【推荐3】       My father had returned from his business visit to London when I came in, rather late, to supper. I could tell at once that he and my mother had been discussing something. In that half-playful, half-serious way I knew so well, he said, “How would you like to go to Eton?”
       “You bet,” I cried quickly catching the joke. Everyone knew it was the most expensive, the most famous of schools. You had to be entered at birth, if not before. Besides, even at 12 or 13, I understood my father. He disliked any form of showing off. He always knew his proper station in life, which was in the middle of the middle class, our house was medium-sized; he had avoided joining Royal Liverpool Golf Club and went to a smaller one instead; though once he had got a second-hand Rolls-Royce at a remarkably low price, he felt embarrassed driving it, and quickly changed it for an Austin 1100.
       This could only be his delightful way of telling me that the whole boarding school idea was to be dropped. Alas! I should also have remembered that he had a liking for being different from everyone else, if it did not conflict(冲突) with his fear of drawing attention to himself.
       It seemed that he had happened to be talking to Graham Brown of the London office, a very nice fellow, and Graham had a friend who had just entered his boy at the school, and while he was in that part of the world he thought he might just as well phone them. I remember my eyes stinging(刺痛) and my hands shaking with the puzzlement of my feelings. There was excitement, at the heart of great sadness.
       “Oh, he doesn’t want to go away,” said my mother, “You shouldn’t go on like this.” “It’s up to him,” said my father. “He can make up his own mind.”
1. The house the writer’s family lived in was _______ .

A．the best they could afford

B．right for their social position

C．for showing off

D．rather small

2. His father sold his Roils-Royce because _______ .

A．it made him feel uneasy

B．it was too old to work well

C．it was too expensive to possess

D．it was too cheap

3. What was the writer’s reaction to the idea of going to Eton?

A．He was very unhappy.	B．He didn’t believe it.
C．He was delighted.	D．He had mixed feelings.

4. We can know from the passage that _______ .

A．Children who can go to Eton are very famous

B．Children can go to Eton if they will

C．It is very difficult for a child to get admitted by Eton

D．Children don’t have the right to decide whether they will go to Eton

【推荐1】Vincent van Gogh was born in 1853 in Zundert in the south of the Netherlands. He was unlucky to live only for 37 years and to discover his love for art at the age of 27. Therefore, he worked as an artist for only 10 years of his life.

During the Enlightenment Age (启蒙时代), emphasis on literature, philosophy, science, fine arts and music became more widespread especially with the growing middle class. This means that Vincent van Gogh had lived in a flourishing artistic movement, which was supposed to help him succeed as an artist and become rich. On the contrary, he did not win reputation as an artist. Although Vincent painted 900 paintings and more than 1,100 drawings, his works remained unknown and unsold and his brother Theo supported him financially during his lifetime.

Perhaps one of the reasons for his failure as an artist is his clumsy behavior when he suffered from mental illness. Another reason is his short-tempered nature and rudeness which most of the time brought him bloody fights with his fellow Gauguin (高更) that ended up with cutting off Vincent’s ears. Moreover, he was always dirty and not well-dressed, which made people avoid dealing with him and buying his artistic works. Furthermore, his poor health gave more blows to his life and caused an early death to such a great artist. But now in our age, his magnificent painting (Portrait of Dr. Gachet加谢医生的肖像) is sold around 150 million dollars at auction (拍卖). Vincent van Gogh is just an example of the talented people who failed in their pursuit of glory.

1. What can we learn about Vincent before he was 27?

A．He showed no love for art.	B．He enjoyed staying alone.
C．He had a great interest in art.	D．He spent much time painting.

2. How many reasons are given to present Vincent’s failure as an artist?

A．Two.

B．Three.

C．Four.

D．Five.

3. Why didn’t people like to trade with Vincent?

A．He was in a mess.	B．He became angry easily.
C．He didn’t have fine works	D．He often fought with others.

【推荐2】A girl pulled back on the rope, making the homemade swing(秋千) fly higher． Her red sweater flashed brightly in the morning sunlight． She was mad at her brother, David． "How could he have been so mean?" she asked herself, remembering how he had made a face and called her a “big baby”． “He hates me,” she thought, “Just because I took the last biscuit from under his nose．”

On a distant hill behind the swing, a huge bull (公牛) with long, sharp horns was watching her． It was ready to attack anything that moved． Then it lowered its head and bean charging (猛冲) across the field toward the red sweater．

Meanwhile, David was in the farmyard, feeding the chicken． He saw his little sister on the swing and the bull heading straight for his sister． Without a second thought, David screamed as loudly as he could, “Look out behind you! Get out of there!”

His sister didn't hear him． The bull was halfway across the field and closing in fast． David's heart pounded． It was now or never． He ran across the chicken yard, jumped the fence and dashed toward his sister． He ran faster than he had ever run before．

David gabbed the swing to stop and pulled his sister sideways to the ground only a second before the bull charged at the place she had been． She let out a terrified cry． The bull turned around and charged again． David quickly pulled of the sealer of his sister and threw it far away as he could． The bull followed it． As the bull was tearing the sweater into pieces, David half-dragged, half-carried his sister to safety． A weak smile crossed the little girl’s face as she had realized something important that day．

1. Why was the sister mad at her brother?

A．She was not allowed to swing by her brother．

B．She thought her brother didn't treat her fairly

C．Her sweater was thrown away by her brother

D．Her brother did not leave the last biscuit to her．

2. Which words can best describe David?

A．Stubborn and selfish．	B．Brave and protective．
C．Clever but rude．	D．Quick-minded but mean．

3. In the last paragraph, the girl smiled because she realized that_____________．

A．she shouldn't swing in red before a bull

B．her brother ran faster than the bull

C．animals sometimes could be very dangerous

D．her brother actually loved her deeply

【推荐3】In the late 1930s, people could donate blood, but very few hospitals could store it for later use. Whole blood breaks down quickly, and there were no methods at the time for safely preserving it. As a result, hospitals often did not have the appropriate blood type when patients needed it. Charles Drew, a Black surgeon and researcher, helped solve this monumental problem for medicine, earning him the title “Father of the Blood Bank”.

