【推荐1】That little “a” with a circle curling around it that is found in email addresses is most commonly referred to as the “at” symbol.

Surprisingly though, there is no official, universal name for this sign. There are dozens of strange terms to describe the @ symbol.

Before it became the standard symbol for electronic mail, the @ symbol was used to represent the cost of something or how heavy something is. For instance, if you purchased 6 apples, you might write it as 6 apples @ $1.1 each.

With the introduction of email came the popularity of the @ symbol. The @ symbol or the “at sign” separates a person’s online username from his mail server. Its widespread use on the Internet made it necessary to put this symbol on keyboards in other countries that have never seen or used the symbol before. As a result, there is really no official name for this symbol.

The actual origin of the symbol remains a mystery. One theory is that the @ symbol came from the tired hands of the medieval monks. During the Middle Ages before the invention of printing machines, every letter of a word had to be transcribed by hand for each copy of a published book. The monks that performed these long, boring copying duties looked for ways to reduce the number of individual strokes (笔画) per word for common words. Although the word “at” is quite short to begin with, it was a common enough word in texts and documents so that those monks thought it would be quicker and easier to shorten the word “at” even more. As a result, the monks changed the shape of “t” into a circle to surround “a”, thus leaving out two strokes in the spelling of “t”.

1. What was the @ symbol used to represent first?

A．The word “at”.	B．The apple.
C．The cost or weight of something.	D．Be careful.

2. Which of the following would be the best title for the passage?

A．How to Write @	B．How @ Came into Being
C．How Monks Invented @	D．How People Wrote the Cost of Something

3. Which is NOT a reason for the monks to spell “at” as @?

A．Though “at” is short, it was used very often.

B．The monks wanted their copying to be quicker and easier.

C．The monks wanted to invent a new word.

D．Copying work was long and boring for them.

4. According to paragraph 4, which is true about the @ symbol today?

A．When you are online, you must use the @ symbol.

B．The @ symbol is at the end of an email address.

C．In countries where the @ symbol is used, governments have given it an official name.

D．It is likely to find the @ symbol on computer keyboards worldwide.

【推荐2】Chinese is one of the two world languages with over a billion speakers. While the Internet has referred to English as the most used language, Chinese still holds the top position as the most used mother tongue.     1     Just think of how many more people you'd be able to talk to after learning some Chinese!

There are five traditional forms of Chinese calligraphy. These are considered classical arts and representatives of Chinese art styles.     2     It first appeared during the Zhou Dynasty and is still popular among calligraphy artists today,    3     This makes it quite difficult for non — native speakers to tell words from sound combinations （组合）.When you add in the tones, it adds up to make Chinese one of the most difficult languages to listen to and understand.

Various factors contributed to making Chinese one of the hardest languages to learn for foreigners.    4    Usually, you must learn 3,000 characters in order to be considered fluent enough to read the morning newspaper. However, the language consists of tens of thousands of characters that make fluency a difficult task.

When you're walking around China, you might be surprised at the amount of words you're able to pick up quickly. Thanks to an increase in exposure to Western culture, Chinese has many loanwords, or words borrowed from English, in use today.

The origin of Chinese comes from the discovery of the famous Oracle Bones and what is believed to be the earliest symbols of Chinese. These bones were first used in the Shang Dynasty. With such a rich history, Chinese has obviously experienced many changes and influences due to wars and cultural shifts （变迁）.    5    

A．Ancient Chinese characters were used 3,000 years ago.

B．However, the language still existed and continued to grow.

C．In 2010, the number of Chinese native speakers totaled 955 million people.

D．People who wish to study Chinese must put in years of work to reach fluency.

E．Thanks to its unique sound system, Chinese is filled with similar sounding words.

F．The world's most natively-spoken language, Chinese, still remains a puzzle to the West.

G．The most popular calligraphy style is the Seal Character style developed by the Han people.

