【推荐2】You've probably heard of sheepdogs that guard sheep.But on a small island off the coast of Australia,these specially trained little dogs protect fairy penguins from foxes.About 800 little blue penguins,once nested on Australia's Middle Island.They are the smallest species of penguin in the world.By 2015,there were fewer than 10 left on the island.

The problem started when people brought red foxes to Australia in the 1800s.The foxes made their way to Middle Island and began killing off penguins and other native wildlife.Local officials wondered what could be done.

In 2014,a local farmer named Allan Marsh had an idea.He advised training Maremma sheepdogs to protect the penguins.At that time,Marsh was using the dogs on his farm to guard his chickens from foxes.At first,local officials said no to the plan because they didn't think it would work.But they changed their minds when the penguins had almost completely disappeared."The powers wouldn't listen to me until it got down to six penguins,"Marsh told The New York Times.

The first sheepdog went to work on Middle Island in 2016,and dogs have been on duty ever since.The dogs bark at and go after foxes to frighten them away.Thanks to the sheepdogs,the number of fairy penguins on Middle Island has increased.Today,close to 200 penguins live on the island.In fact,officials report that no penguin has been killed since the dogs were on the job.

Eudy and Tula,the two dogs guarding Middle Island,are now 8 years old They are almost ready to retire（退休）. Local groups are trying to raise $ 25,000 needed to buy and train two new pups.

1. How many little penguins are living on the island now?

A．Fewer than 10.	B．About 200.
C．About 800.	D．More than 25,000.

2. Why did the little penguins almost completely disappear?

A．Local officials didn't support the protection plan.

B．People destroyed their living environment.

C．The dogs couldn't protect them.

D．The red foxes hunted them.

3. What new problem will the penguins he faced with?

A．There are too many of them on the island.

B．They will disappear on Middle Island soon.

C．The two new pups won't he trained.

D．The dogs are too old to guard them.

4. From the text,we can learn that      .

A．sheepdogs can really protect penguins on Middle Island

B．local officials didn't agree with Marsh's plan finally

C．the first sheepdog appeared on Middle Island in 2006

D．sheepdogs only guard sheep and chickens

【推荐3】Finding fish is going to get harder as climate change continues to heat the world's oceans. A new study finds that warming seas over the past 80 years have reduced the sustainable catch of 124 species of fish and shellfish. Sustainable catch refers to the amount that can be harvested without doing long-term damage to the health of populations of some species.

Overfishing has made that decline worse, researchers say. Overfishing refers to catching so many fish that the size of the population falls. In some parts of the world, such as the heavily fished Sea of Japan, the decrease is as high as 35 percent. That's a loss of more than one in every three fish.

Researchers examined changes in 235 populations of fish and shellfish between 1930 and 2010. Those fish populations spread far apart across 38 ocean regions. Temperature changes vary from one ocean site to another. But on average over that time, Earth's sea-surface temperatures have risen by about half a degree Celsius.

On average, that warming has caused the sustainable catch to drop by 4.1 percent, the study found. About 8 percent of the fish and shellfish populations the team studied saw losses as a result of the ocean warming. However, about 4 percent of some populations increased. That's because certain species have thrived in warmer waters. One example is a kind of black sea fish. It lives along the northeastern U.S. coast. As warming continues, these fish will reproduce faster until they reach their limit.

About 3.2 billion people worldwide rely on seafood as a source of food. That means it's urgent for commercial fishing fleets and regulators to consider how climate change is affecting the health of all of those fish in the sea.

1. What does the new study discover？

A．Overfishing is to blame for fish health.

B．Warming seas cause fewer fish and shellfish.

C．Seafood matters to people's health worldwide.

D．The living regions of fish and shellfish are different.

2. What does the underlined word "thrived" in paragraph 4 probably mean？

A．Survived narrowly.	B．Disappeared soon.
C．Decreased sharply.	D．Developed quickly.

3. What do we know about species of fish and shellfish？

A．About 8 percent of them suffered from a great loss.

B．About 35 percent of them survived in the Sea of Japan.

C．About 3.2 billion species have been saved up to now.

D．About 80 species have died out because of warming seas

4. What is the author’s attitude towards the new discovery?

A．Satisfied	B．Not interested
C．Worried	D．Terrified

【推荐1】Wildlife has been greatly threatened in the modern age. There are species that are disappearing every day. The white-naped crane is a typical example. So scientists are trying their best to save the species from going out of existence.

Chris and Tim work at a zoo, helping endangered cranes with — their reproduction. Emma, a female crane, has been in their care since she arrived in 2004.

Born at an international crane foundation, Emma was raised by human caretakers. This led to an unexpected consequence, though she had a wonderful time there. Emma had never taken herself as a crane and become attached to humans. She refused to live with male cranes, and even had a reputation for killing some of them, which made it impossible for her to become a mother.

