【推荐1】My university has now topped the U.S. News & World Report rankings for 11 years running. Given Princeton’s success, you might think I would be a fan of the list. Not so. Don’t get me wrong. I am proud of Princeton’s teaching, research and commitment to service. I like seeing our quality recognized. Rankings, however, are a misleading way to assess universities. Different schools have distinct strengths, structures and missions. The idea of picking one as “best”, as though educational programs competed like athletic teams, is strange.

However, the U.S. News rankings attract great attention and a huge customer base. Applicants and their families rely on the rankings and feel pressure to get into highly regarded institutions. As a result, many schools make intense efforts to move up in the rankings. This competition produces damaging consequences. For example, some universities avoid doing difficult but valuable things—such as admitting talented lower-income students who can succeed at university if given appropriate support.

Still, students and families need comparative information to choose universities. If rankings mislead, what is the alternative? For generations, buyers have turned to Consumer Reports for advice about almost everything except university education. When Consumer Reports evaluates a product, it assesses multiple factors so that potential buyers can make their own choice wisely. Similarly, university applicants need information about some basic variables. Graduation rates are crucial. A university that does not graduate its students is like a car with a bad maintenance (维修) record. It costs money without getting you anywhere. What applicants need is not the average graduation rate, but the rate for students with backgrounds like their own. For example, some places successfully graduate their wealthy students but do less well for lower-income students. Applicants should also see some measure of post-graduation outcomes.

Here is a partial list of other factors that matter: cost of tuition (学费) and fees; high-quality teachers actively engaged in undergraduate instruction; and a learning culture composed of diverse students who study hard and educate one another. Judged by these criteria, many schools could be “Consumer Reports Best Buys”. Applicants should be excited to get into any of them; they should pick the one they find most appealing; and they should not waste time worrying about which is “the best”.

It would be great to have a Consumer Reports for universities. I hope that some national publication will have the courage to produce an annual, user-friendly Consumer Reports-style analysis of higher education institutions, even if it is not as attractive as a football-style set of rankings. In the meantime, those of us who understand the imperfection in the rankings must call them out—even when, indeed especially when, we finish at the top.

1. What is the author’s attitude towards university rankings?

A．Supportive.

B．Indifferent.

C．Disapproving.

D．Neutral.

2. Why does the author mention Consumer Reports?

A．To reveal the multiplicity of consumers.

B．To present the information of potential buyers.

C．To highlight the difficulty of choosing universities.

D．To emphasize the need of overall evaluation of universities.

3. What can we learn from this passage?

A．It is not likely to have a Consumer Reports for universities.

B．The most suitable university for applicants may not rank the top.

C．The average graduation rate is crucial to lower-income applicants.

D．The top universities can see the imperfection in the rankings better.

4. What is the main idea of the passage?

A．There is no such thing as a good or bad student.

B．Education equality is an ideal hard to be realized.

C．An alternative approach is needed to assess universities.

D．Discrimination against poor students brings loss of talents.

【推荐2】The common cuttlefish is just as smart as a human child when it comes to a certain cognitive test, according to a new research.

When given the sweet test, which tests a person’s ability to understand delayed satisfaction, cuttlefish passed with flying colors. In the classic psychological experiment, a child is given a sweet with the instructions that if they can resist eating the sweet treat for 15 minutes, they’ll be given another and allowed to eat both.

“Cuttlefish in the present study were all able to wait for the better reward and tolerated delays for up to 50-130 seconds, which is comparable to what we see in some clever animals such as monkeys, crows and parrots,” said lead author Alexandra Schnell.

The researchers found the cuttlefish that delayed satisfaction for longer had better learning performance.

Six common cuttlefish were placed in a tank with two clear boxes. One had a live grass shrimp — their favorite food and the other had a less appetizing shrimp. Researchers painted symbols on the doors. Triangle is for a delayed opening, and circle is for opening straight away. When presented with their favourite food behind the triangle door, all the cuttlefish chose to wait.

