【推荐1】Dancing until you drop is a well­known saying, but would you really be able to dance until you dropped dead? In 1374, in some European towns, people did exactly that. They were struck by a dancing plague (瘟疫) that forced them to dance.

This phenomenon (现象) was reported to have happened throughout parts of Western Europe, affecting people from the 14th to the 17th century. Hardly stopping to eat or even sleep, they would dance, sometimes for days on end, making this one of the strangest sicknesses in Western history.

Over the next century, there were only a few outbreaks. However, in the summer of 1518, it reappeared in the city of Strasbourg, France. It all began with a woman called Mrs. Troffea, who started to dance crazily in the street.

She was soon joined by 34 people within a week; by the end of the month, the crowd had increased to 400, most of whom were women. Again, people were dancing until they could no longer continue, with some finally dying from heart attacks or exhaustion. One report shows that the plague was killing around 15 people per day.

As the plague worsened, concerned nobles (贵族) turned to the advice of local doctors, who said that the plague was a “natural disease” caused by “hot blood”. So the nobles encouraged more dancing.

The reason behind their actions was they believed the dancers could only recover if they danced continuously night and day. The nobles even paid for musicians to keep the moving.

Then, as before, it disappeared almost as suddenly as it had come.

While these events may sound highly unbelievable, there is clear written evidence that it did happen.

Now, historians and scientists are still trying to find out the true cause of this phenomenon.

1. What do we know about the plague?

A．It cost some people's lives.

B．It took place twice in history.

C．It affected people of all ages.

D．It stopped in the 16th century.

2. Why did the nobles encourage more dancing?

A．To see the hot blood.

B．To kill the dancing people.

C．To free people of the plague.

D．To prove the doctors' words.

3. How did the plague disappear?

A．For no reason.

B．With local doctors' help.

C．With Mrs. Troffea's help.

D．Because of some natural power.

4. What's the purpose of the text?

A．To show the history of dancing.

B．To introduce a well­known English saying.

C．To provide information on the dancing plague.

D．To explain the reason behind the dancing plague.

【推荐2】When an empty parking spot appears before us, many of us would see it for what it is — a place that could be filled with cars and trucks. But to eco-engineer Shubhendu Sharma, it’s a space to be planted with trees and turned into a forest.

What’s more, he believes these tiny forests can grow anywhere, including our most crowded and polluted cities where they can help maintain clean air and water and provide habitat for animals. “A forest is not an isolated piece of land where animals live together,” says Sharma. “A forest can be a complete part of our urban existence.” Most of us know just how important trees are to our health and to the planet. Yet millions of hectares of forest are cleared every year due to farming, ranching, logging and construction. The World Wildlife Fund estimates that 20 percent of the Amazon rainforest and surrounding ecosystems have already been lost.

Inspired by the work of Japanese scientist Akira Miyawaki, Sharma built a forest in the backyard of his family’s house in northern India in 2010. He planted 100 young trees in the 75-square-meter plot. They grew and a dozen species of birds came to check them out. The plantings created welcome shade, and their roots were able to absorb even the abundant monsoon (季风) rains. After a year, he had his own forest. Since then, Sharma has founded a company called Afforestt. Its top priority is to bring back natural forests to places where they no longer exist. So far, Afforestt has planted 144 forests in 45 cities around the world. Sharma has shown you can make a space the size of six or seven parking spots and create a forest with 100 trees. Ready to create your own tiny forest? If your answer is yes, let’s follow Sharma’s 5-step procedures to grow our own forests.

1. Ordinary people may regard a parking spot as a place for ________.

A．parking vehicles

B．planting trees

C．building houses

D．producing cars and trucks

2. What does the underlined word “they” refer to in Paragraph 2?

A．Cities.	B．Forests.
C．Air and water.	D．Animals.

3. How many trees has Afforestt planted?

A．45.

B．144.

C．224.

D．14,400.

4. What will be talked about in the following paragraphs?

A．How to create a forest.

B．Why we should plant trees.

C．What kind of forest we need.

D．Who will follow the steps.

