【推荐1】How to Enjoy Life As a Teen

The "best years of your life"?Maybe not,but you can learn to make the most of your high school days.

Learn to appreciate small things.Whether it's having a computer,having friends,having a good supply of food,a bed to sleep on,family that loves you,having a decent education or simply being born in this world,value it.    1    Be happy,and life will reward you.Remember that these are the last few years you will be able to enjoy yourself without having to worry about the responsibility of an adult,but make sure you prepare yourself for when you do become one. When you actually become an adult,you'll learn to love that responsibility and you probably never want to go back.

Choose your friends wisely. Unlike what many articles state,you don't have to be popular and have a gazillion friends to be happy.    2    Try to have friends that like you who you are,not just because you are wearing a certain brand of shoes or something like that.These are people who shop at the same store as you; not someone who will sympathize with you when your dog dies.

Keep your grades up.    3    This also sets you up to get into a college you want to go to,which in turn prepares you for a career you will enjoy,improving your quality of life in the future.You'll get cheap car insurance as well if you have at least a B or A average.

    4    Participating in clubs,activities,and sports increases your chances of meeting new friends.While you only need 4 or 5 close friends,that doesn't mean you shouldn't try to meet new people.Participating gives you something to do instead of sitting bored at home and wallowing in self-pity.

Work at a job you can enjoy.Working is a great way co gain experience and to meet other people.    5    This will look great on your resume.If you can't find work,especially in this hard economic time,volunteer or make your own job.

A．Be sociable.

B．Remember the point of life is for you to enjoy it.

C．Find a hobby that is meaningful or practical.

D．In fact,many of the "friends" you have when you are popular are not true friends.

E．When you do get out of college, interviewing companies will look at your previous work experience.

F．Even though you want to enjoy your teen life as best as possible,don't idle away your time in school.

G．There is nothing more satisfying than seeing your hard work pay off in the form of A's and B's (but mainly A's).

【推荐2】I vividly remember walking back to my house after collecting the afternoon mails. I saw a credit card statement and or bank statements. It was in that moment that I felt a deep tension.
I realized that even though I had married a man who I adored, I really didn’t have a clear sense of how he handled money and how the two of us were going to combine our different approaches to handing money in our marriage. I was more organized and detailed, but he was more of a laid---hack type. I knew that getting on the same financial page was a key factor in creating a successful marriage and financial future.
I asked my husband if he would be willing to set up a time each week to talk about our finances and develop a plan for getting rid of our credit card debt. My husband said he would be willing to do this. Admittedly, he was skeptical(怀疑)------but willing.
We came to refer to our weekly meetings as our Financial Dates. We didn’t really have a clue as to what we were doing. All we knew was that we needed to give our finances serious attention. Some Dates were filled with tense conversations. Other Dates were filled with laughter, joy and creativity. However, we kept showing up for our Dates and we never gave up. What started out as a means for survival became a powerful connecting thread in our relationship. Something shifted within us.
Instead of our finances becoming a source of divisive（不和的）tension that pulled us apart, they became the glue（粘着剂）that held us together as we became a unified team.
I still recall the day that we excitedly crossed off our last credit card payment on the chart we had created. We had finally arrived. We were free. We had been given wings to fly.
Now, whenever I feel huge stress I ask myself, “ How am I contributing to what is happening right now?” This gives me the great power to take action. Even though my husband and I don’t have any guarantee against future challenges, I am left with something deep within that is unshakable and that can never be taken away----the memory of our past successes and the power to integrate（整合）these lessons in my day—to—day life.
1. Why did the author feel nervous when collecting the afternoon mails?

A．She was not sure about her marriage.

B．She didn’t know how to handle money.

C．She could feel the pressure of the huge debt.

D．She was reminded of the quarrels in the family.

2. Which word can replace the underlined word “laid—back” in the second paragraph?

A．Relaxed

B．Doubtful

C．Cautious

D．Confident.

3. What can we learn from the Financial Dates?

A．They showed the couple clear direction at first.

B．They left the couple nothing but deep sadness.

C．They were once interrupted but quickly continued.

D．They strengthened the couple’s relationship at last.

4. We can infer that when faced with stress the author will___________.

A．try to change the situation

B．focus on what contributes to it

C．get power from the memory

D．feel free to do what she likes

【推荐3】"Barefoot Mike" gets a lot of attention when he shows up at the beginning of a race. He loves to run and has been running since he was a kid. He loves to race, and often competes in 10K races. But that’s not the reason he gets so much attention. People notice him because when he runs, “Barefoot Mike” runs barefoot.

