【推荐1】A deal has been signed to turn byproducts from a Scottish distillery (酿酒厂) into fuel for cars.

In what is declared to be a world first, the Tullibardine distillery in Perthshire has linked up with a spin－out company from Napier University in Edinburgh.They plan to use bacteria to feed on the “leftovers” from the whisky (威士忌酒) making process.This will produce butanol which can be used to fuel vehicles.

More than 90% of the stuff that comes out of a whisky distillery is not whisky.It is leftovers like draff and pot ales (酒糟)—both produced in the early stages of the process.They are high in sugar and are currently used for things like fertiliser and cattle feed.Napier University's Biofuel Research Centre (BfRC) has already shown that the right bacteria can feed on those by－products to produce butanol－a direct replacement for vehicle fuel.Now the spin－out company, Celtic Renewables, and independent whisky producer Tullibardine have signed an agreement.Together they will apply the process to thousands of tons of the distillery's leftovers.

Professor Martin Tangney, founder of Celtic Renewables, said Our partnership with Tullibardine is an important step in the development of a business which combines two important Scottish industries—whisky and renewables.This project shows that creative use of existing technologies can utilize resources on our doorstep to benefit both the environment and the economy.

Douglas Ross,   managing director of Tullibardine,   which spends ￡250,000 disposing of its by－products every year, said “We are delighted to be partnering Celtic Renewables in this creative business, the obvious benefits of which are environmental.It takes a cost to us and turns it into something that has social as well as commercial value.”

The project is being supported by a grant(拨款) from the Scottish   government's   Zero   Waste   Scotland   initiative. Celtic Renewables said it eventually aimed to build a processing plant in Scotland, with the hope of building an industry that could be worth ￡60m a year.

1. According to the passage, ____ will be used to take the place of petrol.

A．whisky	B．whisky leftovers
C．butanol	D．draff and pot ales

2. How do people deal with whisky leftovers at present？

A．They throw them away.

B．They use them to feed people.

C．They use them to feed bacteria.

D．They use them for crops or cattle.

3. What does the underlined word “utilize” in the fourth paragraph probably mean？

A．Make use of.	B．Get rid of.
C．Use up.	D．Find out.

4. Which of the following categories does this passage belong to？
a．Health 　 b．Science 　   c．Food　d．Nature   　e．Environment　 f．Business

A．b，c，e	B．b，e，f
C．a，b，f	D．a，b，c

【推荐2】Sometimes two very different individuals become the best friends. For example, who could have thought that a spider (蜘蛛) would become friends with a pig? But in American writer E. B. White’s novel Charlotte’s Web, this is exactly what happens.

Wilbur the pig grows up in a barn (牲口棚) and makes many friends, including a spider called Charlotte. One day a sheep tells Wilbur that he will finally be served up as dinner. But Charlotte decides to save her friend. To help Wilbur, Charlotte writes words like “terrific” “radiant (喜悦的)” and “humble (谦逊的)” on her web to praise Wilbur. This makes the farmer believe that he is too important to kill. Wilbur is saved, but Charlotte is so tired that she dies.

The book was first published in 1952. In over 60 years Charlotte has become one of the most famous spiders of all time. She teaches us about love and promise. “She is very, very loving under that ugly look,” said Peter F. Neumeyer, writer of The Annotated Charlotte’s Web.

The book’s success drew the attention of Hollywood film-makers. However, they wanted a happy ending. White was strongly against this idea and as a result the film, like the book, ends with Charlotte’s death.

Jen Doll, a reporter of The Atlantic, believes that “death is part of life”. She says this is one of the main messages of the book.

As Charlotte tells Wilbur, “You have been my friend. That in itself is a wonderful thing. I wove (织) my webs for you because I like you. After all, what’s a life, anyway? We’re born, we live a little while and then we die. A spider’s life can’t help being something of a mess, with all this trapping and eating flies. By helping you, perhaps I was trying to lift up my life a little. God knows anyone’s life can stand a little of that.”

1. Which of the following about the story is TRUE?

A．It’s a good example of how different creatures live in peace.

B．Though ugly, Charlotte is loving and helpful.

C．It encourages children to love their family and friends.

D．The farmer kills Wilbur as dinner.

2. Hollywood film-makers and White didn’t agree on _______.

A．the fate of Wilbur.

B．how to close story.

C．who was to play Charlotte.

D．the way Charlotte makes friends with Wilbur.

