【推荐1】Does this situation seem familiar to you? Your English is progressing well, the grammar is now familiar, the reading comprehension is no problem, and you are speaking quite fluently.     1    First of all, remember that you are not alone. Listening is probably the most difficult job for almost all learners of English as a foreign language.    2    What you need to do is to find listening resources. The Internet is really a useful tool for English students. You can download The Real Player from Real Media.com. The Real Player allows you to use the Internet like a radio station. Once you have begun to listen on a regular basis, you might still be frustrated by limited understanding.     3    Here is some of the advice I give my students:

• Accept the fact that you are not going to understand everything.

• Stay relaxed when you do not understand, and try listening to the material for more times.• Do not translate everything into your native language.

•     4    Don't concentrate on detail until you have understood the main ideas.

• Listen to something you enjoy. I remember the problems I had in understanding spoken German when I first went to Germany. In the beginning, when I didn't understand a word, I insisted on translating it in my mind.    5    Then, after the first six months, I discovered two extremely important facts. Firstly, translating creates a barrier between the listener and the speaker. Secondly, most people repeat themselves constantly. By remaining calm, I noticed that even if I didn’t pay much attention I could usually understand what the speaker had said.

A．What should you do?

B．But listening is a problem for most of the beginners!

C．However, after several weeks, I got used to the grammar rules.

D．The most important thing is to listen as often as possible.

E．This method usually resulted in confusion.

F．Listen for the general idea of the conversation.

G．But you can’t follow a native English speaker at all!

【推荐2】As to the question what is a best age to learn a language, many would rush to the conclusion that it’s best to start young. Though it is true to some extent, now science offers a much more complex view of how our relationship with languages evolves over a lifetime-and there is much to encourage late beginners.

Broadly speaking, different life stages give us different advantages in language learning. As babies, we have a better ear for different sounds s as toddlers(幼儿), we can pick up native accents with astonishing speed. As adults, we have longer attention spans and important skills like literacy that allow us to continually expand our vocabulary, even in our own language. And a wealth of factors beyond ageing—like social circumstances, teaching methods, and even love and friendship—can affect how many languages we speak and how well.

“Not everything goes downhill with age, “says Antonella Sorace, a professor of developmental linguistics and director of the Bilingualism Matters Centre at the University of Edinburgh. She gives the example of what is known as “explicit learning”: studying a language in a classroom with a teacher explaining the rules. “Young children are very bad at explicit learning, because they don’t have the cognitive(认知) control and the attention and memory capabilities,” Sorace says. “Adults are much better at that. So that can be something that improves with age.”

A study by researchers in Israel found, for example, that adults were better at grasping an artificial language rule and applying it to new words in a lab setting. The scientists compared three separate groups: 8-year-olds, 12-year-olds, and young adults. The adults scored higher than both younger groups, and the 12-year-olds also did better than the younger children. They suggested that their older participants may have benefited from skills that come with maturity—like more advanced problem-solving strategies—and greater linguistic experience. In other words, older learners tend to already know quite a lot about themselves and the world and can use this knowledge to process new information.

1. What is the correct understanding of the underlined sentence in paragraph 1?

A．We should stay up late to learn a language.

B．Late beginners strive hard to learn a language.

C．Late beginners can also learn a language well.

D．We should give much encouragement to late beginners.

2. According to the passage, language learning is NOT affected by          .

A．our inborn abilities	B．our native accents
C．our cognitive control	D．our attention spans

3. Why do the adults score higher than both younger groups in the test?

A．They have already known quite a lot about the words.

B．They draw upon their existing knowledge to help.

C．They have been taught the way to learn a language.

D．They are better at learning artificial language rules.

4. What is the purpose of the passage?

A．To compare and evaluate.	B．To examine and assess.
C．To argue and discuss.	D．To inform and explain.

【推荐3】If you want to become a fluent English speaker you should take some advice：There are four skills in learning English. They are reading，listening，speaking，and writing. The most important thing you must remember is that if you want to improve your speaking and writing skills you should first master the skills of reading and listening.

Read as much as you can. But your reading must be active. It means that you must think about the meaning of the sentence，the meaning of the unfamiliar words，etc. There is no need for you to pay much attention to grammars or try to understand all the unfamiliar words you come across，but the fact that you see them for the first time and recognize them whenever you see them，for example in other passages or books，is enough. It would be better to prepare yourself a notebook so you can write down the important words or sentences in it.

As for listening，there are two choices：besides reading，you can listen every day for about 30 minutes. You can only pay attention to your reading and become skillful at your reading，then you can catch up on your listening. Since you have lots of inputs in your mind，you can easily guess what the speaker is going to say. This never means that you should not practice listening.

