【推荐1】Once upon a time, a man was walking on a mountain when he found an incredible cave with all kinds of treasure inside it. So he gave up his job, his home, and his friends, and spent all his time guarding the cave.

He was so devoted to it that he hardly ate or drank, and before long he fell ill. One day, when he could hardly move at all, he decided to share the treasure.

He crawled (爬) into the cave to get a handful of jewels, but discovered, to his horror, that it was empty except for a small emerald (绿宝石). The man took it and gave it to the first person to come by, a woman.

Then an old man came by. “What bad luck!” the man said. “Just a moment ago I gave a woman the last of the treasure I was guarding.”

“Are you sure there is nothing left?” the old man asked.

The man took him into the cave, where they found a box with jewels and some bags of gold. The man was shocked, and the old man explained to him, “At last! At last someone has broken the spell (咒语) of this cave. This is the Cave of Treasure, and you’re the first to have passed its great test. Many have devoted their lives to this cave, only to end up realizing there was nothing here…”

“And why does this happen?” the man asked.

“This magic cave has only as many riches as your own heart. When someone discovers it, the cave fills with the treasure they bring with them, but later, when they have devoted themselves to guarding the treasure, their hearts become empty, as does the cave. The only way to fill it is by filling your heart with all that is good, as you did by giving the woman that last jewel.”

From that day on, the man understood that it was better to share than to keep. Thanks to the cave and the old man, he became noble and generous.

1. Why did the man give up his job, home and friends?

A．Because he possessed a variety of treasure.

B．Because he devoted himself to a great test.

C．Because he had to guard the treasure cave.

D．Because he wanted to find the treasure cave.

2. What did the man find when he showed the cave to the old man?

A．All kinds of treasure.	B．A box with jewels and gold.
C．A small emerald.	D．A handful of beautiful jewels.

3. What do we learn about the people who devoted their lives to the cave before?

A．They all found the cave empty at last.

B．The old man freed them from its spell.

C．They all filled the cave with the treasure they had.

D．They thought it was better to share.

4. What can we learn from the text?

A．Different people have different views.

B．Treasure only belongs to those who possess it.

C．Some people never learn what is really valuable.

D．The quality of giving is real treasure.

【推荐2】“Dr. Papaderos, what is the meaning of life?”

The usual laughter followed, and people stirred(骚动) to go. Papaderos held up his hand and looked at me for a long time, asking with his eyes if I was serious and seeing from my eyes that I was.

“I will answer your question.”

Taking his wallet out of his hip pocket, he fished into a leather billfold and brought out a very small round mirror, about the size of a quarter. And what he said went like this:

“When I was a small child, during the war, we were very poor and we lived in a remote village. One day, on the road, I found the broken pieces of a mirror.

I tried to find all the pieces and put them together, but it was not possible, so I kept only the largest piece, this one, and, by scratching it on a stone, I made it round. I began to play with it as a toy and became fascinated by the fact that I could reflect light into dark places where the sun would never shine—in deep holes and cracks and dark closets. It became a game for me to get light into the most inaccessible(难达到的) places I could find.

As I became a man, I grew to understand that this was not just a child’s game but a metaphor for what I might do with my life. I came to understand that I am not the light or the source of light. But light—truth, understanding, knowledge—is there, and it will shine in many dark places only if I reflect it.

I am a fragment (碎片) of a mirror whose whole design and shape I do not know. Nevertheless, with what I have I can reflect light into the dark places of this world—into the black places in the hearts of men—and change some things in some people. Perhaps others may see and do likewise. This is what I am about. This is the meaning of my life.”

1. Why did Dr. Papaderos like the small round mirror so much as a child?

A．Because he was too poor to afford other toys.

B．Because it could shine the places where the sun couldn’t reach.

C．Because he believed it would bring good luck to him.

D．Because it told him a lot about what life really meant to him.

2. The underlined “metaphor” in the 7th paragraph most probably means ________.

A．symbol

B．source

C．light

D．purpose

3. Which of the following might be the best title for the passage?

A．A Special Game in the Childhood	B．A Broken Piece of Mirror
C．Dr. Papaderos’ Experience	D．The Meaning of Life

【推荐3】An 8-year-old Nigerian, Tani Adewumis, whose family is homeless, won first place at the New York State chess championship without a single defeat at the beginning of 2019 and he says he is not done yet.

