【推荐1】For much of my childhood, my mother filled in the evening hours doing something for someone else. Sometimes she knitted（编织）hats for babies, and at other times, she cooked chicken soup for sick neighbors. Therefore, I wasn't surprised when one evening my mother announced she had undertaken a new project.

"I am going to telephone seniors, "said my mother. "Every night? But you don't even know these people. ""It doesn't matter, "she said. "What's important is that I listen. "I was sixteen years old and couldn't understand why my mother was willing to spend her evenings talking to strangers. She had friends and my two older sisters to call if she felt lonely. "They will talk your ear off. Some people didn't even stop to catch breath, "I said.

My attitude didn't decrease my mother's enthusiasm for the project. That evening, she settled on the sofa and dialed. For a while, I listened as she asked the woman on the other line about her day and what she had eaten for dinner. When she finished the call, I said, "Why do you care whether she had cookies or rice pudding for dessert?" My mother grasped one of my hands and gave ita slight squeeze. "I'm the only person she talked to today. "

It took me more than thirty years to fully understand the meaning of that statement. Now, as my mother is nearing eighty, I find myself thinking about those nightly calls she used to make. I am often the only person who telephones my mother, and sometimes I'm the only person she speaks to all day. I ask her what she cooked for dinner, but mostly I just listen as she describes a walk she took, or how her dog Lucky stole foods from the refrigerator. I realize that my mother's calls were lifelines that ensured housebound seniors remained connected to the world. Without her, their world would have been empty.

1. Why did the author's mother call the seniors?

A．To introduce friends to them.	B．To make them eel less lonely.
C．To know what they cook for dinner.	D．To teach them how to make desserts.

2. What does the underlined sentence "They will talk your ear off" in Paragraph 2 mean?

A．They will blame others' wrong doings.

B．They will be tired of listening to others.

C．They will talk all the time on the phone.

D．They ill make you feel rally satisfied.

3. What can be inferred from the last paragraph?

A．The author is going to be eighty years old.

B．The author thinks highly of her mother's calls.

C．The author's mother prefers to live alone at an old age.

D．The author's dog likes stealing foods from the refrigerator.

【推荐2】One day when I was 5, my mother criticized me for not finishing my rice and I got angry. I wanted to play outside and not to be made to finish eating my old rice. In my angry motion to open the screen door (纱门) with my foot, I kicked back about a 12-inch part of the lower left hand corner of the new screen door. But I had no regret, for I was happy to be playing in the backyard with my toys.

Today, I know if my child had done what I did, I would have criticized my child, and told him about how expensive this new screen door was, and I would have delivered a spanking (打屁股) for it. But my parents never said a word. They left the corner of the screen door pushed out, creating an opening, a crack in the defense against unwanted insects.

For years, every time I saw that corner of the screen, it would remind me of my mistake from time to time. For years, I knew that everyone in my family would see that hole and remember who did it. For years, every time I saw a fly buzzing in the kitchen, I would wonder if it came in through the hole that I had created with my angry foot. I would wonder if my family members were thinking the same thing, silently blaming me every time a flying insect entered our home, making life more terrible for us all. My parents taught me a valuable lesson, one that a spanking or stern (严厉的) words perhaps could not deliver. Their silent punishment for what I had done delivered a hundred stern messages to me. Above all, it has helped me become a more patient person and not burst out so easily.

1. When the author damaged the door, his parents _______.

A．scolded him for what he had done	B．left the door unrepaired
C．told him how expensive it was	D．gave him a spanking

2. How did the author feel every time he saw the damaged door?

A．He felt ashamed of his uncontrolled anger at that time.

B．He found that his family members no longer liked him.

C．He found it destroyed the happy atmosphere at his home.

D．He felt he had to work hard to make up for (弥补) the damage.

3. The experience may cause the author _______.

A．to hide his anger away from others

B．not to go against his parents’ will

C．to have a better control of himself

D．not to make mistakes in the future

4. What of the following is the main idea of this passage?

A．Adults should ignore their children’s bad behavior.

B．Parents shouldn’t educate their children.

C．What is the best way to become a more patient person?

D．Silent punishment may have a better effect on educating people.

【推荐3】A few years ago, my father arranged to send me a mail- order fruitcake at Christmastime. Although I had a good job and owned an apartment in Manhattan, he feared my cupboards and refrigerator might be bare. I had recently moved from California, where my parents still lived in their suburban bungalow of 50 years, the house I grew up in.

