【推荐2】Who needs friends? According to most psychologists we all do, especially nowadays when so many other aspects of modern life are changing. It seems that having friends keeps us both healthy and happy.

The number of TV series about groups of friends shows just how important friendship is to us. Psychologist Dorothy Rowe says that many of us now turn to our friends, instead of our families, for advice and comfort. One woman named Rebecca she interviewed even told her that if she had got to choose between her husband and her friend, she would choose her friend.

Since our friends mean so much to us, it is not surprising that the happiest marriages are also friendships. “Once the romantic stage of a relationship has passed, it is friendship that holds people together,” says Rowe. If the couple do not make some changes. They will either get tired of each other and break up or stay together and look for friendship with others.

For men, friendship is usually based on doing things together rather than the private conversations that are typical of women friends. Men share time building a business or playing football together, but they don’t often share their feeling. Although many women find their relationship with a husband or boyfriend is not enough, many men say that their partner is their best friend. Even women who are very happily married are likely to become very unhappy without a close friend and can even find the break-up of a close friendship as painful as the end of a marriage.

Lasting friendships can provide a lot of the same support that families provided in the past, but the perfect situation is to have your family there for you as well. Friendships and family relationships can both change, but a friend will not consider you when making really important decisions in the same way that a family member will.

1. The example of Rebecca in paragraph 2 shows that some people think ________.

A．one friend is more than enough.	B．friends are just like their family.
C．friends matter more than family.	D．friends make them more comfortable.

2. What can we learn from the passage?

A．Couples tend to be friends in a good marriage.

B．Couples will have new friendship after they get married.

C．Friendship help couples build healthy relationships.

D．Friendship hold couples together when romance has passed.

3. What is the main difference between men’s and women’s friendship?

A．Women often do things together with friends.

B．Men seldom talk to their friends about their feelings.

C．Women often talk about business with friends.

D．Men often talk to their friends about work and family.

4. What can be inferred from the last paragraph?

A．Friendship cannot replace family relationships.

B．Friendship can last longer than family relationships.

C．Friendship and family relationships are both changeable.

D．Family members help you make better decisions than friends do.

【推荐1】Educators and business leaders have more in common than it may seem. Teachers want to prepare students for a successful future. Technology companies, like AT&T, have an interest in developing a workforce with the STEM(science, technology, engineering and math) skills needed to grow the company and advance the industry. How can they work together to achieve these goals? Play may be the answer.

Focusing on STEM skills is important, but the reality is that STEM skills are enhanced and more relevant when combined with traditional, hands-on creative activities. This combination is proving to be the best way to prepare today’s children to be the makers and builders of tomorrow. That is why technology companies are partnering with educators to bring back good, old fashion play.

In fact many experts argue that the most important 21st century skills aren’t related to specific technologies or subject matter, but to creativity; skills like imagination, problem-finding and problem-solving, teamwork, optimism, patience and the ability to experiment and take risks. These are skills acquired when kids tinker(捣鼓小玩意). High-tech industries such as NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory have found that their best overall problem solvers were master tinkerers in their youth.

There are cognitive benefits of doing things the way we did as children — building something, tearing it down, then building it up again. Research shows that given 15 minutes of free play, four- and five-year-olds will spend a third of this time engaged in spatial, mathematical, and architectural activities. This type of play — especially with building blocks — helps children discover and develop key principles in math and geometry.

If play and building are critical to 21st century skill development, then that’s really good news for two reasons: Children are born builders, makers, and creators, so fostering(培养) 21st century skills may be as simple as giving kids room to play, tinker and try things out, even as they grow older; and the second piece of good news is that it doesn’t take 21st century technology to foster 21st century skills. This is especially important for under-resourced schools and communities. Taking whatever materials are handy and tinkering with them is a simple way to engage those important “maker” skills. And anyone, anywhere, can do it.

1. What does the author say about educators?

A．They seek advice from technology companies to achieve teaching goals.