However, the two zookeepers didn't want to see the extinction of this precious species. With their patience and efforts, they successfully developed a combination of artificial breeding and natural reproduction. This enabled Emma to give birth to five baby cranes.

The two keepers are proud of their productive work. But before they can be assured, more efforts must be made, because the population of the crane in the wild is on the decline, and many other species appear headed toward extinction. After all, not everyone has realized that wildlife has thoughts, feelings, and most importantly, equal rights to survive.

How can we bridge the ever-widening gap that separates us from other animals? Chris and Tim offered us the answer: human beings took it for granted that their brains held all the solutions, but maybe their hearts can be a better guide.

1. Which one is not true about Emma?

A．She was an endangered crane.	B．She was cared for by Chris and Tim in 2005.
C．She was unwilling to live with male cranes.	D．She was famous for protecting male cranes.

2. What does the expression “become attached to humans” in paragraphs mean?

A．Had an affection for humans.	B．Become popular with humans.
C．Become familiar with humans.	D．Become concerned about humans.

3. What enabled Emma to be delivered of baby cranes?

A．Artificial breeding.	B．Natural reproduction.
C．Zookeepers’ patience and efforts.	D．Combining artificial breeding with natural reproduction.

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

A．Human beings are absolutely more powerful than animals.

B．No one has realized animals' equal rights to survive.

C．Two keepers have confirmed their success in protecting the crane from extinction.

D．People's love and efforts may help narrow the gap between them and animals.

【推荐2】When you were trying to figure out what to buy for the environmentalist on your holiday list, fur probably didn’t cross your mind. But some ecologists and fashion (时装) enthusiasts are trying to bring back the market for fur made from nutria (海狸鼠).

Unusual fashion shows in New Orleans and Brooklyn have (showcased) nutria fur made into clothes in different styles. “It sounds crazy to talk about guilt-free fur — unless you understand that the nutria are destroying vast wetlands every year”, says Cree McCree, project director of Righteous Fur.

Nutria were brought there from Argentina by fur farmers and let go into the wild. “The ecosystem down there can’t handle this non-native species (物种). It’s destroying the environment. It’s them or us.” says Michael Massimi, an expert in this field.

The fur trade kept nutria check for decades, but when the market for nutria collapsed in the late 1980s, the cat-sized animals multiplied like crazy.

Biologist Edmond Mouton runs the nutria control program for Louisiana. He says it’s not easy to convince people that nutria fur is green, but he has no doubt about it. Hunters bring in more than 300,000 nutria tails a year, so part of Mouton’s job these days is trying to promote fur.

Then there’s Righteous Fur and its unusual fashion. Morgan says, “To give people a guilt-free option that they can wear without someone throwing paint on them — I think that’s going to be a massive thing, at least here in New York.” Designer Jennifer Anderson admits it took her a while to come around to the opinion that using nutria fur for her creations is morally acceptable. She trying to come up with a label to attach to nutria fashions to show it is eco-friendly.

1. What is the purpose of the fashion shows in New Orleans and Brooklyn?

A．To promote guilt-free fur.

B．To expand the fashion market.

C．To introduce a new brand.

D．To celebrate a winter holiday.

2. Why are scientists concerned about nutria?

A．Nutria damage the ecosystem seriously.

B．Nutria are an endangered species.

C．Nutria hurt local cat-sized animals.

D．Nutria are illegally hunted.

3. What can we infer abouf wearing fur in New York according to Morgan?

A．It’s formal.

B．It’s risky.

C．It’s harmful.

D．It’s traditional.

【推荐1】The 2016 Rio Olympic Games have come to an end. Without doubt, many Chinese sports fans sat in front of the TV and cheered our athletes on, hoping that they would get as many gold medals as possible.
But sometimes our desire for gold medals can result in the sadness of failure. When Liu Xiang, China’s track hero, pulled out of the Beijing Olympics due to injury, he greatly disappointed many Chinese sports fans.
But things are different now. In the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, we saw a healthier and more lenient Chinese attitude toward the sportspeople, fully in line with the Olympic spirit.
China didn’t win any gold medals on the first day. But, instead of criticizing the athletes who failed to finish on top of the podium (领奖台), the majority of fans were happy with their efforts. “Reacting in the right way when an athlete misses out on gold shows the maturity of a person, and is also a challenge for a country to face up to in the process of development,” commented CRI.
Swimmer Fu Yuanhui won fans’ hearts, even if she only won a bronze medal in the 100m backstroke final. Her fans on her Sina Weibo micro blog have increased 100,000 to over 6 million. Many sports fans appreciated her straightforward character and attitude toward competition.
“The warm support from Internet users shows that public attitude toward competitive sport and the Olympics have gotten to a higher level,” said an article in the People’s Daily.
1. From passage 2, what can we know about Liu Xiang?

