【推荐1】Did you watch the popular TV series Meet Yourself during your winter vacation? In the TV series, the heroine Xu Hongdou travels to a village in Yunnan province and volunteers at a local café. She gets free meals in return. As the show finds a growing audience, volunteer travel — an old yet — modern form of travel similar to Xu’s type of work—has attracted more attention.

Volunteer travel refers to taking a trip where all or part of the purpose of the trip is to participate in an arranged service opportunity to help others, according to Wise Tour, an online provider of tourist information. During the trip, volunteer travelers often provide services like teaching, cooking, animal caring, and cultural activities. In exchange for their help, the volunteers may get free or discounted accommodation, meals and laundry, activities, or classes.

It seems as if these long journeys could only be made possible in recent years by modern transportation. Nevertheless, volunteer travel dates back to the 1960s, when Alec Dickson and his wife Mora from the UK founded Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO), an international volunteer organization.

Traditionally, the volunteer activities take place in a foreign country. However, just as what Meet Yourself describes, more volunteer trips have taken place within the same countries or regions the volunteer originate from in recent years. Sanlian Lifeweek magazine commented that volunteer projects in rural areas are now attracting more urban visitors as a break from the fast and stressful pace of urban living. Yang Yan, a founder of a volunteer platform, told the magazine that it has indeed been a growing trend for urban residents to volunteer in rural areas.

People try volunteer travel for several reasons. By working voluntarily while traveling, travelers may make a real, positive impact on the world. The services volunteers provide can be through charities with lower costs for the communities they serve. Another benefit of volunteer travel is that it helps urban dwellers to get a taste of rural life. For those who are sick of urban pressure but can’t make up their minds whether to move permanently to the countryside, volunteer travel can catch some relief from their busy lives, while rural communities also benefit by receiving more customers for local tourism industries and temporary high-quality labor.

1. Why is the TV series Meet Yourself mentioned in the first paragraph?

A．To introduce the topic	B．To present arguments
C．To inform us of an event	D．To highlight a new travel trend

2. Which of the following is Volunteer Travel?

A．Traveling without paying for meals and accommodations.

B．Taking planes to Shanghai to visit Disneyland.

C．Randomly travelling to a remote village and living there.

D．Engaging in some arranged service while travelling in rural areas.

3. Why do people try Volunteer Travel?

A．To escape the fast-paced urban life permanently.

B．To impact the world positively.

C．To promote rural tourism by donating money.

D．To generate more job opportunities for rural residents.

4. Which one is the best title of the passage?

A．Travel remotely and freely.	B．Travel with relief.
C．Travel with purpose.	D．Travel to encounter love

【推荐2】Driving on up to Yosemite with my family was exciting but nerve-racking (神经紧张的). I had never been to such an amazing national park before, yet I wasn’t the most athletic person so I knew that I couldn’t stick through all the hiking up and down. It actually ended up being a fun and adventurous experience.

The ride there was definitely long but worth it. As I woke up from my nap, I saw the beautiful scenery of the tall mountains and beautiful streams. The trails were made nicely for visitors. The waterfalls were breathtaking. Climbing up rocks was one of my favorite parts. Even though I fell a couple of times, I still have a lot of fun. The fact that my family and I spent so much time together all trying to find out which route to take and what views to watch really brought us closer together.

The great thing about nature is that, it’s just you, the views, and the people around you. There’s nothing there to bother you and it’s the best way to relax and enjoy yourself. Yosemite has 5 of the world’s highest waterfalls, and about 300 lakes. The structure of each mountain is incredible; it’s formed in ways that almost take your breath away. Some of them are of a deep dark color with waterfalls forming; some are formed with spots of green peeking (窥探) out. It’s definitely something you wouldn’t want to miss.

Yosemite isn’t the only great National Park but based on my experience I highly recommend going out and enjoying nature with family and friends. It’s a great time to bond, laugh, and take in what Mother Nature offers.

