【推荐1】Do you want to have a great best friend? Would you like to know how to start a perfect friendship? Maybe the following will give you some advice.

Be your own best friend first. Learn how to respect yourself.     1    , then you can’t respect others. Understand what values are important to you and stick to them. Seek out others who honor those values because you’ll only end up hurting yourself and possibly others if those people don’t have the same values as you.

Trust each other. To be a great best friend really doesn’t take much. All you have to do really is make sure you can both trust each other. Don’t try to trick or use your friend to your advantage.     2    .

Learn to listen.     3    , but never listens. If you’re a chatterbox, try to develop good listening skills. Whenever your best friend says something, listen carefully and say something. Don’t interrupt while they’re talking to you. If they ask for advice, listen carefully and give them the best advice you can.

Care for your best friend. If your best friend is upset, ask them what’s wrong.     4    , but they should in the end. If they don't tell you, don’t get angry at them. Understand that certain things are private, and trust that they’d be just as patient with you if you were in their shoes.

Let your friend have other friends, too. If your best friend picks another friend over you, try to be friends with their friend too. Maybe you guys can be a group of friends!     5    . But never leave the old one; your faith is what the other person expects.

A．If you can’t respect yourself

B．They might not tell you right away

C．Everyone is always looking for new friends

D．You need to make them know they can trust you

E．You should figure out who is your faithful friends

F．Nobody likes a best friend who just talks and talks

G．Best friends are the most valuable friends you have

【推荐2】Betty and Harold have been married for years. But one-thing still puzzles old Harold. How is it that he can leave Betty and her friend Joan sitting on the sofa, talking, go out to a ballgame, come back three and a half hours later, and they're still sitting on the sofa?

Talking? What in the world, Harold wonders, do they have to talk about?

Betty shrugs(耸肩).Talk? We're friends.

Researching this matter called friendship, psychologist Lillian Rubin spent two years interviewing more than two hundred women and men. No matter what their age, their job, their sex, the results were completely clear: women have more friendships than men, and the difference in the content and the quality of those friendships is “marked and unmistakable.”

More than two-thirds of the single men Rubin interviewed could not name a best friend. Those who could were likely to name a woman. Yet three-quarters of the single women had no problem naming a best friend, and almost always it was a woman. More married men than women named their wife/husband as a best friend, most trusted person, or the one they would turn to in time of emotional distress(痛苦).“Most women,” says Rubin, “identified at least one, usually more, trusted friends to whom they could turn in a troubled moment, and they spoke openly about the importance of these relationships in their lives.”

“In general,” writes Rubin in her new book, “women's friendships with each other rest on shared emotions and support, but men's relationships are marked by shared activities. ”“For the most part”, Rubin says, “interactions between men are emotionally controlled-a good fit with the social requirements of   “manly behavior.”

“Even when a man is said to be a best friend,” Rubin writes, “the two share little about their innermost feelings. While a woman's closest female friend might be-the first to tell her to leave a failing marriage, it wasn't unusual to hear a man say he didn't know his friend's marriage was in serious trouble until he appeared one night asking if he could sleep on the sofa.”

1. What old Harold cannot understand or explain is the fact that : ___

A．women have so much to share

B．he finds his wife difficult to talk to

C．women show little interest in ballgames

D．he is treated as an outsider rather than a husband

2. Rubin's study shows that for emotional support a married woman is more likely to turn to______.

A．her parents

B．her husband

C．a male friend

D．a female friend

3. According to the passage, which type of behavior is NOT expected of a man by society?

A．Going out to ballgames too often.

B．Complaining about his marriage trouble.

C．Spending too much time with his friends.

D．Ending his marriage without good reason.

4. Which of the following statements is best supported by the last paragraph?

A．Men keep their private feelings to themselves.

B．Women depend on others in making decisions.

C．women are more serious than men about marriage.

D．Men often take sudden action to end their marriages.

5. The research done by psychologist Rubin centers around________.

A．emotional problems in marriage	B．happy and successful marriages
C．friendships of men and women	D．interactions between men and women

【推荐3】Our wedding was about to begin. My throat was tight and my cheeks got red, but I didn’t care. I was ready to marry David Sanchez. We’re a “nontraditional” couple: getting married not at a church but in a bookstore that supports a charity to fight H.I.V. and homelessness.

