【推荐1】This summer, Monika Lutz’s life took an unusual turn. Instead of heading off to college, the high school graduate packed her bags for a Bengali jungle. Lutz, like a growing number of other young Americans, is taking a year off. Gap(间隔) years   are quite common in Britain and Australia, but they are just beginning to catch on in the U.S. Lutz, who grew up in Boulder, Colo., has put together a 14-month schedule that includes helping deliver solar power to some communities in India and interning (实习) for a fashion designer in Shanghai---experiences that are worlds away from the lecture halls and university dormitories that await other students. “I could not be happier,” she says.
Why are students attracted to the gap-year concept? According to new survey data from Karl Haigler and Rae Nelson, education-policy experts and co-authors of The Gap-Year Advantage, the most common reason for this is to avoid burnout. “I felt like I was focused on college as a means to an end,” says Kelsi Morgan, an incoming Middlebury College freshman who spent last year interning for a judge in Tulsa, Okla., and teaching English at an orphanage in the Dominican Republic. The hope is that after a year out of the classroom, students will enter college more energized, focused and mature. That can be an advantage for colleges too. Robert Clagett, dean of admissions at Middlebury, did some research a few years ago and found that a single gap semester was the strongest predictor of academic success at his school.
Most experts recommend securing a spot in college before taking a gap year and warn against using the time off to lengthen your resume. “Most admissions folks can see right through that,” says Jim Jump, the academic dean of St. Christopher’s School in Richmond, Va. But for students like Lutz, who, after getting rejected from five Ivies, decided to take time off, a gap year can help focus interests. Lutz now plans to apply mostly to non-Ivies that have strong marketing programs. “This experience has really opened my eyes to the opportunities the world has to offer,” she says.
But at least one education expert doesn’t want schools spreading the gap-year message. In a study that followed 11,000 members of the high school class of 1992 for eight years after graduation, Stefanie DeLuca, a sociology professor at Johns Hopkins University, found that, all things being equal, those who delayed college by a year were 64% less likely to complete a bachelor’s degree than those who didn’t. DeLuca did not say whether these students voluntarily started college late, but at the very least, her work indicates that taking a gap year doesn’t guarantee success. “I’m not going to say that time off does not have benefits,” says DeLuca. “But I think we should not be so enthusiastic.”
1. The students take gap years mainly because ______.

A．they want to be more unusual

B．they want to refresh themselves

C．some experts advise them to do so

D．their parents think it good for them

2. According to Lutz, the gap year has made her more ______.

A．energetic	B．relaxed
C．practical	D．enthusiastic

3. Stefanie DeLuca probably agrees that ______.

A．students should think twice before taking gap years

B．taking gap years enables students to achieve success

C．schools should encourage their students to take gap years

D．taking gap years increases students’ chances of getting a good job

4. What’s the author’s attitude towards gap years?

A．Sceptical.	B．Positive.
C．Disapproving.	D．Objective.

【推荐3】Being Responsible Outside of Class

Manage your time wisely.

Managing your time will greatly help you become a better and more-productive student. Time-management skills are highly valued by teachers.     1    

    2    

Every teacher designs tests and exams differently. If your teacher hasn’t specified (详细说明) how he or she arranges tests and exams and which materials will be covered, you’ll need to ask your teacher outside of class. That way you’ll be able to fully prepare for the tests more efficiently (有效率地).

Get help if your grades fall behind.

Whether you miss an important class, have trouble with certain concepts, or are dealing with a stressful family emergency, there’s a chance that your grades might fall at some point.     3     Remember that you don’t have to feel dissatisfied with grades if you’re actively absorbed in your studies.

    4    

If you fail to finish your homework, turn in a paper on time, or show up to your task on time, it’s no one’s fault but your own.     5     Accepting responsibility is a major mark of maturity (成熟), in part because taking your responsibility can help you stay focused and decide what to do in the future.

A．Try to stay balanced.

B．You shouldn’t excuse for your fault.

C．Study for tests and exams ahead of time.

D．Take responsibility for your words and actions.

E．If this happens, it’s important to get help at once.

F．You don’t have to write out every word your teacher cays.

G．They can help ensure that you prepare well for tests and exams.

【推荐1】Jack London is a famous American writer. His mostly known book is The Call of the Wild, the story of adventures of a large dog in the frozen north.

Jack was born on January 12, 1876, in San Francisco, California. His family was very poor, and Jack had to leave school to make money. He worked hard at many different jobs. Later, he returned to school, but he didn’t stay. He wrote, “Life and pocketbook were both too short.” In 1897, he went to Alaska to find gold. Instead, he found ideas there for his books and stories. He returned home and started to write. His writings were successful, and he became rich and famous in his twenties. However, Jack was not a happy man. In poor health, he took his own life in 1916. He then was only 40 years old.

