【推荐1】Once upon a time, there was a farmer. He didn't have a lot of money, so he used an old horse to plow(耕)his field instead of a tractor(拖拉机).

One afternoon, while working in the field, the horse died. Everyone in the village said, "Oh, what a terrible thing!" The farmer just said, "We'll see." He was such a good person that the villagers got together and bought him a new horse as a gift.

Then many people said, "What a lucky man!" And the farmer replied, "We'll see."

A few days later, the new horse jumped over the wall and ran away. Everyone in the village said, "What a poor man!"

The farmer smiled and said. "We'll see." But finally, the horse found his way home, and everyone said, "What a fortunate man!" The farmer said, "We'll see."

Later in the year, the farmer's young boy went out, riding on the horse. He fell off the horse and broke his leg. Everyone in the village said, "What a poor boy!" The farmer said, "We'll see."

Two days later, the army came into the village to ask people to be soldiers. When they saw that the farmer's son had a broken leg, they decided not to ask him to join the army.

Everyone said, "What a lucky young man!" The farmer smiled again and said, "We'll see."

1. The farmer used a horse to plow the field because _____.

A．he was too poor to afford a tractor

B．the horse was very young and strong

C．the horse was his best friend

D．the field was only suitable for horses

2. After the horse died, the farmer was _____ when he heard the villagers' words.

A．happy

B．afraid

C．calm

D．angry

3. From the passage we learn that _____.

A．we should do things when we can

B．we should be sad when we are in trouble

C．we should not believe what other people say

D．if we are positive, all situations (境遇) are gifts

【推荐2】I received a message on WeChat. It began harmlessly enough: “Hey, girl Wanted to invite you to join my next challenge group —we’ll be focusing on fitting in 30minutes of exercise and balanced nutrition.”

It was all becoming too much. WeChat was running my life, not me.

But what killed WeChat for me was when I posted a photo, and five minutes later my son asked me how many “likes” it had got. His question was a wake-up call.

Before WeChat, surfing the internet was occasional and I spent a lot more time reading books and magazines. I checked in with friends through texts, emails and phone calls.

To recreate the simple life of those days and set a healthier example for my son, I deactivated my WeChat account.

I’d been in the habit of checking WeChat many times a day, so I had to come up with some new habits. I carried a novel around with me. I picked up knitting. I started taking yoga classes.

I started to remember a few things. My body is fine just the way it is. I have friends who will help me out when I’m in trouble, and I will help them out. I do my best to be a good mother, and our son is happy and healthy. We are very lucky to be able to have two vacations a year.

I stopped looking at the world through my cellphone. I felt completely present in the moment.

The break left me feeling better about myself, my family, my home and my life.

After a few weeks, I returned to WeChat. Now I look at the photos of my friends’ kids growing up and treasure how social media allows me to keep in touch with family far and wide. I look in on a daily basis, but no longer with the desire constantly to post updates.

It is not an addiction any more.

1. The underlined word “deactivate” in Paragraph 6 is closest in meaning to “________”.

A．close

B．update

C．keep

D．check

2. What did the author think of the break from WeChat?

A．it was good for her eyes.	B．It stopped her getting news.
C．It distanced her from her friends.	D．It gave her time to find beauty in life

3. What is the author’s attitude towards constantly using social media?

A．Positive

B．Supportive

C．Negative

D．Indifferent.

【推荐1】One morning, Ann’s neighbor Tracy found a lost dog wandering around the local elementary school. She asked Ann if she could keep an eye on the dog. Ann said that she could watch it only for the day.

Tracy took photos of the dog and printed off 400 FOUND fliers (传单), and put them in mailboxes. Meanwhile, Ann went to the dollar store and bought some pet supplies, warning her two sons not to fall in love with the dog. At the time, Ann’s son Thomas was 10 years old, and Jack, who was recovering from a heart operation, was 21 years old.

Four days later Ann was still looking after the dog, whom they had started to call Riley. When she arrived home from work, the dog threw itself against the screen door and barked madly at her. As soon as she opened the door, Riley dashed into the boys’ room where Ann found Jack suffering from a heart attack. Riley ran over to Jack, but as soon as Ann bent over to help him the dog went silent.

“If it hadn’t come to get me, the doctor said Jack would have died,” Ann reported to a local newspaper. At this point, no one had called to claim the dog, so Ann decided to keep it.

The next morning Tracy got a call. A man named Peter recognized his lost dog and called the number on the flier. Tracy started crying, and told him, “That dog saved my friend’s son.” Peter drove to Ann’s house to pick up his dog, and saw Thomas and Jack crying in the window. After a few moments Peter said, “Maybe Odie was supposed to find you, maybe you should keep it.”

1. What did Tracy do after finding the dog?

A．She looked for its owner	B．She gave it to Ann as a gift.
C．She sold it to the dollar store.	D．She bought some food for it.

2. How did the dog help save Jack?

A．By breaking the door for Ann.	B．By leading Ann to Jack’s room.
C．By dragging Jack out of the room.	D．By attending Jack when Ann was out.