【推荐3】Twenty–six years after a terrible bicycle accident which left her in a coma(昏迷) for two months and with permanent brain injuries, Barbara Buchan performs many actions more slowly than others. But on September 10 in Beijing, Buchan, at 52, the oldest member of the United States Paralympic team, broke the record and won the gold medal for her disability class in the individual 3,000–meter cycling pursuit.
“You can be very upset at the world and have everyone take care of you.” Buchan said by telephone from Beijing, “or get back on your feet again.”
Buchan first dreamed of Olympic gold at age 15 while watching the 1972 Munich Games. She became a top American cyclist by July 1982, when a terrible road–race crash injured her brain and left doctors doubtful about whether she would survive. She was wearing only a soft leather helmet at the time; her accident made the rule put into practice that cyclists wear the hard–shell helmets that are now common.
Buchan recovered enough of her athletic ability to run track in the 1988 Paralympics in Seoul, where she won a silver medal in the 800 meters. Women’s cycling was not included in the Paralympics yet, so Buchan trained to the point where she raced against men in the 2000 Paralympics in Sydney, Australia-she finished 9th and 10th in two races-and then successfully fought for a separate women’s cycling program beginning in 2004 in Athens, where she did not get a medal.
Even though she was approaching her 50s, Buchan kept racing and again made the United States Paralympic team for Beijing-where she is twice the age of most of her teammates and competitors.
“Barbara’s almost the leader of our team-she’s been through it all,” said Craig Griffin, the United States cycling coach. “She’s never tired. She’s never let her body go and then come back. I don’t think age is as big of a deal as people make it out to be.”
1. According to the text, after the accident,               .

A．Buchan asked her friends to take care of her

B．cyclists started to wear helmets in competition

C．Buchan could not answer questions correctly

D．doctors doubted whether Buchan could come back to life

2. What’s the right order of the events related to Buchan?
a. She won a gold medal in Beijing.
b. She became a top American cyclist.
c. She won a silver medal in the 800 meters.
d. She suffered a terrible bicycle accident.
e. She took part in a cycling program in Athens.

A．c-d-b-a-e	B．b-c-d-a-e
C．b-d-e-c-a	D．c-b-d-e-a

3. What does the underlined phrase “get back on your feet” in the second paragraph mean?

A．rise to your feet	B．walk on your way
C．go beyond yourself	D．depend on yourself

4. Which the following can be the best title for this passage?

A．The Making of a Hero	B．From a Loser to a Winner
C．All Roads Lead to Rome	D．Health is Better than Wealth

【推荐2】

Adam Zibluk is a 15-year-old Life Scout (童子军) in Troop 70 in Newtown, CT. He was also recently the Troop’s Senior Patrol Leader, the highest ranking boy in the troop!

Last summer, he, along with 15 other boys from the Troop completed scouting’s greatest adventure, backpacking over 50 miles in 7 days in the wilderness at the Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico!

While Adam’s Scouting achievements are impressive on their own, his time in Scouts has not always been so easy. Adam has hemophilia, a medical condition that can cause severe bleeding from even a slight injury. And as a Boy Scout, spending much time out in the wilderness, it is quite common to get minor injuries. Because of his condition, Adam has had to miss some Scouting activities over the years.

The first few days of Adam’s backpacking in Philmont went smooth. But on the 3rd day, while unloading his gear at a remote campsite, he felt a sharp pain in his back.Adam told the adult leaders about his back and that he was starting to not feel well.They made the decision to call Philmont base camp to seek medical attention.

It was getting dark and rain threatened. Two doctors set out into the night on backcountry roads and then hiked in the last 1/2 mile to find Adam. They did some tests and decided to take him back with them to base camp. It was a tough moment for Adam and for the rest of the scout crew. While Adam returned to base camp, the rest of the boys backpacked on. To encourage Adam, they took one of his shirts with them and took photos of it along the way, which they sent to him.

A few days passed and Adam was feeling better. The doctors cleared him to return to the backcountry! Finally, Adam finished the trek with his crew. He is now one of the only Boy Scouts with hemophilia to have ever participated in and completed a Philmont Trek.

