【推荐1】It was 9:00 am already! Richard had to leave for work! Before leaving he hurriedly looked at the newspaper and stood still! Is he seeing it right? He rubbed his eyes and saw again… Yes,it was his name in the obituary (讣告)! He threw the paper in the bin and screamed.
Richard started to recollect. He remembered that last night when he went to bed he had a chest pain and he was rushed to hospital. Then he went into a sound sleep. But what happened after that?
He could suddenly see his living room filled with people… all in tears; his mom, his wife and his children. He also saw his best friend, the one he had a serious misunderstanding a few days ago. He wanted to say “Sorry” to him… but now no one could hear his voice.
He wondered how he could tell his mom that he felt so thankful to have her in his life! He wanted to tell his children how much he loved them. He wanted to tell his wife how much he loved her; he felt sorry to have hurt her sometimes.
Richard started crying and pleading to God for one LAST chance! “God, one last chance, please”, shouted Richard and opened his eyes.
Oh, this was a dream!
He woke up; looked around everywhere. He was on his bed; his wife lay beside him, deep in sleep. Richard whispered in her ears, “You are the best thing to have ever happened to me!”
He went up to the window, looking outside. Yes, everything was just the way he has been knowing so long. He decided to meet up his friends and clear all misunderstandings; he also decided to tell everyone who mattered to him all that has remained unsaid so far!
1. When Richard saw his name in the newspaper, he felt _________.

A．sad

B．worried

C．regretful

D．shocked

2. Richard felt sorry to his wife because _________.

A．he hurt her sometimes

B．he misunderstood her

C．they had a quarrel the other day

D．he didn’t love her

3. After the dream, Richard would probably _________.

A．demand an apology from his friend

B．express appreciation and thanks to his friend

C．be on good terms with his friend again

D．break up with his friend

4. The writer of the story mainly tells us that _________.

A．misunderstanding between friends is common

B．we should tell our family how much we love them

C．getting along well with friends is important

D．we need to see a doctor when having a chest pain

【推荐2】You are given many opportunities in life to choose to be a victim or creator. When you choose to be a victim, the world is a cold and difficult place.     1     “They” are wrong and bad, and life is terrible as long as "they" are around. Or you may blame yourself for all your problems, thus internalizing (内化) your victimization. The truth is, your life is likely to stay that way as long as you feel a need to blame yourself or others.

    2    They know there are individuals who might like to control their lives, but they don't let this get in the way. They know they have their weaknesses, yet they don't blame themselves when they fail.     3    They believe their dance with each sacred (神圣的) moment of life is a gift and that storms are a natural part of life which can bring the rain needed for emotional and spiritual growth.

Victims and creators live in the same physical world and deal with many of the same physical realities, yet their experience of life is worlds apart. Victims relish (沉溺) in anger, guilt, and other emotions that cause others — and even themselves — to feel like victims, too. Creators consciously choose love, inspiration, and other qualities which inspire not only themselves, but all around them.     4    

In reality, all of us play the victim or the creator at various points in our the One person, on losing a job or a special relationship, may feel as if it is the end of the world and sink into terrible suffering for months, years, or even a lifetime.     5     He may choose to first experience the grief, then accept the loss and soon move on to be a powerful creative force in his life.

In every moment and every circumstance, you can choose to have fuller, richer life by setting a clear intention to transform the victim within, and by inviting into your life the powerful creator that you are.

A．Another with the same experience may choose to be a creator.

B．Both victims and creators always have choice to determine the direction of their lives.

C．Whatever happens, they have choice in the matter.

D．One's experiences determine his attitude toward life.

E．These who choose to be creators look at life quite differently.

F．Compared with victims, creators are more emotional.

G．“They” did things to you which caused all of your pain and suffering.

【推荐3】Ways to Be More Curious

Buried in the same daily routines and familiar surroundings, some people may lead an unhappy life.     1     It’s a desire to know how and why and a combination of intelligence and hunger for new things. Here are some tips on how to improve curiosity.

