【推荐1】Climate change is caused by the extremely high levels of dangerous chemicals in the atmosphere, particularly carbon dioxide (CO₂). It is estimated that average global temperatures will rise between two and six degrees by the end of this century. We all know the effects could be disastrous, but are we aware of the possible solutions?

Solution one: _______?_______

Crazy as it sounds, a group of academics from British universities is making a plan to build a 12-mile pipe, held up by a huge balloon, that would let enormous quantities of poisonous chemicals, such as sulphur dioxide (SO₂), go into the atmosphere. Surprisingly, there is good science behind the idea. The chemicals would form a protective layer around the earth that would reflect sunlight and so cool the earth, much like the effects of a volcanic eruption.

Cost: around $10 billion a year.
Benefits: this plan would produce almost instant results.
Risks: volcanoes have almost wiped out humanity in the past through the poisonous chemicals released in the atmosphere, and the same thing could happen again with this plan.
Solution two: stir up the oceans

Intellectual Ventures, a company that invests in projects to combat global warming, has proposed building a million plastic tubes, each about 100 metres long, and using them to stir up the ocean. Why, you might be wondering, would we want to do this? Again, the answer is scientifically valid. The bottom of the ocean is almost freezing and by stirring it up, cold water would come to the surface and absorb heat and CO_2, and so cool the planet.

Cost: tens of millions of dollars.
Benefits: this plan is relatively cheap and technically possible now.
Risks: the tubes would disrupt and possibly destroy sea life, and the plan may not work.
Solution three: stop burning fossil fuels

This is undoubtedly the best solution but is it really like to happen in the near future?

Cost: unknown, but in the short term it would probably involve global economic collapse.
Benefits: it’s a simple and effective plan.
Risks: it may already be too late. Without real action, this plan could just mean “do nothing”.
1. Solution one is most likely to be ________.

A．pump even more chemicals into the atmosphere

B．form a protective layer with volcanic eruptions

C．build a pipe to get rid of poisonous chemicals

D．draw as much sunlight as possible

2. What can be learned about solution two?

A．It needs more valid scientific experiment.

B．It aims to cool the warm surface water in the ocean.

C．It may do harm to animals and plants living in the sea.

D．It is much more expensive to carry out than solution one.

3. What does the writer think of solution three?

A．It is effective because it will benefit world economy.

B．Whether it will come true remains to be seen.

C．Putting it into practice may cost nothing.

D．Action has been taken to carry it out.

【推荐1】As a classic love movie of the twentieth century, Titanic makes one scene a long-lasting cinematic shot: Jack let go of his hand and sank in the icy seawater, leaving the chance of living to his lover Rose, who finally survived on a wooden door debris (残骸).

More than 100 years since the disastrous event and more than two decades after the earliest release of the movie Titanic, there have been many “door theories”. Audiences debate heatedly over whether or not Jack and Rose could have both fit onto the wooden debris and survived. So, was there room for Jack?

In a TV program, hosts Jamie and Adam even did an experiment using an exact replica (复制品) of the wooden piece from the movie, and the two proved that if they had tied Rose’s life jacket to the bottom of the door to strengthen its buoyancy (浮力), they would have managed to stay afloat (在水上漂浮的).

However, their conclusion was debunked (驳斥) when director Cameron said that the freezing water and Jack’s high temperature would have made the life jacket solution impossible. He also said that the debate is beyond the point the movie was trying to make, which is focused on the tragic love story of Jack and Rose, not physics.

The largest debris recovered from the real Titanic is now displayed in the Maritime Museum. The museum’s website states that a replica was once built for the movie based on the museum’s Titanic collection which was known as the “door” used in the death scene. Unfortunately, the size of the debris coupled with the weight of Rose on top could work, but not if Jack’s additional weight was added to it.

In a word, science has proven that Jack didn’t die for nothing and did indeed sacrifice (牺牲) himself to save the love of his life.

1. What have the audiences doubted about Titanic?

A．They question the director’s level of direction.

B．They think the ending of the story was not good enough.

C．They disagree with the separation of the hero and heroine.

D．They believe that the hero has a chance of survival as well.

2. What is the conclusion of Jamie and Adam based on?

A．The development of the plot.	B．A physics experiment.
C．The theme of the movie.	D．A heated debate.

3. What can we learn from Paragraph 5?

A．Jack died by accident.	B．Jack’s death was avoidable.
C．The movie’s ending is reasonable.	D．The door could make a difference.

4. Where can we probably find this article?

A．A popular magazine.	B．A movie poster.
C．A technology report.	D．A film review.