“Kim! I could walk you down the aisle if you like!” David’s father offered gently.

“I'm OK. But I appreciate that,” I said with a smile. And I was reminded, again, of my dad's absence.

My father died of cancer six weeks ago. For the last two months, we tried to make him feel comfortable and loved as he departed from this world. He always told us that he didn’t like a funeral and insisted our wedding go forward as planned. But how could we honor him since the wedding would be the first time the family would gather after his death and some even didn’t know he was sick?

During the ceremony, my dear friend Eva delivered a reading entitled “When Things Go Missing” by Kathryn Schulz. She paused and got everyone on the same page: “When we are experiencing it, loss often feels like confusion in the usual order of things. In fact, the entire plan of the universe consists of losing, and life amounts to a reverse（逆向的）savings account in which we are eventually robbed of everything.”

I felt the energy full of the room. Everyone was listening. By choosing to accept the pain, we knew what a wedding does to join two families and mark the next chapter for a couple. Loss became a compass that pointed us away from a fantasy and toward celebrating the difficult realities of life.

After rings were exchanged, fried chicken was served, our friends offered so many funny and touching toasts, and finally David sang “Married” on my father’s guitar. I felt joy filling all the holes in my soul. Celebrating my father’s life at our wedding made me grateful for all the time I had spent with him, because it all goes by so fast.

1. Why did David’s father offer to walk the author down the aisle?

A．To relieve her tension.	B．To play the author’s late father’s role.
C．To welcome her to his family.	D．To contribute something to the charity.

2. What does the underlined sentence in paragraph 6 suggest?

A．Kim could distance herself from the pain.

B．Kim knew how to start her new family.

C．Kim got more courage for marriage and life.

D．Kim imagined she would meet more challenges.

3. What do we know about Kim and David^’s wedding ceremony?

A．It was a touching and happy one.	B．Kim and David turned it into a funeral.
C．It was held at a church.	D．There was no other activity except reading.

【推荐1】Life can be lonely without companionship. Acquaintances are easy to come by but true friends are different. Friends are gifts and treasures. When asked to point out one or two the most important things in one’s life, many people put friends ahead of homes, jobs, clothes and cars.

A true friendship carries a long history of experience that determines who we are and keeps us connected.     1     Unfortunately, the better friends you are, the more probably you’ll have disagreements. And the result can be what you don’t want—an end to the relationship.     2     Here are four effective ways to mend a troubled friendship.

    3     Most of us can forgive each other when differences are brought out in the open. Second, apologize when you’re wrong, even if you’ve been wronged.     4     Sometimes, it may be best if the wronged person takes the lead and apologizes. When you apologize, give your friend a chance to admit that he has been wrong. Third, see things from your friend’s point of view. And finally, accept that friendships change as our needs and lifestyle change.

    5     However, the hard part is keeping the connections strong during the natural ups and downs that have an effect on all relationships. My suggestion: Consider friendship an honor and a gift, and worth the effort to treasure and nurture(培养). Remember, friendship is your psyche’s guard, so treasure it.

A．Making friends can sometimes seem easy.

B．In a friendship, even the best people make mistakes.

C．It is a treasure we should protect.

D．Friendship brings us power to overcome the difficulty in life.

E．The good news is that most troubled friendships can be mended.

F．First, don’t let your pride get in your way.

G．It is important when we are in trouble.

【推荐2】Good manners play an important part in keeping peace and goodwill (友好) in a community. A man with good manners doesn’t hurt other’s feelings, and therefore he’s on good terms with everyone .In this way he helped to keep peace in society.

But a man with bad manners has no respect for others He uses words carelessly and behaves rudely towards others and causes a lot of unpleasantness. In the end, he himself will suffer most. Everyone will avoid him and he will be forced to live a lonely life.

To live well in society, money alone is not enough. We should also have good manners, for it’s human nature to seek friendship; and friendship cannot be bought with money. Friendship has to be earned through our own attitude towards others. If we are kind to others, they will be kind to us, and kindness is essential to good manners .Bad manners drive away friends as well as our own family members.

