【推荐1】Terry Evanshen was one of Canadian football’s greatest receivers. He played every down (进攻) as if it was his last. Though he had made great achievements, Terry’s memories of his playing days have been completely lost.

It was in the summer of 1988 after he retired from playing that his career in sales was taking off. One day in July, Terry, on his way home from work, had a terrible car accident. He was knocked unconscious, and within minutes he was rushed to the nearby hospital.

Three weeks later, he woke up. However, it became obvious that Terry’s injuries were far more serious than whatever damage had been done to his body. A lifetime of memories had been completely wiped clean. He had been all but reduced to the level of a baby; everything from his ability to talk and walk to his understanding of what it meant to be a husband and a father was all gone.

At age 44, Terry Evanshen would be starting all over again. Luckily he had the support of his family, helped by small victories and a renewed bond between him and his three daughters like when they taught him how to play football again.

In 1992, his recovery really began to pick up steam. It has taken years to rebuild his shattered (破碎的) life, but today, more than 20 years since his playing days, Terry is a popular public speaker. He tells his story of perseverance (坚持不懈) and courage. “Never forget, we’re all in this game of life together. We will get to the finishing line, one day at a time, one moment at a time, but celebrate the journey. Seize today, because yesterday is gone and is never coming back.” As the subject of the most watched Canadian movie of 2005, The Man Who Lost Himself, Evanshen says his family has been his most important treasure. He refuses to be a victim, saying he is a survivor.

1. In 1988, Evanshen was       .

A．a businessman	B．a public speaker
C．a football player	D．a father of two daughters

2. After the car accident happened, what was the worst thing for Evanshen?

A．He would never drive again.

B．He couldn’t stand up any more.

C．He suffered a serious physical injury.

D．He lost his memories and all his ability.

3. What’s the best title for the text?

A．Terry Evanshen’s Life

B．A Great Football Player

C．The Man Who Lost Himself

D．What’s a Persevering Person Like?

4. Which of the following word can be the best to describe Terry Evanshen’s story?

A．Admirable.	B．Inspiring.
C．Rewarding.	D．Imaginary.

【推荐2】It was a cold winter day. A woman drove up to the Rainbow Bridge tollbooth(收费站). “I’m paying for myself, and for the six cars behind me,” she said with a smile, handing over seven tickets. One after another, the next six drivers arriving at the tollbooth were informed, “Some lady up ahead already paid your fare.”

It turned out that the woman, Natalie Smith, had read something on a friend’s refrigerator: “Practice random kindness and senseless acts of beauty.” The phrase impressed her so much that she copied it down.

Judy Foreman spotted the same phrase on a warehouse wall far away from home. When it stayed on her mind for days, she gave up and drove all the way back to copy it down. “I thought it was beautiful,” she said, explaining why she’d taken to writing it at the bottom of all her letters, “like a message from above.” Her husband, Frank, liked the phrase so much that he put it up on the classroom wall for his students, one of whom was the daughter of Alice Johnson, a local news reporter. Alice put it in the newspaper, admitting that though she liked it, she didn’t know where it came from or what it really meant.

Two days later, Alice got a call from Anne Herbert, a woman living in Marin. It was in a restaurant that Anne wrote the phrase down on a piece of paper, after turning it around in her mind for days.

“Here’s the idea,” Anne says. “Anything you think there should be more of, do it randomly.” Her fantasies include painting the classrooms of shabby schools, leaving hot meals on kitchen tables in the poor part of town, and giving money secretly to a proud old lady. Anne says, “Kindness can build on itself as much as violence can.”

The acts of random kindness spread. If you were one of those drivers who found your fare paid, who knows what you might have been inspired to do for someone else later. Like all great events, kindness begins slowly, with every single act. Let it be yours!

1. Why did Natalie Smith pay for the six cars behind her?

A．She knew the car drivers well.

B．She wanted to show kindness.

C．She hoped to please others.

D．She had seven tickets.