3. In the last paragraph, Charlotte’s main message is that _______.

A．life is like a web

B．friendship is more important than life

C．life could be boring and troublesome

D．dying for a good cause is worthwhile

【推荐3】Dinner customs (风俗) are different around the world. If you are a dinner guest (客人) in Ghana(非洲的加纳), this information will help you.
In Ghana, dinner is usually from four in the afternoon to six in the evening. But there are no strict rules about time in Ghana. Whenever a guest arrives, a family offers food.
When you go to a home, the host takes you to the living room first. At this time everyone welcomes you. Then you go to the dinner room. There you wash your hands in a bowl of water. All the food is on the table.
In Ghana you usually eat with your fingers. You eat from the same dish as everyone else. But you eat from one side of the dish only. It is not polite to get food from the other side of the dish. After dinner, you wash your hands again in a bowl of water.
Most meals in Ghana have a dish called fufu. People in Ghana make fufu from the powder（粉末） of some plants. Sometimes they cut the fufu with a saw（锯） because it is very hard and like rubber（橡胶）. You must chew fufu well, or you can get sick. You eat fufu with fingers of your right hand only.
1. If you are a dinner guest to a family in Ghana, you’re first ________.

A．told to wash your hands

B．taken to the dinning-room

C．told some strict rules about dinner

D．taken to the living-room

2. In the fourth paragraph, the writer wants to tell us ________

A．what to eat in Ghana

B．how much time to spend on a dinner.

C．the way of eating

D．different food at a dinner

3. The word “chew” in the last paragraph means ________

A．smell	B．taste
C．presses with your hands	D．crush with your teeth

4. In Ghana, ________

A．dinner is always at six

B．rules for dinner time are not strict

C．a family offers food only at four

D．you don’t have to wash your hands again after dinner.

【推荐1】Kitchen Products That Will Make Your Life Easier

Food Chopper (切碎机) with Storage Container

Using a food chopper to save time and effort when preparing dinners is always a smart idea. But using a food chopper that doubles as a storage container is more convenient. This one is made of BPA-free plastics and comes with three interchangeable blades (刀片) so you can chop your vegetables in various sizes.

Available on Amazon, $18.99

Mixing Bowl Set with No-skid (防滑的) Bottoms and Pour Spouts

This clever set of mixing bowls solves a few problems we didn’t realize we had. For one thing, it has no-skid bottoms, so you can more easily have control over the bowl while using a hand mixer or other tools. And for another, the specially designed part makes it easy to pour liquid from the bowl into a pan or baking dish with hardly any effort. Plus, they’re pretty cute.

Available on Amazon, $21.97

Rubbermaid Fresh Works Produce Saver

Do you feel like you’re constantly throwing away fresh vegetables you just bought? Rubbermaid’s Fresh Works containers come in a variety of sizes, and are made to help food and vegetables remain fresh for as long as possible — saving your time and money in the long run.

Available on Amazon, $6.99

Heat-Resistant Gloves

These aren’t your grandma’s potholders. These heat-resistant gloves are made with high-quality silicone, making them effective against high temperatures and non-slip. They’re also multi-purpose, since you can use them inside when removing plates from the oven or outside while barbecuing.

Available on Amazon, $14.99

1. What can we know about the Food Chopper?

A．It protects people from getting burnt.	B．It is used to contain liquid.
C．It is made of BPA plastics.	D．It has two main functions.

2. What is the advantage of the Mixing Bowl Set?

A．It is convenient to clean.	B．It keeps steady when used.
C．It helps you save a lot of money.	D．It saves you time for cooking.

3. How much should you pay for the product used to keep food fresh?

A．$18.99.

B．$21.97.

C．$6.99.

D．$14.99.

【推荐3】Beloit Summer Language

If you’re serious about learning a language, come to one of the nation’s finest language summer camp programs, the Center for Language Studies (CLS) at beautiful Beloit College in Wisconsin. CLS is a four-or eight-week language program in Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, or Russian that is open to high school students and people who are studying or working at college.

Phone: 608-363-2500

Email: admiss@beloit.edu

Website: https://www.beloit.edu

Georgetown University: Summer Medical Program

If you’re a teen thinking about learning medicine in college, explore the medical summer camp program offered at Georgetown University. In this 20-day course, you will get a brief idea of the first-year medical school curriculum. The course includes lectures, laboratory work and fieldwork.

Phone: 202-687-7087

Email: highschool@georgetown.edu

Website: http://scs.georgetown.edu

Bard College at Simon’s Rock Young Writers Workshop

In the summer of 1983, Bard College at Simon’s Rock began offering a three-week writing workshop for high school students. Each year 84 academically motivated students are chosen to participate in the Simon’s Rock program. Former participants have gone on to such colleges as Bard, Harvard, Princeton, Yale and so on.

