【推荐1】Tea drinking was common in China for nearly one thousand years before anyone in Europe had ever heard about it. People in Britain were much slower in finding out what tea was like, mainly because tea was very expensive. It could not be bought in shops and even those people who could afford to have it sent from Holland did so only because it was a fashionable curiosity. Some of them were not sure how to use it. They thought it was a vegetable and tried cooking the leaves. Then they served them mixed with butter and salt. They soon discovered their mistake but many people used to spread the used tea leaves on bread and give them to their children as sandwiches.

Tea remained scarce (稀少的) and very expensive in England until the ships of the East India Company began to bring it directly from China early in the 17th century. During the next few year so much tea came into the country that the price fell and many people could afford to buy it.

At the same time people on the Continent were becoming more and more fond of tea. Until then tea had been drunk without milk in it, but one day a famous French lady named Madame de Sevigne decided to see what tea tasted like when milk was added. She found it so pleasant that she would never again drink it without milk. She was such a great lady that her friends thought they must copy everything she did, so they also drank their tea with milk in it. Slowly this habit spread until it reached England and today only very few Britons drink tea without milk.

At first, tea was usually drunk after dinner in the evening. No one ever thought of drinking tea in the afternoon until a duchess (公爵夫人) found that a cup of tea and a piece of cake at three or four o'clock stopped her getting “a sinking feeling” as she called it. She invited her friends to have this new meal with her and so, teatime was born.

1. What do we know about the introduction of tea into Britain?

A．Tea reached Britain from Holland.

B．The Britons got expensive tea from India.

C．The Britons were the first people in Europe who drank tea.

D．It was not until the 17th century that the Britons had tea.

2. When did tea become a popular drink in Britain?

A．In the late 19th century.	B．In the 18th century.
C．In the 17th century.	D．In the 16th century.

3. The underlined words “this habit” in Paragraph 3 refers to ________.

A．drinking tea with milk in it	B．drinking tea without milk in it
C．drinking tea after dinner	D．drinking tea in the afternoon

4. What is the main idea of the last paragraph?

A．The history of tea.	B．The ways of making tea.
C．The birth of teatime.	D．The habit of drinking tea.

【推荐2】I am not good at fine dining. Even after a couple of formal meals in college, I still didn’t know how to balance a pile of peas on the back of my fork, which is obviously the European style.

Honestly, I think I am much more used to the simple language of chopsticks. Simple, however, by no means straightforward. To me, the humble (微不足道的) art of chopsticks carries more than any silver knives or forks ever could.

My grandfather’s language of love is teaching. I still remember how my grandfather teaches me to use chopsticks the proper way.”Only your first two fingers should be moving,” he tells me, “and your two chopsticks must never cross.” He can use chopsticks skillfully. He shows me chopstick tricks and we play games with chopsticks, like trying to take a pea from the other’s chopsticks grip. With a pair of chopsticks and his powerful hand, there is no need for any other cutlery when even noodles can be cut clean with a pair of chopsticks.

My grandmother’s language of love is food. In her hand, wooden chopsticks are no longer just cutlery, but a tool to show her concern.“Come, eat more,” she always says while using chopsticks to pick up food for me. When my grandfather comes home from a long day’s work, despite all the nagging that she gives to him, my grandmother always happily places the best part of their food onto his plate with chopsticks, and takes the rest for herself. There is no need for any words, when the love can be expressed with a pair of chopsticks.

Using chopsticks takes practice, patience and tenacity. After more than fifty years of marriage, my grandparents are still studying it and practicing it, with every meal and every mouthful. Mastering the loving language of chopsticks takes even more work, perhaps nobody can ever really be an expert-but isn’t that the beauty of it? Though our chopsticks may cross from time and we might drop the food on the table, we can always pick it up and try again.

1. What does the author think of chopsticks according to the first two paragraphs?

A．They are no different from forks.

B．They cannot be used for fine dining.

C．They are straightforward.

D．They are easier to use than knives and forks.

2. The underlined word “tenacity” in paragraph 5 probably means“_______”.

A．Courage

B．faith

C．perseverance

D．optimism

3. What could be the best structure of the passage?

A．	B．
C．	D．

4. What does the author mainly want to tell us?

A．The usage of chopsticks.	B．The development of chopsticks.
C．The meaning carried by chopsticks.	D．The art of chopsticks.