Running barefoot has become a huge trend in the world of running. “I didn't set out to be a trend setter,” laughed

“Barefoot Mike”, otherwise known as Mike Whitaker. “I've always been a runner, but until a few years ago, I always wore shoes. Then one day I was running after a rainstorm. I stepped off into the grass to avoid a puddle(水坑) on the sidewalk, and accidentally stepped into a huge muddy puddle that had been hidden in the grass. I tried to keep running, but the wet and dirty shoe made it really hard. I figured the best solution was to just get rid of the shoes.”

Mike took off his shoes and dropped them into the nearest trash can. “Then I started running. At first I went really slowly because I was watching out for rocks or other things that could hurt my feet, but there really weren't any problems.” He started going faster. “It felt so good!” Mike said. “My knee, which always ached, didn't ache. My foot was able to spread out so I had better balance. And my feet didn't feel all hot and sweaty. It was awesome!”

“There are actually potential health benefits to running barefoot,” said Dr.   Nancy Bower, a podiatrist(足科医师)．

A recent study agrees. A team of researchers recently videotaped several people running —first wearing shoes and then barefoot. In almost every case, when wearing shoes, the runners tended to land on the heel of their foot, which they call “heel­striking.” Many runners have impact injuries such as knee pain. Heel­striking may be the cause of these injuries or may make an existing injury worse.

When running barefoot, the runners tended to land on the middle part of the foot. The force is spread out throughout the foot. The ankle, shin(胫部), knee and hip don't get the shock of a hard landing with every step.

1. Why does Mike receive a lot of attention while running?

A．Because he runs very fast.

B．Because he loses his shoes.

C．Because he wears no shoes.

D．Because he wears strange clothes.

2. According to Paragraph 2, why did Mike run barefoot years ago?

A．He liked running barefoot.

B．He was advised to run barefoot.

C．His shoe became very uncomfortable.

D．His dream of becoming famous motivated him.

3. After running barefoot for a while a few years ago, Mike ________.

A．was very tired

B．was badly hurt

C．gave up running

D．felt unexpectedly great

4. According to the recent study, heel­striking ________.

A．is bad for one's health

B．is caused by existing injuries

C．happens when one runs barefoot

D．can be avoided by wearing sports shoes.

【推荐1】Using Healthy Cooking Methods Is Important

Eating healthier meals is a big part of taking good care of yourself and your family, but eating healthier meals doesn't mean you have to give up your favorite food.     1    

Boil vegetables and meats without using any oils or fats.     2     . It's not only healthier than using lots of fats, but also it keeps the nutrients of the foods. All you need to boil food is a large pot, water, and a little bit of salt. Carrots, cabbages, potatoes, chicken and beef are just a few choices for food you can boil.

Steam vegetables and fish to keep all the nutrients unbroken. You can place a steaming basket over a pot of boiling water and place them in the steamer basket to contain all the juices. Simply bring a pot of water to boil.     3    . Add your food to the basket. Add some salt or lemon juice to your steamed vegetables or fish for some extra flavor.

    4    Barbecue is great from a certain point of view because it makes your meat soft and tasty while also letting the fat drip away from it, which is healthier for you. It also passes on a nice flavor to meats and vegetable. You can roast steak and chicken, as well as vegetables, like potatoes, peppers, onions, and even lettuce.

Try eating raw foods to avoid losing any nutrients through cooking. Focus on eating uncooked foods.     5     Eating only raw foods isn't recommended for children or for women who are pregnant.

A．Place your steam basket on top

B．Roast meats and vegetables for less fat

C．Fruit and vegetables are good for health

D．Boiling is a simple and healthy way to cook

E．Fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds can be eaten uncooked

F．Eating healthy means cooking less meat but more vegetables

G．Learn how to cook food in a healthier way may help eat healthily

【推荐2】Porridge doesn't have a very tasty name, does it? It doesn't have a very tasty reputation, either. I'm here to try and convince you that porridge isn’t boring and tasteless, that it can be a delicious, convenient and very healthy way to start the day.

If you’ve never eaten it (although you probably have), porridge is a type of food served for breakfast. It is usually a type of grain, like rice or oat (燕麦), mixed with either milk or water, and often heated up. It is often thicker than liquid, but not solid and is very easy to digest, so it's a better option for people who are ill, and it provides long-lasting energy for the day.

Porridge preparation--the amount of ingredients (配料) and cooking time—depends on what you choose to use as your porridge base. If I'm cooking for myself, I put a very big handful of ‘rolled’ oats in a saucepan, add a little bit of water and about 200ml of milk, and let the mixture boil. I stir the porridge constantly, and it takes about five to ten minutes to cook.