In 1938, while obtaining his doctorate in medicine, Drew became a fellow at Columbia University’s Presbyterian Hospital in New York. He studied the storage and distribution of blood, including the separation of its components, and applied his findings to an experimental blood bank at the hospital.

As Drew was finishing his degree at Columbia, World War Ⅱ was erupting in Europe. Great Britain was asking the United States for desperately needed plasma (血浆) to help victims. Given his expertise, Drew was selected to be the medical director for the Blood for Britain campaign. Using Presbyterian Hospital’s blood bank as a model, Drew established uniform procedures for collecting blood and processing blood plasma from nine New York hospitals, thus making the hospitals’ standards all the same. The five-month campaign collected donations from 15,000 Americans and was considered a success. His discoveries and his leadership saved countless lives.

With the increasing likelihood that the nation would be drawn into war, the United States wanted to capitalize on what Drew had learned from the campaign. The government appointed him as the assistant director of a three-month pilot program to mass-produce dried plasma in New York, which became the model for the first Red Cross blood bank. His innovations for this program included mobile blood donation stations, later called bloodmobiles.

1. What problem did hospitals face in the late 1930s regarding blood donations?

A．The shortage of blood donors.	B．The inability to preserve blood.
C．The challenge of blood infection.	D．The failure to identify blood types.

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

A．Legal.

B．Varied.

C．Acceptable.

D．Identical.

3. How did Drew contribute to the pilot-program in New York?

A．He aided in producing the dried plasma in quantities.

B．He established the first Red Cross blood bank.

C．He reduced the possibility of the war.

D．He made bloodmobiles easy to access to donors.

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

A．The Life of Dr. Charles Drew	B．The Inventor of the Blood Bank
C．A Savior of Lives During Wartime	D．A Pioneer in Blood Transportation

【推荐1】When Boris left school, he could not find a job. He tried hard and he wrote letters to many companies until he could not afford to buy any more stamps. Boris began to lose his confidence, then depressed. Still he went on trying and still he failed. He began to think that he had no future at all.

“Why don’t you start your own business?” one of his uncles told him. “The world is a money-locker. You’d better find a way of opening it. ”

“But what can I do?”

“Get out and have a look round. ” advised his uncle.

“See what people want; then give it to them, and they will pay for it. ”

Boris began to cycle around the town and found a suitable piece of waste ground in the end. Then he set up his business as a cycle repairer. He worked hard, made friends with his customers and gradually managed to win his good fame. A few months later, he found that he had more work than he could deal with by himself. He found a number of empty shops but they were all no good:   in the wrong position, too expensive or with some other problems. But at long last, he managed to find an empty shop in a new place where there were plenty of customers but no competition.

Boris and his assistant taught themselves how to repair motorcycles. Slowly but surely the profits increased and the business developed. At last, Boris had managed to open the money-locker and found bank notes and gold coins inside.

1. Which of the following best describes Boris’s job hunting experience?

A．Boring.

B．Surprising.

C．Encouraging.

D．Disappointing.

2. Boris started his career by _______.

A．repairing cycles

B．buying empty shops

C．cycling around the town

D．developing a waste ground

3. Boris finally chose an empty shop in a place because _______.

A．it was not so expensive

B．he had a lot of old customers there

C．there were good opportunities there

D．he could make good use of his skills there

【推荐2】Lately, my 90-year-old mother has been sleepier and sleepier. This is very strange and worrying. At the same time, my 92-year-old father has been suffering his own health problems. It is a terrible thing to see my father struggle to get my mother to talk, say something, when she doesn’t have the energy.

The other day, I recalled how my mother used to visit a woman named Mrs. Demopolis, a Greek immigrant, who made the best baklava(果仁蜜饼) in the world! She gave lessons on baking it to my mother. Also, my mother often baked baklava at home. As I spoke of this over the phone, my silent mother perked up and said how much she’d like to have one again.

Now, they live in Florida and I live in Wales, UK, so I can’t go and bring her some baklava or even make some in her kitchen. But what I did suggest was that my father could buy some baklava at a Greek restaurant and I could do the same, and wouldn’t it be fun to eat our baklava at exactly the same time and so, be together sharing the moment and the pleasure? My parents loved the idea and we decided to do it.

Two days later we both had our baklava and shared the experience. It meant a lot to my parents, and to me, to do this. My mother said she wanted to do this again, maybe with another food or even baklava again! Why not? And as she only keeps losing weight instead of gaining, it is good for her to find foods that appeal to her appetite . It is becoming harder to find ways to communicate over the phone, but this is at least a very good way to do so.

1. Why does the author feel worried?

A．Her mother can’t walk by herself.	B．Her mother is becoming less active.
C．Her father has to get her mother to talk.	D．Her mother refuses to talk with her father.

2. What does the underlined phrase “perked up” in Paragraph 2 mean?

A．Calmed down.	B．Turned around.
C．Held one’s breath.	D．Came to life.

3. What did the author suggest to please her mother?

A．They should enjoy the same food at the same time.

B．The author should buy some baklava for her mother.

C．Her mother should make some baklava in her kitchen.

D．Her family should get together to look after her mother.

4. What do we know about the author’s mother?

A．She hopes to live with her daughter.	B．She is looking for her favorite food.
C．She likes communicating in this way.	D．She thinks baklava is the most delicious.