【推荐2】Dear daughters，

Most parents tell their children，"You can be anything you want when you grow up. ”I feel the same and I say this often. But I also want you to understand that the dream itself comes from hard work，some good luck and good timing.

Girls，here are some words of wisdom as you make your way in the world，from an entrepreneur and from your mama.

1. Be open-minded to changing your path（even several times）along the way

In high school，I wanted to be a politician. I left my hometown and went off to college in Washington，DC. There，I discovered that I loved to support women. It taught me that I'm creative，a strong leader and great at marketing. As a result，I moved on to be the head of a national health care nonprofit. Becoming a mother while in that job opened my mind to launching a breast pump bag business. Now I run a highly successful company that I started up on my own.

Figure out what you are good at and what you are passionate（充满激情的）about. Keep an open mind；the initial path you choose may lead you into other areas.

Don't waste your money or time，but constantly change what you are doing professionally based on what you are learning about yourself.

2. Failure is critical to your success

I won't tell you to feel good about failure. Failure can be heartbreaking. But I will tell you that every failure I've had along the way has absolutely made me better.

Failing the big math exam in high school and going to summer school was embarrassing. I eventually passed，and I've never failed an exam again. I learned from that experience to ask for help. Now，I ask for help in business all the time.

Being passed over for a significant job opportunity that I was more than qualified for because of unfair assumptions（being too young for the role）hurt me. I had a three-month pity party. And then I went out and got a big job at a national organization at age 27. It's okay to get angry！Take that and turn it into positive action.

I'm proud to be a role model to you as a mom and an entrepreneur. I hope I inspire you to believe that you can be anything you want and you can have everything on your list. It will be my pleasure to watch your lives unfold before my eyes.

Love，

Your Mom

1. The author wrote this letter to her daughters mainly to_________.

A．share her own past regrets with them

B．make some suggestions for their future lives

C．tell them how she has succeeded in business

D．encourage them to be who they want to be

2. According to the article，the author ________.

A．is a successful politician and entrepreneur

B．is worried about her daughters' career choices

C．is against frequently changing one's profession

D．thinks one should be willing to change his or her career path

3. From the letter we can learn the following lessons EXCEPT ________.

A．kindness is rewarding	B．no sweat, no sweet
C．It's important to know yourself	D．failure is the mother of success

4. Which of the following words best describe the author?

A．Passionate and flexible.	B．Modest and cautious.
C．Caring and generous.	D．Proud and humorous.

【推荐3】What will happen to you when you start reading more nonfiction books?

You’ll learn valuable life lessons. You could watch a show about Abraham Lincoln, or you could read his first-hand account in a biography.     1    Biographies offer glimpses(一瞥)into the success and failure of well-known people throughout history. Reading about the experiences of others can teach you valuable life lessons.

Your concentration will improve.     2    By making a habit concentrating, you’ll find it easier to be more present and more productive. Fifteen minutes reading or listening to nonfiction on your way to will put you in a more focused mindset upon arrival at the office.

    3    By exposing yourself to more nonfiction, your vocabulary will expand, giving you more words to work into everyday conversations. You’ll also pick up on the style of accomplished authors, helping you sharpen your own skills as a speaker.

Reading upgrades your brain. Reading nonfiction is a workout for your brain that not only improves memory and analytical skills but might help protect against neurological(神经系统的)disorders.     4    .

    5    Nonfiction is the gateway to knowledge a formal education often lacks. From history to business and religion to psychology, nonfiction lights up any number of areas, making you more intelligent and well-rounded.

A．Reading requires focus.

B．You’ll become brighter

C．Listening makes a merry trip

D．You will become more creative

E．You’ll become a better communicator

F．The latter will be a lot more fascinating

G．A chapter a day could keep the doctor away

【推荐1】The Silk Road is a special name for a route(路线） that is not a road.     1     In fact, the Silk Road is a series of different trading routes that began in ancient times.

Recently,people have found some burnt grains, which were East Asia, at four ancient sites in Middle Asian countries.     2     the grains might have been carried by the people from a long distance.

This means that

The Silk Road affects the way we eat in different countries today,China received seeds of rice and grapes in the early days, Chinese people learnt how to make wine from rice and then also used grapes for this. At the same time, other new seeds of vegetables also came to China.     3    

Seeds were also taken from one area to another all over the world.     4     And then,they used the new crops to make food they could enjoy.     5       When wheat reached China, it was used to make noodles and dumplings. In the same way,millet(粟）was used to make noodles in China,while it was used to make bread in the West.

A．It is not made from silk,either.

B．They speak different languages.

C．In the West,wheat was used to make bread.

D．People had to learn how to grow new crops.