3. What was Ann’s attitude to the dog according to Paragraph 4?

A．Sympathetic	B．Doubtful
C．Tolerant	D．Grateful

4. For what purpose did Peter call Tracy?

A．To help her friend’s son.	B．To interview Tracy
C．To take back his dog.	D．To return the flier to her.

5. What can we infer about the dog from the last paragraph?

A．It would be given to Odie.	B．It would be kept by Ann’sfamily.
C．It would be returned to Peter.	D．It would be taken away by Tracy.

【推荐2】Every man wants his son to be somewhat of a clone, not in features but in footsteps. As he grows you also age, and your dreams become more unachievable. You begin to realize that your boy, in your footsteps, could probably finish what you hoped for. But footsteps can be muddied and they can go off in different directions.

My son Jody has hated school since day one in kindergarten. Science projects waited until the last moment. Book reports weren’t written until the deadline.

I’ve been a newspaperman all my adult life. My daughter is a university graduate working toward her master’s degree (硕士学位) in English. But Jody? When he entered the tenth grade he became a “vo-tech” student (技校学生). They’re called “motorheads” by the rest of the student body.

When a secretary in my office first called him “motorhead”, I was shocked. “Hey, he’s a good kid,” I wanted to say. “And smart, really.”

I learned later that motorheads are, indeed, different. They usually have dirty hands and wear dirty work clothes. And they don’t often make school honor rolls (光荣榜).

But being the parent of a motorhead is itself an experience in education. We who work in clean shirts in offices don’t have the abilities that motorheads have. I began to learn this when I had my car crashed. The cost to repair it was about $ 800. “Hey, I can fix it,” said Jody. I doubted it, but let him go ahead, for I had nothing to lose.

My son, with other motorheads, fixed the car. They got parts from a junk yard, and ability from vo-tech classes. The cost was $ 25 instead of $ 800.

Since that first repair job, a broken air-conditioner, a non-functioning washer and a non-toasting toaster have been fixed. Neighbors and co-workers trust their car repairs to him.

These kids are happiest when doing repairs. They joke and laugh and are living in their own relaxed world. And their minds are bright despite their dirty hands and clothes.

I have learned a lot from my motorhead: publishers need printers, engineers need mechanics, and architects need builders. Most important, I have learned that fathers don’t need clones in footsteps or anywhere else.

My son may never make the school honor roll. But he made mine.

1. What can we learn about the author’s children?

A．His daughter does better in school.	B．His daughter has got a master’s degree.
C．His son tried hard to finish homework.	D．His son couldn’t write his book reports.

2. The author let his son repair the car because he believed that _______.

A．His son had the ability to fix it	B．it would save him much time
C．it wouldn’t cause him any more loss	D．other motorheads would come to help

3. In which of the following sentence does the word “clone” have the same meaning as the one underlined in the first paragraph?

A．Mitalipov, senior author on the paper, laughs when asked if he wants to clone a person.

B．Tom was in some ways a younger clone of his handsome brother.

C．Some scientists wish to create the world’s first human clone.

D．To make a clone, you need to first take an egg and remove all of its genetic material.

4. What did the author realize in the end?

A．It is unwise to expect your child to follow your path.

B．It is important for one to make the honor roll.

C．Architects play a more important role than builders.

D．Motorheads have greater ability than office workers.

【推荐3】Curtis Whitson knew the water fall was coming. He'd rafted down the Arroyo Seco, a river in central California, before. But this year was different. Heavy snow and spring rains had turned the usually manageable falls into something fierce. And this year, instead of his friends, Whitson's companions were his wife, Krystal Ramirez, and his 13-year-old son, Hunter. As the three of them approached the falls late in the afternoon of the third day of their camping trip, Whitson could tell from the increasing roar of water in the narrow canyon that they were in serious trouble. There was no way they’d be able to rappel down(绕绳下降) the rocks as planned.

“The water was just gushing through there with tremendous force,” recalls Whitson.

They could wade to the shore, but would anyone find them there? They had no mobile phone service, and they hadn’t seen a single person in the past three days.

As he considered what to do, Whitson hit on a bit of luck-he heard voices coming from the other side of the falls. He yelled, but the sound of the rushing water drowned him out.

We have to get these people a message, Whitson thought.

Then he spotted his green Nalgene water bottle. Whitson grabbed it and carved “Help!” on it. Ramirez also reminded him that he had a pen and paper, which she'd brought to play games with, in his backpack. Whitson knew it was a long shot. But he scrawled “We are stuck here at the waterfall. Get help please!” and pushed the note into the bottle, throwing it over the waterfall perfectly.                                          

“All right, that’s all we can do,” Whitson told Hunter.

It took 30 minutes to navigate back upstream to the beach where they made a fire. With no reasonable expectation that their message in a bottle would find its way to anyone, they spelled out SOS in white rocks. As the evening wore on, they placed a headlamp with a flashing light on a ledge (岩石突出部) . Then, just after midnight, they heard a helicopter hovering above them. Whitson ran over to the headlamp and started flashing it at the helicopter. He, Ramirez, and Hunter were waving and hollering when they heard the magic words: “This is Search and Rescue. You have been found.”

