【推荐1】       Picking a university is a tense period of asking yourself which institution is most relevant. That's why university rankings play such a vital role in students searching for their next academic direction. Rankings are also an inescapable part of the reputation and brand image of universities. "No university website is complete without the claim to be in the top 100 for something   or other," reported the BBC. The reason is simple: Rankings help them to attract students, staff and research investment.
       Currently there are numbers of university rankings, and each has its own list of criteria. But the main categories are the same: academic reputation, graduates' performance and faculty resources.
       However, experts point out the ranking process isn't entirely reliable. Mark Kantrowitz, a US financial aid researcher, said university rankings were mostly just for show. He wrote in The New York Times. "It may give your parents better bragging rights, but that's about it."
        Moreover, it's not difficult to see the limitations of university rankings. Many rankings focus on the number of times research work is cited (引用) by other researchers. It helps British and US universities to dominate global rankings because English is the favored language of academia, John O'Leary, a member of the QS academic advisory board, told The Gunrdian,.        Also, rankings such as QS mainly focus on the qualities of the university rather than its students. "Any university ranking is likely to help students make better decisions about where to study, but the need to balance them with other more human factors is also important," said Phil Moss, an education and admissions consultant.   "Advice from graduates or current students can be as valuable in providing a genuine insight into the experience or quality of a particular degree program. It can also add an element that rankings can never convey-the actual emotion of a university experience."
1. Why do universities consider rankings important?

A．Rankings make them more appealing.

B．Rankings are students' only reference.

C．Rankings can increase their academic level.

D．Rankings help them complete their websites.

2. What does the underlined "It" in paragraph 4 refer to?

A．Acadenuc research work.

B．The number of researches.

C．The way of ranking universities.

D．The limitation of university ranking.

3. According to John O'Leary, what helps British and US universities rank well?

A．The wide use of English in academia.

B．Their outstanding qualities.

C．Their graduates' excellent performance.

D．The academia's favor to them.

4. Besides ranking, what does Phil Moss suggest you should refer to if you're picking a university?

A．Investment in education.

B．Guidance from professors.

C．Information on websites.

D．Suggestions from students.

【推荐2】A national study led by a Michigan State University scholar finds that the course students take have powerful effects on the friendships they make.

The findings, published in the American Journal of Sociology, indicate the patterns of course-taking are different in each high school. In one school, for example, friendships may form among students taking woodshop, Spanish or European history, while in another it may be among students taking agricultural business management, advanced accounting and calculus (微积分学).

“People generally want to think that kids are choosing their friends by joining groups such as the football club and they do the same al every school,” said Kenneth Frank, professor in MSU’s College of Education.” But our argument is that the opportunities an adolescent has to choose friends are guided by the courses the adolescent takes and the other students who take the courses with them. Moreover, the pattern of opportunities differs from school to school.”

Students were more likely to make friends in small classes. Friendships were more likely to be created in Latin and woodshop, for example, than in a large physical education class that is required of everyone in a particular grade.

The findings means a lot to school administrators as well. “Schools that simply offer classes without thought for mixing up high- and low-achieving students run the risk of driving them apart socially and academically,” Frank said. To prevent this, he said schools could better highlight the value of certain academic subjects, such as math, and also group students together so the low-achievers have high-achievers in their classes potentially throughout high school. “This would give the students in the lower group encouragement or make others who could be there as a marker to help them move along.”

1. According to Kenneth Frank, people generally consider that       .

A．teenage friendships are decided by their similar interest

B．kids are more likely to make friends with well-known players.

C．different stories about teenage friendships happen in every school.

D．those enthusiasts about football are the most popular among teenagers.

2. What will Kenneth Frank’s group probably agree with?

A．What course a student takes will totally determine his friendship.

B．Students who take the same course can easily develop friendships.

C．Whether a teenage friendship can last is affected by the other students.

D．Patterns of course-taking are the same in every high school.

3. What’s the advantage of students in small classes?

A．They can focus more on how to be as cool as possible.

B．They are more likely to be affected by others, appearances.

C．They can make friends regardless of understanding of each other.

D．They can make friends more easily than in large ones.

4. Which of the following is NOT the purpose of Kenneth Frank s advice?

A．To stop low-achieving students from falling behind academically.

B．To encourage low-achieving students to work hard and move along.

C．To prevent .low-achieving students from socializing with the others too much.

D．To prevent distinguishing high-achieving students from low-achieving ones.

【推荐3】When you go on a trip to America, you will see the word Motel on signs and notice boards. It is made up of “motor” and “hotel” and it is really a hotel for people who arrive by car (however, you don’t need a car to stay at one). You have to pay when you arrive for your room, which usually has a bath. Meals are not provided but there will certainly be a cafeteria. Americans eat a lot of salads and sandwiches. Along the main roads there are a lot of motels. Each tries to offer more than the others. Some provide television in every bedroom; others have swimming pools and so on. Motels are especially useful when you are in the country, far from a town or city. You will also find them in big national parks.

