【推荐1】Little New Year usually falls a week before the lunar New Year. It is also known as the Festival of the Kitchen God, the deity (神) who oversees the moral character of each household. Here are six things you should know about the Little New Year, another sign of the start of spring.

1. Offer sacrifices to Kitchen God

One of the most distinctive traditions of the Little New Year is the burning of a paper image of the Kitchen God, who will report on the family’s conduct over the past year. The offerings to the Kitchen God include pig’s head, fish, sweet bean paste, melons, fruit, boiled dumplings, barley sugar, and Guandong candy. Most of the offerings are sweets of various varieties. It is thought that this will seal the Kitchen God’s mouth and encourage him to only say good things about the family when he ascends to Heaven to make his report.

2. House cleaning

According to Chinese folk beliefs, during the last month of the year ghosts and deities must choose either to return to Heaven or to stay on Earth. It is believed that in order to ensure the ghosts and deities’ timely departure people must thoroughly clean both their persons and their houses, down to every last drawer and cupboard.

3. Eat Guandong candy

Guandong candy, a sticky treat made out of glutinous millet and sprouted wheat, is a traditional snack that Chinese people eat on the Festival of the Kitchen God.

4. Paste paper-cuts to windows

In the Little New Year, old couplets and paper-cuts from the previous Spring Festival are taken down, and new window decorations, New Year’s posters, and auspicious (吉利的) decorations are pasted up.

5. Bath and hair-cut

As the old Chinese saying goes, whether they’re rich or poor, people often have a haircut before the Spring Festival. The activity of taking bath and haircut is often taken on the Little New Year.

6. Preparations for the Spring Festival

People start to stock up necessary provisions for the Spring Festival since the Little New Year. Everything needed to make offerings to the ancestors, entertain guests, and feed the family over the long holiday must be purchased in advance.

1. What is the most unusual tradition in the Little New Year?

A．Offering sacrifices to the Kitchen God.

B．Burning a paper image of the Kitchen God.

C．Preparing the necessities for the New Year.

D．Cleaning houses and people themselves.

2. What is the Kitchen God’s duty in the man’s world?

A．Collecting the information of the man’s world.

B．Protecting the character of each home.

C．Gathering sacrifices for other Gods in Heaven.

D．Watching out for the moral people in the world.

3. Why are most of the offerings sweets?

A．Because the Kitchen God loves sweet foods.

B．Because it is the traditional custom.

C．Because people hope the God says good for them.

D．Because sweets are the best sacrifices.

4. What do we know from the passage?

A．Little New Year always falls in February.

B．House cleaning is to welcome the New Year.

C．In the Little New Year only paper-cuts are pasted up.

D．People will make full preparations for the coming New Year.

【推荐2】Usually, when your teacher asks a question, there is only one correct answer. But there is one question that has millions of correct answers. That question is “What’s your name?” Everyone gives a different answer, but everyone is correct.
Have you ever wondered about people’s names? Where do they come from? What do they mean?
People’s first names, or given names, are chosen by their parents. Sometimes the name of a grandparent or other member of the family is used. Some parents choose the name of a well-known person. A boy could be named George Washington Smith; a girl could be named Helen Keller Jones.
Some people give their children names that mean good things. Clara means “bright”; Beatrice means “one who gives happiness”; Donald means “world ruler”; Leonard means “as brave as a lion”.
The earliest last names, or surnames, were taken from place names. A family with the name Brook or Brooks probably lived near a brook (小溪); someone who was called Longstreet probably lived on a long, paved road. The Greenwood family lived in or near a leafy forest.
Other early surnames came from people’s occupations. The most common occupational name is Smith, which means a person who makes things with iron or other metals. In the past, smiths were very important workers in every town and village. Some other occupational names are: Carter—a person who owned or drove a cart; Potter—a person who made pots and pans.
The ancestors of the Baker family probably baked bread for their neighbors in their native village. The Carpenter’s great-great-great-grandfather probably built houses and furniture.
Sometimes people were known for the color of their hair or skin, or their size, or their special abilities. When there were two men who were named John in the same village, the John with gray hair probably became John Gray. Or the John who was very tall could call himself John Tallman. John Fish was probably an excellent swimmer and John Lightfoot was probably a fast runner or a good dancer.
Some family names were made by adding something to the father’s name. English-speaking people added –s or –son. The Johnsons are descendants of John; the Roberts family’s ancestor was Robert. Irish and Scottish people added Mac or Mc or O. Perhaps all of the MacDonnells and the O’Donnells are descendants of the same Donnell.
1. Which of the following aspects do the surnames in the passage NOT cover?

