【推荐1】As the birthplace of kites in the world, Weifang, Shandong province of China, produces beautiful, vivid, colorful and high-quality kites. Now, more than 70% of kites in the world are exported from Weifang. If you want to see various shapes and sizes of kites covering the sky, you cannot miss the Weifang Kite Festival held on the third Saturday of every April.

But this year, tens of thousands of Chinese participants gathered in Weifang, from Sept 26 to 29 for the 37th International Kite Festival. Held since 1984, the International Kite Festival is an annual event to “exhibit the excellence of the kite lovers to the public,” according to the festival's website.

During the festival, kite lovers can enjoy stunt (特技表演) kite flying, also known as aerial ballet. Controlled by either a single person or a group, the kites form different shapes in the air. People always devote a lot of time and wisdom to making their own kites. From animals that crawl (爬行) on the ground or swim in the water to legends like Monkey King, everything can fly in the sky at the festival. One of this year's highlights was the giant kites decorated with images of medical staff and the Long March 5 rocket, which reflect the hot topics this year.

“Flying a kite is like flying your dream. All the cultural symbols from ancient and modern times can be found in the sky of Weifang,” noted Medium. After more than three decades of development, the festival has become a place to appreciate kites. But most importantly, it serves as a unique cultural event to promote international exchange.

1. What does the text mainly talk about?

A．A kite festival.	B．A kite birthplace.
C．The future of kites.	D．Kite performances.

2. For what purpose is the kite festival held every year?

A．To enjoy animals flying in the air.	B．To show kite-lovers' brilliance.
C．To perform specialized kite flying.	D．To enhance Weifang's global impact.

3. What can be known from Paragraph 3?

A．It takes a lot of trouble to make a kite.	B．Stunt kite flying is the only highlight.
C．Imagination can be shown in the kite.	D．Decorations matter least in the show.

4. What is the most important role the festival plays?

A．It helps organize an international event.

B．It offers tips on how to appreciate kites.

C．It helps make the place known worldwide.

D．It enhances international cultural exchange.

【推荐2】This Monday, the nation will start to celebrate Presidents’ Day, just seven days before George Washington’s birthday. Everyone agrees that day is a holiday, but is it just to celebrate George Washington’s Birthday? What about Abraham Lincoln? Some government offices call it Presidents’ Day. Others say the holiday is officially Washington’s Birthday. Confused yet?

George Washington was elected the country’s first President on April 30, 1789. Soon after, Americans began publicly celebrating his birthday. Presidential historians say the actual date of George Washington’s birth is February 11, 1732. But a change in the calendar system 20 years later shifted all dates，making Washington’s birthday February 22, which is now well accepted. In 1879, Congress made Washington’s birthday an official federal holiday. It was the first federal holiday to celebrate an individual’s birthday. In 1968, Congress passed the Monday Holidays Act, which moved the holiday to the third Monday in February. The new law did not change the holiday’s name. It was still called Washington’s Birthday, even though some lawmakers wanted to call it Presidents’ Day to include Abraham Lincoln, whose actual birthday is February 12.

Many people argue that the holiday should celebrate all past Presidents. They feel Lincoln should be honored for his role in preserving the nation during the Civil War and helping to free slaves. Others feel the holiday should only honor Washington, the country’s first President. They say shifting the focus away from Washington would mean future generations of kids would not know about the Father of Our Country.

Laws have been introduced in Congress over the years to require use of the term ＂George Washington’s Birthday.＂but none of those laws have been passed. Meanwhile, many state governments and school districts now use the term ＂Presidents’ Day.＂Many stoles also use it to promote holiday sales.

Should the holiday honor Washington, Washington and Lincoln, or all past Presidents? Write to emailbag@timeforkids.com and tell us what you think.

1. The President’s Day was originally designed to honor____________.

A．George Washington	B．Abraham Lincoln
C．all presidents	D．the Civil War

2. What can we infer from the passage?

A．Washington’s Birthday is the same as Lincoln’s.

B．The change in the calendar system was not wise.

C．The new act changed the holiday’s name.

D．This Monday is the third one of this February.

3. What’s the main argument about this holiday?

A．When to celebrate the holiday.

B．How to celebrate the holiday.

C．Which president to honor.

D．Where to celebrate the holiday.

4. What’s the best title for this passage?

A．Why people celebrate President Day

B．The history and debate behind Presidents’ Day

C．To celebrate Presidents’ Day or not

D．Colorful activities on Presidents’ Day

【推荐3】Planning a visit to the UK? Here we help with ways to cut your costs.

AVOID BIG EVENTS

Big sporting events, concerts and exhibitions can increase the cost of accommodation and make it harder to find a room. A standard double room at the Thistle Brighton on the final Friday of the Brighton Comedy Festival (19 Oct.) cost £169.15 at Booking.com. A week later, the same room cost £118.15.

If you can be flexible and want to know dates to avoid — or you’re looking for a big event to pass your time — check out sites such as Whatsonwhen.com, which allow you to search for events in the UK by city, date and category.

STAYAWAY FROM THE STATION

If traveling to your destination by train, you may want to find a good base close to the station, but you could end up paying more for the sake of convenience at the start of your holiday.

Don’t be too choosy about the part of town you stay in. Booking two months in advance, the cheapest room at Travelodge’s Central Euston hotel in London for Saturday 22 September was £95.95. A room just a tube journey away at its Covent Garden hotel was £75.75. And at Farringdon, a double room cost just £62.95.

LOOK AFTER YOURSELF

Really central hotels in cities such as London, Edinburgh and Cardiff can cost a fortune, especially at weekends and during big events. As an alternative consider checking into a self-catering flat with its own kitchen. Often these flats are hidden away on the top floors of city centre buildings. A great example is the historic O’Neill Flat on Edinburgh’s Royal Mile, available for £420 for five days in late September, with room for four adults.

