【推荐1】There are a lot of wild camels in Australia. Although they don’t appear to be as destructive as other introduced species because they eat trees and plants that our native Australian animals don’t eat, in the last few years the Australian Camel population has been increasing at a fairly alarming rate and becoming a bit of a problem.

We didn’t see them that often where we grew up unless we went further into Queensland or South Australia. When we did see them it was always a bit of a thrill for us kids because it was somewhat of a novelty.

The suggestion of bringing camels to Australia was first made in 1837, 49 years after Europeans arrived in Australia. The importing of camels into Australia began in the mid 1800s to open up the desert areas of Central and Western Australia. They were handled and cared for by Muslim cameleers that came from countries like Egypt, Turkey and northern India. The cameleers were called Afghans or “Ghans” even though most of them were not Afghans. The name stuck to a part of the railroad track that links Port Augusta in South Australia to Darwin in the Northern Territory.

In a famous 176-kilometre race, between Bourke and Wanaaring in New South Wales a camel was beaten by a horse but the horse died the next day while the camel was ridden back to the starting point.

By the 1920s there were about 20, 000 domesticated camels in Australia, but with the arrival of motor and rail transport in the 1930s people no longer needed their camels and a lot of them were abandoned in the bush.

Australian Camels are now exported live to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and other countries where disease-free camels are considered a delicacy. Australian Camels are also exported to Arab Camel racing stables as breeding stock. The United States also imports them to use in tourist attractions. There are over 40 farms providing rides in Australia now.

1. What problem with camels in Australia is mentioned?

A．They carry disease.

B．They hurt people sometimes.

C．The number of them is growing rapidly.

D．Some native animals are threatened by them.

2. For what purpose were camels brought to Australia?

A．To keep the balance of nature.

B．To develop the desert areas.

C．To satisfy kids’ curiosity.

D．To create new jobs.

3. What led to camels’ being deserted in Australia?

A．The disappearance of bushes.

B．The spread of a serious disease.

C．The introduction of other animals.

D．The availability of modern vehicles.

4. What is the last paragraph mainly about?

A．The history of Australian Camels.

B．What Australian Camels are used for.

C．The advantages of Australian Camels.

D．Why Australian Camels are popular abroad.

【推荐2】Did you ever notice your shadow at different times of the day? Shadows change as the day goes on.

In the morning the sun makes long shadows. In the middle of the day, the sun seems to be right over your head and your shadow is very, very small. As the sun goes down in the afternoon, shadows grow very long again. But the long afternoon shadows fall in a different direction from the long morning shadows.

Long, long ago people told time by the shadows. Put a piece of paper in the sunlight. Stand a pencil in a spool in the middle of the paper. The shadow of the pencil will fall on the paper and move as the day goes on. Use a watch and every hour marks the place where the shadow falls. Now your paper is a sundial（通过太阳辨别时间的日规）and you can tell every sunny day. Just look at your paper sundial and see where the shadow falls.

1. When do shadows change?

A．Shadows change in the evening.	B．Shadows change when it is raining.
C．Shadows change as the day goes on.	D．Shadows change when it is snowing.

2. What happens to one’s shadow as the sun goes down in the afternoon?

A．He can’t see his shadow.	B．His shadow becomes long again.
C．His shadow becomes short.	D．His shadow becomes ugly.

3. What does one need to make a sundial?

A．A pencil, a watch and a spool.

B．A watch, a piece of paper and a pencil.

C．A spool, a piece of paper and a watch.

D．A piece of paper, a pencil and a spool.

【推荐3】On November 14, 1902, President Theodore Roosevelt was on a hunting trip in Mississippi while trying to settle a line(边界) problem between Mississippi and Louisiana. Being an expert outdoorsman, he liked to hunt large animals.

However, his hunt was going poorly that days, and he couldn’t seem to find anything worthy of firing his gun. His followers, trying to help him, caught a Louisiana black baby bear for the President to shoot, but he refused. The thought of shooting a bear that was tied to a tree did not seem sporting, so he spared the life of the baby bear and set it free.

A famous political cartoonist for the Washington Star, Mr. Clifford Berryman, drew a cartoon titled, Drawing the Line in Mississippi, which used the story of the President refusing to shoot the bear.

The cartoon in the Washington Star showed Teddy Roosevelt, gun in hand, with his back turned on a pretty baby bear. Morris Michtom, owner of a Brooklyn toy store, got the idea from the cartoon and make a toy bear. Planning to use it only as a display, he placed the bear in his toy store window, and next to it placed a copy of the cartoon from the newspaper. To Michtom's surprise, he was surrounded by customers eager to buy it. He asked for and received President Roosevelt's permission to use his name for the bears that he and his wife made, and the Teddy Bear was born! Michtom soon made Teddy bears by the thousands. The money from selling Teddy bears made him, in 1903, form the Ideal Toy Company.

