【推荐1】.
The thing is, my luck’s always been ruined. Just look at my name: Jean. Not Jean Marie, or Jeanine, or Jeanette, or even Jeanne. Just Jean. Did you know in France, they name boys Jean? It’s French for John. And okay, I don’t live in France. But still, I’m basically a girl named John. If I lived in France, anyway.
This is the kind of luck I’ve had since before Mom even filled out my birth certificate. So it wasn’t any big surprise to me when the cab driver didn’t help me with my suitcase. I’d already had to tolerate arriving at the airport to find no one there to greet me, and then got no answer to my many phone calls, asking where my aunt and uncle were. Did they not want me after all? Had they changed their minds? Had they heard about my bad luck—all the way from Iowa—and decided they didn’t want any of it to rub off on them?
So when the cab driver, instead of getting out and helping me with my bags, just pushed a little button so that the trunk (汽车后备箱) popped open a few inches, it wasn’t the worst thing that had ever happened to me. It wasn’t even the worst thing that had happened to me that day.
According to my mom, most brownstones in New York City were originally single-family homes when they were built way back in the 1800s. But now they’ve been divided up into apartments, so that there’s one—or sometimes even two or more families—per floor.
Not Mom’s sister Evelyn’s brownstone, though. Aunt Evelyn and Uncle Ted Gardiner own all four floors of their brownstone. That’s practically one floor per person, since Aunt Evelyn and Uncle Ted only have three kids, my cousins Tory, Teddy, and Alice.
Back home, we just have two floors, but there are seven people living on them. And only one bathroom. Not that I’m complaining. Still, ever since my sister Courtney discovered blow-outs, it’s been pretty frightful at home.
But as tall as my aunt and uncle’s house was, it was really narrow—just three windows across. Still, it was a very pretty townhouse, painted gray. The door was a bright, cheerful yellow. There were yellow flower boxes along the base of each window, flower boxes from which bright red—and obviously newly planted, since it was only the middle of April, and not quite warm enough for them.
It was nice to know that, even in a sophisticated (世故的) city like New York, people still realized how homey and welcoming a box of flowers could be. The sight of those flowers cheered me up a little.
Like maybe Aunt Evelyn and Uncle Ted just forgot I was arriving today, and hadn’t deliberately failed to meet me at the airport because they’d changed their minds about letting me come to stay.
Like everything was going to be all right, after all.
Yeah. With my luck, probably not.
I started up the steps to the front door of 326 East Sixty-Ninth Street, then realized I couldn’t make it with both bags and my violin. Leaving one bag on the sidewalk, I dragged the other up the steps with me. Maybe I took the steps a little too fast, since I nearly tripped and fell flat on my face on the sidewalk. I managed to catch myself at the last moment by grabbing some of the fence the gardeners had put up…
1. Why did the author go to New York?

A．She intended to go sightseeing there.

B．She meant to stay with her aunt’s family.

C．She was homeless and adopted by her aunt.

D．She wanted to try her luck and find a job there.

2. According to the author, some facts account for her bad luck EXCEPT that ________.

A．she was given a boy’s name in French

B．the cab driver didn’t help her with her bags

C．her sister Courtney discovered blow-outs

D．nobody had come to meet her at the airport

3. The underlined phrase “rub off on” in Paragraph 3 probably means _________.

A．have an effect on

B．play tricks on

C．put pressure on

D．throw doubt on

4. From   passage, we can know that _________.

A．the author left home without informing her mother

B．the author arrived in New York in a very warm season

C．her aunt’s family lived a much better life than her own

D．her aunt and uncle were likely to forget about her arrival

【推荐2】The clock struck eleven at night. The whole house was quiet. Everyone was in bed except me. Under the strong light，I looked sadly before me at a huge pile of that troublesome stuff（东西） they call “books”。
I was going to have my examination the next day.   “When can I go to bed？” I asked myself. I didn’t answer，In fact I dared not.
The clock struck twelve. “ Oh，dear！” I cried. “Ten more books to read before I can go to bed！” We pupils are the most wretched creatures（生物） in the world. Dad does not agree with me on this. He did not have to work so hard when he was a boy.
The clock struck one. I was quite desperate（绝望的）now. I forgot all I had learned. I was too tired to go on. I did the only thing I could. I prayed，“Oh，God，please help me pass the exam tomorrow. I do promise to work hard afterwards，Amen.” My eyes were so heavy that I could hardly open them. A few minutes later，with my head on the desk，I fell asleep.
1. The underlined word “wretched”in Paragraph 3 probably means _______ .

