【推荐1】Sir William Osler has a few words for you: “In the Life of a young man, the most essential thing for happiness is the gift of friendship.” Truer words were never spoken. For what more could you ask than comradeship during the peaks and valleys of life? To whom else but a close, valuable friend can you show off your successes and complain about your failures or losses?
What is a “good friend”? How is he best described? Well, it has been my observation that although many will cry with you, few can sincerely rejoice (欣喜) with you. Therefore, in my opinion, a good friend is one who can enjoy your successes without envy; one who can say, “That was wonderful! You can do it again, even better if you want!” and mean it. Nothing taxes a friendship more than the success of one and not the other. Even the closest of friendships often cannot resist such pressure and fail. No wonder many minor friendships go down day by day for the same reason.
A person of good character and sound moral, of honor and humor, of courage and belief is a friend to be sought and treasured — for there are few. Too often we hear, “If you can count your good friends on more than one hand, consider yourself blessed.” And even then I would add, “Even if you have lost two fingers of that hand to the electric saw.
What makes a friendship last? Well, I don’t know all the answers, but one of my observations is that most good friends usually have similar tastes. They generally like and dislike many of the same things. There also usually seems to exist a similarity of personality types — especially in the fundamental values of life such as honesty, sincerity, loyalty, and dependability. More often than not, birds of a feather do fly together. I don’t think it matters a lot whether one prefers jazz or hockey to another’s Mozart or ballet. Much other matters far more: relying, sharing, giving, getting, enjoying; a sympathetic ear always there; criticism when it can help; praise — even if only because it would help. With not many people on this earth will you find this much in common. When you find one, hang on to him, for a good friend found is a rare treasure.
1. What is the meaning of the underlined sentence in Paragraph two?

A．People don’t have to pay taxes to develop friendship with others.

B．Success of one person can promote his friendship with others.

C．Friendship can be affected by the difference in success between friends.

D．Nothing can affect friendship because it has gone through the peaks and valleys of life.

2. What is the main idea of Paragraph three?

A．One is lucky to have many friends.

B．A friend should have a good character.

C．We should count our friends on more than one hand.

D．A true friend should be treasured because there are few.

3. According to the passage, which of the following plays the LEAST important role in a long-lasting friendship?

A．Hobbies.

B．Tastes.

C．Personality.

D．Sympathy.

4. The passage mainly tells us “________”.

A．How good friends share the same taste and hobbies?

B．Why is friendship essetial in one’s life?

C．What is friendship and what makes it last?

D．What one can do to keep friendship last?

【推荐3】Shyness is the cause of much unhappiness for a great many people. Shy people are easily embarrassed and nervous. They are extremely concerned about their own appearance and actions. Worrying thoughts are constantly occurring in their minds: What kind of impression am I making? Do they like me? Do I sound stupid? Am I wearing unattractive clothes?

It is obvious that such uncomfortable feelings can negatively affect people. A person’s view of himself or herself is shown in the way he or she behaves, and the way a person behaves affects other people’s reactions. In general, the way people think about themselves has a great effect on all areas of their lives.

Shy people who don’t like themselves and don’t think that they are valuable are likely to be passive and easily influenced by others. They need someone to help them stop worrying and tell them that they are doing “the right thing.” Shy people are very sensitive to criticism; they feel it shows that they are not good. They also feel uncomfortable when they receive praise. So they usually reply by saying, “You’re just saying that to make me feel good. I know it’s not true.”

Can shyness be completely removed, or at least reduced? Fortunately, people can overcome shyness with determined and patient efforts by building their self-confidence. Since shyness goes hand in hand with a lack of self-esteem (自尊), it is important for people to accept their weaknesses as well as their strengths.

Each one of us is a unique individual and has our own personal ways. The better we understand ourselves, the easier it becomes to live up to our full potential (潜能). Let’s not allow shyness to prevent us from having a rich and satisfying life.

1. What does the author try to prove by the underlined sentences in the first paragraph?

A．Shy people benefit from caring about their appearance.

B．People’s shyness makes them care too much about their appearance and actions.

C．Many people feel unhappy for their being shy.

D．Shy people think they are different from others.

2. When being praised, shy people feel that it is ________.

A．good

B．not real

C．very reasonable

D．comfortable

3. It can be inferred from the text that shy people ________.

A．should find more of their weaknesses

B．should understand themselves properly

C．should ignore their weaknesses

D．can get rid of their shyness but still have low self-esteem

【推荐1】For reasons that are deeply rooted in culture and tradition, men significantly outnumber （比... 多）women in mathematics-based careers. As students progress through the mathematics courses, girls and boys show little difference in ability, effort, or interest in mathematics until adolescent years when course and career choices begin influencing school effort. Then, as social pressure increases and career goals are formed, girls' decisions to reduce effort in the study of mathematics progressively cut them off from many professional careers in the future.

