【推荐1】How to inspire children to explore the world full of mysteries? An organization is using a special way to make children interested in the unexplained world.

12-year-old Christian Kasdorf says, “Being up in the sky is really great. I would like to be a pilot someday.” He told the Dakota County Star, a local newspaper in South Sioux City, Nebraska, “It’s fun. And you get to see things from above.”

Not only did Christian get a chance to ride in an airplane earlier this month, but also learned about flying it, thanks to a program called Young Eagles, which is created by the US Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA). It’s designed to give children between the ages of 8 and 17 a chance to experience flight in an aviation (航空) airplane while educating children about aviation. This program offers donations and volunteers (志愿者) free of charge. The lessons are free. All you need is that your parents allow you to do so.

“It is just to get kids in the air to experience flying — and get them informed about aviation,” said Rick Alter, president of the EAA, which started the Young Eagles program hack in 1992. Since then, nearly two million kids across the United States and Canada have taken Young Eagles flight.

“All kids should experience the freedom of flight at least once. All the kids really seem to like it. And it’s a great way to get them interested in aviation,” Rick told Time reporter Sean Leary.

Young Eagles teams kids up with experienced pilots who show them what to do and how to do it. “Kids have a chance to help control the aircraft. They get an idea of how the aircraft flies and what the instruments and controls do,” said Dick Foat, a pilot from Big Bear, California.

“It wasn’t as nervous as I had expected. The hardest part was the landing,” Christian said. “I was scared at first. But I got used to it.”

1. What does Christian think of his experience of flying a plane?

A．He thinks of it as a joke for a child.	B．He finds it frightening and boring.
C．He thinks it’s exciting and amazing.	D．He feels it is fun to take pictures on the plane.

2. Why was the program of Young Eagles started?

A．To produce a team of younger pilots.

B．To make kids gain flying experience and know more about aviation.

C．To make kids learn to love their countries.

D．To persuade parents to have their kids develop freely.

3. What can the kids do when they are on the plane?

A．Study skills and knowledge of flying planes.

B．Find how to get rid of fears of flying high.

C．Learn about enjoying the scenes in the high sky.

D．Enjoy the freedom of being away from parents.

4. Who will teach kids to control a plane?

A．The volunteers making donations to the program.	B．Expert pilots chosen by the program.
C．Older kids from California.	D．The president of the EAA.

【推荐3】I have been dancing since I was 14 years old, when my best friend dragged me to an after-school dance class. I enjoyed that dance class so much that I have been dancing ever since. After every dance class, however, I always have to stretch out my legs and back, as dancing can be quite a tough workout! It feels like as much exercise as going to the gym—but dancing is not widely considered to be a sport.

Many dancers would argue that dancing is a sport, as it requires great physical stamina (耐力), strong muscles and impressive flexibility. No matter what style of dance you are participating in, you will always be using all of your muscles while dancing and this can often be for several hours a day. Additionally, in the more traditional dance styles (such as ballet and contemporary dance), men often lift their female dance partners up in the air. The strength that dancers need means that they are often just as athletic as footballers, runners or swimmers.

On the other hand, many people argue that dance is an art form. Dances often exhibit emotion, show characters and tell stories. Dancing to music is creative and visually appealing to the eyes and ears. It is easy to see why many people consider dance to be an art form. I personally believe that dance is both a sport and an art. I believe that a great dancer will be a mixture of an athlete and an artist.

However, whether you consider dance to be an art or a sport, the important thing is to enjoy it! Dancing is a great way to make new friends and it’s a really fun way to exercise!

1. Why did the author fall in love with dancing?

A．Because she got inspired by her best friend.

B．Because she found the dance class was for free.

C．Because dancing might be the best form of exercise.

D．Because dancing was the most challenging task.

2. What can we learn according to the second paragraph?

A．A ballet dancer should be tall and strong. .

B．In some ways dancers are similar to athletes.

C．Most dancers find it hard to practice for several hours.

D．The traditional dance styles often cost more energy.

3. Why do some people think dance is an art form?

A．Because they think it is just like watching a play.

B．Because dancing merely brings amusement.

C．Because they think it is funny to watch dance.

D．Because dancers tell stories while dancing.

4. In which part of a website can we read the passage?

A．Fashion.

B．Sport.

C．Life around the world.

D．Music.

【推荐1】When you think about art, you might think of it as permanent. After all, that picture you drew in kindergarten might still hang on your refrigerator years later.     1     Think about a Broadway performance. When it's over, it's over. Sure, it might live on in your memory or on film. But the live show was a special event. It was limited to one time and place.

Can you think of other forms of art that are temporary? If you're a fan of the beach, sandcastles might come to your mind. Have you ever spent hours building a beautiful sandcastle?     2     You knew your work of art would be gone as soon as the tide came in. The sandy beach is a canvas that nature erases daily.

Most of the time, art made from sand can't last long. Still, many people love using sand to create their own unique vision of beauty. One of the most attractive types of sand art is sand animation (沙画).     3     Artists who work in sand animation use sand to make a set of images that usually tell a story. They often start with a large amount of sand on a flat surface, such as a table. They then use their hands and fingers to draw in the sand.

    4     However, the wide variety of beautiful and highly-detailed sand artworks might surprise you. Many of these works of art are temporary. That's where the animation part comes in.

Sand animation artists create a series of images that move to tell a story. They might also use music and special lighting to complete the effect. Sometimes they take photographs of or video their creation throughout the process.     5    

A．Not all works of art are permanent, though.

B．Sand animation is beautiful but lasts only at the moment.

C．If you have, you probably were sad when it was time to leave the beach.

D．It is a type of live performance art.

E．Then, they turn it into a sand animation movie when it's finished.

F．It might seem like using sand would limit the art you could make.