Phone: 413-528-7231

Email: jamieh@simons-rock.edu

Website: https://simons-rock.edu

Art: Summer at Penn

Each summer, the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Design offers an unparalleled four-week summer art program for artistically gifted high school students. This pre-college art program in Philadelphia prepares you for the college admissions process as you experience university life. Courses are held within the School of Design’s fine art studios and you can develop your technical skills and expand your styles of creative expression.

Phone: 610-265-9401

Email: imagine@jkcp.com

Website: http://www.jkcp.com

1. Which program accepts college students?

A．Bard College at Simon’s Rock Young Writers Workshop

B．Georgetown University: Summer Medical Program

C．Beloit Summer Language

D．Art: Summer at Penn

2. If you want to improve your writing skill, you can send an email to_________.

A．admiss@beloit.edu	B．imagine@jkcp.com
C．jamieh@simons-rock.edu	D．highschool@georgetown.edu

3. How can you learn more information about the art program?

A．By visiting http://scs.georgetown.edu	B．By visiting https://simons-rock.edu
C．By visiting https://www.beloit.edu	D．By visiting http://www.jkcp.com

【推荐1】Several large companies have begun creating paper bottles to take the place of glass and plastic ones. Paper bottles aren’t quite ready to go yet, but you may see them appearing on shelves over the next few years.

Customers have become more worried about the environment, so many companies have begun working to develop paper bottles. Paper bottles have many benefits. Perhaps the most important is that they can be easily recycled. Paper bottles also weigh less than glass or plastic ones, meaning they’ll require less energy to produce and to move around. Since paper is soft and easy to be shaped, companies can design their bottles to take almost any shape they choose.

A company called Paboco has been working with many large companies to develop paper bottles. The companies are creating their own bottle designs, but they’re sharing what they learn to speed up the development of paper bottle technology.

Clearly, one of the biggest challenges is keeping a paper bottle from leaking (漏). Many companies are lining (做内衬) their bottles with a thin sheet of plastic. Though bottle makers may say they can be removed, many recycling programs don’t have the right machines to handle them.

A company named Diageo has just announced the first paper bottle that is completely plastic-free. Instead of a plastic liner, a non-plastic coating will be used on the inside of the bottles. This should make the bottle fully recyclable. But even without the plastic, paper bottles aren’t perfect, which means more trees need to be cut down to make the bottles.

There’s still lots of testing to be done before paper bottles can replace glass or plastic ones. But with so many companies working toward the same goal, it’s likely that we can expect to see paper bottles on store shelves in the near future.

1. What is the greatest advantage of paper bottles according to the passage?

A．They are lighter than plastic or glass ones.

B．They are soft and can be easily shaped.

C．They can be moved around with less energy.

D．They are easy to recycle and environmentally friendly.

2. What is Paboco doing to improve the development of paper bottle technology?

A．It’s cooperating with some other large companies.

B．It’s creating its own bottle designs.

C．It’s studying how to prevent paper bottles from leaking alone.

D．It’s trying to keep its technology secret from others.

3. What does the underlined word “they” in Paragraph 4 refer to?

A．Many companies.	B．The paper bottles.
C．The thin sheets of plastic.	D．Bottle makers.

4. What can we infer from the last two paragraphs?

A．A non-plastic coating is the best solution to the problem of pollution.

B．Paper bottles still need to be improved before appearing in stores.

C．Paper bottles have taken the place of glass or plastic ones so far.

D．Many companies are working toward the same goal.

【推荐2】When Josephine Cooper was growing up，she learned the importance of charity from her parents．Although they made a modest living for their family of 10，they insisted on sharing with those less fortunate．
Half a century later，Mrs Cooper became a beloved volunteer at the San Diego Food Bank，where she devoted herself to helping others．She organized and ran a distribution center from a church，helping it become the organization’s largest emergency food distribution center in San Diego．She was one of 25 outstanding senior volunteers in the nation selected and invited to Washington D．C．to receive the award．
“She was the main person who helped us make that program grow,” said Mike Doody，former director of the Food Bank．“She had a way of getting people to work together and to work hard．She was determined and stubborn，but in a good way．She had a good heart．” People knew her as “Grandma” because of her selflessness and her devotion to helping hungry children and families．“She reminded people of their Grandma．” Doody said．
As a widow with a young child in 1979，Mrs．Cooper was helped through a difficult financial time when the Food Bank provided her with groceries．“She dedicated her life to giving back,” said her daughter，Monica Cooper．It wasn’t unusual for a local church to call Mrs Cooper to ask her to aid a needy family．“She would give people food out of her cupboard．Sometimes we would cook a meal for a family living out of their car,” Cooper said．
Although Mrs Cooper was honored to receive the national award for her volunteer work，she said being able to help others was her reward．She died of liver disease and kidney failure，aged 93．
1. The underlined word “charity” in Paragraph 1 refers to        ．

