【推荐1】College. It means that you are finally going to leave your parents’ nest and experience a lot of personal freedom and independence. You’ll wear whatever you want. You’ll make new friends. And you are definitely ready to enjoy your time in “paradise”.

However, college might be different than you have considered. When an English speaking contest was held in Beijing, about two-thirds of the 62 college students recalled their frustrations about their life in college.

Many of them said they didn’t know what they were supposed to do in college. “Most of the time, I lingered around in my dorm, idling hours and hours away, watching entertainment shows or soap operas on the Internet, or chatting with roommates, ”Huang Xuan, 23, from Guangxi University, said of his first two years of college life.

However, one day his mum asked him about his future plans after college. It was then that he realised his future would be ruined if he kept up such self-indulgence.

Li Yan, 20, from Shenzhen University, suffered a loss of not being one of the “marked” students. She was neither the chairman of the Student Union nor the one with the highest scholarship. Sun Tingting, 21, from Suzhou University of Science and Technology, dominated all the exams with the highest scores, but she felt confused because when she was free, she could think of nothing else to do and no one else to talk to. Zhang Xin, 19, from Beijing Foreign Studies University, began to re- examine what “college” means after she noticed many graduates from elite schools ending up in a job that does not pay well. “Our future is not guaranteed by our college, but rather by how we reshape ourselves in college.”

“Young people are experiencing ‘growing pains’,” said Li Fang, a mental health consultant. In the process of self-discovery, she thinks many Chinese young people suffer more than their peers in the West. Their independence comes much later. They are so used to relying on their parents that when independence suddenly comes in college, it can be difficult.

“Relax,“ Li advised. “This is part of growing up.”

1. The underlined expression “idling hours and hours away” in paragraph 3 can be replaced by “________”.

A．killing time	B．making use of time
C．saving time	D．valuing time

2. Which of the following frustrations of college students are NOT mentioned in the passage?

A．They are no longer the “best” students.

B．They have no friends to talk to in their spare time.

C．They have trouble communicating with their parents.

D．They realise that good college doesn’t guarantee a good job.

3. According to Li Fang, why do many Chinese young people suffer more than their peers in the West?

A．They often abandon themselves to watching TV or shows on the Internet.

B．They are accustomed to counting on their parents before coming to college.

C．They have never left their parents’ nests.

D．They are definitely ready to enjoy their time in college.

4. What is Li Fang’s advice to young people?

A．Learn from their peers in the West.

B．Consult a psychologist.

C．Relax and consider this as part of growing up.

D．Stop relying on their parents and learn to take responsibility.

【推荐2】Cheating is considered to be a major problem in colleges and universities. Colleges and universities across the US have decided to do more than talk about the rise in student cheating.

We frequently hear about “the good old days”, when Americans were better, happier, and more honest. But were they more honest? Maybe yes, a long time ago when life was very different from what it is today.

School children used to know the story of how Abraham Lincoln walked five miles to return a penny he’d overcharged a customer. It’s the kind of story we think of as myth. But in the case of Lincoln, the story is true — unlike the story of George Washington and the cherry tree. Washington’s first biographer invented the tale of little George saying to his father, “I cannot tell a lie. I did it with my ax.” What is important in both stories, however, is that honesty was seen as an important part of the American character.

And these are just two stories out of many. Students in the last century usually didn’t read “fan” stories. They read stories that taught moral values. Such stories pointed out quite clearly that children who lied, cheated, or stole came to bad ends.

Parents may have further reinforced those values. It’s difficult to know. We do know that children didn’t hear their parents talk of cheating the government on income taxes — there weren’t any. The vast majority of Americans still believe that honesty is an important part of the American character. For that reason, there are numerous watch-dog committees at all levels of society.

Although signs of dishonesty in school, business, and government seem much more numerous in recent years than in the past, could it be that we are getting better at revealing such dishonesty? There is some evidence that dishonesty may ebb and flow (起伏). When times are hard, incidents of theft and cheating usually go up. And when times get better such incidents tend to go down.

