【推荐1】A few years ago, my wife, Sue had some serious health problems. She had suffered surgery after surgery and had also put on weight. Diets had not helped her and she suffered constantly from undiagnosed pain. One day the whole family sat down and drew up a “wish list”. To our surprise, one of Sue’s items was to run in a marathon. Given her history and physical limitations, I thought her goal was completely unrealistic, but Sue became committed to it.

She began by running very slowly and every day she ran just a little farther than she did the day before. Soon she could run three miles. Then five. Sue kept practicing and longed to run in the St. George Marathon in southern Utah.

On the big day, I parked our van near the finish line, waiting for Sue. The rain was steady and the wind was cold. The marathon had started over five hours ago. The fast and strong competitors had finished already. Several cold and injured runners had been transported past me, and I began to panic. The image of Sue, alone and cold, off the road somewhere, made me sick with worry.

Another hour passed and I spotted a small group running up. As they approached, I could see Sue, in the company of three others, and a woman in her twenties was near Sue. It was obvious that they had become friends during the race. I could see her begin to struggle. But when the finish line came into sight, she confidently even happily picked up her pace the last hundred yards to the finish line. Few people were left to congratulate my wife. They openly praised and embraced her, “She made us believe we could do it,” her new friend stated.

From then on, she was carrying herself differently. Her head was more upright. Her shoulders were squared. Her walk had a new confidence. Her voice held a new, quiet dignity. It was not as if she had become someone new; it was more as if she had discovered a real self she had not known before. It was perseverance that made her realize she was an undiscovered masterpiece with a million things left to learn about herself. She truly liked her newly discovered self. So did I.

1. Why did the author think Sue had an unrealistic goal?

A．She was in bad health condition.	B．She occasionally suffered from pains.
C．She was diagnosed with cancer.	D．She always had an unhealthy diet.

2. The author began to panic because ________.

A．he was cold and lonely on the road	B．he was concerned about Sue
C．he noticed some runners were sick	D．he saw his wife was struggling

3. As for “An Undiscovered Masterpiece”, the author refers to ________.

A．Sue’s squared shoulders	B．the marathon in southern Utah
C．Sue’s newly-discovered self	D．Sue’s newly-made friend

4. The writer wrote this article in order to tell us that ________.

A．Sue did a good job in the marathon

B．Sue made many friends in the race

C．he was grateful because Sue had recovered

D．nothing can take the place of perseverance

【推荐2】Failure is a word that no one wants to hear. It is human being’s biggest fear yet it is faced by every human being.     1     Therefore, you need to learn how to deal with failure. Here are some tips which can help you get on the positive side of life.

    2     Before starting anything that you think will give you success, promise yourself that you will never give up. This promise helps make your mind ready for both failure and success. Remember that it is never too late to do so.

Learn from your mistakes. This is the opportunity that you should not let go of. Suppose you are on a football ground, you strike the ball for 9 times in a row and fail.     3     The tenth attempt proves that you have somehow learnt from your mistakes.

Never think that you’ve got only one plan. The worst thing you can do after failing in some projects is thinking that it was the only plan you could ever think of. There is always another way.     4     If you are into achieving something, no one or nothing in this world can stop you.

Keep a positive attitude. This is the most important thing that you need to live a happy life. Always think positive. Never let yourself down.     5    

A．Never give up.

B．Keep confident all the time.

C．But at the tenth attempt, you succeed.

D．If Plan A fails, turn to Plan B or Plan C.

E．Sometimes, people’s fear of it is their biggest barrier to success.

F．Positivity is all we need to grow and establish ourselves in this world.

G．What if nothing comes to you but missing the kick after you try the last shoot?

【推荐3】About five weeks ago, I noticed the skin of our pet lizard was growing dusty. It worried me. I reported the strange surface on the skin of the lizard to my husband and children the next morning. Seconds later, our lizard emerged from its tank with its old skin flowing behind it.

I didn't think about it much until a morning last week when I knocked my favorite teapot off the table. It burst into hundreds of pieces. As I swept up the mess, I wondered why we had been breaking so many things over the months.

The destruction started three months ago. It was my husband's birthday. He had just lost his job. The uncertainty was starting to wear on us, so I wanted to do something special.

“Let's make a cake for Dad!” I cried.

My kids screamed with joy. We baked, iced and sprinkled for most of the day. Candles on the cake! Balloons on the walls! Flowers on the table!

