【推荐1】The 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games may become known as the “Robot Games”. Organizers showed that robots will be used at the new National Stadium to provide assistance for visitors using wheelchairs. Tokyo Olympic official Masaki Komiya pointed out that Japan is known for its robot technology, and the 2020 Summer Games are a good chance to show it. “Robots should not defeat people,” said Komiya. “Robots are something that has a friendly relationship with human beings and can work together with them.”

The robots are made by a major Olympic :sponsor Toyota Motor Corporation. Toyota officials said 16 of the so-called “human support robots” will be used at the National Stadium with five other “delivery support robots ”and “media support robots” also being available.

Minoru Yamauchi of Toyota, the general manager for 2020 Robot Development, said Toyota is opening up a new field and becoming a “mobility company” .“We have been looking at how we can support people’s daily life and how we can develop robots that can partner with daily life,” Yamauchi said. “In the Tokyo Olympics, there will be many guests in wheelchairs and we hope they can enjoy the games without worrying about their mobility.”

Panasonic Corporation—also a major Olympic sponsor—showed its “power assist suit”. When worn, the suit offers support to the back and bottom area and allows heavy objects to be lifted with less effort. Panasonic said 20 of the suits will be used in the Tokyo Olympics and can help guests with their luggage. Panasonic also planned to develop entertainment robots to help visitors enjoy their stay in Japan.

Yoshifumi Uchida, general manager of Panasonic, said its power assist suit technology was developed party because of Japan’s aging population. This could help get more women and the elderly into the working population.“ We would like to have a society where people can work without caring about sex differences or age differences,” Uchida said.

1. What can be learned from Yamauchi’s words?

A．More disabled people will attend the 20 Tokyo Olympics.

B．Robots of Toyota are the most advanced in the world.

C．Toyota is constantly improving their robotics.

D．Yamauchi invented a new kind of wheelchair.

2. The power assist suit designed to            .

A．keep people’s body warm	B．help visitors carry heavy objects
C．treat guests in wheelchairs	D．lift up entertainment robot

3. What can we infer from the last paragraph?

A．Women in Japan usually stay at home.

B．The employment rate in Japan is very low.

C．Robot technology serves the development of society.

D．Power assist suits help e:beply people to become younger.

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

A．Japan’s future that technology.

B．The effects of robots on people’s daily life.

C．Major Olympic sponsors of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.

D．Robot technology to be used in the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.

【推荐2】“Creativity is the key to a brighter future,” say education and business experts. Here is how schools and parents can encourage this important skill in children.

If Dick Drew had listened to his boss in 1925 , we might not have the product that we now think of as great importance: a new type of tape. Drew worked for the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company. At work he developed a kind of material strong enough to hold things together. But his boss told him not to think more about the idea. Finally, using his own time, Drew improved the tape, which now is used everywhere by many people. And his former company learned from its mistake. Now it encourages people to spend 15 percent of their working time just thinking about and developing new ideas.

Creativity is not something one is just born with, nor is it necessarily a character of high intelligence. The fact that a person is highly intelligent does not mean that he uses it creatively. Creativity is the matter of using the resources one has to produce new ideas that are good for something.

Unfortunately, schools have not tried to encourage creativity. With strong attention to test results and the development of reading, writing and mathematical skills, many educators give up creativity for correct answers. The result is that children can gain information but can’t recognize ways to use it in new situations. They may know the rules correctly but they are unable to use them to work out practical problems.

It is important to give children choices. From the earliest age, children should be allowed to make decisions and understand their results. Even if it’s choosing between two food items for lunch, decision­making helps thinking skills. As children grow older, parents should try to let them decide how to use their time or spend their money. This is because the most important character of creative people is a very strong desire to find a way out of trouble.

1. We can know from the passage that creativity is ______.

A．something that most people are born with

B．something that has nothing to do with intelligence at all

C．a way of using what one has learned to work out new problems

D．something that is not important to the life in the future at all

2. Why don’t schools try to encourage creativity?

A．They don't think creativity education is important.

