【推荐1】Below is a housing guide for students going to London.

University accommodation(住所) offices Many university accommodation offices have their own list of registered landlords (房东). Others also provide information on accommodation agencies and other housing organizations. The advantage of using your university accommodation office is that you can get some support if you have a problem. The disadvantage is that they are unlikely to have enough registered landlords to house all their students. Property papers: Loot and Renting Loot is an important source (来源) of information about private housing for co-renters. The offers are from private landlords, agencies and individuals looking for other co-renters. They also have a website: www. loot. com. The advantage of using Loot is that there are some excellent bargains. The disadvantage is that there is no quality control over the offers. Renting is another useful paper. The offers in this paper are mainly from accommodation agencies. Their website is at www. Renting.co. uk. Accommodation agencies The majority of rented accommodation in London is probably advertised through accommodation agencies. The advantage of using accommodation agencies is that you will have access to a large number of accommodations. A good agent will listen to your requirements and can save you time in looking for the right accommodation. The disadvantage is that they will make a range of charges to potential renters. Noticeboards Around the universities you will find a number of noticeboards where offers of accommodation will be posted. These will either be from landlords or from students. Some universities will also have online noticeboards where students can advertise to other students. Advertisements from students can be an excellent way to find accommodation. However, advertisements from landlords can be problematic. Word of mouth Some of the best housing in London is never advertised but is passed on from one group of students to another by word of mouth. It might be that you can find out about good offers from final year students. However, don’t suppose that just because you have found out about housing from a friend it is necessarily, going to be better than that found through any other source. Family Faced with the very high rents charged in London, some students and their parents will consider buying as an alternative. In some cases this might be a good choice.

1. What is the advantage of using Loot?

A．There are some good bargains.

B．Their website is designed mainly for students.

C．It gives you personal information about other co-renters.

D．It has more offers from accommodation agencies than Renting.

2. A good agent can help you         .

A．know more people

B．find cheap accommodation

C．get the right accommodation quickly

D．get free information about most accommodations

3. For students going to London for the first time, which of the following provides the most reliable information?

A．University accommodation offices.	B．Loot and Renting.
C．Noticeboards.	D．Family.

【推荐2】One of the tallest wooden buildings in Europe, a 98m timber(木材) mixture skyscraper, is to rise in Berlin.

The 29-storey WoHo tower, to be designed by a firm of Norwegian architects, is intended to be a “light-house project” for low-carbon construction, towering over Potsdamer Platz and the Landwehr Canal.

Its core, including lifts and staircase, is to be built around steel-reinforced(加固) concrete structure but the rest of the building, including flats, offices, cafes and a kindergarten, will be fashioned down wooden beams(横梁) and panels.

“As Norwegians, we are used to working a lot with timber.” Nicolai Riise, CEO of the Mad Architects' Practice said.

“The thing about timber is that its carbon footprint is close to zero and that it's fantastic material to build with. If you look at this in a broader way, it's one of the ways we are going to be able to beat the climate crisis.”

Wooden skyscrapers, once regarded as a pipe dream, have become realistic with the coming of cross-laminated-(交叉叠合) building techniques. Because these structures' parts are fit with care, they can be far lighter than their concrete equivalents(同等物) and are thought to be relatively resistant to fire. A cubic meter of wood can also take an estimated ton of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere.

Larger wooden structures are planned elsewhere. London is examining blueprints for a 300-meter Oakwood Tower. A project in Tokyo could rise to 350m.

1. What is special about the WoHo Tower?

A．It will serve as a light house.

B．Its core is to be built with timber.

C．It is designed for a Norwegian firm.

D．It will be a tall timber mixture building.

2. What does Nicolai Riise say about timber?

A．It used to be a good choice.	B．It is easy to collect.
C．It is environmentally-friendly.	D．The broader type works better.

3. What do the underlined words “a pipe dream” in paragraph 6 probably mean?

A．A nightmare.	B．Something practical.
C．A piece of cake.	D．Something impossible.

4. What makes it a reality to build wooden skyscrapers?

A．Flexible ideas.	B．The concrete equivalents.
C．Fire resistant materials.	D．New building techniques.

【推荐3】The housing market in Canada has been in a dangerous situation. A recent news item said that the owner of two high-rise buildings of rental apartments had told his tenants (房客) that their rent would double in three months.

