【推荐1】As larger numbers of Chinese tourists are coming to the US with more personal travel plans more are turning their eves to cultural and art attractions, rather than a crazy shopping.

“We have seen the rise of independent Chinese tourists for a while, and they have showed increasing interest in culture and arts.” Lin Xiaowen, a tour guide of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (the Met) in New York, told Xinhua in a recent interview.

There used to be a time when the luxury (奢侈品) stores on the Fifth Avenue of New York City (NYC) were frequented by Chinese consumers. But now, they have turned to the attractions other than luxury.

“In recent years, the number of Chinese tourists to the Met is keeping rising. In 2013, it was only about 50.000 annually, but since 2018, their number has already been over200, 000.” said Lin. “Chinese visitors have become the largest group of foreign visitors in Met since then.”

In the year of 2019, the number of visitors to this famous museum has reached 6.3million, which has been attributed in a large part to Chinese elements and tourists.

Responding to the sharp rise in Chinese visitors, the workers of the museum made efforts to attract the Chinese, including sound tours and maps in Mandarin, opening a Chinese Weibo account, and even acceptance of UnionPay.

Chinese tourists now choose to spend more time in the spots like Washington Square, enjoying some coffee, or taking a walk around famous campus.

Moreover, they are more interested in staying here longer to have an exploration of that local community in depth, instead of just simply staying for one night or for a couple of days.

1. What did Chinese tourists tend to do when traveling in the US in the past years?

A．They learned American traditions.

B．They visited some museums.

C．They bought luxury goods in the stores.

D．They enjoyed food in the local restaurants.

2. How did the American museum take efforts to attract the Chinese?

A．It brought in UnionPay system.

B．It offered them Chinese food and coffee.

C．It provided Chinese paperwork in the museum.

D．It supplied Chinese money for their change.

3. According to the passage, we learn that ________.

A．Lin Xiaowen is a journalist from Xinhua News Agency.

B．Chinese tourists tend to catch a quick glimpse of the US.

C．there were 6.3 million Chinese who went to American museums in 2019.

D．Chinese tourists have paid more attention to American cultural and art attraction.

4. The best title for the passage is probably ________.

A．Chinese Tourists and Luxury.

B．Changes of Chinese Tourists.

C．Chinese Tourists and Museums.

D．Changes of Chinese Tourists’ Focus in the US.

【推荐2】Petra and Wadi Rum, Jordan

When it comes to the world’s wonderful desert scenery, Jordan’s Petra and Wadi Rum has it. Also known as the Valley of the Moon, this place is one of the best due to its amazing desert canyons and rock walls. Participants love exploring its Burdah and Um Fruth, walking to the impressive ancient city.

Kilimanjaro, Tanzania

The Rongai Route is the best route if the participants of the walking tour want a quiet climb. The Kili Trail permits travelers to witness the region’s wilderness, virgin forests, and rare animals. This route, according to many, is the easiest way to reach the top where the breath-taking 360-degree sights of natural wonders await.

Quebec, Canada

This special environment made up of both the natural and cultural treasures, where fresh water becomes one with the tides of the sea, makes Quebec one of the interesting walking tour destinations in the world. Here is a track that heads to the Saguenay Fjord National Park which is included in the UNESCO World Heritage Site. Adding to the beauty of Quebec are its sparkling waterfalls, inviting lakes, and rare animals.

Great Smoky Mountain, US

This region has been named as the ancestral home of the Cherokee Indians, where rich natural wonders combined with interesting history are the major happenings. The rich natural reserve is evident and enjoyed by walking tour participants. What also makes this destination a popular choice is its reputation as the biggest wilderness on the eastern part of the United States.

1. Which tour combines the scenery of land and water?

A．Petra and Wadi Rum.	B．Kilimanjaro.
C．Quebec.	D．Great Smoky Mountain.

2. What is unique to Great Smoky Mountain?

A．Special history.

B．National park.

C．Virgin forests.

D．Ocean view.

3. Which of the following can be the best title for the text?

A．Magical Nature Reserves

B．Best Walking Tours

C．Colorful Cultural Treasures

D．Amazing Wilderness Areas

【推荐3】The Best Sillk Road Tour

Silk Road, a business and trade route, originates from the ancient China and connects with the Asian. African and European countries. Our well-designed Silk Road tour package will never let you down.

Departure City: Shanghai

Guide & Driver: English-speaking guide, experienced driver with an air-conditioned vehicle

Meals: 12 western buffet breakfasts, 6 lunches with some being a la carte (点菜)style

Tour Highlights:

·Must-see sights in China-Terracotta Warriors, Famen Temple, Dunhuang Mogao Caves, Maiji Caves, Jiayuguan Pass and Mutianyu Great Wall

·Trace back to the Silk Road of 2, 000 years ago & learn about the culture and history Marvel at the art treasure-Mogao Caves & enjoy an exciting camel riding in the Gobi Desert We Guarantee 100% No Shopping Stops!

