【推荐1】Swap, Don’t shop!

You keep hearing about recycling, right? But it doesn’t end with bottles, cans, and paper. Clothing takes a huge amount of natural resources to make, and buying loads of new clothing (or throwing out old clothing) is not healthy for the environment. So what to do with all those perfectly-good-but-you’re-maybe-a-little-sick-of-them clothes piled on your bedroom floor?     1    . It’s the best way to get rid of your used clothes, score clothes from your friends, and have a party all at the same time.

A successful swap depends on the selection of clothes, the organization of the event, and, obviously, how much fun it has. It’s really easy to do! Here are a few pointers.

●Invite 5—10 people so you have a nice selection.     2    , and there may not be enough things to choose from; more than that, and it becomes uncontrollable.

●Tell everyone to bring clean clothes in good condition.     3    .

●Put different types of clothing on different surfaces in the room. Have everyone put their clothes in the right spots.     4    , so people can see how things look when they try them on. One of the ground rules of the swap should be that everyone must try on the clothes before they take them—things always look different when you put them on.

●Set a starting time. Maybe you say “go”, or turn on a certain song, or whatever.     5    . And don’t forget to put out some cookies and fruits. Remember, it’s a party!

A．Less people than that

B．Hold a clothing swap

C．If two people are competing

D．Just keep music playing throughout

E．Donate whatever goods are left over

F．Place a few mirrors around your room

G．They should also prepare plenty of reusable bags to carry their “new” clothes home

【推荐2】阅读理解。
Do you know how to tell a story? The following are some tips:
Who Will Listen?
Will you tell your story to people of your own age? Will they be friendsor young people you haven’t met before? Perhaps you will tell it to younger children, or will it be an audience of adults? Will it be just a few people, a small group, or a large audience?
Why Are You Telling It?
There are many reasons for telling a story. Knowing why you are telling it may be the most helpful reason in choosing a story for a particular audience.
Many storytellers choose tales just to entertain(娱乐). They tell jokes or silly stories. Others want to teach something, such as how to be kinder to animals, the environment, or other people. One storyteller likes to encourage his listeners to try new things. Some babysitters tell stories to help children not to be afraid of thunder, lightning or frightening shadows in their rooms. Others want to make people think or to help people remember. Some like to frighten their audience with ghost (鬼) stories.
Where Will You Speak?
How you tell your story and what story helpers you use will depend on where you will be speaking. Will you be talking at an evening party, in your classroom, in a library storytelling program, at a family dinner, at a museum, or at a storytelling festival?
1. The passage is mainly about ___________.

A．the audience to whom you tell stories

B．the situation where you can tell a story

C．the reasons for telling a story

D．important tips for telling a story

2. The author shows his ideas by ______.

A．description	B．listing questions
C．making comparisons	D．reciting

3. The purpose of knowing why you are telling a story is to ____________.

A．decide what helpers you need

B．do something good to animals, the environment or other people

C．choose stories suitable (合适的) for certain audience

D．satisfy different listeners

4. What decides how you tell your story according to the passage?

A．The place where you will tell your story.

B．The type of the story you will tell.

C．The purpose of telling your story.

D．What kind of people you will tell your story to.

【推荐3】Some recent surveys show that the health conditions of many white collar employees and office workers are rather critical. Death cases among white collar employees and office workers are increasing year by year and these cases are generally believed to have been caused by overwork and spend little time taking rest or doing exercise.

If their offices are within the distance of half an hour’s walk, some office workers now choose to go to work on foot. Ms. Deng, who works in a foreign enterprise in Beijing, has been walking to her office for more than six months now. “I usually have a tight work schedule and can’t find time to do exercise. So I choose to walk to work.” As she said, if the office is not far from home, most women would like to go to work on foot. Walking is good for their health and can help them to keep good figures as well.

Apart from walking to office, one can also find time to do exercise when one is at work. The simplest way is to abandon the lift. Mr. Wei, who works in the Passenger Service Department at Shenzhen Airlines, is one of such men who frequently climb stairs to his office. “I only use the lift whenever I’m with my colleagues or my boss. Otherwise, I would climb stairs instead of taking the lift.”

In addition, some office workers try to find time to go to a gym at the end of a day. Ms. Sang works in a law firm in Shenzhen. She goes to the gym several times a week when she has the time. “I go to the gym every weekend. During the weekdays, I will also go there whenever I have the time.” Ms. Sang and her husband both have a gym membership card for a whole year. The cards cost them 3,000 yuan. However they think it’s worth it.

1. Why are death cases among white collar employees and office workers increasing year by year?

A．Because they overwork for a long time.

B．Because they are too busy to have time for a rest.

C．Because they hardly have time to do exercise after work.

D．All of the above.

2. How many ways that office workers keep healthy are mentioned in the passage?

A．3

B．4

C．5

D．6

3. Which of the following sentence can be added between Paragraph 1 and Paragraph 2?

A．Then, what shall office workers do next to prevent death cases?

B．What will happen to office workers?

C．In order to keep themselves healthy, some office workers now take measures as follows:

D．Working on foot is the best way for office workers.