“I want to be the youngest grandmaster,” Tani told The New York Times. Tani placed first in the tournament for kindergarten through third grade — an outstanding win for anyone. “It’s unheard of for any kid, let alone one in a homeless shelter,” said Russell Makofsky, who is in charge of the chess program.

Tani hasn’t had an easy life. His family left northern Nigeria in 2017 fearing attacks on Christians, and moved to New York City over a year ago where the boy learned how to play chess at school. School chess coach Shawn Martinez saw Tani’s potential after observing him stand out in the game a few weeks after first learning it early last year. He reached out to Tani’s family about joining in the school’s chess program, and learned they were unable to pay costs associated with membership. Shawn decided to abandon Tani’s fees, which can easily reach thousands with travel and chess camp admissions.

Seven victories later, the elementary school boy is one of the top players in the country for his age group. “He works very hard at his game,” Martinez said, believing Tani could achieve master status in the next year or two. The world’s youngest grandmaster qualified at the age of 12.

As Tani’s story hits national headlines, more people want to help. Makofsky, who set up a GoFundMe for Tani, said the family has received offers for a car, legal services, jobs and even housing. “My hope is that he’ll be in a home tonight,” Makofsky said.

1. How did Makofsky find Tani’s achievement?

A．Confusing.	B．Amusing.
C．Amazing.	D．Ridiculous.

2. Shawn decided to abandon Tani’s fees because .

A．Makofsky told him to do so

B．Tani's family were unable to pay costs associated with their daily life.

C．Shawn took charge of the chess program

D．Tani had a great gift for chess.

3. What can we learn from Tani’s story?

A．All things are difficult before they are easy.

B．A good beginning makes a good ending.

C．A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.

D．God helps those who help themselves.

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

A．A Chess Coach Helped to Support a Nigerian Child

B．A Nigerian Family Hit National Headlines in the USA

C．A Homeless Nigerian Won the State Chess Championship

D．An 8-year-old Became the Youngest Grandmaster in 2019

【推荐1】I plan to remember this year’s vacation season with just two words: NEVER AGAIN. Never again, that is, will I take all my technology along. The Internet has ruined summer vacations.

Instead of reading dog-eared summerhouse mystery novels, this year we browsed the Internet. Instead of long evenings of crossword puzzles or board games, we checked our Twitter feeds and updated our Facebook pages. And that, of course, is the problem with the Internet: It，s so easy that, unless you’re equipped with massive self-control, you use it if it’s there.

For several years, I kept my Internet addiction under control by using inconvenient technology: a laptop which is old and not in good condition and a slow dial-up connection. But this year, the combination of a new iPad and very good Wi-Fi turned out to be fatal. The magical iPad signaled silently from the picnic table: What harm could it be to give the e-mail a quick check? But once that attractive touch screen lights up, who can resist?

I’m not the first to get lost across this problem, of course. I，m a late adopter. As early as 2008, Nicholas Carr, author of The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains, was warning that broadband Internet was reducing our attention spans and making us stupid. The Web, he said, encourages us to get stuck into our “natural state of distractedness.” Even before that, in 2000，Harvard’s Robert Putnam warned that television 一 and, more broadly, staring into any kind of screen — had reduced the amount of time families spent in social interactions. And last year, researchers at UC-Irvine reported that employees who were unplugged from their e-mail got more work done 一 and experienced far less stress.

Access to the Web is unquestionably a wonderful thing. I love having a bottomless library at my fingertips; I love having the world’s newspapers on my electronic doorstep. I love being able to pay bills and make airplane reservations online. And, thanks to those ugly cell phone towers in the woods, we now have a way to call for help if we need an ambulance or a fire truck. It’s also nice to have an app that identifies the constellations (星座)when you hold the iPad up to the night sky. But then, you have to remember to put the screen down and simply drink in the stars — the original, uncut version.