【推荐2】Do you ever listen to the songs that your parents like? Chances are that you don’t. You probably think the music that they like is old and boring and that the songs on your playlist are much cooler. But scientists found that people’s music taste changes as time goes by. So it is likely that your own musical preferences will follow a similar path to your parents’, whether you like it or not.

We used to think that culture and personality (个性) are the only reasons for different music choices. But researchers at the University of Cambridge noticed that as people enter into different age groups, their social environment changes, and so does their music taste. There are some musical periods that people go through in their life.

The first period comes in the teenage years, during which people like strong music such as punk and rock, because teenagers tend to be aggressive or want to be independent.

But as people move into early adulthood, their lifestyles change they want to build close relationships with others. As a result, they become fonder of contemporary music, such as pop and R&.B, which is usually uplifting and danceable.

When middle age comes, most people have settled down. During this period, people prefer music, such as jazz and classical, as well as music like country, folk and blues.

As for old people, they prefer old songs in their childhoods. They generally listen to relaxing music, such as country music and jazz music. But you must be questioning. “Aren’t there old people who are still interested in or even crazy about rock music?” Of course there are. But their reasons for listening to rock music may have changed. At that age people may listen to remind themselves of their youth.

1. What do young people usually think of the songs their parents enjoy?

A．They are worth listening to.	B．They are actually less cool.
C．They are especially serious.	D．They are hard to understand.

2. How many musical periods are there that people go through in their life?

A．Two.

B．Three.

C．Four.

D．Five.

3. What kind of music do teenagers prefer ________.

A．punk music	B．country music
C．jazz music	D．pop music

4. What is the best title for the text?

A．People Have Different Opinions on Music

B．People’s Taste in Music Changes with Time

C．People Listen to Music for the Same Reason

D．People’s Lifestyle Can Be Changed by Music

【推荐3】Psychological science is full of interesting topics, many of which tell a coherent picture of human nature, but some of which create seemingly contradictory stories. A case in point is the tricky and misunderstood overlap (重叠) between strength-based science and the research on narcissism (自恋).

There is now convincing evidence to show that narcissism is on the rise, especially in our youth. In my own research on strength-based parenting, it is common for people to wrongly label this approach as a recipe for narcissism. Their argument seems to be that a child who knows their strengths will automatically view themselves as better than everyone else. It is argued that the self-assurance that comes with identifying and using their positive qualities will make a child arrogant, selfish and uncaring. Genuine confidence about one’s strengths is categorized as over-confidence; desirable self-knowledge is branded as excessive self-admiration.

Why does this occur? It’s partly because more is known about narcissism than strengths. While strengths psychology has largely stayed within the limit of academic journals or has been applied only within certain contexts such as the workplace, research on narcissism has made its way into the mass media and into our collective consciousness. The New York Times noted that narcissism is a favored “go-to” topic and that people everywhere are diagnosing others with it.

The fear that a strength-based approach will cause narcissism also occurs because we unknowingly fall prey to binary (非此即彼) thinking. We mistakenly believe that one cannot be both confident and humble. We focus on Donald Trump and Kim Kardashian rather than Mahatma Gandhi and Mother Teresa. There’s no way that Gandhi and Mother Teresa could have achieved what they did without confidence in their strengths, and yet they are both pillars of modesty and selflessness.

When we assume that strength-focus is the same as a self-focus, we fail to entertain the idea that people who know their strengths are, actually, more likely to be pro-social and focus on helping others.

It’s tempting to conclude that every young person is at risk of becoming a narcissist but I’d like to stand up for the thousands of young kids I have worked with who are caring, thoughtful and humble—even when they use their strengths.

1. Which does the underlined word “coherent” possibly mean?

A．Reasonable.

B．Primary.

C．Complicated.

D．Beneficial.

2. Why teenagers’ strengths are often mistaken for narcissism?

A．Teenagers with strengths are always arrogant, selfish and uncaring.

B．The public are more exposed to research on narcissism.

C．There is a lack of strengths in our collective consciousness.

D．Numbers of people are diagnosed with narcissism by doctors.

3. The author mentions Gandhi and Teresa in paragraph 4 to show that ________.

A．they are both victims of binary thinking

B．public figures unknowingly fall prey to narcissism

C．confidence is quite important for celebrities

D．one can be both modest and sure of himself

4. What’s the author’s attitude towards young kids’ strength-based approaches?

A．Skeptical.

B．Neutral.

C．Favorable.

D．Cautious.