【推荐1】John von Neumann was the oldest of 3 children of a banker, and his speed of learning new ideas and solving problems stood out early. At 17, his father tried to persuade him not to become a mathematician because he might lead a poor life being a mathematician, so von Neumann agreed to study chemistry as well. In 1926, at 23, he received a degree in chemical engineering and a Ph.D. in mathematics. From then on, mathematics provided well enough for him, and he never had to turn to chemistry.

In 1930, von Neumann visited Princeton University for a year and then became a professor there. His first book was published in 1932. In 1933, the Institute for Advanced Study was formed, and he became one of the 6 full-time people in the School of Mathematics (Einstein was one of the others).

World WarⅡ hugely changed von Neumann’s areas of interest. Until 1940 he had been a great pure mathematician. During and after the war, he became one of the best mathematicians who put mathematical theories into practice. During the last part of the war he became interested in computing machines and made several fundamental contributions. After the war, von Neumann continued his work with computers, and was generally very active in government service. He received many awards, was president of the American Mathematical Society and was a member of the Atomic Energy Commission. He died of cancer in 1957.

Von Neumann made several great contributions and any one of them would have been enough to earn him a firm place in history. He is remembered as one of the greatest minds of the 20th century.

Von Neumann really is a legend in his own time, and there are a number of stories about him. His driving ability is a part of his legend. He reported one accident this way: “I was driving down the road. The trees on the right were passing me in an orderly fashion at 60 miles per hour. Suddenly one of them stepped in my path.”

1. According to the text, von Neumann’s father believed that ________ .

A．a mathematician couldn’t earn a lot of money

B．a mathematician needed a good memory

C．von Neumann had the ability to learn two subjects at the same time

D．von Neumann had the gift for solving problems at a high speed

2. Von Neumann published his first book at the age of ________.

A．25

B．26

C．29

D．32

3. How did World WarⅡ affect John von Neumann?

A．He realized the importance of engineering.

B．He began to research how to put mathematics into practice.

C．He left college and served at the government department.

D．He lost interest in chemistry.

【推荐2】Dear Olivia,

First. I think you have a beautiful name. Of course, I' d say the same to Olivia L., Olivia R..， and Olivia S. Come to think of it; maybe “Dear Olivias” would have been a better header.

I too, was given one of my birth year’s most popular names. I was one of many Erins in 1980.

I wonder if our parents considered how many of us, both Erins and Olivias, there would be. Growing up, I babysat （照看孩子）an Erin whose house was across our backyard, knew an Erin who lived around the corner and who also happened to be my best friend's older sister, knew an Erin who lived just down the street. Not to mention the Erin population at school.

Mostly. I felt like the Erins around me weren’t much like me. 1 thought it was strange that we all had the same name. Then, around Grade 9, as my brother was changing his name from Stacey James to S.J., I wanted to change my name, too.

I experimented （尝 试）a bit with how I might respell my middle name Megan and decided on Maygen, and hyphenated （用连接号连接）it with Erin. I kept using this name until a couple of years later when I said goodbye to Erin all together.

Now, having spent most of my life as Maygen, I've learned that although there were no Megans in my neighbourhood, it turns out I had changed my name to an even more popular name of the 1980s.

But you know what? Common or not, 1 love my name. In my life, I've befriended Erin after Erin, none of whom remind （使想起）me of the kid I babysat or my friend's sister.

I’m not sure why names become popular, but one thing is certain, Olivia: your name is loved by many. May you love it as well.

1. Why does the author say" Dear Olivias' would have been a better header”？

A．The letter could have been written to all Olivias.

B．She is not sure which Olivia will read the letter.

C．She knows a lot of girls called Olivia.

D．Olivia is not a one-of-a-kind name.

2. When did the author decide to change her name?

A．After her brother changed his name.

B．After she had some trouble at school.

C．When she found more Erins around her.

D．When she noticed other Erins were different.