And that’s the point: It’s important not to let the convenience of the Internet get in the way of simpler beauties. It，s our fault instead of the Internet, for failing to control the urge to browse. My problem is learning how to limit the time I spend on it. So now I have one more thing to look forward to next summer: More time reading old novels; more time playing crossword puzzles and chasing frogs. Next year, I promise to unplug. Except, of course, when we need to find a new bike trail, or Google a recipe for wild blueberry pie.

1. Throughout the passage, what evidence does the author provide to support the claims he makes in paragraph 2?

A．Scientific studies and statistics about Internet use.

B．Historical facts regarding the effects of television and the Internet.

C．Personal accounts and opinions of those who have studied the Internet.

D．Results of opinion polls about Internet use.

2. According to the passage, how does the writer keep himself from getting addicted to the Internet?

A．By using outdated laptops with poor Internet access.

B．By only giving the e-mail a quick look.

C．By keeping the electronic devices out of reach.

D．By accessing new iPad and good Wi-Fi.

3. In the article, UC-Irvine research functions as     .

A．a personal account that illustrates an idea about social life

B．a restatement of the author’s main argument

C．historical context to allow the reader to understand the article’s setting

D．evidence to support a point made by Nicolas Carr

4. Which of the following statement will the author probably agree to?

A．people should not rely simply on the Internet to provide them with news and other information

B．people can have meaningful vacations only if they leave all electronic devices at home

C．although the Internet is often useful, it can become addictive and prevent human interaction

D．even though there are some good things about the Internet, overall it has affected civilization for the worse

【推荐2】Exams never made me break out in a nervous sweat—but this one did. Even booking my piano exam reduced me to a mess of anxiety.

I feel permanently scared inside churches, where piano exams are held—no longer admiring their beauty because over the years I have received terrible marks from examiners. Despite being 15—too old, too cool to be frightened—I remember trembling inside the bathroom before my tests. I wished I never had to play in front of others.

This time, after booking my Level 8 Royal Conservatory of Music piano exam, I went back to my normal routine. A little practice here; a little practice there. And then it happened. My trusty, 10-year-old electric piano gave out. When I told my father what had happened to my piano, he only glared at me with disappointment, “When I was your age, I learned to be resourceful.”

Hmm. I had a broken piano, an exam coming up in a few months and a father who refused to buy me a new piano because he wanted to teach me a “life lesson”. I finally came up with a decision: I’d practice at school.

The school had many pianos but only a few in tune. Within a few days of searching, I headed off to a music room at every available opportunity. I loved finding new pianos in hidden corners of the school and spent hours practicing.

As my exam drew near, all the music teachers knew to look for me in the piano rooms after school. In anticipation of my assessment, one of my music teachers let me perform for her as a mini practice exam. To my surprise, she was greatly impressed.

Music had never been the love of my life but that was changing. When I played, my worries about how others judged me and how I viewed myself merged to reveal who I really am. All my adolescent thoughts made me feel like I was in a cage, but music gave me the key.

Within a few months I went from not caring about my playing to feeling actually kind of proud of my work. In my favorite, soundproof music room, I discovered that behind the piano, I could become anyone. Talking to other people never came easy to me, but I was able to express myself through music. I became overjoyed.

When the time came to play in front of an examiner, all the anxiety I had about going up on stage dimmed, and all I could think about was the marvelous journey I’d had to get here. Trilling the keys reminded me of the bittersweet music experiences of past years and my happiness nowadays.

Many days later, I received my mark—a rarely mentioned “well done”.

Now whenever I get caught up in the daily struggle, I remember the hard work that it took to reach my goal. Whenever I feel discouraged, I never forget to look at the gleaming keys of my new upright piano. As my father always says, some lessons are just learned the hard way.

1. What made the author so stressful inside churches these years?

A．The religious atmosphere.	B．The artistic performance.
C．The horrible surroundings.	D．Her colorful fantasy.

2. What can be inferred according to the underlined sentence in Para 3?

A．The author’s family was too poor to afford a new piano.

B．The father was quite angry about the author’s bad behavior.

C．The father wanted the author to address the problem independently.

D．The author showed great dissatisfaction about her father.

3. The author changed her attitude towards music mainly because          .

A．her hard work and determination

B．her own understanding of musical: value

C．her teachers’ constant encouragement

D．her family’s enthusiastic support

4. What does the underlined word “merged” in paragraph 7 mean?

A．Mixed.

