【推荐1】The summer before my dad died, we moved house. Up until that point, our family had our own space to spread out. Money was tight, so there was no television set, but we owned a turntable on which my dad’s records played constantly. Mostly, it played Bob Dylan. Tracks from The Basement Tapes and Desire became an important part of our new life. My brother and I, aged 8 and 10, climbed trees, built hideaways and learned the words of Clothes Line Saga. We would chant over the, lost in our own joy.

It was January when my dad left us forever because of the cancer. He was 36 going on 37 then, the same age as Dylan. Afterwards, our laughter disappeared, but we kept on playing the records, which became our only ritual of remembrance. The two men became so intertwined in my head, I struggled to tell them apart.

Dylan was my dad’s gift to me. What child wouldn’t be fascinated by songs full of pirates and seasick sailors? How did it feel to have No direction home? Farewell, Angelina became my party-piece. I would sing this at church cheese and wines to the assembled audience. A lot of donations were made.

Growing up, I remained a fan of the music, but I wasn’t obsessed with Dylan until one day in early 1995, my brother bought us both tickets to see him play at Brixton Academy. London felt like a long way to go. But finally seeing Dylan step out onto the stage brought a sudden rush of excitement.

I have seen Dylan a couple of times since. My brother is not around so much these days. But he was up for a visit recently. We passed a happy evening laughing and drinking, while his son, aged nine, performed his party—piece Subterranean Homesick Blues for us. He sang it word-perfect. And so it goes on: Dylan’s music as a gift, passed down the generations.

1. What’s the author’s purposed of writing the passage?

A．To praise his late father.	B．To tell about his family history.
C．To express his longing for family reunion.	D．To show his love for Bob Dylan.

2. The underlined word “ritual” in the second paragraph means “________”.

A．passion	B．ceremony
C．memory	D．belief

3. How did the author raise money in his childhood?

A．By singing a Dylan’s song at church gatherings.

B．By providing cheese and wines to church prayers.

C．By playing a private in church performances.

D．By accepting donations from the church.

4. The recent visit of the author’s brother indicates that ________.

A．his nephew was ever invited to play in Dylan’s concert

B．his brother has never seen a live performance of Dylan

C．Dylan’s music has influenced three generations of his family

D．Subterranean Homesick Blues is always his favourite song

【推荐2】Many teenagers(青少年) feel that the most important people in their lives are their friends. They believe that their family members don’t know them as well as their friends do. In large families, it is quite often for brothers and sisters to fight with each other and then they can only go to their friends for some ideas．
It is very important for teenagers to have one good friend or a group of friends. Even when they are not with their friends, they usually spend a lot of time talking among themselves on the phone. This communication is very important in children’s growing up, because friends can discuss something. These things are difficult to tell their family members.
However, parents often try to choose their children’s friends for them. Some parents may even stop their children from meeting their good friends. Have you ever thought of the following questions?
Who chooses your friends?
Do you choose your friends or your friends choose you?
Have you got a good friend your parents don’t like?
____________.
1. Many teenagers think that ____ can understand them better.

A．friends

B．brothers

C．sisters

D．parents

2. When teenagers have something difficult to tell their parents, they usually____

A．stay alone at home

B．fight with their parents

C．discuss it with their friends

D．go to their brothers and sisters for help

3. The sentence (句子) “Your answers are welcome．” means _______．

A．You are welcome to discuss the questions with us.

B．We have got no idea, so your answers are welcome.

C．Your answers are always right.

D．You can give us all the right answers.

4. Which of the following is the writer’s attitude(态度)?

A．Parents should choose friends for their children

B．Children should choose everything they like

C．Parents should understand their children better

D．Teenagers should only go to their friends for help

5. Part of the purpose of this passage is to ___.

A．give information for the parents to make their own judgment (判断)

B．give advice to children who want to choose their friends

C．help parents to find better friends for their children

D．get some information from many readers

【推荐3】Bob Stockton, my father-in-law, observed his 80th birthday in November 2019. Bob loved sports and was an enthusiastic Yankees (an American professional baseball team based in the New York City) fan, so it was no wonder that over the years, he was an avid (热切的) listener to WEAN radio and, in particular, the afternoon show hosted by Mike Francesa.

Bob had health issues in his later years that limited his mobility, and when he lost his eyesight three years ago, his attachment to his radio and Francesa became more pronounced. He just loved listening to Mike talk about sports and his Yankees each afternoon. Those hours brought him so much pleasure.

Of course, Mike will be leaving on Dec. 15,2020 after 30 years at the station. Mike lives in the same community where I work on Long Island, and I have gotten to know him over the past20 years. So when my father-in-law was approaching his special birthday last year, I asked Mike for a favor: to call Bob and wish him a happy birthday.

