【推荐1】Desiree was only four when she lost her Dad. Instead of gradually adjusting to his death, Desiree refused to accept it and even wanted to die so as to be with her father. Concerned about her daughter, Rhonda turned to her mother, Trish Moore, for help.

November 8 of 1993 would have been Ken’s 29th birthday. So Trish advised Desiree to send her father a card. Desiree’s eyes lit up as she dictated a letter, “Happy birthday, Daddy. I love you and miss you. I hope you get this and can write to me on my birthday.” Trish wrote the message and their address on a small piece of paper and tied it to the end of the string on a balloon with a drawing of the Little Mermaid (美人鱼). Finally, Desiree released the balloon.

On November 12 in eastern Canada, Wade MacKinnon was duck-hunting. Suddenly something in the bushes caught his eye. Curious, he approached to find a silver balloon. The letter finished with a mailing address in Live Oak, California. The balloon traveled 3,000 miles. What a coincidence! A Little Mermaid balloon landed at Mermaid Lake. To help Desiree, the MacKinnons wrote her a letter with a birthday card and an adaptation of The Little mermaid.

The MacKinnons’ package arrived later on Desiree’s birthday. The letter read, “Happy birthday from your daddy. You must be wondering who we are. Well, it all started... There are no stores in heaven, so your daddy picked us to do the shopping. We know your daddy loves you very much and wants you to be happy and not sad. Lots of love, the MacKinnons.”

Tears in eyes, Desiree said, “I knew Daddy would find a way not to forget me.” Next, Trish began to read the Little Mermaid to her, in which the mermaid was finally carried away by angels. “The mermaid goes to heaven just like Daddy!” Desiree said with delight. She understood then her father was with her always.

1. Why did Rhonda ask her mother for help?

A．Her husband passed away too young.

B．She wanted to free Desiree from sorrow.

C．Desiree kept her distance from her father.

D．She had no time to read books to Desiree.

2. What do we know about the balloon?

A．It travelled a long distance for several days

B．It was decorated with some silver strings.

C．It landed just at the MacKinnons’ house.

D．It was tied with the book the Little Mermaid.

3. Which of the following best describes the MacKinnons?

A．Demanding.	B．Humorous
C．Caring.	D．Generous.

4. What is the best title for the text?

A．A Fantastic Adventure of a Balloon	B．A New Story of the Little Mermaid
C．A Heartbreaking Experience of a Girl	D．A Magic Response from “Heaven”

【推荐2】Recently, as I watched my son Nathan play basketball for his high school team, I   was starting to feel sorry for myself and for him. His team was facing adversity (逆境) on the court and he was playing in a hostile environment---it was the opponent's home gym filled with their supporters, and Nathan's team was trailing (落后) for three quarters of the game. As for me, I had been dismissed from my job earlier in the day.

During my drive home, I kept telling myself that I will find work again in a short time----I am confident in my experience and abilities. This is the same belief that I tried to instill in my son.

The basketball game entered the fourth quarter with Nathan' S team still trailing. I saw the determination on his, as well as his teammates' faces as they fought back to not only tie the game (平局), but then go ahead by three points. Then, a player from the other team made an unbelievable shot to tie the game up again. With a tie game and seconds on the clock, Nathan found himself with the ball and with skill and confidence, he proceeded                    to make the basket with a defender hanging all over him. The other player was called for a foul (犯规).

As Nathan stood at the foul line preparing for a shot that would put his team up by three points, I saw the focus and determination on his face, there was no room for self doubt. Nathan was able to tune out all the distractions and nail the free throw with such skill, it was as if he had done it a thousand times.

As I sat there, my heart bursting with pride, it dawned on me. I had taught him perseverance in the face of adversity, and he had just taught me the same lesson. That brief moment of self-doubt and feeling sorry for myself was blown away by the actions of my son on the basketball court. He will play in the finals, but it doesn't matter if he wins or loses, at this moment, we both won.

1. What did the author estimate his son' s team would be like at first?

A．The team would lose at home court.

B．The team would finally win.

C．The team would lose at visiting court.

D．The team would win the championship.

2. Which of the following words can best describe the author？

A．Self-confident and optimistic.

B．Self-doubting and pessimistic.

C．Hardworking and intelligent.

D．Easy-going and warmhearted.

3. What does the underlined phrase“tune out”in Paragraph 4 mean?

A．Focus

B．Avoid

C．Create

D．Receive

4. What can we infer from the last paragraph?

A．My son would win in the finals and I would find a job soon.

B．I had once taught my son face to face that we should never give up.

C．It was my encouragement and help that made my son win the game.

D．I would become more confident about my future after this experience.

