【推荐1】Of all the places stray (流浪的) cats can live in Beijing, perhaps none provides greater companionship than an underground facility known as the “Cat Shed”. A variety of cats are spread across the shed’s 100 square meters. They jump and play on toy towers or rest on cotton blankets on iron-framed beds.

Since the facility was established in 2012, some 150 cats have lived there. More than 100 volunteers attend to the strays. Many claim that they gain greater benefit from the interaction than the cats, because the animals offer not just companionship, but also a kind of healing.

The “housekeeper” is Yin Yi, a doctoral candidate at the Central Iron and Steel Research Institute in Beijing. When the 29-year-old arrived in the capital in late 2015, he faced huge pressure from his studies and personal relationships, while the alien environment exacerbated his feeling of loneliness.

After gaining a master’s from a university in Inner Mongolia, Yin relocated to go for a doctorate in material sciences. Accustomed to having friends around, he was not used to a lonely life, especially working by himself and spending up to 10 hours in a lab most days. To improve his mood, he decided to contact animal bases, looking for opportunities to care for stray cats. When he heard that a stray cat basement near his campus was looking for volunteers, he contacted Wu Xinhua, who organizes activities at the Cat Shed, and was soon surrounded by furry friends. His favorite moment is when he dishes out food and a dozen strays gather round, with several rubbing against his feet. When he graduates, Yin plans to house three strays in his apartment.

1. What does the underlined word “exacerbated” in Paragraph 3 mean?

A．Worsened	B．Improved
C．Replaced	D．Touched

2. What can we learn about the Cat Shed?

A．Yin Yi has rented the basement and provided facilities for the Cat Shed.

B．The Cat Shed is a relaxing and warm place for volunteers.

C．Wu Xinhua raises money to run the Cat Shed.

D．The Cat Shed only allows volunteers to adopt cats there.

3. What is the best title for the text?

A．Stray cats enjoy themselves at the Cat Shed

B．Volunteers make stray cats live a better life

C．“Stray” youngsters in Beijing need healing

D．Furry friends promote stress-free lives

【推荐2】Have you ever trained your brain? Now there are some new suggestions, such as eating dark chocolate and having cold meat for breakfast. You should also avoid watching soap operas, spending time with people who complain or follow fat-free diets, according to a new book on getting “brain-fit”.

Many of the suggestions in Teach Yourself Training Your Brain are surprising. The book says to read out loud while holding a baby. Writers Terry Horne and Simon Wotton say their advice is from the latest research by experts around the world.

“For years we have thought our brain capability is decided by our genes. But it’s now clear that it depends on our lifestyle. What we eat and drink, how we learn at school and what type of feelings we have are all important,” said Horne.

The book talks about the most up-to -date thinking in science about how diet, the environment, stress and other sides of modern life affect our brain capacity. It also offers advice and exercises. The book comes as more and more people are spending money on books, DVDs and computer games, which can improve their brain’s capability.

Horne believes that people need to make changes to their lifestyles to increase their brain capacity. Happiness, confidence and an optimistic nature help the brain, he added.

“So mix with people who make you laugh, or share the same interests as you. And avoid people who complain,” said Horne. “People who are negative will make you sad, which means you won’t achieve things.”

1. According to the book, which of the following isn’t good for training your brain?

A．Doing some brain games.	B．Eating dark chocolate.
C．Having cold meat for breakfast.	D．Watching soap operas.

2. What’s Horne’s attitude toward the brain capability?

A．It depends on what our genes are like.

B．It’s decided by our lifestyle.

C．It has nothing to do with schools.

D．It should follow the type of our feelings.

3. What's the book Teach Yourself Training Your Brain mainly about?

A．How people’s brain capability works.

B．Exercises to improve brain capability.

C．Some scientific and healthy diets.

D．How to improve people’s brain capability.

4. From the underlined sentence, we can learn that ________.

A．more and more people are interested in reading

B．books can help people improve their brain capability

C．people are paying more attention to training their brain

D．there are many ways to train people’s brain

【推荐3】I am a good mother to three children. I have tried never to let my profession stand in the way of being a good parent.

I no longer consider myself the center of the universe. I show up. I listen. I try to laugh. I am a good friend to my husband. I have tried to make marriage vows mean what they say. I am a good friend to my friends, and they to me. Without them, there would be nothing to say to you today.

So here's what I wanted to tell you today: Get a life. A real life, not a desire of the next promotion, the bigger paycheck, the larger house.

Get a life in which you are not alone. Find people you love, and who love you. And remember that love is not leisure, it is work. Pick up the phone. Send an e-mail. Write a letter. And realize that life is the best thing and that you have no business taking it for granted.

It is so easy to waste our lives, our days, our hours, our minutes. It is so easy to exist instead of to live. I learned to live many years ago. Something really, really bad happened to me, something that changed my life in ways that, if I had my choice, it would never have been changed at all. And what I learned from it is what, today, seems to be the hardest lesson of all.

