【推荐1】According to the UN’s World Happiness Report for 2017, Denmark is officially the happiest country on Earth. Here is the list of reasons behind the happiness.

A different view of money

Danes (丹麦人) tend not to be concerned with “keeping up with the Joneses”.     1     Rather than buying the fanciest cars or the most expensive houses, Danish people spend money on leisure activities such as hobbies, outings with friends, or games.

An enjoyable jobs climate

    2     They also work, on average, 1,522 hours per year, which is lower than most countries. Not only does this give them more leisure time, it is not detrimental(不利的), as the average yearly income is $59,850. Besides, Denmark has the lowest income inequality and highest minimum wage in the world.

    3    

The importance placed on human communication fosters a belief in one’s neighbours, and a trust that if something bad were to happen, the community would come to help them. 94% of Danes report that they have somebody they could rely on in time of need.

A clean environment

The government encourages green policies, such as bicycling in cities, in order to cut down on harmful emissions. Like bicycling, many of these measures also have other benefits.     4     In Denmark, levels of air pollution, water pollution, and agricultural pollution are also lower than most other countries.

    5    .

A．Somebody to lean on

B．Somebody to seek advice from

C．There are also many beautiful parks in Denmark

D．Danes have lower unemployment rates than most countries in the world

E．Instead, they view money as a kind of means to connect with other people

F．Cities where bicycling is common have less traffic, less noise, and healthier citizens

G．Look over all these factors，it becomes apparent that almost anybody would love living in Denmark

【推荐2】Cinco de Mayo is probably the holiday most often celebrated that on one understands.

Literally (根据字面意思) “Fifth of May”, Cinco de Mayo is a Mexican Holiday celebrating the Battle of Puebla, which took place on May 5, 1862. In 1861, France sent a big army to invade Mexico, as they wanted to collect some war debts. The French army was much larger, better trained and equipped than the Mexicans struggling to defend (保卫) the road to Mexico City. The French army reached Puebla, where the Mexicans won a huge victory. The victory was short-lived, as the French army regrouped and continued, and eventually took Mexico City, but the joy of an unlikely victory against France is remembered every May fifth.

Mexico celebrates its independence on September 16, because it was on that day in 1810 that Father Miguel Hidalgo invited his people to take up arms and join him in fighting against Spanish rulers. Independence Day is a much more important holiday in Mexico. For some reason, Cinco de Mayo is celebrated more in the United States of America, by Mexicans and Americans alike, than it is in Mexico. One theory for why it is more popular in the USA is that at one time, it was celebrated in all of Mexico and by Mexicans living in former Mexican areas such as Texas and California. It was ignored in Mexico after a while but still celebrated in the north of the border, which never got out of the habit of remembering the famous battle.

In Puebla and in many American cities with large Mexican populations, there are parades, dancing and festivals. Traditional Mexican food is often served or sold. Mariachi (街头音乐) bands fill town squares, and a lot of beers are served. It’s a fun holiday, really more about celebrating the Mexican way of life than about remembering the battle which happened 156 years ago. In the USA, schoolchildren decorate their classrooms and try their hand at cooking some basic Mexican food. All over the world, Mexican restaurants bring in mariachi bands and offer specials for what’s almost certain to be a packed house.

1. According to the text, people celebrate Cinco de Mayo because ______.

A．Mexicans paid off their war debts

B．Mexicans succeeded in defending Mexico City

C．Mexicans gained independence from Spanish

D．Mexicans defeated the French army in Puebla

2. Why do more Americans celebrate Cinco de mayo?

A．Because some American areas once belonged to Mexico.

B．Because Americans are influenced by Mexican culture.

C．Because Mexicans don’t form the habit of having a holiday.

D．Because many Mexicans value Independence Day.

3. How can schoolchildren celebrate Cinco de Mayo?

A．By performing music at restaurants.

B．By trying making some Mexican food.

C．By turning the classroom into a battlefield.

D．By offering special gifts to their teachers.

