【推荐1】In 1826 or 1827, a Frenchman named Niépce needed pictures for his business. But he was not a good artist. So he invented a very simple camera. He put it in a window of his house and took a picture of his garden. That was the first photo.

The next important date in the history of photography（摄影术）was in 1839. That year, Daguerre, another Frenchman, took a picture of his reading room. He used a new kind of camera in a different way. In his picture you could see everything very clearly, even the smallest thing. This kind of photo was called a daguerreotype.

Soon, other people began to use Daguerre’s way. Travelers brought back wonderful photos from all around the world. People took pictures of famous buildings, cities and mountains.

In about 1840, photography was developed. Then photographers could take pictures of people and moving things. That was not simple. The photographers had to carry a lot of film and other machines. But this did not stop them. For example, some in the United States worked so hard.

Mathew Brady was a famous American photographer. He took many pictures of great people. The pictures were unusual because they were very lifelike（栩栩如生的）. Photography also became one kind of art by the end of the 19th century. Some photos were not just copies of the real world. They showed feelings, like other kinds of art.

1. The first photo take by Niépce was a picture of ________.

A．his business	B．his house
C．his garden	D．his window

2. If a photographer wanted to take pictures of moving things in 1845, what did he have to do?

A．Watch lots of films.

B．Buy an expensive camera.

C．Stop in most cities.

D．Take lots of film and machine with him.

3. What can we know about Mathew Brady?

A．He was good at painting.

B．He was famous for his unusual pictures.

C．He was an inventor.

D．He took many pictures of moving people.

4. What does the passage mainly talk about?

A．How photography was developed.

B．How to show your ideas and feelings in pictures.

C．How to take pictures in the world.

D．How to use different cameras.

【推荐1】Now more companies are experimenting with the concept of connected clothes. Among the pioneers is London based Cute Circuit, which has been creating fashionable smart clothing since 2004. The company’s latest innovation is the “Sound Shirt”, which allows deaf people to “feel” live music by transforming the tunes into touch sensations (感受) in real time.

The fashionable jacket uses software that changes the music into data and wirelessly sends it to the 16-micro motors fitted inside the clothing’s fabric (布料). The devices shake with the intensity (强度) of the music being played, allowing the wearer to feel each instrument individually. For example, violins can be felt on the arms, while the deeper, heavier bass notes can be felt close to the stomach. The series of touch like sensations across the wearer’s body enable him or her to feel the entire music, resulting in a musical experience.

To ensure the shirt is comfortable, the designers chose to leave out wires and instead wove conductive textiles (导电纺织品) into the garment’s fabric. Francesca Rosella, chief creative officer of Cute Circuit, explains, “There’re no wires inside, so we’re only using smart fabrics — we have a combination of micro-electronics and very thin and flexible and conductive fabrics. All these little electronic motors are connected with these conductive fabrics so that the garment is soft and stretchable.”

Cute Circuit, which has been testing the Sound Shirt for three years, expects to make it available to the general public shortly. Priced at $3,673, the smart jacket won’t be cheap. However, twin sisters Herman and Heredia Breanne, who lost their hearing at a young age, believe the hi-tech garment is a worthwhile investment, especially for deaf people with a passion for dancing. “It’s almost like feeling the depth of the music,” says Herman. “It just feels as though we can move along with it.”

1. Why does the writer mention smart clothing in the first paragraph?

A．To show the development of technology.

B．To introduce the topic of the passage.

C．To demonstrate the latest trend of music.

D．To summarize the main idea of the whole passage.

2. What does paragraph 2 focus on?

A．The software used in the shirt.

B．The musical instruments felt by the wearers.

C．The way the shirt functions.

D．The experience the wearer gains with the shirt.

3. Which of the following can be used to describe the “Sound Shirt”?

A．Affordable and fashionable.	B．Cheap and comfortable.
C．Interesting but useless.	D．Expensive but comfortable.

4. What do the twin sisters mentioned in the text indicate?

A．The shirt will be popular with deaf dancing-enthusiasts.

B．They will invest in the “Sound Shirt” industry.

C．The shirt should be marketed as soon as possible.

D．They love music very much.