A．very happy.	B．disappointed.
C．very unhappy.	D．hopeful.

2. Reviewing his lessons didn’t help him because        .

A．it was too late at night.

B．he was very tired.

C．his eye lids were so heavy that he couldn’t keep them open.

D．he hadn’t studied hard before the examination.

3. What do you suppose happened to the author？

A．He went to a church to pray again.

B．He passed the exam by sheer luck.

C．He failed in the exam.

D．He was punished by his teacher.

4. The best title for the passage would be __________ .

A．The Night Before the Examination.

B．Working Far into the Night.

C．A Slow Student.

D．Going Over My Lessons.

【推荐3】What makes you cry? Being moved by a sad movie, waving a loved one off, or losing a pet can all cause tears to roll down our faces.     1     But is that a good thing?

When you think about it, shedding (流) tears from your eyes is an odd thing to do. But it seems to be an automatic reaction when we get sad, upset or even when we're very happy.     2    

However, the feeling is the same — your cheeks puff up, your eyes tighten and before you know it, tears are streaming down your face. Some of us may cry a little while others might cry like a baby.

Writer Adam Rutherford says, “According to pretty much every study done, women do cry more than men, and this result has been consistent since we've been looking.” But does this mean men don't get as upset or emotional as women, or are they just more embarrassed about showing their true feelings?     3    

One place where we experience emotional and tearful outbursts (爆发) is in the workplace.

    4     Someone might be stressed, and their workload might be too much. As therapist Joanna Cross says, “Crying is often a build-up of frustration and undealt-with situations, and it's a bit of a final straw moment.”

    5     Maybe it dissolves or clears the negative or sad feelings you've had. Crying shows others how you feel, so perhaps it's a crying shame that more of us, particularly men,don't cry more often.

A．The debate continues.

B．What sets off this reaction differs from person to person.

C．What might be the negative effects of crying?

D．This can be somewhere where emotions run high.

E．We all have the power to cry.

F．Some people suggest that it's women who cry more than men.

G．But crying in the office or elsewhere can actually make you feel better.

【推荐1】I have had a lifelong fascination﹣call it obsession if you like﹣with communication， with making links to other places， other cultures， other worlds． The roots of this obsession have often puzzled me． I am not﹣never have been﹣a gregarious person． Quite the opposite， I was a solitary child and my classmates at school and university always thought of me as a loner． I was never crazy about the noisy solidarity of social gatherings． So why was I possessed of a desire to make contact with distant places？

It can partly be explained by the start I had in life． I grew up on what seemed at the time like the edge of the world﹣in a remote part of rural Ireland， in a household with few books or magazines， and no television． Foreign travel was unheard of． Apart from those who emigrated to Great Britain or the United States， virtually nobody we knew had ever been abroad． Nobody ever went overseas on holiday， and no foreign languages were taught in the schools I attended﹣with the exception of Latin． We lived in a closed society that thought of itself as self﹣sufficient．