He wanted me to have a particular brand of fruitcake. "It reminds me of my mother's," he told me in a phone call. Ordering the fruitcake was his way of trying to take care of me from afar. "It should arrive the first week of December," he said. "As soon as you get it, let me know what you think." The first week of December passed with no sign of his fruitcake. Delayed by holiday mail, I assumed, or a backlog of orders.

The day before my flight to California, the fruitcake still had not arrived. When I arrived at my parents' house, he said, "Did you get the fruitcake?" "No, but I'm sure it'll be there when I go home."

As soon as the word left my lips, I realized that home, for them, was a kind of triggering（触发）word. Because wasn't this home? Wasn't I home now, with my parents greeting me, asking whether I was hungry after the long flight?

January, February, and March came and went with no fruitcake. Though my father continued to ask about it, I never once considered lying and telling him yes, the fruitcake had finally arrived and was delicious. Instead I said, "That cake is traveling earth, and sooner or later it will land."

"That's a good one!" he said,

His sense of humor never wavered, and as time went on he would bring up the journey of his fruitcake now and then.

"I wonder where it is now," he'd say.

"It's taken a detour（绕道）to Pluto（冥王星）."

He liked that one too.

"Do you want me to order another, in case it never comes?"

"That's OK. Dad. I said. "I'll wait for this one. It'll taste even better after touring the universe."

Early last December, nearly a year after my father died from a failing heart, I got a call from a staffer at the front desk of my apartment building.

"You have a package," he said.

1. Why did the author's father purchase a fruitcake for her a few years ago?

A．Because her father missed his own mother so much.

B．Because her father was concerned about her very much.

C．Because her father knew she was too busy to buy one herself.

D．Because her father wanted to share a particular brand of fruitcake with her.

2. Which word can be used to describe the author's feeling in paragraph 4?

A．Regretful.	B．Shocked.
C．Unbelievable.	D．Heartbroken.

3. What can we know about the fruitcake according to the text?

A．It was touring the universe.

B．It failed to reach the author.

C．It arrived after the author's father died.

D．It was sent to her before she left for California.

4. What is the best title for the text?

A．A Late Call.	B．Dad's Package.
C．Adventure of a Gift.	D．Grandma's Fruitcake.

【推荐1】A group of sweaty kids ran around a field last week at Total Soccer Arena in Landover, Maryland. They talked not only in English, but also in Pashto, Arabic and other languages.

What made them different is that all of the kids are refugees(难民). They were playing as part of a camp that gives them a chance to develop their soccer skills and to meet other kids who had to start over their lives in the United States. The camp is run by an organisation called L.A.C.E.S., which stands for Life And Change Experienced thru Sports. The group uses soccer to help bring together communities that have experienced hardships.

Seren Fryatt got the idea for L.A.C.E.S. while playing on a women’s soccer team in Liberia, an African country that had been at war with itself for 14 years. Fryatt, who’s from Muncie, Indiana, saw that soccer brought joy to the Liberian women on her team, even though their lives off the field were very difficult. After starting a soccer programme for kids in Liberia, she decided to start a similar camp in Maryland, where she moved in 2015. Coaches volunteer their time, and the costs are paid mostly by donations. This year, 95 kids signed up.

The camp, for ages 9 to 14, is split(分开) between training that helps kids develop skills, such as passing and ball control, and meeting where they discuss life skills. One of the coaches, Louisa Pitney, said she likes seeing how the kids grow just from being together.

At the end of the camp’s last day, all the kids gathered in the middle of the field. Fryatt asked them to raise their hands and say what they had learned that week. Some kids talked about soccer skills—one girl said she’d learned not to use her hands; a boy said he'd learned how to score a goal.

When a coach called one shy girl, she smiled before answering in a soft voice.

“Celebrate each other,” she said.

1. What was special about the kids in the field?

A．They couldn’t speak English.	B．They had faced hardships.
C．They hadn’t been to America before.	D．They were attending an international soccer match.

2. What encouraged Seren Fryatt to set up L.A.C.E.S.?

A．A soccer programme for kids.	B．The long-term war in Liberia.
C．A women’s soccer team in Liberia.	D．Coaches’ volunteer work.

3. What do we know about the soccer camp?

A．It gives coaches great pay.	B．It was started for girls only.
C．It was organised in Liberia first.	D．It teaches life skills as well as soccer skills.

4. What did the shy girl get from the soccer camp?

A．How to work with others.	B．How to speak in public.
C．How to make friends.	D．How to praise others.