3. Which of the following may be the author's name now?

A．Megan Kardash.

B．Maygen Kardash.

C．Erin-Megan Kardash.

D．Erin-Maygen Kardash.

4. What’s the author's purpose of writing the text?

A．To compare Erins and Olivias.

B．To introduce some popular names.

C．To talk Olivia into loving her name.

D．To express her love for her own name.

【推荐3】One of the most successful singers of the twentieth century, Ella Fitzgerald has made several different styles of her own. She was born in Virginia but was brought up in an orphanage in Yonkers, New York. Chick Webb spotted her in an amateur competition when she was sixteen. He engaged her to sing with his band and when he died in 1939, she took over.
Unlike Bessie Smith, Ella Fitzgerald taught herself the sentimental music so popular in the 1930’s — songs like “My Heart Belongs to Daddy”— and her recordings became best-sellers. During the 1940’s she developed her own “scat singing” — a breathless, nonsense—syllable style—for songs like “Flying Home” and “Lady Be Good.”
Ella Fitzgerald was the perfect musical partner for her friend, the trumpeter Louis Armstrong, matching him in warmth and artistry. “I just like music, period,” she said. “To me, it’s a story. There’s only one thing better than singing…. It’s more singing.”
1. What does the passage mainly discuss?

A．A comparison of Ella Fitzgerald and Bessie Smith.

B．The musical career of Ella Fitzgerald.

C．Ella Fitzgerald’s early childhood.

D．Ella Fitzgerald’s most recent recordings.

2. The underlined word “spotted” means ________.

A．noticed

B．brought up

C．employed

D．recognized

3. What does the passage imply about Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong?

A．They were the founders of “scat singing”.

B．They played the same musical instruments.

C．They performed well together.

D．They were a married couple.

【推荐1】How far would you go to make a good impression in a new job? A college student in Alabama walked 32 kilometers in the dark to get where he would work on time.

Walter Carr’s car broke down the night before he started his new job in Bellhops, a furniture moving company. Unable to find a ride, Carr figured out how long it would take to walk from his house to the customer’s house in Pelham. And then he left at midnight so that he could reach there by 8 a.m. the next morning.

Pelham police saw him walking along a highway at 4 a.m., so they stopped to see if he needed help. After hearing his story, they took him to a restaurant for breakfast and then to a church where he could safely wait until 8 a.m.

The police then took Carr to the home of the customer Jenny Lamey. Lamey suggested that Carr rest for a while because he had just walked for a long time, but Carr insisted on starting working at once.

While working, Carr told Lamey that he and his mother moved from New Orleans, Louisiana to Birmingham, Alabama after losing their home in Hurricane Katrina, a devastating hurricane that hit the US in 2005. He worked part-time to cover living costs and pay college fees. Greatly touched by Carr, Lamey started a GoFundMe page to help Carr raise money to get his car fixed.

Walter Carr’s story touched many others around the US. Within a few days, people gave over $ 73,000 to his GoFundMe page. Besides, Carr received more job offers and won a scholarship. Grateful for others’ help, Carr has decided to give a part of the donations to the Birmingham Education Foundation, and he is determined to give back more.

1. Why did Carr have to walk to Pelham to work?

A．He couldn’t afford a ride after a hurricane destroyed his car.

B．The police took away his car after he was caught speeding.

C．He had no choice after he had a car crash in the dark.

D．He failed to find a ride after his car broke down.

2. What did Carr do first after he was brought to his destination?

A．He started to work immediately.

B．He had breakfast and took a rest.

C．He told the customer his family background.

D．He chatted with the customer about a church nearby.

3. What does the underlined word “devastating” in Paragraph 5 probably mean?

A．Quite hard to predict.	B．Possibly preventable.
C．Causing a lot of damage.	D．Increasingly widespread.

4. Why did Jenny Lamey start a GoFundMe page?

A．To help Carr buy a new car.	B．To make Larr’s story popular.
C．To raise money to repair Carr’s car.	D．To express her admiration for Carr.

