【推荐1】It's good to have a healthy sense of what ' s dangerous

What good is fear?

Fear is a tool that the brain uses to keep the body safe.     1    . Faster heartbeat and breathing send more blood and oxygen to the muscles so they are ready when they’ re needed. Stress chemicals can make a person more alarmed.     2    . We keep a close eye on babies because they don' t understand what might hurt them. As babies grow, they learn what’ s unsafe, and their brains store those memories. Then their brains use fear to warn them of dangers.

    3    

Experiences can lead to long-lasting fears that may stop a person from trying new things. We're born with the ability to feel fear, but a lot of what we're afraid of is learned. “Being afraid doesn't mean you're weak. ”Dr. Kerr says.     4    . And your brain doesn't want you to have it again. If a dog bit someone, that person might feel afraid of all dogs. Other people may have no special fear of dogs but may be afraid of other things, such as heights, snakes or spiders.

How to feel less afraid

Many people have beaten their own fears. Here's one method: Instead of listening to their imagination, they learn the facts about anything that seems scary.     5    .

A．Too much can be harmful

B．Our memories also help protect us

C．For some people, choosing to be scared can be fun

D．Knowledge can help a person feel less afraid

E．It urges a person to hide, run away, or defend oneself

F．Understanding the fact gives me a sense of confidence

G．A long-lasting fear can mean you've had a bad experience

【推荐2】Foxes and farmers have never got on well. These small dog-like animals have long been accused of killing farm animals. They are officially classified as harmful and farmers try to keep their numbers down by shooting or poisoning them.
Famers can also call on the services of their local hunt to control the fox population. Hunting consists of running after a fox across the countryside, with a group of specially trained dogs, followed by men and women riding horses. When the dogs eventually catch the fox, the kill it or a hunter shoots it.
People who take part in hunting think of it as a sport. They wear a special uniform of red coats and white trousers, and follow strict rules of behavior. But owning a horse and hunting regularly are expensive, so most hunters are wealthy.
It is estimated that up to 100,000 people watch or take part in fox-hunting. But over the last couple of decades the number of people who are against fox-hunting, because they think it is   brutal(残暴的), has risen sharply. Nowadays it is rare for a hunt to pass off without some kind of conflict between hunters and hunt opponents (阻止者). Sometimes these incidents lead to violence, but mostly opponents discourage the hunt by misleading riders and disturbing the trail of the fox's smell, which the dogs follow.
Noisy conflicts between hunters and opponents have become so common that they are almost as much a part of hunting as running after foxes itself. But this year supporters of fox-hunting face a much bigger threat to their sport. A Labour Party member of Parliament(英国议会), Mike Foster, is trying to get Parliament to approve a new law which will make the hunting of wild   animals with dogs illegal. If the law is passed, wild animals like foxes will be protected under the ban in Britain.
1. Wealthy people in Britain have been hunting foxes to ______.

A．benefit the farmers	B．get entertainment
C．show off their wealth	D．limit the fox population

2. The opponents of fox-hunting often discourage the game by ______.

A．using violence

B．taking legal action

C．seeking help from farmers

D．confusing the fox hunters

3. A new law may be passed by the British Parliament to ______.

A．protect wild animals like foxes

B．control fox-hunting on a large scale

C．prohibit farmers from hunting foxes

D．standardize the behavior of fox-hunting

4. What can be inferred from this passage?

A．Limiting the fox population is unnecessary at all.

B．Killing foxes with poison is not allowed by the law.

C．Hunting foxes with dogs is considered cruel and violent.

D．Fox-hunting causes conflicts between hunters and farmers.

【推荐3】My three-year-old son, Dayton, lay on the couch, held the family iPad and clicked on the Angry Birds app. It was a beautiful, sunny Wednesday morning and all he wanted to do was play a video game. I felt guilty. Why hadn’t I planned some activity for us to do together? I’d been wanting for months to spend more time with Dayton, take him to a story hour at the library or to the Native American Museum. But whenever I thought of it I was busy doing something else.

It was so much easier with Sydney. She was always coming to me with a book she wanted me to read to her. She loved playing dress up, having tea parties and social activities I liked too. I’d left my teaching job when she was born to devote my full time to being a mother. But I worried I was shortchanging (忽视) Dayton. What if I made today all about him?

“Let’s do something fun together, just you and me, Dayton. What would you like to do?” I asked. He didn’t hesitate, “Crystal Bridges.”

“Sounds good,” I said, trying to hide my surprise. Crystal Bridges, an art museum in nearby Bentonville, is home to world famous paintings and sculptures (雕塑) by American artists. We’d been there as a family a few times, but an art museum was not exactly the first thing I think of when I was looking for someplace fun to take a three-year-old boy to. Was this really what he wanted? Still, this was Dayton’s day. I told myself to just go with the flow, but even as we were in the car I couldn’t help but wonder what I was getting myself into.

