【推荐1】When I was eleven, my parents gave me the first book I ever owned—The Tales of Edgar Allan Poe. I distinctly remember opening it, reading the first lines of “The Cast of Amontillado,” and remarking to myself. “So this is what reading is!” My delight was unbounded. Little did I know at the time that I was at the beginning of a lifting journey.

So, if I read my first real book at 11, what was I reading before then? In a word, readers: relatively plotless, repetitive if well-intentioned attempts to teach child to recognize letters and their sounds and to build their vocabularies. Being a dutiful boy, I went through the motions and I learned what words were. But I had no idea what writing was until Poe. In Poe’s stories, the sentences were more complex and stylish than anything I had ever read before.

Poe, in short, was a star. My parents gave me that first book, but then I went off on my own. I liked science, which led me to discover Jules Verne, the Father of scene fiction and H G. Wells, well known for his novel The Time Machine. Other writers followed quickly one after another: Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, Arthur C. Clarke. But I didn’t limit myself to science fiction. Other titles that deeply impressed me early on, and which I have carried on my life’s journey, include The Yearling, Shane, Ivanhoe, Of Mice and Men, To Kill a Mockingbird and The Good Earth.

It went on from there. I became that kid who, long after his parents told him to turn the lights off, hid under the covers with a flashlight and a book, his greatest fear of being discovered and having his lighting taken away. I realize that my parents must have known I was defying (违背) them. But in their wisdom they pretended to be ignorant of it. And so I owe my star as a reader to my parents.

1. What did the author feel about The Tates of Edgar Allan Poe?

A．Attractive and interesting.

B．Complex and dull.

C．Distinct but difficult.

D．Plotless but easy.

2. From paragraph 3 we Can learn that the author ________.

A．liked reading tales best

B．enjoyed reading science fiction most

C．took no interest in realistic novels

D．liked reading freely and widely

3. What did the authors parents react to his reading by flashlight?

A．Told him to turn off the flashlight.

B．Took away his book.

C．Made allowance for him.

D．Scolded him at once.

4. What is the best title for the text?

A．My Start as a Real Reader

B．The Tales of Edgar Allan Poe

C．When I Began to Like Reading Freely

D．Edgar Allan Poe Was My Favorite Star

【推荐1】Many parents set rules for their children’s online activity, such as limiting ( 限 制 ) the mount of time they can spend online. But some children in the US and UK are saying that theyd like to makerules for parents, too. Their main complaint? That their parent share too many photos them online.

In a 2016 study, it was found that parents in the US share an average of 116 photos of their kids after they are born. Most were taken before the child tumed 8 years old. Many of the photos showed kids in embarrassing situations, like having food all over their faces,Quartz reported.

Parents do like to share their childs progress as he or she grows up. But their kids don’t like it as much. In a survey of UK children between the ages of 12 and 16, 70 percent said they feltheir parents didn’ t respect their online privacy( 隐私),Accroding to Digital Pareting magazine.

In addition, many kids said that other students at school sometimes picks on (捉弄)them aftertheir parents post photos online, CBS News noted. In one case, a girl was bullied (欺负)by boys at school after they found her moms’s blogs,which had many family photos.

“ Each time a photo or video is uploaded, it creates a digital footprint of a child, which can follow them into adult       life , “ a spokeswoman for a leading children’s charity in the UK said. “ It’s always important to ask children for their permission (允许)beforeposting photos or videos of them.”

What is sharenting？

There’s a new word English to describe it when parents post pictures of their online –”shareting”, or a combination of the world “share” and “parenting”.

1. According to the first paragraph, what do kids in the US and UK complain about?

A．Their parents setting rules fortheir online activity.

B．Their parents limiting the amount of time they spend online.

C．Their parents posting too many photos of them online.

D．Their parents setting high expectations for their schoolwork.

2. According to the 2016 study, many US parents like to     .

A．share photos online after they get married

B．post photos of their kids in embarrassing situations

C．take more photos of their children after they are 8 ,

D．pick on their kids and make them feel embarrassed

3. About 70 percent of UK teenagers think their parents     .

A．care too much about their progress in school

B．forget to set good examples for them

C．don’t care enough about their online safety

D．don’t respect their online privacy

4. What do we know from the story?

A．Parents should ask kids for permission before sharing their photos.