Mike agreed without hesitation. Two days before the special day, Mike stopped at my workplace. I called Bob at his nursing home and put Mike on the phone. It was a complete surprise to Bob. Mike spent more than 10 minutes wishing Bob a happy birthday and, of course, talking about the Yankees.

When my family celebrated Bob's birthday two days later, he couldn't stop talking about the phone call. Over his lifetime. he said it was one of the nicest things anyone had ever done for him. Unfortunately, Bob's health declined (衰退) and he passed away on July 13,2020. But even in his final months in the hospital and nursing home, he always had a radio set to WEAN to listen each afternoon to Mike Francesa. And he also had the memory of that special phone call for his80th birthday.

1. What habit did Bob keep for years?

A．Playing baseball.	B．Listening to a sports program.
C．Checking his eyesight regularly.	D．Leading organized cheering for the Yankees.

2. What does the underlined word “pronounced” in Paragraph 2 mean?

A．Obvious.

B．Confused.

C．Important.

D．Ordinary.

3. What word can describe the author?

A．Honest.

B．Caring.

C．Patient.

D．Independent.

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

A．A Special Gift	B．The Call Finally Arrived
C．The Big Dream Came True	D．An Unforgettable Birthday Party

【推荐1】After failing an important exam in my life and missing the opportunity to be an exchange student in a university of my dreams, I kept trying to avoid Facebook so I wouldn't have to see the information about it. It was after this that I slowly quit using Facebook.

Facebook made me feel uneasy, sad and like a failure. When I went online, it seemed that everyone was in Australia or Thailand. And if they weren't travelling, they were getting married or landing great jobs. I felt like everyone was living the dream and I was still at home with my parents, with my student loan hanging over me.

I also felt that if I wasn't eating at restaurants or posting photos from nights out, people would think I wasn't living. I remember that a friend said to me once, "Yeah, but you're still going out having fun, and I've seen on Facebook." I tried to present myself as always having a great time. If what I posted on social media didn't get more than five likes, I'd delete it.

My life has changed for the better since I stopped using social media. I now enjoy catching up with my friends. When they tell me new plans, my response isn't just, "Yeah, I saw it on Facebook." It makes me realize who my real friends are and how social media takes the joy out of sharing news with people. I also feel less uneasy and less of a failure.

I'm planning to visit a friend in Australia next month. My mom and a couple of other friends want me to go back on Facebook to share my pictures. I'd really prefer not to though.

1. What does the underlined word "this" in Paragraph I refer to?

A．Trying not to use Facebook.

B．Attending an important exam.

C．Being refused by a good university.

D．Completely stopping using Facebook.

2. When going online, the author felt that ____________.

A．she was living the dream

B．her parents seemed uneasy

C．people seemed to live a perfect life

D．it was necessary to go travelling regularly

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

A．She wouldn't go to Australia.

B．She wouldn't listen to people around her.

C．She wouldn't take any pictures in Australia.

D．She wouldn't share photos of her trip on Facebook.

【推荐1】Justin Salas was only 14 years old when he lost his ability of using his sight completely and was declared legally blind. Now at the age of 22, the ambitious young man is a living example that nothing is impossible — even though he can’t see, Justin is a professional photographer and skilled rock climber.

Justin’s blindness wasn’t the result of an unfortunate accident. His eyesight had always been poor and he started wearing glasses when he was 5 years old. But it wasn’t until his first year of high school that his eyesight started to become worse at a rapid pace. His glasses no longer helped and tests showed that his eye nerves were dying, although the cause was a mystery for all the doctors who he had seen.

A doctor at the Dean McGee Eye Institute in Oklahoma City, one of the best eye clinics in the country, told Justin’s parents that the condition was psychological and he should just go home and relax. After a whole year of scans and blood tests, doctors gave him the diagnosis of "optic neuropathy (视神经病变) of unknown origin" and shattered his world when they told him it was incurable. Without the ability to do the things he most enjoyed, the young boy pulled away from the world. He didn’t speak at all for some days. He just stood in front of an oversized computer screen, because if he leaned very close, he could still make out the blurry outlines of familiar shapes and letters.

But one day, his close friend Beau Johnson asked him if he wanted to ride a bike. On the way, Johnson carefully reminded him of the things that he couldn’t see in front of him. And Justin gradually began to expose himself to the outside world again. Because of this, Justin’s family all called him Justin’s "Seeing Eye person".

Then another friend invited him to a rock climbing gym, telling him that he didn’t have to see to climb but that he could feel to climb. The boy took him up on the offer, and he has been climbing ever since. Some of the rocks are as high as 50 feet, but Justin has never cared about them and finished climbing them with the help of his friend.