E．Cucumbers, onions and carrots were a few of them.

F．These countries are believed to be in the middle of the routes.

【推荐2】Your mobile phone vibrates in your pocket. ‘Need to see you,’ reads the screen. Nothing new, considering that texting is currently the most common form of long-distance communication. But how were messages conveyed in the past?

One of the first methods was the smoke signal. This practice was used by Chinese soldiers guarding the Great Wall to warn of the enemy’s approach. The Greeks invented a whole alphabet of smoke signals for sending messages. But it was Native Americans who made the system mobile by carrying small bunches of dried grasses around with them. These could be lit quickly from any place at any time.

Moving on to messages transmitted by sound, an early technique was the drum. Drums are still used today in the rainforests of Africa, Papua New Guinea and Central and South America for broadcasting news. The instrument is made from a piece of wood, which is empty inside, and this is hit with a stick. On receiving the message, each village passes it on to the next, which means that news can travel at up to 150 km an hour.

In some parts of the world, humans are able to convey messages over long distances without using instruments. On La Gomera, one of the Canary Islands, people use Silbo, or the ‘whistling language’ to communicate across the valleys. The language involves the use of the tongue, lips and hands to make sounds, which can travel up to 5 km. To ensure its continuation, Silbo is currently a compulsory subject in primary and secondary schools on the island.

A look at long-distance communication would not be complete without mentioning the art of yodelling. This is a form of singing, in which the voice changes sound levels very quickly, making it easily heard over long distances. It is believed that the technique was developed in the Swiss Alps, but it is also found in other places such as Central Africa. At one time, yodelling was popular in theatres and music halls, but this is no longer so.

1. What was most remarkable about the Greeks’ system of smoke signals?

A．It could communicate words.

B．It could be used instantly.

C．It could mislead the enemy.

D．It could stop wars from breaking out.

2. What is the advantage of communicating by drums?

A．The length of the message.

B．The simplicity of the instrument.

C．The speed of the transmission.

D．The volume of the sound.

3. What would be an accurate definition of ‘yodelling’?

A．Moving frequently between high and low notes.

B．Singing a recognizable tune in harmony.

C．Using music with a really strong beat.

D．Shouting in a loud voice.

4. Which of the following would be the best title for the passage?

A．Is That Strange?

B．Get the Message?

C．The Old Technology

D．The History of Information

【推荐3】At some point in elementary school, your science teacher may explained to you that there are 365 days in a year because that's how long it takes for Earth to complete one full journey around the sun. What they might not have explained, however, is that it's not exactly 365 days—it’s actually closer to 365. 2421 days.

So, if we want our calendar year to begin right when Earth begins a new turn around the sun, we have to account for roughly an extra quarter of a day each year, or one day every four years. History.com reports that the Egyptians had already been doing this for a while before Europe finally caught on in 46 BC, when Roman Emperor Julius Caesar and astronomer Sosigenes put their heads together to come up with what we now call the Julian calendar, which includes 12 months, 365 days, and an additional ''leap day'' every four years on February 29.

But rounding 0.2421 up to 0.25 each year created an issue, because it didn't quite add up to a full day every four years—and that tiny difference meant that after 128 years, the calendar year ended up starting a day before Earth had completed its journey around the sun. By the 14^th century, the calendar year was starting 10 days before Earth finished its orbit.

In 1582, Pope Gregory XIII sought to correct the error by suggesting that we simply skip a leap day every so often. His Gregorian calendar, which we still use today, rules that we skip the leap day during years which can be evenly divided (被整除) by 100 but not by 400. For instance, the year 2000 included a leap day because it can be divided by 100 and 400; the year 2100, on the other hand, will not include a leap day, since it's evenly divided by 100, but not by 400.

Gregory XIII’s correction to Caesar's overcorrection is itself a bit of an under-correction, so we'll probably need to reevaluate our leap day design again in about 10,000 years.

1. What do the underlined words ''put their heads together'' in paragraph 2 mean?

A．Come across each other.	B．Bump their heads together.
C．Compete against each other.	D．Combine their efforts.

2. According to Gregorian calendar, which year may include a leap day?

A．2100.	B．1600.
C．1800.	D．2020.

3. What can we learn from the passage?

A．Emperor Julius Caesar was also an astronomer.

B．Today's calendar exactly agrees with the sun's turning.

C．The 10-day early start in calendar will always exist.

D．The Gregorian calendar is not yet the most accurate.

4. What's the purpose of this passage?

A．To point out a mistake made by your science teacher.

B．To explain how long Earth makes a trip around the sun.

C．To explain in detail why the leap day is needed.

D．To explain the reason why we need a calendar.