【推荐1】Dar and I loved to dance. It was probably the first thing we did together, long before we would share our lives.
We grew up in a small Oregon mountain community where dances were held almost every Saturday night. Dar was seventeen and l was thirteen when we first danced. He was one of the best dancers on the floor, and so was I. We always jitterbugged. No slow dancing for us; nothing remotely romantic.
Our fathers would stand along the wall and watch. Every once in a while, Dar’s dad would smile a little and say, to no one in particular, but my dad could hear, “Boy, my kid can sure dance.” ______________ he acted like he’d never heard. But a while later he would say, to no one in particular, “That girl of mine can sure dance.”
Our dancing together stopped for five years while Dar was in the South Pacific in World War II. When we met again, Dar was twenty-two, and l was eighteen. We began to date and dance again. We were as good together as we remembered, and this time we added slow dancing.
For us, life is a dance, a movement of rhythms, directions, stumbles, missteps, at times slow and precise, or fast and wild and joyous. We did all the steps.
Two nights before Dar died, the family were with us. We all ate dinner together, and Dar sat with us. He hadn’t been able to eat for several days. After dinner, I put on a Nat King Cole tape. Dar took me in his arms, weak as he was, and we danced and smiled. No tears for us. We were doing what we had loved to do for more than fifty years. It was our last dance---forever unforgettable. I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.
1. The author first danced with Dar when____.

A．they were still in their teens

B．they began to date each other

C．they began to share their lives

D．Dar returned from the South Pacific

2. What does the author mean by the underlined sentence in paragraph 3？

A．Her dad didn’t like Dar's father.

B．Her dad was not interested in the dance.

C．Her dad was too focused on his daughter.

D．Her dad thought his daughter danced better.

3. How did the author feel when she danced with Dar for the last time?

A．Regretful.	B．Content.
C．Heart-broken.	D．Concerned.

4. Which of the following can be the best title for the text?

A．My Unforgettable Dancing Partner

B．Dance Together to the Last

C．My Last Dance with Dar

D．The Best Dancers

【推荐2】Giving children music lessons won’t just introduce them to music — it could also greatly improve their language skills but it isn’t understood if this is a side effect of a general improvement of cognitive (认知的) skills, or something that directly affects language processing.

Now, we are getting closer to an answer, thanks to a study of 74 Chinese kindergarten children, led by Robert Desimone from MIT. For the study, Desimone’s team chose children from the Chinese education system, with the support of education officials who wanted to see how it might improve their learning.

The 4 to 5-year-old Mandarin-speaking children in the study were divided into three groups. One group received a 45-minute piano lesson three times a week, while another received extra reading instruction classes. The third group acted as controls, taking no extra lessons beyond their usual classes.

The classes lasted for six months, after which the children were tested on their ability to tell words based on differences in tones, consonants (辅音), or vowels (元音). The test results showed that the children who had taken piano lessons performed better at telling the difference between words that differ by a single consonant, when compared with the children who took extra reading lessons. Compared to the control group, both the music learners and the extra reading group did better in telling the difference between words based on vowel differences.

“It looks like for recognizing differences between sounds, including speech sounds, ifs better than extra reading. That means schools could pay more attention to music,” Desimone says. “It’s not worse than giving extra reading to the children, which is probably what many schools are trying to do — get rid of the art education and just have more reading.”

1. What does the underlined word “it” in Paragraph 2 refer to?

A．Learning music.	B．The Chinese education.
C．A study of children’s schooling.	D．Improvement of cognitive skills.

2. What did the third group learn in the study?

A．Ways to improve their study.

B．Extra lessons about reading tips.

C．Three extra piano lessons a week.

D．Nothing else except their usual studies.

3. Which was one of the results of the study?

A．Learning music determined kids’ interest in study.

B．The piano played a key part in kids’ learning.

C．Children taking piano lessons didn’t perform well.

D．The extra reading group were good at telling vowels.

4. What can we conclude from what Desimone says?

A．Many schools value art education.

B．Schools will increase reading classes.

C．It isn’t wise to cut back on music lessons.

D．Children who learn music perform better at school.