【推荐3】In the famous fairy tale, Snow White eats the Queen's apple and falls victim to a curse(诅咒);in Shakespeare's novel, Romeo drinks the poison and dies; some ancient Chinese emperors took pellets(药丸)that contained mercury(水银), believing that it would make them immortal, but they died afterward.

Poison(毒药) has long been an important ingredient in literature and history, and it seems to always be associated with evil, danger and death. But how much do you really know about poison?

An exhibition, The Power of Poison, opened last month at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, intended to give the audience a more vivid understanding of poison.

The museum tour starts in a rainforest setting, where you can see live examples of some of the most poisonous animals: caterpillars(毛毛虫), frogs and spiders. Golden poison frogs, for instance, aren't much bigger than a coin, but their skin is covered with a poison that can cut off the signaling power of your nerves, and a single frog has enough venom to kill 10 grown humans.

"Poisons can be bad for some things," Michael Novacek, senior vice president of the museum, told NBC News. "Yet they can also be good for others."

A poisonous chemical found in the yew tree is effective against cancer, which is what led to the invention of a cancer-fighting drug called Taxol.

The benefits from natural poisons are not limited to just medicine. Believe it or not, many substances(物质)that we regularly ingest(摄入)-chili, coffee and chocolate-owe their special flavors or stimulating(提神的)effects to chemicals that plants make to poison insects.

1. What does the underlined word "immortal" in Paragraph 1 mean?

A．happy	B．not moral
C．living forever	D．sick

2. What is the main purpose of the exhibition The Power of Poison?

A．To give people more in-depth knowledge about poison.

B．To teach people how to handle poisonous animals.

C．To inform people about which animals are the most poisonous.

D．To show how poison has been used for medical treatment.

3. Which of the following statements about the Golden poison frog is TRUE according to the article?

A．Its skin can cut off the signaling power of your nerves.

B．It's about the size of a coin.

C．It's the most poisonous animal on display.

D．You can only see it in a rainforest setting of the museum.

4. The stimulating effects of coffee come from ________.

A．natural poison made by the plant	B．the substances that we regularly ingest
C．chemicals produced by poisonous insects	D．its special flavor

【推荐1】Christmas at the mountain cline would have to wait. The banks beside Mary Breckinridge’s Wendover, Kentucky, clinic were ruined after a heavy rain. She had to find a way to get her five patients to the hospital in Lexington.

With a neighbor’s help, Mary and the nurses built a boat. They named it Ambulance, and on the morning of December 30,1926. Mary another nurse, and the patients set off down the river. After sixteen wild miles on the dangerous river, they arrived at the train station in Krypton. As she watched the train pull away with her patients safely on board. Mary smiled and waved.

Mary had not planned to be a nurse. She was the daughter of a wealthy Kentucky politician. As a child, Mary was influenced by her family who had always been concerned about the poorer people of the state. When she grew up, Mary was inspired to become a nurse. So in 1925 Mary hired a few British-trained nurses and, with some money from her family, started the Frontier Nursing Service in Wendover, Kentucky.

Before Mary and her nurses came, the mountain people lived a hard life. Families made so little money that they could not afford doctors or medicine. Many children had diseases and nearly every person was malnourished for lack of food.

Mary and the nurses built clinics and a small hospital deep in the forests of Leslie County. There were no paved roads, electricity, or telephones. Each day the nurses rode on horseback to outlying farms, often in bad wenther, to answer calls for help. They worked hard to keep an eye on their patients.

To the grateful mountain people, Mary and the nurses seemed to be everywhere. They treated everything from cut fingers to pneumonia (肺炎), gave shots, and delivered babies. The proud countrymen liked the nurses because they treated everyone with respect.

The Frontier Nursing Service grew. Today their Nursing Service reaches far beyond the Kentucky mountains. Medical professionals from all over the world come to Wendover to study rural health care in action. When these men and women go back to their own countries, they are prepared to help people in need.

1. How did Mary Breckinridge get her five patients to Krypton?

A．By train	B．By car
C．By water	D．On horseback

2. The underlined word “malnourished” in Paragraph 4 most probably means     .

A．mysterious	B．lacking nutrition
C．careless	D．in danger of dying

3. We can learn from the text that Mary Breckinridge     .

A．remains a great influence on health care today

B．wanted to set up more clinics to help the sick

C．wiped out diseases in the Kentucky mountains

D．trained all of her assistants herself

4. What is the main idea of the text?

A．Mary and her family were always helpful to others

B．The Frontier Nursing Service set up many branches

C．Rural nurses found creative ways to transport supplies and patients

D．Mary and other nurses provided kind medical care to rural people

【推荐3】Cyndi Decker, a schoolteacher in Florida, had recently taken an art class and made a painting of a huge white bird called an egret (白鹭). Her proud son posted a photograph of Decker on Reddit, shyly holding her painting. Below it he wrote, “My mom painted this and said no one would like it.“

