【推荐1】Very few animals except dolphins, chimpanzees (黑猩猩)，and elephants have ever passed the mirror test for self-recognition. Scientists believe they have found a fish able recognize itself in a mirror. The result is surprising because this ability is usually only found in animals with bigger brains. Even humans don't usually pass the mirror test until they are about a year and a half old.

To test the wrasse (隆头鱼), a small fish in the sea, scientists put each wrasse in a tank with a mirror. They gave the fish a chance to get used to the mirror and watched their reactions. At first, the wrasses challenged the "other fish" by swimming up to the mirror and "fighting" them with the mouth. But soon the wrasses seemed to understand that something funny was happening. They began to swim toward the mirror upside down or in other unusual ways. It was like they were testing whether the fish in the mirror were really themselves.

Once the wrasses seemed used to the mirror, the scientists gave the wrasses a mark by putting the fish to sleep and injecting something under their skin. Some of the fish got a brown mark. Other fish got a clear "mark" that didn't have a color and couldn't be seen in a mirror.

After looking in the mirror, the wrasses with the brown marks would rub the area with the mark against the sand in the bottom of the tank. Then they would go back and look in the mirror again, as if checking if the mark was still there. But when wrasses with brown marks were put in tanks without mirrors, they didn't try to rub their marks away. And wrasses with clear "marks" didn't either, even when they could see themselves in the mirror.

The unexpected results are making some people look hard for other ways to explain how the wrasses reacted. So even though the wrasses seem to have passed the mirror test, the scientists will need some time to reflect on exactly what that means.

1. Why do the scientists feel surprised about the result?

A．The fish has a big brain.

B．Elephants failed to pass the mirror test.

C．Chimpanzees are as clever as dolphins.

D．The fish succeeded in passing the mirror test.

2. What did the scientists take notice of about the wrasses at first?

A．They swam in unusual ways.

B．They were unaware of themselves in the mirror.

C．They thought the mirror interesting.

D．They wanted to challenge themselves.

3. How did the fish with brown marks react in the mirror test?

A．They would rub the area with the mark against sand.

B．They would pay no attention to marks.

C．They would rest in the bottom of the tank.

D．They would swim upside down to the mirror.

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

A．Why Are Fish Smarter than Expected?

B．Do Colors Affect the Experiment?

C．How Is the Mirror Test Conducted?

D．Can Fish Recognize Themselves in the Mirror?

【推荐2】第三部分：书面表达
第一节：阅读表达（共5 小题；
阅读下面的短文，并根据短文后的要求答题（请注意问题后的字数要求）。

Researchers found that women are overcome by a burning desire to share gossip (流言蜚语) as soon as they hear it. They will typically tell the secret to at least one other person in 47 hours. Depending on who the gossip is about, their boyfriend, husband, best friend or mother is most likely to be the recipients of the information.

       The study of 3000 women aged between 18 and 65 also found that out of ten admitted they were unable to keep a secret—no matter how personal or secret the news was. It was also found that alcohol usually gives us a helping hand to let out secrets—with more than half admitting a glass or two of wine could get them to dish the dirt.

Michael Cox, UK Director of Wines of Chile, said, “It’s official women who can’t keep secrets. We are really eager to find out with this survey how many secrets people are told. What we don’t count on is how quickly these are passed on by those we trust. No matter how precious the piece of information is, it often comes out within 48 hours.”

Three quarters say they are able to keep quiet about a secret, and 83 percent consider themselves 100 percent reliable within each group of friends. Yet, four in ten admit gossiping to a close friend from another friendship group. Nearly half (45 percent) disclose secrets just for the weight to be lifted from their shoulders. More than four in ten think it is acceptable to share a friend’s secret with someone who doesn’t know him or her.

Private issues, true cost of purchases and affairs emerged top of the secret-keeping list, with girls most likely to share a secret chatting face-to-face, on the phone or via a text message. Fortunately, over a quarter (27 percent) said they forgot what they were told the following day.