Toronto doesn’t have rent controls to stop this sort of thing from happening. However, the politicians warn almost immediately that landlords (房东) should be careful because it could cause new laws to pass that they may not like. Tenants in the two buildings, meanwhile, are angry and some will have to move out because they simply can’t afford to stay.

The next day another news story noted that the purchase price of a house in Toronto has jumped 33 percent this year, which might destroy the dream of owning a house for most young people. Both of these stories came out of Toronto but similar things are happening in Canada’s other major cities such as Vancouver, Ottawa, Montreal and Calgary.

The cost of both home rental and home purchase is related to the supply and demand pressures of the market place and this is probably as it should be. The catch is that the rapid increase in both costs is far outstripping (超过) the increase in salaries, particularly in those jobs that beginners and probably even the majority of people can get.

We can’t leave these people out on the streets. I think the expanding gulf between the haves and the have-nots that we are seeing in Canada is dangerous because when some people seem to have everything and others are next to nothing it can lead to desperation, depression and sometimes to violence. I doubt whether this phenomenon is limited to my country but it’s very concerning here. I feel sorry for the young people just entering the housing market.

1. Why do the politicians warn the landlords not to double their rents in the near future?

A．They are kind-hearted men and feel sorry for the poor.

B．They’ll have to raise the salaries for workers if rents are too high.

C．It is cold in Canada, so it is dangerous to leave people on the street.

D．The government will take measures to protect the interest of tenants.

2. That the writer thinks the housing market in Canada in a dangerous situation is because ________.

A．Canada doesn’t have rent controls to stop rents from rising

B．most young people take no interest in buying their own house

C．the government are unable to provide the poor with free houses

D．the problems caused by high rents may lead to serious social conflicts

3. According to the context, which of following word has the closest meaning to the underlined word “catch” in paragraph 4?

A．Problem.	B．Dilemma.
C．Depression.	D．Desperation.

4. What is the best title for the text?

A．Beyond Most Buyers

B．Tenants Will Move Out

C．Toronto Is No Longer a Good Place

D．To Help the Young or Not, This Is a Question

【推荐1】For more than 60 years, Lego bricks (乐高) have sparked children's imaginations. Now, a new version of these toys is in the works. They’re Lego Braille Bricks, and they’re being tested around the world.

Lego Braille Bricks are designed to help people learn Braille. That’s a system of writing in which letters are represented by raised dots. People who are blind or visually impaired use their fingertips to read it.

According to the World Health Organization, 36 million people worldwide are blind. In the United States, it’s estimated that only 10% of blind children learn Braille. Lego Braille Bricks can help change that. The small dots on the bricks are arranged as Braille letters. Blind children can use these dots to learn Braille.

Lego plans to launch Braille Bricks next year. For some schools and institutions, Braille Bricks will be free. Each will contain about 250 bricks. Along with the alphabet, the bricks will feature numbers and math symbols.

The Danish Association of the Blind was one of the first organizations to come up with the idea of using Lego bricks to teach Braille. Thorkild Olesen is the president of the group. Olesen is blind. He says many teachers don’t have the tools and skills to help kids learn Braille. So they teach with audio tools, such as audio books. “Like any other people, we need to express ourselves in writing,” Olesen said. “Audio is great. But it can never replace Braille. Braille is the single most important tool for us in order to learn to spell correctly, write, and gain literacy like sighted people.”

1. Braille is　 　.

A．a new toy for blind children.

B．a new version of Lego bricks.

C．a writing system for blind people.

D．a kind of book for blind people.

2. According to the passage, Lego Braille Bricks are characterized by　 　.

A．raised dots.

B．numbers and math symbols.

C．Braille letters.

D．printed letters.

3. Through Lego Braille Bricks, blind children can learn about different ideas EXCEPT　 　.

A．art.

B．numbers.

C．math symbols.

D．English letters.

4. Which of the following sentences is WRONG according to the article?

A．In the US, one in ten blind children learn Braille.

B．Lego will send Lego Braille Bricks to some schools for free.

C．Lego Braille Bricks will help more blind children learn Braille.

D．Many teachers are now teaching Braille with Lego Braille Bricks.

【推荐3】Cedar, a third-generation beekeeper from the countryside of New South Wales, Australia, says that he was inspired to try and design a simpler hive (蜂箱) after his brother was stung (蜇) during one of their honey-gathering tasks.

