【推荐1】Holly O'Brien didn't know Meagan Hughes, another Korean American nurse working on the same floor at Doctors Hospital of Sarasota. After O'Brien and Hughes finally met, they did begin to notice parallels' in their lives. They were both certified (持证的) nursing assistants. They were both orphans who had been adopted by American families. And their reasons for ending up at the orphanages (孤儿院) were the same: abandonment.

Suddenly, the coincidences seemed more than merely interesting. In fact, for years, O'Brien sensed that she'd had a half-sister in Republic of Korea. Though her mother had disappeared when she was an infant and she was only five when her father was killed by a train, she had a memory of her and her father living, briefly, with his second wife and a baby girl. O'Brien was ultimately adopted by a loving couple from Alexandria, Virginia, but her Korean childhood never left her. She remembered one night, when she was about nine years old, she woke up from a dream and screamed, “My daddy died. I have a sister. I need to find her.” O'Brien's adoptive family contacted the orphanage in Korea for information, but there was no record of a sibling.

Hughes wasn't troubled by lingering memories; instead, she was haunted because she didn't have any. Adopted when she was four by a family in Kingston, New York, she couldn't remember either of her biological parents. “My whole life has been a question in my mind, and emptiness,” she said.

Now the coincidence of meeting O'Brien offered the chance to fill in the blanks. A year ago, the urses decided to take at-home DNA tests and mailed the samples away to be analyzed. Less than two weeks later, O'Brien got an e-mail. Their DNA matched -- they were half-sisters.

“Is this really happening?” said Hughes. O'Brien was shocked but also relieved. “In my heart, I knew,” she said "I knew she was out there somewhere.” After more than for long decades O'Brien had finally found the missing piece of her pest, working just a few feet away from her.

Today, the sisters wear special necklaces, each with a heart-shaped charm, as a symbol of their bond. “She will always be in my heart,” said O'Brien.

1. Which is true about Holly O'Brien and Meagan Hughes according to the passage?

A．They ended up in the same orphanage for the same reason.

B．They were adopted by the same American family.

C．They worked on the same floor in the same hospital.

D．They were both qualified nurses.

2. What can we learn from the second paragraph?

A．Their parents were both killed in a traffic accident

B．O'Brien's adoptive family treated her in earnest.

C．O'Brien was upset by unpleasant memories but Hughes wasn't.

D．O'Brien remembered she had had a half-sister in another American family.