1. Please explain the underlined words “dish the dirt” in English. (No more than 5 words.)
___________________________________________________________________________
2. What makes women more likely pass on gossip? (No more than 3 words.)
___________________________________________________________________________
3. What kinds of secrets are women most interested in? (No more than 10 words.)
___________________________________________________________________________
4. Why do about half women tell secrets to others? (No more than 10 words.)
___________________________________________________________________________
5. Should women tell secrets to others or keep secrets? Please give your reasons. (No more than 30 words.)
___________________________________________________________________________

【推荐3】A headache is a pain in the head which almost everyone feels at one time or another. Almost half of all people have a headache at least once a year. Most headaches are not dangerous but they get in the way of your work and disturb your life.

    1    

Tension (紧张）headaches usually cause a slight to strong pain in the head. Many people describe such headaches as a tightening feeling. Some headaches cause a dull pain that can last for hours. They appear anywhere from the front to the back of your head.

About 20% of all headaches are migraines, which are strong headaches that can cause extreme pain.     2     You will have a feeling of sickness in the stomach, and sometimes you may see flashes of light shortly before migraines attack.

Causes of headaches

    3    Even though the exact causes of a headache are not clear, most of them are caused by the widening of blood vessels (血管）combined with chemicals that are set free around them. Nerves send pain messages to your brain. There are many factors that can lead to a headache, such as lack of sleep, stress, smoking or watching TV for a long time.     4    

How to fight off headaches

Pain relievers (止痛剂）and other drugs are often used to ease headaches. Many people take aspirin when they have a headache. Doctors also suggest that patients should relax when they experience a headache. In some cases, changing your diet may result in relieving pain and weakening headaches.    5     . This may not make headaches disappear completely but it can help make you feel better.

A．Types of headaches

B．Warning signs of migraine sufferers

C．They can last as long as a couple of days.

D．Headaches are a disorder of the nervous system.

E．And you should exercise regularly and get a lot of fresh air.

F．There are so many natural ways to relieve a violent headache.

G．Sometimes headaches can also be caused by injuries and sadness.

【推荐1】People say money doesn’t buy happiness, but how much money you make can affect the way you experience it?

While it’s true that money can’t buy happiness, having money has certain benefits. For example, money can buy you time to do things that make you happier, and giving away some of your money can make you happier as well. Now scientists from the University of California at Irvine have found that how much money you make may impact (影响) how you experience happiness; higher earners are more likely to experience positive emotions focused on themselves, while lower earners are more likely to experience positive emotions focused on connecting with other people.

Scientists used data from an existing survey of 1,519 U.S. adults between the ages of 24 to 93, to be representative of the entire U.S. population. From the survey, scientist collected the household income of each person and analyzed how each person experienced the seven emotions that are believed to cause happiness: amusement, admiration, compassion, satisfaction, enthusiasm, love, and pride.

What they found was that higher earners were associated with the happiness-related emotions of satisfaction, pride, and amusement, all of which are self-focused in nature. Lower earners were associated with more other-oriented (他人指向) happiness-related emotions: compassion, love, and admiration. There were no differences observed with enthusiasm.

As to reasons for the difference, the researchers suppose that while pride and satisfaction may reflect upper class individuals’ desire for independence, increased love and compassion may help lower class individuals form more harmonious (和谐的), interdependent bonds to help deal with their more threatening environments. In other words, the researchers are not saying that one way of getting happiness is better than another, but rather that the way one obtains happiness may be a product of existing and coping within one’s particular circumstances.

1. What do higher earners prefer to do?

A．Long to connect with others.

B．Spend more money on the poor.

C．Buy things to make them happier.

D．Pay more attention to themselves.

2. Why did the scientists study the seven emotions?

A．They can make people happy.

B．They can be bought with money.

C．They are the most common feelings.

D．They are results of an existing survey.

3. Which emotions do lower-income people have based on the study?

A．Pride and satisfaction.

B．Enthusiasm and amusement.

C．Admiration and compassion.

