【推荐2】When I was a kid, my dad was in the Air Force and we moved every few years. It was scaring because that meant getting used to a wholly new community and a wholly new school. It was always a struggle to find where I fit in. Already shy, I didn’t have much self-confidence in my friend-making abilities. I was the girl walking in the halls with her head down. When I spoke, you could hardly hear my soft voice. I was nervous and doubted myself a lot. I was nearly hit.

But what I did have was soccer. Wherever I went, I knew I could fit in with the soccer ball. The soccer team meant a familiar place and immediate friends for me. I could express myself on the field. Playing hard helped to get rid of my nervousness.

There are always things that make you nervous and uncertain. That’s life. Even in my lucky life, I still have those feelings---at the beginning of the new sports season, or making important decisions. I keep a small group of really good friends. Most have been my teammates for years. We have shared a lot together. They have seen the good, the bad and the ugly sides of me, and they still accept me. They have taught me that it’s how you treat others that makes you valuable in life.

Throughout our lives, our self-esteem goes down when we feel like a failure, and it goes up when we feel successful. We all need to explore opportunities where we can be good at something and feel good about ourselves. Physical activity and sport participation is a wonderful way to build up our sense of self-confidence. We get to set goals for ourselves, we feel good about our accomplishments, and we learn that after today’s failure there’s tomorrow’s chance.

1. Which of the following best describes the author’s feeling every time she moved?

A．Content	B．Angry.
C．Anxious.	D．Grateful.

2. What can be implied from Paragraph 2?

A．People are fond of playing sports

B．The author was good at playing soccer.

C．The soccer teammates were quite friendly.

D．Soccer is the most popular sport in the world.

3. The underlined word “self-esteem” in the last paragraph probably means ______.

A．self-awareness	B．self-confidence
C．self-defense	D．self-education

4. Which of the following might be the best title for the passage?

A．On self-esteem and sport.	B．On ways to make friends.
C．On valuable lessons in life.	D．On success and failure.

【推荐3】When you are struggling with your mental health, getting active may be one of the last things you feel like doing. But if you can muster the energy, evidence shows that exercise has a powerfully beneficial effect. One 2019 study, published in JAMA Psychiatry, found that physical activity is an effective prevention strategy for depression. Another 2015 paper found that exercise can be as helpful in treating mild to moderate depression as antidepressants and psychotherapy.

“We have known for a long time that exercise promotes physiological and neurochemical(神经化学的) responses that make you feel good, says Prof Nanette Mutrie of the University of Edinburgh's Institute for Sport, Physical Education and Health Sciences. When we exercise, the brain releases endorphins, as well as dopamine and serotonin. “Very often, these same chemicals form part of antidepressant drugs, leading to the happy feelings, she says.

There is also a psychological component to exercise that makes us feel good, says Mutrie. “When you’re exercising, you are improving your self-esteem, mastering a new task and meeting new people. All these work together to help lift up spirits.”

Jermaine Johnson, another personal trainer suggests avoiding cardio, like running. “That can raise the heart rate and fuel your anxiety,” he says. Instead, he suggests that you try strength training. Because you can measure your progress with weight training - heavier weights or more repetitions - you will be able to see how much you are improving, which could lift your mood.

Finally, the act of putting on a pair of trainers can, on its own, be a form of self-care. “Even if you leave after a few minutes, you've already achieved something just by going to the gym, says Johnson. Focus on the fact that you went to the gym in the first place, not that you left. And take everything one step at a time. You're in control.

1. Why are the two studies mentioned in Paragraph 1?

A．To introduce the topic.	B．To support the writer’s opinion
C．To raise further questions.	D．To give detailed description.

2. What makes us feel good when we exercise according to Mutrie?

A．The drugs we take.	B．The amount of exercise
C．The way of exercise.	D．The chemicals released

3. What’s Jermaine Johnson’s attitude toward running?

A．Disapproving.

B．Unclear.

C．Supportive.

D．Tolerant

4. What's the best title for the passage?

A．New Studies Published.	B．Running Strengthens Your Heart.
C．Workout Heals Your Mind.	D．Gym Improves Your Mood.

【推荐2】A couple, Libby Green and Marcel Gnauk, like travelling and sharing their travel experiences online has become part of their routine.

Libby is skilled at using a camera. But they struggled to find a focus. Then, in Cambodia, Libby filmed some birds taking flight that she wanted to use in a film. But she couldn’t capture (捕获) the sound of their wing beats.

