【推荐1】The story of chocolate begins with the discovery of America in 1492. Columbus was the first European to come into contact with cacao. Columbus was struck by how much value the Indians placed on them as he did not know the beans were used by currency. It is unlikely that Columbus brought any of these beans back to Spain and it was not until about 25 years later that Cortez grasped the commercial possibilities when he found the Aztecs using the beans to make the royal drink “chocolatl”.

The Spanish, in general, were not fond of the bitter drink so Cortez and his followers made it more palatable by adding sugar and later cinnamon(肉桂) and vanilla(香草) were added. Spanish monks( 僧侣) let the secret out back home and, although the Spanish hid it from their neighbors for a hundred years, finally chocolate’s popularity grew until it was their fashionable drink at the French court(宫廷) and the wise choice of customers at London meeting houses.

The cacao tree is strictly a tropical plant only in hot, rainy climates. Thus, its cultivation (培育 ) is limited to countries not more than 20 degrees north or south of the equator ( 赤 道 ). The cacao tree is very delicate and sensitive. It needs protection from the wind and requires a fair amount of shade under most conditions. This is true especially in its first two or three years of growth. A newly planted young cacao tree is often sheltered by a different type of trees. It is normal to plant food crops for shade such as bananas, or coconuts. Rubber trees( 橡胶树) and forest trees are also used for shade. Once established, however, cacao trees can grow in full sunlight, provided there are fertile soil conditions and intensive farming. With cutting and careful cultivation, the trees of strains will begin bearing fruit in the fifth year. With extreme care, some strains can be stimulated to produce good crops in the third and fourth year.

The process of turning cacao into chocolate hasn’t changed much since the late 1800s, when the Swiss learned to make fine unsweetened chocolate. Mixed with cocoa butter and other ingredients and then “purified”, the finished result is shaped, cooled, packaged by machine, distributed, sold and of course, eaten!

1. Why didn’t Columbus bring beans back to Spain at once when he found cacao?

A．Because he couldn’t afford to buy the cacao bean.

B．Because he didn’t know how to turn cacao bean into chocolate.

C．Because he was not aware of the commercial value of cacao bean then.

D．Because Spaniards then didn’t favour the chocolate that the Aztecs originally drank.

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

A．affordable	B．agreeable
C．patent	D．portable

3. Which of the following is correct about cacao tree?

A．Cacao trees require hot, rainy climates and adequate sunlight.

B．Cacao trees need a lot of looking after to be used commercially.

C．Cacao trees won’t produce fruit until the fifth year.

D．Cacao trees can grow well in all continents.

【推荐2】People who are cheerful and relaxed are less likely to suffer from colds.It's possible that being full of vim and vigor helps the body fight illnesses,say the researchers from Carnegie Mellon University(CMC)in Pittsburgh.

＂We need to take more seriously the possibility that a positive emotional style is a major player in disease risk,"says psychologist Sheldon Cohen,the study's lead researcher.

In a previous study,Cohen and his colleagues found that people who tended to be cheerful and lively were least likely to develop sniffles,coughs and other cold symptoms.People who showed positive feelings were also less likely to mention symptoms to their doctors,even when medical tests detected those symptoms.

Those findings were interesting,but they didn't prove that a person's attitude affects whether he or she gets sick.Instead,it was still possible that a person's underlying personality is what matters.

Evidence suggests,for instance,that certain people are naturally more likely to be outgoing and optimistic,with high self-esteem and a sense of control over life.This would mean that who we are,not how we feel,ultimately decides our chances of catching colds.

To figure out which mattered more,personality or emotions,the researchers interviewed 193 healthy adults.The researchers talked to each person over the phone every evening for 2 weeks. They told the researchers about the positive and negative feelings they had experienced that day.

The results showed that everyone in the study was equally likely to get infected.Their symptoms,however,differed depending on the types of emotions that they had reported over the previous fortnight.

