【推荐1】MOOC, a massive(大规模的) open online course, aims at providing interactive discussion and open access via the web. In addition to traditional course materials such as videos, readings, and problem sets, MOOCs provide interactive user forums (论坛) that help build a community for the students, professors, and teaching assistants.

MOOCs first made waves in the fall of 2011, when Professor Sebastian Thrun from Stanford University opened his graduate-level artificial intelligence course up to any student anywhere, and 160,000 students in more than 190 countries signed up. This new kind of online classes is shaking up the higher education world in many ways. Since the courses can be taken by hundreds of thousands of students at the same time, the number of universities might decrease greatly. Professor Thrun has even imagined a future in which there will only need to be 10 universities in the world. Perhaps the most impressive thing about MOOCs, many of which are being taught by professors at prestigious (声誉高的) universities, is that they're free. This is certainly good news for cash-strapped students.

There is a lot of excitement and fear about MOOCs. While some say free online courses are a great way to increase the enrollment (注册) of students who are lack of resources, some critics (批评者) have said that MOOCs encourage an unrealistic one-size-fits-all model of higher education and that there is no replacement for true dialogues between professors and their students. After all, a brain is not a computer. We are not blank hard drives waiting to be filled with data. People learn from people they love and remember the things that arouse emotion. Some critics worry that online students will miss out on the social aspects of college.

1. What can we learn about MOOCs?

A．It is cheap to take the courses.

B．Most courses are about artificial intelligence.

C．They have decreased the number of universities.

D．Many courses are offered by professors from famous universities.

2. The“cash-strapped students”in the second paragraph refers to students who are_________.

A．fond of money	B．short of money
C．careful with money	D．familiar with money

3. What might be one of the disadvantages of MOOCs?

A．The limited courses offered around the world.

B．The disappearance of traditional course materials.

C．The overreliance on professors from good universities.

D．The lack of social interaction among students and professors.

4. What is the purpose of the text?

A．To give an introduction of MOOCs.

B．To put an advertisement for MOOCs.

C．To describe the influence of artificial intelligence.

D．To express a critical attitude towards artificial intelligence.

【推荐1】Jac Grimes plays Santa in Greensboro, North Carolina. He gave up home visits which make up about a third of his business. He did it not just for his own health, but to prevent passing the virus from one family to the next. At a farmer's market where he works every year, Grimes dresses up as Santa and sits in a parking area. He talks to children who remain inside their cars.

The virus has many Santas and parents turning to online visits. Those visits have led many Santas to turn to their children and others for help in learning new computer skills. "It has been a challenge （挑战），" said Christopher Saunders, a Santa performer in Tool, a small town near Dallas, Texas. But Saunders and others say that instead of in-person visits, online visits are good, if imperfect.

Even Santas with the best jobs are hurt. Howard Graham has played Santa for eight years at New York's Radio City Music Hall. The place is known for its famous Christmas show with the Rockettes, a dance group. This year, he is making online visits and working five days with a historic railroad in Pennsylvania. “I love what I do... bringing them （children） a little bit of smile and hope," said Graham.

Brad Six first played Santa 35 years ago. He recently sat on Santa's chair for three hours at a shop in Miami. As families sat in front of a glass barrier（屏障）for photos, Six turned his head so that his face protection did not reflect （反射）the camera's light. He happily waved at children around the barrier so they could tell him their wish lists-from a distance about 1.8 meters away.

Six said the situation was a little easier physically on Santa's back because he didn't have to pick anybody up, but it was not as enjoyable because Santa didn't get the interaction （互动）he normally gets. This was definitely different, but the kids were excited and that was what mattered.

1. Many Santas learn new computer skills in order to.

A．offer their services online	B．attract more visitors
C．give up playing Santa	D．make their job easier

2. Why does the author mention Howard Graham?

A．To show the advantages of working as Santa.	B．To introduce a famous Christmas show.
C．To compare different situations of Santas.	D．To show the great effects of the virus on Santas.

3. What do Jac Grimes and Brad Six have in common?

A．They interact with children online.	B．They take pictures with children.
C．They play Santa with safety measures.	D．They keep 1.8 metres from the children.

