【推荐1】I was born with vision (视力) problem, and over the years, my eyesight gradually worsened. Once I was in the first year of my PHD, I was almost 100% blind.

Though I am blind, my great passion is climbing regardless of many challenges.

I started climbing when I was young. My dad took me up my first rock route when I was two. He taught me everything he knew and I led my first route outside when I was 11. At that time I had about 20% vision, unable to pick out the routes from the ground.

I met my wife Molly at a climbing club. We didn’t climb together very much because we normally led those who hadn’t done as much as we had. We were just friends at first, but eventually romance (浪漫) arose.

In fact, I proposed (求婚) to her in 2017 on a climbing trip to Greenland. It was my most difficult trip, camping in temperatures below -200C. I didn’t have diamond ring at that time.

In the end I went down on one knee with a special ring made by myself. She said yes, but then I fell down and somehow dropped the ring. So it’s still there!

It’s quite possible that I wouldn’t be a good climber if I weren’t blind—if I didn’t have these challenges. It wouldn’t focus me. That determination is built through my disability.

1. How was the author’s eyesight when he led his first route?

A．It began to recover.	B．He had about 40% vision.
C．He was almost l00% blind.	D．He had about 20% vision.

2. Who made the author love climbing?

A．His mother.

B．His wife.

C．His father.

D．His best friend.

3. Which of the following best describes the author as a climber?

A．Determined.

B．Demanding.

C．Humorous.

D．Selfless.

4. What can be a suitable title for the text?

A．Hard Work Pays off	B．Misfortune Might Be a Blessing
C．A Friend in Need is a Friend Indeed	D．Where There Is a Will, There Is a Way

【推荐3】Can you be too beautiful? It is hardly problem that most of us have to bother — as much as we might like to dream that it were the case.

Yet the blessings and curses of beauty have been a long-standing interest in psychology. Do those blessed with shiny faces and an attractive body live in a cloud of appreciation — or does it sometimes pay to be ordinary?

At the most basic level, beauty might be thought to carry a kind of halo(光环) around it; we see that someone has one good quality, and by association, our deep mind may assume that they have other good ones too.

Even in the courts, a pleasing appearance can work its magic. Attractive criminals are likely to get less strict sentences, or to escape punishment entirely attractive plaintiffs(原告), meanwhile, are more likely to win their case and get bigger financial settlements. “It’s an effect seen everywhere,” says Walker.

But if beauty pays in most circumstances, there are still situations where it can have opposite results. While attractive men may be considered better leaders, for instance, hidden sexist prejudices(偏见) can work against attractive women, making them less likely to be hired for high-level jobs that require power. And as you might expect, good-looking people of both sexes run into envy — one study found that if you are interviewed by someone of the same sex, they may be less likely to employ you if they judge that you are more attractive than they are.

More worryingly, being beautiful or handsome could harm your medical care. We tend to link good looks to health, meaning that illnesses are often taken less seriously when they affect the good-looking. When treating people for pain, for instance, doctors tend to take less care over the more attractive people.

Ultimately, scientists point out that focusing too much on your appearance can itself be harmful if it creates stress and anxiety — even for those already blessed with good looks. “If you are crazy about attractiveness, it may affect your experience and interactions,” she says. It’s an outdated saying, but no amount of beauty can make up for a bad personality. As the writer Dorothy Parker put it so elegantly: “Beauty is only skin deep. but ugly goes clean to the bone.”

1. From paragraph 1, we can learn that ________.

A．some may be bothered by their unattractive appearance

B．most people are not afraid of being too beautiful

C．we might always dream about being bothered by others

D．being too beautiful can be a problem bothering everyone

2. Which is the benefit for beautiful people?

A．All attractive plaintiffs have more chances to get away with punishment.

B．Women with pleasing appearance will always be considered as better leaders.

C．Good-looking people are often regarded as having many good qualities.

D．Beautiful criminals are more likely to persuade the judge and win the case.

3. The writer mentioned the underlined sentence in the last paragraph to ________.

A．encourage us to focus more on improving our personality

B．suggest that beauty can help make a better personality

C．persuade us to pay more attention to our looks from now on

D．ask ugly people to have more confidence in their personality

4. What might be the best title for the passage?

A．Benefit Beauty holds	B．Sexist Prejudice
C．Real beauty	D．Beauty, a blessing?

【推荐1】When people talk about American popular music, they don’t just mean country music or rock music. There are two other types of popular music with national and international appeal that are basically American. One is jazz. The other is a musical form associated with New York City theaters.

Jazz dates from African religious and folk music. The themes and songs of jazz music have historical origins. They come from songs sung by black Americans in church or at work. There have been different kinds of jazz music: bebop, ragtime, swing, boogie-woogie and others.

