【推荐1】Rock and roll music developed in the United States in the early nineteen-fifties. It was based on the music called rhythm and blues that was performed by African American musicians.

Early rock and roll singers developed their own kinds of music. Elvis Presley. Chuck Berry, The Beach Boys, and Bob Dylan were the most popular rock and roll musicians and band in the early 1960s. All were American. Then, in 1964, a new rock and roll group from England invaded America: The Beatles.

Some people say The Beatles’ music shook America like an earthquake. The Beatles changed rock and roll forever. Their early songs were influenced by American rock and roll musicians, including Chuck Berry. But The Beatles looked different and sounded different from any musical group before them.

The Beatles released their first album in the United States in 1964. when all of the top five records in America were by The Beatles. In 1967, they released an album called Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. It was one of the first “concept” albums. That is, all the songs were linked by a common story or idea.

The popularity of The Beatles led the way for more rock and roll bands from England to become popular in America. The Rolling Stones was the most important of these bands. The Rolling Stones is one of the few groups from the 1960s that is still performing and recording today. In 1965, the group recorded one of its most famous songs, Satisfaction.

By the 1970s, rock and roll music had become known as rock music. Experts say rock music regained some of the energy of early rock and roll. Bruce Springsteen and the E. Street Band became popular with their album Born to Run. Springsteen’s music was like the lively rock and roll music of the early nineteen-sixties. Many of his songs were about social issues. He sang about the effects of unemployment and the war in Vietnam

1. Which is the main topic of this passage?

A．The history of American music.

B．The development of rock and roll music.

C．The famous rock and roll groups.

D．The new forms of rock and roll music.

2. What can we infer from Paragraph 3?

A．The Beatles’ music was as violent as an earthquake in America.

B．The Beatles looked different because an earthquake hit America.

C．The Beatles’ music had a great effect on the rock and roll music in America.

D．The Beatles’ music was greatly influenced by American rock and roll music.

3. Whose songs were mainly about social problems like unemployment and war?

A．Elvis Presley’s.	B．Bob Dylan’s.
C．Chuck Berry’s.	D．Springsteen’s.

4. What can we know from the passage?

A．One of the Rolling Stones’ albums was called “concept”.

B．All of the top five records in America were by The Beatles in 1964.

C．The Rolling Stones was the only band that became popular in America

D．All the most popular rock and roll musicians in the 1960s were American.

【推荐2】The last school bell rings and your kids are off for the summer. For most kids, those thoughts of schoolwork and lessons are a distant memory that they won’t be thinking about again until fall. So it’s important for them to continue some learning.

Have your kids hit the library.

Encourage your kids to read by taking them to the library during the summer. If they don’t have a library card, get them one. Many local libraries sponsor summer reading clubs that keep your kids wanting to read. Be sure to let your kids pick their own books out; summer is for fun reading.

Have your kids read every day.

Ask your kids to read outside in the sun. Join them, read aloud their favorite books, no matter how many times you have read them. Pick a time every day when you all stop and read as a family together. Nothing will stimulate a child to read more than to have adults reading with them.

Find other ways to encourage the kids.

If you are planning a family trip, have them check out the map. Let your kids go online and research where you are going. Have your kids check the weather report in the newspaper or what big event is happening and then have them report back on it at dinner time. Have your kids check out magazines or websites for recipes that can be prepared.

Improve your kids’ writing skills.

Learning to express your thoughts. Writing in a logical manner is a skill that is often lost. To help your kids, have them write about things during the summer. If your kids love something such as animals, have them write reports about them to share with the family. If you are going on a trip, have your kids keep a travel journal.

1. What should parents do in the library?

A．Stay with their kids and read books together.	B．Help their kids find useful books.
C．Read more books helpful to their study.	D．Let their kids choose books they have interests in.

2. In the third suggestion, the author think that parents should ________.

A．lead their children to finds ways to prepare things by themselves

B．encourage their children to use the Internet as much as they can

C．write all the things they have experienced during the trip

D．check the information and tell the kids what big event is happening

3. You might see this article from the ________ column in the newspaper.

A．Nature and Science

B．All about Space

C．Philosophy for Life

D．Family and Society

【推荐3】Dr. John Wilkins was a natural philosopher who lived from 1614 until 1672. He was crazy about getting to the moon and meeting the people who surely lived there. Wilkins believed that anything as Earth-like as the moon must have been created by God for living beings, and he was determined to meet them — despite the fact that he was three centuries ahead of his time.