They looked on the Internet, searching sound libraries, but couldn’t find anything appropriate. So, Marcel took a $100 audio recorder, and went searching for the missing sound to record. He didn’t find any birds, but he did manage to change their future with it.

Marcel turned the recorder on in a small construction zone, listening through a cheap set of headphones. He was awed not just by the sounds of construction, but a man’s singing, and motorcycles passing by.

“It was just like the sound was falling into my head from all sides,” says Marcel. “Everything became alive, and from that day until now I have never stopped recording.”

In the six years since that first recording, the couple have captured sounds in more than 25 countries.

Libby shoots and edits their YouTube videos, and manages their website. Marcel does most of the sound recording and editing, as well as the social media postings. Through their website, they offer 500 free sound libraries. Of these, 145 are free to download.

Libby had added a donation button to their website, and a Hollywood post-production creative had donated a few dollars. It was then that Marcel realized others shared a passion for sound, and were willing to pay for it.

“We wanted to be a source that’s affordable for all types of people to download the sounds and we’re still excited to travel to new places and record new sounds,” says Libby.

1. What changed the couple’s life direction?

A．A camera.

B．A film.

C．A library.

D．A recorder.

2. Which can best replace the underlined word “awed” in paragraph 4?

A．attracted

B．cheated

C．confused

D．awoken

3. How are the couple contributing to the world?

A．They are providing some free resources online.	B．They are studying the change of bird sounds.
C．They are building free libraries in poor areas.	D．They are advocating donations for Cambodians.

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

A．Sharing Love	B．A Caring Couple
C．A Passion for Sounds	D．Recording Good Life

【推荐3】Almost every day I’ve been having an alarming number of “what planet am I on?” moments. This is particularly true when it comes to the topic of artificial intelligence.

Witness this headline from the New York Times: “The Godfather of A.I. Warns of Danger Ahead.” Here’s another one, from the New York Post: “Ex-Google Exec Mo Gawdat Warns AI Could Create ‘Killing Machines.’” But don’t worry! Here’s more, from CNBC: “An Annual Meeting Attended by the World’s Elite (精英) Has A.I. Top of the Agenda.” These unaccountable, largely unelected rich people are apparently ready to solve the problems of this mad world. The assumption, it appears, is that this “honored” group has it all under control, which is funny given that the crazed AI cat is already miles out of its torn bag. I’ll say it again: What planet am I on?

But my friends, who decided all this, anyway? Who made AI king? The answer is nobody, and also everybody, I guess. No one’s really in charge, and if we’re honest with each other, there is not a thing anyone can do. As to me, I do try. I don’t upload my photos to the cloud. I don’t engage with ChatGPT, and I never use facial recognition on my phone—but my husband does both. “You’re feeding the beast!” I tell him. “Who cares?” he usually replies, “It’s happening with or without us.”

Maybe AI will make it a lot easier to re-book airline tickets with flight credits that you unwillingly earned when the airline canceled your flight home from your ski vacation. Just kidding—of course it won’t. But in all seriousness, I’m sure AI will make the government completely efficient. Ha! Got you again! Sometimes I like to think back to the 90’s, when sizeable numbers of smart people were all complaining about the “end of history” and the general assumption was that things in the future would get ever more sensible. It all seems kind of funny now, doesn’t it?

Here’s the good news: I just made my husband read this column, and he finally agreed to disable facial recognition on his phone. The bad news: I think it requires facial recognition to get it done.

1. The underlined sentence in paragraph 2 implies that __________.

A．we should dismiss AI warnings from experts

B．AI technology has made significant advancements

C．negative impacts of AI have become uncontrollable

D．the world is amazed by the rapid development of AI

2. By mentioning her husband in paragraph 3, the author intends to __________.

A．criticize him for misusing AI

B．urge readers to resist the use of AI

C．demonstrate the possibility of being slave to AI

D．present a common perspective people have on AI

3. According to the passage, what is the author most likely to agree with?

A．AI makes the world more sensible.

B．AI doesn’t live up to our expectations.

C．AI makes the government less efficient.

D．AI can solve the complex problems humans are facing.

4. What is the author’s tone in the text?

A．Confident.

B．Ironic.

C．Proud.

D．Dismissive.