Many girls drop mathematics in high school or in the transition to college. Others drop out later. Women perform virtually as well as men in college mathematics courses, but beyond the bachelor’s degree women drop out of mathematics at   twice the rate of men. Women now enter college nearly as well prepared in mathematics as men, and 46 percent of mathematics baccalaureates （学士学位）go to women. Despite this record, only 35 percent of the master's degrees and 17 percent of the Ph. D degrees in the mathematical sciences are earned by women.

Overall, women receive approximately one third of university degrees in science and engineering. The highest percentages of women are found in those sciences with the least mathematical prerequisite： psychology, biology, and sociology. The lowest percentages of women enter fields requiring the most mathematics, namely, physics, engineering, economics, geo- science ,and chemistry. Evidence from many sources suggest that it is differences in course patterns rather than lack of ability that matter most in limiting women's access to careers in mathematically intensive sciences.

Widely reported studies concerning the high percentage of boys among mathematical prodigies （天才）---those who at age 12 perform at the level of average college students-often convey the impression that gender differences in mathematics are biologically determined. But evidence from the vast majority of students shows almost no difference in performance among male and female students who have taken equal advantage of similar opportunities to study mathematics. Inferences from very exceptional students——child prodigies—mean little about the performance of the general population.

1. Males and females probably have great difference in the learning abilities of in mathematics when they.

A．enter high school	B．acquire   their bachelor’s degree
C．enter college	D．acquire   their master's degree

2. Of the following degrees, the highest percentage of degree earned by women is

A．master’s degree in economics	B．doctor's degree in economics
C．master’s degree in biology	D．doctor's degree in biology

3. We can infer from the high percentage of boys among mathematical prodigies that

A．boys and girls usually lake unequal advantage of opportunities to study mathematics

B．boys are cleverer in mathematics than girls

C．gender differences in mathematics are biologically determined

D．boys work harder than girls

4. Which one doesn't belong to the reasons why men significantly outnumber women in mathematics based careers?

A．Many girls decide to reduce effort in the study of mathematics as social pressure increases.

B．Course pattern is the factor that limits women's access to careers in mathematically intensive sciences.

C．Women's less interest in mathematics limits their access to some careers.

D．More women drop out of mathematics than men beyond the bachelor’s degree.

【推荐3】What exactly is a lie? Is it anything we say which we know is untrue?     1     For example, suppose a friend wants to borrow some money from you. You say, “I wish I could help you but I’m short of money myself.” In fact, you are not short of money but your friend is in the habit of not paying his debts and you don’t want to hurt his feelings by reminding him of this. Is this really a lie?

Professor Jerald Jellison of the University of Southern California has made a scientific study of lying. According to him, women are better liars than men, particularly when telling a “white lie”, such as when a woman at a party tells another woman that she likes her dress when she really thinks it looks terrible.     2     Other researchers say that men are more likely to tell serious lies, such as making a promise which they have no intention of carrying out. This is the kind of lie politicians and businessmen are supposed to be particularly skilled at: the lie from which the liar hopes to profit or gain in some day.

    3     It has been found that if they are sitting down at the time, they tend to move about in their chairs more than usual. To the trained observer they are saying “I wish I were somewhere else now.” They also tend to touch certain parts of the face more often, in particular the nose. One explanation of this may be that lying causes a slight increase in blood pressure.     4    

Another gesture which gives liars away is what the writer Desmond Morris in his book Man Watching calls “the mouth cover”. He says there are several typical forms, such as covering part of the mouth with fingers, touching the upper-lip or putting a finger of the hand at one side of the mouth.     5     Of course, such gestures as rubbing the nose or covering the mouth, or moving about in a chair cannot be taken as proof that the speaker is lying. They simply tend to occur more frequently in this situation. It is not one gesture alone that gives the liar away but a whole number of things, and in particular the context in which the lie is told.

A．However, this is only one side of the story.

B．Or is it something worse than what it really is?

C．A “white lie” appears to be a lie that the teller tells to profit or gain some advantage from it.

D．The tip of the nose is very sensitive to such changes and the increased pressure makes it itch (痒).

E．Why people sometimes cover their mouths while lying is that they wish those words had not come out of their mouths.

F．Such a gesture can be understood as an unconscious attempt on the part of the liar to stop himself or herself from lying.

G．Research has also studied the way people’s behavior changes in a number of small, apparently unimportant ways when they lie.