B．UK kids don’t mind that their photos are shared by their parents

C．Sharing photos online helps kids live a better adult life.

D．Kids don’t get bullied at school when their photos are shared online.

5. You might see this article from the     column in the newspaper.

A．Nature Today	B．All about Space
C．Society and Culture	D．Philosophy for Life

【推荐3】Over the past years, experts have carried out much research to explore different ways to encourage children’s learning. Especially, there has been a common focus on how physical activity, separated from the learning activities, can improve children’s learning. However, there has been less of a focus aimed at the possibility of integrating (合并) physical activity into the learning activities.

Researchers from the University of Copenhagen did the Basketball Mathematics study at five Danish elementary schools, the main purpose of which is to develop a learning activity that integrates basketball and mathematics and examine how it might affect children’s motivation (动机) for mathematics. 756 children from 40 different classes participated in the project, where about half of them—once a week for six weeks—had Basketball Mathematics during gym class, while the other half played basketball without mathematics.

“During classes with Basketball Mathematics, the children had to collect numbers and perform calculations (计算) related to various basketball exercises. An example could be counting how many times they could shoot a goal from three meters away vs at a one­meter distance, and adding up the numbers. Both the math and basketball elements could be adapted to suit the children’s levels, as well as being changed for whether it was addition, division or some other operations that needed practicing,” explains Linn Damsgaard, a leading researcher.

The results indicated that children’s motivation for math integrated with basketball was 16% higher compared to classroom math learning. Children also experienced a 14% increase in self-determination compared with classroom teaching. At the same time Basketball Mathematics had their math confidence improved.

“We are planning to do extra research to examine whether the Basketball Mathematics model can strengthen performance in mathematics. Once we have the ultimate results, we hope that they will inspire school teachers and headmasters to give priority to more physical activity and movement in such subjects. Eventually, we hope to succeed in putting these tools into school system and daily education,” says Associate Professor Jacob Wienecke.

1. What is the purpose of paragraph 1?

A．To explain the reason for the study.	B．To present the advantage of the study.
C．To introduce a way to raise math grades.	D．To carry out a review of former research.

2. What can we learn about the study?

A．Kids were divided into 40 groups.

B．It adjusted activities for different kids.

C．It required kids to do math after playing basketball.

D．Not all kids played basketball.

3. What effect does basketball have on the participants?

A．More motivation for exercise.	B．Better performance and confidence in math.
C．A gain in desire to learn math.	D．A decline in determination to learn.

4. How does Jacob Wienecke expect the study to help educators?

A．Create more opportunities for physical exercise.

B．Inspire students’ math confidence.

C．Notice the benefits of physical exercise.

D．Build physical activity into teaching.

【推荐1】We spend hours, days and years of our lives in school. Imagine you could design your dream school, what would it be like? What would you be doing? We wanted to find out what teenagers around the world thought. Here is what they said:

Richard from the USA: My dream school would have a big swimming pool and two soccer fields. It would also have a cinema, a gym and a shopping centre. My school has none of these, and I think there should be more pleasant things for students to do while they are studying.

Sonia from Italy: I’d like a room where we can relax and play computer games. I’d also like to have a music room. I think there should be a place for everyone to go and relax after class.

Wu from Beijing: I think it would be great to have another day off every week, besides the weekend. If that day was a Friday or a Monday, we would have a long weekend every week. What fun! I also think school should start later, at about 10 o'clock, and finish earlier.

Hannah from Australia: In my dream school, I think the teachers should give us more freedom and choice about how we study and what we study. I also think it’s not necessary for us to wear school uniforms every day. I really don’t like wearing it.

1. Which country is NOT mentioned in the passage?

A．Italy

B．Japan

C．Australia

D．China

2. From the passage, we know that_________.

A．Sonia from Italy would like a room where she can relax and play computer games

B．Richard from the USA thinks his dream school should start at 10 o'clock

C．Hannah from Australia likes wearing a school uniform every day

D．Wu from Beijing thinks it would be great to have two more days off each week

3. Which is the best title for the passage?

A．Schools in the past	B．Schools today
C．Dream schools.	D．School lives

【推荐2】Tired of his staff always keeping checking emails and the sound of their smart phones, Paul Devoy decided to ban all phones, tablets and laptops from meetings. He says meetings have become much more productive.