【推荐1】Growing up, playing hockey with her brothers and the boys in the area, Rhéaume learned pretty quickly that, despite her abilities, she was often cut from teams simply because she was a girl. Although it was frustrating for the youngster, she was not deterred. She continued to work hard and develop her skills to prove she could compete with the boys.

It didn’t take long for her to make a name for herself. In 1984, she became the first girl to play in the famed Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament.

When the Tampa Bay Lightning, a National Hockey League (NHL) team came calling the following year, it was an opportunity Rhéaume could not pass up. When Rhéaume arrived in Tampa Bay, she remembers there was a big bouquet of flowers waiting for her in her dressing room, along with a card. “It was from a radio station in Montreal and the card said go further, good luck to you, we’re all behind you and you’re not alone,” she said. “When I got that, I realized a lot of people were pulling for me to be successful.” It was at that point that the significance of the game began to dawn on her.

When Rhéaume joined the Lightning for a game, on September 23,1992, she became the first woman to play in the NHL. While it might have felt like just another game for Rhéaume in the moment, in the years that have followed, she has realized it was so much more. “I didn’t know that it would inspire so many people,” she said. “It was more later in my life that I realized it was a big deal and I did impact people with my story.”

Although her experience with the NHL was brief, Rhéaume inspired countless girls to pursue their hockey dreams. Almost twenty-eight years later, and she’s still doing exactly that. Today, Rhéaume is the head coach of the12U Little Caesars Girls in Detroit. “I always tell my players to follow their dreams no matter what the dream is and to believe in themselves,” Rhéaume said. “Hard work and never giving up is what can make you succeed.”

1. What troubled Rhéaume when she was at an early age?

A．Her poor hockey skills.	B．Being shy about making friends.
C．Her outdoor playtime being taken away.	D．Being excluded from hockey games.

2. How did Rhéaume experience in her dressing room in Tampa Bay influence her?

A．It broadened her knowledge of sports.	B．It pushed her to change her career.
C．It offered her support and strength.	D．It made her fall in love with hockey.

3. What does the underlined word “deterred” in paragraph 1 mean?

A．disapproving

B．disbelieving

C．discouraged

D．dishonest

4. What would be the best title for the text?

A．The first woman to play hockey.

B．Exploring the history of women’s hockey.

C．Manon Rhéaume’s brief experience in NHL games.

D．Manon Rhéaume still encouraging young women to dream.

【推荐3】In June 1985, two British mountaineers Joe Simpson and Simon Yates made the first-ever climb of the West Face of the 21,000 foot snow-covered Siula Grande mountain in Peru. It was exceptionally tough — but nothing compared to what was to come. Early in the descent (斜坡), Simpson fell and broke his right knee. Yates could have abandoned him but managed to find a way of lowering him down the mountain in a series of difficult drops blinded by snow and cold. Then Simpson fell into a crevasse (冰隙) and Yates eventually had no choice but to cut the rope, utterly convinced that his friend was now dead.

In his subsequent book on the climb entitled “Touching The Void”, Joe Simpson wrote: “As I gazed at the distant moraines (冰碛石), I knew that I must at least try. I would probably die out there amid those rocks. The thought didn’t alarm me. It seemed reasonable, matter-of-fact. That was how it was. I could aim for something. If I died, well, that wasn’t so surprising, but I wouldn’t have just waited for it to happen. The horror of dying no longer affected me as it had in the crevasse. I now had the chance to confront it and struggle against it. My leg would hurt when I fell and when I couldn’t get up I would die.”

The survival of Simpson himself was extraordinary. That somehow found a way of climbing out of the crevasse after 12 hours and then dragged himself six miles back to camp, going three days and nights without food or drink, would be the stuff of heroic fiction if it was not so true. Indeed, six operations and two years later, he was even back climbing. All because, against all the odds, he tried.

1. What happened to Simpson?

A．He went blind in the accident.	B．He was hurt for lack of the rope.
C．He had his knee injured in the descent.	D．He was deserted into a crevasse on purpose.

2. What did Simpson do in the crevasse?

A．He tried to remove the rocks.	B．He struggled for food and drink.
C．He thought about his dead friend.	D．He stayed calm to rescue himself.

3. What does the underlined word “confront” in paragraph 2 probably mean?

A．Face up to.

B．Give way to.

C．Get away with.

D．Come up with.

4. What message does the text mainly convey?

A．No way is impossible to wisdom.	B．Nothing is hard to the man who will try.
C．The good seaman is known in bad weather.	D．Good company on the road is the shortest cut.