A．He is still a famous athlete.

B．He didn’t complete his event in the Beijing Olympics.

C．The audience desired him little.

D．He was required to give up the competition.

2. What does the underlined word “lenient” mean in Paragraph 3?

A．unhappy	B．serious
C．complaining	D．tolerant

3. People like Fu Yuanhui because of her ________.

A．kindness to the fans

B．winning a bronze medal

C．attitude to competition

D．Weibo mirco blog

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

A．Learning how to face up to challenge.

B．Winning gold medals is important.

C．Changing attitude to athletes is a must.

D．Getting as many gold medals as possible.

【推荐3】Educators and business leaders have more in common than it may seem. Teachers want to prepare students for a successful future. Technology companies, like AT&T, have an interest in developing a workforce with the STEM(science, technology, engineering and math) skills needed to grow the company and advance the industry. How can they work together to achieve these goals? Play may be the answer.

Focusing on STEM skills is important, but the reality is that STEM skills are enhanced and more relevant when combined with traditional, hands-on creative activities. This combination is proving to be the best way to prepare today’s children to be the makers and builders of tomorrow. That is why technology companies are partnering with educators to bring back good, old fashion play.

In fact many experts argue that the most important 21st century skills aren’t related to specific technologies or subject matter, but to creativity; skills like imagination, problem-finding and problem-solving, teamwork, optimism, patience and the ability to experiment and take risks. These are skills acquired when kids tinker(捣鼓小玩意). High-tech industries such as NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory have found that their best overall problem solvers were master tinkerers in their youth.

There are cognitive benefits of doing things the way we did as children — building something, tearing it down, then building it up again. Research shows that given 15 minutes of free play, four- and five-year-olds will spend a third of this time engaged in spatial, mathematical, and architectural activities. This type of play — especially with building blocks — helps children discover and develop key principles in math and geometry.

If play and building are critical to 21st century skill development, then that’s really good news for two reasons: Children are born builders, makers, and creators, so fostering(培养) 21st century skills may be as simple as giving kids room to play, tinker and try things out, even as they grow older; and the second piece of good news is that it doesn’t take 21st century technology to foster 21st century skills. This is especially important for under-resourced schools and communities. Taking whatever materials are handy and tinkering with them is a simple way to engage those important “maker” skills. And anyone, anywhere, can do it.

1. What does the author say about educators?

A．They seek advice from technology companies to achieve teaching goals.

B．They have been successful in preparing the workforce for companies.

C．They help students acquire the skills needed for their future success.

D．They partner with technology companies to enhance teaching efficiency.

2. How can educators better develop students’ STEM skills, according to the author?

A．By blending them with traditional, stimulating activities.

B．By inviting business leaders to help design curriculums.

C．By enhancing students’ ability to think in a critical way.

D．By showing students the best way to learn is through play.

3. How do children acquire the skills needed for the 21st century?

A．By engaging in activities involving specific technologies.

B．By playing with things to solve problems on their own.

C．By familiarizing themselves with high-tech gadgets.

D．By mastering basic principles through teamwork.

4. What does the author advise disadvantaged schools and communities to do?

A．Train students to be makers to meet future market demands.

B．Develop students’ creative skills with the resources available.

C．Engage students with challenging tasks to foster their creativity.

D．Work together with companies to improve their teaching facilities.

【推荐1】Spending time outdoors, especially in green space, is an effective way to improve your health and happiness. It’s been shown to lower stress, blood pressure and heart rate while encouraging physical activity and keeping mood and mental health.

A recent study published in the International Journal of Environmental Health Research adds to the evidence and shows how little time it takes to get the benefits of being in the park Spending just 30 minutes in a park — even if you don’t exercise while you’re there — is enough to improve well-being, according to the research.

For the study, researchers surveyed 94 adults who visited one of three urban parks, over the summer and fall. They were given fitness trackers to measure physical activity but were not told what to do in the park or how long to stay. Each person also answered questions about their life satisfaction and mood — which were used to calculate the score of subjective well-being before and after their park visit. The average park visit lasted 32 minutes and well-being scores rose during the park visit in 90% of people. “People may go to the park and just enjoy nature. They relax and reduce stress, and then feel more happy.” study co-author Hon Yuen says.

It is for all of these reasons that the medical community is increasingly viewing green space as a great place where their patients can obtain physical and mental health benefits. Some physicians, like Robert Zarr, are even writing prescriptions for it. By writing nature prescriptions — alongside medical prescriptions, when necessary — physicians are encouraging their patients to go outdoors and take advantage of what many view to be free medicine. He said, “It’s about making a positive choice in their life rather than a discouraging choice like ‘they’re sick; take a pill. It just seems so much more supportive.”