The study also tested the cuttlefish’s ability to learn, by switching the symbols on the doors and what they meant. The cuttlefish that learnt to adapt to the changes fastest also scored the longest delayed satisfaction scores. While researchers don’t know the exact reasons for their intelligence, they suspect it’s something to do with the way of gathering food.

“Cuttlefish spend most of their time hiding, sitting and waiting, having short dining time. They don’t hide when they dine, so they are exposed to their enemies. We assume that delayed satisfaction may have evolved as a byproduct of this, so the cuttlefish can benefit by waiting to choose better quality food.” said Schnell.

1. Why is the classic psychological experiment mentioned in Paragraph 2?

A．To show children’s ability to tolerate.	B．To attach importance to the researchers.
C．To state children prefer to have sweets.	D．To prove cuttlefish are highly intelligent.

2. What does Paragraph 5 mainly talk about?

A．Why the researchers design the test.	B．How the experiment is carried out.
C．How the cuttlefish recognize shapes.	D．What the cuttlefish’s favorite food is.

3. The cuttlefish’s intelligence may be a result of        .

A．the walls having ears.	B．letting the cat out of the bag.
C．the survival of the fittest.	D．putting the cart before the horse.

4. Where is the passage most likely from?

A．A newspaper on science.	B．A website on table manners.
C．A brochure on education.	D．A magazine on fashion design.

【推荐3】Gravity is one of those things we take completely for granted: It is always there, and it never changes. If the Earth’s gravity were ever to change significantly, it would affect nearly everything, because so many things are designed around the current state of gravity.

    1     This would turn out to be a pretty bad day. Everything would start floating. But it’s not just furniture and the like that would start to float. Two of the more important things held to the Earth by gravity are the atmosphere and the water in the oceans, lakes and rivers. Without gravity, the air in the atmosphere has no reason to hang around, and it would immediately leap into space.     2     The moon doesn’t have enough gravity to keep an atmosphere around it, so it’s in a near vacuum. Without an atmosphere, any living thing would die immediately and anything liquid would boil away into space.     3    

If gravity were to suddenly double, it would be almost as bad, because everything would be twice as heavy. There would be big problems with anything structural. Houses, bridges, skyscrapers, table legs, support columns and so on are all sized for normal gravity.     4     Trees and plants would have problems. Power lines would have problems. The air pressure would double and that would have a big effect on the weather.

What this article shows you is just how necessary gravity is to our world.     5     It is one of the true necessary constants in our lives!

A．This is the problem the moon has.

B．That’s why there is no life in the moon’s atmosphere.

C．The structure may not last if the gravity was reduced.

D．We can’t live without it, and we can’t afford to have it change.

E．Imagine that, one day, there was no force of gravity on planet Earth.

F．In other words, no one would last long if the planet didn’t have gravity.

G．Most buildings would collapse fairly quickly if you doubled the load on them.

【推荐1】Have you ever listened to the sound of a raindrop? You might call the small sounds earth songs. Is it possible to catch earth songs, to put them into words?

Long ago, poets in Japan listened, watched, and did catch the beauty of the earth’s songs. They did this with the tiniest poems in the world, called haiku. A haiku is a poem that is just three lines and seventeen syllables long. And the poets who wrote them watched and listened, not only with their eyes and ears, but also with their hearts!

In their haiku, the early Japanese poets caught the colors, sounds, and beauties of the seasons of the year. They sang of their islands’ beauties. Their miniature poems were not meant to fully describe a scene or to explain it but rather were a flash impression.

The old poets are not the only writers of haiku. Today Japanese farmers, shopkeepers, grandparents, and students write it, and because of its strong appeal, haiku is written in many other countries throughout the world.

Interestingly enough, Japanese poetry has had a long and colorful history. In the prehaiku period in the early eighth century, Japanese poets wrote katauta, poems in a question-­and-­answer form, using two people. Each three­-line verse (诗节) contained about seventeen syllables that could be delivered easily in one breath — just as one would naturally ask or answer a question. This has remained the basic pattern for traditional Japanese poetry throughout the centuries.

