【推荐1】After the age of 25， the number of friendships we maintain begins to fall.     1    

Learn to identify opportunities.

“We let chances to make friends pass us by every day，” says Kate Leaver in her book The Friendship Cure.         2    “Instead of forcing a little small talk with your kind neighbours，” she says， “ask them in for a cuppa and get to know them. ”   

    3    

Joining a group， club or class is an effective way to meet people. “Teaming up for a shared activity，project or goal is an experience that can promote bonding and closer connections，” says therapist Miriam Kirmayer. Pursue a challenge or skill you are interested in， because then you will have a good time and feel more at ease in starting a conversation.

Allow yourself to be vulnerable（脆弱的）.

    4     What if your offers are rejected? Leaver and Kirmayer say that a degree of vulnerability is needed in trying to start friendships. Keeping to yourself isn’t going to help you. Sharing recommendations or letting others in on plans， says Kirmayer， is a simple way to share， which will help build closeness and trust.

Don't put too much pressure on it.

As we age， our friendships change. According to a 2016 study， we hit our peak number of friendships at the age of 25.     5     clinical psychologist Linda Blair advises not putting too much pressure on any new connections and not expecting too much from one person.

A．Follow your interests.

B．Ask questions and listen.

C．It can be scary to try to make friends.

D．When people are trying to make friends as an adult.

E．As you are calculating your number of friendships.

F．But forming new， lasting connections can be simple.

G．She advises having the courage to take small steps when opportunities arise.

【推荐3】Eric and Sam were good friends. They went to the same school and were in the same class.

Eric was not strong. He could not play football or other games with boys of his age. All that he did was to watch Sam and other boys play. He usually went with them to the playground. When they ran off to play, he would sit under a tree and read storybooks. Books became his best friends. The reading made him successful in all the exams. He always stood first in the class.

Sam was tall and athletic. He spent most of his time running, swimming or riding bicycles. He was an extremely good player in every game. He was a member of the school’s football team and basketball team. The PE teacher thought he would make it big in the game when he grew up.

One day, the two friends went for a walk. Eric got tired soon.

“I have no strength. What is the use of all this knowledge, if I am not healthy? I would give away all my knowledge if I could be half as healthy and strong as you. ” said Eric.

Sam was surprised and replied, “So you are not happy with yourself too? I always wished I could have done as well as you did in the studies. I even thought I could have given a way my sporting skills for better grades in those exams. ”

The two friends looked at each other and cried out at the same time, “The grass looks greener on the other side of the hill.”

1. What did Eric usually do when he went to the playground with Sam?

A．He read his favorite books.	B．He played with his friend.
C．He studied for the exams.	D．He took care of the clothes.

2. Why did the PE teacher think Sam might become a sports star?

A．Sam was very strong.

B．Sam was good at playing football.

C．Sam loved sports so much.

D．Sam spent all his time playing sports.

3. What can we learn from paragraph 6?

A．Eric was proud of his knowledge.

B．Sam was unhappy with his studies.

C．Sam could do as well as Eric did in the studies.

D．Eric and Sam decided to learn from each other.

4. What does the underlined sentence in the last paragraph mean?

A．Practice makes perfect.

B．Nobody knows his own strong points.

C．Grass usually appears greener in faraway places.

D．We always want something better and feel unhappy.

【推荐1】Laurie Horam never thought of himself as musical. At home, his dad never listened to music, while one of his boarding school teachers labelled him tone-deaf. But last month he started to play the harmonica (口琴) on the streets of Bradford. People clapped, danced and threw coins into his case for the local food bank.

Eight years ago, Horam, a retired civil servant, was on his way back from a trip with his family. Gavin, one of his sons who cover a range of instruments, stopped at a music shop. He walked out and said: “Here you are. I bought this for you, Dad. We must have got our musical abilities from you. It’s a harmonica. I’ll try to show you how to play a bit.” Horam was surprised and confused.

They went to their local pub. Gavin played the guitar and Horam sat in the corner with his harmonica, trying to make a sound that no one would hear. After six months, he was invited into the group. He discovered a talent for improvisation (即兴表演) , responding to a note within a millisecond without batting an eyelid. “I don’ t play by ear. I play by heart.” Actually, Horam says, “My harmonica plays me — how I feel what I am, and what I’ve been.”

Music has enriched life with friendship and made Horam feel “part of something much bigger” than himself. “At a time when the circle of life might be shrinking, mine is expanding,” he says. “Maybe we never know completely who we are or what we can do.”

1. Why did Horam play the harmonica on the streets of Bradford?

A．To recall the good old days.

B．To beg food from passers-by.

C．To raise money for charity.

D．To live his childhood dream.

2. What is Gavin’s attitude to his father’s musical ability?

A．Unclear.

B．Positive.

C．Doubtful.

D．Negative.

3. What can Horam do by playing the harmonica?

A．Express himself.	B．Make a lot of money.
C．Enjoy the fame.	D．Sharpen his hearing.

4. What does music bring to Horam?

A．A sensitive soul.	B．A comfortable life.
C．A new understanding of family.	D．A broader circle of life.

【推荐2】Perhaps thousands of people have searched for a bronze chest full of gold and jewels hidden in the Rocky Mountains between Santa Fe and the Canadian border hidden by a millionaire adventurer. At least four people died in their search for the treasure.

But it's all over now. Fenn's Treasure has been found. The 89-year-old adventurer named Forrest Fenn, who created the treasure hunt, announced the news via his website. “I don't know the person who found it, but the poem in my book led him to the precise spot,” Fenn wrote. “The treasure was confirmed by a photograph the lucky finder sent me.”

