【推荐1】A man with a “sob story” has been earning up to $400 in cash handouts from shops on the lower North Shore. He has hit three shops in the past two weeks at North Sydney, Mosman and Crows Nest.

“The man has been telling a sob story about needing money because he has been locked out of his home and his wallet is inside, and he needs money to pay a locksmith,” a police officer said. “Sometimes he tells a story about needing money for a new car battery. He has received amounts between $50 and $400 and is then never seen again.”

The conman has also hit businesses on the lower North Shore and northern beaches. “The man seems to do his research and he'll say he is a friend of the shop owner and mentions the owner's name,” the officer said. The man usually targets shops that are busy or short­staffed.

The police officer said shop owners approached by the man should not give him money and contact the police immediately. The man is described as of European appearance, about 50 years old with a strong Italian accent. He is of medium build and about 180 cm tall, wearing jeans, a brown T­shirt and an expensive­looking gold watch. The police said the man sometimes gives the name of Tony.

1. The underlined word “conman”(in Paragraph 3) most probably means ________.

A．a beggar who begs from shop to shop

B．a jobless man who begs for a short time

C．a man who is in urgent need of money to get out of trouble

D．a man who gets money by tricking people

2. Why does the man target the shops that are busy or short­staffed?

A．He may offer the shops some help.	B．He may do his research better.
C．The shop staff may be too busy to find him out.	D．He may beg for more money from the customers.

3. Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

A．The man likes to make friends with shop owners, so he knows their names.

B．The man has got some information about the shops before playing his trick.

C．The man can earn between $50 and $400 every day from shop to shop.

D．The man does business work on the lower North Shore and northern beaches.

4. Why do the police ask shop owners not to give the man money?

A．The man is in fact a rich man.

B．They do not permit begging in the city.

C．They want to prevent shop owners from being cheated.

D．The man has earned a lot of money.

【推荐2】Cheating can happen in a lot of different ways. When people cheat, it's not fair to other people, like the kids who studied for the test or who were the true winners of a game.

Many people like the action of cheating. It makes difficult things seem easy, like getting all the right answers on the test. But it doesn't solve the problem of not knowing the material and it won't help on the next test --- unless the person cheats again.

Some people lose respect for cheaters and think less of them. The cheaters themselves may feel bad because they know they are not really earning that good grade. And, if they get caught cheating, they will be in trouble at school, and maybe at home, too.

Some kids cheat because they're busy or lazy and they want to get good grades without spending the time studying. Other kids might feel like they can't pass the test without cheating. Even when there seems to be a “good reason” for cheating, cheating isn't a good idea.

If you were sick or upset about something the night before and couldn't study, it would be better to talk with the teacher about this. And if you don't have enough time to study for a test because of swim practice, you need to talk with your parents about how to balance swimming and school.

A kid who thinks cheating is the only way to pass a test needs to talk with the teacher and his or her parents so they can find some solutions together. Talking about these problems and working them out will feel better than cheating.

1. Some students like cheating mainly because_________.

A．the material in the test is very difficult

B．they want to do better than the others

C．cheating can make hard things seem very easy

D．they have little time to study their lessons

2. The fourth paragraph mainly tells us______.

A．cheating isn't a good idea

B．why kids cheat in the test

C．some kids can't pass the test without cheating

D．some kids don't spend the time studying

3. We can learn from the passage______.

A．cheaters are often thought highly of

B．people show no respect for those who cheat

C．parents whose kids cheat are often in trouble

D．kids cheat in the test because of swim practice

4. In the passage those cheaters are advised to_______.

A．spend more time on school than on sports

B．find good solutions instead of cheating

C．try hard to be intelligent rather than lazy

D．ask their classmates for good methods of study

【推荐3】XUE Bai, a 21-year-old university student, hopes to volunteer for Beijing's 2008 Olympics. "I want to do something for the Olympics. It is also a kind of learning for me," said the fourth-year student at Beijing Foreign Studies University. Now it is time for Xue to act on her plan. The Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the 2008 Olympiad   will start to recruit(招募)volunteers on August 28.
The Olympics will need around 70,000 volunteers and the Paralympic Games(残疾人奥运会) will need another 30,000. University students like Xue will make up the majority of the volunteers. But the Olympics also need other volunteers - ordinary citizens and foreigners, for example. Students in Beijing should apply through their universities. Other volunteers may apply online or submit a written application. The online application system and a hotline will be open next Monday. For applicants outside Beijing, the application process begins in December. There is plenty of work for volunteers to do. For example, there will be chances to help publicize the games over the next two years. During the games themselves, volunteers will clean, serve food, marshal(礼仪引导)or offer language help.
The Sydney Olympics in 2000 was the first that placed special emphasis on the role of volunteers. It used more than 45,000 volunteers in different roles. In the 2004 Athens Olympics, around 45,000 volunteers were used. More than 70,000 volunteers will be needed for the Olympic games and Paralympic Games in 2012, the London Olympic Organizing Committee has said.
1. Xue Bai is willing to be a volunteer for the Beijing Olympics for the purpose of_____.

A．watching live Olympic matches	B．learning more
C．meeting his favorite sports stars	D．making money

2. It is estimated that volunteers for Beijing's 2008 Olympics are mainly _____.

A．ordinary citizens	B．foreigners
C．university students	D．applicants outside Beijing

3. Volunteers have played an very important role in Olympics since_____.

A．the 1996 Atlanta Olympics	B．the 2000 Sydney Olympics
C．the 2004 Athens Olympics	D．the 2008 Beijing Olympics

4. The passage mainly tells us______.

A．the history of volunteers in Olympics.

B．hat volunteers will do in the 2008 Olympics.

C．who can apply to be volunteers for Beijing Olympics.

D．volunteers for the 2008 Olympics are wanted.