We finally got to the museum. Dayton glanced toward the entrance. Suddenly he ran to a sculpture of the word  LOVE. With his hand, Dayton followed the curves (弧形) of the letters. He moved slowly through the space between the  V  and the  E,  then climbed to the top of the L and sat there, a big smile across his face, as if he’d just gotten to the top of a jungle gym (儿童游戏用的攀登架).

Then he was off again, tearing across bridges and up some stone steps. He found a yellow butterfly and dashed after it, the two of them doing a kind of dance together. “I see you found something yellow,” I said. “That’s your favourite colour, isn’t it?” Dayton nodded excitedly, as if this was the most amazing thing there was to know about him. I probably never would have noticed it.

I was still considering this when Dayton had ran to a distant spring. “Is the water cold?” he asked.

“Yes,” I said. “It comes from under the ground.”

“Must be the coldest water in the world!” he said. Usually, I felt compelled (强迫) to tell him that a rock or a tree wasn’t the biggest in the world. But that day I let it go.

He ran almost the whole way and led me inside the museum to a big room designed for children. Dayton got a box of tangrams (七巧板) and in minutes there before him appeared a ... What was it?

“It’s a car,” he said. To me they were just pieces of plastic, but Dayton’s mind was so different from mine. For him everything was so fresh and exciting that I had to run so as not to miss a single thing. I could understand my son’s amazement, now that I was finally seeing the wonder of who he was made to be.

1. Seeing her son playing a video game on the couch, the author _____ .

A．got very angry

B．felt sorry for it

C．wondered what he wanted to do

D．planned to take him to the library

2. What can we learn from Paragraph 2?

A．The author’s daughter loved reading very much.

B．The author was a fulltime mother when Sydney was born.

C．The author loved her daughter more than her son.

D．The author wanted to spend a day with her two kids.

3. The author was surprised when her son wanted to go to the art museum because _____ .

A．she thought that she had always shortchanged her son

B．her son had never gone to the art museum before

C．there were many famous paintings and sculptures in the art museum

D．she didn’t think a three-year-old child would consider an art museum as a fun place

4. What did Dayton do during his visit to the museum?

A．He bought a box of tangrams.

B．He ran after two yellow butterflies.

C．He explored the sculpture of the word LOVE.

D．He had a taste of the water from Crystal Bridges’ spring.

5. What’s the author’s understanding about her son’s amazement?

A．He had a great interest in art.

B．He had a different mind from his sister.

C．He needed more attention from the family.

D．He saw the world as being alive with colours and sounds.

6. Which would be the best title for the passage?

A．A day at the museum

B．A world-famous museum

C．What children are thinking about

D．How to keep children away from video games

【推荐1】When you think of a map, is north on the top or the bottom? Usually, maps are designed with north on top, though when we think about it, there is no logical reason for this bias (偏见). After all, there is no up or down in space. So what is wrong with south, east or west being on the top of the map? The answer is: nothing at all. In fact, north-up maps only became the norm in the last few hundred years.

Ancient Egyptian maps had south at the top because the Nile River flows downhill from mountains in the south to the Mediterranean Sea in the north. Mecca was to the south of most early Muslim civilizations, and south-up maps were designed so that viewers would look up to see Mecca. Medieval Christian maps had east at the top, as they believed the Garden of Eden was in the east. The only early maps that had north at the top were those of early China because the emperor lived in the north.

North seems to have settled at the top of maps during the 16th century, largely thanks to a Flemish mapmaker, Mercator. Mercator was a great admirer of an early Greek mapmaker, who, for reasons now unknown, put north at the top of maps, so Mercator did, too. When Mercator’s world map became the standard map to navigate the oceans, north up became standard as well.

What is the implication of this north-view of the world? Psychologically, people tend to think of up as good and down as bad. Just think of words and phrases like “upmarket”, “upbeat” and “moving up in the world”, and how they contrast with their opposites. Because north is so consistently put at the top of maps, people now think of north as good, too.

Several attempts have been made in recent years by introducing south-up maps to the market. These maps not only give us a chance to see the world differently, but also give everyone the chance to see themselves on top.

1. What can we learn from the first two paragraphs?

A．North-up maps were rare in ancient times.

B．Deciding up or down in space is ridiculous.

C．Mecca maps were based on a legend.

D．The south-up map first appeared in ancient Egypt.

2. Why is north associated with good?

A．An illogical reason.	B．The spread of Mercator’s maps.
C．People’s preference for up.	D．An age-old tradition in Greece.

3. What is the author’s attitude to south-up maps?

A．Cautious.

B．Supportive.

C．Uncaring.

D．Disapproving.

4. What’s the main purpose of the text?

A．To criticize a phenomenon.	B．To compare various facts.
C．To correct a cultural bias.	D．To argue for a viewpoint.

【推荐2】Ever seen a great champion boxer like Manny Pacquiao? With his speed and power, he has conquered lots of other great boxers of the 21st century. In between fights, he keeps his training and strengthens it when another fight approaches.