B．They have been successful in preparing the workforce for companies.

C．They help students acquire the skills needed for their future success.

D．They partner with technology companies to enhance teaching efficiency.

2. How can educators better develop students’ STEM skills, according to the author?

A．By blending them with traditional, stimulating activities.

B．By inviting business leaders to help design curriculums.

C．By enhancing students’ ability to think in a critical way.

D．By showing students the best way to learn is through play.

3. How do children acquire the skills needed for the 21st century?

A．By engaging in activities involving specific technologies.

B．By playing with things to solve problems on their own.

C．By familiarizing themselves with high-tech gadgets.

D．By mastering basic principles through teamwork.

4. What does the author advise disadvantaged schools and communities to do?

A．Train students to be makers to meet future market demands.

B．Develop students’ creative skills with the resources available.

C．Engage students with challenging tasks to foster their creativity.

D．Work together with companies to improve their teaching facilities.

【推荐1】Smartphone apps certainly make our lives easier. However, sometimes they can also cause problems. In a recent announcement, the Ministry of Education said teachers should not use WeChat or QQ messaging apps to give homework or ask parents to grade students’ homework.

Many school teachers in China rely heavily on apps to give homework. The kids have to do their homework looking at a phone screen. For example, Liu Yanming, a sixth-grade student in Shanghai, usually has to use his mother’s mobile phone to do his homework. The homework is handwritten, photographed and then posted by his teacher to a parent-teacher group on WeChat.

Liu Yong, his father, is afraid that the apps could distract kids by encouraging them to watch something unrelated to homework.“He is just 12 years old, and I do not want to buy him a cellphone,” Liu told China Daily. “I also worry that my son’s eyesight will be damaged from staring at the phone for too long.”

However, Bai Yueping, president of Shanghai Tangzhen Middle School, defended using apps for homework. Parents can understand their kids’ learning situation and supervise them to finish the homework, Bai told Xinmin Evening News.

Zhang Siqi, a student from Renmin University of China, has a similar opinion to Bai. “The use of WeChat or QQ to give homework is convenient,” Zhang told Teens. “We’re living in an internet era. It’s unwise to refuse to take advantage of technology.”

Chu Zhaohui, a senior researcher at the National Institute of Education Sciences, believed that it is impossible to ban the use of electronic devices in the internet era. However, students should use them when it’s necessary, such as when they do listening exercises.“We don’t want to ban online education models, but they must be used carefully. Modern technologies are good ... but they should not steal the show,” he told China Daily.

1. What is the Ministry of Education’s recent announcement about?

A．Students should not use smartphones at school.

B．Teachers should not use smartphone apps to give homework.

C．Students should not use smartphones to help with their homework.

D．Teachers should not ask parents to grade their children’s homework.

2. What do the underlined words “distract kids” in Paragraph 3 probably mean?

A．take kids’ attention away

B．improve kids’ interest

C．get kids more focused

D．make kids feel annoyed

3. What does Bai Yueping think of using apps for homework?

A．It causes great trouble for parents.

B．It does great harm to students’ eyesight.

C．It helps parents know about their kids’ studies.

D．It’s a good way to keep up with technological development.

4. Which of the following would Chu Zhaohui probably agree with?

A．It’s better to stop using electronic devices in teaching.

B．We shouldn’t rely too much on technology in teaching.

C．Electronic devices should only be used for listening exercises.

D．Online education models have more advantages than disadvantages.

【推荐2】The new studies show that fewer than half of the 9th graders in many of the nation’s largest cities, can ever graduate. The studies clearly show that the dropout rate isn’t dropping. And, in particular, the dropout rate isn’t dropping for poor and minority students.

Amazingly, though so many regret the rising dropout rate, our schools continue to lack formal plans--or any plans--to teach students motivation(动机). Most schools have no game plan to ensure that students understand that school will be completely necessary. Schools expect youth and children to act as though school is important, but they never teach them to believe that.