The young guy knew that there must be a clever way to gather honey without having to wear protective suits, open the hive, and disturb the little bees. After several years, Cedar and his father Stuart finally perfected their invention—the Flow Hive, which can save beekeepers hours of work simply by channeling all of its honey into a tap that can be turned on and off at will.

Four years after their initial success, the Flow Hive has had a big influence on honeybee populations around the world. The father and his son say that they have successfully shipped over 51,000 hives to 150 different countries. Since they introduced the hive in 2015, the number of beekeepers in the U.S.alone has increased by over 10%.

Their success is particularly significant since honeybee populations have been steadily decreasing as a result of habitat loss. That's why now Stuart and Cedar Anderson are donating their hive earnings to international honeybee advocacy groups.

“We’re proud to have donated 100% of profits from the sale of our Flow Pollinator (传粉昆虫) House to nine local pollinator projects in Australia and the U.S. that are at work protecting wild habitats all around the world,” said the Andersons in a statement. “Pollinators need large areas of habitat to grow healthily—the more we can do to conserve native habitats, the more opportunities these tiny environmental champions will have to do their important work.”

1. What can we learn about Cedar?

A．He is often hurt by honeybees.

B．He is from a big city in Australia.

C．He knows a lot about beekeeping.

D．He dislikes working with his brother.

2. Which of the following best describes the Flow Hive?

A．It is friendly to the environment.

B．It can improve the quality of honey.

C．It can help bees produce more honey.

D．It simplifies the honey-gathering process.

3. Why do the Andersons make donations?

A．To expand their business.

B．To protect bees’ habitats.

C．To build more Flow Hives.

D．To help the poor in Australia.

4. What would be the best title for the text?

A．“Honey on Tap” Beehive

B．The Cost of Beekeeping

C．The Growth of a Beekeeper

D．True Facts About Honeybees

【推荐2】In the oceans, concrete is the main construction material, accounting for more than 70% of coastal and marine construction such as ports, coastal defense structures and waterfronts. “Concrete is damaging the ocean because, to put it in place, natural ecosystems are destroyed,” says Alex Rogers, director of a nonprofit company studying ocean health and raising awareness of global impacts on the marine environment. “Concrete is a conventioal material, and it is low cost. But we should be looking at alternative materials.”

Those alternatives might already be here. Among them is a substance called ECOncrete. It produces bio-enhancing concrete products intended to protect coastlines and marine resources. This is achieved by using a mixture made almost entirely of by-products and recycled materials, and is thus nearly carbon neutral. The overall result is a low-carbon concrete.

Furthermore, unlike traditional concrete, which is highly alkaline (碱性的), the specially designed concrete has a PH value near to that of sea water, which helps to promote the growth of marine species such as crabs,clams, mussels, and oysters. ECOncrete is already in use across eight countries and six different areas.

However, Beth Strain, a project leader for Australia’s National Center for Coasts and Climate, says the evidence for the concrete as a better surface for marine organisms is very mixed. “It can be location specific. We did an experiment in 13 harbors around the world with the same type of concrete surface complexity. Largely, the results were positive, but in Penang, Malaysia, for example, using the concrete that would theoretically preserve moisture (水分) and be better for organisms to survive made no difference.” Strain thinks this is because of the area’s typhoons, which make the area very wet already, so the features of the concrete aren’t a big help. “There is a degree of difference and each location has its own environmental chanllenges,” says Strain.

Nevertheless, from multiple perspectives, it appears that nature-based solutions are definitely the way forward.

1. What do we know about ECOncrete from the text?

A．It is a substance that is highly alkaline.

B．It is a company aiming to keep marine life safe.

C．It is a substance that has a lower impact on oceans.

D．It is a mixture which is combined with low-carbon concrete.

2. What is Beth Strain’s attitude towards ECOncrete?

A．Negative

B．Indifferent

C．Objective

D．Supportive

3. What contribute to the result in Penang according to Beth Strain?

A．The climate of the area.	B．The PH value of the sea water.
C．The researchers of the project	D．The diversity of the marine organisms.

4. Which one may be a possible solution in the future?

A．Invent a new artificial material.	B．Install monitors under the oceans.
C．Use stone in coastal constructions.	D．Pull down current coastal constuctions.