For listening you can listen to cartoons or some movies that are specially made for children. Their languages are easy. Or if you are good at listening you can listen to VOA or BBC programs every day. Again the thing to remember is being active in listening and preferably taking some notes.

If you follow these pieces of advice，your speaking and writing will improve automatically，and you can be sure that with a little effort they will become perfect.

1. According to the author，which should you improve first among the four skills?

A．Reading and listening.

B．Reading and writing.

C．Writing and speaking.

D．Speaking and listening.

2. To improve your reading，when you read you should ________.

A．look up all the new words in the dictionary

B．think about what you are reading actively

C．spend more time studying grammars

D．copy as many words and sentences as possible

3. The underlined phrase“come across” in Paragraph 2 can probably be replaced be “________”.

A．meet by accident	B．discover
C．find on purpose	D．look for

4. The passage is mainly about how to ________.

A．choose suitable listening materials

B．deal with new words in reading

C．improve your English as quickly as possible

D．become fluent in speaking and writing English

【推荐1】This year, Facebook, the social media website announced that it would work with several news organizations—including The New York Times, The Guardian, and the BBC—to place news stories directly into users’ personal Facebook webpage. Stories published using Facebook Instant Articles will load more quickly and keep the style of the original publisher, who will keep all the advertising income the stories earn—at least for now. The deal shows how important social media has become lo news organizations, and is a clear sign of how the world of news is changing—and has been changing for a while.

Many thought of it as the death of the newspaper, when Google News began in 2002. It had no human editor. Instead Google used, and still uses, a secret computer program that selects and displays news stories according to the readers’ personal interests. More recently, the Associated Press and Yahoo! have been publishing computer-written articles. Both use special software to produce stories about their company’s financial results and sports reports—areas where the quality of writing is felt to be of secondary importance to the exactness of the data.

I think we should be concerned about such developments. One concern is that Facebook, Google and other social media websites see journalism (新闻业) as a sideline (副业), a way of putting people in front of advertisements. It isn’t their primary function—so if it stops making them lots of money, they’re likely to stop doing it.

There’s another concern that computer-written articles are not actually journalism at all, because what a human news learn produces is actually quite difficult. A well-written news story puts information in context, offers a voice lo each side of an argument and brings the public new knowledge.

Although economics and the speed of passing mean readers will probably choose a computer-written story over a carefully shaped article—at least for daily news—I don’t think the computers will be writing any in-depth articles for a while yet.

1. What is the main purpose of the article?

A．To report on a new computer service offered by Facebook.

B．To advise readers against reading computer-written news.

C．To express concern about recent trends in online news.

D．To describe the process of online news reporting.

2. Computer-written news reports have so far focused on sports and finances because ______.

A．these are the most popular topics for online renders

B．writing quality is less important than accuracy in these areas

C．information on these topics is more easily available

D．there are fewer journalists good at these areas

3. What does the underlined word “It” in Paragraph 3 refer to?

A．Business.	B．Advertising.
C．Facebook.	D．Journalism.

4. In Paragraph 4, which of the following is mentioned as a characteristic of a well-written news article?

A．The information presented is up-to-date.

B．The author’s opinion is clear.

C．The language used is vivid

D．Different views on the topic are presented.

【推荐1】Too much TV-watching can harm children’s ability to learn and even reduce their chances of getting a college degree, new studies suggest in the latest effort to examine the effects of television on children.

One of the studies looked at nearly 400 northern California third-graders. Those with TVs in their bedrooms scored about eight points lower on math and language arts tests than children without bedroom TVs.

A second study ,looking at nearly 1000 grown-ups in New Zealand, found lower education levels among 26-year-olds who had watched lots of TV during childhood. But the results don’t prove that TV is the cause and don't ride out that already poorly motivated youngsters (年轻人）may watch lots of TV.

Their study measured the TV habits of 26-year-olds between ages5 and 15. These with college degrees had watch an average of less than two hours of TV per week night during childhood, compared with an average of more than 2.5 hours for those who had no education beyond high school.

In the California study, children with TVs in their rooms but no computer at home scored the lowest while those with no bedroom TV but who had home computers scored the highest.

While this study does not prove that bedroom TV sets caused the lower scores, it adds to increasing findings that children shouldn't have TVs in their bedrooms.

1. According to the California study, the low-scoring group might _________.

A．have had computers in their bedrooms

B．not be interested in math

C．be unable to go to college

D．have watched a lot of TV

2. What is the researchers' understanding of the New Zealand study results?

A．Poorly motivated 26-year-olds watch more TV.

B．Habits of TV watching reduce learning interest.

C．The connection between TV and education levels is difficult to explain.

