【推荐2】There’s no such thing as a bad apple in Tom Brown’s book, only ones that have lost their way. The 79-year-old, from North Carolina, has spent the 20-odd years of his retirement tracking down all-but-extinct apple varieties that once thrived throughout Appalachia.

Bringing them back from obscurity(默默无闻) in his own orchards(果园), he is giving new life to apple heirlooms(传家宝) with the kind of familiar names you might find in some classic novels.

Stretching from south New York state to northern Alabama, the cultural region of Appalachia was home to some 14,000 orchard-grown varieties at the beginning of the last century. By the late 1990s however, commercial orchards in the US were growing only around 100 different types.

“One so-called expert said I should only be trying to find the really outstanding varieties,” Tom Brown said. “But to me, they’re all equally important. It’s a thrill to rediscover them, and to know I’m doing something unique.”

Brown’s quest began in 1998, after he stumbled across a stall of heritage apples at a farmers’ market. Amazed at their unique tastes and textures, he set about researching “lost” apples.

Over the next two decades, he found not one but more than 1,200, often waking at 2 am for a six-hour drive to – say – Virginia, before spending the day knocking on doors and speaking to locals as he searched for forgotten orchards or even single trees on remote mountainsides.

“Talking to the locals, I discovered why it was so productive: people told me how their fathers and grandfathers took pride in growing apples that were different to their neighbours’. At one house there’d be four apple trees on the lawn, all different varieties. A few houses down, I’d find another three trees, all different again.”

Sadly, the passage of time makes Brown’s quest a race against the clock. “Apple trees are not long lived,” he said. “And the people who help me find them are generally in their 80s or 90s. A whole generation of them has passed away since I started doing this.”

1. What has Tom been doing since retirement?

A．Searching for particular apples.	B．Preserving rare apple varieties.
C．Developing new apple varieties.	D．Growing apples in his orchards.

2. What does the author want to show in paragraph 3?

A．Commercial development led to the sharp decrease of apple varieties.

B．Appalachia used to be abundant in apple varieties in the mid 19th century.

C．Only a small number of apples were kept in the orchards by the late 1990s.

D．Traditional orchards were unable to grow more apple varieties in the 1990s.

3. Which of the following can best describe Brown?

A．Ambitious and diligent.	B．Generous and friendly.
C．Determined and curious.	D．Creative and humorous.

4. Why is Brown’s quest “a race against the clock”?

A．Because fewer people grow apple trees.

B．Because Brown’s orchards are declining.

C．Because the new generation shows no concern.

D．Because apple trees may die out before discovered.

【推荐1】Do rewards really bring desirable results? Three researchers, psychologists Mark Lepper, David Greene, and Richard Nisbett, watched a classroom of preschoolers for several days and identified the children who chose to spend their “free play” time drawing. Then they conducted an experiment to test the effect of rewarding an activity these children clearly enjoyed.

The researchers divided the children into three groups. The first was the “expected-award” group. They showed each of these children a “Good Player” certificate decorated with a blue ribbon and featuring the child’s name and asked if the child wanted to draw in order to receive the award. The second group was the “unexpected-award” group. Researchers asked these children simply if they wanted to draw. If they decided to, when the session ended, the researchers handed each child one of the “Good Player” certificates. The third group was the “no-award” group. Researchers asked these children if they wanted to draw, but neither promised them a certificate at the beginning nor gave them one at the end.

Two weeks later, back in the classroom, teachers set out paper and markers during the preschool’s free play period while the researchers secretly observed the students. Children previously in the “unexpected-award” and “no-award” groups drew just as much, and with the same relish as they had before the experiment. But children in the first group-the ones who’d expected and then received an award-showed much less interest and spent much less time drawing. Even two weeks later, those appealing prizes-so common in classrooms-had turned play into work.

Based on the research, contingent (连带的) rewards-if you do this, then you’ll get that-had significant negative effect on people. “If-then” rewards require people to sacrifice some of their autonomy. They’re no longer fully controlling their lives. And that can spring a hole in the bottom of their motivational bucket, draining an activity of its enjoyment.

Other researchers found similar results with adults. These insights proved so surprising, which called into question a standard practice of most companies and schools: promising and giving rewards, especially material ones, to desirable behaviors and results. As one leading behavioral science textbook puts it, “People use rewards expecting to gain the benefit of increasing another person’s motivation and behavior, but in so doing, they often bear the unintentional and hidden cost of weakening that person’s inner motivation toward the activity.”

1. It can be inferred from the passage that Lepper, Greene, and Nisbett’s experiment was designed to ensure that ________.

A．all children who were part of the expected-award group were not distracted by the promise of an award while drawing

B．all children who participated in the experiment were known to enjoy drawing

C．all children who displayed equal levels of enthusiasm for drawing would be grouped together

D．all children who did not receive an award would maintain their motivation to draw

2. The underlined word “relish” most nearly means ________.

A．diversity

B．flavor

C．pleasure

D．style

3. Based on the passage, which of the following activities would most likely affect people’s inner motivation in a negative way?

A．Orally encourage students who have helped in group projects.

B．Offer sheets of paper academic reports to students about their performance of the semester.

C．Promise to award students financially who used to contribute to the class activities voluntarily.

D．Show gratitude to your family members for their unconditional love.

4. What is a suitable title for the text?

A．Enjoy painting, enjoy life	B．Do the best, expect the least
C．Practice self-control to achieve more	D．Award: motivational or not?

【推荐2】A weather map is an important tool for geographers. A succession of three or four maps presents continuous picture of weather changes. Weather forecasters are able to determine the speed of air masses and fronts (冷暖空气团接触的锋) to determine whether an individual pressure area is deepening or becoming shallow and whether a front is increasing or decreasing in intensity. They are also able to determine whether an air mass is retaining its original characteristics or taking on those of the surface over which it is moving. Thus, a most significant function of the map is to reveal a summary picture of conditions in the atmosphere at a given time.

All students of geography should be able to interpret a weather map accurately. Weather maps contain an enormous amount of information about weather conditions existing at the time of observation over a large geographical area. They reveal in a few minutes what otherwise would take hours to describe. The United States Weather Bureau issues information about approaching storms, floods, frosts and all climatic conditions in general. Twice a month it issues a 30-day “outlook” which is a rough guide to weather conditions likely to occur over broad areas of the United States. These 30-day outlooks are based upon an analysis of the upper air levels which often set the stage for development of air masses, fronts and storms.

Considerable effort is being exerted today to achieve more accurate weather predictions. With the use of electronic instruments and satellites, enormous gains have taken place recently in identifying and tracking storms over regions which have but few meteorological stations (气象站). Experiments are also in progress for weather modification (改变) studies. But the limitations of weather modification have prevented meteorological results except in the seeding of super-cooled, upslope mountainous winds which have produced additional orographic (山岳形态) precipitation on the windward side of mountain ranges. Nevertheless, they have provided a clearer understanding of the fundamentals of weather elements.

1. By reading weather maps, students majoring in geography can .

A．design a project of weather modification

B．interpret the weather condition before the time of observation

C．obtain data on atmospheric conditions over a wide area

D．survey ever-changing fronts in local meteorological stations

2. A thirty-day forecast is determined by examining________.

A．daily weather maps	B．upper air levels
C．satellite reports	D．changing fronts

3. The observation of weather conditions by satellites is helpful because ________.

A．electronic instruments are used

B．it enables man to alert the weather

C．it makes weather more time-consuming

D．information not be obtained readily otherwise can be gained

4. At the present time, experiments are being conducted in________.

A．controlling and influencing weather

B．determining density of pressure groups

C．30-day “outlooks”

D．predicting storms