1. In what order did Jack London do the following things?
a. Became rich and famous in his twenties
b. Worked hard at many different jobs
c. Had to leave school to make money
d. Went to Alaska to find gold
e. Took his own life
f. Returned home and started to write

A．a , c , e , b , d , f	B．b , d , f , a , c , e
C．c , e , f , d , b , a	D．c , b , d , f , a , e

2. What do we know about Jack London?

A．He became famous but was very poor all his life.

B．Though he was poor, he was always happy.

C．He was not famous until he died in 1916.

D．He killed himself because of poor health.

【推荐2】Move over Psy. There’s a new viral music video on the Internet that’s getting millions of people dancing and laughing. Psy is a singer who created Gagnam Style, a music video which featured a catchy tune and interesting dance.
The new music video called The Fox (What does the fox say?) has recently gone viral. At   123 000 000 views, it may even catch up to Gagnam Style. The video asks the question, “What does the fox say?” It’s a good question. And it seems, at least according to the music video, there is no good answer.
Actors in the video dress up like the animals they’re singing about. One of the brothers dresses up like a fox. There is a surprising and silly dance in the video that takes the viewer a bit off-guard. The video’s appeal is the song’s simple rhythm and catchy chorus (副歌).
The makers of the video never expected the video to do well or even to be taken seriously. In fact, it started out as a joke. The song was written by two brothers from Norway, Vegard and Bard Ylvis Ker. The brothers have their own late-night talk show in Norway. They thought the video would be so bad that it would give them something to talk about on their show.
On their website, they say the video was “supposed to entertain a few Norwegians for three minutes — and that’s all.” But people started loving it. Some people say that once you listen to the delightfully silly song, you want to listen to it again and again.
The brothers have been guests on some major North American talk shows. They say they’re happy about the success of their video, but they know that tomorrow something else could come along and be even bigger.
1. What can be learnt about the music video invented by Psy?

A．It featured the traditional style of Korean music.

B．It was difficult for people to follow.

C．It was named after a new virus.

D．It could make people relax a lot.

2. Which of the following best describes the new music video The Fox?

A．It can catch the viewers’ heart easily by its amusing tune and dance.

B．It features the same story with the music video Gagnam Style.

C．It answers the question “What does the fox say?” exactly.

D．It has the real animals in the video.

3. It can be inferred from the passage that nowadays most people ______.

A．like to enjoy music with simple and easy style.

B．have difficulty in understanding the viral movie music.

C．are working hard for the advancement of classic music.

D．are tired of many music videos which are popularized through Internet too quickly.

4. The underlined word “off-guard” in Paragraph 3 is closest in meaning to ______.

A．Annoyed.	B．Offended.
C．Unexpected.	D．Relaxed.

【推荐3】Every year, over 17 trillion pounds of plastic are washed into the oceans, making five huge areas in the world’s oceans “soups” of floating trash. One of these areas, the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, is three times as large as France.

Over a year ago, a group called Ocean Cleanup began using a huge floating screen (隔板) to try to clean up plastic pollution in the ocean. After several failures, the group is now collecting plastic. But the plastic is spread out over a large area, so it’s impossible to collect it piece by piece. Ocean Cleanup’s plan is to gather up the floating plastic, making it easier to remove.

Boyan Slat, a member of Ocean Cleanup, got the idea for the Ocean Cleanup system: a 2,000-foot-long floating U-shaped tube with a screen hanging below it. As the tube and screen are pushed by the water and the wind, the U tube is meant to collect plastic trash, making it easy for a ship to collect and remove the plastic. The system uses the power of the wind and ocean, so it doesn’t need fuel.

The group began testing the first version, called “System 001”, in September, 2018. But it soon became clear that the screen was just moving with the plastic, not collecting it. But Mr. Slat saw the project as an experiment, which meant a failure is a chance to learn. The team collected and studied lots of information about what worked well and what didn’t. Then they changed the design. In last June, an improved version, called “System 001/B” was born.

The new version has a parachute (降落伞) attached to it. This makes the system move slightly slower than the plastic, allowing plastic to be collected inside, as planned. System 001/B is now collecting plastic of all sizes, from a large fishing net to tiny bits of plastic as small as 1 millimeter.

But this success is still just the beginning of the work for Ocean Cleanup. Now the group want to use what they’ve learned to design a better and larger system that can collect plastic for up to a year before a ship comes to remove it.

1. What was the problem that Ocean Cleanup faced at first?

A．The plastic was hard to collect.	B．The rubbish was too much.
C．They lacked good screens.	D．They had few members.

2. What can we know about System 001?

A．It proved to be a success.	B．It was connected to a ship.
C．It was environmentally friendly.	D．It collected plastic piece by piece.

3. What does the group expect the future system to do?

A．Recycle clear plastic.	B．Work longer on the sea.
C．Have wide applications.	D．Collect tinier bits of plastic.

4. Where is the text most likely from?

A．A magazine.	B．A guidebook.
C．A science fiction.	D．A diary.