【推荐1】Sharon Holland and her husband, Jer, are travelling around the world and saving money at the same time — by swapping (交换) houses with strangers to keep the bills low. They only have to pay for their flights, meaning they save hundreds of pounds on their holidays each year.

The couple’s occupation (职业) allows them to enjoy long periods of school holidays. Both work as school Deputy Principals,which allows them to take their children, Cian, 23, Miah,13, and Faye, 11, abroad up to four times per year. On average, they pay £1, 250 per year for flights.

Sharon, from Cork, Ireland, has exchanged her home with a stranger 40 times in the last 13 years and says she’s never looked back. She said, “I couldn’t imagine travelling any other way now. Swapping our Irish Georgian farmhouse for another house abroad is amazing. There are home-style houses, modern city apartments and beautiful architectural period houses too. Every holiday is different and staying in someone else’s house makes our experience more rewarding and enjoyable. We are able to meet more locals and understand the culture more than we would if we were to stay at a hotel. We bring our laptops during the summer weeks as we are both responsible for timetabling and school planning but this can be done at a distance.”

Sharon has visited various cities in America, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, the UK and their home country of Ireland. “But our favourite place is Italy. We have been lucky enough to visit there six times. Over the years, every experience has been great — from taking in the architecture to the food. We have made some wonderful happy memories for less,” adds she.

1. Why do the couple travel by swapping houses with strangers?

A．To avoid taking flights.

B．To spread local culture.

C．To improve their living conditions.

D．To cut down their travel costs.

2. What can we know about Sharon from the text?

A．She comes from England and likes Italy.

B．She never lives in a hotel when traveling.

C．She likes the way of swapping houses.

D．She plans to open a school with her husband.

3. What does the passage mainly talk about?

A．It introduces some ways of exchanging houses.

B．It tells about a couple’s special way of travelling.

C．It tries to persuade more people to travel worldwide.

D．It teaches people how to save money while traveling.

【推荐1】Here’s a new warning from health experts: Sitting is deadly.

Scientists are increasingly warning that sitting for long periods --- even if you also exercise regularly --- could be bad for your health. And it doesn’t matter where the sitting takes place. Several studies suggest people who spend most of their days sitting are more likely to be fat, have a heart attack or even die.

In an article published this week in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, Elin Ekblom-Bak of the Swedish School of Sport and Health Sciences suggested that authorities rethink how they define physical activity to stress the dangers of sitting.

While health officials have recommended minimum amounts of physical activity, they haven’t suggested people try to limit how much time they spend in a seated position.

“After four hours of sitting, the body starts to send harmful signals,” said Ekblom-Bak. She explained that genes regulating the amount of glucose (葡萄糖) and fat in the body start to shut down.

Even for people who exercise, spending long periods of time sitting at a desk is still harmful. Tim Armstrong, a physical activity expert at the World Health Organization, said people who exercise every day --- but still spend a lot of time sitting --- might get more benefit if that exercise was spread across the day, rather than in a single bout (一回).

Still, in a study published in 2015 that tracked more than 17,000 Canadians for about a dozen years, researchers found people who sat more had a higher death risk, whether or not they exercised.

“We don’t have enough evidence yet to say how much sitting is bad,” said Peter Katzmarzyk of the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, who led the Canadian study. “But it seems the more you can get up and interrupt this sedentary (久坐的) behavior, the better.”

Experts said more research is needed to figure out just how much sitting is dangerous, and what might be possible to offset those effects.

“People should keep exercising because that has a lot of benefits,” Ekblom-Bak said. “But when they’re in the office, they should try to interrupt sitting as often as possible,” she said.

1. What is the best title for the text?

A．Not Sitting Too Much While Working.

B．How to Avoid Sitting Too Much.

C．Sitting Too Much Could Be Deadly.

D．More and More People Sit Too Much.

2. According to the research, ________.

A．the more time you spend in exercising in a single bout, the healthier you will be

B．those who often sit too much are sure to grow fat or suffer from a heart attack

C．regular exercise is effective in getting rid of the side effects of sitting too much

D．you had better not sit for more than four hours in a single bout

3. How does the danger of sitting too much affect the human body?

A．It results in a higher death risk.

B．It increases glucose and fat in the body.

C．It makes a person unable to exercise long enough in a day.

D．It causes the genes to fail to balance the glucose and fat in the body.

4. The underlined word “offset” in Paragraph 9 most probably means ________.

A．improve

B．balance

C．ignore

D．achieve

5. In the opinion of Ekblom-Bak, you’d better have a rest in the office by ________.

A．having a walk around your office

B．sending your friends e-mails

C．chatting online or playing computer games

D．listening to music with your head on the desk

【推荐2】The mobile phone has become a problem for high schools. Some high-school students in Australia are not allowed to carry mobile phones during school hours.

The mobile phone used among children has become a problem for the school years. Several children have got mobile phones as Christmas presents, and more students want them. Marry Brown, a headmaster, said that the mobile phone was a distraction (分心事) to students during school hours and it also gave teachers so much trouble in their classrooms. Teachers also say that sometimes students might use phone messages to cheat during exams.

She said some schools had tried to ban (禁止) mobile phones. Some parents felt unhappy because they couldn't get in touch with their children.

Many teachers said students should not have mobile phones at school, if there was a good reason, they could leave their phones at school office. They also said phones were easily lost and were a distraction for studies.