4. By celebrating Cinco de Mayo, people mainly show ______.

A．where the history is honored most

B．what special customs they have

C．how Mexicans gained their independence

D．who should be remembered forever

【推荐1】On the eastern side of the Arabian Peninsula, the desert turns green as clouds cover it like a blanket. This is the country of Oman’s monsoon (季风) season. The natural event, which is a festival and lasts three months, draws hundreds of thousands of tourists with cool weather and beautiful views. It began on June 21.

A 60-day festival, in Oman’s Dhofar region, draws about 50,000 people every night for dance competitions, and musical performances. In the midst of the clouds, people celebrate Oman’s cultural diversification of Arab, African, and Asian roots.

Officials in Dhofar region started the monsoon festival in 1998. The monsoon festival now draws performers from 40 countries. 60 percent of the visitors come from Oman, while the rest come from nearby countries such as Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.

Each night, a different Omani city takes the main stage. The port of Sohar did a sea-themed show with cannons (大炮) and a large wooden ship. The next night, a group from Bidbid sang with swords while a musician blew into a goat’s horn. Actually, different groups used the festival to share their world-wide cultures.

The mountains around Salalah, Dhofar’s capital city, trap wetness from the Indian Ocean monsoon. Air pressure pockets above Saudi Arabia and Tibet drive air currents (气流) to Oman. These weather currents create a special environment, which has heavy fogs and green mountains and coasts.

Thomas Wagmann, on holiday from Dubai, noted, “Compared to Dubai, this Dhofar region is just fantastic because you can be outdoors all the time.” He added, “You don’t even have to worry about sunburn because there’s no sun.”

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

A．Pressure.	B．Difference.
C．History.	D．Happiness.

2. What can people do when watching the performances of different groups?

A．Enjoy different cultures.

B．Watch some special ships.

C．Play strange musical instruments.

D．Appreciate music and dances only from Oman.

3. What is the fifth paragraph mainly about?

A．The beautiful natural scenery of Oman.

B．The Oman’s special geographic position.

C．The cause of Oman’s special climate in the monsoon festival.

D．The reasons of tourists’ celebrating the monsoon festival in Oman.

4. What did Thomas Wagmann like about the festival?

A．Getting sunburned.	B．Staying inside all the time.
C．The same weather as Dubai.	D．The weather without strong sunshine.

【推荐2】The USA is a society formed by many different immigrant cultures that produced a new and mixed culture. Most Americans celebrate different customs which started in other countries and start several new traditions and cultures.     1    

    2     They tend to live independently, and communicate directly, honestly and informally with their families, friends and colleagues.

Americans always keep advancing with the times.     3     In America, it is relatively common for both parents to work, and American women are equal partners in marriage.

In the USA, the most common family unit consists of the parents and children living under one roof. Most American children are taught to compete, through organized sports and education, as well as speak out their minds and have confidence to stand up for what they believe in.     4     Many immigrant families also feature several generations living under one roof, with younger family members respecting the elders’ needs and valuing their opinions.

When people from different cultures get married and have children, they may have issues when it comes to maintaining their unique traditions and mixing shared customs at the same time.     5     However, with a little effort, children in these families can benefit from having both outlooks and traditions. Children who are raised bilingually can also benefit in future careers and learn to make decisions better than monolingual kids.

A．Many Americans find happy life is important.

B．They are also taught to respect their parents at all costs.

C．It can be a challenge to find the perfect balance between cultures.

D．According to socialists, the American family culture has many unique aspects.

E．American children refuse to follow their parents’ advice and always argue with them.

F．Changing rather than sticking to tradition is considered by many Americans as improvement.

G．The difference is easy to deal with if parents can meet halfway and stand in the other’s shoes.

【推荐3】For hundreds of years, women in Myanmar’s Kayah area have worn bronze rings around their necks and other parts of their body. The rings are a traditional symbol of beauty. They also extend the necks of the women, making them very long.

But now, younger Kayan women are turning away from the tradition of their ancestors, Mu Tu is one of the few women who knows how to make the traditional rings and put them on.

83-year-old Maria Khaing has been wearing rings on her neck, wrists and knees since she was eight years old. Maria never removes the rings, even when cooking, eating or working. Wearing neck rings was once expected of all Kayan women. But more and more have started to shun the practice. Maria’s granddaughter, 20-year-old Za Oo, is among those who have not followed the tradition. “They’re heavy and uncomfortable. Also I don’t know much about them. That’s why I don’t wear them,” she said.