B．Separated.

C．Interacted.

D．Exploited.

5. Which of the following indicates the change of the author’s feelings?

A．Nervous—disappointed—angry—calm

B．Curious—frustrated—hopeful—grateful

C．Depressed—satisfied—disappointed—peaceful

D．Frightened—indifferent—passionate—proud

6. What might be the best title of this passage?

A．An important Music Test	B．A Hard but Enjoyable Life
C．My Favorite Piano	D．The “Key” to Happiness

【推荐3】As a kid growing up in a suburb of London, I loved to go looking for the perfect park bench. Some Sunday mornings, my dad could be persuaded to drive to new parks. We’d have a kick-around with a soccer ball, share a bag of Dotritos and check out all the benches in the area, reading the words on them.

The good park bench leaves me in a state, somewhere between nostalgia (怀旧) and eager antic ration (一份滑稽). Where once I was excited by the words carved on wood, I now find, as a 10-year-old, that I’m more appreciative of each bench’s quiet stoicism (坦然谈定), the way they are willing to wait out their turn in every weather, remaining available to all-comers. Like a good book or piece of music, a park bench allows for a sense of solitude and community at the same time, which is crucial to life in a great city.

Part of my recession with park benches is as spaces where history settles. By planting seeds of curiosity, and making space for reflection, park benches become doors to the past. Maybe that’s the greatest power of the park bench: its rapacity (贪婪) encourages the art of observation. A good bench catches us in our quietest, most vulnerable (脆弱的) moments, when we may be open to imagining new nanauves and revisiting old ones. Our masks are taken off, hung from the bench’s wrought iron (锻铁). On other nearby benches,babies are being burped (打嗝). Glances exchanged. Sandwiches eaten. Newspapers read it.

Lately, I’ve found me sitting on a lot of cramped metal benches of the kind that don’t invite you to stay long, or uneasy ones that leave you cold. That’s because public seating is becoming an endangered species. Our cities are becoming more like Disneyland, which has been quietly removing public seating and replacing it with more restaurant seating. If you want a moment’s rest in 2Ist-century America, you have to open your wallet.

One recent Sunday, I wandered through Central Park. To be in Central Park in what is hopefully the pandemic’s twilight is to be reminded of the beauty of living in a city that still makes space for park benches in the modern cityscape.

1. How did the writer lead in the topic?

A．By describing the scene of the park.	B．By introducing his childhood experience.
C．By revealing his passion for London.	D．By showing his father’s affection for him.

2. What can we learn about the writer after he grew up?

A．He liked the feel park benches brought to him.	B．He enjoyed the peace in the park very much.
C．He was still crazy about the words on the bench.	D．He was suffering great frustration in his 40s.

3. What does the underlined word “solitude” in Paragraph 2 probably mean?

A．Achievements.

B．Loss.

C．Happiness.

D．Privacy.

4. Why is public seating becoming an endangered species?

A．It is commercialized.	B．It is usually made of metal.
C．It is quite out of date.	D．It is uncomfortable to sit there.

【推荐1】Saroo Brierley, a 4-year-old boy, lived in rural India. One day, he played with his brother along the rail line and fell asleep. When he woke up, he found himself alone. So he got on the train in front of him to search for his brother.

That train took him a thousand miles across the country to a totally strange city. He lived on the streets, and then in an orphanage (孤儿院), where he was adopted by an Australian family and taken to Tasmania.

Brierley is a famous writer now, and in his new book, A Long Way Home, he wrote he couldn’t help but wonder about his hometown back in India. He remembered landmarks, but since he didn’t know his town’s name, finding a small neighborhood in a vast country seemed impossible.

Then he found a digital mapping program. He spent years searching for his hometown in the program’s satellite pictures. In 2011, he came across something familiar. He studied it and realized he was looking at a town’s central business district from a bird’s-eye view. He thought, “On the right-hand side you should see the three-platform train station”—and there it was. “And on the left-hand side you should see a big fountain”—and there it was. Everything matched!

Standing in front of the house where he grew up as a child, he saw a lady standing at the entrance. It took him a few seconds but he finally remembered what she used to look like.