It is true that the sound of the phones has a harmful effect on our ability to concentrate. One Standford University study shows that people who regularly deal with electronic alerts and messages do not pay attention or control their memory as well as those who concentrate on doing one thing at a time.

Mr Devoy introduced his ban on technology in meetings, but he says exceptions are made if important personal calls are expected.

''These things need to be reasonable, '' he says, adding he was surprised to find that his staff all accepted the ban and some were even enthusiastic about the ban.

Mr Devoy has gone a step further in his purge(清除)of technology. He has banned PowerPoint presentations from meetings, and finds that discussion now flows more freely.

Nena Chaletzos, leader and founder of online travel start-up Luxtripper, is also a supporter of tech-free meetings. She runs her company’s weekly meeting without phones or laptops. Instead, for the one-hour meeting, her team of eight are asked to bring along the A3 whiteboard they have each been given, on which they write meeting notes and action points. At the end of the meeting, everyone's actions for the week are agreed. The whiteboards are kept on show and tasks are erased as they are completed.

''I tell them to bring their ideas and brains to the meeting, not their technology, '' Ms Chaletzos says. Once the meeting went on for three hours, discussion is now so much more focused and productive that it can be kept to a strict 60 minutes, she says. At first, the staff worried about customers being unable to reach them, but Ms Chaletzos told them that all they needed was a warning. An unexpected result, she says, is that meetings are much more friendly and open.

Technology is still very much used at the start-up but only at the right time. For example, Ms Chaletzos' team use Slack, which has helped end the need for other meetings.

1. Why did Paul Devoy ban phones from meetings?

A．Because his staff wasted too much time on emails.

B．Because phones weakened his staff's ability to focus.

C．Because he doesn't like the sound of smart phones.

D．Because his staff are buried in their personal affairs.

2. A study from Stanford University is mentioned to ______.

A．introduce Nena Chaletzo's decision

B．prove the harm the sound of smart phones causes

C．show Paul Devoy's decision is right

D．give a similar story to the one mentioned above

3. If a person in Paul Devoy's company is allowed to answer personal calls during the meeting, ___.

A．the person must be Paul Devoy himself	B．other staff will ask for the same right
C．something important must happen	D．Paul Devoy will punish the person

4. After technology was banned from meetings, Paul Devoy's staff ______.

A．disagreed and stopped working	B．were happy to observe the ban
C．thought that he would fail	D．disappointed him a lot

【推荐3】Diet Coke, diet Pepsi, diet pills, no-fat diet, vegetable diet... We are surrounded by the word “diet” everywhere we look and listen. We have so easily been attracted by the promise and potential of diet products that we have stopped thinking about what diet products are doing to us. We are paying for products that harm us psychologically and physically.

Diet products significantly weaken us psychologically. On one level, we are not allowing our brains to admit that our weight problem lie not in actually losing the weight, but in controlling the consumption of fatty, high-calorie, unhealthy foods. Diet products allow us to jump over the thinking stage and go straight for the scale(秤) instead. All we have to do is to swallow or recognize the word “diet” in food labels.

On another level, diet products have greater psychological effects. Every time we have a zero-calorie drink, we are telling ourselves without our awareness that we don’t have to work to get results. Diet products make people believe that gain comes without pain, and that life can be without resistance and struggle.

The danger of diet products lies not only in the psychological effects they have on us, but also in the physical harm that they cause. Diet foods can indirectly harm our bodies because consuming them instead of healthy foods means we are preventing our bodies from having basic nutrients. Diet foods and diet pills contain zero calorie only because the diet industry has created chemicals to produce these wonder products. Diet products may not be nutritional, and the chemicals that go into diet products are potentially dangerous.

Now that we are aware of the effects that diet products have on us, it is time to seriously think about buying them. Losing weight lies in the power of minds, not in the power of chemicals. Once we realize this, we will be much better able to resist diet products, and therefore prevent the psychological and physical harm that comes from using them.