2. Judy Foreman copied down the phrase because she _________.

A．thought it was beautifully written

B．wanted to know what it really meant

C．decided to write it on a warehouse wall

D．wanted her husband to put it up in the classroom

3. Who came up with the phrase according to the passage?

A．Judy Foreman	B．Natalie Smith
C．Alice Johnson	D．Anne Herbert

4. Which of the following statements is closest in the meaning to the underlined sentence above?

A．Kindness and violence can change the world.

B．Kindness and violence can affect one’s behavior.

C．Kindness and violence can reproduce themselves.

D．Kindness and violence can shape one’s character.

5. What can we infer from the last paragraph?

A．People should practice random kindness to those in need.

B．People who receive kindness are likely to offer it to others.

C．People should practice random kindness to strangers they meet.

D．People who receive kindness are likely to pay it back to the giver.

【推荐3】Recently, China UnionPay did an experiment in a subway station in Beijing—Are you willing to offer a hand to a stranger who needs help?
The leading role of the experiment was an old man. With a small bag in one hand and a large case in the other， the old man appeared in a cold winter morning in the bustling（繁忙的） subway station. He was so old that he couldn’t carry the heavy case up the stairs. Standing in front of the steps, he looked helpless.
Something good happened finally. At 9 o'clock, a kind man showed up, he offered to carry the case for the old man and walked up the stairs with him, at 9：25, another man helped …
Within six hours，the old man walked up the stairs for 25 times，among which he was helped for 23 times.
What’s more，two ladies tried to help the old man—one in the front and the other in the back. They carried the case up the stairs for him. The most noteworthy thing was that another old man tried to help too.
When these kind people were asked why they helped the stranger，they all said “ It’s just the right thing to do,” “I always help people as long as I can” ,or “it’s not a big thing, and I just want to help”.
We often see negative news about fake falling and blackmailing or scheming (阴谋)and cunning. But this experiment brought sheer warmth into our heart.
1. Why did China UnionPay carry out the experiment?

A．To find out whether strangers need help when they are in trouble.

B．To find out whether someone can help those who want to help others.

C．To find out whether strangers can be helped when they are in danger.

D．To find out whether someone can help strangers who are in need of help.

2. What do we know about the old man?

A．He lived a hard and miserable life.

B．He helped to do the experiment.

C．He was too weak to carry the case upstairs.

D．He left after being helped by another old man.

3. The most moving scene is that______________ .

A．most of the passers-by helped the old man

B．even a disabled girl helped the old man

C．another old man also helped the old man

D．one lady carried the old man on her back

4. What message does the experiment express?

A．What warms us most is that helping others is grateful in our society.

B．What people gain is that they will be rewarded for helping others in China.

C．What strikes us is that China UnionPay really did a successful experiment.

D．What impresses us is that most people help others really by nature.

【推荐1】Since the age of three, Chelsie Hill had dreamed of becoming a dancer. That ambition nearly ended one night in 2010. Hill, then a 17-year-old high school senior in California, was in a car accident that left her disabled from the waist down. For most people, that would have ruined any hope of a dancing career. For Hill, it was the beginning. Far from being an obstacle, her wheelchair encouraged her. “I wanted to prove to my community—and to myself—that I was still ‘normal.’”

Normal for her meant dancing, so Hill did it in her wheelchair. “Half of my body was taken away from me, and I have to move it with my hands. It definitely took a lot of learning and patience.”

After graduation, Hill wanted to expand her dance network to include women like her. She met people online who had suffered various spinal cord injuries(脊柱损伤) but shared her determination, and she invited them to dance with her. “It was such an amazing experience.”

Hoping to reach more people in a larger city, Hill moved to Los Angeles in 2014 and formed a team of dancers with disabilities she calls the Rollettes. “I want to break down the stereotype(刻板印象) of wheelchair users and show that dance is dance, whether you’re walking or you’re rolling.”

Dancing on wheels, the Rollettes discovered, can be just as fast-paced, artful, and fulfilling as the foot-based variety. Edna Serrano says that being part of the Rollettes team has given her the courage. “I didn’t know I could do so many things that these girls have taught me,” she says. “They’re my teachers. I have more confidence.”