【推荐2】When I was growing up, I had an old neighbor, Dr. Gibbs. He didn’t look like any doctor I’d ever known. He never invited us to play in his yard, but he was a very kind person. When Dr. Gibbs wasn’t saving lives, he was planting trees. He owned a large field and wanted to make it a forest.

The good doctor had some interesting ideas about planting trees. He never watered his new trees. Once I asked why, he said that watering plants spoiled them, and that if you watered them, each baby tree would grow weaker and weaker, so you had to make things difficult for them and pick out the weaker trees early on. He talked about how watering trees made for shallow (浅的）roots, and how trees that weren’t watered had to grow deep roots in search of water under the earth by themselves. Deep roots were very important. So he never watered his trees. He’d planted an oak and, instead of watering it every morning, he’d beat it with a rolled-up newspaper. I asked him why he did that, and he said it was to get the tree’s attention.

Dr. Gibbs died several years after I left home. Every now and then, I walked by his house and looked at the trees that I watched him plant about twenty-five years ago. They’re very big and strong now. I planted some trees a few years back and carried water to them for a whole summer. After two years of caring too much, whenever a cold wind blows in, they shake a lot.

Every night before I go to bed, I check on my two sons. Mostly I pray (祈祷) that their lives will be easy. But lately I’ve been thinking that it’s time to change my prayer. I know my children are going to face difficulties. There’s always a cold wind blowing somewhere, so what we need to do is to pray for roots that reach deep into the brave heart, so when the rains fall and the winds blow, we could face it strongly and won’t be beaten down.

1. We know from the reading, the doctor ______.

A．didn’t know how to plant trees at all

B．had his own ways of planting trees

C．wasn’t good at his own medical job

D．had nothing to do but plant trees

2. When Dr. Gibbs said “... pick out the weaker trees early on.”, he meant that ______.

A．some weak trees would be easily found out at the beginning

B．he would choose the weak trees to water earlier

C．the weak trees would be sent to his patients later

D．he would not plant weak trees so early anymore

3. The passage tells us that the writer ______.

A．beat all his trees with a rolled-up newspaper

B．often water his trees

C．took too much care of his trees

D．didn’t have a large field

4. The writer wants to change his prayer, hoping that ______.

A．his trees will be stronger than Dr. Gibbs'

B．his trees will not be beaten down

C．his sons will be better at planting trees

D．his sons will be able to face difficulties

5. Which can be the best title of the reading?

A．Watering Trees

B．Growing Roots

C．Doctor and his Neighbor

D．Father and his Children

【推荐3】For the first time since my open-heart operation, I have the energy to take my harp（竖琴）to the hospital rooms and play for anyone who likes it.

I checked in with two nurses and they gave me a list of rooms. The first man I played for was a patient who found it difficult to sleep. He smiled and with his eyes closed, he reached out to my harp. He was not interested in my voice, but he appreciated the harp. In the next room was a woman patient. I played some soft music for her and then she slept soundly.

Then I found a lovely elderly woman who was awake. There were flowers everywhere and photos of her and her husband at her bedside. She held my hand and talked for some time and was pleased to receive harp music. Playing for her was a special pleasure. She asked me how long I had been playing the harp, how much the harp weighed, how I learned it and why I wanted to learn it and so on.

We talked about books for a bit as well. I played until her grandson came in and he came back from overseas to see her. This woman was deeply loved—you could see that. She was beautiful and kind. I learn so much from these beautiful people who are brave to face their illnesses. It is always such a great honor to play for them.

1. How did the author feel when playing for the elderly woman?

A．Sad.	B．Worried.
C．Amazed.	D．Pleased.

2. What did the author say about the elderly woman?

A．She had no relatives.	B．She had many hobbies.
C．She would recover soon.	D．She was loved by her family.

3. How many patients did the author play the harp for according to the text?

A．Two.	B．Three.
C．Four.	D．Five.