Once it's cooked, the fun part is adding the flavors. Porridge alone doesn't have a very strong flavour. Although some people think this makes porridge boring, I think this is what makes porridge exciting! It is like a blank piece of paper—you can add almost anything you want to the porridge base. Greens, nuts and dried fruits are very healthy options to add and can give you energy for the day. But if you don't like these, or you're allergic, then honey and chocolate are also very tasty options. (Just don’t add to much!)

One of the best things about porridge? You can make it almost anywhere in the world. Either oats or rice or both are “staple foods (主食)” for many people across the world. You can usually buy big bags of either, then add local ingredients to make your porridge interesting—whatever is cheap and convenient to find, wherever you are. I am currently in Mexico, and I love to heat my oats up with milk, then mix in peanuts and pumpkin seeds and cacao nibs, and I put a layer of sugar over the top to make my porridge sweeter.

Porridge? Hopefully it sounds a lot tastier now!

1. According to the author, what is the best thing about porridge?

A．It provides long-lasting energy for the day.

B．It is cheap and convenient to make.

C．It's a better option for people.

D．It is never boring and tasteless.

2. What is the purpose of the text?

A．To give brief introduction to various porridge.

B．To show how to prepare porridge for the patient.

C．To warn us not to have porridge for breakfast.

D．To introduce the benefits of porridge.

3. Which of the following statements is TRUE?

A．Porridge is often thicker, liquid and solid.

B．Porridge alone has a very strong flavor.

C．Porridge is to many people's liking.

D．Porridge is only served for breakfast.

4. What's the author's favourite flavor?

A．Porridge with Sugar.	B．Porridge with oats.
C．Porridge with fruit.	D．Porridge with milk.

【推荐1】The over 48,000 orange trees in Seville, Spain, not only fill the city’s air with the pleasant smell of orange blossoms in spring, but they also produce over 16,500 tons of fruit every winter. Though that makes the capital of southern Spain’s Andalusia region Europe’s top orange-producing city, the fruit is too sour to be consumed fresh. While some of the produce is used to make orange jam and an alcoholic drink, most of it ends up in Seville’s landfills (填埋场). However, that may change soon thanks to a clever idea to use the oranges to produce clean energy.

The trial programme is being launched by the city’s council and park department in cooperation with Emasesa, Seville’s water supply and sanitation (卫生) division. Juice from 38. 6 tons of oranges will be left to ferment (发酵) in a specialised facility. The methane (甲烷) released from the fermented liquid will be captured and used to drive a generator to produce clean power. The officials estimate the test run will produce about 1,500 kWh of energy – enough to run one of Emasesa’s water purification plants. To ensure there is no waste, the orange skins, peels, and flesh will be used as fertiliser.

“It’s not just about saving money. The oranges are a problem for the city, and we’re producing added value from waste,” said Benigno Lopez, head of Emasesa’s environmental department.

If successful, by 2023, the city hopes to recycle all the oranges and add the electricity produced back into its power transmission network. In trial runs, one ton of oranges produced 50 kWh of clean energy – enough to cover the daily electricity needs of five homes. The project team estimates that if all the fruit is recycled, it will produce enough energy to power as many as 73,000 residences.

“This project will help us to reach our targets for reducing emissions, energy self-sufficiency, and the circular economy,” Juan Espadas Cejas, mayor of Seville, said in the press conference announcing the trial programme.

1. What do we know about oranges in Seville from the first paragraph?

A．They are usually picked in spring.

B．They are mostly used to make jams and juice.

C．They are not recommended to be eaten fresh.

D．They make Seville the world’s top orange-producing city.

2. What is the second paragraph mainly about?

A．Different uses of Seville oranges.

B．Ways to produce power from juice.

C．An introduction to the trial programme.

D．Reasons for launching the trial programme.

3. What can we infer from the passage?

A．The energy produced will be used to purify water.

B．Seville hasn’t carried out the trial programme yet.

C．The electricity produced will go to Seville’s power plants.

D．14,600 tons of recycled oranges are needed to power 73,000 homes.

4. What is Juan Espadas Cejas’ attitude towards this project?

A．It is risky but beneficial.

B．It is helpful and worth trying.

C．It is crazy and cannot become a reality

D．It is impractical though possible in theory.

【推荐2】How much food do you buy each week? Are you someone who stuffs your fridge and cupboards full of foods so that you’ll always have something to eat? Or maybe, you’ re more efficient with your shopping, only buying what you need and using up your leftovers so that you keep food waste to a minimum.

