D．The importance of different kinds of routes is the same.

4. What is the main idea of this article?

A．Humankind first created various types of convenient routes on land.

B．Improvements in transportation have come at great cost.

C．Technology has interfered with opening up routes around the world.

D．The advancement of humanity was aided by the development of routes.

【推荐2】As I enter my 40s, I’ve noticed many of my parents’ generation think social networking is something they are simply unable to understand. They fear that, should they try, they will somehow get it wrong; they will say the wrong thing, do the wrong thing or behave in a way that causes embarrassment. But there are some secrets of social media for them to consider.

Here’s the first secret: everyone feels this way. I recently met a young actor who was complaining that her work demands that she join Microblog, but she always feels like she doesn’t have anything smart to say. It’s the same resistance (抵制). I hear from the older generation, who, however, have somehow believed that age is the barrier (障碍), rather than the differences of personal taste.

Here’s the second secret: everybody uses it for more or less the same reasons. Older generations often sign up to stay in touch with children and relatives. We talk about this kind of communication like it’s some old-fashioned activity, but it is exactly why younger people use social media. The truth is that most people use social media to gently keep an eye on one another, to see how those they care about are doing without needing to ring them up on the phone every night.

And this is the last secret: everyone gets to use them in their own way. Newcomers—younger and older—who worry about “getting it right” are thinking that there’s a right way to get them. But actually there isn’t. Personally, I talk a lot on Microblog. And some people post nothing and they use social media every day as readers. Social media companies would rather see people decorating their networks with pictures and posts, but there’s no rule against being a fly on the wall. It’s also a fine way to get involved.

Were quick to forget that the web wasn’t invented by 13-year-olds; it was created by today’s seniors. I’d never try forcing those with no interest in social networks to use Microblog. But don’t let the talk of age divides put you off. There’s nothing to stop the older generation from joining in the network their own generation created.

1. What’s the author’s purpose of writing this passage?

A．To share with us his personal experience using social media.

B．To explain why the old generation don’t use social media.

C．To free the old generation from fearing using social media.

D．To tell us a few secrets of social media that he discovered.

2. The expression “a fly on the wall” in the 4th paragraph refers to            .

A．people who prefer reading online books

B．people who cause trouble to others

C．people who post many fancy pictures

D．people who simply observe others’ posts

3. According to the author, which is a reason for old people’s fear using social media?

A．They believe they may be trapped in embarrassing situations.

B．They have no particular interest in social networking.

C．They prefer staying in touch with relatives in real life.

D．They have no idea which contents to post online.

4. Which of the following may best describe the structure of this passage?

A．	B．
C．	D．

【推荐3】People around the world used their computers to buy goods,communicate with others,listen to music,see pictures and learn about different places and ideas.In 2006,more people around the world used new ways to communicate and connect with each other through the Internet.    1    Blog is a short way of saying Web log.Through these personal websites,people can share their experiences,ideas and opinions with anyone on the Internet.People of all ages have their own blogs.For young people,they are a way to show their writings and other forms of self-expression.    2    These sites include “MySpace”,used mainly by teenagers and young adults.MySpace is an online community that lets people share messages and pictures with an increasing number of friends.    3    YouTube is another Internet site that became more popular this year.This website lets anyone create,share and watch short videos.People can watch almost anything on YouTube：news,sports and entertainment events.    4    These include videos of people singing or dancing,or animals doing funny things.Three young men created YouTube almost two years ago as a personal video sharing service.They recently sold it to Google for more than one half billon dollars.Games and entertainment also became a larger part of the Internet this year.One Internet social site is called Second Life.    5    They get married,build homes,operate businesses,buy and sell goods,work,play and attend school.

A．The blog is one form of communication that enjoys growing popularity.

B．People of all ages use computers to express themselves.

C．It is an online world in which computer users create a new self and live a different life.

D．Many Websites offer free services to create personal Web pages and fill them with writing site on the web.

E．There are music videos,and videos made by people in their own homes.

F．More and more people are buying computers because of the lower price.

G．It is the most popular social networking site on the web.

【推荐2】There was great excitement on the planet of Venus (金星) this week. For the first time Venusian scientists managed to land a satellite on the planet Earth, and it has been sending back signals as well as photographs.