A man with god manners has many friends. He commands the respect of all those who come into contact with him. He doesn’t talk ill about others. Even when he’s provoked, he tries his best not to offend others. He has sympathy for the weak and the disabled.

There are, however, many people who behave so well outside their homes that they are respected and admired by everyone. But in their own homes they are worse than the devil. Such people cannot be said to have good manners. It doesn’t take long for others to discover this.

If one’s manners are good, one behaves well everywhere, even when one is away from the critical eyes of others. It is therefore essential to have good manners.

1. The greatest benefit that people with good manners bring to society is       .

A．peace	B．joy
C．respect	D．friendship

2. The underlined word “provoked” in Paragraph 4 can be replaced by “      ”.

A．got tired	B．proved friendly
C．made angry	D．left alone

3. People with good manners do the following EXCEPT that       .

A．they behave well even when they are alone or away from the public eyes.

B．they try their best not to talk ill about others only in public.

C．they are kind towards others and bring a lot of joy to them.

D．they respect the weak and are sympathetic towards the disabled.

4. We can infer from the text that for people only behaving well outside their homes,       .

A．they will still be respected by people outside.

B．it is difficult to say whether they have good manners or not.

C．they can keep friends but will drive away family members.

D．they only pretend to be friendly

【推荐3】Work is a part of living—my grandparents understood that. They lived and worked on a central Pennsylvania farm that has been in my family for 150 years. Hess Farm, at that time, was self-sufficient. They raised beef cattle for meat, chickens for eggs and hogs for pork and lard. Dairy cows were kept for milk and the cream from which Grandma made butter and cheese. That little yard they had became a garden.

The Depression, therefore, didn’t make a dramatic change in their lives. But it did bring an unending flow of men out of work, drifting from job to job, to the farm. The first man to show up on the kitchen porch was ragged-looking, but polite. He took off his hat and quietly explained that he hadn’t eaten for a while. Grandpa stood watching him a bit, then said, “There’s a pile of firewood stacked against the fence behind the barn (畜棚). I’ve been needing to get it moved to the other side of the fence. You have just about enough time to finish the job before lunch.” With that, he stuck out his rough hand to the stranger.

Grandma said a surprising thing happened. The drifter got a shine in his eyes and, behind his beard, he smiled. He hurried to the barn in a near trot (小跑). She set another place at the table and baked an apple pie. During lunch, the stranger didn’t say much, but his shoulders straightened when he left. “Nothing ruins a man like losing his self-respect”, Grandpa later told me.

Soon after, another man showed up asking for a meal. This one was dressed in a suit and carried a small, worn suitcase. Grandpa came out and then offered a handshake. “There’s a stack of firewood along the fence down behind the barn I’ve been meaning to get moved. It’d sure be a help to me. And we’d be pleased to have you stay for lunch.”

The fellow set his suitcase and neatly laid his coat and vest on top. Then he set off to work.

Grandma says she doesn’t remember how many strangers they shared a meal with during those Depression days—or how many times that pile of wood got moved.

1. What is the result of the Depression?

A．Some people earned a lot of money.

B．A large number of people went abroad.

C．Many people were laid off.

D．Quite a few people died of a strange disease.

2. Which of the following best describes the grandpa?

A．He pretended to be generous.

B．He pretended to be mean.

C．He shared meal with everyone who came to his door.

D．He gave meal to the poor without losing their self-respect.

3. How many strangers did Grandpa and Grandma share a meal with during those days?

A．They shared a meal with only two people.

B．They shared a meal with twenty people.

C．The passage doesn’t mention the number.

D．They didn’t share a meal with anyone.

4. What can we know about the stranger from the underlined sentence?

A．The stranger was full after lunch.

B．The stranger earned his bread through his own work.

C．The stranger wanted to show his gratitude.

D．The stranger wanted to stretch his body.

【推荐1】Dreaming of summer picnics filled with family and fun? We’ve come up with 4 of the top picnic areas across the US.

Cumberland Islands, Georgia

Just a few hours south of Savannah, this national seashore is a wonderful picnic place. It’s an unspoiled place in the Deep South with over 50 miles of hiking trails (小径). Covered in Spanish moss, the trails are lined with trees and since it’s still a rural area, the stars line up for a grand show at night and create the perfect evening starlit picnic opportunity.