Among those who reported good moods and had been infected with the flu virus,for example, 28 percent developed coughs and stuffy noses.On the other hand,those symptoms struck 41 percent of people who had been less positive.Scientists argue about whether negative emotions or positive emotions have a stronger effect on how healthy we are.For now,it can't hurt to look on the bright side more often than not!

1. What is the text mainly about?

A．How to get rid of colds.

B．Attitude determines life.

C．Smiles turn away colds.

D．Different opinions about colds.

2. The phrase"full of vim and vigor"underlined in Paragraph 1 probably means"

A．ignorant	B．well-informed
C．energetic	D．passive

3. According to the finding,a leading factor of catching colds should be one's.

A．health	B．personality
C．quality	D．mood

4. By saying the last paragraph,the writer intends to suggest

A．the saying-every coin has two sides

B．positive emotions are as good as negative emotions

C．it is not necessarily good for you if you always look at problems positively

D．it will be good for your health to always keep up an optimistic state of mind

【推荐2】A recent study showed that disordered eating has negative effects on health including lower self-evaluation of health, which isn’t too surprising. What was really shocking was how common the disordered eating behaviors seemed to be in our culture.

Individually, these behaviors aren’t something to be overly concerned about, but when they add up, it became a roadblock to healthy living. Ask yourself the right questions to find out if you, too, have gone beyond healthy habits and worry about your weight.

For example, starchy(含淀粉的) foods can make people feel uneasy about eating them. Sometimes an ingredient, like fat, causes anxiety, even if it’s used to make healthy foods like olive oil. If you’re skipping foods and blaming it on an allergy(过敏) reason, but your real motivation is to lose weight, that’s a red flag.

A strict eating schedule might seem like a smart way to provide structure throughout your day, but overdoing it can leave you feeling hungry.

Not having control over how your food is prepared can be a concern, especially if you have food allergies. It’s when that anxiety is baseless and prevents you from otherwise enjoying a night out that it becomes a problem.

Tracking calories can be a useful tool to understand which foods are rich in calories, which ones aren’t, and what calorie range you should be eating. If it becomes overbearing, it’s no longer a healthy method. It’s the right way to pay attention to your hunger and satiety(饱足), and rely on those to decide when to start and stop eating.

Disordered eating is common, but it’s not harmless. Seek out help if you see yourself in these behaviors, and make sure you recognize the signs that you’re already at a health weight.

1. What does the underlined part “a red flag” in the third paragraph mean?

A．A good means.	B．A negative attitude.
C．A warning sign.	D．A normal situation.

2. What’s the main idea of the passage?

A．Tracking calories can be a useful tool to keep fit.

B．Disordered eating is common but harmful.

C．Skipping foods won’t help you lose weight.

D．Knowing how your food is prepared can be beneficial.

3. If you have disordered eating problems, you’d better ______ accordingly.

A．avoid starchy foods	B．lose weight
C．prepare your food well	D．turn to the doctors

4. The author proves her point by ____________.

A．using examples	B．making a comparison
C．asking and answering	D．analyzing causes and effects

【推荐3】Adulting is hard. While high school students are at the forefront of technological and learning skills, it’s often not until they leave home that they learn everyday life skills. Some believe that high schools should offer a common sense course in which students are taught how to pay bills, change a tire or cook. Now, one Kentucky school is offering an “adulting day” to teach such skills to students in their senior year.

A class at Bullitt Central High School in Shepherdsville, Ky., traded in their algebra and literature classes for a day to learn some positive life skills, according to Wave 3 News.

“I think that the idea occurred to me, originally, when I saw a Facebook post that parents passed around saying they needed a class in high school on taxes and cooking, ” Christy Hardin, director of the BCHS Family Resource & Youth Services Center, told Wave 3. “Our kids can get that, but they have to choose it. And “Wednesday” was a day they could pick and choose pieces they didn’t feel like they had gotten so far.”

Members of the community helped provide the lessons for the students one on one, including local police who taught them how to interact with officers during traffic stops, a speaker who explained how to decipher the difference between homesickness and depression, and others who discussed how to use credit cards, how to cook in a dorm room and how to change a tire.