1. From Paragraph 1, we can learn that ________.

A．people are fed up with diet products

B．diet products are misleading people

C．diet products fail to bring out people’s potential

D．people have difficult in choosing diet products

2. In paragraph 3, “gain come without pain” probably means ________.

A．diet products bring to harm	B．diet products have not calorie
C．it costs little to stay healthy	D．losing weight is effortless

3. Diet products indirectly affect people physically because such products ________.

A．lack basic nutrients	B．are over-consumed
C．are short of chemicals	D．provide too much energy

【推荐1】I used to think that the most effective way to resist depression (抑郁) was to have my heart set on happiness. If you valued happiness instead of sorrow as your goal, I thought, one would not suffer from depression.

However, a study, carried out among students living in the UK, found those who said they valued happiness extremely highly tended to show greater signs of depression.

Vogt and colleagues presented 151 students, the majority of them female, with a series of online questionnaires, These examined attitudes from how much they valued happiness to how much their emotions affected them, how easy they found it to put aside emotions, and their levels of depression-related symptoms.

The results, published in the Journal of Happiness Studies, reveal that those who valued happiness more had higher scores for symptoms of depression. The reason is in part because individuals become distracted by their feelings and a lower ability to reframe thoughts or experiences. It is also in part because. of bottling up emotions. “Suppression is not considered a successful emotional regulation strategy because when you try not to think of something you think of it all the time," said Vogt.

While Vogt said the study cannot prove that valuing happiness too much causes symptoms of depression, she said it was highly possible. She also noted that in Russia and east Asian countries the opposite trend had been found.

However, the study has limitations - including that it mainly involved women and did not account for the health or socioeconomic status or participants, although all were young and at university.

1. What did the study find?

A．If you value happiness, you won't get upset.

B．The goal of happiness leads to depression.

C．Negative :emotions affects one's happiness.

D．Female college students are easier to become depressed.

2. What are the reasons causing depression in people according to the passage EXCEPT?

A．They are distracted by their feelings.	B．They fail to adjust their thought.
C．They welcome every kind of emotions.	D．They think about happiness all the time.

3. What does the underlined word “suppression” mean?

A．expression	B．hiding
C．value	D．happiness

4. What is the author's attitude towards the study?

A．objective	B．indifferent
C．supportive	D．critical

【推荐2】I know when the snow melts and the first robins (知更鸟) come to call, when the laughter of children returns to the parks and playgrounds, something wonderful is about to happen.

Spring cleaning.

I’ll admit spring cleaning is a difficult notion (概念) for modern families to grasp. Today’s busy families hardly have time to load the dishwasher, much less clean the doormat. Asking the family to spend the weekend collecting winter dog piles from the melting snow in the backyard is like announcing there will be no more Wi-Fi. It interrupts the natural order.

“Honey, what say we spend the weekend beating the rugs, sorting through the boxes in the basement and painting our bedroom a nice lemony yellow?” I say.

“Can we at least wait until the NBA matches are over?” my husband answers.

But I tell my family, spring cleaning can’t wait. The temperatures has risen just enough to melt snow but not enough for Little League practice to start. Some flowers are peeking out of the thawing ground, but there is no lawn to seed, nor garden to tend. Newly wakened from our winter’s hibernation (冬眠), yet still needing extra blankets at night, we open our windows to the first fresh air floating on the breeze and all of the natural world demanding “Awake and be clean!”.

Biologists offer a theory about this primal impulse to clean out every drawer and closet in the house at spring’s first light, which has to do with melatonin, the sleepytime hormone (激素) our bodies produce when it’s dark. When spring's light comes, the melatonin diminishes, and suddenly we are awakened to the dusty, virus-filled house we’ve been hibernating in for four months.

I tell my family about the science and psychology of a good healthy cleaning at spring’s arrival.

I speak to them about life’s greatest rewards waiting in the removal of soap scum from the bathtub, which hasn’t been properly cleaned since the first snowfall.

“I’ll do it,” says the eldest child, a 21-year-old college student who lives at home.

“You will? Wow!” I exclaim.