Tour Prices

Tour Prices with Luxury Hotels
2-3 travelers	4-5 travelers	6-9 travelers
$3749	$3299	$2939
Tour Prices with Standard Hotels
2-3 travelers	4-5 travelers	6-9 travelers
$3479	$3029	$2669

·Prices are per person in US Dollars

·Any parts of the tour length, activities or hotels can be tailored to your individual interests Are you ready to follow the footsteps of the ancients to explore this mysterious land now?

1. What will people do on the tour?

A．Appreciate the ancient heritage.	B．Ride on camels all the way.
C．Stay a few nights in caves.	D．Do a lot of shopping.

2. Which of the following is most likely to join the tour?

A．A Beijing businessman good at golf	B．A Japanese model loving fashion.
C．A Yunnan biologist interested in birds.	D．An American student learning history.

3. How much should a traveler pay for her family (with two sons) who want to live comfortably?

A．$3479	B．$3749.
C．$7498.	D．$11247.

【推荐2】Four apps to keep your life on track

From simple task scheduling to detailed task management, all these apps offer everything you need for efficient task recording.

Wunderlist

The app lets you create tasks, subtasks and allows you to share with your family, friends and colleagues. The whole app is designed in the most user-friendly way and offers you the ability to add deadlines, additional information and reminders.

Focuster

With Focuster, you just need to add all your tasks and the tool will arrange them immediately in order of importance. After adding all the tasks, just press the Now button and the tool will show the tasks you should be focusing on for the day.

TeuxDeux

This useful app lets you schedule and organize all your tasks for the whole week. Just add the tasks below the day column and you’re done. Want to move a task from one column to another? No worries. Its drag-and-drop interface (界面) lets you rearrange the task and add it to a different day’s column. Additionally, TeuxDeux lets you add repeating tasks for a day.

TickTick

TickTick allows you to add tasks, subtasks, custom reminders as well as deadlines for a day, a week, or a month. In order to provide you with more ease in task scheduling, TickTick offers a nice calendar view, where you can add or edit tasks on a weekly or daily basis. It also has experimental features, which you can turn on if you want to try out beta capabilities (测试功能).

1. To share your tasks with others，you’d prefer to choose ________.

A．Focuster.

B．Wunderlist

C．TickTick.

D．TeuxDeux.

2. What’s the similarity between TeuxDeux and TickTick?

A．They offer a beautiful calendar view.	B．They have great experimental features.
C．They have a very user-friendly interface.	D．They can help organize tasks for a week.

3. What benefit can you get from the four apps?

A．Completing your work more easily.	B．Obtaining everything you need faster.
C．Organizing your activities more effectively.	D．Getting access to the Internet more quickly.

【推荐3】How many times a day do you check your email? When you wake up? Before bed? A dozen limes in between? The technology that was supposed to make our lives simple has taken up too much time. The average teen spends more than seven hours a day using technological devices, with an additional hour just text-messaging friends.

The advantage of technological devices is connectedness. Email lets us respond on the go, and we are in touch with more people during more hours of the day than at any other time in history. But is it possible that we’re lonelier than ever, too? That’s what MIT professor Sherry Turkle observes in her new book, Alone Together, which clearly describes our changing relationship with technology.

For Turkic, the biggest worry is the effect the weak connections have on our development. Technology isn’t offering us the lives we want to live. “We’re texting people at a distance” says Turkic. “We’re using lifeless objects to convince ourselves that even when we’re alone, we feel together. And then when we’re with each other, we put ourselves in situations where we are alone—always on our mobile devices. It’s what I call a perfect storm of confusion about what’s important in our human connections.”

Moreover, communicating online is not equal to face-to-face communication. Online, you can ignore others’ feelings. In a text message, you can avoid eye contact A number of studies have found that this generation of young people is sympathetic (有同情心的) than ever. “That doesn’t lead to disaster,” says Turkle, “but the disadvantages still cannot be ignored.”

1. From the first paragraph we can learn that       .

A．Email checking helps people wake up early

B．People communicate mainly by text-messaging now

C．Technological device production has been simplified

D．Using technological devices costs young men much time

2. What is Sherry Turkic’s biggest worry?

A．Technology may make human connections confusing.

B．Technology can’t help people remove loneliness.

C．Technology may make people’s lives hard.

D．Technology keeps people together.

3. What is the author’s attitude towards the influence of technology on people’s life?

A．Positive	B．Negative
C．Hopeless	D．Uncertain

4. What is the passage mainly about?

A．Technology brings many conveniences to people’s lives.