1. Why did Theodore Roosevelt come to Mississippi?

A．To go on a hunting trip.	B．To look for large animals.
C．To do some outdoor games.	D．To deal with a line problem.

2. Why did Theodore Roosevelt refuse to shoot that baby bear?

A．He was caring.	B．He loved animals.
C．He was not hunting.	D．It was too young.

3. What can we learn about Morris Michtom from the passage?

A．He was a far-sighted businessman.

B．He liked drawing cartoons of bears.

C．He became President Roosevelt’s friend.

D．He didn’t expect Teddy Bear to be popular.

4. Who named the toy bear “Teddy Bear”?

A．Morris Michtom.	B．Teddy Roosevelt.
C．Mr. Clifford Berryman.	D．Michtom and his wife.

【推荐1】A man came home from work late, tired and unhappy, to find his 5-year-old son waiting for him at the door.

The boy asked, “Daddy, how much do you make per hour?” The father was furious at his son's question.

When he said $20 an hour, the little boy asked his father to lend $10 to him. The father was even angrier because he thought the boy just wanted some money to buy a toy. So he didn't answer his son.

The little boy quietly went to his room. After about an hour or so, the man calmed down and started to think: Maybe there was something he really needed to buy with that $10.

“Maybe I was too hard on you just now,” the man went into the room and said. “Here's the $10 you asked for.”

“Oh, thank you, Daddy!” He said. Then, he reached under his pillow, pulled out some crumpled coins and said, “Daddy, I have $20 now. Can I buy an hour of your time? Please come home early tomorrow. I would like to have dinner with you.”

1. How much does the man make if he works 1 hour?

A．10.

B．$20.

C．$30.

D．40.

2. In this passage, the underlined word “furious” means ______.

A．very angry	B．quite happy
C．too excited	D．a little nervous

3. At first, the father refused to lend the boy any money because ______.

A．he thought the boy wanted to keep the money for himself

B．he did not have enough money at that moment

C．he thought the boy would buy something of no use

D．the boy always borrowed money from him

4. From the passage, we can infer (推断) that the boy's father ______.

A．often played with his son

B．spent little time with his son

C．didn’t love his son at all

D．often came back home early

【推荐2】Sammie Vance, 14, knows there’s nothing worse than feeling left out. For years, she’s been helping kids who feel lonely make friends. What she was doing was running the Buddy Bench program. The idea was that anyone at school who was feeling lonely could sit on the “buddy bench.” That let other kids know someone needed a friend. “It’s really helpful to have other people be able to notice you,” Sammie says.

The idea quickly caught on. The bench brought kids together. Since then, Sammie has helped communities all over the country set up buddy benches. “It means a lot to me,” she says, “that this is making a difference in people’s lives.”

Sammie got the idea for the Buddy Bench program at summer camp in 2017. She thought it would be cool to have a buddy bench in her school, so when she got home, she presented the idea to her principal, her teachers, and her parents.

Getting approval for the project was just the first step. “There have been a lot of small challenges, like money,” Sammie says.

To reduce costs and be eco-friendly, Sammie decided to make the bench out of recycled material. So she called on her community to gather bottle caps.

Word of the project got out, and soon Sammie was getting caps from people in all 50 states. She even got them from people in Germany, the Netherlands, and other countries. In the end, she collected more than 1,200 pounds of bottle caps. A company called GreenTree Plastics was able to upcycle these into three benches.

In addition to all the kids her project has helped, Sammie is grateful for how it has changed her. “It just helped me grow in so many different aspects of my life,” she says.

Before long, Sammie was helping other schools acquire benches. She has donated more than 200 benches to schools and parks all around the country, and in Mexico and Australia. Her work continues to spread kindness far and wide.

Even small acts of kindness can be powerful. “It can make someone’s day and lead to a chain reaction,” she says. “You never know. Just be kind, in general.”

1. What do we know about the Buddy Bench program?

A．It helps lonely kids to make friends.	B．Only lonely kids can sit on the bench.
C．The program brought all the kids together.	D．It made Sammie Vance popular among the kids.

2. What is probably not a challenge of the program?

A．lacking money	B．collecting materials for the bench
C．gaining support from her classmates	D．getting approval of her school and her parents

3. What can we learn from the passage?

A．She collected the bottle caps from all over the country.

B．The benches were made to be eco-friendly and low-cost.

C．A company upcycled the caps into three benches for free.

D．She donated benches to schools and parks all around the country.

4. What’s the influence the project has on Sammie?

A．It helped her grow in many respects.

B．She became popular among the students.

C．It can brighten her day and lead to a chain reaction.

D．Her work continues to spread kindness far and wide.