Grant Park, Chicago

If you are looking for delicious food in Chicago, go for a taste of a 20-day, lake-front, foodie festival that happens in October each year. Grab a spot near the fountain to enjoy your picnic, appreciate the city scenery and lake views and relax with family and friends. If you are there on July 4th, be sure to plan the day to include the fireworks display at the Navy Pier.

Cranberry Islands, Maine

Here, you’ll enjoy natural picnics with island views. The islands are a delightful group of islands about 20 minutes offshore from Acadia National Park. You can visit the islands by private boat or ferry service. Bring a picnic basket along for the ride as it’s a romantic picnic area to take your special someone or go for a family outing to visit the islands.

Big Sur, California

The Point Lobos State Reserve is a small gem. Besides the coastal wildlife there are rare plant communities, and unique geological formations. It’s good to have a picnic there. We recommend bringing a telescope, because much of the wildlife can be seen only at a distance.

1. Why does the writer advise us going to Cumberland Islands?

A．Because they are just next to Savannah.

B．Because they keep their original ecology (生态).

C．Because they are almost covered in Spanish moss.

D．Because they have a grand show every night.

2. Where can you enjoy observing wildlife with a telescope?

A．At the Navy Pier.	B．In the Deep South.
C．At Acadia National Park.	D．At the Point Lobos State Reserve.

3. What’s the author’s purpose of writing this passage?

A．To introduce some picnic areas in the US.

B．To share personal stories about picnics.

C．To tell readers some good ways to relax.

D．To offer readers tips for summer holiday.

4. Where can we most probably read this passage?

A．In a personal dairy.	B．In a science report.
C．In a travel magazine.	D．In a geography textbook.

【推荐3】Most people know not to touch a jellyfish(水母)but some jellies can sting people without touching them—by connecting tiny bits from their body that float off into the sea and move around independently.

Upside-down jellyfish throw small balls of stinging cells in a network of sticky mucus(黏液), to kill prey such as shrimp. “It is as if we could spit out our teeth and they killed thing for us somehow,” says Cheryl Ames at Tohoku university in Japan. “It’s a real revolutionary novelty.”

Upside-down jellyfish, several species of the genus Cassiopea, live in warm coastal waters off Florida, Australia, the Red Sea and southerly parts of the Mediterranean. Their stings aren’t generally seen as dangerous, but there have been occasional reports of “stinging water” around them. “It’s really irritating. You’re constantly being stung on any surface that’s exposed,” says Ames.

Now Ames’s group has found that this happens because the creatures shed hollow balls of stinging cells up to half a millimeter wide. Named cassiosomes, they carry hairs that can make them float around in circles to boost their chances of hitting prey. “It was a really amazing moment when we all took turns in looking through the microscope and saw there were tiny, little things moving about in the mucus,” says Ames. The jellies released cassiosomes and mucus when brine shrimp, their natural prey, were put in their tank. The cassiosomes could kill the shrimp within a minute. In the wild, the dead shrimp are then sucked into the jellies’ body by their pulsating motions. And these jellies tend to float at the bottom of lakes, and extend their networks of mucus to float above them. “The mucus may not be easily visible to swimmers,” says Ames.

The unique feeding mechanism isn’t the jellies main source of nutrients. They also have algae inside them, which photo synthesize. And the reason why the jellies float upside down is to expose these plant cells to the sun. The cassiosomes also contain algae, which might provide the energy for them to float around-they could survive outside the jellies for up to 10 days in the lab.

1. What does Cheryl Ames think of the jellyfish’s way to catch food?

A．Fresh.

B．Mysterious

C．Terrible.

D．Unacceptable.

2. What can we learn about cassiosomes?

A．They can easily be noticed by the swimmers.

B．They can send the shrimp to the jellies themselves.

C．They are spread in the mucus released by the jellyfish.

D．They use their hair to attract the shrimp.

3. Why do the jellies float upside down?

A．To protect themselves from the sun.

B．To hide themselves from the enemy.

C．To transport algae to the cassiosones.

D．To get more energy provided by algae inside.

4. In which column of a newspaper can we read this passage?

A．Travel abroad.

B．Under the sea.

C．Business.

D．Religion.