Cheating in school also tends to ebb and flow. But it doesn’t seem linked to the economy. Many educators feel that as students gain confidence in themselves and their abilities, they are less likely to cheat. Surprisingly, some efforts to prevent cheating may actually encourage cheating — a person may feel “they don’t trust me anyway,” and be tempted to “beat the system.” Distrust can be contagious (传染的). But, so can trust!

1. Why does the author mention the two stories of Lincoln and Washington?

A．To show Lincoln is more admired than Washington.

B．To introduce the topic to be discussed.

C．To compare them with the presidents today.

D．To prove honesty used to be very important in American character.

2. What lesson do all the stories try to convey?

A．Those who do something evil will have to answer for it.

B．Those who steal will be put to prison.

C．Those who cheat will be sentenced.

D．Those who don’t behave themselves will die young.

3. What may be a main reason for dishonesty in society?

A．Family life.

B．Fun stories.

C．Economic condition.

D．School education.

4. By saying ‘... some efforts to prevent cheating may actually encourage cheating’, the author wants to show ________.

A．Distrust will result in dishonesty sometimes.

B．The measures to stop cheating in schools are badly taken.

C．Dishonesty is a long-time discouragement.

D．There will never be an effective way to stop cheating.

5. What may help a student not to cheat?

A．High grades.

B．Self-confidence.

C．Discipline.

D．Strong wills.

【推荐3】Earth is a big place, but size isn’t everything. The planet’s richest ecosystems are in rapid decline, forcing us to acknowledge countless creatures worldwide are running out of room.

85% of all species on the IUCN Red List are endangered due to many forms of habitat loss, from complete deforestation to less obvious effects of pollution and climate change. Every species needs a certain amount of habitat to find food, shelter and mates, but for a growing number of animals, the space where their ancestors found those things is now overrun by humans. As habitats decline, animals also grow more vulnerable to secondary dangers like disease or conflict with people.

According to many scientists and conservationists, the best strategy to avoid a dramatic loss of biodiversity is to set aside half of Earth’s surface area for wildlife. That might sound like a big sacrifice at first, but upon closer inspection, it’s still an incredibly sweet deal for us: One species gets half the planet, and all other species must share the other half. This idea has been around for years, confirmed in programmes like the WILD Foundation’s “Nature Needs Half” campaign, but it has gained more different opinions recently. And it may now have one of its most forceful arguments yet, thanks to a 2016 book by well-known biologist E. O. Wilson titled Half-Earth: Our Planet’s Fight for Life.

Half-Earth, therefore, isn’t so different from today’s Earth. We’re already doing many of the right things, as Wilson recently told the University of California-Berkeley’s Breakthroughs magazine. We still have a few big biodiversity zones left, and others that could still recover. We just need to protect as many wilderness areas as we can, fill in gaps wherever possible and do no further harm. “I’m sure we can go from 10% to 50% coverage, land and sea,” Wilson says. “It could be large reserves that still exist, like in the Altai Mountains of Mongolia, in the taiga, the major wilderness areas of Congo, in Papua New Guinea, the Amazon—these can be made inviolate reserves; they can be pieced together.”

1. What is the main cause of wildlife’s rapid decline?

A．Habitat loss.	B．Terrible disease.
C．Conflict with people.	D．Poor living conditions.

2. What does the writer intend to show in paragraph 3?

A．The method to save our planet.	B．The real profession of E.O. Wilson.
C．The solution to avoiding wildlife decline.	D．The origin of “Nature Needs Half” campaign.

3. What does Wilson feel about Half-Earth strategy?

A．Curious.

B．Confused.

C．Concerned.

D．Confident.

4. What is the text mainly about?

A．Sharing the Earth with other animals.	B．Changing our attitude toward wildlife.
C．Increasing the population of wild animals.	D．Protecting the existing habitat for wildlife.