While many people on Facebook applauded the idea, with some arguing, “This should be taught in every high school,” others wondered what became of home economics.

Now known as Family and Consumer Sciences, these courses teach students how to cook, sew and budget, along with other skills. In many districts, however, the classes are electives and students do not always choose to take them.

“About time this came back, it was called Home Economics,” one woman wrote. “In today’s diverse make up of families it would be a welcome addition.”

Another shared, “We had home economics that taught us to cook and learned how to sew. We also had business math that taught us banking and finances. Why in the world is that not taught today? I mean, a special day called adulting to teach kids this stuff? Should be a required class credit.”

1. What can we infer from the first paragraph?

A．High school students are too busy to learn everyday life skills.

B．The schools in other districts have never taught everyday life skills to students.

C．High school students have all mastered technological and learning skills.

D．High school students are lacking in everyday life skills.

2. Why was BCHS brought to the attention of the public?

A．Because it did everything it could to cater to the parents.

B．Because it integrated life skills into its courses.

C．Because it offered parents opportunities to instruct classes.

D．Because it allowed students to decide on their own subjects.

3. The underlined word “decipher” in paragraph 4 probably means “________”.

A．determine

B．define

C．distinguish

D．distribute

4. What are most people’s attitudes towards the courses?

A．Supportive

B．Opposed

C．Skeptical

D．Indifferent

【推荐1】In 2012, Kim Stemple, a special-education teacher, found herself in a Boston hospital being treated for one of several diseases she had been diagnosed(诊断) with, including lupus and lymphoma. The normally confident Stemple was naturally getting very depressed. And then a friend gave her a medal.

Before she got too sick to exercise, Stemple had been a marathon runner. The medal came from a racing partner who had just finished a half marathon in Las Vegas and hoped the souvenir would act as a kind of feeling pick-me-up. It worked like a charm—and then some.

After Stemple hung the medal near her hospital bed, other patients said they wanted medals too. That got Stemple thinking. “A medal is a simple way to give a positive message,” she told pilotonline.com. And so was born her charity, We Finish Together, which collects medals from strangers—runners, dancers, swimmers, singers, and even spelling bee winners—and donates them to all sorts of people in need.

Those who received the medals have included hospital patients, residents of homeless shelters, and veterans. Part of the process involves the donor writing a personalized note on the ribbon. “This gives them a connection to someone,” says Stemple. “If they receive a medal, they know someone cares.”

Can a simple medal really make a difference? Yes, says Joan Musarra, who suffers from pulmonary fibrosis. “I opened my package containing my new medal and the notes of positive, warm thoughts, I was overwhelmed,” she wrote to Stemple. “At that moment, I was sitting on my couch breathing through life-support machine because my lungs have been worsening so badly. It means so much to me to feel that I am not alone.”

1. Why did Kim Stemple start We Finish Together?

A．To express a positive message to those in need.

B．To share medals collected from different people.

C．To show her sympathy to people in hospital.

D．To strengthen the relationship between the winners.

2. The underlined sentence in Paragraph 2 probably means that _________.

A．it was very effective

B．it was very charming

C．it added to her beauty

D．it attracted others immediately

3. What does Kim Stemple’s story convey to the readers?

A．Donating brings sunshine to both.

B．Sportsmanship can inspire people with hope.

C．People should help each other when in trouble.

D．The simple act of kindness really makes a person’s day.