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

A．Health Risk Changes Ways Santas Meet Children

B．It's Hard for Children to See Santas in Public

C．Christmas Disappoints Children This Year

D．Santas Are the Hope in Children's Hearts

【推荐2】Last August, Joe and Mary Mahoney began looking at colleges for their 17-year-old daughter, Maureen. With a checklist of criteria(标准) in hand, the Dallas family looked around the country visiting half a dozen schools. They sought a university that offered the teenager's intended major, one located near a large city, and a campus where their daughter would be safe.

“The safety issue is a big one,” says Joe Mahoney, who quickly discovered he wasn't alone in his worries. On campus tours other parents voiced similar concerns, and the same question was always asked: what about crime? But when college officials always gave the same answer—“That’s not a problem here.”—Mahoney began to feel uneasy.

“No crime whatsoever?” comments Mahoney today, “I just don’t buy it.” Nor should he: in one year alone, the U. S. Department of Education had reports of nearly 400,000 serious crimes on or around our campuses. “Parents need to understand that times have changed since they went to college,” says David Nichols, author of Creating a Safe Campus. “Campus crime mirrors the rest of the nation.”

But getting accurate information isn’t easy. Colleges must report crime statistics(统计数字) by law, but some hold back for fear of bad publicity, leaving the honest ones looking dangerous. “The truth may not always be obvious,” warns S. Daniel Carter of Security on Campus, Inc, the nation's leading campus safety watchdog group.

To help concerned parents, Carter promised to visit campuses and talk to experts around the country to find out major crime issues and effective solutions.

1. The Mahoneys visited quite a few colleges last August _________.

A．to express the opinions of many parents	B．to choose a right one for their daughter
C．to check the cost of college education	D．to find a right one near a large city

2. It is often difficult to get correct information on campus crime because some colleges _________.

A．receive too many visitors	B．mirror the rest of the nation
C．hide the truth of campus crime	D．have too many watchdog groups

3. The underlined word “buy” in the third paragraph means _________.

A．believe

B．admit

C．mind

D．expect

4. We learn from the text that “the honest ones” in the fourth paragraph most probably refers to colleges _________.

A．that are protected by campus security	B．that report campus crime by law
C．that are free from campus crime	D．that enjoy very good publicity

5. What is the text mainly about?

A．Exact campus crime statistics.	B．Crimes on or around campuses.
C．Concerns about kids'campus safety.	D．Effective solutions to campus crime.

【推荐3】About six years ago I was eating lunch in a restaurant in New York City when a woman and a young boy sat down at the next table. I couldn’t help overhearing parts of their conversation. At one point the woman asked: “So, how have you been?” And the boy, who could not have been more than seven or eight years old, replied, “To tell the truth, I’ve been feeling a little depressed lately.”

His words stuck in my mind because it confirmed my growing belief that children are changing. As far as I can remember, my friends and l didn’t find out we were “depressed” until we were in high school.

The evidence of a change in children has increased steadily in recent years. Children don’t seem childlike anymore. Children speak more like adults, dress more like adults and behave more like adults than they used to.

Whether this is good or bad is difficult to say, but it certainly is different. Childhood as it once was no longer exists. Why?

Human development is based not only on innate ( 天生的 ) biological states, but also on patterns of access to social knowledge. Movement from one social role to another usually involved learning the secrets of the new status. Children have always been taught adults secrets, but slowly and in stages: traditionally, we tell sixth graders things we keep hidden from fifth graders.

In the last 30 years, however, a secret-revelation machine has come into 98 percent of American homes. It is called television. Television passes information to all viewers alike, whether they are children or adults. Unable to resist the temptation, many children turn their attention from printed texts to the less challenging, more vivid moving pictures.

Communication through print, as a matter of fact, allows for a great deal of control over the social information to which children have access. Reading and writing involve a complex code of symbols that must be memorized and practiced. Children must read simple books before they can read complex materials.

1. Traditionally, a child is supposed to learn about the adult world ________.

A．through contact directly with society

B．gradually and under adults’ guidance

C．naturally and by biological instinct

D．through exposure to social information

2. The phenomenon that today’s children seem adult-like is explained by the author as the result of ________ .

A．the widespread influence of television

B．the poor arrangement of TV programs

C．the fast development of human’s intelligence

D．the constantly rising of standard of living

3. Why is the author in favor of communication through print for children?

A．It enables children to gain more social information.

B．It develops children’s interest in reading and writing.

C．It helps children to remember and practice more knowledge.

D．It can control what children are to learn at a proper age.