In an interview Brierley says, “My mother came forth and walked forward, and I walked forward, my eyes filled with tears and my brain blank. I just didn’t know what to say, because I never thought seeing my mother would ever come true. And here I am, standing in front of her.”

1. Why did Brierley get on the train when he was a little boy?

A．To go back to his home.

B．To look for his brother.

C．To travel to Tasmania.

D．To follow a stranger.

2. What made it difficult for Brierley to find his hometown?

A．The vast area of India.

B．The fact that he was nobody then.

C．His not remembering the town’s name.

D．The distance between Australia and his hometown.

3. How did Brierley find his hometown?

A．By studying digital maps.

B．By analyzing old pictures.

C．By travelling all around India.

D．By spreading his story via his book.

4. What’s the best title of the passage?

A．Love for Mother

B．Union with Brother

C．Memory of Hometown

D．Long Way back Home

【推荐3】As the sun set he remembered, to give himself more confidence, the time in the tavern at Casablanca when he had played the hand game with the great negro from Cienfuegos who was the strongest man on the docks. They had gone one day and one night with their elbows on a chalk line on the table and their forearms straight up and their hands gripped tight. Each one was trying to force the other’s hand down onto the table. There was much betting and people went in and out of the room under the kerosene lights and he had looked at the arm and hand of the negro and at the negro’s face. They changed the referees every four hours after the first eight so that the referees could sleep. Blood came out from under the finger-nails of both his and the negro’s hands and they looked each other in the eye and at their hands and forearms and the bettors went in and out of the room and sat on high chairs against the wall and watched. The walls were painted bright blue and were of wood and the lamps threw their shadows against them. The negro’s shadow was huge and it moved on the wall as the breeze moved the lamps.

The odds would change back and forth all night and they fed the negro rum and lighted cigarettes for him. Then the negro, after the rum, would try for a tremendous effort and once he had the old man, who was not an old man then but was Santiago El Campeon, nearly three inches off balance. But the old man had raised his hand up to dead even again. He was sure then that he had the negro, who was a fine man and a great athere, beaten. And at daylight when the bettors were asking that it be called a draw and the referee was shaking his head, he had unleashed his effort and forced the hand of the negro down and down until it rested on the wood. The match had started on a Sunday morning and ended on a Monday morning.

Many of the bettors had asked for a draw because they had to go to work on the docks loading sacks of sugar or at the Havana Coal Company.

Otherwise everyone would have wanted it to go to a finish. But he had finished it anyway and before anyone had to go to work.

For a long time after that everyone had called him The Champion and there had been a return match in the spring. But not much money was bet and he had won it quite easily since he had broken the confidence of the negro from Cienfuegos in the first match. After that he had a few matches and then no more. He decided that he could beat anyone if he wanted to badly enough and he decided that it was bad for his right hand for fishing. He had tried a few practice matches with his left hand. But his left hand had always been a traitor and would not do what he called on it to do and he did not trust it.

Quoted from The Old Man and the Sea written by Ernest Hemingway

1. Since the old man is the main character, in the hand game, why does Hemingway put more efforts in describing his opponent the negro?

A．Because Hemingway himself is an anti-racist who wants to support the colored race.

B．By doing so, he indirectly shows how strong and determined the old man is to readers.

C．he shifts readers’ attention to a new character to neutralize the nervous atmosphere.

D．There is no need to describe the old man because he is well-known to all readers.

2. What does the underlined word “unleashed” in paragraph 2 mean?

A．spare

B．restrict

C．reduce

D．loose

3. Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

A．Many bettors were afraid of losing their money so they wanted to call the game a draw.

B．The old man had owed his victory over the negro more to his will than to his strength.

C．The referee had been convinced by the bettors that the game be considered a draw.

D．Regular hand games should be a good practice to enhance the old man’s fishing skills.

4. What can be inferred from the whole passage?

A．The old man could have ended the game earlier but he had withheld his power.

B．Many workers working on the decks had showed no respect towards the old man.

C．The old man had to self-feed himself a lot so as to stay competitive in the game.

D．The negro was not as strong and athletic as the old man had expected him to be.