In these great national parks, you may meet guests you don't expect to see. An American friend told me a short story. In the middle of a moonless night，she heard strange noises outside her motel window in the Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming. Thinking it might be a thief, she jumped out of bed, opened the door and crept towards a dark shadow. As she got close, she saw the thief. She was dreadfully frightened: it wasn’t a human thief-it was a big black bear. The bear was turning over some empty tins with its paws, looking for tasty bits of food. My friend decided to leave that particular thief alone!

There are also, of course, places called “rooming houses”, where they provide lodges（客房).You will see such signs as Tourists or Rooms Rent, and you could try one of these. A word of warning-looking for a room in New York during the tourist season is like looking for gold on the moon!

1. Motels provide all the following EXCEPT      .

A．bath

B．TV

C．meals

D．swimming pools

2. The underlined word “crept” in Paragraph 2 probably means “      ”.

A．moved slowly

B．rushed out

C．threw away

D．ran fast

3. From the last paragraph , we can learn that in New York during the tourist season      .

A．tourists can find gold there

B．it is difficult to find a room there

C．tourists can have a sweet dream there

D．there is a warning for tourists to New York

【推荐2】In one of the old buildings near our school, one could see an old man sitting by a large window on the first floor. His name was James. During the three years at school, I had hardly ever found him missing from his usual position.

He was a high-ranking government official and lived happily with his wife. Once there was a bus accident, in which a number of passengers were seriously injured and were taken to the hospital for treatment. James was responsible for the rescue operation. It was a big hospital, but James was shocked to notice how ill-equipped it was. There were no enough life-saving drugs and life-supporting equipment. The injured and their companions had to struggle there. James attempted to help. However, though he emptied his pockets, many of them died that day.

That was a turning point in his life. He made a decision to devote his life to helping others, particularly the poor and needy patients and their companions. He began spending much of his income on these people. Since this required a lot of time and energy, he found it difficult to fulfill his official duties and therefore chose to retire, which, in turn, reduced his income considerably.

His wife was deeply worried. Most of the time, James was out and paid least attention to home affairs. Meanwhile, as he was spending a lot helping others, she had to struggle even to meet the household expenses. Though she was not opposed to his helping the poor, she urged him not to overlook his own life and home, but it had no effect on him. One day they had a heated argument and in the end she left him, never to return. Though he continued with his work, this was a great blow and did serious harm to his health and enthusiasm and he was soon forced to stay indoors. That was when he took his position by the window, spending his time looking outside.

A few weeks after my graduation, I returned to school, only to find the buildings gone. I heard that they were torn down. All the people left except James. He refused to go and the next morning, he was found at his usual place by the window, dead.

1. What changed James' view towards life?

A．The difficulties in his career.	B．The deaths in the bus accident.
C．The bad conditions in the hospital.	D．The responsibilities in the operation.

2. James chose to retire in order to _________.

A．take care of the injured passengers	B．find a better job to increase his income
C．spare more time and energy to help others	D．stay away from the difficult official duties

3. James' wife left because ________.

A．she was strongly against his deeds

B．James paid too little attention to his work

C．her work to support their daily life was too tiring

D．James failed to keep a balance between charity and home

4. The underlined word "this" in Paragraph 4 refers to ________.

A．his decision to retire	B．the departure of his wife
C．the argument with his wife	D．his devotion to helping others

【推荐3】Ernest Miller Hemingway was an American author and journalist. His unique writing style greatly influenced 20th-century fiction, as did his life of adventure and public image. He won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954. Many of his works are classics of American literature. He published seven novels, six short story collections, and two non-fiction works during his lifetime; a further three novels, four collections of short stories, and three non-fiction works were published posthumously.

Hemingway was born and raised in Oak Park, Illinois. After leaving high school he worked for a few months as a reporter for The Kansas City Star, before leaving for the Italian front to become an ambulance driver during World War I, which became the basis for his novel A Farewell to Arms.

In 1922 Hemingway married Hadley Richardson, the first of his four wives, and the couple moved to Paris, where he worked as a foreign correspondent. During his time there he met and was influenced by modernist writers and artists of the 1920s expatriate(侨居海外的) community known as the “Lost Generation”. His first novel, The Sun Also Rises, was published in 1926.

After divorcing Hadley Richardson in 1927, Hemingway married Pauline Pfeiffer; they divorced following Hemingway’s return from covering the Spanish Civil War, after which he wrote For Whom the Bell Tolls. Martha Gellhorn became his third wife in 1940, but he left her for Mary Welsh after World War Ⅱ.

Shortly after the publication of The Old Man and the Sea in 1952, Hemingway went on safari to Africa, where he was almost killed in a plane crash that left him in pain or ill-health for much of the rest of his life.

Hemingway had permanent residences in Key West, Florida, and Cuba during the 1930s and 1940s, but in 1959 he moved from Cuba to Ketchum, Idaho, where he committed suicide in the summer of 1961.

1. Hemingway’s unique writing style has the most influence on ________.

A．his life of adventure	B．his public image
C．20th-century fiction	D．American lifestyle

2. The novel A Farewell to Arms is set in ________.

A．Oak Park, Illinois	B．his high school
C．The Kansas City Star	D．the Italian front

3. How are Hemingway’s novels introduced to readers in the text?

A．By popularity.	B．By time.
C．By importance.	D．By subject.