4. What does the author think of the change in today’s children?

A．He feels amused by their behaviors and thoughts.

B．He thinks it is a phenomenon worthy of note.

C．He considers it a positive and good development.

D．He seems to be upset about these strange behaviors.

【推荐1】Where do the turtles go?
Every summer, thousands of endangered green sea turtles climb onto beaches around the world. Each mother sea turtle produces 100 or more eggs in a hole, and covers the hole with sand before she swims away.
Two months later, the eggs hatch(孵化), and the baby turtles climb out of the sand and swim into the ocean. They don’t reappear until they have grown as large as dinner plates. Until now, no one knows where the baby turtles go or what they do.
“if we don’t know where these little turtles are, we can’t protect them,” says Kim Reich, who helps solve part of the mystery.
Her teacher, Karen Bjorndal, has studied green sea turtles for more than 30 years. Every year, Bjorndal goes to the Bahamas Islands. Many young sea turtles come here to live and eat at the end of their childhood.
These turtles are the only sea turtles that live as plant eaters. In fact, their name may be a result of what they eat. The turtles don’t look green but they do have green fat. Scientists learned that the turtles eat green sea plants, which may turn their fat green.
Between 2002 and 2004, Bjorndal caught 44 green sea turtles in the Bahamas. After testing them, she found something to support the 20-year-old idea: baby green sea turtles eat meat before they turn to a diet of plants. In fact, they eat animals that live in the open ocean.
Scientists still need to find where exactly green sea turtles grow. We now know that baby green sea turtles are out in the open ocean, but the open ocean is a big place.
“It is really a problem,” says Bjorndal. The discovery may help us do a better job of protecting this sea animal.
1. What can we learn from the first two paragraphs?

A．baby turtles go to the ocean when they are two months old.

B．Mother turtles leave the eggs alone after they produce them.

C．No one knows when turtles appear on the beach.

D．Mother turtles are as large as dinner plates.

2. Kim Reich does research on where baby turtles go because she wants to _________.

A．help her teacher	B．prove an idea
C．protect turtles	D．become a scientist

3. What does Karen Bjorndal’s research prove about green sea turtles?

A．the young live in the Bahamas Islands.

B．The young eat meat before turning to a diet of plants

C．They live in the open ocean for a lifelong time

D．They are the only sea turtles that live as plant eaters.

4. What does the underlined word “It” in the last paragraph refer to?

A．Finding out where young turtles grow.

B．Protecting this endangered sea animal.

C．Changing young turtles’ eating habits.

D．Living in the open ocean.

【推荐3】When building houses, people used to think about not only the climate of the areas but also the building materials and the fashions for their houses. However, since electricity became more and more expensive, people began to pay much more attention to the energy they could get for their houses and the new ways they could find to protect their houses from both cold and heat.

Now, houses of an old yet new type have been widely built. In some parts of the world, people share their houses with their livestock(家禽). During cold weather, they gather their cows, goats, or other animals and keep them on the first floor of their houses. The reasons are that the animals can be protected from the cold and that they can help to heat the houses as well. The body heat given off by the animals rises to the second floor of the houses, where people live in. By sharing their houses with their livestock, people gain a source of heat.

People who live in or near cities do not usually keep livestock. However, home builders use the fact that heat rises. This natural law can be used in building houses in these areas. Instead of keeping livestock on the first floor, builders fill it with large rocks. As they are open to the sun’s rays during cold weather, these rocks take in heat. They also give off the heat, and, of course, the warm air rises into the living areas of the houses. So these houses are energy-saving.

House-building becomes a great challenge to building designers and energy engineers. They try to meet this challenge by learning from old traditions and by using modern technology. And someday in the future, people will be able to live in more energy-saving houses.

1. What did people begin to consider as electricity was no longer cheap?

A．The climate of their areas.

B．The fashions for their houses.

C．The energy for their houses.

D．The building materials for their houses.

2. The underlined words “natural law” in the third paragraph refer to the fact that      .

A．heat goes in the upward direction

B．heat raises the temperature in the houses

C．heat goes up if temperature is raised

D．heat increases the temperature of rocks

3. From the passage, we can conclude that     .

A．people will no longer consider building materials in the future

B．energy- saving buildings will become more popular in the future

C．almost all people will move into the houses heated by large rocks

D．energy engineers will devote themselves only to modern technology