【推荐1】Over the past 40 years, China has helped more than 700 million rural residents out of being poor, and the poverty rate — the proportion of people living below the Chinese poverty line — had fallen among the rural population from 97.5 percent in 1978 to 3.1 percent at the end of 2017, official figures shows. China’s achievements in poverty alleviation (扶贫) made the world look at China with admiration.

“For me, it is unbelievable that over 40 years, that is, over the course of one working lifetime, China has gone from one of the poorest countries in the world to one that is about to eliminate(消除) absolute poverty,” said Craig Allen, president of the US-China Business Council.

Varaprasad Sekhar Dolla, a professor of Chinese studies at India’s Jawaharlal Nehru University, also spoke highly of China’s achievements in poverty reduction. “If global poverty came down greatly in the last three or four decades, it’s partly because of the Chinese contribution to reducing poverty within its own national boundaries,” said the Indian scholar.

In the eyes of Khairy Tourk, a professor of economics with the Stuart School of Business at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago, “many countries look up to China to learn from its experience.” “The Chinese experience is based on building a modern infrastructure (基础设施) and then on setting up special economic zones that would help underdeveloped countries to become more industrial,” he added.

In the government work report delivered at the opening of the annual NPC session (全国人大会议) on March 5, China promises to reduce its population of rural poor by over 10 million this year.

1. What’s the purpose of the numbers given in the first paragraph?

A．To show China has helped many rural residents out of poverty.

B．To imply many Chinese are suffering from poverty.

C．To show the great changes of China in the past 40 decades.

D．To indicate all Chinese will eliminate poverty this year.

2. What’s the attitude of Craig Allen to China’s achievements in poverty alleviation?

A．surprised.

B．interested.

C．upset.

D．indifferent.

3. Which is the meaning of the underlined sentence in Paragraph 3?

A．The global poverty has come down except China.

B．China should try its best to help the world out of poverty.

C．China has made great contributions to world poverty alleviation.

D．China has eliminated poverty completely.

4. What does the passage mainly talk about?

A．China will make more progress in poverty alleviation.

B．China has done a lot in poverty alleviation.

C．China has realized its dream to help its people out of poverty.

D．The world speak well of China’s achievements in poverty alleviation.

【推荐2】Researchers have long known that lack of sleep can cause weight gain and increase other health risks. But for those who force themselves out of bed every weekday after too few hours of sleep, they always hope that turning off the alarm on weekends will repay the weekly sleep debt and change any ill effects around completely.

New research published in Current Biology destroys those hopes. Despite complete freedom to sleep in during a weekend recovery period, participants in a sleep laboratory who were limited to five hours of sleep on weekdays gained nearly three pounds over two weeks. They also experienced metabolic disruption (新陈代谢紊乱). Weekend recovery sleep had some benefits after a single week of lack of sleep. However, those gains were wiped out when people went back into their old schedule the next Monday.

“These health effects are long-term,” said Kenneth Wright at the University of Colorado at Boulder, who oversaw the work. “It’s kind of like smoking once was. People would smoke and wouldn’t see an immediate effect on their health, but now they will say that smoking is not a healthy lifestyle choice. I think “catch-up” sleep is in the early phase of where smoking used to be.”

Michael Grandner, at the University of Arizona, said the study highlights that people need to stop thinking of sleep as a balance sheet (资产负债表). Considerably cutting calories all week and then bingeing on (无节制地吃) a giant pizza on Saturday would not restore balance. That is essentially what people are doing when they skip sleep on weekdays with the idea that they can make up for it on the weekend.

The study suggests people should put sleep first — cutting out the optional “sleep stealers” such as watching television shows or spending time on electronic devices. Even when people do not have a choice about losing sleep due to tight schedules, they should think about sleep first in the same way they would a healthy diet or exercise.

1. Why do people hope to sleep longer on weekends?

A．To avoid some debt concerns.	B．To cure some illness.
C．To get some health benefits.	D．To get complete freedom.

2. What can we infer about weekend recovery sleep from Kenneth Wright?

A．It has the long-term benefits.	B．It hides some potential harm.
C．It causes smoking problems.	D．It contributes to losing weight.

3. What does the text suggest people do about sleep?

A．Sleep well every day.	B．Guarantee weekly sleeping hours.
C．Make up for missing sleep.	D．Stop watching TV shows before bed.