1. What can we learn from the study?

A．Park visit increases our life satisfaction.

B．The length of park visit affects our health.

C．Outdoor activity improves our blood pressure.

D．Physical activity increases our mental health.

2. Which word best describes Hon Yuen’s attitude to park visit?

A．Supportive.

B．Conservative.

C．Uncaring.

D．Tolerant.

3. Why do some physicians write nature prescriptions?

A．To force patients to make a choice.

B．To make patients free from medicine.

C．To encourage patients to see physicians.

D．To benefit patients physically and mentally.

4. Which can be a suitable title for the text?

A．Outdoor Satisfaction	B．Outdoor Benefits
C．Park Visit for Fun	D．Love for Parks

【推荐2】A family watching a dolphin from their boat were shocked when it dropped them off a cod (鳕鱼) supper for dinner.

The group were enjoying watching the mammal playing in the water when it suddenly dived down and caught the cod before placing it near to Lucy Watkins, 14.

The dolphin then appeared and began pulling the fish towards the stunned teenager. Lucy and her grandparents wondered whether they should pick up the fish in case the dolphin wanted it for tea.

But the dolphin then appeared seconds later with his own fish, this time a seabass (石斑鱼), and began eating. The family gratefully accepted the cod, which weighed about 10 pounds, before taking it home to cook for their dinner.

Lucy said, “He definitely wanted me to have his fish. He first dropped it 20 feet away but then pushed it to within 5 feet of my boat. Everyone was watching on the beach and we caused quite a stir (激动) when we came back with the cod.”

Grandmother Nina added, “It was as if he was saying to Lucy ‘Don’t worry, now I’ve got a fish to play with and so have you. This is mine for my tea; you have that one for yours.’ ”

“He was just so playful and content to be around us. Lucy was swinging her fingers in the water and he seemed to be attracted by that.”

“If I hadn’t seen it myself, I’d never have believed it. My theory is that he was lonely and wanted human company. He was with us for about two hours.”

“It seemed rude to refuse him so we took the fish and had cod and chips for supper. It was very large. I’ve still got half in the freezer.”

A spokesman from Whale and Dolphin Conservation said, “This is a very interesting account. There are many examples worldwide of dolphins interacting with humans. We would just make our usual appeal for people to generally keep their distance.”

1. What does the underlined word “stunned” probably mean?

A．Astonished.	B．Upset.
C．Disappointed.	D．Worried.

2. Why didn’t the family accept the cod at once?

A．Because Lucy’s grandparents didn’t like cods.

B．Because they were not sure whether it was a gift for them.

C．Because they didn’t know how clever the dolphin was.

D．Because they wanted to change for another one.

3. According to the text, we can infer that ________.

A．Lucy was afraid when she first saw the dolphin

B．Grandmother didn’t believe what the dolphin had done

C．the fish was delicious so they kept a half in the freezer

D．dolphins should be given their own living space

【推荐3】It’s the lunch break at Shanghai Xinhua Middle School. No mobile phones can be heard ring anywhere. The common sight of crowds of children chatting on their phones or sending short messages has disappeared.

A grade-2 student said, “I couldn’t concentrate (集中精力) during classes. if the cellphone was with me, I couldn’t help checking if there were messages or missed phone calls. I even played games on the phone sometimes.”

The school leaders say they feel the ban is necessary to keep order in class. They even gave out an open letter to remind parents not to let their children bring mobile phones to school .More than 96 percent of parents say they welcome the school decision. The school is also being flexible (灵活的) in carrying out the plan .Those students who live far from school are allowed to bring mobile phones to contact their parents. But they still have to switch them off in classrooms.

Medical experts have also welcomed the school decision. They say too much dependence on mobile phones can cause many psychological problems in teenage students.

1. What can we learn from paragraph1?

A．Shanghai Xianxia Middle School is very crowded during lunchtime breaks.

B．No mobile phones can be heard any time at Shanghai Xianxia Middle School.

C．All the children with mobile phones usually disappear during lunchtime breaks.

D．Lots of students used to be busy using their mobile phones during lunchtime breaks.

2. The grade-2 student thinks that______.

A．the mobile phones should be on during class.

B．it is good to play cellphone games sometimes.

C．the mobile phone is helpful to her studies.

D．it is no good using the cellphone at school.

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

A．All parents welcome the school decision.

B．Some students can bring mobile phones to school.

C．Medical experts are against the school decision.

D．No one is allowed to bring a mobile phone school.

4. The passage mainly tells us______.

A．the mobile phone is a big trouble to teenage students.

B．the use of the mobile phone can cause mental problem.

C．about a ban on the mobile phone in a middle school.

D．a story happening at Shanghai Xinhua Middle School.