The rings make the women’s necks very long. But they also press down on the bones around the shoulders. Wearing the rings can also cause discomfort when swallowing. Even Mu Tu admits that safety is a concern. “If you don’t make the rings correctly, someone can choke (窒息).” she said.

Whether safety or changing fashion, many young Kayah women are turning their backs on the tradition. Experts say there are now fewer than 100 long-necked women in Myanmar, down from about 300 in the 1990s. Some people wonder, however, if tourists will still come to buy goods in Kayah when the long-necked women are gone.

1. How long has Maria Khaing been wearing rings on her neck?

A．48 years.	B．83 years.
C．20 years.	D．75 years

2. What does the underlined word “shun” in paragraph 3 probably refer to?

A．Improve.	B．Avoid.
C．Explain.	D．Follow.

3. Za Oo doesn’t wear rings on her neck because ________.

A．her father doesn’t want her to wear them

B．she thinks the practice not safe

C．she knows little about the tradition

D．she finds it unfashionable

4. What can we learn from the passage?

A．The rings are a symbol of beauty to all the women in Kayah.

B．Most Kayah women know how to make neck rings.

C．Fewer and fewer young Kayah women are wearing neck rings.

D．No tourists will come when the long-necked women are gone.

【推荐1】Faster, cheaper, better-technology is one field many people rely upon to offer a vision of a brighter future. But as the 2020s dawn, optimism is in short supply. The new technologies that dominated the past decade seem to be making things worse. Social media were supposed to bring people together, but they are better known for leaking privacy. E-commerce, ride-hailing (网约车) and the gig economy (零工经济) may be convenient, but they are charged with underpaying workers, worsening inequality and blocking the streets with vehicles.

Today's pessimistic mood is centered on smart phones and social media, which took off a decade ago. Yet concerns that particular technologies might be doing more harm than good have arisen before. The 1920s witnessed a criticism against cars, which had earlier been seen as an answer to the problems caused by horse-drawn vehicles which filled the streets with noise and animal waste and caused accidents. And industrialization was criticized in the 19th century by Romantics who worried about the replacement of skilled workers, the robbing of the countryside and the suffering of factory hands.

However, that pessimism can be overdone. Too often people focus on the drawbacks of a new technology while taking its benefits for granted. Worries about screen time should be weighed against the much more substantial benefits of convenient communication and the instant access to information and entertainment that smartphones make possible. A further danger is that Luddite (反对技术进步者) efforts to avoid the short-term costs associated with a new technology will end up denying access to its long-term benefits-something Carl Benedikt Frey, an Oxford academic, calls a "technology trap". Fears that robots will steal people's jobs may discourage their use. Yet in the long run countries that wish to maintain their standard of living as their workforce ages and shrinks will need more robots, not fewer.

Any powerful technology can be used for good or ill. It is the choices people make about it that shape the world. Perhaps the real source of anxiety is not technology itself, but growing doubts about the ability of societies to hold this debate, and come up with good answers. So as the decade turns, put aside the pessimism for a moment. To be alive in the tech-obsessed 2020s is to be among the luckiest people who have ever lived.

1. What phenomenon is described in Paragraph 1?

A．The seriousness of social inequality.

B．The rapid development of technology.

C．Problems brought by personal privacy leaks.

D．Worries about the influence of new technologies.

2. Which word can best describe Romantics' concern over industrialization?

A．Negative.

B．Uncertain.

C．Sympathetic.

D．Enthusiastic.

3. What might be a result of a "technology trap"?

A．A lack of good jobs in the job market.

B．An increase in the number of Luddites.

C．A decrease in the number of skilled workers.

D．An interruption to the advancement of a new technology.

4. What is the best title for the text?

A．Pessimism vs Progress	B．Technology vs Civilization
C．2020s: The Age of Technology	D．Robots: Our Future Caretakers

【推荐2】Are billionaires good with exams as well as their money? Or are they more likely to have escaped school at the first opportunity and worked their way up to make their fortunes?