【推荐1】       On her first day back at school in August, Stephanie Hughes, a teenage student, was sent to the principal’s office at Woodford County High School in Kentucky, US and her mom was called to school.
       She had made a “huge” mistake — at least in the eyes of the school — by wearing a top that showed her collarbone. It was against the school’s dress code.
       “This is ridiculous!” Stacie Dunn, Hughes’s mom, wrote on the social media site Facebook. “Something needs to change!”
       The incident has become an Internet sensation. Across the US, schools like Woodford are being criticized for their dress codes. Some say the rules are especially unfair to young women.
       Over half of US public schools have a dress code, and they are often different for girls and boys, according to the National Center for Education Statistics in the US. Some dress codes, for example, ban skirts and ask for pants to be at least knee-length.
       Some have pointed out that these rules are mostly for female students. Women’s clothes are usually cut to be more fitted and shorter, while men’s clothes are longer and looser. In practice, more women will be caught breaking dress codes. The New York Post reported that last year, one school in Staten Island, New York gave 200 dress code detentions in two weeks－90 percent of which went to female students.
       Some school administrators say they simply want students to dress professionally to prepare students for their future careers. But others have told female students that their clothes present a “distraction” to male students. That idea is being criticized.
       The “distraction” argument is unfair to women, critics say. It suggests that exposed skin means that you want criticism or sexual advances.
       “These dress codes mean that girls are getting very clear messages that men have a right to your body in public spaces and it’s socially acceptable, but you will be punished,” Laura Bates, a co-founder of the Everyday Sexism Project, a project that aims to promote equality between men and women, told The Atlantic.
       Some students have taken action to change the situation. They have started online campaigns and made short films to build public support.
       Certain schools have now chosen to think again about their dress codes with parents and students. Even Woodford County High School — home of the “collarbone” ban — is thinking again about its policies. But, at least for now, the dress code debate is far from over.
1. The underlined phrase “dress code” in Paragraph 2 means          in the article.

A．rules for dressing

B．bans on wearing certain clothes

C．policies for dressing professionally

D．policies on what to wear for special occasions

2. What does Stacie Dunn think is “ridiculous”?

A．Her daughter making big mistakes in class.

B．Showing collarbones being considered a huge mistake.

C．Sharing the incident on Facebook.

D．Being called in to school.

3. The dress codes are mainly a problem for female students because         .

A．women’s clothes are loose and long

B．they are often caught breaking them

C．they often dress in a way that draws attention

D．women’s clothes are often short and fitted

4. The dress code debate has led to         , according to the article.

A．many students ignoring their school dress codes

B．students starting online debates and campaigns about the incident

C．some schools reconsidering their policies with parents and students

D．public support of more discussions about equality between men and women

【推荐3】Human activity is changing the surface and temperature of the planet. But new research shows it is also changing the sound of the Earth’s oceans and seas. Scientists say the changes in the sounds of our oceans, seas, and other waterways affect many marine animals (海洋生物) —from very small shrimp to huge whales.

Sound travels “very far underwater,” Francis Juanes told the Associated Press. Juanes is an ecologist at the University of Victoria in Canada. “For fish,” he explained,“sound is probably a better way to sense their environment than light.”

Sounds help fish and other marine animals survive. They use sounds to communicate with each other. Sounds also help some ocean animals find food and avoid their hunters. Many ocean animals use sounds to find good places to mate.

However, increased noise from humans is making it harder for these animals to hear each other. The noise is corning from shipping traffic, motorized fishing ships, underwater oil and gas exploration, offshore construction and other noisy human activities. “For many marine animals, their attempts to communicate are being blocked by sounds that humans have introduced,” said Juanes.

Experts at NOAA say that effects of noise on marine mammals are not well understood. However, some studies suggest that noise may cause hearing loss. The stress from human noise might also affect the immune (免疫) system—an animal’s natural defense system.

“When people think of threats facing the ocean,” said Joe Roman, a marine ecologist at the University of Vermont, “we often think of climate change, plastics, and overfishing. But noise pollution is another vital thing we need to be monitoring.” “If you make something for the ocean,” Joe Roman suggested,“think about how to make it quieter. In theory (理论),you can reduce or turn off sound immediately. It’s not like plastics or climate change, which are much harder to get rid of.”

1. Why is sound important for ocean animals?

A．It makes them travel far in the sea.

B．It guides them to find their mates.

C．It helps them locate food and avoid danger.

D．It keeps them stay away from offshore construction.

2. What does the underlined word “blocked” in paragraph 4 mean?

A．prevented

B．destroyed

C．caused

D．monitored

3. What can we infer about Joe Roman’s opinion?

A．Marine animals are being monitored.

B．People pay equal attention to noise pollution.

C．Noise pollution is theoretically easier to deal with.

D．Plastics is the most serious threat for ocean animals.

4. Which of the following can be the best title for the text?

A．Sound Is Important to Ocean Life.	B．The Future of Oceans Exploration.
C．The Changes in the Sounds of Oceans.	D．Humans Are Making Oceans Too Noisy.