Many people say that they understand why parents would want their children to have phones, but they think schools should let students know when they can use their mobile phones.

1. Some high schools in Australia have stopped students from carrying mobile phones ______

A．because they are students	B．when they are free
C．when they are at school	D．because they are children

2. The headmaster, Marry Brown said that the mobile phone was ______ to students at school.

A．a bad thing

B．a useful tool

C．a good thing

D．of some help

3. what does the underlined word “cheat” mean in Chinese in this passage?

A．分散注意力

B．吸引

C．让人高兴

D．作弊,欺骗

4. The passage tells us that ______

A．students shouldn't have mobile phones at school except for some special reasons

B．it is important to ban students from using mobile phones at school

C．some parents felt unhappy because they couldn't use their phones at home

D．parents should teach their children how to use mobile phones during school hours

【推荐3】Idioms are one of the hardest parts of learning a language. For those of you who don't know, an idiom is a phrase which has a meaning, but the meaning is not clear from the words themselves. If you translate an idiom word for word, it sometimes makes no sense at all. They are like puzzles and even native speakers can get confused when someone uses a phrase that they've never heard of.

With that in mind, here are five common English idioms that you can use in a variety of Situations.

1．Get your act together (Meaning: you need to improve your behaviour/work)

This might be something your teacher says to you if you score badly in an exam or if you misbehave in class. You can also use it to talk about people in general. For example, if your friend is being mean or nasty for no reason, then you can tell them that they need to get their act together.

2．Pull yourself together (Meaning: calm down)

This is a somewhat impolite way of telling someone that they are overreacting and that they need to relax. Only use this if you think the person you are speaking to is getting upset over something insignificant. If your friend tells you that their close relative has died, it is NOT the time to tell them to pull themselves together.

3．I'm feeling under the weather (Meaning: I'm sick)

Yes, it's longer and more difficult to say than 'I'm sick', but if your English teacher asks you why you haven't done your homework, he or she is more likely to forgive you if you say that you were feeling under the weather. You may not have done your English homework, but your teacher might be impressed that you know how to make eloquent excuses in a foreign language.

4．It's a piece of cake (Meaning: it's easy)

I don't know why this means what it does, but sometimes you just have to accept that English people use weird phrases.

5．Break a leg (Meaning: good luck!)

This is perhaps one of the most confusing yet well-known English idioms. If someone says this to you, do not take offence or think they are threatening you; they are just wishing you luck. It is most often used for people wishing success to actors and actresses before they perform on the stage, but it can be said in other situations, too.

All in all, learning a new language can be challenging. It's definitely not a piece of cake, especially when there are so many confusing idioms. However, with enough hard work and interest, you will succeed in no time. Break a leg!

1. Which idiom is proper for you to say to your worried classmate who is to take part in the 800-metre race at the school sports meet?

A．Get your act together.	B．Pull yourself together.
C．Break a leg.	D．It's a piece of cake.

2. How should you respond when you hear your deskmate say, "I am feeling under the weather."

A．"What's wrong with you?"

B．"Don't worry. Let's call 120."

C．"Get up and finish your homework."

D．"Why don't you take an umbrella with you?"

3. According to the passage, which of the following is TRUE about idioms?

A．They sometimes make no sense at all.

B．Native speakers have trouble understanding idioms sometimes.

C．Idioms are the hardest part of learning a language.

D．We can guess the meaning of an idiom from the words in it.

【推荐1】       Two magazines recently listed the best cities to live in. Here are two of the cities listed as “the world’s best.”
       SAN JOSE, COSTA RICA The city has comfortable weather all year round (15°C to 26°C ). Housing is not very expensive in San Jose. Also, many of the city’s older neighborhoods are very beautiful and have small hotels and cafés(咖啡馆). Beautiful mountains are around the city. You can visit them easily from San Jose. So lots of people go sightseeing there every year. But air pollution is a problem in the city center.
       HONG KONG, CHINA This lively city — once a small fishing village — is today an international business center. It is an interesting mix of East and West, old and new. Modern tall buildings are next to small temples(庙宇). Popular nightclubs are close to traditional teahouses. Busy people fill the streets at all hours of the day. But outside the city, there are parks for walking or relaxing. Hong Kong is famous for its wonderful native dishes. There’s also food from Europe, North America, and other parts of Asia. However, this small city has a large population. Nearly seven million people live in Hong Kong! That’s why housing is often very expensive. Traffic and air pollution are also a problem.
1. Which of the following is not mentioned about San Jose?

A．The weather.

B．The mountains.

C．The air.

D．The traffic.

2. What makes Hong Kong the world’s best according to this passage?

A．The lively city and the wonderful dishes.	B．The beautiful mountains and the lively city.
C．The expensive housing and the food.	D．The city and the people.

3. The writer thinks housing in Hong Kong is expensive because ________.

A．it was a small fishing village	B．it is a mix of East and West
C．it is famous for its wonderful food	D．there are too many people in the city

4. What do the two cities have in common?

A．They both have beautiful mountains.	B．They both have a large population.
C．Air pollution is a problem in both.	D．They are both crowded.

5. From the passage, we can know that ________.

A．San Jose and Hong Kong are the only two cities of the world’s best

B．San Jose has more natural sights than Hong Kong does

C．the weather in both cities is fine

D．Hong Kong is the more popular city of the two