【推荐2】Having a tattoo(纹身) can reduce your chance of getting a job, but it depends on where the tattoo is, what it expresses and if the job involves dealing with customers, new research says.
Dr Andrew R Timming told the British Sociological Association conference on work, employment and society in Warwick today that employers were likely to view tattoos negatively. Dr Timming of the school of Management at the University of St Andrews said he had spoken to 15 managers involved in hiring staff about their reaction to interview candidates with visible tattoos.
"Most respondents agreed that visible tattoos are a stigma," Dr Timming told the conference. One woman manager told him that "they make a person look dirty." Another male manager told him "subconsciously that would stop me from employing them." The managers were concerned about what their organisations' customers might think, said Dr Timming. "Hiring managers realise that, ultimately, it does not matter what they think of tattoos -- what really matters, instead, is how customers might think of employees with visible tattoos.
Dr Timming said: "The one qualification to this argument is there are certain industries in which tattoos may be a desirable characteristic in a job interview. For example, an HR manager at a prison noted that tattoos on guards can be 'something to talk about' and 'an in' that you need to make a connection with the prisoners."
The negative attitude to tattoos did not extend to ones that could be easily covered by clothing. Dr Timming also found that in some of the organisations it was only certain types of tattoos that diminished the chances of getting a job at interview. One male manager told him: "If it's gang culture-related you may have a different view about the tattoo than if it's just because it's a nice drawing of an animal that they've done on their arm."
1. Why do managers really refuse to hire a person with tattoos?

A．They don’t like tattoos themselves.

B．Tattoos can turn customers away.

C．People with tattoos don’t obey the rules.

D．People with tattoos are gang members.

2. A person with tattoos can probably work as ________.

A．a doorkeeper	B．a salesman
C．a prison guard	D．a manager

3. Who would be most likely to be turned down by employers?

A．A person who has his tattoos covered.

B．A person who has tattoos of an animal.

C．A person with a gang culture-related tattoo.

D．A person with a drawing of flowers on his arms.

4. We can infer from the last paragraph that _______.

A．not all tattoos reduce one’s chance if employment.

B．some tattoos are helpful to a job interviewee.

C．it’s no use covering one’s tattoos.

D．tattoos are hard to hide.

【推荐3】The word “Kuitou” in Peking Opera is the technical term for various kinds of hats and headpieces worn by various characters in traditional Chinese opera. More than just meeting the requirements of acting, it also reveals an aspect of traditional Chinese culture.

In traditional Han Chinese culture, people believed that since, one’s whole body was a gift from one’s parents, it was important to avoid anything that might injure it, a principle that showed filial piety (孝道). Based on this ideology, males were required to let their hair grow long, and wearing hats became a rule of social etiquette in ancient times.

Since ancient Chinese society was divided into various social classes, people in each class wore different styles of clothes, but only the nobility were permitted to wear formal hats for adornment (装饰). People of lower classes could only wrap their head with a piece of cloth. Anyone under the age of 20 was also not allowed to wear formal hats and could only wear one after the performance of an official capping ceremony to mark their reaching of adulthood. As a result, various types of formal hats in ancient times, in addition to having value as a piece of personal adornment and social etiquette, also revealed the social classes of people and strict social divisions that existed between the nobility and common people.

In ancient times, people attached much importance to the kind of hat they wore. An old saying says, “A man of noble character would rather die than take off his hat.” The saying was based on the story of one of Confucius’s favorite students, Zi Lu, a man who was a brave warrior. Once while fighting in close hand-to-hand combat, his enemy opponent knocked off his hat. When he realized that his hat had been knocked off, Zi Lu placed down his weapon and said to the enemy soldier,” A nobleman can die, but my attire (服装) must be kept orderly.” But the moment he bent down to pick up his hat, the enemy soldier seized the opportunity and killed him. According to Zi Lu, his proper appearance, which included his hat, represented his dignity, and he would rather die than abandon his dignity. The formal hat culture of the Han Chinese continued up until the Ming Dynasty. Later after the Manchurians entered the Central Plains (满人入关), common people in society began to wear hats.

1. For Chinese males in the Han Dynasty, wearing headpieces or hats was           .

A．a requirement of acting	B．a rule of social etiquette
C．a way to show filial piety	D．a representation of culture

2. We can infer from the third paragraph that in ancient times,             

A．the formal hat was a symbol of adulthood

B．headwear was nothing but a decoration

C．only noble people could afford to wear formal hats

D．there existed little distinction between social classes

3. The author mentions the story of Zi Lu to show           .

A．how brave a person he was	B．how people valued their hats
C．how fierce an ancient war was	D．how people dealt with etiquette