【推荐2】Would you like to be an actor, but aren’t the right age or physical type for the part? Don’t give up: there may be a place for you in the world of voice-acting.
____________________________________________ In addition to many appearances on television and in movies, Rickey is a voice-over actor, someone we hear but don’t see. Rickey has acted since he was 6, both on and off camera. After school, his grandmother-- a manager and acting coach--helped him develop his skills by doing voice exercises and reading aloud.
Voice-over actors do many kinds of acting. They are the voices of cartoon characters on television, in movies and video games, and for communicating toys. In films, they replace the foreign language conversation with English version. They create crowd noises, make commercials, act in radio plays, and record telephone instructions and public announcements. They read books on tape and even record museum tours.
Like other actors, voice-over actors need to understand scripts, interpret characters, and breathe correctly. They have to master voice techniques, such as pacing, volume, and range. Sometimes they use their normal voices; other times they change their voices to create different characters or noises. Rickey receives his Danny Phantom scripts only a few days before he tapes each episode(集). He writes helpful notes on the script to guide himself on speaking his part.
Rickey practices, then tapes at the recording studio. He and the other cast members sit in a soundproof booth, acting out their characters as they read their lines into the microphones. “The cartoon gets created after we record the words, so we have to imagine everything in our mind,” says Rickey. Later, the recorded words, music, and sound effects are combined with the cartoon art to create the cartoon we enjoy on TV. Sound interesting? Maybe you can have a “voice” in acting after all!
1. The underlined sentence in paragraph 2 means _______.

A．Rickey draws the character

B．Rickey names Tucker Foley

C．Rickey makes the character seem real

D．Rickey decides the future of Tucker Foley

2. From the passage we can infer that _______.

A．it’s very complex to become a cartoon film voice-over actor

B．Rickey has been involved with acting most of his life

C．Rickey’s mother helped him a lot with acting

D．many people have nice voices

3. Paragraph 4 mainly tells us that _______.

A．a voice-over actor works very hard

B．being a voice-over actor needs talents

C．being a voice-over actor requires skills

D．voice-over actors have more techniques than other actors

4. The information in this article would be most valuable to people _______.

A．who want to build a career around their voices

B．who need to develop their stage-acting skills

C．who want to understand scriptwriting

D．who need to practice voice exercises

5. Which is true about voice-over actors?

A．They usually create characters according to the films.

B．They act as a guide on the museum tours.

C．They have to act both on and off camera.

D．They must use different voices for different characters and situations.

【推荐3】Pharrell Williams takes a breath and considers how the past years have developed for him: ten Grammy Awards and a number of hit singles including a song that has caused countless fans to express how they are “happy”.

And the key, says the 43-year-old known simply as Pharrell, has been taking advantage of audiences’(听众的) need for heartfelt personal stories.

“I think we’ve entered a new singer-songwriter time,” said the American singer and producer. “People want a story. They want a story they can connect to. It’s not about what you have or what you don’t have; it’s more about your journey and your viewpoint that’s important to people.”

Pharrell said he noticed a change in audiences’ tastes over the past year in particular with the sudden success of his song Happy, which received little fanfare upon its release but has turned into an international hit. Countless videos populate sites like YouTube with people from Portugal and China to Abu Dhabi and Iran singing and dancing along to the song.

After seeing how far his song travelled, the singer broke down in tears during a televised interview with the famous talk show host Oprah Winfrey.

“It’s just encouraging to people who have something to say, something to express,” he said.

The success has made Pharrell realize that people are searching for personal and emotional links(情感纽带), perhaps as a means of getting away from the modern technological world we’re living in today.

“People want to feel. There’s too much thinking to deal with,” the singer said. “We’re different from what we were 15 years ago. The only thing that reminds(提醒) us we are humans is feeling. It’s the most important thing ever.”

1. What’s the key to successful music according to Pharrell?

A．Writing happy songs.	B．Following your heart.
C．Telling moving stories.	D．Sharing personal experiences.

2. What can we learn about Pharrell’s song Happy upon its release?

A．It received a cold welcome.	B．It became popular overnight.
C．It changed audiences’ tastes in music.	D．It received different responses at home and abroad.

3. How did Pharrell feel about the success of his song?

A．It was caused by good luck.	B．It was within his expectations.
C．It gave him hope and confidence.	D．It prevented him giving up making music.

【推荐1】When my mother died, I was cooking. One weekend, my husband suggested we cook together. I’d spoken to my mother earlier that day on the phone. I’d told her about our life. She yawned and we said goodbye to one another. I didn’t know then what I would know 16 hours later. I hadn’t even asked how she was doing.

My mother died. My mother was my best friend. After she died, I felt so lonely. The only person I wanted to talk to about my grief was my mother. The only person who could help me was the one who was missing, however much love and support people gave me.

My mother gave me many things, but an education in cookery was not one of them. She liked eating more than cooking. But she had learned to cook when she was a teenager and she had some brilliant recipes. I know everyone says this, but my mother made the best roast beef dinners in the world. And, above all, fish pie! Almost every week, she would buy a prepared fish pie. Then she would bring it home and make her own white sauce.