Two hours before my husband came back home from another job interview, my daughter climbed up to grab a glass vase from a high shelf. It fell and crashed beside the cake. Tiny pieces of glass were everywhere. She sobbed loudly as I threw the cake away. My husband had banana pudding for his birthday.

Three days ago, the light in our living room suddenly went out. After several frustrating hours of unsuccessful attempts to fix it, my husband suggested watching the Michael Jordan documentary series The Last Dance.

The poignancy of Jordan retiring from his beloved basketball to play baseball and what had pushed him to make such a tough decision took me by surprise. As I watched him take off his basketball uniform and replace it with a baseball uniform, I saw him leaving behind the layer that no longer served him, just as our lizard had. Neither of them chose the moment that had transformed them. But they had to live with who they were after everything was different. Just like us. I realized that we have to learn to leave the past behind.

Humans do not shed skin as easily as other animals. The beginning of change is upsetting. The process is tiring. Damage changes us before we are ready. I see our lizard, raw and nearly new.

Jordan said that no matter how it ends, it starts with hope. With our tender, hopeful skin, that is where we begin.

1. What can we learn about the pet lizard from Paragraph 1?

A．Its tank grew dirty.	B．Its old skin came off.
C．It got a skin disease.	D．It went missing.

2. Why did the author's husband have banana pudding for his birthday?

A．The birthday cake was ruined.	B．The author made good puddings.
C．Pudding was his favorite dessert.	D．They couldn't afford a birthday cake.

3. Why does the author mention The Last Dance in the passage?

A．To prove a theory.	B．To define a concept.
C．To develop the theme.	D．To provide the background.

4. The underlined part "leaving behind the layer" in Paragraph 8 can be understood as        .

A．letting go of the past	B．looking for a new job
C．getting rid of a bad habit	D．giving up an opportunity

5. What does the author most likely want to tell us?

A．Love of family helps us survive great hardships.	B．It's not the end of the world if we break things.
C．We should move on no matter what happens.	D．Past experiences should be treasured.

【推荐1】Going to college was not optional. In my family, it was just another step toward the American dream. As soon as I graduated, I enrolled (入学)in the English Department of Colorado State University. I went on to earn two scholarships, and membership in the National Honor Society. I truly believed the hard work was worth it.

It wasn't until a few months ago that I realized how clueless I was. I had been combing through the classifieds when my eyes fell upon my dream job: “National College Magazine looking for writers ”.

Thrilled, I spent the weekend composing a resume . Needless to say, I was stunned when the interviewer barely took one glance before throwing it aside.

"No experience," he said flatly.

I felt like screaming, "What do you mean, no experience? Look at these grades."

I was left to absorb the shock of rejection, thinking that nobody ever told me that a 4. 0 student would be turned down for a job.

Didn't all of my hard work count for anything?

I see plenty of demands for two years of experience at a print publication, but none requiring extensive knowledge of how to write academic papers. Yet 95% of my energy in school went toward the latter, leaving me little time to devote to anything else. If career preparation is supposed to be the point of college, then why isn't it the focus?

Has a college degree just become another societal status symbol like fancy cars or designer clothes?

Given my experience, I feel that a college degree would be a lot more valuable if students were required to get some outside experience to supplement their in — class knowledge. Instead of requiring four science classes, why not three science classes and an internship? In my college career, I took one class that taught me how to write and submit essays for publication. This ever — so — brief taste of the real world was like holding an ice cream sundae in front of a child and only giving her a small bite.

1. Why did the author study so hard at college?

A．To maintain a family tradition.	B．To land an ideal job.
C．To fulfill parents' expectations.	D．To win scholarships for the tution

2. What accounted for the author's failure in job hunting?

A．His dull resume.	B．His misjudgment in high scores.
C．His lack of experience.	D．His poor performance in the interview.

3. What does the underlined sentence in the last paragraph imply?

A．Academic writing is a small part of college life.

B．College education always covers unimportant things.

C．Competition in college is not as fierce as that in the real world.

D．The author feels held back by his lack of real — world experience.

4. What does the author want to tell us by writing this article?

A．Get a college degree and you will go far.

B．College students should make the best of their time.

C．Career preparation is a necessity for college education.

D．Landing a successful career is better than a college degree.