I learned to love the journey, not the destination. I learned to look at all the good in the world and try to give some of it back because I believed in it, completely and totally. And I tried to do that, in part, by telling others what I had learned.

By telling them this: Read in the backyard with the sun on your face. Learn to be happy. And think of life as a deadly illness, because if you do, you will live it with joy and passion as it ought to be lived.

1. The best title of this passage probably is     

A．Love your friends	B．Live a real life
C．Don't waste time	D．Be a good mother and wife

2. How did the author form her view of life?

A．Through working and social experience.	B．By learning from her friends.
C．Through an unfortunate experience.	D．From her children and husband

3. By the underlined sentence "It is so easy to exist instead of to live" in the fifth paragraph, the author really means that people tend to            .

A．make a living rather than live a real life	B．work rather than enjoy life
C．waste a lot in life	D．forget the most important lessons in life

4. What's the author's attitude toward work?

A．Do it well to serve others.	B．To earn enough money to make life better.
C．Try your best to get higher position and pay.	D．Don't let it affect your real life.

【推荐2】As far as I could tell, there was only one problem with this year’s Super Bowl. The Green Bay Packers weren't green. They were blue. And even though I had never before seen a professional football game live and in living color, I had read enough from my subscription to Sports Illustrated to know that the dark jerseys (运动衫) worn by the Green Bay Packers were green, not blue.

“Maybe it's something special they're doing for the Super Bowl,” my dad suggested.

“The colors aren't right, Dad,” I said. “I’m sure of it.”

Eventually Dad agreed. “I'll get a repairman tomorrow,” he said. It was a minor annoyance, but it somehow cast a pall over our enjoyment of the pre-game festivities. This was highly anticipated Super Bowl, and we were watching it on our super new color TV. It was supposed to be super.

Just a few minutes before kickoff, my big brother Bud arrived with Craig, a college friend. Craig looked at the TV for a moment. “I think your tint (色调) is off a little,” he said. He reached behind the set and began feeling around for buttons. Suddenly our color TV was black and white. He reached behind the TV again. He must have found the right button, because a moment later color was restored — and perfected. The Green Bay Packers were in their traditional green and gold uniforms. The field was green, the sky was blue and it was a Super Sunday, indeed.

It amazed me then — and often has since — what a major difference a minor adjustment can make. A well-placed nail or a tweak (拧) of a button from someone who knows what they’re doing can change everything. The same principle holds true in interpersonal matters. While there are some hurts that cannot be easily repaired, it's amazing how often a simple smile, a kind word, or a gentle touch can change our way of thinking, improve our mood, and make everything seem, you know, super.

1. What does the underlined phrase “cast a pall over” in paragraph 4 mean?

A．Replaced.

B．Witnessed.

C．Ensured.

D．Damaged.

2. What does the author think of Craig's behavior?

A．It took too long.	B．It saved much money.
C．It made matters even worse.	D．It breathed new life into the show.

3. What does the author intend to tell us?

A．Always put yourself in others' shoes.	B．It is important to learn basic life skills.
C．A small act can make a big difference.	D．Learn to smile through life's imperfections.

【推荐3】One afternoon in 2013, something on the Internet caught my eye: a tiny hedgehog (刺猬) held by a big hand. The post read: “HELP! My hedgehog abandoned (抛弃) her two babies, and I cannot raise both of them because I have to go to school full-time. Good home with experience needed as soon as possible!”

I had no experience with baby hedgehogs. I was an animal person through and through and had raised cats, dogs, birds, and guines pigs. But this tiny animal was new to me, and it touched me that he was abandoned, that maybe I could love him and be the best mom for him.

I wrote the most heartfelt email I could. That was how I found my Louie. True to my word, he was my baby. Louie didn’t know he was a hedgehog. He never curled (蜷缩) into a ball, and he liked my two cats, no fear. The cats, however, were afraid of him, as he often moved into the room, running after the cats and blocking my way.

By the time he reached old age, Louie had only three feet. However, he still managed to climb the stairs to visit other animals. He helped me realize my dream of hedgehog photography, a hobby that began during childhood with cats and dollhouses. I love showing off his modeling.

Life has meaning because of the purpose we have. Louie needed a good home and mom, and in return, I got to be a good mother and be needed. Hedgehogs require great amounts of patience, trust, and knowledge — but the payoff (回报) is pretty great.

1. The author got Louie from ______.

A．a pet shop

B．a family friend

C．a hedgehog owner

D．a hedgehog rescue center

2. What does Paragraph 2 mainly talk about?

A．Why the author decided to keep Louie.

B．When the author began to keep Louie.

C．What deep feelings the author and Louie had.

D．How Louie changed the author’s life.

3. How did Louie seem to feel at the author’s home?

A．Frightened.

B．Relaxed.

C．Lonely.

D．Tired.

4. What can we learn about Louie from paragraph 4?

A．He disliked climbing stairs.

B．He enjoyed being left alone.

C．He always refused to be in photos.

D．He was active despite his difficulty in moving.

