【推荐1】To joke around is to have fun with someone. To fool someone is to try to make them believe something that is not true.     1    

April 1st is known as the day to fool people with practical jokes, pranks or harmless tricks.     2     Some say April Fools' Day began as one big mistake.

Many centuries ago, people in the Western world used the Julian calendar.     3     However, when people began using the Gregorian calendar, the New Year was moved to January 1st. Those who forgot the change and tried to celebrate New Year's Day on the wrong date were teased and called ''April fools''. This is just one of the many theories behind the origin of April Fools' Day.     4    

The fool is a common character in art, music and literature. William Shakespeare is famous for his fools. And fools make for great pop songs. Fools are found in many words, expressions and proverbs. To be foolhardy means to do something that are too dangerous or risky. For example, it is foolhardy to hike up a mountain during a heavy snowstorm. If something is foolproof, it is planned or made so well that nothing could go wrong.     5    

''Look, I don't want to get into trouble. This plan of yours sounds risky. ''

''My plan is foolproof. Nothing will go wrong as long as you do exactly as I say. ''

A．Not even a fool could mess it up.

B．And that is the purpose of April Fools' Day.

C．They celebrated the New Year on April 1st.

D．Even a smart person can be a fool at times.

E．But the tradition remains the same—to fool someone.

F．Fools also find themselves in many proverbs.

G．But how did this tradition begin?

【推荐3】        Almost all cultures celebrate the end of one year and the beginning of another in some way. Different cultures celebrate the beginning of a new year in different ways, and at different times on the calendar.
        In Western countries, people usually celebrate New Year at midnight on January 1st. People may go to parties, dress in formal clothes -- like tuxedos (小礼服) and evening gowns, and drink champagne at midnight. During the first minutes of the New Year, people cheer and wish each other happiness for the year ahead. But some cultures prefer to celebrate the New Year by waking up early to watch the sun rise. They welcome the New Year with the first light of the sunrise.
        It is also a common Western custom to make a New Year’s promise, called a resolution. New Year’s resolutions usually include promises to try something new or change a bad habit in the new year.

Many cultures also do special things to get rid of bad luck at the beginning of a new year. For example, in Ecuador, families make a big doll from old clothes. The doll is filled with old newspapers and firecrackers. At midnight, these dolls are burned to show the bad things from the past year are gone and the new year can start afresh (again). Other common traditions to keep away bad luck in a new year include throwing things into rivers or the ocean, or saying special things on the first day of the new year.

       Other New Year traditions are followed to bring good luck is to eat grapes on New Year’s Day. The more grapes a person eats , the more good luck the person will have in the year. In France, people eat pancakes for good luck at New Year. In the United States, some people eat black-eyed peas (豇豆) for good luck -- but to get good luck for a whole year you have to eat 365 of them!
1. Which culture celebrates New Year in the morning?

A．The passage doesn’t say.	B．Spain.
C．France.	D．The United States.

2. What is a resolution?

A．Something you say.	B．Something you eat.
C．Something you burn.	D．Something you wear.

3. What is the topic of the fourth paragraph?

A．Bringing good luck.

B．Remembering the past.

C．Planning for the next year.

D．Keeping away from bad luck.

4. Which is probably true about eating black-eyed peas on New Year?

A．Black-eyed peas taste bad.

B．The peas are very difficult to cook.

C．One pea brings one day of luck.

D．It is bad luck to eat a lot of black-eyed peas.

【推荐1】Do you love holidays but hate the increase weight that follows? You are not alone.

Holidays are happy days with pleasure and delicious foods. Many people, however, are worried about the weight that comes along with these delicious foods. With proper planning, though, it is possible to control your weight. The idea is to enjoy the holidays but not to eat too much. You don't have to turn away from the foods that you enjoy. The following suggestions may be of some help to you.

Do not miss meals. Before yon leave home for a feast(宴会),have a small, low-fat snack. This may help to keep you from getting too excited before delicious foods.

Begin with clear soup and fruit or vegetables. A large glass of water before you eat may help you feel full. Use a small plate: a large plate will encourage you to have more than enough.

Better not have high-fat foods. Dishes that look oily or creamy have much fat in them. Choose lean meat. Fill your plate with salad and green vegetables. 

If you have a sweet tooth, try mints (薄荷) and fruits. They don’t have fat content as cream and chocolate.

Don’t let exercise take a break during the holidays. A 20-minute walk after a meal can help burn off excess(过多的) calories.