In playing jazz music, the performers combine rhythms and songs with their skills of improvisation (即兴创作). Modern jazz music has developed into a complex musical style enjoyed more by musicians and older jazz lovers than by the general public.

American theater has developed another American musical style. It is associated with a street in New York City, Broadway. Broadway musicals are dramatic productions in which the story is told partly by dialogue and partly through songs. The lyrics of these songs give background information about the story and express the feelings of the characters in the story. Many Broadway musicals have been made into movies that have been shown all over the world. Oklahoma, Sound of Music, My Fair Lady and West Side Story are some good examples.

Songs from these musicals and others have translations in various languages that are sung around the world. Many of them have become popular with people who have not even seen the musicals for which they were written.

1. What does jazz belong to?

A．Rock music.	B．Country music.
C．Traditional music.	D．American popular music.

2. What can we learn about jazz from Paragraph 2?

A．Its playing method.

B．Its popularity.

C．Its origin.

D．Its historical position.

3. Which of the following best describes modern jazz music?

A．It needs special skills to perform.	B．It is not well received by ordinary people.
C．It is welcomed only among musicians.	D．It is popular with the general public.

【推荐2】A study of 500,000 songs released in the UK between 1985 and 2015 showed that pop music had decreased in happiness and increased in sadness.

In a report published in the journal Royal Society Open Science, researchers at the University of California examined hundreds of thousands of songs and classified them by their mood. “‘Happiness’ is going down, 'sadness' is going up, and at the same time, the songs are becoming more 'danceable' and more 'party-like',” co-author Natalia L. Komarova told The Associated Press.

The study found songs in 2014 like Stay With Me by Sam Smith, Whispers by Passenger and Unmissable by Gorgon City have a “low happiness” trend. However, tracks from 1984 like Glory Days by Bruce Springsteen, “Would I Lie To You?” by Eurythmics and “Freedom” by Wham had a “high happiness” trend. “The public seems to prefer happier songs, even though more and more unhappy songs are being released each year,” the researchers wrote.

Apart from the emotional trends, researchers discovered that dances and pop were the most successful styles of music and that there was a “clear downward” trend, with the popularity of rock beginning in the early 2000s. “So it looks like, while the overall mood is becoming less happy, people seem to want to forget it all and dance,” Komarova wrote in an email.

It was also found that the “maleness” of songs—the frequency of male singers in popular music-had decreased during the last 30 years. “Successful songs are characterised by a larger percentage of female artists compared to all songs,” they wrote.

This discovery appears at a time when the conversation around sex equality in the music industry is at its height, with more male artists and songwriters.

1. The researchers examined lots of songs to________.

A．find songs for dances and parties	B．choose songs for a journal
C．know better about songs	D．release more songs

2. Which song tends to bring you more happiness?

A．Whispers.

B．Freedom.

C．Stay With Me.

D．Unmissable.

3. From this passage, we can know that________.

A．rock became popular in the early 2000s

B．fewer unhappy songs came to light every year

C．female artists were less skilled in writing songs

D．male singers were better at performing pop music

4. What can be a suitable title for the text?

A．Music Calls for Sex Equality.	B．Music Industry Is Going Down.
C．Pop Music Has a Long History.	D．Pop Music Is Getting Sadder.

【推荐3】Are you sometimes stressed? Singing is a simple and effective way to reduce stress. It is beneficial mainly in the following three aspects.

Physical Benefits

    1     This is especially recommended for the elders and those who have some form of disability in their voice. However, it is important to find a capable instructor to employ good singing techniques so as not to further damage vocal cords (声带) or lungs.

Singing also helps to improve your posture (姿势). Most people think that singing begins and ends with their mouth.     2     Singing practice will get you used to the proper body position of standing and help you form the good habit of standing straight.

Emotional Benefits

Singing helps in reducing your depression and lowering your stress level. When you sing, your body releases chemicals that make you feel happy, easing the tension and helping you to relax.     3    

Social Benefits

The social benefits of singing are huge.     4     So people who suffer from stage fright are advised to sing in front of family and friends before a live performance.

Singing is also very good for improving your communication skills. It is said that singing to babies helps to prepare their brains for language and may lessen the risk of language problems later in life.     5     The time spent in group singing, whether in a choir or at karaoke, creates a deep and lasting bond of friendship.

A．Try to regain your memory by singing.

B．First, it can help build up your confidence greatly.

C．When you sing, you can give your lungs a workout.

D．Singing helps you to strengthen your immune system.

E．For adults, singing also enlarges your circle of friends.