Another form that appeared was the tanka, which contained five lines and thirty-­one syllables (5-7-5-7-7), written by either one or two persons. From that evolved (发展) the renga, which contained more than one verse, or link. Written by three or more people, it could have as many as 100 links! The first verse of the renga introduced a subject. It had three lines and was called the hokku, or starting verse. Renga parties became a great pleasure.

Around 1450, haikai no renga became popular. This style of linked verse contained puns (双关) and was humorous and amusing. The opening three lines were still called a hokku, and from haikai and hokku the term haiku evolved.

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

A．Easy.	B．Little.
C．Detailed.	D．Selected.

2. We know from the text that katauta ________ .

A．was humorous and amusing

B．contained thirty-­one syllables

C．could have as many as 100 links

D．was written in a question-­and­-answer form

3. According to the text, what was the main activity at a renga party?

A．Creating a group poem.

B．Changing haiku into tanka.

C．Studying the history of renga.

D．Competing to write earth songs.

4. Information in this text would be of most value to readers who want to ________ .

A．teach how to write haiku

B．research the history of haiku

C．compare Japanese and American poetry

D．find suggestions about hosting a renga party

【推荐2】For over a century, throwing a pie into someone’s face has been a comedy element, thanks in part to Keystone. Established in 1912 by director Mack Sennett, the studio had a hand in making pie-throwing common.

This phenomenon can be traced back before the earliest days of pre-1920s silent film. The fun of seeing an elegant dessert hit an actor, and watching them react with either anger or confusion, soon made its way to the screen. In 1913, Sennett’s “Fatty” launched the first such missile in a Keystone film. Soon, the studio became known for pie-throwing trick, and the high-flying desserts flew so freely that the studio needed its own bakery to make them.

The answer turned out to be right across the street. Sarah Brener owned a variety store there, but she also supplied the studio with its pies. Sometimes, they were delicious. Charlie Chaplin said that Brener’s pies were the best in town. But often, they had to be specially made for films. As pie fights in film grew more complicated, Brener’s bakery was soon making nothing else.

Filmmakers preferred custard (蛋奶沙司) pies for throwing. They were appropriately messy and, likely less painful than a cherry pie would be to the face. But by the time the 1920s rolled around, people had grown tired of them.

Widespread pie-throwing faded, but it didn’t die completely: Comedic films and animation alike have been peppered with pieing ever since, from Bugs Bunny to the Three Stooges. In 2015, a part of film history had been re-discovered: “The Battle of the Century”, where 3,000 pies sailed through the air. It was supposed to be the pie fight to end all others, but in 1965 the film “The Great Race” promised viewers “the greatest pie fight in history.” Thousands of real pies were used.

Now, the Keystone building is a storage facility, and Brener’s bakery is long gone. But the studio’s influence lives on in film, in the occasional throwing of a pie, and on a plate on the corner of the mere remaining building that reads:“This was the birthplace of the motion picture comedy.”

1. Which of the following is true about pie-throwing?

A．By1912 it had become surprisingly common.

B．The audience was angry or confused while seeing it.

C．It stimulated citizens’ great demand for pies.

D．Keystone contributes to its being part of a comedy.

2. With the increasing complexity of pie fight in film, Brener’s bakery _____.

A．changed its sales policy	B．specialized in making pies
C．sold a variety of food besides pies	D．made its pies famous nationwide

3. Several films are mentioned in paragraph 5 in order to _____.

A．pie-throwing was no longer appealing

B．more pies are used in modern films than in silent ones

C．viewers are dissatisfied with seeing just one scene of pie-throwing

D．pie-throwing can still be found in some kind of films

4. What is the passage mainly about?

A．The future development of comedic films.	B．The history of pie-throwing in films.
C．The fascinating past of Keystone.	D．The birthplace of motion picture comedies.