1. Which of the following words can best describe Hill?

A．confident and honest	B．determined and patient
C．courageous and smart	D．learned and experienced

2. What can be inferred about the Rollettes?

A．It helped many disabled people like Hill.	B．It was founded in Hill’s hometown.
C．It included normal and disabled dancers.	D．It aimed to take part in dance competitions.

3. Which of the following is conveyed in the text?

A．It is never too late to learn.	B．Misfortunes never come alone.
C．Constant dropping wears the stone.	D．Where there is a will, there is a way.

【推荐2】The World Health Organization (WHO), in cooperation with the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations(FAO), has identified best practices for the naming of new human diseases, with the aim to minimize unnecessary negative effect of disease names. “We now have a name for the disease and it’s COVID-19, “ WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters in Geneva.

COVID-I9, which has now spread to many countries, has much in common with seasonal flu. They are both viral infections(病毒感染) ,share similar symptoms and seriously can spread from human to human. In the midst of flu season in much of the northern hemisphere, telling the difference between the two will be vital in stopping its spread.

Human coronaviruses (冠状病毒), of which there are four, can cause lung problems similar to flu. However, COVID-19 is more serious than a “typical one,” says Ian Jones, a professor of virology at the University of Reading. “There is no antibodies (抗体) in the population so it has potential for a global spread, “warns Jones.

As with the Ebola epidemic (埃博拉病毒)，which peaked in the middle of the last decade, fears around the new coronavirus are rising due to a lack of knowledge over its nature. Medical advice is similar across those countries with confirmed cases of the infection. In many western countries, authorities are asking those who think they are infected to call an ambulance rather than visiting a hospital, where they could potentially pass on the virus. Similar advice has been issued in China and other Asian countries.

1. What’s the aim of confirming the name for the disease?

A．To reduce the bad influence of misusing name.

B．To make the disease known to all of us.

C．To raise awareness of this disease.

D．To minimize the risk of global spread.

2. COVID-19 has much in common with seasonal flu EXCEPT that_____.

A．they are both viral infections

B．they have similar symptoms

C．they can spread from human to human

D．they have potential for a global spread

3. According to paragraph 4, what is the main reason for the panic focused by COVID-19?

A．Shortage of drugs.	B．A lack of knowing it.
C．Weak control measures.	D．Speed of spreading.

4. What’s Ian Jones’s attitude towards the spread of COVID-19?

A．Indifferent.	B．Confident.
C．Worried.	D．Discouraged.

【推荐3】Adults perform better when they have a lot to gain or lose. But scientists did not know whether teens did too. To find out, Insel asked 88 people between the ages of 13 and 20. She had them try a game. The participants looked at pictures of planets on a computer screen. They had to click as fast as they could when they saw a planet with designs. They were not supposed to click if a planet had no designs.

The participants could earn 20 cents for right answers but lose 10 cents for wrong ones. In other sessions, they’d get a dollar for right answers, and lose a half dollar for wrong ones. Players of all ages wanted to win the money, and cared more about bigger rewards than smaller ones.

As Insel expected, adults performed better when the stakes were high. But teens 13 to 18 played just as well whether they stood to win 20 cents or a dollar. Only 19- or 20-year olds stepped up their game for the higher stakes.

Insel’s team published this work November 28, 2017, in Nature Communications.

Brains change and mature during adolescence. And not all parts grow at the same rate. Insel was interested in two areas in particular. One is deep inside the brain and just above the ears. Called the ventral striatum (腹侧纹状体), it helps the brain calculate rewards. The ventral striatum becomes mature during the teen years.

The brain’s prefrontal cortex (前额叶) takes longer to mature. This area is important for planning and setting goals. It may not mature until early adulthood.

Nerve pathways - think of them as the brain’s “wiring” - connect the ventral striatum and prefrontal cortex. This lets the two regions communicate to make decisions. But because the prefrontal cortex matures later, the wiring between the two may not be complete until adulthood.