5. What does the author say about raising Louie?

A．It was easier than expected.

B．It gave her a sense of safety.

C．It made her lose her patience.

D．It was satisfying and meaningful.

【推荐1】After about 400 years, William Shakespeare(1564 -1616) is still widely celebrated as a great wordsmith and playwright (剧作家). But he was not the only great master of dramatic writing to die in 1616, and he is certainly not the only writer to have left a lasting impact on theatre. While less famous worldwide, Tang Xianzu (1550 -1616) is considered one of China’s greatest playwrights and is highly admired in this country with ancient literary and dramatic traditions.

Tang was born in 1550 in Linchuan, Jiangxi Province, and worked as a government official until, in 1598, he retired to focus on writing. Unlike Shakespeare having plenty of plays and poems, Tang wrote only four major plays: The Purple Hairpin, A Dream Under the southern Bough, The Handan Dream and The Peony pavilion — it is widely considered to be his masterpiece. In the latter three plays, much of the story is told around dream narrative, through which Tang explores human nature beyond the social and political constraints (约束) of the feudal system (封建制度) of his time. It is a similar narrative structure that we find in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Tang lived towards the end of the Ming Dynasty and his success was partly due to the growth of theatre as an artistic practice during his lifetime. As in England, theatre became hugely popular in China, with public theatres opening in different cities and travelling performance groups becoming common. Theatrical audiences started to collect in open public spaces, and theatre as a popular form of entertainment found its place outside palaces. However, unlike in Shakespeare’s time, there was hardly any mix of the noble and commoners at theatrical events.

During this time, the way in which dramas were enjoyed, spread and performed changed. Initially, Chinese dramas put emphasis on poetic language and were circulated in book form, to be read as if they were novels. They were seldom performed. However, from the 16th century, Kunqu opera, a form of musical drama, spread from southern China and became an important form of Chinese dramas.

While Tang and Shakespeare lived in a world away from each other, they have in common the humanity of their drama, their heroic figures, their love for language, the lasting popularity and the anniversary during which we still celebrate them.

1. Why does the author refer to Shakespeare throughout this article about Tang?

A．To compare the writing styles of the two writers.

B．To emphasize Tang’s importance in literature.

C．To assess the achievements of these two great writers.

D．To examine the different influences of Tang and Shakespeare.

2. What distinguishes The Purple Hairpin from Tang’s other major plays?

A．It does not rely heavily on dream narrative.

B．It is widely considered to be his best work.

C．It is the only play to be publicly performed.

D．It challenges the feudal system of ancient China.

3. What feature was shared by both English and Chinese theatre during Tang’s lifetime?

A．Music and poetry were present in most performances.

B．The popularity of public theatrical performances grew rapidly.

C．Different social classes often attended the same performances.

D．Most plays were written to be read as novels rather than to be performed.

4. Which of the following would the author probably agree with?

A．Tang’s plays are as remarkable as his poems.

B．Tang’s plays are more famous than Shakespeare’s.

C．Tang and Shakespeare knew of each other’s works.

D．Tang is one of the best playwrights in Chinese history.

【推荐3】 One of the best-known American writers of children’s books is Alfred Strong, or Doctor Strong, as he is better known to readers everywhere. Now, an art show called “Doctor Strong From Then to Now” is travelling around the United States. The pictures and drawings show the history of Doctor Strong.

Doctor Strong first became famous almost fifty years ago when his first children’s book was published. Since then, he has written forty-five books that have sold more than one hundred million copies around the world.

Doctor Strong’s books are known for their easy use of words and colorful, hand-drawn pictures. These drawings bring life to his imaginary creatures. The Cat in the Hat, Horton the Elephant, The Grinch Who Stole Christmas, and hundreds of others.

The San Diego Museum, in California, organized the art show. It included about three hundred Doctor Strong’s original(最早的) drawings and some of his writings.

Most of Doctor Strong’s books, although written in a funny way, have serious messages. For example, in Mc Elligot’s Pool, he describes the danger of pollution. He discusses the arms race in The Butter Battle Book, written in nineteen eighty-four.

Doctor Strong is almost eighty-four years old now. He says he never planned to write stories just for children. He says he writes stories that interest people of all ages. He says he uses easy words so that everyone, even a child, can understand.

1. Alfred Strong is a famous ________ in the United States.

A．doctor

B．artist

C．writer

D．reader

2. Doctor Strong’s books are very popular in America because ________.

A．they are stories about animals such as cats, elephants and so on

B．they are written in easy words with colourful pictures

C．he organized the art show in California

D．they are written in a funny way

3. Doctor Strong first became famous in ________.

A．his fifties when his drawings and writings were published

B．his thirties when his first book was published

C．nineteen eighty-four when his book MeEligot’s Pool was published

D．his eighties when an art show was travelling around the United States

4. His purpose in writing many such books is________.

A．to show his original pictures and drawings

B．to make his readers laugh or smile when they read his books

C．to organize a special art show of his own

D．to interest people and expose some serious social problems