1. In order to really enjoy your holidays without putting on weight, you'd better________.

A．drink much water and have vegetables only	B．not accept invitations to feasts
C．not eat the food in high fat	D．turn away from delicious foods

2. Holidays are happy days with pleasure but they may ________

A．make you hate delicious foods	B．bring you much trouble in your life
C．make you worried about your foods	D．bring weight problems

3. Excess calories can be found in your body in the form of________ .

A．energy

B．food

C．fat

D．something invisible (看不见)

4. Many people can't help putting on weight after the holidays because they ________ .

A．can't help turning away from the foods

B．go to too many feasts

C．enjoy delicious foods

D．can't control themselves

5. According to the passage, ________ is a necessary part to stop you from putting on weight.

A．vegetables

B．physical exercise

C．calories of energy

D．water

【推荐2】Where in the classroom do you prefer to sit,and why? Scientists have discovered that seating preference not only shows students’ personalities,but has a great influence on their school performance.Generally speaking,students show different attitudes depending on where they sit.Based on the research,scientists have developed a funnel-like(像漏斗的) model of “learning zones(区域)” to see the relationship between seating and active learning.

In this model,the mouth of the funnel(A) is the best position for learning.Students in this front area prove to be the most active learners.They show a greater desire(渴求) for learning,which leads them to focus(集中注意力) better and take a more active part than the rest of the class.Those in the neck of the funnel(B) don’t pay the same close attention,but they ask a lot of questions,partly because of the added confidence they feel from being in a safe zone,with others around them.Less desirable is the area “outside the funnel(C,D),” which refers to the side and the back rows,where students take a less active part in classroom activities and find it hard to focus their attention,falling asleep at times.

Studies about learning zones suggest that a change in traditional seating plans can benefit students.In fact,a growing number of teachers have begun less traditional seating plans,such as “U-Type”.There are no side and back areas,so teachers can expect their students to take part in activities more actively and increase student-teacher interaction(互动).

1. According to scientists, students’ learning is greatly influenced by________.

A．the number of students	B．the time of class
C．seating positions	D．the size of the classroom

2. What advantage do the students sitting in Area B over those in Area C,D? 　　　.

A．sometimes fall asleep	B．feel safe and confident
C．seldom ask their teachers questions	D．try to avoid looking directly at the teacher

3. Which of the following is TRUE according to studies in the last paragraph?

A．An increasing number of teachers have started to use traditional seating plans.

B．Changing the traditional seating plans can be beneficial to students.

C．U-type is better than funnel-like model of “learning zones” .

D．If there are no side and back areas, students must be more active in learning.

4. From which is the text probably taken?

A．An education magazine	B．An advertisement
C．A life newspaper	D．A science textbook

【推荐3】Dogs, unlike people, are capable of pure love—at least according to Freud. As more Americans live alone, unconditional affection is in demand. Pet ownership has risen for decades. More than a third of homes have at least one dog, according to the American Veterinary Medical Association.

But the popularity of four-legged friends has an unpleasant cost: dogs squeeze out more than twice the waste of the average person, or around 275 pounds a year. With over 83,000,000 dogs running around the country, that is a lot of waste.

Around 60% of the stuff gets collected and trucked to landfills, where it releases methane, a greenhouse gas. The rest delivers surprises to pedestrians and can pollute waterways.

The problem is particularly bad in cities, where green spaces are few and lonely souls seeking puppy love plentiful. There are over 600,000 dogs in New York—one for every 14 people—generating over 100,000 tons of turd (粪便) a year.

This is a missed opportunity, says Ron Gonen, the city’s former recycling tsar (掌权者). Now in the private sector, he is trying to launch “Sparky Power”, a programme to transform dog waste into clean energy in the city’s dog parks.

The idea is to fit parks with small anacrobic digesters (厌氧分解池). Dog owners would place their dogs’ turd into the machine, which then turns turd into gas for powering lamps and other park equipment. A year-long pilot would introduce digesters in three parks at a cost of around $ 100,000,000. The parks department is thinking about the proposal.

Similar schemes in other cities have proved short-lived. An underground Energy Transformation Using Reactive Digestion (E-TURD) device created by Arizona State University students for a dog park in Gilbert, Arizona, in 2012 finally failed.

“It’s great to turn it into a biofuel, but first you gotta pick it up,” says Tom Boyd, an entrepreneur in Tennessee. His company, Poo Prints, shames the owners of dogs who fail to clean up their messes by testing DNA in uncollected turd.

1. What does the underlined part “The problem” in Paragraph 4 refer to?

A．Lots of people feel lonely.

B．Pet dogs produce a lot of waste.

C．There are very limited green spaces.

D．The greenhouse effect is getting serious.

2. What do we know about the programme “Sparky Power”?

A．It is about recycling household waste.

B．It is operated by the local government.

C．It aims to produce power from dog waste.

D．It aims to clean parks with renewable energy.

3. So far the program “Sparky Power” _________.

A．has just started

B．is a great success

C．has ended in failure

D．is still under consideration

4. What is the purpose of the company Poo Prints?

A．To make good use of dog waste.

B．To help people look for their dogs.

C．To reduce the number of dog owners.

D．To push people to pick up their dogs’ waste.