1. Which of the following can explain Insel’s research?

A．Teens ignore key points in many aspects.

B．Adults behave better with higher rewards.

C．Teens give more attention to exams than usual work.

D．Adults behave more maturely than children in every way.

2. What does the underlined word “stakes” refer to?

A．The final results of games or experiments.

B．The things that can be gained or lost in races.

C．The ambitions or energies that one experiences in games.

D．The powers that make one feel less pressure or pain.

3. From the passage, we can know ___________.

A．the experiment aims to find out adults’ behaviour facing high stakes

B．teens have better performances in the first rounds

C．adults care less about the experiment at first

D．adults and teens show differently with high stakes

4. Which is the best title of the passage?

A．Unlike adults, teens don’t perform better with high stakes

B．Who perform better, adults or children?

C．Stakes are the key points in promoting one’s passion

D．Whether low stakes or high stakes, one behaves similarly

【推荐1】When I was a senior in college, I came home for Christmas vacation and anticipated a fun-filled fortnight with my two brothers. We were so excited to be together and we volunteered to watch the store so that my mother and father could take their first day off in years. The day before my parents went to Boston, my father took me quietly aside to the little den behind the store. He took out a cigar box, opened it and showed me a little pile of newspaper articles.

“What are they?” I asked.

Father replied seriously, “These are articles I’ve written and some letters to the editor that have been published.”

As I began to read, I saw at the bottom of each neatly clipped article the name Walter Chapman. “Why didn’t you tell me you’d done that?” I asked.

“Because I didn’t want your mother to know. She has always told me that since I didn’t have much education, I shouldn’t try to write. I wanted to run for some political office also, but she told me I shouldn’t try. I guess she was afraid she’d be embarrassed if I lost. I figured I could write without her knowing it, and so I did. When each item would be printed, I’d cut it out and hide it in this box. I knew someday I’d show the box to someone, and it’s you.”

He watched me as I read over a few of the articles and when I looked up, his big blue eyes were moist. “I guess I tried for something too big this last time,” he added.

“Did you write something else?”

“Yes, I sent some suggestions in to our church magazine on how the national nominating committee could be selected more fairly. It’s been three months since I sent it in. I guess I tried for something too big.”

This was such a new side to my fun-loving father that I didn’t quite know what to say, so I tried, “Maybe it’ll still come.”

“Maybe, but don’t hold your breath.” father gave me a little smile and a wink and then closed the cigar box.

The next morning our parents left on the bus to the railway station where they took a train to Boston. When I ran the store with my two brothers, I thought about the box. I’d never known my father liked to write. I didn’t tell my brothers. It was a secret between father and me.

Early that evening I looked out the store window and saw my mother get off the bus—alone.

“Where’s Dad?” We asked together.

“Your father’s dead,” she said without a tear.

She told us they had been walking through the Park Street Subway Station in the midst of crowds of people when father had fallen to the floor. A nurse bent over him, looked up at mother and said simply, “He’s dead.” Mother had stood by father stunned, not knowing what to do as people tripped over him in their rush through the subway.

Mother told us the shocking tale without shedding a tear. Not showing emotion had always been a matter of discipline and pride for her. We didn’t cry either and we took turns waiting on the customers.

One steady patron asked, “Where’s the old man tonight?”

“He’s dead,” I replied.

“Oh, too bad,” and he left.

I’d never thought of father as an old man. He’d always been healthy and happy and he’d cared for frail mother without complaining and now he was gone. No more whistling, no more singing hymns while stocking shelves. “The old man” was gone.

On the morning of the funeral, I sat at the table in the store opening sympathy cards and pasting them in a scrapbook when I noticed the church magazine in the pile. Normally I would never have opened it, but maybe that sacred article might be there—and it was.

I took the magazine to the little den, shut the door, and burst into tears. I had been brave, but seeing Dad’s bold recommendations in print was more than I could bear. I read and cried and then I read again. In the magazine I also found a two-page letter to my father from Henry Cabot Lodge, Sr., thanking him for the campaign suggestions. I took out the box and put them in it.