G．Building a sand castle is a family-friendly activity perfect for large groups.

【推荐3】

The writer Martin Bailey believes Vincent van Gogh drew inspiration from Hokusai’s The Great Wave when he painted one of his most dazzling and celebrated works, Starry Night.

Side by side, the similarities are obvious. In the Hokusai, Bailey points out that the wave towers over the volcanic peak of Mount Fuji. In the Van Gogh: “The swirling mass in the sky hurtles towards the more gentle slopes of Les Alpilles.”

It is known by art historians that Van Gogh had a passion for Japanese art and was a keen collector of Japanese prints. He particularly admired Hokusai’s The Great Wave which is today one of the most recognizable and reproduced artworks of all.

Starry Night was painted in the summer of 1889 when Van Gogh was in a small mental asylum on the outskirts of Saint-Rémy-de-Provence.

“I did research on the other patients in the asylum and they were all in a terrible state so it must have been very, very difficult for him to adjust his life. I think it was art which kept him sane and gave him a reason to live.” He painted Starry Night in June, inspired by the night sky that he looked up at through the bars of his cell and the stunning Provence landscape with its wheat fields, cypress trees and olive groves.

Bailey argues that Van Gogh was also inspired, possibly unconsciously, by his memories of The Great Wave. “He didn’t have the print with him but he obviously remembered it in great detail. He had a very strong visual memory.” Bailey, however, insists that the comparison should not be seen as diminishing the brilliance of Starry Night. The painting was “a work of imagination with all sorts of conscious and unconscious elements which must have come into Vincent’s mind when he was doing the painting.”

“It is surprising no one has made this comparison before. I’ve put it to a number of Hokusai and Van Gogh experts and they have all said it is a very interesting theory. It is difficult to prove but my feeling is that it is highly likely.”

Starry Night is today regarded as one of Van Gogh’s true masterpieces although the artist himself never regarded it that way. “It is incredible,” said Bailey.

“If you go to the Museum of Modern Art in New York where Starry Night is on display there are more people with their cameras out in front of it than probably any of the other paintings there. “Who would imagine someone living in a mental asylum would be able to paint such a marvelous work?”

1. Which of the following claims may Martin Bailey support?

A．Starry Night is a masterpiece inspired by The Great Wave to some extent.

B．The existence of The Great Wave makes Starry Night less brilliant.

C．Starry Night was created based on the general idea of The Great Wave.

D．The Great Wave and Starry Night have nothing in common.

2. According to the passage, what is the main similarity between the two paintings?

A．Both of them were created in mental asylums

B．Both of them depicted a natural landscape.

C．Both of them impress people with the natural power they embody.

D．Both of them drew their main elements from Japan.

3. According to Martin Bailey, which of the following statements about Starry Night is true?

A．Van Gogh sold Starry Night to make ends meet.

B．The painting was created when Van Gogh was in the wheat field.

C．The print of The Great Wave carried by Van Gogh inspired him to draw Starry Night.

D．The unique ability to memorize painting details might have helped Van Gogh complete Starry Night.

4. What can be inferred from “Who would imagine someone living in a mental asylum would be able to paint such a marvelous work?”

A．Those living in mental asylums have no chance to create great works.

B．It is astonishing that artists are able to create masterpieces in terrible surroundings.

C．The negative influence of the surroundings urge artists to draw better.

D．Only those staying in mental asylums are able to paint such an incredibly beautiful masterpiece

【推荐2】I woke at 4 a.m. in a black hostel room, my eight roommates all still sound asleep at the early hour. I stepped outside without being noticed, forced a cheese roll into my mouth, and headed to the Kaikoura dolphin-watching tour office.

With more adrenaline (肾上腺素) than I had experienced when jumping out of a plane, I put on my flippers (脚蹼) quickly and got ready for the adventure. The moment I dove off the water, I was shocked awake. No amount of coffee, tea, or sugar has ever given me such a strong wake-up. It turns out that the ocean is freezing at 5 a.m. before the sunrise. Don’t be scared off by the temperature, though, because 5 a.m. is when the dolphins are most playful!

After a little while, I was face to face with a wild dusky dolphin! At one moment, it jumped up high into the air while the next it dove deep into the water. It made strange whale noises to draw the attention of more members of the group, including a tiny baby dolphin no bigger than a cat. What impressed me most was that the baby dolphin came close up, swam around playfully and kept looking at me with those black glassy eyes, seeming most interested in this strange fish-like creature that kept getting twisted (缠绕) in her own flippers.

The sun rose, warming my back as I continued to struggle with my flippers among the most graceful animals in the ocean. It was the most beautiful sight, as the dark blue of the ocean turned light greenish-blue, brightening our swimming companions for the early hours of the morning.

The practice of swimming with wild dolphins is banned in the North Island, where the species of Hector’s dolphins are in decline. But in Kaikoura, the practice is quite common and actually helping to increase the dolphin populations.

By supporting this adventurous experience, you’re supporting dolphin protection.

1. Why was I shocked awake when diving off the water?

A．The water was freezing cold.	B．Adrenaline went up.
C．I had drunk a lot of strong coffee.	D．I was surprised by the playful dolphins.

2. What problem did I have under the water?

A．A wild dolphin kept jumping beside me.

B．I had difficulty handling my flippers.

C．My strange appearance scared dolphins.

D．The baby dolphin swam around playfully.

3. How did I find my dolphin-watching?

A．Dangerous but exciting.	B．Adventurous and tiring.
C．Scary but unforgettable.	D．Impressive and meaningful.

4. What is the best title for the passage?

A．Swimming with Wild Dolphins in Kaikoura.

B．Dolphins—My Playful Companions.

C．Supporting Dolphin Protection

D．A Deep Dive into the Ocean.