Then Kristoffer Zetterstrand, an artist in Sweden, saw the photo, deciding to pay respect to the teacher by painting Decker holding her painting. He even captured the shy look on her face. Zetterstrand photographed himself holding his painting of Decker holding her painting. He posted the image on Reddit. The caption for his photograph is “I painted somebody’s mom.” Two days later, Amer, a student in Canada, painted a picture of Zetterstrand holding his painting of Decker holding her painting. Her caption read, “I painted the guy who painted the other guy’s mom.” The artist Vince Law was the next to join in. The caption for his photo of his painting is “I painted the girl who painted the guy who painted the other guy’s mom who painted an egret.” Artist Travis Simpson continued the fun.

And it happened again and again and again!

By this time, more than one million people had seen the paintings and pictures of paintings on a number of social media websites. Many artists around the world jumped into the process, many at the same time.

“I was in fear I was going to read a lot of hateful comments. You all have proven me so wrong. I’m assuming most of you could be my kids, and you all get an unjust accusation in this world. You all are caring and a ton of fun! Thanks for uplifting me! You all have inspired me instead,” she wrote on Reddit.

1. How did people join in the painting?

A．By painting the same bird.

B．By means of sharing painting process.

C．By organizing voluntary painters on the Internet.

D．By painting the photo posted by the previous painter.

2. Which of the following best describes these participants?

A．Considerate and entertaining.	B．Ambitious and patient.
C．Demanding and stubborn.	D．Caring and funny.

3. What can be learned from Decker’s words?

A．She was afraid of her painting skill.

B．Most of kids like non-photorealistic art form.

C．There exists language violence on the Internet.

D．She was instructed by the professionals.

4. Which of the following is the best title for the text?

A．The Social Media Changed a Woman Art-lover.

B．One Painting Started a Worldwide Painting Party.

C．How the Painters Reacted to a Kid’s Hope.

D．How a Woman Won the Respect of People.

【推荐1】Fashion always influences people. Isabella Springmuhl Tejada from Guatemala, one of the first professional fashion designers with Down syndrome (唐氏综合征), is proving that fashion goes beyond normal limits.

Tejada who discovered her hobby in childhood said, “I think that fashion design is in my blood.” After all, her grandmother had a studio where she produced Guatemalan-style clothing.And, when she was young, Tejada’s mother gave her fashion magazines to read. Tejada spent hours of her childhood reading the magazines and designing paper dresses for her dolls. By the time she reached high school, Tejada had decided to enter the world.

After being refused by several fashion schools because of her Down syndrome, Tejada found her own path. She signed up for a clothing-making course, where she began to make clothing for “worry dolls”, finger-sized traditional Guatemalan dolls. And she created life-sized dolls and dressed them in the colorful clothes that she’s now famous for. This design experience greatly helped Tejada. She fell in love with traditional Guatemalan patterns and colors. She explained, “I’m lucky to work with traditional cloth, inspired by our culture and representing our country.”

Tejada also pioneered fashion design for people with Down syndrome. She said, “It is difficult for people like me to find suitable clothes. We can be shorter or weaker. That’s why I decided to design clothes that would be perfect for people with Down syndrome.”

Tejada has created her brand, Down to Xjabelle. The new brand took off right away. It made it all the way to London Fashion Week. And the great designer has plans for the future as well. Tejada said, “I want people all over the world to know my designs and to know that people with Down syndrome can do what they set out to do. I want to be able to live on my own.”

1. What awakened Tejada’s love for fashion design?

A．Her family’s strong influence.	B．Her visit to a design school.
C．Her efforts to fight her disease.	D．Her work experience in a famous company.

2. What effect did designing clothes for dolls have on Tejada?

A．It proved her ability to run a business.

B．It increased her interest in traditional design styles.

C．It strengthened her wish to travel around the world.

D．It inspired her to learn about different cultures.

3. What does Tejada want to convey through her words in the last paragraph?

A．Her illness has been successfully cured.

B．She won’t let her disability limit her.

C．Her brand is facing serious competition.

D．She can’t please normal customers with her design ideas.