F．In fact, the position of each body part affects your voice.

G．So, start to sing your favorite song next time you are feeling upset.

【推荐1】It was just after 17:00 on a mid-September evening at a historical Church in Harlem, New York City Mostly the low-income black neighborhood sat at dining tables. In front of them was a menu listing three courses, which they only saw on TV. Each dish was prepared with “leftover” ingredients (食材), offered free of charge and placed alongside a blue card that read “you are loved” in hand-written script.

This is one of 14 community centers created around the world in cities like Milan, Paris, Mérida, Lima, Sydney and now New York through three-Michelin starred chef Massimo Bottura’s Food for Soul project. He started the project in 2016 with his wife, Lara Gilmore, to help fight the global problem of food waste by using ingredients that might otherwise be thrown away by suppliers and to give socially and economically vulnerable people access to high quality meals.

Partnering with architects, artists and community leaders, the project is transforming spaces, which are not fully taken advantage of, such as churches and even a historical home into intentionally designed cultural centers equipped with kitchens, dining rooms and other facilities that help create a sense of well-being, connection and inclusion.

When I asked Bottura why he created such thoughtful meals within beautifully appointed spaces for the low-income, he told me that everyone deserves respect and beauty, and of course, healthy food. “They come in and are completely lost because they’re not used to coming into beautiful places like this. But once they’re here, they realize that this place is their place. It’s not my place,” he said.

Bottura’s philosophy is one that comes from the heart. T-shirts worn by volunteers at his community centers say “cooking is an act of love”, and he approaches the food served there with as much care as he does at his restaurants, probably even more, since the diners are extremely stressed and need healthy food to feel better. Bottura insists that it’s important to change the language around the food served in his community centers.

1. Why does the author describe such a scene in the first paragraph?

A．To introduce Bottura’s project.

B．To show the appeal of the dishes.

C．To emphasize the warm atmosphere.

D．To explain how the event is organized.

2. According to the text, which of the following statements is correct?

A．The dining centers were all transformed from churches.

B．Bottura started the project to practice his cooking skills.

C．The diners felt quite at home when coming in the centers.

D．The low-income can enjoy high quality food at the center.

3. Which of the following best describes Massimo Bottura?

A．Skilled and strict.	B．Brave and influential.
C．Caring and considerate.	D．Wealthy and humorous.

4. What fundamental philosophy does Massimo Bottura express?

A．Respect and beauty are for all.	B．Beautiful places inspire respect.
C．Cooking should be a profession.	D．Community centers bring people together.

【推荐1】Teaching is a constant process of upgrade, where every moment you learn new things, not only as a teacher, but also as a human being.

At the start of my career, I believed I should come across to my students as a “no-nonsense” type of person. My entire focus was towards maintaining classroom discipline. It was tough. Most of my Indian students were from a rural background. They would intentionally use vocabulary that sounded Greek to me. They did all in their power to make me feel like a fish out of water.

My last lecture ended at 2:30 in the afternoon. Some of the students approached me begging to let them leave 15 minutes early as they had a bus to catch. My permission resulted in a stir (骚动) as half of the class stood up to leave. They all had buses to catch! Unable to distinguish between the genuine ones and those faking it, I put a ban on anybody leaving before time.

One evening, I spotted three boys from my last class at the bus stop. I called out, “You constantly blame me for not allowing you to leave early because you have a bus to catch and here you are still hanging around at 5 pm!” One of the boys replied respectfully and humbly, “Madam, the bus leaves at 2:30. If we leave the class at 2:15, we are able to make it. In case we miss it, the next bus to our village comes after three hours. Now we are waiting for it. At this hour, the bus will be overloaded and we will not even get a seat.”

I was full of regret. The next day, I asked all the students who had a bus to catch to write an application, get it signed and leave whenever they wanted, without seeking my permission. I learnt the first lesson of my life as a teacher—learn to understand your students, for they would learn better from you when they respect you than when they fear you.

1. What gave the author the biggest headache when she started teaching?

A．Her students’ serious violent behavior.	B．Her struggle to keep her classes in order.
C．Her inability to understand Greek words.	D．Her students’ various educational backgrounds.

2. How did the author deal with the students’ request to leave before time at first?

A．She took it seriously.	B．She refused it completely.
C．She permitted it immediately.	D．She handled it gracefully.

3. How did the author feel the moment she spotted the three boys at the bus stop?

A．Embarrassed.

B．Angry.

C．Regretful.

D．Concerned.

4. What lesson can teachers learn from the story?

A．Show students that you respect them.

B．Care about students’ emotional experiences.

C．Cooperate with students to improve learning.

D．Evaluate yourself first and the students second.