【推荐1】I cried the first time I saw the Notre Dame（巴黎圣母院）years ago. I'd waited my entire life to see this great French architecture, and experienced it in its full glory on a bright sunny day. Last night, I again cried for the centuries-old church while watching it burn.

I hadn't expected to spend my evening that way. My friend and I were having dinner at a cafe a block or so away from the Notre Dame, choosing to skip going inside with the intention to go back the next day.

However, we heard that it caught fire, so we left the cafe and ran towards the church, following heavy smoke from it, and soon we joined a nearly silent crowd. Some were praying, some were crying, but most were staring in disbelief at the disaster happening before us. The fire continued to get worse. About 400 firefighters were working to control the fire. We could see their flashlights shining as they inspected the front from a balcony.

The Notre Dame is part of the heartbeat of Paris, I reflected on the experiences I've had there, from attending a bread market out front to admiring the beautiful windows and architecture inside. It is a spot that helps make Paris magical. And here we were, watching it burn down. It was too much to handle, but it was impossible to look away.

About 9：30 pm, the gathered crowd spontaneously（自发地）began to sing Hymns（圣歌）to the church. We sang along with the group, feeling at once less like tourists and more like members of them. I hadn't imagined all that before.

For hundreds of years, the Notre Dame has seen the most joyous and the most terrible moments in the lives of both France and her people. And when everyone was able to become one emotional force, it showed that even in her darkest hour, the Notre Dame was still there to bring us all together.

1. Why did the author cry for the Notre Dame for the first time?

A．She was touched by its greatness.	B．She was sorrowful to watch it burn.
C．She was regretful for missing its glory.	D．She was excited about French cultures.

2. What was the author doing when the Notre Dame caught fire?

A．Heading for a faraway cafe.	B．Visiting a church with a friend.
C．Eating nearby with a friend.	D．Wandering along the street alone.

3. What can we know about the fire scene?

A．People expressed their sadness in different ways.

B．People were nervously rushing in different directions.

C．Hundreds of volunteers joined in putting out the fire.

D．Firefighters kept people away with shining flashlights.

4. What impressed the author most?

A．The church allowed visitors to gain great experiences.

B．Many foreign tourists became members of the church.

C．The church survived disasters for hundreds of years.

D．People were brought together to sing to the church.

【推荐1】In a faraway area in northern Mexico, there lives a native Indian group called the Tarahumaras (塔拉乌马拉族). Besides owning some cooking tools and farming equipment, the Tarahumaras exist much as they did before the Spanish arrived in the 1600s. They live in caves or in small houses made of stone and wood, and they eat what little they can grow on the dry land.

Ten years ago, linguist (语言学家)   James Copeland entered the world of the Tarahumaras to study their language and culture. Since then, he has been visiting the Tarahumaras three or four times a year. Tarahumara is not a written language, so part of Copeland's project was to learn to speak Tarahumara so that he could deal directly with the people. “There are no language police,” Copeland says. “Children are seldom corrected by their parents. They learn by observation of speech in conversations and by imitation.”

Copeland learned the language through his frequent exposure to it and by analyzing the grammar. His linguistic skills and mastery of German, Spanish, French, and Russian, plus a partial knowledge of some twenty other languages, also helped. Drawing on his research, Copeland plans to produce a Tarahumara grammar book in English and perhaps one in Spanish.

The idea to study the Tarahumaras came to Copeland in 1984 when he discovered that very little research had been done on their language. He got in touch with a Tarahumara Indian called Lornezo Gonzalez through a social worker who worked with the Tarahumaras in the border town of Juarez, Mexico. At first, Gonzalez was very reluctant to cooperate. He told Copeland that no amount of money could buy his language. But after Copeland explained to him what he intended to do with his research and how it would benefit the Tarahumaras, Gonzalez agreed to help and took Copeland to his village. “Over a period of a year our relationship became closer and warmer,” says Copeland. “Thanks to him, the Tarahumaras started trusting us and understood what we were doing.”

1. What can we learn about the Tarahumaras?

A．They have a strict education system.

B．They live a very simple and hard life.

C．They arrived in Mexico with the Spanish.

D．They are good at agriculture and architecture.

2. According to Copeland, learning Tarahumara _____.

A．is no easy task	B．is a waste of time
C．is very interesting	D．is useful for learning Spanish

3. Before Copeland learned Tarahumara, he had _____.

A．fully researched this language

B．read a Tarahumara grammar book

C．visited the Tarahumaras three times

D．asked a Tarahumara Indian for help

4. The underlined word “reluctant” in the last paragraph probably means _____.

A．ready	B．anxious
C．pleased	D．unwilling

【推荐2】Often we take for granted the many household items we use every day. It is difficult to imagine there was a time in the past when these inventions did not exist. Actually, several of the most common inventions have been with us for quite some time. Inventions like toothbrush, contact lenses（隐形眼镜）, and credit cards came into use long ago.