D．TV watching leads to lower education levels of the 15-year-olds.

3. What can we learn from the last two paragraphs?

A．TV sets shouldn't be allowed in children's bedrooms.

B．Children should be forbidden from watching TV.

C．More time should be spent on computers.

D．Further studies on high-achieving students should be done

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

A．Computers or Television

B．Effects of Television on Children

C．Studies on TV and College Education

D．Television and Children's Learning Habits

【推荐2】Singapore uses about 430 million gallons of water every day—a number it expects could double in the next four decades. That kind of consumption (消费) is increasing pressure on the Asian city state to solve growing problems about global water shortage. So it is building new technology to prepare itself for a future where getting clean water will be even more difficult.

Rapid urbanization (城市化) and rising global temperatures are making access to natural water sources increasingly hard to get. Meanwhile, Singapore is home to more than five million people and is covered in fountains, reservoirs(水库) and other water features—including the world’s tallest indoor waterfall, a 130-foot facility that pumps 10,000 gallons of water per minute. But it has no natural water sources of its own, instead relying heavily on recycled water and imports from its neighbors.

There’s a big desire to become water independent—to control the future—and that is largely dependent on the technologies being developed. One development: A small, black sponge (海绵) can clean waste water. The sponge absorbs (吸收) 190 times its weight in waste like contaminants (污染物) and microplastics. The material is really useful and will be further developed for commercial use. Another one is a lightweight filtration device (过滤装置) that has already provided clean drinking water to more than 75,000 people across Southeast Asia. One of the most creative aspects of the product is its simplicity. Besides, the water filtration device is no bigger than a bicycle pump, but it can provide clean water to villages of 100 people for up to two years.

Everyone is very lucky to have access to clean drinking water. For people in the world, clean water is a basic aspect for life on earth. What’s more important, it is everyone’s responsibility to pay attention to water shortage and take action.

1. What can we learn about the future?

A．It may be easier to get clean water.	B．Water shortage may be worse.
C．The population may become larger.	D．Water consumption may become less.

2. What does the author describe about Singapore?

A．Some natural water sources are found everywhere.

B．Five million people go to find water sources.

C．Singapore has the tallest natural waterfall.

D．Rapid urbanization partly causes water shortage.

3. What is paragraph 3 mainly about??

A．Why Singapore is short of water.	B．Whether there is water shortage.
C．How we solve water shortage.	D．What water shortage is.

4. What’s the author’s attitude towards dealing with water shortage?

A．Supportive.

B．Negative.

C．Unclear.

D．Disapproving.

【推荐3】Exams can be very stressful and it’s not surprising that people who feel anxious about them tend to perform worse compared to those who don’t experience such anxiety. What is surprising, according to the research published in Psychological Science by Maria Theobald at the Leibniz Institute and her colleagues, is that it is not the pressure of the exam hall that leads to the problem; it is the pressure of revision.

Dr. Theobald launched a study which involved 309 German medical students who used a digital-learning platform to prepare for their final state exam. To assess their levels of anxiety, the students were asked to rate them on a five-point scale for 40 days leading up to the exam, as well as on the day of the exam and the mock exam (模拟考) taken 40 days prior.

What Dr. Theobald found was not what she expected. Anxiety on the day of the test did not predict exam performance at all. What did predict it was the level of knowledge a student displayed in the mock exam and the earlier digital-learning activities. High levels of anxiety during the weeks before the exam took place actually hampered students, leaving them with less material to recall during the exam itself.

And this is a positive discovery, for it suggests a change of approach to revision by the anxious might help improve their results. Dr. Theobald notes that test-anxiety is at its worst when students have low expectations of success and meanwhile know that passing the exam is extremely important. To reduce this anxiety, she proposes a two-fold strategy for students to consider as they revise. First, they can raise their belief in their own abilities by reminding themselves of just how much they know. Second, they can attach less importance to the test by reminding themselves that, while it is important, it is not a life-or-death situation. It really isn’t. Really…

1. What is a cause of poor exam performance according to the research?

A．Pressure from peers.	B．Inexperience in tests.
C．Atmosphere in exam halls.	D．Tension during revision.

2. How did Dr. Theobald conduct the research?

A．By grading participants’ levels of knowledge.

B．By comparing participants’ approaches to revision.

C．By analyzing participants’ anxiety levels and exam performance.

D．By collecting participants’ previous data from a learning platform.

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

A．Restricted.

B．Assisted.

C．Misled.

D．Motivated.

4. What strategy does Dr. Theobald recommend to reduce test anxiety?

A．Setting ambitious goals.	B．Boosting self-confidence.
C．Ignoring the significance of a test.	D．Lowering the expectations of success.