4. The best title of the passage is ________.

A．Health Is Very Important	B．Office Workers Try to Keep Healthy
C．How to Keep Healthy	D．Office Workers’ Trouble

【推荐1】In the middle of the Atlantic Ocean and preparing for the worst, Australian adventurer Peter Seiter wrote a farewell note to his family, put it in a bottle and threw it overboard. With a sense of bad feeling he wrote: “The ocean has a personality of its own. The place can be such a peaceful environment to be in, yet it can be frightfully violent. I’ve experienced both.” Fearing he wouldn’t make it home, he placed the note -- dated June 11, 1998 -- in a wine bottle and covered the bottle.
“I included my geographical coordinates, so if anything happened to me, they’d know my last place when I threw the bottle into the ocean,” says Peter, who was then sailing from the Azores in Portugal to New York and knew the Atlantic could be dangerous. He also included some money with his message, asking whoever found it to use the money to post the letter to his family.
Seventeen days later he reached his destination, having survived the dangerous seas, but he assumed his message in the bottle had not -- until it was found on shore, 11 years later!
Recently, American woman Katherine Ginn and her friend came across the bottle on a deserted beach in the Bahamas. “Alongside it they’d found a life jacket and, assuming the worst, opened the bottle and spent 24 hours drying it out so they could read my story and write to my family as I requested,” says Peter, 44. “I couldn’t believe it -- that after all these years my bottle had turned up with its contents, still undamaged.”
Overjoyed, he wrote to the pair, saying he was alive and living in Australia with his family.
Katherine posted him his letter, money and some broken glass of his bottle placed in a tiny box as a special souvenir. These special items now share pride of place among photos of Peter’s Atlantic voyage. “I can’t express what this old letter means to me,” Peter says. “It gives me a sense of hope and belief. It’s something special to share with my children as they grow up.”
1. Why did Peter have the idea of a message bottle?

A．He missed his family very much then.

B．He hoped to share his experience with his family.

C．He regretted taking a risk on the ocean.

D．He thought he might lose his life on the voyage.

2. As for the survival of the message bottle, Peter ________.

A．felt very certain about it

B．thought it had little chance of reaching land

C．took a long time to search for it

D．wrote a letter to Katherine

3. What can be inferred about the message bottle according to Paragraph 3 and 4?

A．Katherine found it by chance on a crowded beach.

B．It was 11 years before they came across it at sea.

C．Perhaps there was water in it when Katherine found it.

D．Peter couldn’t believe more that it was not damaged.

4. From the passage, we can learn that ________.

A．this was Peter’s first voyage in the Atlantic

B．Peter spent eleven days in the Atlantic

C．without the life jacket, the bottle wouldn’t have survived

D．Katherine was a caring and careful person

【推荐2】We all have found memories of taking a few lazy months off after the stress of A-levels. As we draw to the end of an academically and socially packed year, the idea of doing the same again is appealing.

But after graduation, there’ll be few occasions when we can enjoy such extended holidays, free to do as we wish. So now that summer has arrived, let’s take full advantage. It goes without saying that summer vacations are the perfect time to go traveling, especially if you avoid the pricey school holiday period.

Tickets go up greatly when you turn 26, so make the most of cheaper rates while you’re eligible. Finding a reliable company that won’t cheat you is extremely important, as is discovering a program that appeals to your own interests. There are plenty of websites where you can see other people’s recommendations.

Of course for most of us, money is tight—but to avoid overspending you can combine employment and adventure. Hannah Warn, a psychology student at the University of Winchester, is spending her summer at Camp America, an increasingly popular venture where British students enjoy a good time on a summer camp.

“Being thrown into something where I don’t really know what to expect is exciting.” she says.“It gives me a chance to experience being away from home in a different way.”

Those with a talent for languages might also consider working abroad as an au pair. The work may be challenging, but it’s a chance to involve yourself in a new culture while your employer pays most of the bill.

If you have an idea about the sort of career you’d like, getting work experience is wise. In many careers, graduating with only your degree to show for your three or four years just won’t make it. Send applications off early and to as many places as possible. Make sure you take a well-earned break this summer.

1. The passage implies that               .

A．students can enjoy beneficial price when traveling

B．students who quit school should pay more for travel

C．students will be offered part time jobs in the vacation

D．students will have a longer summer vacation than ever

2. The underlined word “eligible” in the passage means            .

A．relaxed

B．outstanding

C．qualified

D．standardized

3. The author took Hannah Warn as an example to            .

A．suggest Camp America offers jobs to students

B．show psychology students are good at planning

C．indicate Camp America serves English students

D．imply students can travel around for nothing

【推荐3】Directions: Read the following passages. Fill in each blank with a proper sentence given in the box. Each sentence can be used only once. Note that there are two more sentences than you need. (8%)

This Way to Dreamland

Daydreaming means people think about something pleasant, especially when this makes them forget what they should be doing.     1     They can seem forgetful and clumsy. They stare off into space and wander by themselves. They annoy us because they seem to be ignoring us and missing the important things.

But daydreamers are also responsible for some of the greatest ideas and achievements in human history.     2     Can you imagine what kind of world we would have without such ideas and inventions?

So how can you come up with brilliant daydreams and avoid falling over tree roots or otherwise looking like a fool?

First, understand that some opportunities for daydreaming are better than others. Feeling safe and relaxed will help you to slip into daydreams.     3     And if you want to improve your chances of having a creative idea while you’re daydreaming, try to do it while you are involved in another task—preferably something simple, like taking a shower or walking, or even making meaningless drawings.

It’s also important to know how to avoid daydreams for those times when you really need to concentrate. “Mindfulness”, being focused, is a tool that some people use to avoid falling asleep.     4    

Finally, you never know what wonderful idea might strike while your mind has moved slowly away. Therefore, it’s a good idea to keep a notebook or voice recorder nearby when you are in the daydream zone.

Always remember that your best ideas might come when your head is actually in the clouds.

A．Having interesting things to think about also helps.

B．Without wandering minds, we wouldn’t have relativity or Post-it notes.

C．At one time, daydreaming was thought to be a cause of some mental illnesses.

D．Daydreamers have a bad reputation for being unaware of what’s happening around them.

E．It involves slow, steady breathing for self-control that helps people stay calm.

F．Daydreams are often very simple and direct, quite unlike sleep dreams, which may be hard to understand