The first toothbrush was introduced in China in the late 1400s but it was only 300 years later that this simple tool came into common use in Europe. By the nineteenth century, a variety of paste and powder cleaners were available throughout Europe as dental(牙齿的) care became more widespread. The first tube of toothpaste hit the market in Great Britain in 1891.

There is evidence to show that the first contact lenses were actually suggested by an astronomer, Sir John Herschel, in 1827. However, SirJohn Herschel was never able to create a working model of his idea. It was not until 1887 that a Swiss doctor from Zurich, Dr. Eugen Frick, came up with a workable process for producing precision (精密)lenses. Dr. Frick designed a new method for producing contact lenses,and the Zeiss factory in Germany   began to produce contact lenses.

Credit cards have also been available for many years. They have been in use in the United States since the 1920s. At first, these cards were only used to buy gas in the quickly growing automobile service industry. Then, in the 1950s, Diners Club introduced the first general-purpose credit card. Today, credit cards such as Master Card, Visa, and American Express are commonly used by travelers around the world.

While it may be true that some of the greatest inventions and discoveries in history came about by chance, the majority of inventions that simplify our lives today came about through careful research and patient study. Of course, it still holds true that even with all the comforts of modern technology, inventors continue to search for ways of helping all of us get out of doing those necessary but tedious (乏味的) tasks which we still face. As the old saying goes, “Necessity is the mother of invention.”

1. From the second paragraph we can learn that _____.

A．toothbrushes came into common use in Europe in the 17th century

B．people could enjoy a variety of paste and powder cleaners in the 18th century

C．more and more people paid attention to dental care throughout Europe in the 19th century

D．the English could use different kinds of tubes of toothpaste in the early 19th century

2. All of the following made a contribution to the invention and use of contact lenses EXCEPT _______.

A．Diners Club	B．Sir John Herschel
C．Dr Eugen Frick	D．the Zeiss factory

3. Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the fourth paragraph?

A．Credit cards have a history of about two hundred years.

B．Three kinds of credit cards are being used in the USA.

C．The use of credit cards is closely related to the economic development.

D．American Express is only used by American travelers now.

4. The last paragraph mainly tells us that ______.

A．the greatest inventions came about by chance

B．inventions came about through careful research and patient study

C．inventors still continue to make inventions

D．necessity is the mother of invention

【推荐3】When your parents advise you to “get an education” in order to raise your income, they tell you only half the truth. What they really mean is to get just enough education to provide manpower（人力资源） for your society, but not so much that you prove an embarrassment to your society.

Get a high school diploma, at least. Without that, you will be occupationally dead unless your name happens to be George Bernard Shaw or Thomas Alva Edison, and you can successfully dropout in grade school.

Get a college degree, if possible. With a BA, you are on the launching pad. But now you have to start to put on the brakes. If you go for a master’s degree, make sure it is an MBA, and only from a first-rate university. Beyond this, the famous law of diminishing returns begins to take effect. Do you know, for instance, that heavy truck drivers earn more a year than full professors? Yes, the average 2017 salary for those truckers was $240,000, while the full professor managed to average just $230,930.

A Ph.D is the highest degree you can get but except in a few specialized fields such as physics or chemistry where the degree can quickly be turned to industrial or commercial purposes, you are, facing a dark future. There are more Ph.Ds unemployed or underemployed in this country than in any other part of the world by far.

If you become a doctor in geography or history or anthropology or political science or—worst of all—in philosophy, you run the risk of becoming overeducated for our national demands.

Thousands of doctors are selling shoes, driving cars, waiting on table, and endlessly filling out applications month after month. They may also take a job in some backwater(闭塞)high school or college that pays much less than the doorkeeper earns.

Income and education are closely related. Far enough, that is, to make you useful to the gross national product, but not so far that nobody can turn much of a profit on you.

1. According to the writer, what the society expects of education is to turn out people who ____

A．will become loyal citizens to a nation.

B．can always take good care of themselves.

C．will not be a shame to society or their families.

D．can meet the demands as a source of manpower.

2. If you are as gifted as Bernard Shaw or Edison ____

A．you can get a high school diploma without difficulty.

B．you can be professionally successful without a diploma.

C．the least you should do is to get a diploma.

D．you will be successful in grade school.

3. Many Ph.Ds are out of work because ____

A．they are of little commercial value to the society.

B．they prefer easy jobs with more money.

C．there are fewer jobs in high school.

D．they are wrongly educated.

4. What can we learn from the passage?

A．The higher your education level is, the more money you’ll earn.

B．If you are educated, you may make things difficult for the society.

C．One must think carefully before going for a master’s degree.

D．Bernard Shaw finished high school, so did Edison.