A．offering help	B．donating money
C．providing services	D．showing sympathy

2. Which of the following is true of Mrs Cooper?

A．She died at an early age．

B．She refused the national award．

C．She was kind and devoted．

D．She was not easy to get along with．

3. Mrs Cooper’s story suggests that        ．

A．everyone needs a Grandma nearby

B．children are what their parents are

C．a sound mind is in a sound body

D．a mother’s love never changes

【推荐3】LONDON — A British judge on Thursday sentenced a businessman who sold fake bomb detectors (探测器) to 10 years in prison, saying the man hadn’t cared about potentially deadly consequences.

It is believed that James McCormick got about $ 77.8 million from the sales of his detectors — which were based on a kind of golf ball finder — to countries including Iraq, Belgium and Saudi Arabia. McCormick, 57, was convicted of cheats last month and sentenced Thursday at the Old Bailey court in London.

“Your cheating conduct in selling a great amount of useless equipment simply for huge profit promoted a false sense of security and in all probability materially contributed to causing death and injury to innocent people,” Judge Richard Hone told McCormick. “You have neither regret, nor shame, nor any sense of guilt.”

The detectors, sold for up to $ 42, 000 each, were said to be able to find such dangerous objects as bombs under water and from the air. But in fact they “lacked any grounding in science” and were of no use.

McCormick had told the court that he sold his detectors to the police in Kenya, the prison service in Hong Kong, the army in Egypt and the border control in Thailand.

“I never had any bad results from customers,” he said.

1. Why was McCormick sentenced to prison?

A．He sold bombs.

B．He caused death of people.

C．He made detectors.

D．He cheated in business.

2. According to the judge, what McCormick had done .

A．increased the cost of safeguarding

B．lowered people’s guard against danger

C．changed people’s idea of social security

D．caused innocent people to commit crimes

3. Which of the following is true of the detectors?

A．They have not been sold to Africa

B．They have caused many serious problems.

C．They can find dangerous objects in water.

D．They don’t function on the basis of science.

4. It can be inferred from the passage that McCormick         .

A．sold the equipment at a low price

B．was well-known in most countries

C．did not think he had committed the crime

D．had not got such huge profit as mentioned in the text

【推荐1】Sometimes people add to what they say even when they don't talk. Gestures are the “silent language” of every culture. We point a finger or move another part of the body to show what we want to say. It is important to know the body language of every country or we may be misunderstood.

In the United States, people greet each other with a handshake in a formal introduction. The handshake must be firm. If the handshake is weak, it is a sign of weakness or unfriendliness. Friends may place a hand on the other's arm or shoulder, some people, usually women, greet a friend with a hug.

Space is important to Americans. When two people talk to each other, they usually stand about two and a half feet away and at an angle, so they are not facing each other directly. Americans get uncomfortable when a person stands too close. They will move back to have their space. If Americans touch another person by accident, they say, “Pardon me.” or “Excuse me.” Americans like to look at the other person in the eyes when they are talking. If you don't do so, it means you are bored, hiding something, or are not interested. But when you stare at someone, it is not polite.

For Americans, thumbs-up; means yes, very good, or well done. Thumbs-down means the opposite. To call a waiter, raise one hand to head level or above. To show you want the check, make a movement with your hands as if you are singing a piece of paper. It is all right to point at things but not at people with the hand and index finger. Americans shake their index finger at children when they scold them and pat them on the head when they admire them.

Learning a culture's body language is sometimes confusing. If you don't know what to do, the safest thing to do is to smile.

1. If you are introduced to a stranger in the USA, you should _________.

A．greet him with a hug	B．place a hand on his shoulder
C．shake his hand firmly	D．shake his hand weakly

2. Which behavior is acceptable when people talk to each other in the USA?

A．Facing each other directly.	B．Touching each other.
C．Not looking at the other person in the eyes.	D．Not standing too close.