It was a moment of pure happiness as the three chatted with the officers who had rescued them. Together, they marveled at the unlikelihood of it all. Two men had seen the water bottle in the water. When they picked it up, they noticed the writing on it - “Help!”.

A few days after news of the rescue broke, one of the hikers contacted Whitson.

That’s when he learned the story. There were actually two little girls hiking with the men that day. It was the girls who first spotted the bottle and swam to get it. Whitson is planning on having a big barbecue to meet the hikers-and thank them.

1. Which was NOT the trouble the Whitsons faced?

A．The water falls were fierce.

B．There was no mobile phone service.

C．All of them were not experienced in rafting.

D．They had to rappel down the rocks.

2. Which is the order that the Whitsons helped themselves out?
① They spelled out SOS on the rocks.
② Whitson squeezed the note “Get help please” into the bottle.
③ Whitson yelled to the other side of the falls.
④ Whitson carved “help” on his green bottle.

A．③④②①

B．②③④①

C．①④③②

D．④③②①

3. What does the underlined part in paragraph 6 mean?

A．It is a fantastic idea.	B．It’s a big challenge.
C．It’s a wild attempt.	D．It’s a long exploration.

4. Whitson is planning to have a big barbecue ______.

A．to celebrate their survival

B．to show gratitude to the hikers

C．to have a family union

D．to meet and thank the rescue officers

【推荐2】Two traveling angels(天使) stop to spend the night in the home of a wealthy family. The family was rude and refused to let the angels stay in the guest room. Instead the angels were given a space in the cold basement. As they made their bed on the hard floor, the older angel saw a hole in the wall and repaired it. When the younger angel asked why, the older angel replied, “Things aren’t always what they seem.”

The next night the pair came to rest at the house of a very poor but very hospitable(好客的) farmer and his wife. After sharing what little food they had, the couple let the angels sleep in their bed where they could have a good night’s rest. When the sun came up the next morning, the angels found the farmer and his wife in tears. Their only cow, whose milk had been their only income, lay dead in the field.

The younger angel was very angry and asked the older angel, “How could this happen? Why didn’t you watch out for the cow? The first man had everything, yet you watched over his house,” she accused. “The second family had little but was willing to share everything, and you didn’t help.”

“Things aren’t always what they seem,” the older angel replied. “When we stayed in the basement, I noticed there was gold stored in that hole in the wall. Since the owner was so greedy and unwilling to share his good fortune, I asked God if I could seal(封口) the wall so he couldn’t find it. Then last night as we slept in the farmer’s bed, the angel of death came for his wife. I asked God if the angel could take the cow instead. Things aren’t always what they seem.”

1. Why did the old angel repair the hole for the rich family?

A．Because the basement was too cold to stay in.

B．Because she wanted to save the gold for the poor.

C．Because she wanted to punish the greedy owner.

D．Because she believed that one should always be ready to offer help.

2. In Paragraph Two, “the pair” refers to ________.

A．the poor couple	B．the rich couple
C．the guests	D．the angels

3. The story tries to tell the readers that_________.

A．sometimes things are not what they seem

B．angels are always ready to help the poor

C．angels are always ready to help the rich

D．the young should always learn from the old

【推荐3】Once there was a woman who was greatly disturbed by her husband. He seemed to care little about her.

So the woman took her trouble to the local magician. She told him her story, full of pity for herself. “Can you give me some magic powers to make him love me again? ” she asked anxiously.

The magician thought for a moment and replied, “ I will help you, but first you must bring to me three hairs from a living lion. These! Must have before I can give you my magic powers.”

There was indeed a lion that often came near to the village. It was frightening. The woman thought again and again and at last she had an idea.

The next morning she took a young sheep and waited anxiously. When she saw the lion approaching, she left the sheep in the path of the lion quickly and went back home. So it happened that, every day early in the morning, the woman would rise and take a young sheep to the lion. Gradually the lion came to know the woman. Seeing the lion's trust in her, the woman carefully pulled three hairs from it and set out for the magicians house “Look, "she said happily as she entered, “here they are! ”And she gave him the three hairs.

“How did you make it ?” asked the magician in surprise.

The woman told him the whole story. A smile spread over the magician’s face. "You may treat your husband the same way you've treated the lion, "he said.

1. What was the woman’s problem according to Paragraph 1?

A．Her husband took no notice of her.

B．The woman was afraid of her husband.

C．Her husband always got her into trouble.

D．The woman and her husband had a hard life.

2. Whom did he woman ask for help?

A．A sheep.

B．A lion.

C．A magician

D．Her husband.

3. Before she got the magic power, the woman had to ________.

A．make magic powers with the magician	B．get three hairs from a living lion
C．drive the lion away from the village	D．leave a sheep in the path of the lion

4. Why did the woman take a sheep to the lions?

A．To confuse the lion.	B．To catch the lion.
C．To get the lion’s trust.	D．To show her pity for the lion