【推荐2】The guy who tried to edit English

The English vocabulary is not only huge, but also full of words that mean practically(几乎) the same thing- Get, obtain, acquire. Shine, gleam, glow, sparkle.     1    

That was the thinking of a British writer named C. K. Ogden, who in the 1930s proposed (提议) a new form of English with a vocabulary of just 850 words. He called the project Basic English     2    

Ogden arrived at his 850-word list through experimentation, rephrasing texts over and over until he was satisfied. The words he finally included were not necessarily the shortest or most concrete.     3     Because any verbal idea could be expressed with a small number of “operators”---words like come, go, get, take, have, make, be, and do. Ogden argued that most verbs were unnecessary. In Basic English, “eat” is “have a meal” and “forget” is “go from memory”.

Winston Churchill was a fan of the concept as a way to get foreigners to speak English, and he encouraged the BBC to use it.     4     Roosevelt, who expressed mild interest, joked that Churchill's famous speech about offering his “blood, toil, tears, and sweat” to his country wouldn't have been so exciting if he “had been able to offer the British people only blood, work, eye water, and face water, which I understand is the best that Basic English can do with five famous words.”

    5     Churchill didn't use it either. When seeking to express ourselves, we don't necessarily need fewer words; we need the right words. So it's to our benefit to have a large supply on hand.

A．Do we really need them all?

B．How many words are there in English?

C．Ogden himself didn't actually use Basic English.

D．Plenty of seemingly basic words did not make the list at all.

E．He also tried to persuade President Franklin Roosevelt to promote it.

F．He believed it would make the language more efficient and easier to learn.

G．Despite attention from world leaders, Basic English never got very far off the drawing board.

【推荐3】Some expressions in English sound pleasant but actually are not, one of which is “face the music”.

Imagine a friend asks you to take care of her beautiful red sports car. She gives you the key and says, “Thanks so much for watching my car while I’m away. But please, do not drive it. It is an extremely fast car.” But you do not listen. You want to show off and pretend the car is yours. So, you drive it around the town. As a result, you lose control of the car and drive it into a stop sign. The damage is serious. When your friend returns, you must tell her what you have done and “face the music”. That could mean losing her friendship or paying for repairs to her sports car or both. Whatever the music is, you must face it.

The expression is more than 150 years old. In 1851, the writer James Fenimore Cooper explained “face the music” as theatrical term. In a theater, the orchestra(管弦乐队) often sits in the front of the stage facing the musicians. Many actors are very nervous, a condition called stage fright. “Face the music” came to mean accepting stage fright and not giving in to it.

Word experts also say “face the music” may have come from the military. A soldier who did something terrible could be forced out of the army. When that happened, the army drummers would play slow, sad beat. The soldier would be led away seated backward on a horse and facing the music of the drums.

There are other English expressions that mean the same thing as “face the music.” If someone says, “You made your bed. Now lie in it,” they mean you created a bad situation and now you will experience the result.

1. What does the underlined part “the music” in Paragraph 2 refer to?

A．The unpleasant music.	B．The beautiful red sports car.
C．The music played by the orchestra.	D．The bad result of your actions.

2. Which of the following is an example of “face the music”?

A．You have to go home with your bad exam results.

B．You will buy the sports car you like best.

C．Your friend invites you to attend a live concert.

D．You have held a concert successfully.

3. What is most likely to be discussed following the last paragraph?

A．The origin of “You made your bed. Now lie in it.”

B．Some other expressions similar to “face the music.”

C．The true meaning of “You made your bed. Now lie in it.”

D．Other examples to explain the meaning of “face the music.”

【推荐1】“A lie can travel halfway around the world before the truth can get its boots (靴子) on.” said Mark Twain. In today’s Internet world of “fake (假的) news,” lies spread even faster and the truth is having trouble finding its boots.

To make matters worse, most young people get news from social media sites where facts are mixed with rumors (谣言), half-truths and complete lies. This has led to young people becoming confused. In the latest PISA, which tested 15-year-olds worldwide on academic subjects, fewer than one in ten of the examinees were reported to be able to recognize fact from opinion. A Stanford University study showed that students at all levels of education could not tell teal news from fake news. In one instance, 80 percent thought that a paid advertisement was a real news story.

Fake news is spread by people who have a prejudice (偏见). They want to influence public opinion either for or against something or someone. It is important, then, for young people to recognize when they are being used and to be doubtful about online information.

Traditional media, such as newspapers and television, are still the more credible sources of information. Reporters are professional trained to look for facts, and editors have the job of making sure those facts are correct. However, if you are getting most of your information online, you have to be your own editor. In that case, the first thing to do is to look at the writer of a post. Is this person known to be objective? Does the site where you read the post have a prejudice? Next, look for other sources from mainstream media to make sure the information. In other words, by putting on your truth boots you won’t be fooled into chasing lies.

1. What does the writer say about young people with news around?

A．They make fake news and spread it.	B．They are easily fooled by fake news.
C．They get worried about their education.	D．They can recognize facts from opinions.

2. What does the underlined word “credible” in the last paragraph mean?

A．Primary.	B．Realistic.
C．Believable.	D．Important.

3. According to the writer, what can help us avoid being fooled by fake news?

A．Only look for news through media.

B．Become a professional and trained reporter.

C．Compare the news from different sources.

D．focus on the new instead of the writer.

4. Which of the following is the best title for the passage?

A．What Should a Reporter Do?

B．Who Makes and Spreads Fake New?

C．How Can We Become a Newspaper Editor?

D．How Can We Stay Objective in Reading News?