3. Which of the following is the best to replace the underlined word “lingering” in Paragraph 3?

A．existing	B．miserable
C．unfading	D．earliest

4. What is the best title of the passage?

A．Half-sisters	B．Special necklaces
C．Two orphans	D．Tight bonds

【推荐3】“It is a dreadful thing to be poor a fortnight before Christmas, ” said Clorinda, with the mournful sigh of seventeen years.
Aunt Emmy smiled. Aunt Emmy was sixty, and spent the hours she didn’t spend in a bed, on a sofa or in a wheel chair; but Aunt Emmy was never heard to sigh.
“The gifts which money can purchase are not the only ones we can give,” said Aunt Emmy gently, “nor the best, either.”
“Oh, I know it's nicer to give something of your own work,” agreed Clorinda, “but materials for fancy work cost too. That kind of gift is just as much out of the question for me as any other.”
“That was not what I meant,” said Aunt Emmy.
“What did you mean, then?” asked Clorinda, looking puzzled.
Aunt Emmy smiled.
“Suppose you think out my meaning for yourself,” she said. “That would be better than if I explained it. Besides, I don't think I could explain it. Take the beautiful line of a beautiful poem to help you in your thinking out: '_________________.”
“I'd put it the other way and say, 'The giver without the gift is bare,” said Clorinda. “That is my predicament(窘境)exactly. Well, I hope by next Christmas I'll not be quite bankrupt. I'm going into Mr. Callender's store down at Murraybridge in February. He has offered me the place, you know.”
“Won't your aunt miss you terribly?” said Aunt Emmy gravely. “I think she would rather have your companionship than a part of your salary, Clorinda,” said Aunt Emmy. “But of course you must decide for yourself, dear.”
“Well, I must say bye-bye and run home.” Clorinda lived just across the road from Aunt Emmy in a tiny white house behind some huge willows. But Aunt Mary lived there too--the only relative Clorinda had, for Aunt Emmy wasn't really her aunt at all. Clorinda had always lived with Aunt Mary ever since she could remember.
Clorinda puzzled over Aunt Emmy's meaning for days. Then all at once it came to her. On Christmas Day, Clorinda went over to Aunt Emmy's.Aunt Emmy was lying on the sofa before the fire, and Clorinda sat down beside her.
“I've come to tell you all about it,” she said. “Aunt Emmy, I thought for days over your meaning ... And then one evening it just came to me. At first I didn't think I could give some of them, and then I thought how selfish I was. I would have been willing to pay any amount of money for gifts if I had had it, but I wasn't willing to pay what I had. I got over that, though, Aunt Emmy. Now I'm going to tell you what I did give.”
“First, there was old Aunt Kitty. You know she was my nurse when I was a baby. She is always glad when I go to see her, but I've never gone except when I couldn't help it. She is very deaf, and rather dull and stupid, you know. Well, I gave her a whole day. I took my knitting yesterday, and sat with her the whole time and just talked and talked. She was so pleased and proud; she told me when I came away that she hadn't had such a nice time for years. ”
“Then there was ... Florence. You know, Aunt Emmy, we were always intimate friends until last year. Then Florence once told Rose Watson something I had told her _______ I found it out and I was so hurt. I couldn't forgive Florence, and I told her plainly I could never be a real friend to her again. Florence felt badly, because she really did love me, and she asked me to forgive her, but it seemed as if I couldn't. Well, Aunt Emmy, that was my Christmas gift to her ... my forgiveness.”
“I gave Aunt Mary her gift this morning. I told her I wasn't going to Murraybridge, that I just meant to stay home with her. She was so glad--and I'm glad, too, now that I've decided so.”
“Your gifts have been real gifts, Clorinda,” said Aunt Emmy. “Something of you--the best of you--went into each of them.”
“I didn't forget you, Aunt Emmy,” she said, as she unpinned the paper.
There was a rosebush. Aunt Emmy loved flowers. She put her finger under one of the roses and kissed it.
“It's as sweet as yourself, dear child,” she said tenderly. “And it will be a joy to me all through the lonely winter days. You've found out the best meaning of Christmas giving, haven't you, dear?”
“Yes, thanks to you, Aunt Emmy,” said Clorinda softly.
1. Clorinda felt anxious before Christmas because___________.

A．She had to leave Aunt Mary

B．She didn’t know what kind of Christmas gifts she should buy

C．She had not enough money to buy Christmas gifts

D．She had no time to make a proper decision

2. Which of the following sentences can best explain the line “The gift without the giver is bare.”？

A．A gift is valued by the mind of the giver.

B．Forgiveness is a gift for the giver and the receiver.

C．You cannot buy love or respect with expensive gifts.

D．Think twice before you give gifts to somebody

3. What is the gift that Clorinda gave to old Aunt Kitty?

A．Passion

B．Sympathy

C．Kindness

D．Company

4. What does the underlined phrase “in confidence” mean?

A．respectfully

B．confidently

C．secretly

D．willingly

5. Which two words can best describe Aunt Emmy?

A．cute and joyful	B．kind-hearted and emotional
C．optimistic and wise	D．gentle and timid (羞怯的)

6. Which of the following is the best title?

A．A Special Christmas	B．Clorinda’s Gifts
C．Aunt Emmy	D．Clorinda’s Choice

【推荐2】Living by the forest may be romantic, but living in a city makes you more attractive to the opposite sex if you are a frog, at least.

Increasingly, recent studies have shown significant differences between urban animals and rural creatures from the same species —and this makes a lot of sense. Mankind is causing dramatic changes over a wide range of environments and many creatures are slowly adapting to urban conditions. Just recently, researchers found that some urban spiders are no longer afraid of lights; now, a new study reports that city life makes male frogs more attractive.

The authors, led by Wouter Halfwerk from the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, compared the “chuck” calls of frogs living in both urban areas and forests near the Panama Canal. Previous research had found that creatures, such as birds, frogs, and grasshoppers sing or call differently in noisy urban areas, but it was unclear what the effects of these changes are.

“Urbanization can cause species to adjust their sexual displays, because the effectiveness of mating signals is influenced by environmental conditions,” researchers write in the study. “Despite many examples that show that mating signals in urban conditions differ from those in rural conditions, we do not know whether these differences provide a combined reproductive and survival benefit.”

Now, researchers found that urban frogs “sing” more often and use more complex calls than their rural counterparts. They then recorded these calls and played them back to female frogs in the lab. They found that 75% of the females were more attracted to the more complex urban calls.

It’s not exactly clear why this happens, though researchers suspect it has a lot to with how safe the environment is. While calling out can help you get a mate, it can also draw in predators. Since cities generally have far fewer predators, frogs are free and safe to let out their sounds. “It definitely shows that if you change the abundance of predators, parasites(寄生虫) and mates, that induces a strong evolutionary response,” says Halfwerk.