The satellite was directed into an area known as Manhattan (曼哈顿). Because of excellent weather conditions and extremely strong signals, Venusian scientists were able to get valuable information about the feasibility of a manned flying saucer (飞碟) landing on Earth. A press conference was held at the Venus Institute of Technology.

“We have come to the conclusion, based on last week's satellite landing,” Professor Zog said, “that there is no life on Earth."

“How do you know this?” the science reporter of the Venus Evening News asked.

"For one thing, Earth's surface in the area of Manhattan consists of solid concrete (混凝土) and nothing can grow there. For another, the atmosphere is filled with carbon monoxide (一氧化碳) and other deadly gases and nobody could possibly breathe this air and survive.”

“Are there any other sources of danger that you have discovered in your studies?”

“Take a look at this photo. You see this dark black cloud staying over the surface of Earth? We don't know what it is made of, but it could give us a lot of trouble and we shall have to make further tests before we send a Venus Being there. Over here you will notice what seems to be a river, but the satellite findings indicates it is polluted and the water is unfit to drink.”

“Sir, what are all those tiny black spots on the photographs?”

“We’re not certain. They seem to be metal objects that moves along certain roads. They give out gases, make noise and keep crashing into each other.”

“Professor Zog, why are we spending billions and billions of Zilches to land a flying saucer on Earth when there is no life there?”

“Because if we Venusians can learn to breathe in the Earth atmosphere, then we can live anywhere.”

1. What does the underlined word “feasibility” in Paragraph 2 mean?

A．possibility

B．ability

C．simplicity

D．responsibility

2. What problems on the earth was not mentioned by the author?

A．Air pollution.

B．Water pollution.

C．Heavy traffic.

D．Over population.

3. Why did the author write the passage?

A．To tell us a dream of Venusian scientists.

B．To show the secret of life on other planets.

C．To persuade people to try living on the earth.

D．To remind people on the earth of some problems.

【推荐3】There’s a good chance something you've bought online has been in the hands of a “ picker” first. These are the workers in warehouses(仓库)who pick, pack and ship all those things we’re ordering.

At Amazon and other companies, they’re working side by side with robots. Experts say while the robots are replacing some human workers, the machines aren't quite ready to take over completely.

When a robot finds its storage unit, it slides underneath, lifts it up and then delivers it to a worker 一 they’re called pickers. On a recent day, the computer told a picker to grab what looked like a fantasy board (棋盘)game. The picker found it, canned it and placed it on the conveyor belt.

^“In a traditional fulfillment center where the associate would walk to the different items , it can take hours to fulfill a customer order. “ Robinson says.

Now, with the help of robots, that task takes minutes 一 and fewer humans.

So is this a sign we're entering a new industrial revolution?

“It’s definitely going to take over a lot of jobs. " says Karen Myers, a scientist at SRI, one of Silicon Valley's oldest research centers.

At the same time, she says, we're running against the limits of technology. Take “the picker” at the Amazon fulfillment center. Myers says those skills are proving to be uniquely human.

“Our fingers are incredibly flexible and the current generation of robotic operators, they’re getting much_, much better,” she says. “But they're just not quite there yet. ”

There’s also the robot’s brain.

Remember that board game the Amazon worker was looking for? She could barely see the box filled into the storage bin — but she could tell it was a board game. Robots can’t do that.

Technologists say that, increasingly, humans will work side by side with robots — instead of robots working alone.

Amazon says robots and humans enabled the Tracy warehouse to fulfill customer orders faster. That means more customers and more human workers.

1. A picker does some tasks except .

A．picking goods

B．producing goods

C．spotting goods

D．packing goods

2. With the help of robots, some tasks are .

A．more efficient

B．less straight

C．more difficult

D．less profitable

3. Compared with robots, humans are more .

A．powerful

B．artificial

C．flexible

D．energetic

4. What is the best title for the text?

A．Robots replacing humans completely.

B．The advantages of shopping online.

C．The future of robots.

D．Robots and humans working side by side.

【推荐2】North and South Koreans face a widening language gap caused by 70 years of separation. That is creating some communication problems for the two countries’ first joint Olympic team as it prepares for 2018 Winter Games in Pyeong Chang. South Korea So, the joint women’s hockey team has created its own dictionary. The three-page document translates important hockey terms from English into South Korean, and then into North Korean.