Maybe you wonder how Justin knows where to position his feet during a climb. Well, that’s what friends are there for. They call out some information like "Handhold one o'clock, Justin! One o'clock" from down below, which is the only thing that he can really depend on, apart from his own memory. "The process is feeling all the holds and having someone tell me where the holds are," Justin says. "Then I feel every shape of the hold, in which direction it goes. I start memorizing and putting pieces together and memorizing how my body feels when I’m in certain positions. So I know, whenever I go back to do it again, how it feels. And then I do the route over and over again, even if it takes falling dozens of times."

It’s been working pretty well, though, as Justin has climbed many high-level rocks during his short career, and even landed several sponsorships, including one from chalk company FrictionLabs.

But rock climbing is not the only extraordinary thing Justin Salas does. He is also a professional photographer and has his own photography business, specializing in adventure shots, landscape photography and so on. There was no doubt that this new passion gave him a way to see through his own vision loss. To frame his shots properly, Justin has other still working senses — the sound of his subjects’ voices, the warmth and angle of the sun on his body and his memory from when his eyes actually worked.

Even though he can’t see what he shoots, you can have a good view of his shots on his Twitter. Looking at them, nobody could probably guess that the photographer is legally blind.

1. What do we know about Justin’s blindness?

A．He has lost his eyesight since he was five.

B．His blindness resulted from an accident.

C．He didn’t know why his eyes suffered a lot.

D．His inferior glasses made his eyesight worse.

2. What does the underlined word "shattered" probably mean?

A．Challenge.

B．Interrupt.

C．Shake.

D．Destroy.

3. Why was Johnson called the Seeing Eye person by Justin’s family?

A．He inspired Justin to take cameras as his "eyes".

B．He succeeded in making Justin recover his eyesight finally.

C．He helped Justin get out of the shadow of blindness slowly.

D．He taught Justin how to live independently and confidently.

4. How does Justin become familiar with the rock climbing route?

A．With the help of a coach.

B．Through his own memory.

C．Through the angle of the sun.

D．By using a high-tech electronic device.

5. What can be inferred from the last paragraph?

A．Justin is very skillful and professional in photography.

B．Viewers don’t care much about Justin’s blindness.

C．Justin doesn’t wish others to talk about his story.

D．Justin’s photographs are very popular online.

6. Which word can best describe Justin Salas?

A．Easy-going.

B．Strong-minded.

C．Creative.

D．Selfless.

【推荐2】Rain was beating down on my car as I drove slowly down a less-traveled road. Suddenly the steering wheel jumped in my hands as one of the tires (轮胎) burst with a bang. It was impossible for me to change that tire! A thought that a passing motorist might stop disappeared at once. Why would anyone? I knew I wouldn’t. Then I remembered that a short distance up a little side road was a house. I started the engine and drove slowly until I came to that house.

I honked the horn (鸣笛). Then the door opened and a little girl about eight stood there. I rolled down the window and called out that I needed someone to change the flat tire because I was disabled and couldn’t do it myself. A moment later, the girl came out with raincoat and hat, followed by a man who called a cheerful greeting. I sat there comfortably and dryly, and felt sorry for the man and the little girl working so hard in the storm. Well, I would pay them for it. The rain seemed to be little now, and I rolled down the window to watch. It seemed to me that they were awfully slow and I was beginning to become impatient. Finally, it was done and then they were standing at my car window.

He said, “This is a bad night for car trouble, but you’re all set now.” “Thanks,” I said. “How much do I owe you?” He shook his head. “Nothing. Cynthia told me you were on crutches (腋杖). Glad to be of help. There’s no charge.” I held out a five-dollar bill, but he made no effort to take it and the little girl stepped closer to me and said, “Grandpa can’t see it.”

A blind old man and a child! They were just working with cold, wet fingers for tools in the dark—a darkness that for him would probably never end until death. I don’t remember how long I sat there after they said good night, but it was long enough for me to search deep within myself. I realized that I was filled with self-pity, selfishness, indifference to the needs of others.

Helping others is a way of life, one that I am trying to follow. It isn’t always easy, but the value is there. I am trying now not only to climb 14 steps each day, but in my small way to help others.

1. The writer didn’t expect others to stop to help him as he thought they would _____.

A．not notice him in the rain	B．not know he was disabled
C．be unlikely to travel on that road	D．ignore the needs of others

2. As the time taken to change the tire became longer, the writer began to feel _____.

A．sorry for the man and the girl	B．dissatisfied with the man and the girl
C．unwilling to pay the man and the girl	D．grateful to the man and the girl

3. The grandfather needed the girl’s help because of _____.

A．the darkness	B．the heavy rain
C．his blindness	D．his old age

4. What did the writer learn from the experience mentioned above?

A．He should learn how to do things for himself.

B．Disabled people should know how to drive on rainy days.

C．Age doesn’t matter when it comes to giving a helping hand.

D．He should not be selfish and should try to help others if possible.