Throwing away unwanted food has become a big issue in the developed world. While some of us throw away unwanted items, people in other parts of world face food shortages and are starving. It’s a shocking fact that a third of the world’s food is wasted each year. The actual figure is 1.3 billion tons of food, which is enough to feed a billion hungry people.

You may think supermarkets are the main contributors to this mountain of food. After all, they do get rid of stuff that’s past its sell-by-date and they often refuse to sell vegetables and fruit that are the wrong shape or look damaged. They’ve also been criticized for encouraging customers to buy more than they need through promotions such as “buy one and get one free”.

But we ourselves are mainly responsible for creating food waste. In Europe an incredible 53% of food waste comes from households, which results in 88 million tonnes of food waste a year. The food waste is buried and left to rot. Unfortunately, this causes greenhouse gases which eventually lead to global warming and climate change.

In Denmark, a woman called Selina Juul has been working hard to solve this problem. She convinced some supermarkets to stop selling their items in bulk (批量) so that people bought only what they needed. She produced a leftovers cookbook and she's set up an education programme in schools. This has helped create a significant 25% reduction in food waste, which shows that something can be done.

Clearly, we need to think twice when we put something in our shopping trolley, and when we’re at home, we should make the most of the food we have—using recipes that use up our leftovers or even sharing our food with our friends and neighbors.

1. What does the author intend to show in paragraph 2?

A．The world hunger.	B．The impact of wasting food.
C．The solutions to food shortages.	D．The severe food waste.

2. Why are supermarkets criticized according to the text?

A．They often change the prices of food.

B．They focus more on food's looks than qualities.

C．They make people buy more food than they need.

D．They often put up false advertisements for food.

3. What did Selina Juul do to help reduce the food waste?

A．She established an education programme in neighborhoods.

B．She persuaded supermarkets to change their ways of sale.

C．She convinced supermarkets to sell her leftovers cookbook.

D．She encouraged people to share food in communities.

4. What’s the main purpose of the text?

A．To advocate healthy eating habits.

B．To raise the public’s awareness of saving.

C．To draw people's attention to food security.

D．To blame the marketing methods of some supermarkets.

【推荐3】In an effort to control the nation’s growing problem with food wastage, the South Korean government has started a unique new plan—“Pay as You Trash (丢弃)”. Residents are required to separate their food waste from the rest of their rubbish and throw it separately into a centralized dustbin. And to access the bin, they actually need to pay by the kilo!

As of now, the South Korean government has three methods in place to charge citizens for the food thrown away. One is through an RFID (Radio Frequency identification) card—when users tap this card over a specially designed food waste bin, the lid (盖子) will open. This waste is automatically weighed and recorded in the user’s account. The user needs to settle this bill on a monthly basis.

The second billing method is through pre-paid garbage bags. For example, in Seoul, a 10-liter garbage bag costs around 1dollar. There’s also a bar code management system in place, in which citizens throw food waste directly into compost bins (堆肥桶) and pay for it by purchasing barcode stickers (条形码贴条) attached to the bin.

Nearly every suburban area in the nation is equipped with one of these three payment systems. Even before the pay-by-weight system was introduced, South Koreans were still being charged for food waste—the cost was simply divided equally among the residents of each apartment block. The new system is not only fair, but is also designed to make consumers feel the pinch of excessive (过度的) waste. The more food they throw out, the more they end up paying.

Citizens1ike Seoul housewife Ms Kwan are now adopting creative methods to avoid food waste. She makes sure to remove all the liquid out of leftover food before throwing it away. While preparing vegetables, she tries to use as much as the eatable parts as possible.

“Because I’m worried about the fees, I’m more careful about food waste now,” Ms Kwan said. “Our food waste has become much less than before.”

1. What do we know about the three payment systems?

A．A compost bin costs about 1 dollar.

B．All of them can weight the rubbish automatically.

C．The pre-paid garbage bags are charged on a monthly basis.

D．RFID cards can record the weight of rubbish users throw.

2. Before the new plan was put forward, citizens_____________.

A．didn’t pay for their food waste	B．shared the waste cost equally
C．paid for their food waste by weight	D．had to pay for their food garbage bags

3. What does the underlined phrase “feel the pinch” in paragraph 4 mean?

A．Suffer from financial stress.	B．Blame themselves.
C．Change their behavior.	D．Figure out the cost.

4. What do we know about “Pay as You Trash” from the text?

A．It is quite expensive to carry out.	B．It was thought to be unfair at first.
C．It is working effectively.	D．It is being tried out in some areas.