What encouraged Adam to take on this challenge despite the risk? “I thought it would be fun and a good thing to do as long as I was prepared. And my parents have always encouraged me not to let hemophilia be the only factor in ANY decision.”

1. What has stopped Adam from participating in some Scouting activities over the years?

A．Inadequate trek experience.	B．His fear of the wilderness.
C．Lack of camping skills.	D．His health condition.

2. Why did Adam participate in this challenging activity?

A．He had a love for it.	B．He was eager to be a leader.
C．He wanted to set a record.	D．His parents decided for him.

3. Which of the following words can best describe Adam?

A．Athletic and ambitious.	B．Considerate and fearless.
C．Courageous and determined.	D．Confident and knowledgeable.

【推荐3】Milton Hershey was born near the small village of Derry Church, Pennsylvania, in 1857. He only attended school through the fourth grade; at that point, he was apprenticed(做学徒) to a printer in a nearby town. After a while, he left the printing business and was apprenticed to a Lancaster, Pennsylvania candy maker. And at the age of eighteen, he opened his own candy store in Philadelphia. In spite of his talents as a candy maker, the shop failed after six years.

After the failure of his Philadelphia store, Milton headed for Denver, where he learned the art of making caramels(焦糖). Then in Denver, Milton once again attempted to open his own candy-making businesses, in Chicago, New Orleans, and New York City. Finally, in 1886, he went to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, where he raised the money necessary to try again. This company— the Lancaster Caramel Company—established Milton’s reputation as a master candy maker.

In 1893, Milton attended the Chicago International Exposition, where he saw a display of German chocolate-making implements. Fascinated by the equipment, he purchased it for his Lancaster candy factory and began producing chocolate, which he used for coating his caramels. By the next year, production had grown to include cocoa, sweet chocolate, and baking chocolate. The Hershey Chocolate company was born in 1894 as a subsidiary(子公司) of the Lancaster Caramel Company. Six years later, Milton sold the caramel company, but reserved the rights, and the equipment, to make chocolate. He believed that a large market of chocolate consumers was waiting for someone to produce reasonably priced candy. He was right.

Milton Hershey returned to the village where he had been born, in the heart of dairy country, and opened his chocolate manufacturing plant. With access to all the fresh milk he needed, he began producing the finest milk chocolate. The plant that opened in a small Pennsylvania village in 1905 is today the largest chocolate factory in the world. The sweets created at this facility are favorites around the world.

The area where the factory is located is now known as Hershey, Pennsylvania. Within the first decades of its existence, the town of Hershey thrived, as did the chocolate business. A bank, a school, churches, a department store, even a park and a trolley system all appeared in short order; the town soon even had a zoo. Today, a visit to the area reveals the Hershey Medical Center, Milton Hershey School, and Hershey’s Chocolate World—a theme park where visitors are greeted by a giant Reeses Peanut Butter Cup. All of these things— and a huge number of happy chocolate lovers—were made possible because a caramel maker visited the Chicago Exposition of 1893!

1. The mention of the 1893 Exposition indicates that _______

A．the exposition in Chicago is held once every three years.

B．the theme of the exposition of 1893 was “Food from Around the World.”

C．the exposition contained displays from a variety of countries.

D．the site of the exposition is now a branch of the Hershey Chocolate Company.

2. According to the passage, Milton Hershey sold his caramel company in _______

A．1894.

B．1900.

C．1904.

D．1905.

3. What can you infer from the passage?

A．Chocolate is popular in every country in the world.

B．Reeses Peanut Butter Cups are manufactured by the Hershey Chocolate Company.

C．Chocolate had never been manufactured in the United States before Milton Hershey did it.

D．The Hershey Chocolate Company now makes more money from Hershey’s Chocolate World than from the manufacture and sale of chocolate.

4. The author wrote this passage mainly to _______

A．recount the founding of the Hershey Chocolate Company.

B．describe the process of manufacturing chocolate.

C．compare the popularity of chocolate to other candies.

D．explain how apprenticeships work.