Forrest Fenn, the man who started the hunt, lives in Santa Fe. He was a pilot in the Vietnam War and later accumulated his wealth as a dealer in art and antiques. Fenn was diagnosed(诊断) with cancer in 1988 and had planned to die peacefully in the woods with his treasure. But when his cancer became less serious, he changed his plan, eventually writing the poem that described his dream resting place, which is where he hid                           the treasure. The poem appeared in a memoir called The Thrill of the Chase. Fenn said that the chest wouldn't be found by accident; only a treasure hunter who correctly interpreted the clues(线索) would find it.

Several treasure hunters went missing while attempting to find the chest, including hunter Jeff Murphy and Mike Petersen, both of whom went missing in Yellowstone National Park in 2017. Fenn said that he had never been to the Yellowstone National Park, and that the treasure was not in a dangerous place. "It was in the thick forest of the Rocky Mountains and had not been moved from the spot where I hid it more than 10 years ago," Fenn wrote on his website. It is illegal to remove anything from a national park, which would cause trouble in legally claiming the treasure if it was found there.

1. What contributed to the finding of the treasure?

A．Fenn's announcement.	B．A poem in Fenn's book.
C．Fenn’s vivid description.	D．A photo on Fenn's website.

2. What is the third paragraph mainly about?

A．Who Forrest Fenn was.	B．Where Fenn hid the treasure.
C．How the treasure hunt began.	D．What Fenn did to find the treasure.

3. What can we learn about "Fenn's Treasure”?

A．It was in Yellowstone National Park.

B．It was found by someone by chance.

C．It was moved from one place to another.

D．It was in Fenn's chosen resting place.

4. What does the underlined word “claiming” in the last paragraph probably mean?

A．Taking.

B．Burying.

C．Protecting.

D．Acknowledging.

【推荐2】When my daughter Sara was in the fifth grade, she came to me with a problem. “Marcy hates me!” she cried. “Because Kathy is my friend, too. She wants me to be her friend and nobody else’s. You talk to Marcy. You tell her that I want to be her friend, but I can have other friends, too!”

Oh! I looked at her for a few moments, wondering how I got into this mess (困境), when suddenly an idea came to me.

Picking up two baskets from the living room, I explained, “When everyone is born, he or she has a little basket. This little one here is yours. The big one is mine. As you grow, so does the basket. You can see your little basket is inside mine because when you were born, there were too many things you couldn’t do for yourself. I did everything you couldn’t do on your own.”

She nodded.

“Well, as you grew older and began to do some things on your own, I began placing a few more things in your basket. When you learned to tie your shoes, that went in your basket.”

She said softly, “I can tie my own shoes.”

“Right. As you grow older, there will be more and more things you must do on your own.” As I spoke, I gradually took her basket out of mine and handed it to her. “You will finally carry your own basket with things only you can do.”

She looked up at me and said, “I understand. There are some things that I have to do for myself because they are in my basket.”

1. What was Sara’s problem?

A．She didn’t have a basket.	B．She didn’t want her own basket.
C．She couldn’t deal with her friendship.	D．Her mother was too hard on her.

2. What did the author feel when she heard her daughter’s problem?

A．Angry.	B．Crazy.
C．Proud.	D．Helpless.

3. We can infer that Sara ________.

A．would talk to Marcy herself	B．wouldn’t make friends with Kathy
C．was too young to deal with anything	D．managed to persuade her mother to help her

4. The baskets mentioned in the passage refer to ________.

A．gifts given by God when everyone is born

B．something that people use to keep vegetables

C．growing abilities as you grow up

D．friendship that needs repairing

【推荐3】One day I got in a taxi, and we left for the airport. We were driving in the right lane when suddenly，a black car jumped out of a parking space right in front of us. My taxi driver stopped his car at once. The tire made a very loud noise, and at the very last moment our car stopped just one inch from the back of the other car.

I was frightened. But then I couldn’t believe what happened next. The driver of the other car, the guy who almost caused a big accident, turned his head and started yelling at us. I couldn’t believe it! But my taxi driver just smiled at the guy. So I asked,“Why did you just do that? This guy almost sent us to hospital.”

This is when my taxi driver taught me what I now call, “The Law of the Rubbish Truck.” He explained that many people are like garbage trucks. They run around full of rubbish, full of anger. As their rubbish piles up, they look for a place to throw it away and sometimes they’ll throw it at you. Don’t take it personally. Just smile, wish them well, and move on. Don’t take their rubbish and spread it to other people at work, at home or on the streets.

Successful people never let rubbish trucks change their moods. Life is too short to wake up in the. morning with regrets, so love those who love you and pray for those who don’t.

1. Which of the following is NOT true according to the first paragraph?

A．The writer went to the airport by taxi that day.

B．The taxi driver stopped his car in time.

C．The black car jumped out and crashed into the taxi.

D．A car accident nearly happened on the writer’s way to the airport.

2. The underlined word ‘yelling’ in the second paragraph means ______ in Chinese.

A．道歉

B．傻笑

C．吼叫

D．告别

3. From the passage, we can tell that the taxi driver is ______.

A．silly and dishonest	B．wise and friendly
C．helpful but nervous	D．modest but impatient

4. What does the passage mainly tell us?

A．Fight with people like rubbish trucks.

B．Make friends with people like rubbish trucks.

C．Have a quarrel with people like rubbish trucks.

D．Don’t let rubbish trucks change our moods.