There was however one chink of light in the suffocating gloom﹣the radio， which we called "the wireless．" It was， by modern standards， a huge apparatus powered by valves﹣which is why it took some time to warm up﹣and a "magic eye" tuning indicator﹣a greenish glass circle that winked at you as the signal waxed or waned． The best thing about our wireless， though， was that it had a shortwave band． This was the source of endless fascination to me， because it meant that even with this primitive device one could listen to the world． At first I couldn't understand how it worked． Why was reception so much better at night？ Why was it so infuriatingly variable？ I asked my father， who looked evasive and just said it had something to do with "the whachamacallit sphere" （he always called complicated things the whachamacallit）， but this gave me enough of a steer to go to the local library and start digging． In due course I discovered that he was referring to the ionosphere﹣a layer of charged particles high up at the edge of the Earth's atmosphere that acts as a kind of reflector for radio waves of certain frequencies． The reason shortwave radio could travel such huge distances was that it used the ionosphere to bounce signals round the world﹣which was why radio hams in Latin America or Australia could sometimes be heard by a young boy on the western seaboard of Ireland． Signals from such distant shores were more likely to get through at night because then the ionosphere was higher and transmission over longer distances was possible．

I was spellbound by this discovery of how technology could piggyback on a natural phenomenon to push forward low﹣power signals through immense distances． But most of all I was entranced by the idea of shortwave radio， for this was a technology which belonged not to great corporations or governments， but to people． It was possible， my father explained， to obtain a license to operate your own shortwave radio station． And all over the globe people held such licenses， which enabled them to sit in their back rooms and broadcast to the whole world． The world suddenly seemed wide open to me．

1. The second paragraph primarily serves to　 　．

A．reveal the author's attitude toward foreign cultures

B．present information that sheds light on a certain preoccupation

C．to display the author's nostalgia for his adolescence

D．foreshadow the crucial difference between the author and his father

2. The author considers his father's answer （in Paragraph 3）to be　 　．

A．incomplete but helpful

B．humorous but meaningful

C．lighthearted yet concerned

D．silly and confusing

3. Which of the following， if true， would most weaken the claim of operating a   shortwave radio station？

A．Many governments around the world do not regulate shortwave users

B．Shortwave equipment is very inexpensive and is getting cheaper all the time

C．Most individuals who apply for shortwave licenses are turned down．

D．Communications experts predict that the Internet will eventually replace   shortwave radio．

4. The passage is primarily about the author's　 　．

A．decision to pursue a career in science

B．acceptance of his family's sheltered outlook

C．devotion to the study of emerging technology

D．discovery of a medium's liberating potential

【推荐3】Your car is a necessary part of your life. You use it every day. Of course, you want to hold on to it so you make sure it has the latest alarm and immobilizer (汽车防盗器). But despite all these, cars like yours are still stolen every day. In fact, in this country, one car is stolen almost every minute! And if your car is stolen, you only have a 50:50 chance of seeing it again.

Each year, car crime costs nearly £ 3 billion. Of course, if you're insured, you won't lose out, or will you? Firstly, you will have to pay extra insurance later on, and then you may not be offered the full amount by the agent. You will probably have to hire a car and you will also lose the value of the contents and accessories (配件) in the car.

Now comes the solution. An RAC Trackstar system, hidden in one of 47 possible secret locations in your car, is the key of our system. If your car is stolen, radio signals are sent at twenty-second intervals from the car to the RAC Trackstar National Control Center via a satellite network. Then a computer gives the vehicle's exact location, speed and direction.

The RAC Trackstar National Control Center, which operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, will immediately inform the police in the area where the car is located, Because the police receive information every twenty seconds, they will always know the vehicle's location. Once the thief has been arrested, your car will be returned to you.

RAC Trackstar is unique in being able to provide the National Control Center with details of the exact location of your car, its speed and direction. And speed is the key to successful recovery of a stolen vehicle. RAC Trackstar Control will immediately tell the police if you report your car stolen and under the 24-hour Guardian Option. It will also tell you if your car has been stolen. RAC Trackstar's constant updates mean the police are kept informed of the car's location. All these greatly improve your chances of seeing your car again.

1. If your car is stolen, you will have to _______.

A．hire a new car	B．pay more insurance
C．buy a RAC Trackstar system	D．inform the National Control Center

2. The Trackstar system can tell the police _______.

A．where the car is	B．how the car is stolen
C．who the thief is	D．what brand the car is

3. According to the passage, people with RAC Trackstar _______.

A．are more likely to get the stolen cars back

B．have less chance of being in an accident

C．seldom get their vehicles damaged

D．automatically find directions