A．Places where people lived.	B．People’s characters.
C．Talents that people possessed.	D．People’s occupations.

2. According to the passage, the ancestors of the Potter family most probably _______.

A．owned or drove a cart	B．made things with metals
C．made kitchen tools or containers.	D．built houses and furniture.

3. Suppose an English couple whose ancestors lived near a leafy forest wanted their new-born son to become a world leader, the baby might be named ________.

A．Beatrice Smith	B．Leonard Carter
C．George Longstreet	D．Donald Greenwood

【推荐3】Many Chinese people have awakened their interest in classical Chinese poetry recently thanks to a popular TV show that aims to “appreciate classical Chinese poetry, explore cultural genes and enjoy the beauty of life” by combining traditional literary form with light-hearted TV quizzes.

The ten-episode “Chinese Poetry Competition”, since its broadcast has been praised for injecting vitality into TV programs with fantastic performances of contestants, impressive comments from judges as well as its innovative interactive mode. In the show, poems can be adapted into songs or depicted through artistic pictures. Any contestant who can memorize the largest number of poems may not necessarily be the final winner.     1    

Wu Yishu, a 16-year-old student from the High School Attached to Fudan University in Shanghai, is the champion of this season. Her rich knowledge of classical poetry impressed everyone and she rose to become famous online.     2     She amazingly recited lines from the Classic of Poetry(《诗经》), the earliest collection of poems in China.

“    3     The power of poetry lies in shaping one’s view of life and developing one’s inner world.” said Li Bo, an expert guest at the Chinese Poetry Competition’s second season.

When it comes to teaching people about poetry, Li Dingguang, the show’s academic advisor, suggested that teachers should explain more about the beauty of the poetry from both the aesthetic (审美的) and emotional sides, and guide students to lose themselves in the poems’ rhythmic and rhyming lines.

“Although the proportion of ancient Chinese poems in the textbooks of primary and secondary schools has increased, many students still learn them for exams.” Li Dingguang said,   “Therefore,     4    ”

A．In an earlier episode, Wu wowed the audience when performing in a section.

B．Perhaps innovation and interaction matter the most.

C．Fast reaction and usage of poems matter a lot more in the competition.

D．What is the permanent appeal of poetry?

E．it’s important to help students truly appreciate the artistry and fun of poetry.

F．Learning poems isn’t about winning or losing.

【推荐3】We love the sea. We swim into it, live near it, build beside it, and even imagine living under the sea. But we’re terrified of it, too. For much of our history, we have turned to “hard engineering” to control the marine environment and manage its influence on us. We build dams, sea walls and channels. But all these efforts seem to fail. The sea has a habit of taking back its own. And we suffer.

Johnston, a marine ecologist, is advocating for “blue engineering” — the marine version of the “green engineering” movement on land that has seen nations like Singapore building the walls and roofs of the concrete jungle with plant life.

We are expanding further into the marine environment. This practice does harm to marine ecosystems. We’re loving the sea to death, but we’ve not been thinking about design of structures （建筑物） with respect to ecology. Some coastal structures create shade, which reduces the growth of seaweed. Bright lights at night contuse species such as turtles. That’s why blue engineering comes in.

Throughout the world people are starting to turn things around. Researchers with the World Harbour Project are creating tiles （瓦片） similar to the natural structures found on rocky shores with 3D printing technology. These make more attractive homes for marine creatures. Researchers are also actively seeding these tiles with local seaweeds and creatures such as the Sydney rock oyster, which is particularly good at improving water quality. Twelve harbors around the world are taking part in this marine tile experiment, each working with their own unique marine life.

It’s a far cry from the days when huge number of old tyres were thrown, into the sea to build “artificial reef”（人工礁石）. Those clumsy early attempts are now costing millions to remove, showing just how far we have yet to go in understanding how best to co-habit with the underwater world.

1. What do we know about “hard engineering”?

A．It can control the influence of sea.

B．It has improved sea environment.

C．It forces sea creatures to settle down.

D．It has not achieved its original purpose.

2. Paragraph 3 focuses on the ______ of “blue engineering”.

A．disadvantages

B．definition

C．necessity

D．measures

3. Which of the following belongs to “blue engineering”?

A．Designing structures using sea creatures.

B．Expanding further into the marine environment.

C．Building homes for sea creatures with plant life.

D．Creating an artificial reef off shore with old tyres