3. When your American friend gives you the thumbs-up, he, in fact,_________.

A．shows his rudeness to you	B．shows his anger to you
C．expresses his satisfaction to you	D．expresses his worries about you

【推荐2】Using technology in the classroom can produce unbelievable results. But for note-taking, it may pay to keep it old-school and stick with pen and paper. Students who take notes by hand appear to process information more deeply than those who take notes on a laptop or an iPad and other technological appliances, according to a study published this year.

Using the new fashionable method generally produces more raw notes. But students using laptops tend to do worse than note-takers by hand when answering conceptual questions about the material.

Researchers from Princeton and UCLA conducted several experiments with college students watching some video lectures. In one experiment, note-takers by hand wrote down fewer words than those typing on laptops. But the two groups performed about the same when answering factual questions about the lecture material, and students who wrote longhand did much better than laptop note-takers on conceptual questions .

What gives? Students using laptops tended to write what they heard word by word rather than processing the information; that resulted in a sort of “shallower” learning, the researchers say.

In a second experiment, students taking notes on laptops were told not to write down what they heard word by word. It didn't help in spite of the instructions. They still took notes word by word and they still did worse on conceptual questions than those taking notes by hand.

In a third experiment, students were able to briefly study their notes before answering questions asked a week after the lecture. Those reviewing their longhand notes did far better than students reviewing their typed notes.

A student named Jerry from the experiment said, “The study is right, and we have to think about what was said to take the notes because I could not write down every word. I even developed complex letter symbols to help. To study for tests, I went over and underlined key points to reinforce them. The process helped me understand the lectures better.”

1. What does the underlined part in Paragraph 1 probably mean？___

A．It is necessary to take notes on a laptop or an iPad.

B．It is not worthwhile to take notes with pen and paper.

C．It needs much money to go to schools with a long history.

D．It may bring good results to use the traditional note-taking style.

2. What do the results have in common in the three experiments?

A．The students using laptops don’t understand the instructions.

B．The students using longhand write down all that they hear.

C．The students using laptops learn worse than those by hand.

D．The students using longhand don't process the information.

3. What can we infer from the last paragraph?

A．Jerry is good at inventing letter symbols.	B．It's very hard for Jerry to write down notes.
C．Notes guarantee good performance in tests.	D．Jerry approves of the study and its result.

4. Where is the text probably taken from?

A．An education column.	B．A health magazine.
C．A travel guide.	D．A biology textbook.

【推荐3】When I went off to college in the fall of 1991, I was an 18-year-old man whose favorite letters were the ones on the sports sweater. Four years later, I was crazy about the letters of the poet Keats, but one author’s penned letters stood out above the rest. You see, my father wrote me one letter per week from the time I left home.

In an age before email, these letters seemed too ordinary. But they arrived. Each week. One after another. Again and again. In snowstorms. On holidays. From foreign countries. They detailed what Dad referred to as “the week that was”—a day-by-day description of my father’s life.

In 1995, I graduated from college, like many 22-year olds, with plenty of uncertainty. Some of my questions were pretty typical: What was I going to do? Where was I going to live? When was I going to apply for graduate school? But one question was more vital than any other thing. What would happen to the weekly letters? Would they continue? To my surprise, the letters kept coming, more heartfelt and emotional than before and always on time. I mean the guy never missed.

As much as I enjoyed my father’s weekly letters, I didn’t fully appreciate them all those years when they arrived like clockwork. And I never fully understood why my dad would always ask if I’d received the letter when we spoke.

But now, as I pen my first official letters to my own sons Jackson and Cassius, it all seems clear. Although our boys have yet to leave for college, I have to accept that day will soon come. Just the idea of their leaving from our home makes me ache with sadness only a parent can know.

I am writing about “the week that was” with my daily details. With a box of over 500 of Dad’s letters nearby and his pen in hand, I write a letter, fighting back the tears I make it to the end and sign it just as he did. All my love, Dad.

1. What were the letters from the author’s father mainly about?

A．Daily details.	B．Keats’ poems.
C．College and family.	D．Weather and holidays.

2. What does the underlined word “vital” in paragraph 3 refer to?

A．Professional.

B．Interesting.

C．Difficult.

D．Important.

3. What leads the author to fully understand his father’s letters?

A．Entering college.	B．Writing to his own sons.
C．Graduating from college.	D．Sending his sons to college.

4. Which of the following can be the best title for the text?

A．What We Can Learn from Graduate School

B．How I Communicated with My Sons by Letter

C．How I Came to Appreciate My Father’s Letters

D．What We Know About Kids After Being Parents