In the 1600s, the scientific understanding of gravity and outer space was limited. Wilkins believed, like many 17th-century scientists, that there was no difference between the atmosphere of Earth and the conditions in space, and that Earth’s pull was due to magnetism (磁力). It was only reasonable, then, that Wilkins believed a two-wheeled horse-drawn battle car with wings with enough speed could lift high enough off the ground to break free of Earth’s magnetic pull and reach the moon.

Then Wilkins moved on to more pressing issues with his remarkable ability to think of new ideas: How would travelers feed themselves during the journey? He theorized that the main cause of hunger was simply the act of working against gravity, so getting to the moon without being burdened by it would be able to be realized. There was some knowledge at that time about the fact that air gets thinner and colder the higher up you go, but he had a fix for that too, “moistened sponges (湿润的海绵) might help us against its thinness”.

By studying the way in which birds fly, which also happened to be part of the studies that led to planes and rockets centuries later, Wilkins put his theory to the test with the help of a colleague, Robert Hooke. Neither of the two ever recorded their attempts, but it’s somewhat safe to say that it didn’t work out. Hooke himself may have been the reason he gave up hope, in fact, since he was part of the team that discovered space was a place without oxygen.

1. What do we know about Dr. John Wilkins?

A．He dreamed of landing on the moon.

B．He wrote about people living on the moon.

C．He urged the public to know more about space.

D．He had a rich knowledge of space in the 1670s.

2. Which of the following might Wilkins agree with?

A．The air on the moon is not fit for human beings.

B．People don’t need to eat things on the moon.

C．Earth’s magnetism can be changed easily.

D．Oxygen doesn’t exist in outer space.

3. What can be concluded from Paragraphs 2 & 3?

A．Wilkins had prepared a lot in theory.

B．Wilkins was ready for his moon-landing.

C．Wilkins made a great contribution to philosophy.

D．Wilkins was the greatest natural philosopher in history.

4. What is the author’s purpose in writing the text?

A．To honor a great scientist.

B．To encourage studies on outer space.

C．To introduce an early attempt of moon-landing.

D．To inform people of the knowledge about the universe.

【推荐1】Specialists say it is not easy to get used to life in a new culture. “Culture shock” is the term these specialists use when talking about the feelings that people have in a new environment. There are three stages of culture shock, say the specialists. In the first stage, the newcomers like their new environment. Then, when the fresh experience dies, they begin to hate the city, the country, the people, and everything else. In the last stage, the newcomers begin to adjust to their surroundings and, as a result, enjoy their life more.

There are some obvious factors in culture shock. The weather may be unpleasant. The customs may be different. The public service systems—the telephones, post office, or transportation—may be difficult to work out. The simplest things seem to be big problems. The language may be difficult.

     Who feels culture shock? Everyone does in this way or that. But culture shock surprises most people. Very often the people having the worst culture shock are those who never had any difficulties in their own community. Coming to a new country, these people find they do not have the same established positions. They find themselves without any identity. They have to build a new self-image.
     Culture shock gives rise to a feeling of disorientation (迷失方向). This feeling may be homesickness. When homesick, people feel like staying inside all the time. They want to protect themselves from the strange environment, and create an escape inside their room for a sense of security. This escape does solve the problem of culture shock for the short term, but it does nothing to make the person familiar with the culture. Getting to know the new environment and gaining experience — these are the long-term solutions to the problem of culture shock.
1. When people move to a new country, they _______.

A．will get used to their new surroundings with difficulty

B．have well prepared for the new surroundings

C．will get used to the culture of the country quickly

D．will never be familiar with the culture of the country

2. According to the passage, factors that give rise to culture shock include all of the following except __________.

A．language communication	B．weather conditions and customs
C．public service systems	D．homesickness

3. According to the passage, the more successful you are at home, _______.

A．the fewer difficulties you may have abroad

B．the more difficulties you may have abroad

C．the more money you will earn abroad

D．the less homesick you may feel abroad

4. When people are homesick, they tend to ______.

A．find some people to talk to	B．go outside to have a walk
C．visit their friends far away	D．stay indoors all the time

5. The writer tells us that the best way to overcome culture shock is to ______.

A．protect ourselves from unfamiliar environment

B．develop a strange sense of self-protection

C．get familiar with new culture

D．return to our own country

【推荐2】America is a mobile society. Friendships between Americans can be close and real, yet disappear soon if situations change. Neither side feels hurt by this. Both may exchange Christmas greetings for a year or two, perhaps a few letters for a while—then no more. If the same two people meet again by chance, even years later, they pick up the friendship. This can be quite difficult for us Chinese to understand, because friendships between us flow more slowly but then may become lifelong feelings, extending (延伸) sometimes deeply into both families.