GET ON A BIKE

London’s ‘Boris bikes’ have attracted the most attention, but other cities also have similar programmes that let you rent a bicycle and explore at your own pace, saving you on public transport or car parking costs.

Among the smaller cities with their own programmes are Newcastle (casual members pay around £1.50 for two hours) and Cardiff (free for up to 30 minutes, or £5 per day).

1. “Farringdon” in Paragraph 5 is most probably __________.

A．a hotel away from the train station	B．the tube line to Covent Garden
C．an ideal holiday destination	D．the name of a travel agency

2. The passage shows that the O’Neill Flat __________.

A．lies on the ground floor

B．is located in central London

C．provides cooking facilities for tourists

D．costs over £100 on average per day in late September

3. The main purpose of the passage is __________.

A．to tell visitors how to book in advance

B．to supply visitors with hotel information

C．to show visitors the importance of self-help

D．to offer visitors some money-saving tips

【推荐2】Writers of science fiction often feel more prescient (预知的) than others. Whether it’s the architectural and social dystopias of J.G. Ballard’s novels, or the world of E.M. Forster’s The Machine Stops, the genre is full of prescient writers dealing with ever more familiar issues.

Out of all such writers, few seem more likely to predict our times than author Philip K. Dick, who died 42 years ago. In a remarkably 30-year period of work, Dick authored 44 novels and countless short stories, adaptations of which redefined science fiction on screen — in particular Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner, based on Dick’s story Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? and Paul Verhoeven’s Total Recall, which took his 1966 short story We Can Remember It for You Wholesale as its source material.

Dick had a astonishing ability to predict what would happen in modern world. Celebrated science-fiction and fantasy author Stan Nicholls suggested Dick’s work was prescient because it explored the future through the then-present. “His stories foresaw the availability of the Internet, virtual reality, facial recognition software, driverless cars and 3D printing,” Nicholls said — while also pointing out that “it’s a misinterpretation that prediction is the primary purpose of science fiction.” The genre’s hit rate is actually not very good in that respect. Like all the best science fiction, his stories weren’t really about the future; they were about the here and now.”

Putting aside Dick’s ability to foresee the future we now take for granted, his most disturbing vision was of the world itself ultimately being a simulation (模拟). Dick’s reality was already a delicate and complex one. In many of his later books, the idea of reality being a façade (假象) grew as a dominant theme. “Dick argued we were existing in a simulation,” Nicholls suggested.

Whether his visions were true, as he believed, a product of small problems in the simulation or his fading mental health, one thing is for certain: the world in which the work of Philip K. Dick is celebrated today feels ever closer to the ones imagined by this most unique and exceptional of writer.

1. How does the author explain the topic in Paragraph 1?

A．By listing examples.	B．By using metaphors.
C．By making a comparison.	D．By introducing an concept.

2. What could be inferred from Paragraph 2?

A．Dick can predict the future precisely.

B．Some directors like to adapt Dick’s novels into movies.

C．Dick’s novels redefined what science fiction was about.

D．No one wrote more science fiction novels of our times than Dick.

3. A universal feature of all the best science fiction stories is that they _______.

A．have a high hit rate	B．are good at predicting
C．focus on the present	D．explore the distant future

4. What does the author want to convey in the last paragraph?

A．Philip K. Dick had a great impact on science.

B．Philip K. Dick had traveled into the future then.

C．People don’t agree to Philip K. Dick’s prediction.

D．The world in Philip K. Dick’s works is similar to today’s world.

【推荐3】For many, college is a means to a good job. For Hollywood stars, college is an opportunity to be like everyone else.

Jodie Foster

By age 14, she had appeared in two dozen television series and 10 feature films, including Taxi Driver. Yet, she stepped away from the film business at the height of her career to attend Yale University. It paid off Foster graduated in 1985 with a degree in literature, and she was later awarded a degree in fine arts. Her career didn’t suffer, either. She went on to win two Oscars, for The Accused and The Silence of the lambs, and to direct several films.

Jerry O’Connell

Actor Jerry O’Connell made a name for himself at age 11 as the star of Stand by Me. After a few more projects, h took a break from acting to attend New York University. Now he is finishing up his law degree at Southwestern Law School in Los Angeles. He enrolled in night classes in 2009 before playing a lawyer in the television series The Defenders.

Natalie Portman
       The Black Swan star, who first acted in The Professional at 13, reportedly skipped Star Wars: Episode I to study for her high school finals. She went on to Harvard and graduated with a bachelor's degree in psychology in 2003. After Harvard, Portman took graduate courses at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and later appeared as a guest lecturer at a Columbia University course. And in 2011, she won her first Oscar for Black Swan.
Brooke Shields

Actress Brooke Shields basically came of age on screen, playing in Pretty Baby, The Blue Lagoon and Endless Love. Later, she went for her bachelor’s degree at Princeton University and it was the degree, in the end, that served her. “Without those four years of learning and growth, I would have never survived my industry, a business that eats its young. I would never have been able to adapt and to reinvent myself from movies to television, to stage, to author,” Shields told The Washington Post.

1. According to the text, Jodie Foster__________.

A．won two Oscars when studying in college	B．had directed some films by age 14
C．began her acting career in 1985	D．got two degrees in college

2. The Black Swan star once attended________.

A．Yale University	B．Harvard University
C．Princeton University	D．New York University

3. What can we learn from Shields’ words?

A．She never dreamt she could be a star.	B．She became famous due to her degree.
C．She greatly benefited from her college study.	D．She hated the competition in the film business.

4. What do the four people mentioned in the text have in common?

A．They are all Oscar winners.

B．They majored in psychology in college.

C．They went to college in order to get better jobs.

D．They were child stars who became college graduates.