Just like a boxer, we too, come face to face with many competitors in the arena (竞技场) of life ― problems and difficulties. The bad news is that we don’t really know when they occur.

Here are several reasons why you should train yourself for success like a champion boxer!

You don’t practice in the arena; that’s where your skills and your abilities are evaluated. This also means that you don’t practice solving problems and developing yourself when problems occur; you prepare yourself to face them long before you actually face them.

Talent is good but training is even better. Back in college, one of my classmates in Political Science didn’t bring any textbook or notebook in our classes. But he was always a top student because he attentively listened and actively participated in discussions. Obviously, he was gifted with a great memory and analytical skills. If you are talented, you maybe need less preparation and training time in facing life’s challenges. But even for people who are talented, training and learning are important, just like my classmate. Avoid the lazy person’s maxim: “If it isn’t broken, why fix it?” Why wait for your roof to leak in the rainy season when you can fix it right away?

Training enables you to gain intuition and reflexes. Without training, you will mess up. Without training, you won’t be able to predict how your enemy will hit you. You will lose control of your race car after the first lap. With training, you lower the possibility of these accidents.

Keep in mind that training means self-command and strong will. Even if you meet with some setbacks in your training, if you keep at it and persevere, you will soon see results in your life and when problems come, you will be like the champion boxer who stands tall and fights until the final round is over and you’re proclaimed as the champion!

1. The passage starts with the champion boxer _______.

A．to lead in the topic

B．to explain the skill of boxing

C．to show the speed and power in boxing

D．to illustrate the difference between fights

2. Why does the author mention his classmate?

A．To introduce his classmate’s learning methods.

B．To prove an average person doesn’t need more training.

C．To prove even talented people also need training.

D．To show respect for his classmate.

3. According to the passage, we can learn that _______.

A．talented students don’t need training

B．you can get intuition and reflexes naturally

C．training requires strong will and self-control

D．we may increase the possibility of accidents when we get training

4. What can we know from the last paragraph?

A．Victory depends on the positive attitude to training.

B．It’s normal to meet with some difficulties in training.

C．Boxers often win the victory by persevering.

D．Perseverance in training is very important.

5. What does the text mainly tell us?

A．To become a top boxer isn’t easy.

B．We should train ourselves for success.

C．Life is full of problems and difficulties.

D．Talent is more important than training for success.

【推荐3】In department stores and closets all over the world, they are waiting. Their outward appearance seems rather appealing because they come in a variety of styles, patterns, materials, and colors. But they are eventually the biggest deception (欺骗) that exists in the fashion industry today. What are they? They are high heels ― a woman’s worst enemy (whether she knows it or not). High heel shoes are the downfall of modern society. Fashion myths have led women to believe that they are more beautiful or stylish for wearing heels, but in reality, heels succeed in creating short as well as long term troubles. Women should fight the high heel industry by refusing to use or purchase them in order to save the world from unnecessary physical and psychological suffering.

For the sake of fairness, it must be noted that there is a positive side to high heels. First, heels are excellent for aerating lawns (草坪通气). Anyone who has ever worn heels on grass knows what I am talking about. A simple trip around the yard in a pair of those babies gets rid of all the need to call for a lawn care specialist, and provides the perfect-sized holes to give any lawn oxygen without all those messy blocks of dirt lying around. Second, heels are quite functional for defending against potential enemies, who can easily be scared away by threatening them with a pair of these sharp, deadly fashion items.

Regardless of such practical uses for heels, the fact remains that wearing high heels is harmful to one’s physical health. Talk to any podiatrist (足病医生), and you will hear that the majority of their business comes from high-heel-wearing women. High heels are known to cause problems such as deformed feet and torn toenails. The risk of severe back problems and twisted or broken ankles is three times higher for a high heel wearer than for a flat shoe wearer. Wearing heels also creates the threat of getting a heel caught in a narrow sidewalk gap and being thrown to the ground ― possibly breaking a nose, back, or neck. And of course, after wearing heels for a day, any woman knows she can look forward to a night of pain as she tries to comfort her aching feet.

1. Women don’t take the disadvantages of high heels too seriously because of _______.

A．their attempt to show off their status

B．the rich variety of high heel styles

C．their wish to improve their appearance

D．the multi-functional use of high heels

2. What’s the author’s tone in presenting the positive sides of high heel shoes?

A．ironic

B．favorable

C．sympathetic

D．objective

3. The writer uses “those babies” (Paragraph 2) to refer to high heels _______.

A．to show their fragile characteristic

B．to show women’s affection for them

C．to emphasize their small size

D．to indicate their trendy appearance

4. It can be inferred from the passage that women should _______.

A．refuse to buy the products of the fashion industry

B．go to a podiatrist regularly for advice

C．avoid following fashion too closely

D．see through the very nature of fashion myths