B．Young men spend too much time on technological devices.

C．Technology also brings people some disadvantages.

D．Sherry Turkle observes people’s changing relationship with Technology.

【推荐1】In the 1994 film Forrest Gump, there's a famous saying, "Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gonna get. The surprise is part of the fun. Now blind box toys（盲盒)are bringing the magic of surprise to online shopping.

A blind box toy is hidden inside similar boxes but invisible from the outside. You don't know what will be inside, although the toys typically come from pop culture, ranging from movies to comics and cartoons.

Blind boxes have become popular since they were first introduced from Japan to China in 2014. According to a 2019 Tmall report, the mini-series of Labubu blind box designed by Hong Kong-born Kasing Lung, was named Champion of Unit Sales with 55, 000 sold in just 9 seconds during the Singles Day shopping event. Most customers for blind boxes are young people aged 18 to 35.

According to The Paper, blind box toys are popular in part because of their cute appearances. The typically cute cartoon figures(人物)come in small sizes, making them suitable for display almost anywhere.

Even if blind boxes are not their top choice for decorations, the mystery and uncertainty of the process also attracts people. It's the main reason why people buy blind boxes one after another.

"Expecting the unknown is always a part of the box-opening process," said Miss Cao, 24, who lives and works in Shenyang. Speaking to Sina News, she said: "Until you open all the boxes, you cannot know what it is inside."

Opening a blind box is a delightful little surprise for our mundane daily lives, something small but fun to wait for each day, week or month. When people open this simple little box, they may be disappointed, but the uncertainty is part of the fun. People will open more blind boxes and hope for a better outcome.

When someone re-makes Forrest Gump, don't be surprised if he says, "Life is like a blind box."

1. What do we know about blind boxes?

A．They may bring surprise to our life.	B．They are visible from the outside.
C．They are popular among all ages.	D．They were first designed in 2014.

2. Why do people buy blind boxes according to Miss Cao?

A．Because blind boxes are fashionable gifts.

B．Because blind boxes are educational gifts.

C．Because people enjoy box-opening process.

D．Because people prefer the colorful boxes.

3. What does the underlined word "mundane" probably mean?

A．Wonderful

B．Interesting

C．Amazing.

D．Boring.

4. Where is the text most likely from?

A．A diary.

B．A magazine.

C．A novel.

D．A guidebook.

【推荐3】Nearly two years ago, Jeremiah Mock heard a student in Marin County, California, complain that her school was littered with e-cigarette waste. A health anthropologist(人类学家), Mock did some research in a student parking lot, where he found a significant amount of e-cigarette and tobacco waste. Surprised, Mock went further.

From July 2018 through April 2019, he and a colleague, Yogi Hendlin, collected tobacco, cannabis(大麻)and e-cigarette waste from 12 public high school parking lots across the San Francisco Bay Area. They discovered that e-cigarette waste made up 19 percent of the rubbish that a decade ago would hardly have existed on high school campuses anywhere. As media report focuses on the public health crisis of e-cigarette waste, and its link to a recent sudden burst of mysterious lung illnesses and deaths, researchers warn there is also an environmental threat. Little research has been done on the effect of e-cigarette waste. In fact, Mock and Hendlin’s study, published earlier this month, is the first about it. “I would say it’s alarming,” said Mock, a professor at the University of California, San Francisco, and a member of the school’s Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education.

The FDA reports that 20.8 percent of high school students use e-cigarette devices, and recent surveys indicate that the use is growing even among children in middle school. E-cigarettes, which are especially popular among teenagers, are now forbidden in eight states. Many teens and adults have become victims to a growing public health crisis involving e-cigarette waste products. Earlier this month, a 17-year-old from New York became the first teenager to die of a mysterious e-cigarette related illness that has killed 33 people and threatened nearly 1,500 across every state except Alaska, according to the CDC.

1. Why did Jeremiah Mock make a survey in a parking lot two years ago?

A．To find out the truth of violent incidents in the school.

B．To catch the student smokers in the school.

C．To learn the information related to the e-cigarette.

D．To collect some data of the death-rate from smoking.

2. How did Mock do the research?

A．By observing the smokers.	B．By using experimental tests.
C．By analyzing questionnaires.	D．By collecting evidence.

3. What’s the main idea of the passage?

A．The increasing use in e-cigarette drew the researchers’ attention.

B．More people died from lung illnesses in the past two decades suddenly.

C．They found e-cigarette consisted of micro plastics, metals and nicotine.

D．The government in eight states in the United States had forbidden smoking.

4. From which is the text probably taken?

A．A health magazine.	B．A fashion magazine.
C．An advertisement.	D．A Chemistry textbook.