I didn’t tell anyone about the box.

1. Who was Walter Chapman in the passage?

A．A writer of detective stories	B．The author’s father
C．An edition of a newspaper	D．A customer in the store

2. Which one shows the order in which the events happened?
a. My father showed me a little pile of newspaper articles.
b. Our parents took a train to Boston.
c. My father’s article to the church magazine was published.
d. I came home for Christmas vacation.
e. My father died in an accident.
f. My father sent some suggestions in to the magazine.

A．f-d-a-b-e-c	B．d-a-f-b-e-c
C．d-f-c-a-b-e	D．f-d-b-a-c-e

3. The underlined sentence “Not showing emotion had always been a matter of discipline and pride for her” does NOT show that ____________.

A．she is unwilling to share her feelings with others

B．she is too proud to express her feelings

C．she is used to being serious

D．she is an emotional person

4. Why did the author burst into tears at last?

A．Because he thought of father’s whistling and singing hymns.

B．Because his father’s article to the church magazine was published.

C．Because the box full of his father’s articles was yet unknown to people.

D．Because he was moved by the funeral and the sympathy cards.

5. What’s the father’s attitude towards his writing?

A．He was ashamed of his writing so he hid the box.

B．He was proud of his talent in writing.

C．He was interested in writing and found it great fun.

D．He took writing as a means to make a living.

6. Which is the best title for this passage?

A．The Death of My Father	B．Father and I
C．The Mystery of a Hidden Box	D．A Sad Christmas Vacation

【推荐3】It's natural for parents to praise their children, but offering this praise could actually backfire, according to new science.

In the study, researchers at Michigan State University looked at 123 children who were about 7. The team assessed the children to determine whether they had a “growth mindset" (believing that you can work harder to get smarter), or a “fixed mindset" (believing that your intelligence is unable to change). They then asked the children to complete a fast-paced computer accuracy task while their brain activity was recorded.

Based on the data they collected, the researchers concluded that children with a growth mindset were much more likely to have a larger brain response after making a mistake, and in turn were more likely to improve their performance by paying closer attention to the task after making an error.

While previous research has shown that people with a fixed mindset didn't want to admit they had made a mistake, this study found that children with a fixed mindset were able to — “bounce back^” after making an error, but only if they gave their full attention to the mistakes. “The main implication here is that we should pay close attention to our mistakes and use them as opportunities to learn study author Hans Schroder told Science Daily.

For parents, the lessons are clear—if a child hands you an A⁺ test, don't say “You're so smart! ”

Instead, say “Wow, that studying really paid off!" or “You clearly mastered this material — way to go!" Note the effort, not the intelligence.

Second, focus on using errors to work together and learn. Many teachers and parents avoid addressing children's mistakes, telling them “It's OK. You'll get it next time. . . ” Without giving them the opportunity to figure out what went wrong. Dr. Schroder says, "Instead, it's better to

reassure children that mistakes happen, and to pay attention and work to figure out where and how they made the mistakes. ”
1. The underlined word “backfire" in Paragraph 1 probably means “ ” .

A．make a loud noise	B．leave a good impression
C．have an opposite result	D．produce an explosion

2. According to the text, which one belongs to the group who has a “growth mindset" ?

A．Tom manages to correct every mistake by heart.

B．Mary believes her mistakes are made by chance.

C．John keeps an idea that he has a good gift for studying.

D．Lily thinks she can get A+ without any effort.

3. If your child gets the best mark in the test, you should .

A．praise him with some delicious food and money

B．comment him to be cleverer than other students

C．confirm his effort that he has made for the test

D．believe that he is an honest and smart child

4. What should parents do with the child's mistakes from Dr. Schroder?

A．Parents should avoid talking with child about his mistakes.

B．Parents should compare his mistakes with others' and criticize him.

C．Parents should ignore the mistakes and believe he will do better.

D．Parents should analyse the mistakes with their child patiently.