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

A．Weekend “Catch-Up Sleep” Is a Lie.

B．Watch out for "Sleep Stealers".

C．Sleep and Smoking are alike.

D．Lack of Sleep Does No Good.

【推荐1】My very first sea voyage was in a small merchant ship out of New York called the Alba. I was 12 years old at the time, and full of dreams of adventures upon the high seas. The moment I stepped upon the noisy deck (甲板), my uncle Joseph told me about shipboard life and then he sent me below the deck to get myself situated.

Here was a sticky (闷热的) space barely (勉强) tall enough for me to stand up straight in. It was the middle of July, and the heat was unbearable. There seemed to be no air at all. There certainly were no windows, and the smell that rose up from the bottom was so strong that it made me hard to breathe. From the shadows, a pair of eyes materialized (突然显示). They belonged to a dirty boy no older than me.

“Hello mate, you must be the new guy just shipped aboard. I’m Nigel. Follow me. We’re just in time for dinner.” My new friend led me into the tiny dining room where the crew messed. The horrible smell of so many men together was overpowering.

After dinner, Nigel showed me our berth. It was a tiny lightless room near the bow of the boat, only six feet long and only five feet high. There was a small area where I could pack my clothes, and at night we would string up our beds side by side with two other boys.

That night when we were under way, the ship ran into a violent Atlantic storm. The waves attacked the Alba like it was a tiny boat. The ship made such noises;I was afraid it would simply break apart at any moment. As I lay there miserably rocking back and forth in my damp bed, I asked myself, “What have I gotten myself into?”

1. The underlined word “berth” in Paragraph 4 most probably means ______ on a ship.

A．the bathroom	B．the sleeping section
C．the kitchen	D．the lower deck

2. Which paragraph describes the first time the writer saw Nigel?

A．Paragraph 1.

B．Paragraph 2.

C．Paragraph 3.

D．Paragraph 4.

3. In the last sentence of this passage, the writer suggests that he ______.

A．regretted taking the voyage aboard the Alba

B．hated making friends with Nigel

C．may never recover(康复) from the seasickness

D．should have eaten up the dishes on the voyage

【推荐3】My beautiful new watch had run eighteen months without losing or gaining. But at last, one night, I forgot to wind it up and it stopped running. The next day I stepped into the jeweler’s to set it by the exact time, and the head of the shop started to set it for me. Then he said, “She is four minutes slow — regulator wants pushing up.” I tried to stop him — tried to make him understand that the watch kept perfect time. But no; he calmly and cruelly did the shameful deed.

My watch began to gain. It gained faster and faster day by day. Finally, I took it to the watchmaker to be regulated. He forced the watch open, and then said it wanted cleaning and oiling, besides regulating. After this, my watch slowed down to an unbearable degree. I began to miss trains and my dinner.

At last, I took this instrument to another watchmaker. He said the kingbolt was broken. To tell the truth, I had no conception what the kingbolt was. He repaired it, but what the watch gained in one way it lost in another. It would run awhile and then stop awhile, and so on.

So, I went with a heavy heart to one more watchmaker. While I waited and looked around, I presently recognized in this watchmaker an old acquaintance — a steamboat engineer of older days, and not a good engineer, either.

“She makes too much steam and…” he said.

I gave him a heavy blow on the head and ran away.

My uncle William used to say that a good watch was a good watch until the repairers got a chance to look at it. And he used to wonder what became of all the unsuccessful repairmen, and shoemakers, and engineers, and blacksmiths, and governors, and school-principals; but nobody could ever tell him.

1. What did the author say about the jeweler?

A．He was a quiet repairman.	B．He had a hearing problem.
C．He had a quick mind.	D．He made a mistake.

2. After being cleaned, oiled and regulated, how was the author’s watch?

A．It was unbelievably slow.	B．It ran awhile and stopped awhile.
C．It kept perfect time.	D．It gained faster and faster.

3. Why did the author hit the watchmaker on the head?

A．He was an old enemy of the author.	B．He treated the watch cruelly.
C．He was talking nonsense.	D．He was a liar.

4. What did the author learn from his experience?

A．Repair work was a complicated job.

B．Never get a watch repaired.

C．Successful people exist in all walks of life.

D．He should listen to his uncle.