Maybe after all these years, he’s finally grasped the concept. Maybe he’s expressing his rightful position as eldest child and role model. Or maybe he’s going to Florida for a break in a couple of weeks and he’s being nice to me who is the financial-aid officer.

No matter. Seeing my adult son willingly cleaning that dirty bathtub gives me hope for the future of his 12-year-old brother who, instead of working, is found to be sleeping in the seat of the window he is supposed to be cleaning.

“Awake and be clean!” I say.

1. According to the passage, “… spring cleaning is a difficult notion for modern families to grasp” means that spring cleaning______.

A．is no longer an easy practice to understand

B．is no longer part of modern family life

C．requires more family members to be involved

D．calls for more complicated skills and knowledge

2. Which of the following is LEAST likely to be included in family spring cleaning?

A．Beating the rugs.	B．Cleaning the window.
C．Restoring Wi-Fi services.	D．Cleaning the backyard.

3. Which of the following interpretations of the biologists' theory about melatonin is INCORRECT?

A．The production of melatonin in our bodies varies at different times.

B．Melatonin is more likely to cause sleepiness in our bodies.

C．The reduction of melatonin will cause wakefulness in our bodies.

D．The amount of melatonin remains constant in our bodies.

4. Which of the following can best sum up the author’s overall reaction to her adult son’s positive response to spring cleaning?

A．Surprised and skeptical.	B．Joyful and hesitant.
C．Relieved and optimistic.	D．Optimistic and hesitant.

【推荐3】As a new age of genetic research draws near, soon, we may be able to choose the hair color, build the IQ of our offspring. Should we change embryos (胚胎) to improve intelligence or physical characteristics?

A beauty editor believes it will be difficult to stop the demand for “designer babies” once the technology is in place. “Once genetic scientists can change embryos to produce more beautiful children, there will be consumer demand,” she says. She acknowledges that fashion magazines may be partly responsible for fueling this discontent with a certain kind of appearance, but claims one cannot blame the media alone if people believe a bit of plastic surgery (整形手术) will transform their lives. “Like it or not,” she argues, “we know that the pretty applicant gets the job and the best-looking actor gets the part.”

Well-known plastic surgeons agree with this view. “People are looking for respect and self-confidence in a dog-eat-dog world that measures us by our appearance,” one specialist claims. “I understand their anxiety and offer a solution — cosmetic enhancement (整容美化). The next logical step, medically speaking, is genetic enhancement, which would endow (赋予) the unborn child with similar physical advantages.”

Some philosophers also approve of genetic intervention (介入). As one of them put it, “What parent doesn’t wish for a beautiful, healthy baby? Why is it morally unacceptable to use technology to grant that wish? Moreover, a child designed to have high intelligence or sporting ability would hardly have grounds for complaint.”

However, many people are deeply disturbed by the idea of embryo enhancement. Some fear it will lead to a reduction in genetic differences, resulting in a lack of tolerance for diversity and disability. “And who is to say that this future generation of Barbies will be content?” asks the beauty editor. In her experience, people who pursue physical perfection through plastic surgery aren’t necessarily satisfied. They may suffer unwanted side effects — insecurity and increasing dissatisfaction with their self-image. What if the subjects of genetic intervention, or their parents, were to feel similarly dissatisfied?

1. What does the underlined phrase “this view” in Paragraph 3 refer to?

A．People are often judged by their looks.

B．Cosmetic surgery reduces people’s lives.

C．The media make people worry about their looks.

D．People prefer genetic enhancement to plastic surgery.

2. What is the attitude of the philosopher to genetic enhancement?

A．Ambiguous.	B．Disapproving.
C．Agreeable.	D．Cautious.

3. According to the last paragraph, what feeling of doubt does the beauty editor have about genetic enhancement?

A．Those who receive it may not like the results.

B．It will make future generations look like Barbies.

C．The money it requires should be spent on general medical care.

D．It will raise the standards of physical beauty to unattainable levels.

4. What is the passage mainly about?

A．The advantages of genetic enhancement.

B．The development of genetic enhancement.

C．The promising future of genetic enhancement.

D．People’s different perspectives on genetic enhancement.