【推荐3】A 16﹣year﹣old boy finds himself on a boat in the Pacific Ocean after escaping a shipwreck（海难）．Even worse，he is left with a huge tiger for company．But he manages to survive after 227 days of fighting against all the hardships of the sea．

Pi，the lead character in Oscar---winning Ang Lee's new movie Life of Pi，went through an inspiring journey of growth and self﹣discovery．So did 19-year-old Suraj Sharma，the Indian actor who plays him．

But it was a lucky chance that opened up the opportunity for the new star．Sharma was a regular student who lived with his mathematician parents in Delhi，India．As the director traveled to Mumbai to find his Pi，the teenager went along with his younger brother，who had acted in a couple of movies，to audition（试镜）．But little did Sharma know that he would end up winning the role from 3，000 hopefuls．

Lee said he saw Pi in Sharma："Not only does he have a compelling（引人入胜的） and wise look．He has this talent．"The director said that in the final round，Sharma gave one of the"most compelling readings we had．In the end，he was in tears．"Understandably，Sharma didn't want to let Lee down．"He （Lee） had given me this opportunity．I had to give it my best，"Sharma told the Philippine Daily Inquirer．

Sharma swam for four or five hours a day until he was completely comfortable with the water．He also worked on his body because he had to first gain weight and then quickly lose weight as the story developed．He even had rats run all over him to prepare for his role．Lee was impressed by the teenager，especially his endurance（耐力）and patience in staying in a water tank for many hours each day．Sharma was only 16when Lee signed him．After three years of shooting，Sharma said he had matured with Pi's journey．

1. What is the function of the first paragraph？

A．To introduce the topic of the passage．

B．To appeal to readers to watch a movie．

C．To attract readers to continue reading．

D．To suggest the theme of this passage．

2. We can know from the passage that     ．

A．Sharma wanted to become a mathematician

B．Sharma had acted in a couple of movies

C．Sharma was sure to win in the audition

D．Many teenagers wanted to act the role Pi

3. Which of the following words can be used to describe Sharma？

A．Confident and brave．

B．Talented and diligent．

C．Strong and courageous．

D．Patient and easily﹣excited．

【推荐1】The wallet is heading for extinction. As a day-to-day essential, it will die off with the generation who read print newspapers. The kind of shopping—where you hand over notes and count out change in return-- now happens only in the most minor of our retail encounters, like buying a bar of chocolate or a pint of milk from a corner shop. At the shops where you spend any real money, that money is increasingly abstracted. And this is more and more true, the higher up the scale you go. At the most cutting-edge retail stores--Victoria Beckham on Dover Street, for instance--you don’t go and stand at any kind of cash register when you decide to pay. The staff are equipped with IPads to take your payment while you relax on the sofa.

Which is nothing more or less than excellent service, if you have the money. But across society, the abstraction of the idea of cash makes me uneasy. Maybe I'm just old-fashion. But earning money isn't quick or easy for most of us. Isn't it a bit weird that spending it should happen in half a blink of an eye? Doesn't a wallet-that time-honoured Friday-night feeling of pleasing, promising fatness-represent something that matters?

But I'll leave the economics to the experts. What bothers me about the death of the wallet is the change it represents in our physical environment. Everything about the look and feel of a wallet-the way the fastenings and materials wear and tear and loosen with age, the plastic and paper and gold and silver, and handwritten phone numbers and printed cinema tickets-is the very opposite of what our world is becoming. The opposite of a wallet is a smartphone or an iPad. The rounded edges, cool glass, smooth and unknowable as a pebble. Instead of digging through pieces of paper and peering into corners, we move our fingers left and right. No more counting out coins. Show your wallet, if you still have one. It may not be here much longer.

1. What is happening to the wallet?

A．It is disappearing.	B．It is being fattened.
C．It is becoming costly.	D．It is changing in style.

2. What makes the author feel uncomfortable nowadays?

A．Saving money is becoming a thing of the past.

B．Spending money is so fast and easy.

C．Earning money is getting more difficult.

D．The pleasing Friday-night feeling is fading.

3. Why does the author choose to write about what’s happening to the wallet?

A．It represents a change in the modern world.

B．It has something to do with everybody’s life.

C．It marks the end of a time-honoured tradition.

D．It is the concern of contemporary economists.

4. What can we infer from the passage about the author?

A．He is resistant to social changes.

B．He is against technological progress.

C．He feels reluctant to part with the traditional wallet.

D．He fells insecure in the ever-changing modern world.