Canadian Sarah Murray is the team’s coach. She says the document has helped everybody communicate. Team Korea was formed just two weeks ago after the two Koreas decided to suddenly cooperate during the Olympics. Twelve players from North Korea were then added to the 23-member South Korean team.

South Korea has incorporated many English words and phrases into its language. North Korea has removed foreign words and created substitutes from Korean words. To many South Koreans, the substitutes sound funny.

Language experts say about one-third of the everyday words used in the two countries are different. The divide is wider with technical language, like that used for medical and sports industries. For example, South Korean hockey players use the English word “pass,” but their North Korean teammates say “yeol lak” or “communication.” North Koreans say “nahl gay soo”meaning “wing player.” South Koreans call that position “wing,” like in English. South Koreans say “block shot” while North Koreans say “buhduh make ”or “stretching to block.”

Murray admits that there are still some problems in communication even with the new dictionary. She said her South Korean assistant coach plays an important part in bridging the divide. Some in South Korea have criticized the partnership. They argue that the addition of players from North Korea players may prevent South Korean players from playing as much. One early public opinion study found that about 70 percent of South Koreans opposed the joint team.

However, that opposition appears to be lessening as the Olympics near.

1. What factor mainly causes the communication barriers for North and South Joint Hockey Team?

A．The team was suddenly formed in a hurry.

B．They are devoted to preparing the Winter Olympics.

C．There exists a gap between the two language.

D．They have been separated from each other for 70 years.

2. Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

A．South Korean players are so critical of the joint Olympic team.

B．There are altogether 35 players in the joint Olympic team.

C．Murray from Canada doubts the three-page document in their communication.

D．North Korean assistant coach plays an important role in their communication.

3. How do the joint team solve the communication problems?

A．South Korean brings in English words but North Korean created substitutes from Korea

B．They translate important hockey terms from English into South Korean.

C．They translate important hockey terms from South Korean into North Korean.

D．They use English to bridge the language gaps with the help of their own dictionary.

4. What is the author’s attitude towards the joint hockey team?

A．Supportive

B．Negative

C．Objective

D．Subjective

【推荐3】ON AUGUST 2^nd Magdalena Luczak and her partner, Mariusz Krezolek, were jailed for life for the murder of her four-year-old son, Daniel. The pair starved him for months, locked him in a small unheated room, and left him there to die. As with the deaths of Victoria Climbié in 2000 and Peter Connelly in 2007, the boy’s fate has prompted questions about how the authorities missed the abuse (虐待). Attention has again focused on social workers. Recent years have seen numerous attempts to reform and revitalize the profession. In May, a new fast-track training programme, Frontline, was launched in the hope of improving things. It is inspired by Teach First, which sends bright graduates into tough schools for at least two years.

Participants will attend an intensive five-week summer school before taking on two years of closely supervised work in local-authority children’s services. If they measure up, they will qualify as social workers at the end of the first year and gain a master’s degree after the second. Funding will come from private donors, the Department for Education and local authorities. Recruitment(招募)for a pilot scheme, targeting leading universities, begins in September.

Its founders want to boost the status of this profession. “We are dealing with a crisis,” says Lord Adonis, chair of Frontline’s board. Both recruitment and keeping staying on the job are problems: the expected working life of a social worker is eight years, compared with 14 for nurses. Last year some local authorities reported that a third of their positions were unfilled.

Unsurprisingly, given the blame often heaped on the profession, ambitious graduates tend to steer clear. Of the 2,765 people who began master’s courses in social work in 2011, just five had completed undergraduate degrees at Oxford or Cambridge. And too many courses fail to give sufficient practical grounding in hard child-protection work. Frontline recruits will work in small teams with dedicated supervisors in council children’s services.

Reactions to the initiative have been mixed. Some in the profession are angry that it has been set up by outsiders. Boosters, such as Donald Forrester of Bedfordshire University, think the newcomers will bring in much-needed fresh thinking. Another worry is that the programme is too specialized and too short. Focusing just on children’s services is like training doctors only in pediatrics(儿科).