【推荐2】In 1985, Tommy Burrell inherited(继承) a piece of land in West Sussex, England, which is 3500 acres. It had been in his family for more than 200 years. As it was a failing farm, he and his wife Isabella Tree, were all set to run a traditional farm, but soon realized the costs far outweighed the profits. The land wasn't suitable for growing crops anymore.

So, in 2001, the couple decided to try something else--an experiment in “rewilding”, or restoring environments to their natural state. They reintroduced native species, including Tamworth pigs, Exmoor   ponies, longhorn cattle, and deer. Then they took out all the fences and let the animals wander freely.

In the following years, the land went through an incredible change. The once neat fields were covered with bushes, creating habitats where new plant and animal species could grow.

Now it's home to many different creatures, including two rare species of bats, nightingales, peregrine falcons, white storks, and even turtle doves, whose numbers have dropped by 98 percent in the U. K. over the last few decades!

“We were living in a biological desert. Now, ecologists are blown away all the time by just the amount of life here," Isabella said. "It shows the potential that this kind of project has for changing trends of biodiversity decline.

What's more, the land is now profitable! Tommy and Isabella offer multiple services there, including walking tours, safaris, photography classes, and rewilding workshops. They also sell meat to control their large animal populations, and even allow visitors to spend a night outside in the tents they set up.

What a promising outcome! This is amazing news for conservationists and shows that our planet can be returned to its natural glory, if only we let it. Now, it's a beautiful reminder of how ecosystems can be restored by letting Mother Nature take the control.

1. What did the couple do with the land?

A．They planted trees on it.	B．They raised animals on it.
C．They restored it to its natural state.	D．They transformed it into a traditional farm.

2. What does the underlined phrase “blown away” in Paragraph 5 mean?

A．Amused.

B．Impressed.

C．Disappointed.

D．Confused.

3. Which is one of the ways the couple make profits?

A．Selling tents to tourists.	B．Selling what they grow on the land.
C．Killing animals and selling the meat.	D．Drawing rare animals and selling the pictures.

4. What can be inferred about the couple?

A．They have creative ideas.	B．They succeeded through hard labor.
C．They are too lazy to manage a farm.	D．They care more about money than the ecosystem.

【推荐3】A few weeks ago, I pulled an old road map out of my glove box and handed it to my kids. They’d never seen the province of Ontario laid out like this before. They stared at it, asking about all the towns, parks and other landmarks we’d visited, and I pointed them out on the map.

Digital maps and GPS are modern wonders that have gotten me out of many confusing places, but paper maps still have a role to play in our lives. Most of us adults learned to read them out of necessity, but it’s up to us to pass on that skill to children whose need may not be so obvious, but who still will benefit from it.

As Trevor Muir wrote in an article on this topic, “When kids learn how to create and use paper maps, they are doing more than just learning how to get around. They are actually developing a fundamental skill that they will use for the rest of their lives. Map reading skill still belongs in today’s classroom.”

As a child, I had National Geographic maps taped to my bedroom walls. This aroused my curiosity and imagination about those places and thus made me eager to remember my geography and history lessons because they were tied to places I’d “seen”. Even now as a mother of four, I’ve also spared time to travel to many of the countries whose maps I studied as a child.

Additionally, in this fast-changing world, unexpected events can rapidly influence one’s usual way of life. When GPS satellites or Internet connections are affected, this old-fashioned skill can get you out of a mess without requiring a smartphone. Last but not least, paper maps arouse big picture thinking, showing kids that there’s a much bigger world out there and helping to direct them within it.

So, now is a good time to pull out those dusty old maps and lay them on the kitchen table.

1. How did the children react when given the paper map?

A．They seemed totally confused.

B．They showed great curiosity.

C．They found it less convenient than GPS.

D．They recognized the landmarks themselves effortlessly.

2. What benefits does the author mention regarding the use of paper maps for children?

A．They promote reliance on GPS technology.

B．They provide instant convenience and accuracy.

C．They enhance curiosity and imagination.

D．They get rid of the need for smartphones.

3. Which of the following will the author agree with?

A．Paper maps are already out of date.

B．Internet connections are always reliable.

C．GPS will sooner or later replace paper maps.

D．Paper maps provide kids with a grand vision.

4. Which would be the best title for the text?

A．How to Teach Kids to Survive in the Wild

B．Time to Teach Kids to Read Paper Maps

C．How to Teach Kids to Recognize Strange Places

D．Time to Encourage Kids to Explore a Real World