【推荐2】In 1974, after filling out fifty applications, going through four interviews, and winning one offer, I took what I could get ----- a teaching job at what I considered a distant wild area: western New Jersey. My characteristic optimism was alive only when I reminded myself that I would be doing what I had wanted to do since I was fourteen ------- teaching English.
School started, but I felt more and more as if I were in a foreign country. Was this rural area really New Jersey? My students took a week off when hunting season began. I was told they were also frequently absent in late October to help their fathers make hay on the farms. I was a young woman from New York City, who thought that “Make hay while the sun shines” just meant to have a good time.
But, still, I was teaching English. I worked hard, taking time off only to eat and sleep. And then there was my sixth-grade class ---- seventeen boys and five girls who were only six years younger than me. I had a problem long before I knew it. I was struggling in my work as a young idealistic teacher. I wanted to make literature come alive and to promote a love of the written word. The students wanted to throw spitballs and whisper dirty words in the back of the room.
In college I had been taught that a successful educator should ignore bad behavior. So I did, confident that, as the textbook had said, the bad behavior would disappear as I gave my students positive attention. It sounds reasonable, but the text evidently ignored the fact that humans, particularly teenagers, rarely seems reasonable. By the time my boss, who was also my taskmaster, known to be the strictest, most demanding, most quick to fire inexperienced teachers, came into the classroom to observe me, the students exhibited very little good behavior to praise.
My boss sat in the back of the room. The boys in the class were making animal noises, hitting each other while the girls filed their nails or read magazines. I just pretended it all wasn’t happening, and went on lecturing and tried to ask some inspiring questions. My boss, sitting in the back of the classroom, seemed to be growing bigger and bigger. After twenty minutes he left, silently. Visions of unemployment marched before my eyes.
I felt mildly victorious that I got through the rest of class without crying, but at my next free period I had to face him. I wondered if he would let me finish out the day. I walked to his office, took a deep breath, and opened the door.
He was sitting in his chair, and he looked at me long and hard. I said nothing. All I could think of was that I was not an English teacher; I had been lying to myself, pretending that everything was fine.
When he spoke, he said simply, without accusation, “You had nothing to say to them.”
“You had nothing to say to them”. he repeated.” No wonder they are bored. Why not get to the meat of literature and stop talking about symbolism. Talk with them, not at them. And more important, why do you ignore their bad behavior”? We talked. He named my problems and offered solutions. We role-played. He was the bad student, and I was the forceful, yet, warm, teacher
As the year progressed, we spent many hours discussing literature and ideas about human beings and their motivations. He helped me identify my weaknesses and strengths. In short, he made a teacher of me by teaching me the reality of Emerson’s words: “The secret to education lies in respecting the pupil.”
Fifteen years later I still drive that same winding road to the same school. Thanks to the help I received that difficult first year, the school is my home now.
1. It can be inferred from the story that in 1974 ________________.

A．the writer became an optimistic person

B．the writer was very happy about her new job

C．it was rather difficult to get a job in the USA

D．it was easy to get a teaching job in New Jersey

2. According to the passage, which of the following is most probably the writer’s problem as a new teacher?

A．She had blind trust in what she learnt at college.

B．She didn’t ask experienced teachers for advice.

C．She took too much time off to eat and sleep.

D．She didn’t like teaching English literature.

3. What is the writer’s biggest worry after her taskmaster’s observation of her class?

A．She might lose her teaching job.

B．She might lose her students’ respect.

C．She couldn’t teach the same class any more.

D．She couldn’t ignore her students’ bad behavior any more.

4. Which of the following gives the writer a sense of mild victory?

A．Her talk about symbolism sounded convincing.

B．Her students behaved a little better than usual.

C．She managed to finish the class without crying.

D．She was invited for a talk by her boss after class.

5. The students behaved badly in the writer’s classes because

A．They were eager to embarrass her.

B．She didn’t really understand them.

C．They didn’t regard her as a good teacher.

D．She didn’t have a good command of English.

6. The taskmaster’s attitude towards the writer after his observation of her class can be described as________________.

A．cruel but encouraging	B．fierce but forgiving
C．sincere and supportive	D．angry and aggressive

【推荐3】Lucca, a retired US Marine Corps dog, was awarded the PDSA Dickin Medal at a ceremony in Wellington Barracks in London on Tuesday. The award is considered the animal equivalent (相等的东西)）of the Victoria Cross and was given out by veterinary charity. People's Dispensary for Sick Animals (PDSA).