My mother never got around to teaching me how to make a white sauce-and I never got around to asking her. Now that she was gone, I would have to teach myself. So this became my focus. For the first weeks, I survived on instant foods. But one night, a fish pie mix caught my eye at the store. When I got home, I set myself in front of our electric stove. Armed with a recipe, I tried to teach myself to make a white sauce. Halfway through the recipe, I couldn’t believe it-I’d made a white sauce! Then I remembered: I had always hated fish pie. Admiring my sauce, I wondered why I was so committed to making a dish I had hated for 25 years. Why was it suddenly so important to me?

I spooned the sauce over the fish. Then I ate the pie. It was delicious. More importantly, something strange had happened. The act of making a meal had calmed me. It helped me find peace.

1. How did the author feel when she learned about her mother’s death?

A．Indifferent.

B．Peaceful.

C．Panic.

D．Sad.

2. What can we infer about describing her mother’s cookery?

A．She expressed her wish to be a person like her mother.

B．Her mother was good at cooking and meant a lot to her.

C．She complained that her mother didn’t teach her to cook.

D．She shared what was special about the white sauce with readers.

3. What does the underlined word ‌“this” refer to?

A．Learning to cook.

B．Living a lonely life

C．Surviving on instant foods.

D．Looking back on the old days.

4. What can we know about the author from the text?

A．She rarely called her mother on the phone.

B．She didn’t get along well with her husband.

C．She felt calm when she made the white sauce.

D．She regretted not visiting her mother that day.

【推荐2】We discuss the issue of when to help a patient die. Doctors of our generation are not newcomers to this question. Going back to my internship（实习）days, I can remember many patients in pain, sometimes in coma(昏迷), with late, hopeless cancer. For many of them, we wrote an order for heavy medication—morphine(吗啡)by the clock. This was not talked about openly and little was written about it. It was essential, not controversial.
The best way to bring the problem into focus is to describe two patients whom I cared for. The first, formerly a nurse, had an automobile accident. A few days later her lungs seemed to fill up; her heart developed dangerous rhythm disturbances. So there she was: in coma, on a breathing machine, her heartbeat maintained with an electrical device. One day after rounds, my secretary said the husband and son of the patient wanted to see me. They told me their wife and mother was obviously going to die; she was a nurse and had told her family that she never wanted this kind of terrible death, being maintained by machines. I told them that while I respected their view, there was nothing deadly about her situation. The kidney(肾) failure she had was just the kind for which the artificial kidney was most effective. While possibly a bit reassured, they were disappointed. Here was the head surgeon seemingly determined to keep everybody alive, no matter what.
Within a few days the patient's pacemaker(起搏器) could be removed and she awoke from her coma. About six months later, the door of my office opened and in walked a gloriously fit woman. After some cheery words of appreciation, the father and son asked to speak to me alone. As soon as the door closed, both men became quite tearful. All that came out was, "We want you to know how wrong we were."
The second patient was an 85-year-old lady whose hair caught fire while she was smoking. She arrived with a deep burn; I knew it would surely be deadly. As a remarkable coincidence there was a meeting for discussion going on at the time in medical ethics(道德). The speaker asked me if I had any sort of ethical problem I could bring up for discussion. I described the case and asked the students their opinion. After the discussion, I made a remark that was, when looking back, a serious mistake. I said, "I'll take the word back to the nurses about her and we will talk about it some more before we decide." The instructor and the students were shocked: "You mean this is a real patient?" The teacher of ethics was not accustomed to being challenged by actuality. In any event, I went back and met with the nurses. A day or two later, when she was making no progress and was suffering terribly, we began to back off treatment. Soon she died quietly and not in pain. As a reasonable physician, you had better move ahead and do what you would want done for you. And don't discuss it with the world first. There is a lesson here for everybody. Assisting people to leave this life requires strong judgment and long experience to avoid its misuse.
1. In the early days when a patient had got a deadly, hopeless illness, _____.

A．doctors used to ask the patient to go back home and wait for death

B．doctors would write all their treatment plan on the patient’s medical record

C．doctors would talk about their treatment plan openly

D．usually doctors would inject more morphine into the patient to end his life

2. In the second paragraph, why were they disappointed?

A．Their wife and mother was going to die.

B．They doctor didn’t do as they asked to.

C．Their wife and mother had to receive a kidney transplant.

D．The doctor scolded them for their cruelty

3. At the meeting, the author discussed with the students_____.

A．how to help patients end their lives

B．the importance of mercy killing

C．the relationship between mercy killing and ethics

D．the case about an old lady

4. The author suggested that doctors_____ before they assist a patient in killing himself.

A．discuss it with the others first

B．make sure there is no other choice left

C．be required to do so first by the patient

D．give the patient enough morphine

5. Which of the following can best describe the author?

A．Cruel.	B．Determined.
C．Experienced.	D．Considerate.