D．Compassion and satisfaction.

4. What can be inferred from people with different incomes?

A．Those with lower income live a hard life.

B．They have different ways to get happiness.

C．Richer ones are happier than poorer ones.

D．Their happiness has nothing to do with money.

【推荐2】Weeds, the fast-growing plants that cannot be eaten and do not bring flowers, are a common problem for gardeners. Some use chemicals to kill weeds. Others pull them up by hand or with heavy machinery. Luckily, there are other ways to limit their growth.

For starters, there are mulches which can bury weeds. Mulches are made from organic material, such as leaves, grass cuttings, and small pieces of wood. They are spread over the ground in a garden to control weeds. Organic mulches break down over time.     1     That is not a bad thing, because their decomposition creates nutrients for plants and humus to keep soils wet and full of fresh air.

Plastic mulch is another way to stop weeds. Common black plastic is easy to lay down. It also effectively blocks weeds and helps soil warm faster in the spring.     2     A reflective plastic mulch, for example, keeps some plant-eating insects away. A major problem with plastic is that it breaks apart over time, so eventually it needs to be thrown away. It also adds nothing to the soil as far as nutrients or humus.     3    

Finally, in addition to direct attacks on weeds, how you plant your garden can indirectly influence weed growth. For example, close spacing of plants in the garden blocks sunlight from reaching the ground and can limit weed growth. And using a watering method known as drip irrigation will direct small amounts of water to the roots of your plants instead of the weeds.     4     Lying in soil are millions of weed seeds just waiting to be awakened by light and air.

Using any or all of these methods will not permanently stop weed growth.     5    

A．So you must add more to your garden often.

B．And plastic also can block air from reaching the soil.

C．However, we could finally make it through our efforts.

D．So it adds little to the soil in terms of humus or nutrients.

E．Instead, your goal is simply to limit their growth in the garden.

F．Whether or not you dig up your soil also influences weed growth.

G．Recent experiments with other colored plastic have shown effects on both bugs and plant growth.

【推荐3】Young trees don’t just grow; they develop a personality and learn more about their environment and how they should best behave in it. They also help each other out whenever there’s trouble.

Personality, just as among people, varies among trees. Some are anxious, some bold. On the author’s land, there are three oak trees growing close together. One of the oak trees always starts to shed its leaves two weeks earlier than the others. Since they all experience the same temperature, the same soil and the same length of day, such variables can’t be the explanation. So what’s happening?Well, this tree is simply more careful than the others. Whoever holds on to their leaves longer can do more photosynthesis(光合作用) and store more nutrients.However, the longer a tree keeps its leaves, the higher the risk of injury.

Not only do trees make their own decisions, they also learn from their mistakes. A tree, for example, keeping its leaves too long during one year will never make this mistake again. This leads to several other conclusions: trees must notice the temperature and the length of the day and be able to save their experiences somewhere. Obviously, trees don’t have brains,but it is thought that in the sensitive tips of their roots they keep track of information and experiences.

But trees aren’t only clever when it comes to caring for themselves. They also support each other whenever there’s trouble by giving warnings and even taking care of sick and weak conspecifics with nutrients. For example, one time the author found a very old tree stump. Its insides had rotted a long time ago to topsoil. But the wood on the outside of the stump was still living. How was this possible?Well, the stump was nourished by its neighbors with nutrients from the root system, and had been for at least 400 years!

Why do trees do such a thing? It’s simple: it’s better together. Trees need the forest; it protects them from storms, provides the right microclimate and warns them of attacks.

1. According to the text, which of the following best describes general features of trees?

A．Anxious and bold.

B．Smart and adventurous.

C．Helpful and well-behaved.

D．Adaptable and supportive.

2. What does the underlined phrase “do such a thing” mean?

A．Give warnings.

B．Offer assistance.

C．Depend on others.

D．Provide nutrients.

3. Where does this text most probably come from?

A．A public lecture.

B．A science book.

C．An experiment report.

D．A travel journal.