A study of the educational background of some of the world’s wealthiest people shows that they are much more likely to have gone to university, and they are more likely to have a postgraduate degree(硕士或博士研究生学位) than no degree at all.

It doesn’t give much support for the image of self-taught entrepreneurs (企业家), who rely on their own wisdom rather than higher education.

The study, by insurance company GoCompare, examined the educational background of people appearing in the top 1 00 billionaire lists by Forbes magazine over the past 20 years.

It shows that 76 percent of these billionaires have a degree. Forty-seven percent of them have a bachelor’s (学士) degree, 23 percent a master’s (文/理科硕士) degree and 6 percent a doctorate(博士学位). The most popular subjects were the ones related to economics and engineering. There were many more studying sciences than arts.

The school attended by the global super rich are also much more likely to be world-class universities, rather than local ones. Harvard University is the single most likely name to be found on the resume(履历) of a billionaire, though one of the most famous names on the rich list, Bill Gates, dropped out of Harvard before finishing.

Stanford University in California and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have become the launchpads for a rising number of tech billionaires. Google’s co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin were both postgraduates at Stanford. Borthers Charles and David Koch, who are among the world’s biggest oil tycoons, both got their bachelor’s and master’s degrees from MIT.

Among U.K. universities, the London School of Economics and Political Science and the University of Cambridge have the most multi-billionaires on the Forbes list, while Oxford has produced Rupert Murdoch.

1. The study has found all of the following EXCEPT         .

A．most billionaires are not self-taught geniuses

B．billionaires are much more likely to have received higher education

C．nearly half of those on Forbes’ top 100 billionaire lists have a bachelor’s degree

D．there are more billionaires without degree at all than those with a master’s degree

2. Of the following subjects, what is the most likely to have been a college major of a billionaire?

A．Computer science.	B．Art history.
C．English literature.	D．Law.

3. What does the underlined word “launchpads” in Paragraph 7 mean?

A．Favorite places of famous people.

B．Effective starting points for a career.

C．Places on the Internet that help you find information.

D．Places where rockets and other spacecraft are sent into space.

4. Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the article?

A．The study was carried out by Forbes magazine.

B．A high percentage of the world’s richest people have a doctorate.

C．Rupert Murdoch went to the London School of Economics and Political Science.

D．Harvard University has produced more billionaires on the Forbes list than any other university.

【推荐3】I wish there would be a way to describe China in simple terms but that’s impossible. For the most part, Chinese people are friendly, easy-going and optimistic. They are curious and unusually patient and they are also the hardest-working people I have ever met.
In China, family is everything. In my English classes when the students were asked what they would do if they only had a few hours to live, most students told me how they would spend their last few hours with their families and parents. Many times the subjects in the classes center on families and friends. I teach many students a year, talking to them freely.
The cost of living here is very low compared with that of the US. The city of Xiang Fan I live in isn’t large and I live better. Non-imported(非出口的) foods are very cheap, so are clothing and articles of everyday use. The cost of public transportation is very low, too. Chinese value education. However, it is reported that many children can’t afford the expenses of schooling and are forced to leave school in some poor areas in China. But they organized Project Hope many years ago. It creates conditions for the poor children to go back to school. In my opinion, Project Hope is of great importance to the development of the rural education.
When we read news of China in the west, rarely, if ever, will we see anything mentioned of the positive changes China has gone through. While it is true that economic miracles have not reached many areas of China, but we also have the same problems.
When I am asked which country I consider better. China or the US, my answer has always been the same, “We are not worse or better than each other, we are only different.”
1. How does the author find Chinese people ?

A．He thinks most Chinese people hardly work.

B．He praises most Chinese people a lot.

C．He thinks most Chinese people are proud.

D．He dislikes most Chinese people.

2. What are not cheap in China in the author’s opinion?

A．Imported foods

B．Local foods

C．Public transportation tickets.

D．Clothes and shoes made in China.

3. We can infer from the passage that the author thinks________.

A．the westerners have got to know China well

B．China’s economic miracles have appeared everywhere

C．the education in rural areas is never cared about in China

D．the progress of China is seldom reported in the US

4. In the author’ eyes,________.

A．China is better than the US

B．China is different from the US

C．Americans are richer than Chinese

D．China bears great similarities to the US