The 12-year-old German shepherd (牧羊犬)）completed over 400 separate missions during six years of service. In 2012, Lucca discovered a 301b explosive (爆炸的）device while on patrol (巡逻），and when she started searching for other devices ，a second exploded . She lost her left leg and suffered severe chest burns, but thanks to life-saving first aid from her handler , Corporal Juan ，she was saved and recovered.

None of the soldiers were hurt in the explosion which took Lucca’s leg. Corporal Juan said, "Through all of her treatment and in spite of the pain she was in, her temperament never changed. Her fighting spirit was still clear to see and I was so proud of how quickly she recovered. "

Lucca is the 67th animal to be awarded a PDSA Dickin Award and the first US Marine Corps dog. The award, started in 1943 by PDSA founder, Maria Dickin, has been previously awarded to 30 dogs, 32 WWII(World War II) carrier pigeons, three horses and one cat.

The medal was awarded to Lucca by PDSA Director General, Jan Mcloughlin, who said, "Lucca's bravery together with devotion to duty makes her a hugely deserving recipient (接受者) of the PDSA Dickin Medal. Her ability and determination to seek out arms and explosives protected human life.”

Lucca attended the ceremony with her current owner, Gunnery Sergeant Christopher Willingham. Willingham said, “Lucca is very smart and loyal, and had an amazing drive or work as a search dog. Besides her unbelievable detection abilities, she was instrumental in increasing morale (士气)for the armies we supported.”

1. What's the main idea of this passage?

A．It educates people to show respect for animals especially search dogs.

B．It is a story about a dog serving as a US Marine Corps during World War II.

C．It tells a three-legged hero dog that was awarded the PDSA Dickin Medal.

D．It gives an introduction of the foundation of PDSA and its founder.

2. What happened to Lucca after the explosion while she was on Patrol?

A．She suffered serious leg burns.

B．She lost her left leg and suffered serious burns.

C．She saved many people although she lost her left legs.

D．She nearly lost two legs in the explosion

3. What can we learn from the passage?

A．Lucca's courage and devotion to duty have earned great respect.

B．Lucca is the only dog to have been awarded the PDSA Dickin Medal.

C．Lucca s temperament changed greatly after her recovery.

D．Lucca's fighting spirit was damaged by the explosion accident.

4. Which of the following statement is Not True about the PDSA Dickin Award?

A．It is awarded by the British government.

B．It is considered the animal equivalent of the Victoria Cross.

C．It was started in 1943 by the PDSA founder, Maria Dickin.

D．It has been previously awarded to other animals.

【推荐1】A new paper published in Environmental Research Letters has some warning news for people living in the lower 48 states: You may be at risk from river flooding and not even know it until the water starts to rise.

In fact, the study, estimates of present and future flood risk in the United States, found that 41 million U. S. residents are at risk from flooding along rivers. That’s three times more than current estimates based on the flood maps produced by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) , which primarily maps the areas at risk for 1-in-100-year floods in populous (人口众多的) river basins.

Why does the big difference come into being? As always, it’s all about the data. Generally, FEMA prioritizes risk-assessment areas based on their population; reserving expensive field-work methodologies (研究方法) for the more populous river basins, but many other rivers have not yet been mapped at all.

The size of the USA means that flood maps made in this way are incomplete. It would be too expensive and time-consuming to survey every river basin in America. The national-scale flood maps produced by FEMA leave the flood risk of many parts of the country unaccounted for.

For this research, scientists from The Nature Conservancy adopted a pioneering methodology that avoids the defects of the FEMA approach, where individual catchments (流域) are studied by making use of big data. The study used a new high-resolution model, produced by the flood-mapping organization Fathom, which copies floods on all rivers across the entire continental United States.

“We were all surprised by how many people are actually exposed to freshwater flooding in the USA,” said Oliver Wing, lead researcher on the study and a PhD student at the University of Bristol. “It’s particularly worrisome considering that most of these people aren’t even aware of the risk they face. This study helps fill that critical information gap.”

1. What did the new paper intend to tell readers?

A．The mistakes made by FEMA.

B．The serious situation of the flood.