You should communicate with others. There is a to-do list in Leonardo da Vinci’s notebook. Out of the fifteen tasks on the list, at least eight involve consulting with others. Montaigne once wrote how traveling to different countries allows us to “polish our brains”.     2    

Why not visit a library? It allows us to meet other unexpected information. You can enter it without purpose.     3     And just follow your curiosity to explore unexpected knowledge. The more you explore, the greater your curiosity will be.

    4     With ideas stored in mind, you can mix and remix ideas and themes, making new findings and spotting unusual patterns, until a creative breakthrough is achieved, which strengthens your curiosity. Anyone stopping learning facts for himself because he can search online later is making himself stupid.

Don’t just focus on puzzles but on mysteries. Puzzles have clear answers. Once the missing information is found, it’s not a puzzle anymore, with curiosity fading away.     5     Because the answers often depend on a complex set of factors, both known and unknown. The most beautiful thing we can experience is mysteries. In the process of finding the answers, they are the source of curiosity.

A．Start to search for books you want or need.

B．Unlike puzzles, mysteries don’t need answers.

C．Mysteries have questions that can’t be answered clearly.

D．And that’s how Leonardo polished his brain to remain curious.

E．Allow books or things on the bookshelves freely to attract your eyes.

F．Always thinking of ideas rather than searching online plays an important part.

G．But we can achieve happiness and more meaning in life if we increase our curiosity.

【推荐1】People from all walks of life tend to become more personal and hide less of themselves when using email. Researchers from Open University in Britain have found in a recent study that there are good reasons for this.

The team of researchers asked 83 pairs of students, all strangers to each other, to solve a problem. They had to discuss this question: If only five people in the world could be saved from a world disaster, who should they be? The pairs of students had to talk over the problem either face to face or by computers. Dr. Johnson said, "They told their partners four times as much about themselves when they talked over the Internet as when they talked face to face. When the computers were fitted with cameras so that students could see each other, this limited the personal side of the conversation."

Generally the information was not extremely personal. It was mainly about things such as where they went to school, or where they used to live. But some students discussed their love stories, and personal childhood experiences.

Dr. Johnson believes that emailing encourages people to focus on themselves. And when they do this, they become more open, especially if there are no cameras. "If you cannot see the other person, it becomes easier to talk about yourself. This is because you are not thinking what the other person is thinking of you. So emailing has become the modern way of talking," said Dr. Johnson. However, this style of talking is not completely new. "In the 19th century people started to use the ‘telegraph’ to communicate. Now the same kind of thing has happened and people ended up speaking more freely."

Dr. Johnson thinks that emailers need to know about these effects of emailing, especially when they start work in a company. " If you don’t know about it, you could find yourself saying more about yourself than you wanted to."

1. What is the subject discussed in this passage?

A．How to communicate using email.

B．How to solve a problem using email.

C．How people open up when emailing.

D．How people do research studies when emailing.

2. What is the reason why some pairs talked freely about themselves?

A．They couldn’t see each other

B．They didn’t talk about very personal things

C．The cameras on the computers were turned on

D．They had to discuss a question

3. What does the underlined sentence refer to?

A．The telegraph.	B．Emailing.
C．The computer.	D．Face-to-face talk.

4. Which of the following is the Dr. Johnson’s opinion?

A．We should focus on ourselves when emailing.

B．We should talk more freely in emails than usual.

C．We should discuss any subject when emailing.

D．We should consider how to use email at work.

【推荐2】The pace of today's working life blurs(使模糊) the line between personal time and work time, and it increasingly mixes personal lifestyle and work style. And as companies are trying hard to attract and keep young people for their technical skills and enthusiasm for change, office culture is becoming an extension of youth culture. This may be no bad thing. For most of human history the middle-aged have ruled, but in the future, they will have to share power with fresh-faced youths.