Teach First was set up on the basis that participants would teach first and then go on to other jobs. In fact, over half stay in education. There is no “first” at Frontline. At the end of their course, recruits will be offered the opportunity to pursue further professional training, or encouraged to move up the ranks. But Mr MacAlister hopes that many will stay. This year 9% of all final-year students from Oxbridge applied for Teach First. Frontline hopes to achieve a similar result for social work.

1. The author presents the topic of this article by ______.

A．giving cases of child abuse

B．urging us to care for children

C．attracting our attention to child abuse

D．showing concern for the abuse of children

2. Which of the following about social workers is true?

A．Their training lasts for 8 years.

B．They are prospective in the future.

C．They receive little practical grounding.

D．They should graduate from top universities.

3. The expression “steer clear” in the 5th paragraph means _____.

A．be involved	B．stay away
C．touch on	D．clear out

4. What is probably the best title of the passage?

A．A topic which starts heated debates.

B．An uncertain fate of a much-needed market.

C．A promising field with strong supporters.

D．An initiative to revive an unfavorable profession.

【推荐1】Sit still. It's the rule of every classroom. But that is changing as evidence builds that taking brief activity breaks during the day helps children learn and be more attentive in class, and a   growing number of programs designed to promote movement are being adopted in schools. "We need to recognize that children are movement-based," said Brian Gatens, the superintendent of schools in Emerson, N.J." In schools, we sometimes are pushing against human nature in asking them to sit still and be quiet all the time.We fall into this trap that if kids are at their desks with their heads down and are silent and writing, we think they are learning," Mr. Gatens added. "But   what we have found is that the active time used to energize your brain makes all those still moments better, or more productive."

A 2013 report from the Institute of Medicine concluded that children who are more active show greater attention, have faster cognitive processing speed and perform better on standardized academic tests than children who are less active. And a study released in January by Lund University in Sweden shows that students, especially boys, who had daily physical education, did better in school.

＂Daily physical activity is an opportunity for the average school to become a high-performing school," said Jesper Fritz, a doctoral student at Lund University and physician at the Skane University Hospital in Malmo who was the study's lead author.

＂Activity helps the brain in so many ways," said James F.Sallis, a professor of family medicine and public health at the University of California, San Diego, who has done research on the association between activity breaks and classroom behavior."Activity stimulates more blood vessels in the brain to support more brain cells.And there is evidence that active kids do better on standardized tests and pay attention more in school." "Plus," he added," it makes kids want to come to school more-it's fun to do these activities."

But not all districts are embracing the trend of movement breaks. "The bottom line is that with only six and a half hours during the day, our priority is academics," said Tom Hernandez, the director of community relations for the Plainfield School District in Illinois, about 40 miles southwest of Chicago. He said that under state law, the schools provide daily physical education classes and that teachers in the district find ways to give students time during the day to refresh and recharge.

＂Kids aren't meant to sit still all day and take in information," said Steve Boyle, one of the co-founders of the National Association of Physical Literacy, which aims to bring movement into schools." Adults aren't either."

1. Brain Gatens is likely to agree that

A．all of the students should sit still

B．sitting still often means studying well

C．being quite is actually human nature

D．always sitting doesn't have good effects

2. According to Jesper Fritz, we can infer that _____

A．activity helps the brain in only one way

B．activities can make children physically and mentally healthy

C．activities have nothing to do with children's academic performances

D．Daily activity is a chance for the average school to become a high one

3. According to James F. Sallis, the reasons why activities make students clever is that _____

A．they stimulate more blood vessels in the body

B．they activate all the brain cells but are tough on bodies

C．they give children fun and motivate all the brains to work

D．they give students time during the day to refresh and recharge

4. Which column are you likely to read the passage in the newspaper?

A．Discovery

B．Sports

C．Education

D．Science

【推荐2】Learning is so complex that there are many different psychological theories to explain how people learn. A psychologist named Albert Bandura suggested a social learning theory which shows that observation, imitation (模仿), and modeling play a primary role in this process.

In Albert Bandura’s opinion, people can learn through observation. Observational learning doesn’t even necessarily require watching another person join in an activity. We can also learn by reading, hearing, or watching the actions of characters in books and films. However, just observing someone else’s actions isn’t always enough to lead to learning. Your own mental state also plays an important role in determining whether a behavior is learned or not. In addition, though in many cases, learning can be seen immediately when the new behavior is displayed, yet sometimes we can learn things even though that learning might not be immediately obvious, which means people can learn new information without showing new behaviors.