C．The populous river basins of the USA.

D．The unseen risk of the flood in the USA.

2. Why is the map produced by FEMA incomplete?

A．It’s dangerous to research all the rivers.

B．The size of the USA is too big.

C．It ignores less populous rivers.

D．The efficiency of making it is low.

3. What does the underlined word “defects” in paragraph 5 mean?

A．Shortcomings.	B．Potential.
C．Consumption.	D．Contributions.

4. What attitude does Oliver Wing have to the study?

A．Critical.	B．Supportive.
C．Cautious.	D．Uncaring.

【推荐2】Goodbye, Columbus by Philip Roth

I had read American Pastoral three times and I was filled with so much respect and fear towards the book that it frightened me when it came to my own writing. Then one day it hit me that it wasn’t the first thing he’d written, so I picked up Goodbye, Columbus. It’s amazing to think of Roth, published at 26, and to see how much he grew by the time he wrote American Pastoral. The fact that you could have people just be extremely excited was a really calming, influential thing for me. It made me want to write.

Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume

I connected so much with that character as a young girl. As I got older, I realized that the settings of books that I love most are always the spiritual description. I still come back to this book all the time because of the vulnerability(脆弱性) in there. Every time I write now I think about that feeling that you get from some books, that you’ve really been let into the most frightened and quiet corners of someone’s soul.

The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris

I remember reading The Silence of the Lambs. There’s nothing more terrifying than someone who is intelligent and dangerous. He even had that longing to eat humans, which was terrible, but the magic was that he’d then say these really insightful things. I wouldn’t have written anything if I hadn’t read the line, “We strongly want to have what we see every day,” in my head. I loved the frightening insights into the possibilities of what’s existing unseen around you.

1. Why did the author decide to read Goodbye, Columbus?

A．It taught him how to write.	B．The book is highly spoken of.
C．He was touched by Roth’s books.	D．He was full of admiration for the author.

2. What affected the author’s writing in the second book?

A．The setting of the book.	B．The description of spirit.
C．The weakness of people.	D．The background knowledge.

3. What kind of book is The Silence of the Lambs?

A．A fairy tale.

B．A love story.

C．A science fiction.

D．A horror story.

【推荐3】James Gross, a psychology professor at Stanford University, has a 13-year-old daughter who loves math and science. “It hasn’t occurred to her yet that’s unusual,” he says. “But I know in the next couple of years, it will.”

She’s already being pulled out of class to do advanced things with a couple of other kids, who are guys. And as someone who studies human emotion for a procession, Gross says, “I know as time goes on, she will feel increasingly lonely as a girl who’s interested in math and science, and be at risk of narrowing her choices in life before finding out how far she could have gone.’’

Gross’ concern clearly shows what has been a touchy subject in the world of science for a long time: Why are there still so few women in science, and how might that affect what we learn from research?

Women now make up half the national workforce, earn more college and graduate degrees than men, and by some estimates represent the largest single economic force in the world. Yet the gender gap in science persists, to a greater degree than in other professions, particularly in high-end, math-intensive fields such as computer science and engineering.

According to US Census Bureau statistics, women in fields commonly referred to as STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) made up 7 percent of that workforce in 1970, a figure that had jumped to 23 percent by 1990. But the rise essentially stopped there. Two decades later, in 2011, women made up 26 percent of the science workforce.

1. According to James Gross, in the near future his daughter may       .

A．become a great scientist

B．feel lonely and have fewer choices

C．be pulled out of class with some guys

D．learn math and science better and better

2. We can learn from the text that       .

A．women are cleverer than men in college

B．men represent the largest single economic force

C．women make up more than 50% of the national workforce

D．the number of women graduating from college is larger than that of men

3. How does the author develop the last paragraph?

A．By providing examples.

B．By making comments.

C．By following time order.

D．By explaining the process.

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

A．Why It Is Important to Get More Women Into Science

B．James Gross, Confusion About His daughter

C．Situation of Women in the Whole Country

D．Future of women in the Workforce