【推荐2】“How can we live longer?” many people wonder. Being sociable looks like a good way to add years to your life. Relationships with family, friends, neighbors, even pets, will all do the trick, but the biggest longevity (长寿) boost seems to come from marriage or an equal relationship. The effect was first noted in 1858 by William Farr, who wrote in 1858 by William Farr, who wrote that widows and widowers (鳏夫) were at a much higher risk of dying than their married peers. Studies since then suggest that marriage could add as much as seven years to a man’s life and two to a woman’s, The effect holds for all causes of death, whether illness, accident or self-harm.

Even though the odds are stacked against you (the conditions are not favourable to you), marriage can more than compensate. Linda Waite of the University of Chicago has found that a married older man with heart disease can expect to live nearly four years longer than an unmarried man with a healthy heart. Likewise, a married man who smokes more than a pack a day is likely to live as long as a divorced man who doesn’t smoke. There’s a less pleasant

side, however, as partners are more likely to become ill or die in the couple of years following their spouses; death, and caring for a spouse with mental disorder can leave you with some of the same severe problems. Even so, the odds favour marriage. In a 30-year study of more than 10,000 people, Nicholas Christakis of Harvard Medical School describes how all kinds of social networks have similar effects.

So how does it work? The effects are complex, affected by socioeconomic factor, health-service provision, emotional support and other more physiological mechanisms (机制). For example, social contact can boost development of the brain and immune system, leading to better health and less chance of depression later in life. People in supportive relationships may handle stress better. Then there are the psychological benefits of a supportive partner.

A life partner, children and good friends are all recommended if you aim to live to 100. The best social network is still being mapped out, but Christakis says: “People are interconnected so their health is interconnected.”

1. William Farr’s study and other studies show that ________.

A．social life provides an effective cure for illness

B．being sociable helps improve one’s quality of life

C．women benefit more than men from marriage

D．marriage contributes a great deal to longevity

2. What does the underlined word “compensate” in the second paragraph probably mean?

A．pay money	B．provide something had
C．help recover	D．increase damage

3. What does the author say about social network?

A．They have effects similar to those of a marriage.

B．They help develop people’s community spirit.

C．They provide timely support for those in need.

D．They help relieve people of their life’s burden.

4. What can be inferred from the last paragraph?

A．It’s important that we develop a social network when young.

B．To stay healthy, one should have a proper social network.

C．Getting a divorce means risking a reduced life span.

D．We should share our social networks with each other.

【推荐3】Don’t put it off, do it now!

Why do we spend so much time not doing the work we should do, or putting off small jobs that have piled up to create a big problem? Procrastinating, as putting things off like this is called, is in our character we have naturally since birth; we avoid dull or difficult jobs until it’s too late to do anything else.

“We often put things off although we know it will make life more stressful,” says Dr. Steel, an authority on the science of motivation. “If these tasks were fun, we’d just do them now. We put off what is difficult or unpleasant, such as the paperwork that needs doing before leaving the office or cleaning the bits of your home that people can’t see. But the fact is, the less people procrastinate, the more money they have, the better relationships they have, and the healthier they are.” This is obvious when you look at the couples who don’t argue about whether anyone has cleaned the kitchen, and the people who simply go for a run instead of endlessly rescheduling it in their heads.

Of course, there are the rest of us, who feel the small jobs piling up around us daily. “We’ve evolved to respond to the moment, and not to set our sights too far in an uncertain world,” Dr. Steel adds. “We are not set up to appreciate long-term rewards, whether it’s the benefit of a four-year degree, doing exercise or dieting. We usually feel the cost now and the reward comes much later.” According to Dr. Steel, we have two decision-making systems. They are the limbic, which is responsible for the short term, and the prefrontal cortex, which deals with the future. We bounce between long-term goals and short-term temptations, so we need goals that will translate our plans for the limbic system.

Let’s take the example of students’ writing essays. They should set themselves targets and word counts per day. These are thus turned from seemingly endless tasks into something concrete with measured progress. Dr. Steel recommends such techniques, or “pre-commitments”, adding that leaving you a month before the “deadline” makes it more likely a task will be completed. The benefit is that you’ll avoid the embarrassment of not following up on something people are expecting you to do—telling everyone you are going to take up jogging makes you more likely to do so.

Overcoming procrastination finally comes down to planning, which, if you’re not careful, becomes procrastination in itself. But it is worth making sure you have everything in place. “Successful people don’t pretend they don’t procrastinate,” Dr. Steel says. “People who pretend they have willpower are less successful.” Instead, plan for procrastination: make your work environment a temple of productivity by cutting out what stops you paying your attention, so you can really focus on moving forward.

1. What does the author say about procrastination in Paragraph 1?

A．It is something many people can’t help.

B．It is an excuse people often use in public.

C．It is caused by the technology in people’s life.

D．It is more common when people have small jobs to do.

2. In paragraph 3, Dr. Steel believes that people who procrastinate should ______.

A．attempt to overcome their natural tendencies

B．take the advice of others in the same situation

C．be aware that their problem is relatively small

D．find out more about the way they make decisions

3. Why does Dr. Steel recommend making “pre-commitments” in Paragraph 4?

A．They are an alternative to impossible goals.

B．They make challenges feel more manageable.

C．They are an effective way of impressing others.

D．They allow people to achieve their aims sooner.

4. What does the author do by saying the underlined sentence?

A．Encourage the reader to develop plans effectively.

B．Advise the reader to deal with complex tasks quickly.

C．Warn the reader against spending too long getting organized.

D．Remind the reader to take the time to focus properly on a task.