1. Which is an example of animals adapting to the urban conditions?

A．The frogs in the city can live longer.

B．Some urban spiders are used to the lights.

C．The female frogs in the city can attract more male frogs.

D．Some creatures in the city begin to increase their calls.

2. The difference of urban creatures is________.

A．helping these animals find partners easily	B．helping these animals survive in the city
C．having no clear conclusion up to now	D．having powerful abilities to give birth

3. Urban frogs are more attractive because of________.

A．the pleasant looks	B．their smells
C．the ability to catch pests	D．their singing

4. What is the meaning of the underlined word “predators” in paragraph 6?

A．Animals which live on frogs.	B．Insects which frogs like to eat.
C．Frogs which have larger size.	D．Birds which sing better than rural ones.

【推荐1】There are stories about two U.S. presidents, Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren, who try to explain the American English term “OK”. We don’t know if either story is true, but they are both interesting.

The first explanation is based on the fact that President Jackson had very little education. In fact, he had difficulty reading and writing. When important papers came to Jackson, he tried to read them and then had his assistants explain what they said. If he agreed with a paper, he would write “all correct” on it. The problem was that he didn’t know how to spell. So what he really wrote was “ol korekt”. After a while, he shortened that term to “OK”.

The second explanation is based on the place where President Van Buren was born, Kinderhook, New York. Van Buren’s friends organized a club to help him become President. They called the club the Old Kinderhook Club, and anyone who supported Van Buren was called “OK”.

1. The writer ________.

A．believes both of the stories

B．doesn’t believe a word of the stories

C．is not sure whether the stories are true

D．is telling the stories just for fun

2. According to the first story, the term “OK” ________.

A．was approved of by President Jackson

B．was the title of some official documents

C．was shortened by President Jackson

D．was an old way to spell “all correct”

3. According to the second story, the term “OK” ________.

A．was the short way to say “Old Kinderhook Club”

B．meant the place where President Van Buren was born

C．was the name of Van Buren’s club

D．was used to call Van Buren’s supporters in the election

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

A．The stories of the letters “OK”.

B．The stories of the president election.

C．The stories of American presidents.

D．The history of the letters “OK”.

【推荐3】Ekua Holmes and Elam Walker are cousins who grew up together in Roxbury, Mass. They based their first book named Dream Street on their childhood living place—a beautiful place full of parks and gardens, full of different kinds of houses, old and new, full of different persons, old and young.

“We grew up together, played a lot together and created a lot together,” says Elam Walker. She was a lawyer but gave up her job to write. They knew they wanted to work on a book together, but they didn’t quite know where to begin. So Holmes began sending her cousin images of collages (拼贴画) with their experiences of daily life.

In them Elam Walker found some poems in a book and a piece of wallpaper in their home from the 1950s...cloth and lace (饰带) used before and things like that. Elam Walker love all the things that have been used before because they already had a life, and they already had a story.

Elam Walker pieced together the story, filling Dream Street with characters from their childhood. They named the librarian after Elam Walker’s mother, Ms. Barbara, who loved books, especially children’s books and thought children’s books could solve the problems of the world. They were also inspired by everyone in the neighborhood; from their teachers, to their cousins, to church ladies. “I was always crazy about them, in their beautiful hats and flowers. And even people at the bus stop,” says Holmes. “Those are the moments that we may walk by every day but not realize how precious they are.”

They write together and dream that someday they’ll create the book about their child-hood. “I just love,” says Elam Walker, “that our story is written in the story and it’s the story of our dream.”

1. What did Elam Walker do before she decided to write?

A．A lawyer.

B．A teacher.

C．A farmer.

D．A writer.

2. What does the underlined word “them” in paragraph 3 refer to?

A．The things that they used before.

B．Their experiences of daily life.

C．Some kinds of poems in a book.

D．The images of collages.

3. Why did the author mention the name Ms. Barbara?

A．To make comparisons.	B．To introduce the topic.
C．To provide an example.	D．To support an argument.

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

A．The True Friendship of Two Cousins

B．The Experiences of Two Cousins’ Childhood

C．Designing a Book’s Characters from the Childhood

D．Writing a Book Based on the Childhood Hometown

【推荐1】A group of people introduced themselves to me and my German classmate Julia. They were from a production company, currently in the process of filming a movie based in Du’an, a rural area a few hours north of Nanning. They tried to explain the plot of the film, but neither mine nor Julia’s Chinese was good enough to fully understand what they were saying. They then asked if we would be interested in being part of the project.

I came to China to experience new things and new opportunities, and being in a movie sounded so exciting. So in less than a second, I jumped at the chance of being in the film. Julia on the other hand was not so enthusiastic. It took 30 minutes to convince her to be part of the film, and she eventually accepted the chance.