There have been a number of reasons for this change and the most dramatic of these is technology. Children have always been more expert than their parents at something, but usually a game or a fashion, not the century's most important business tool. The Internet has started the first industrial revolution in history to be led by the young. Though there have been youth revolutions before, none of them made a big change the way the Internet has. Throughout the 20th century, if a young person wanted to enter an American company they needed to leave their youth behind. They got a haircut, and probably a suit or at least a tie. Now the same hair, same clothes, even nearly the same hours apply to office and home.

If it had not been for the Internet, this change could not have happened. However, it did not happen because of the Internet only; the corporate restructurings(公司重组) of the 1980s and 90s broke down traditional hierarchies(等级制度). In many companies, seniority-based(基于资历的) hierarchies have been replaced by hierarchies based on performance. The abilities to please your superiors are no longer the most valued skills. Today's employees stay with companies only as long as they feel challenged and rewarded; moving from job to job is now a sign of ambition.

The rise of the young is a good thing because it gives them more opportunity to put their ideas and energy into practice at their most creative stage in life. Nowadays youth and youth qualities seem to dominate, but the experience and maturity of older employees should be put to good use, too.

1. A company tries to attract young people for their ________.

A．office culture

B．modern lifestyle

C．changing attitude

D．technical abilities

2. In the 20th century, to enter an American company, a young person needed to________.

A．work in the office and at home

B．have an eye-catching hairstyle

C．dress in the business style

D．leave the business tool behind

3. Why is the rise of the young a good thing?

A．They become more energetic in life.

B．They have taken over the companies.

C．Their creativity can be put to good use.

D．Their ideas appeal to a great many people.

4. What can be inferred from the passage?

A．Young people will lead in fashion.

B．Young people will have more power.

C．Older people will step off the historical stage.

D．Older people will continue to be the main force

【推荐3】The latest in cat research reveals that the lovely animal seems to have a basic grasp on both the laws of physics and the ins and outs of cause and effect.

According to a newly published study, cats seem to be able to predict the location of hiding prey (猎物) using both their ears and an in born (天生的) understanding of how the physical world works. In a recent experiment, Japanese researchers taped 30 domestic cats reacting to a container that a team members hook. Some containers rattled (发出响声); others did not. When the container was tipped over, sometimes an object fell out and sometimes it didn’t.

It turns out that the cats were remarkably smart about what would happen when a container was tipped over. When an object did not drop out of the bottom of a rattling container, they looked at it for a longer time than they did when the container behaved as expected.

“Cats use a causal-logical understanding of noise or sounds to predict the appearance of invisible objects,” lead researcher Saho Takagi says in a press release. The researchers conclude that cats’ hunting style may have developed based on their common-sense abilities to infer where prey is, using their hearing.

Scientists have explored this idea with other endearing creatures: babies. Like cats, babies appear to engage in what’s called “preferential looking”—looking longer at things that are interesting or unusual than things they perceive as normal.

When babies’ expectations are violated in experiments like the ones performed with the cats, they react much like their animal friends. Psychologists have shown that babies apparently expect their world to comply with the laws of physics and cause and effect as early as two months of age.

Does the study mean that cats will soon grasp the ins and outs of cause and effect? Maybe. Okay, so cats may not be the next physics faculty members at America’s most important research universities. But by demonstrating their commonsense, they’ve shown that the divide between cats and humans may not be that great after all.

1. What do we learn from a newly published study about cats?

A．They can be trained to understand the physical world.

B．They know what kind of prey might be easier to hunt.

C．They have a natural ability to locate animals they hunt.

D．They are capable of telling which way their prey flees.

2. What is characteristic of the way cats hunt, according to the Japanese researchers?

A．They depend on their instincts.	B．They rely mainly on their hearing.
C．They wait sometime before attack.	D．They use both their ears and eyes.

3. In what way do babies behave like cats?

A．They focus on what appears odd.	B．They view the world as normal.
C．They do what they prefer to do.	D．They are curious about everything.

4. What can we conclude about cats from the passage?

A．They have higher intelligence than many other animals.

B．They interact with the physical world much like humans.

C．They display extraordinarily high intelligence in hunting.

D．They can aid physics professors in their research work.