Americans are ready to receive us foreigners at their homes, share their holidays, and their home life. They will enjoy welcoming us and be pleased if we accept their hospitality (好客) easily, but truly can’t manage the time to do a great deal with a visitor outside their daily routine. They will probably expect us to get ourselves from the airport to our own hotel by bus. And they expect that we will phone them from there. Once we arrive at their homes, the welcome will be full, warm and real. We will find ourselves treated hospitably.

Another difficult point for us Chinese to understand Americans is that although they include us warmly in their personal everyday lives, they don’t show their politeness to us if it requires a great deal of time. This is usually the opposite of the practice in our country where we may be generous with our time. Sometimes, we, as hosts, will appear at airports even in the middle of the night to meet a friend. We may take days off to act as guides to our foreign friends. The Americans, however, express their welcome usually at homes.

For the Americans, it is often considered more friendly to invite a friend to their homes than to go to restaurants, except for pure business matters. So accept their hospitality at home!

1. Where are we expected to call our American friends if we go there by plane?

A．On the bus	B．At the airport.
C．Near their home.	D．At our own hotel.

2. Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?

A．Friendships between Americans usually last for all their lives.

B．Americans always show their warmth even if they are very busy.

C．Americans will continue their friendships again even after a long break.

D．Friendships between Americans usually extend deeply into their families.

3. Which is the typical (典型的) way of American hospitality?

A．Treating friends at home.	B．Sharing everything they have.
C．Taking days off to be with friends.	D．Meeting friends at the airport at midnight.

4. What’s the best title for the text?

A．Friendships between Chinese	B．Friendships between Americans
C．Americans’ hospitality	D．Americans and Chinese’s views of friendship

【推荐3】While tea may have originated in Asia, now there are many countries all around the world that have tea woven into their food cultures and traditions. This is one of the very special parts of tea as it has a way of connecting people all over the world in different ways and ceremonies that finally all result in a group of people sitting together and enjoying a cup of tea.

Chinese tea culture

Since China is viewed as the birthplace of tea, it is no wonder that Chinese tea culture is rich with history and tradition. Today, Chinese tea continues to be used in Chinese medicine and is commonly consumed on both casual and formal occasions both for personal enjoyment and to represent Chinese cultural traditions.

Japanese tea culture

Japan also has a long history with tea, especially Japanese Matcha, which is a kind of ground green tea that is commonly used in Japanese tea ceremonies and only in recent years has become popular in Western culture.

British tea culture

When many people think about tea, British tea culture is what comes to mind. A hot cup of English Breakfast or EarlGrey tea serves with a little milk and a biscuit in the morning as a pick-me-up for the day. Even though tea may not be native to England, this British tea tradition is still going strong today.

Moroccan tea culture

When you visit Morocco, it is hard to miss the outstanding tea culture that is such a large part of Moroccan hospitality. Before any gathering, negotiation, or sale of a product, a pot of mint tea is always prepared and served among the host and guests. This is an expression of Moroccan tradition and hospitality, which should always be accepted by guests as a sign of appreciation and respect to the host.

1. Why can tea find its way into various food cultures?

A．It originates in Asia.

B．It forms different ceremonies.

C．It gets people connected easily.

D．It allows people to sit together.

2. What do Chinese and Japanese tea cultures have in common according to the text?

A．They have a long history.

B．They are used in medicine.

C．They are famous for ground green tea.

D．They’ve long gained worldwide recognition.

3. Why are the Brits keen on tea in the morning?

A．To get energy.

B．To bring out respect.

C．To show hospitality.

D．To observe a tradition.

4. In which column on social media may the text appear?

A．Healthy You.	B．Social Insight.
C．Cultural Corner.	D．Itchy Feet Travel.