【推荐2】It was a village in India. The people were poor. However, they were not unhappy. After all, their forefathers had lived in the same way for centuries.

Then one day, some visitors from the city arrived. They told the villagers there were some people elsewhere who liked to eat frog’s(青蛙) legs. However, they did not have enough frogs of their own, and so they wanted to buy frogs from other places.

This seemed like money for nothing. There were millions of frogs in the fields around, and they were no use to the villagers. All they had to do was to catch them. Agreement was reached, and the children were sent into the fields to catch frogs. Every week a truck arrived to collect the catch and hand over the money. For the first time, the people were able to dream of a better future. But the dream didn’t last long.

The change was hardly noticed at first, but it seemed as if the crops were not doing so well. More worrying was that the children fell ill more often, and, there seemed to be more insects around lately.

The villagers decided that they couldn’t just wait to see the crops failing and the children getting weak. They would have to use the money earned to buy pesticides (杀虫剂)and medicines. Soon there was no money left.

Then the people realized what was happening. It was the frog. They hadn’t been useless. They had been doing an important job—eating insects. Now with so many frogs killed, the insects were increasing more rapidly. They were damaging the crops and spreading diseases.

Now, the people are still poor. But in the evenings they sit in the village square and listen to sounds of insects and frogs. These sounds of the night now have a much deeper meaning.

1. From Paragragh1 we learn that the villagers      .

A．worked very hard for centuries

B．dreamed of having a better life

C．were poor but somewhat content

D．lived a different life from their forefathers

2. Why did the villagers agree to sell frogs?

A．The frogs were easy money.

B．They needed money to buy medicine.

C．They wanted to please the visitors.

D．The frogs made too much noise.

3. What might be the cause of the children’s sickness?

A．The crops didn’t do well.

B．There were too many insects.

C．The visitors brought in diseases.

D．The pesticides were overused.

4. What can we infer from the last sentence of the text?

A．Happiness comes from peaceful life in the country.

B．Health is more important than money.

C．The harmony(和谐) between man and nature is important.

D．Good old days will never be forgotten.

【推荐3】Boris, a foreign student at Communication University of China, often shares his experiences of Chinese culture on his vlog(视频博客).

In one video, for example, Boris shared how he had learned the Chinese word dongxi. He translated each part separately into “east west”. And he introduced one theory (说法)about how dongxi came to mean “things”. He told people that all marketplaces in ancient Chinese cities were set up along a single road that ran from east to west. So when you would say qu mai dongxi, you’d be saying, “I’m going to buy things.”

Some other videos show his reading Chinese poem and performing kung fu in Chinese traditional costume, which are quite welcome among his 40, 000 followers.

“Many of my followers are learning Chinese,” Boris said. “But sadly, they know little about Chinese culture and the country.”

Like many foreigners, Boris once believed that all Chinese could perform kung fu, flying onto roofs and walking over walls. He thought the country was not that developed. But after he got a scholarship(奖学金)to study in China in 2019, his view changed. “China has entered a new period, but many people’s impressions of China are still stuck in the 1970s,” Boris said. “That’s why I started to shoot vlogs to share Chinese culture in 2019.”

Until now, Boris has posted more than 40 Chinese culture vlogs online, but making these vlogs is not easy. Take reading the poem Second Farewell to Cambridge by Xu Zhimo as an example

“I can understand and read every word in the poem,” Boris said. “But to touch readers, I need to use proper feelings while reading.” So he needed to look for much background information and make his feelings suit each part of the poem.

Though shooting these vlogs takes lots of time, the young man feels proud that his vlogs have inspired many people. Boris said that he wanted to continue bridging the differences between two cultures. “This goal may not be achieved easily, but I will spare no efforts to do my part.”

1. Through the vlogs, Boris mainly wants to ________.

A．teach foreigners Chinese	B．introduce a Chinese university
C．sell Chinese products	D．share his experiences in China

2. Boris learned the Chinese word dongxi by ________.

A．translating it as a whole	B．knowing its cultural background
C．making up some sentences	D．comparing it with similar words

3. What inspired Boris to shoot vlogs?

A．His hunger for new technology.	B．His wish to show the real China.
C．His interest in Chinese culture.	D．His dream to be a big vlogger.

4. The passage is probably written to ________.

A．say yes to Boris’s actions	B．build bridges by making vlogs
C．call for more help	D．achieve a common goal C