1. The author writes the first paragraph mainly to ________.

A．introduce the topic of this passage

B．offer an example to us

C．tell us his future plan for hiking

D．describe a national park

2. While climbing up rocks, the author was ________.

A．nerve-racking

B．injured

C．pleased

D．worried

3. According to the passage, Yosemite ________.

A．is crowded with visitors every day

B．is the only great National Park

C．is worth travelling to

D．is nothing but a common destination

4. The author suggests us ________.

A．keeping a good bond with other people

B．visiting Yosemite now and then

C．trying to protect the environment

D．going out to enjoy the beauty of nature

【推荐3】IN the famous fairy tale, Snow White eats the Queen’s apple and falls victim to a curse; in Shakespeare’s novel, Romeo drinks the poison and dies; some ancient Chinese emperors took pills that contained mercury, believing that it would make them immortal, but they died afterward.
Poison has long been an important ingredient in literature and history, and it seems to always be associated with evil, danger and death. But how much do you really know about poison?
An exhibition, The Power of Poison, opened last month at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, intended to give the audience a more vivid understanding of poison. The exhibition will continue until Aug 2014, reported The New York Times.
The museum tour starts in a rainforest setting, where you can see live examples of some of the most poisonous animals: caterpillars, frogs and spiders. Golden poison frogs, for instance, aren’t much bigger than a coin, but their skin is covered in a poison that can cut off the signaling power of your nerves, and a single frog has enough venom to kill 10 grown humans.
The exhibition also features interactive activities. In an iPad-based game, visitors are presented with three puzzling illnesses and asked to identify the poisons based on symptoms. In one case, for example, a pet dog is found sick in a backyard and visitors have to figure out whether it was the toad (蟾蜍), the leaky batteries in the trash or the dirty pond water that did it.
“Poisons can be bad for some things,” Michael Novacek, senior vice president of the museum, told NBC News. “Yet they can also be good for others.”
This is what visitors learn from the last part of the exhibition, which displays how poisons can be used favorably by humans, including for medical treatment.
The blood toxins of vampire bats, for example, can prevent blood from clotting (凝结), which may protect against strokes. A poisonous chemical found in the yew tree is effective against cancer, which is what led to the invention of a cancer-fighting drug called Taxol. One chemical in the venom of Gila monsters can lower the blood sugar of its victims, so it has been used to treat diabetes.
The benefits from natural poisons are not limited to just medicine. Believe it or not, many substances that we regularly take in – chili, coffee and chocolate, etc. – owe their special flavors or stimulating effects to chemicals that plants make to poison insects.
1. By mentioning Snow White and Romeo at the beginning of the story, the author intends to         .

A．show that poison has long been involved in literature

B．show that poison is always linked with evil and death

C．draw readers’ attention to the topic of the article

D．get readers to think of more examples of the use of poison in stories

2. What is the main purpose of the exhibition The Power of Poison?

A．To give people more in-depth knowledge about poison.

B．To teach people how to handle poisonous animals.

C．To inform people about which animals are the most poisonous.

D．To show how poison has been used for medical treatment.

3. Which of the following statements about the exhibition is TRUE according to the article?

A．The exhibition will lead visitors to a real rainforest.

B．Golden poison frogs are the most poisonous animals on display.

C．Those who visit the exhibition can join in some iPad-based interactive games.

D．Visitors can listen to lectures on recent studies of poisonous animals.

【推荐1】One day, when I was working as a psychologist in England, an adolescent boy showed up in my office. It was David. He kept walking up and down restlessly, his face pale, and his hands shaking slightly. His head teacher had referred him to me. “This boy has lost his family,” he wrote. “He is understandably very sad and refuses to talk to others, and I’m very worried about him. Can you help?”

I looked at David and showed him to a chair. How could I help him? There are problems psychology doesn’t have the answer to, and which no words can describe. Sometimes the best thing one can do is to listen openly and sympathetically

The first two times we met, David didn’t say a word. He sat there, only looking up to look at the children’s drawings on the wall behind me. I suggested we play a game of chess. He nodded. After that he played chess with me every Wednesday afternoon—in complete silence and without looking at me. It’s not easy to cheat in chess, but I admit I made sure David won once or twice.

Usually, he arrived earlier than agreed, took the chess board and pieces from the shelf and began setting them up before I even got a chance to sit down. It seemed as if he enjoyed my company. But why did he never look at me?

“Perhaps he simply needs someone to share his pain with,” I thought. “Perhaps he senses that I respect his suffering.” Some months later, when we were playing chess, he looked up at me suddenly.

“It’s your turn,” he said.

After that day, David started talking. He got friends in school and joined a bicycle club. He wrote to me a few times about his biking with some friends, and about his plan to get into university. Now he had really started to live his own life.

Maybe I gave David something. But I also learned that one-without any words-can reach out to another person. All it takes is a hug, a shoulder to cry on, a friendly touch, and an ear that listens.

1. When he first met the author, David ________.

A．looked a little nervous	B．walked energetically
C．felt a little excited	D．showed up with his teacher

2. David enjoyed being with the author because he________.

A．wanted to ask the author for advice	B．liked the children’s drawings in the office
C．need to share sorrow with the author	D．beat the author many times in the chess game

3. What made David change?

A．His teacher’s help.