【推荐2】B
It was a beautiful Sunday morning, and Maggie and I were returning from our walk through the woods. We were only a couple of blocks from home when I spotted a cellphone and credit card sitting on the road. We took them home. We find amazing things on the street. She looks upon it as a movable dinner. Chicken wings here and there.
I found another cellphone a few years back, too, and called a number in its phone book. I explained the situation to the guy who answered. He said it was his sister’s and that he'd swing by to pick it up, which he did.
And that was that. No verbal (口头的) thank-you, no written thank-you, no “here’s a box of chocolates” thank-you.
I didn’t have time to call anyone on my latest found cellphone. I was pouring myself coffee when it started to vibrate (颤动) and dance across the kitchen counter.
“Who’s this?” someone asked when I picked up.
“Who’s this?” I countered. “Sarah?”
She was taken aback until she realized her name was on the credit card I also had recovered. “Could you send it to me?” she asked.
She lives in Arlington, which is 2 miles from my house.
“Hmm, no,” I replied, adding that I thought she could come get them, and that if I wasn’t home, they would be in my mailbox.
A day later, when I was out for a run, someone retrieved them. But I got nothing. In this age of e-mail and cellphones, there’s really no excuse.
Years ago, I found something more precious than a $100 bill on the street: a driver’s license. I saw that its owner lived a couple of blocks from me, so I called him up. He asked whether I could slip the license through his front door.
“I guess I could,” I replied.
And that was that.
1. What would be the best title for the text?

A．Several Experiences of My Own

B．“Thank You” Is Becoming More Priceless

C．It’s Polite to Thank the Finders

D．Only Losers Lack “Thank” for Finders

2. According to the text, it can be inferred that Maggie should be ______.

A．the author’s wife	B．the author’s pet
C．the author’s best friend	D．the author’s son

3. The author didn’t call anyone on his latest found cellphone because ______.

A．it wasn’t worth to do	B．he wanted to keep it as his own
C．he was busy then	D．he didn’t know its owner

4. The underlined word “retrieved” in the tenth paragraph means “______”.

A．got back

B．returned

C．lost

D．threw away

5. How did the author feel when he told his last experience about the driver’s license?

A．Disappointed.

B．Helpless.

C．Encouraged.

D．Hopeful.

【推荐3】Each new school year brings fresh reminders of what educators call the summer learning gap．Some call it the summer learning setback. Put simply, it means the longer kids are out of school，the more they forget．The only thing they might gain is weight．
Most American schools follow a traditional nine-month calendar with winter and spring breaks and about ten weeks of summer vacation．Some schools follow a year-round calendar. They hold classes for about eight weeks at a time，with a few weeks off in between．The National Association for Year-Round Education says there were fewer than 3,000 such schools at last count．They were spread among forty-six of the fifty states．
But many experts point out that the number of class days in a year-round school is generally the same as in a traditional school．Brenda McLaughlin is research director at the National Center for Summer Learning at Johns Hopkins University．She says studies of year-round schooling have not found strong learning gains．Lead researcher Paul von Hippel said，“Year-round schools don’t really solve the problem of the summer learning setback．They simply spread it out across the year．”
Across the country, research shows that students from poor families fall farther behind over the summer than other students．Experts say this can be prevented．They note that many schools and local governments offer programs that can help．
But calling them “summer school” could be a problem．The director of the summer learning center at Johns Hopkins, Ron Fairchild, said research with groups of different parents in Chicago and Baltimore found that almost all strongly disliked the term “summer school”．In American culture，the idea of summer vacation is connected to beliefs about freedom and the joys of childhood．The parents welcomed other terms like “summer camp” “extra time” and “hands-on learning．”
1. According to the first paragraph，the summer learning gap ________.

A．helps children to gain weight

B．leads children to work harder

C．improves children’s memories

D．affects children’s regular studies

2. Compared to traditional schools，students in the year-round ones ________．

A．perform better and have more learning gains

B．have much less time for relaxation every year

C．have generally the same number of class days

D．hold more classes with more free weeks off

3. Which of the following statements is true?

A．Students from poor families often fall behind after the vacation．

B．Year-round schools can solve the problem of the learning gap

C．There are schools in each state following a year-round calendar

D．Nothing can help the students who fall behind after the vacation．

4. Why did almost all parents dislike the term “summer school”?

A．They are worried about the quailty of the“summer school”

B．They cherish the children’s rights of freedom very much．

C．They want their children to be forced to make up the gap．

D．They can’t afford to the further study during the vacation．

5. What would be the best title of this passage?

A．Opening Summer Camps

B．Forbidding Summer Schools

C．Minding the Summer Learning Gap

D．Reforming Year-Round Education

【推荐1】It is widely known that any English conversation begins with the weather. Such a fixation with the weather finds expression in Dr. Johnson’s famous comment that “When two English meet, their first talk is of weather.” Though Johnson’s observation is as accurate now as it was over two hundred years ago, people fail to come up with a good explanation for this English weather-speak.

Bill Bryson, for example, says that, as the English weather is not at all exciting, the interest in it can hardly be understood. He argues that “To an outsider, the most striking thing about the English weather is that there is not very much of it.” Simply, the reason is that the unusual and unpredictable weather is almost unknown in the British Isles.

Jeremy Paxman, however, disagrees with Bryson, arguing that the English weather is by nature attractive. Bryson is wrong, he says, because the English preference for the weather has nothing to do with the natural phenomena (现象). “The interest is less in the phenomena themselves, but in uncertainty.” According to him, the weather in England is very changeable and uncertain and it draws the English as well as the outsider.