B．They don't want their students to make mistakes.

C．They pay no attention to examination marks.

D．They think it impossible to develop creativity in class.

3. What should parents do when their children decide how to spend their money?

A．Allow them to have a try.

B．Try to help them as much as possible.

C．Take no notice of whatever they do.

D．Order them to spend the least money.

4. What did the company where Drew once worked learn from its mistake?

A．It should encourage people to work a longer time.

B．People should be discouraged to think freely.

C．People will do better if they spend most of their working time developing new ideas.

D．It is necessary for people to spend some of their working time considering and developing new ideas.

【推荐2】The British are known for their sense of humour. However, it is often difficult for foreigners to understand their jokes. The main point to remember is that the British often use understatement.

Understatement means saying less than you think or feel. For example, if someone gets very wet in shower of rain, he might say, “It’s a little damp outside.” Or, if someone is very impolite and shouts at another person, someone else might say, “She isn’t exactly friendly.” Understatement is often used in unpleasant situation or to make another person look silly. Understatement plays an important part in British humour.

Another key to understand British humour is that the British like to make fun of themselves as well as others. They often laugh about the silly and unpleasant things that happen to our everyday life when someone accidentally falls over in the street. They also like to make jokes about people from different classes of society. They like to make jokes about their accents, the way they dress and the way they behave. What’s more, the British love to watch comedies about people who do not know how to behave in society. The comedy series Mr. Bean is a good example of this kind of humour. Mr. Bean is the character created by British actor Rowan Atkinson in 1990. Mr. Bean doesn’t talk often, and instead he uses his body movements and facial expressions to make people laugh. Perhaps what makes Mr. Bean so funny is that he does things that adults in the real world cannot do. Mr. Bean is popular in many countries around the world because you do not have to speak English to understand the humour. Because of this, many people have become familiar with the British sense of humour.

1. Why is it difficult for foreigners to understand British jokes?

A．The British often use overstatement.

B．The British try to understate something.

C．British jokes are not as funny as jokes in other countries.

D．British jokes are connected with many different cultures.

2. The author explains understatement by ________.

A．using examples	B．making comparisons
C．following time order	D．describing a process

3. Mr. Bean makes people laugh by ________.

A．telling funny stories	B．making jokes about others’ accents
C．copying how others behave	D．using his body movements and facial expressions

4. This passage may be taken from ________.

A．a fiction novel	B．a travel brochure
C．a magazine	D．a chemical textbook

【推荐3】We often think of future. We often wonder what the world would be like in a hundred years’ time.

Think of space, perhaps a permanent (永久的) station on the moon will have been set up. Perhaps people will be able to visit the moon as tourists. Cheap rockets for space travel will have been developed, permitting long journeys throughout the solar system (太阳系). When that time comes, people will be taking holidays in space and visiting other planets. Great progress will have been made in medicine, too. Perhaps a cure will have been discovered for the most terrible of all diseases (疾病)— cancer. Pollution is a problem we must solve. In a hundred years’ time it will have been controlled.

The world will have been developed — even Antarctica. There will be large cities in Antarctica. We already have supersonic (超音速的) flight, but in a hundred years’ time we will have supersonic land travel as well.

We will have used up most of earth’s land to build our cities, so floating cities will have been built. The Japanese already have plans for cities of this kind. And there will be cities under the sea. The first of these will have been completed.

1. We will have developed ________ in a hundred years’ time, permitting long journeys all over the solar system.

A．cheap rockets for space travel.	B．a plane
C．a spaceship	D．a satellite

2. Man will also have supersonic land travel ________

A．in a year	B．about half a century later
C．in the year 2005	D．about a century later

3. Which of the following is true? ________

A．There must be a permanent station on the moon in the future.

B．There will be no pollution in the future.

C．There is no cities in Antarctica now.

D．We may find a treatment for cancer in the future.

4. The last paragraph mainly talks about ________

A．we’ll make good use of space on the earth.

B．cities under the sea.

C．Japan will first build floating cities.

D．earth’s land is in danger.