4. What may be the best title for the text?

A．Learn the Value of Traditional Culture	B．Fashion is Closely Connected with Daily Life
C．A Special Designer Turns Her Dream into Reality	D．Develop a Hobby from an Early Age

【推荐2】Zea Tongeman, a 14-year-old student, who is crazy about the Internet, applied technology to create an application that encourages people to recycle while having fun.

Zea was really inspired when she attended “Little Miss Geek Day”, an event that is aimed at making technology more accessible and appealing to young women and inspiring them to consider technology careers. Soon after, she entered “Apps for Good”, a competition that encourages students to create positive changes through technology. Teaming up with her friend, Jordan Stirbu, she laid the foundations for “Jazzy Recycling”.

The “Jazzy Recycling” application is designed to encourage young people to recycle more, which wins the favor of the youth and turns waste disposal (处理) into a game and helps you find places to recycle. Then you scan what you need to recycle, share it, and get rewards such as shopping vouchers (代金券) and games to be unlocked for what you have recycled.

Making use of the teen enthusiasm for sharing every little aspect of their daily life on social media like Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, recycling efforts can be shared too as a fun game among friends, which makes more people take part in recycling activities.

Zea explains why she is addicted to the Internet and how technology has changed her, “used to think technology was just fixing computers and using smartphones; I have become very tired from just using what is available. I have discovered another side to it — I can make technology of my own.”

In fact, Zea Tongeman has taken the idea of recycling seriously and hopes all her fellow beings would give it a serious thought. This teen girl from the United Kingdom has made use of computer programming to create her own app that would encourage people to go recycling for a better world.

1. What is “Little Miss Geek Day” intended to do?

A．To introduce some young women.

B．To inspire people to go recycling

C．To encourage students to create more careers.

D．To get girls interested and involved in technology.

2. How does “Jazzy Recycling” appeal to the young?

A．It combines recycling with fun.	B．It offers money to those who recycle.
C．It raises their awareness of waste disposal.	D．It provides varieties of convenient services.

3. Which of the following best describes Zea Tongeman?

A．modest

B．creative

C．generous

D．considerate.

4. What can we learn from Tongeman’s story?

A．Teenagers have a talent for creating apps.

B．Technology plays a significant role in education.

C．Competitions inspire teenagers to achieve success.

D．Youngsters can make a difference in their own ways.

【推荐3】It’s a common belief that the roles actors play might somehow reflect their true personalities. It’s usually not true, but British actress Phoebe Waller-Bridge, 34, is an exception.

In September,2019 Waller-Bridge took home three Emmy awards for her work on Fleabag–--- best writing in a comedy series, best lead actress, and best comedy series.

Her success is partly because of her family. Descended（遗传） from British nobility, Waller-Bridge was brought up in a free environment. Her mother always told her, “You can be whatever you want if you imagine it.” So Waller-Bridge broke all the rules about what a “good” girl should do. “Our laws and moral codes don’t apply – she lives ... without fear of consequence,” The Sun noted.

That fearlessness extends to being authentic（真实的） in her writing and acting. Unlike the can-do heroines and strong, successful women in many TV dramas, Waller-Bridge shows an imperfect but real character. Just like the character Fleabag, who always found a way to say or do the wrong thing, Waller-Bridge feels her life is a mess. “It resonated（共鸣） with the lives of stressed-out women everywhere in reality – doing their best to find balance in their lives,” a viewer wrote on US movie website IMDb. Variety magazine even calls her an “all-around icon”.

Villanelle in Killing Eve, another hit TV series developed by Waller-Bridge, was a little bit violent but showed no interest for the rules others created, which made many people see themselves in her.

“People have been scared to write characters like these. But I think, now, women are so relieved to have this new template（样板，人设）. And, aren’t we all a bit of everything?”Waller-Bridge said in an interview with Indian Express.

With such courage and sincerity, Waller-Bridge is, without a doubt, a “golden girl” in Hollywood, Australian news website The New Daily commented.

1. What is Waller-Bridge good at ?

A．performing	B．writing reports
C．directing films	D．designing

2. From Paragraph 3 we can know ______________.

A．Waller-Bridge family results in her achievements.

B．Waller-Bridge’s mother gave her encouragement.

C．Waller-Bridge grew up in a rich home.

D．Waller-Bridge is a bad girl in nature.

3. Who definitely interviewed Waller-Bridge according to the passage?

A．The Sun	B．Variety magazine
C．Indian Express	D．The New Daily

4. Which is the most impressive characteristic of Waller-Bridge according to the media?

A．Being brave	B．Being talented
C．Being hardworking	D．Staying true