Bryson and Paxman stand for common misunderstandings about the weather-speak among the English. Both of them, somehow, are missing the point. The English weather conversation is not really about the weather at all. English weather-speak is a system of signs, which is developed to help the speakers overcome the natural reserve and actually talk to each other. Everyone knows conversations starting with weather-speak are not requests for weather data. Rather, they are greetings. In other words, English weather-speak is a means of social bonding.

1. Why does the author mention Dr. Johnson’s comment?

A．Because Dr. Johnson is famous.

B．To show that most people agree with Dr. Johnson.

C．Because the comment was accurate two hundred years ago.

D．To show that English conversations usually start with the weather.

2. According to the passage, what does Jeremy Paxman believe?

A．Bill Bryson has little knowledge of the weather.

B．There is nothing special about the English weather.

C．The English weather attracts people to the British Isles.

D．English people talk about the weather for its uncertainty.

3. What does the underlined word “draw” in Paragraph 3 most probably mean?

A．To explore.

B．To attract.

C．To ensure.

D．To digitise.

4. What is the author’s main purpose of writing the passage?

A．To analyse the weather in the UK.

B．To explain what English weather-speak is about.

C．To argue with both Bill Bryson and Jeremy Paxman.

D．To tell people that the English weather is changeable.

【推荐2】I hear many parents saying that their teenagers are rebellious(反叛的). I wish it were so. At your age you ought to be growing away from your parents. You should be learning to stand on your own feet. But take a good look at the present rebellion. It seems that teenagers are all taking the same way of showing that they disagree with their parents. Instead of striking out bravely on their own, most of them are trying to seize at another’s hands for safety.

They say they want to dress as they please. But they all wear the same clothes. They set off in new directions in music. But somehow reason for thinking or acting in thus-and-such way is that the cords is doing it. They have come out of their cocoon—into a larger cocoon.

It has become harder and harder for a teenager to stand up against the popularity wave and to go his or her own way. Industry has firmly opened up a teenager market. These days every teenager can learn from newspapers and TV what a teenager should have and be. And many of today’s parents have come to award high marks for the popularity of their children. All this adds up to great difficulty for the teenager who wants to find his or her own path.

But the difficulty is worth getting over. The path is worth following. You may want to listen to classical music instead of going to a party. You may want to collect rocks when everyone else is collecting records. You may have some thoughts that you don’t care to share at once with your classmates. Well, go to it. Find yourself. Be yourself. Popularity will come—with the people who respect you for who you are. That’s the only kind of popularity that really counts.

1. The writer’s purpose in writing this passage is mainly to tell _____________ .

A．readers how to be popular in the world

B．teenagers how to learn to decide things for themselves

C．parents how to control and guide their children

D．people how to understand and respect each other

2. According to the writer, many teenagers think they are brave enough to act on their own, but in fact, most of them ______________.

A．have much difficulty in understanding each other

B．have too much confidence in themselves

C．dare not do things in their own way

D．are very much afraid of getting lost

3. During the teenager years, one should learn to __________ .

A．become different from others in as many ways as possible

B．find one’s real self

C．get into the right reason and become popular

D．rebel against parents

【推荐3】When something goes wrong, it can be very satisfying to say, “Well, it’s so-and-so’s fault.” or “I know I’m late, but it's not my fault; the car broke down.” It is probably not your fault，but once you form the habit of blaming somebody or something else for a bad situation，you are a loser. You have no power and could do nothing that helps change the situation. However, you can have great power over what happens to you if you stop focusing on whom to blame and start focusing on how to remedy the situation. This is the winner's key to success.

Winners are great at overcoming problems. For example, if you were late because your car broke down, maybe you need to have your car examined more regularly. Or, you might start to carry along with you the useful phone numbers, so you could call for help when in need. For another example, if your colleague causes you problems on the job for lack of responsibility or ability, find ways of dealing with his irresponsibility or inability rather than simply blame the person. Ask to work with a different person, or don’t rely on the person. You should accept that the person is not reliable and find creative ways to work successfully regardless of how your colleague fails to do his job well.

This is what being a winner is all about—creatively using your skills and talents so that you are successful no matter what happens. Winners don't have fewer problems in their lives; they have just as many difficult situations to face as anybody else. They are just better at seeing those problems as challenges and opportunities to develop their own talents. So, stop focusing on “whose fault it is”. Once you are confident about your power over bad situations, problems are just stepping stop on for success.

1. According to the passage, winners________.

A．deal with problems rather than blame others

B．meet with fewer difficulties in their lives

C．have responsible and able colleagues

D．blame themselves rather that others

2. The underlined word “remedy” in Paragraph 1 is closest in meaning to________.

A．avoid	B．accept
C．improve	D．consider

3. When your colleague brings about a problem, you should________.

A．find a better way to handle the problem

B．blame him for his lack of responsibility

C．tell him to find the cause of the problem

D．ask a more able colleague for help

4. When problems occur, winners take them as________.

A．excuses for their failures

B．barriers to greater power

C．challenges to their colleagues

D．chances for self-development