B．The author’s friendship.

C．His exchange of letters with the author.

D．The author’s silent communication with him.

【推荐2】The student arrived early, sat front and center, and stood out in my classroom in more ways than one. I’d say that he had about 40 years on his classmates in my class. He eagerly jumped into class discussions, with his self-deprecating humor and wisdom of experience. And he was always respectful of the other students’ opinions, as if each of them were a teacher. Jerry Valencia walked in with a smile-and he left with one too.

One day, Valencia said he would have to stop taking classes that semester and reapply for next year. By then, he hoped to have earned enough money from construction jobs and have his student-loan papers in order. But he said he was still coming to campus to attend events or see friends. He asked seriously whether he could still sit in on my communications class.

Sure, I said. But he wouldn’t get any credit. No problem, he said.

Soon there he was again, back at his old desk, front and center, jumping into our discussions on how to find and tell stories in Los Angeles – a 63-year-old junior with as much energy and curiosity as any of the youngsters in class.

“Here he is, willingly taking a class for the joy of it and benefit of learning,” says Jessica Espinosa, a 25-year old junior. “You may not see that in our generation.”

Valencia showed up and took the final exam too. Afterward, I overheard Valencia say he wanted to stay in school until he earned a master’s degree, but it had taken him 12 years to finish community college, so he had a long way to go.

Twelve years? He was in and out of school, he said, subject to his work schedule and whether he had money for classes. He had earned his associate of arts degree over the summer, then transferred to Cal State LA to start on his bachelor’s.

1. What’s Paragraph 1 mainly about?

A．Valencia’s daily life at school.

B．Valencia’s interest in learning.

C．Valencia’s participation in class.

D．Valencia’s academic performance.

2. What can be inferred from Paragraph 2?

A．Valencia gave up taking classes.

B．Loans supported Valencia’s life.

C．Valencia met with financial problems.

D．Valencia was prepared to reapply for classes.

3. What can we learn from Jessica’s words?

A．Jessica dislikes the way Valencia learns.

B．Young people benefit a lot from learning.

C．Young students are content with learning.

D．She appreciates Valencia’s attitude to study.

4. Which can be a suitable title for the text?

A．Curiosity is source of success.

B．A person is never too old to learn.

C．Kindness deserves being respected.

D．The early bird catches the first worm.

【推荐3】Most kids won’t sit at a restaurant with their parents and say, “That’s what I want to be when I grow up,” while watching a server refill their water glasses. Waiting tables is usually thought of as a short-term job that will help you earn some extra cash as a student or pay the bills when you’re trying to start a singing career. At the very worst, it’s looked upon as an embarrassing last choice before finding a satisfactory job.

A Rutgers study found that four in ten graduates are working in fields that do not require a degree, which likely means that there are a lot of well-educated servers out there. Therefore, this doesn’t have to be the terrible situation that the media sometimes makes it out to be.

I’ve worked as waitress everywhere from a small restaurant in Venice, Calif, to a top Hollywood talent agency (代理处). At the small restaurant, I made about $200 a day serving fatty breakfasts to wild-eyed customers. It allowed me a measure of freedom, and it beat being a sales assistant who makes just $22,000 a year.

I actually left an office job at technology news site that paid $40,000 a year, plus benefits, for the work at a restaurant. I served food, so I could focus on my graduate school application and writing. I had full benefits, while earning $10 an hour, plus huge tips. I made about $70,000 that year. Plus, I got into my top pick for graduate school.

After my graduation, I worked at a fancy restaurant, where I did not feel embarrassed or “underemployed” pouring drinks for people-despite the fact that I had a master degree. I had goals, and waiting tables was a pretty great means to my end: make a living by writing even if it meant waiting tables yet again.

1. What can we know from the first paragraph?

A．No waitresses really love serving others.

B．Working at a restaurant is very embarrassing.

C．Waiting tables isn’t considered to be a perfect job.

D．Some children are interested in being a waiter or waitress.

2. How did the author most probably find her work at a restaurant?

A．Interesting.

B．Satisfying.

C．Boring.

D．Low-paying.

3. Why did the author choose to work at a restaurant?

A．She couldn’t find a better job without a degree.

B．She could talk to different people for her writing.

C．She needed a short-term job for her singing career.

D．She was allowed to prepare for her further education.

4. What does the author mainly want to show in the passage?

A．Serving at a restaurant isn’t that bad.

B．Many graduates don’t have good jobs.

C．We should never give up on our dreams.

D．Children should be taught to respect others.