That afternoon we were taken to the production company’s office to meet the director and some of the cast. We all sat together, drinking tea, talking about why Julia and I were in China and about the film. It seemed a little bit like a dream.

Ever since I was a small child, I dreamed of becoming a movie star, but I would never have guessed that my dream would come true, especially now in China.

At the end of the talk, we were given scripts(剧本)and had a few photographs taken. We were given the production schedule and ensured that our scenes would only be shot at weekends so it wouldn’t interfere with our studies. We left the office and were excited about the film, unknowing what filming was actually like.

On our first day of filming, we were picked up in the early morning from the university and we drove deep into the countryside.

We arrived at the location and waited for our scene to be shot. We watched as the other actors and crew went about their work, busy shooting and reshooting the same scene from different angles and perspectives. I never knew how much effort and care went into filming even the shortest and simplest scene. It was then our turn to shoot, and I was very nervous and very excited.

1. From the first paragraph we know that______.

A．the writer was also a German

B．Du’an is the name of a film

C．neither the writer’s Chinese nor her classmate’s was very good

D．the group of people wanted the writer to be the director of the film

2. From the passage we can learn that the writer______.

A．was interested in new things

B．was interested in exciting films

C．jumped high in the film

D．wasn’t as enthusiastic as Julia about the film

3. Which of the following is TRUE about the filming?

A．Before being part of the film, the writer had to make friends with the director.

B．An actor or actress must recite all the scripts.

C．Before being part of the film, one must know what filming is actually like.

D．Sometimes the same scene can be shot or reshot many times.

4. What might happen in the following paragraph?

A．The writer was praised in her university.

B．The writer became very famous as a new actress.

C．How the writer performed in the film.

D．How the writer got on with other actors.

5. Which of the following is a suitable title for the passage?

A．A foreign girl’s adventure

B．A foreign girl’s experience as an “actress”

C．A foreign girl’s college life in China

D．A foreign girl’s trip to the countryside

【推荐2】Naquela Wright’s life took an unexpected turn when she lost her eyesight as a teenager, but even when her world became dark, the New Jersey resident didn’t want to quit social media.

Using Facebook was a challenge at first. Diagnosed in 2010 with pseudotumor cerebri, a rare health condition in which pressure increases around the brain and can result in the loss of vision, Wright learned how to use a screen reader to read the site through the touch of the keyboard and sound of a robotic voice. Still, when a friend sends her a photo, Wright often has no clue what the image shows.

Now Facebook is trying to solve this problem by exploiting the power of artificial intelligence to create new tools that not only describe items in a photo but allows users to ask what’s in an image.

“I can have a basic picture in my mind of what’s going on in the picture and now I can comment on my own,” said Wright, who got to try out the new tools that are still being tested. “Of course, it’s different, but it’s something more than I had.”

An estimated 285 million people are visually disabled globally, according to the World Health Organization, and research conducted by Facebook showed that blind users have trouble figuring out what’s in a photo because the description isn’t clear or doesn’t exist.

Facebook has made it easier to skim through the content on its website with a screen reader by improving HTML headings, adding alternative text for images, launching keyboard shortcuts, and more. Using artificial intelligence to describe photos is only a part of these ongoing efforts.

With 1.5 billion users, Facebook isn’t the only social media company that wants to improve its website for the visually disabled. Along with Facebook and other major tech firms, Twitter and LinkedIn have their own accessibility teams and belong to an initiative called “Teaching Accessibility”.

Jeff Wieland, Facebook’s head of accessibility engineering, said the group wants to educate more engineers, especially early in college, about designing products that are compatible with the disabled and others. “We really don’t want accessibility to be the luxury of a handful of companies,” Wieland said. “We want everything around the world to be built with accessibility in mind.”

1. What tool helps the visually disabled to read Facebook?

A．A screen reader.	B．A special keyboard.
C．A helpful robot.	D．HTML headings.

2. What can be inferred from the passage about the new tool created by Facebook?

A．It adds a lot of shortcuts on the keyboard.

B．It helps users to employ their senses other than sight.

C．It meets no competitors with its advanced technology.

D．It inspires more engineers to explore artificial intelligence.

3. The underlined phrase in the last paragraph “are compatible with” most probably means ________.

A．are unaffordable to	B．bring harm to
C．keep company of	D．well suit

4. Which of the following is the best title for this passage?

A．Screen reader: tool to access social media

B．Ongoing efforts: strength to improve websites

C．Artificial intelligence: power to help the blind

D．Teaching accessibility: initiative to educate engineers