Years ago, families ensured that the offspring recognized the value of school. But in many modern families, the children may fail to recognize the importance of school life just because these families may actually tell the child that school is not important. Since many families are not motivating their children to be interested students, youth professionals, like teachers may need to provide this training. Otherwise, it is likely the dropout rate will continue not to drop, but only worsen.

Here are some strategies to convince even the most apathetic (无动于衷的) students that they must stay in school.

Ask students if they will ever need to work: The world has changed. 100 years ago, factory work was the booming job, and it required no education. Today, factories are increasingly automated. Most computer-related jobs require education and at least a high school diploma.

Ask students which century they will be prepared for: In 1900, the most common jobs were farm laborer and domestic servant—education not needed. Now, the most common jobs are office and sales worker—education and diploma usually needed. An amazing 6 out of 10 people today work in a store or office.

Ask students to devise a way that the employee could be replaced. For example, the coming trend in fast food is to use computers rather than people to run the restaurant. A prototype is apparently already being tested. The students should discover that most jobs that lack education and diploma requirements may be ripe for automation.

1. What does the underlined part mean in Paragraph1?

A．Few students can afford to go to school in large cities.

B．A large number of the 9th grades can graduate now.

C．There are still quite a few 9th graders leaving school early.

D．Most schools in large cities have fewer and fewer students.

2. The author takes factory work for example mainly to ______.

A．tell us that many jobs requires certain education in the past

B．show that there are more factory work and employment in modern society

C．show that employment in the computer field grows at a high rate

D．emphasize that modern jobs require education and schools are necessary

3. It can be inferred that______.

A．both schools and families should answer for the high dropout rate

B．many new jobs don’t need children’s high school diploma

C．working in a store doesn’t require a high school diploma

D．most schools are ready to help students recognize the importance of study

4. If students play the “Replace Me” game, the result would be “______”.

A．They will know that they can ‘always’ do without a diploma

B．More of them will drop out early to go to work

C．They will discover that lack education is a disadvantage in choosing jobs

D．They will become better at using computers to hunt for a job

【推荐3】Personality is , to large extent, inherent (天生的). A-type parents usually bring about A-type offspring (产物). But the environment must also have a big effect, since if competition is important to the parents, it is likely to become a major factor in the lives of their children.

One place where children soak up A characteristics is school, which is, by its very nature, a highly competitive institution. Too many schools adopt the “win at all costs” moral standard and measure their success by sporting achievements. The current passion for making children compete against their classmates or against the clock produces a two-layer system, in which competitive A types seem in some way better than their B-type fellows. Being too keen to win can have dangerous consequences: remember that Pheidippides, the first marathon runner, dropped dead seconds after saying: “Rejoice, we conquer! ”.

By far the worst form of competition in school is the improper emphasis on examinations. It is a rare school that allows pupils to concentrate on those things they do well. The merits of competition by examination are somewhat questionable, but competition in the certain knowledge of failure is positively harmful.

Obviously, it is neither practical nor desirable that all A youngsters change into ‘B’s. The world needs types, and schools have an important duty to try to fit a child’s personality to his possible future employment. It is top management.

1. What affects the building of personality according to the passage?

A．inheritance, employment and examination.

B．inheritance, competition and environment.

C．competition, employment and questions.

D．environment, knowledge and examination.

2. The underlined phrase “soak up” in the second paragraph is closest in meaning to ____.

A．abstract	B．accept
C．absorb	D．accomplish

3. The author gives the example of Pheidippides in order to ______.

A．express the positive attitude toward the examinations

B．express his approval for the competition

C．show that he was too keen to win the game

D．show the consequence of the severe competition

4. What attitude does the author hold toward examinations in schools?

A．positive.	B．negative.
C．doubtful.	D．acceptable.

5. What suggestion does the author make concerning the management of a school?

A．All students at schools should be made into competitive A types.

B．A child’s personality be considered according to his possible future job.

C．All students should be changed into B characteristics.

D．All kinds of schools should get rid of all examinations.