Not all observed behaviors are effectively learned. Certain requirements need to be related to the observational learning process. For example, you need to be paying attention. Also your retention is an important part of observational learning as you need to pull up information later and act on it during the process. Once you’ve paid attention to the model and kept the information, it’s time to actually perform the behavior you observed. Further practice of the learned behavior leads to improvement. Finally, you have to be motivated to imitate the behavior that has been modeled.

Social learning theory have many real-world applications. For example, researchers employ it to look into and understand ways that positive role models can be used to encourage desirable behaviors. Besides, it’s also applied in the field of education, and today, both teachers and parents recognize how important it is to model appropriate behaviors.

1. What can we infer about observational learning from Paragraph 2?

A．Its effects on a person tend to be very obvious.

B．Its effectiveness is determined by the mental state.

C．Its most useful means should be careful watching.

D．It doesn’t necessarily lead to a change in behavior.

2. What does the underlined word “retention” in Paragraph 3 most probably mean?

A．Curiosity.	B．Creativity.
C．Memory.	D．Imagination.

3. What should you do to make observational learning successful?

A．Learn to be judgmental.	B．Look for a motivator.
C．Try to be imaginative.	D．Focus on the process.

4. According to the text, the social learning theory ___________.

A．was doubted at first	B．remains to be tested
C．is of practical use	D．is based on experiments

【推荐3】Learning a second language is tricky at any age and it only gets tougher the longer you wait to open that dusty French book. Now, in a new study, scientists have pinpointed the exact age at which your chances of reaching fluency in a second language seem to plummet: 10.

The study, published in the journal Cognition, found that it’s “nearly impossible” for language learners to reach native-level fluency if they start learning a second tongue after 10. But that doesn’t seem to be because language skills go downhill. “It turns out you’re still learning fast. It’s just that you run out of time, because your ability to learn starts dropping at around 17 or 18 years old,” says study co-author Joshua Hartshorne, an assistant professor of psychology at Boston College.

Kids may be better than adults at learning new languages for many reasons. Children’s brains are more plastic than those of adults, meaning they’re better able to adapt and respond to new information. “All learning involves the brain changing,” Hartshorne says, “and children’s brains seem to be a lot more skilled at changing.”

Kids may also be more willing to try new things (and to potentially look foolish in the process) than adults are. Their comparatively new grasp on their native tongue may also be advantageous. Unlike adults, who tend to default (默认) to the rules and patterns of their first language, kids may be able to approach a new one with a blank slate (石板).

These findings may seem discouraging, but it was heartening for scientists to learn that the critical period for fluent language acquisition might be longer than they previously thought. Some scientists believed that the brief window closes shortly after birth, while others stretched it only to early adolescence. Compared to those estimates, 17 or 18 — when language learning ability starts to drop off — seems relatively old.

“People fared better when they learned by immersion (沉浸), rather than simply in a classroom. And moving to a place where your desired language is spoken is the best way to learn as an adult. If that’s not an option, you can mimic an immersive environment by finding ways to have conversations with native speakers in their own communities,” Hartshorne says. By doing so, it’s possible to become conversationally proficient — even without the advantage of a child’s brain.

1. The underlined word “plummet” in Paragraph 1 is closest in meaning to “__________”.

A．decrease	B．rise
C．end	D．vary

2. What can be inferred from Joshua Hartshorne’s words?

A．Children are too young to grasp a second language.

B．Age 10-18 is the best time to learn a second language.

C．Adults go beyond the critical period for learning a second language.

D．Communicating with native speakers enables you to master all the language skills.

3. Why adults can’t reach native-level fluency in a second language?

A．Adults are less influenced by their mother tongues.

B．Adults spend more time responding to new information.

C．Adults are only too willing to experience something awkward in the process.

D．Adults prefer an immersive environment to a classroom in learning a second language.

4. The passage is mainly about __________.

A．the best age to learn a second language

B．the approaches to learning a second language

C．why kids learn a second language more easily than adults

D．whether adults can learn a second language like their younger selves