【推荐1】        In the past, friendships were greatly limited by time, space and attention； increasing home and workplace mobility has made it even harder to keep social relations over time. Through a combination of user controls, new technologies and changing standards of social behavior, Facebook is freeing us from these limitations, making friendships more accessible, pleasant and diverse than ever before.
       First, Facebook allows you to find and rediscover friends and then reminds you of these connections, so that you are less likely to fall out of touch with the long-lost school friend, or the family member in a different country. 'Second, Facebook creates an environment that allows you to interact easily with others ： you can share your photos，videos，links and thoughts with your friends， and respond to what they share in turn. Third, Facebook’s unique technical system helps you to discover your friends，most valuable stories. These technologies allow people to keep and enrich friendships that they might otherwise have been unable to keep.
       The effect of this is very great. A recent study by Keith Hampton for the Pew Internet and American Life Project discovered that users of social networking websites have larger, more diverse social circles, online and offline. This outcome comes at no cost to one’s closest relationships, which are kept in person and over the phone. Instead, the hour that the average user spends each day socializing on Facebook comes at the expense of less social activities, such as the three or so hours a day the average person spends watching television.
       Time may limit our ability to keep social ties, but our desire for social communication is limitless. Just as boats have allowed us to cross oceans and vehicles have allowed us to move mountains, Facebook is a tool that allows us to stay more deeply connected with a larger and more diverse set of friends.
1. What can you do with the help of Facebook according to the text?

A．Protect the environment.

B．Find a new house or workplace.

C．Rediscover long-lost classmates.

D．Change the behavior towards your friends.

2. What will social networking websites do?

A．Increase the diversity of social relations.

B．Share the hours of watching television.

C．Restrict personal friendship.

D．Limit social activities.

3. What is the author's attitude towards Facebook?

A．Worried.

B．Doubtful.

C．Approving.

D．Curious.

【推荐2】Teenagers are supposed to be moody, right? One moment they are happy and laughing the next they are slamming their door to their room and crying into their pillow. You tell yourself, “Its just hormones,” and try to brush it off. Chances are you are right.     1    Here are four questions to consider when assessing your teenager’s anxiety.

    2     Most teenagers are known for staying up late and sleeping until noon especially on the weekends. Your teen’s sleep cycle does naturally shift to a later bedtime because they are releasing sleep hormones later in the evening . Most teens need anywhere from 8 to 10 hours of sleep to feel good and function well. If your teen is getting 12 or more hours of sleep on a regular basis, this could indicate that something is off. If there is no medical condition, this can be a symptom of depression. Talk to your teen about their sleep habits and find out if they are really tired or using sleep to avoid facing stressors.

Have their eating habits changed? Did your teen’s healthy appetite suddenly go away? Are they not coming down for dinner anymore or skipping breakfast? Has your son or daughter’s weight suddenly changed in either gained or lost weight over a short period of time with no explanation? Large changes in your teen’s appetite and weight could be a symptom of depression.     3     So see your child’s pediatrician（儿科医生） if this is the case.

Are they self-isolating? To some extent, teenagers do tend to spend more time alone in their rooms and enjoy their privacy. If, however they are choosing to spend time alone instead of hanging out with friends, or engaging in activities they once enjoyed, it’s time to get curious.    4    Teens today can get sucked into their rooms because streaming movies on Netflix or something alike. Parents need to encourage them to develop face-to-face relationships and be more fully present in their lives.  

Do they have low self-esteem? Middle school and high school years are all about fitting in, being popular or being good at something. There is pressure to be smart, pretty, athletic, popular, etc. and this can sometimes make your child feel less than they should. Parents can play a large role in boosting self-esteem by offering authentic praise, giving a lot of support, laying off the pressure to be perfect in school with straight A’s or excelling in sports and just accepting them how they are.     5    

A．Does your teen sleep well ?

B．Does your teen sleep too much?

C．It’s important to rule out a medical condition.

D．It’s normal for teenagers today to be moody or depressed.

E．Letting your teen know you love them no matter what goes a long way.

F．Talk to your teen about why they don’t want to spend time with friends and family.

G．But knowing whether your teen is just moody or depressed could save your teen’s life.

【推荐3】You hear the comment all the time: the U.S. economy looks good by figures, but it doesn’t feel good. Why doesn’t ever-greater wealth promote ever-greater happiness? It is a question that dates at least to the appearance in 1958 of The Wealthy Society by John Kenneth Galbraith, who died recently at 97.
The Wealthy Society is a modern classic because it helped describe a new moment in the human condition. For most of history, “hunger, sickness, and cold” threatened nearly everyone, Galbraith wrote. “Poverty (贫穷) was found everywhere in that world. Obviously it is not of ours.” After World War II, the fear of another Great Depression gave way to an economic growth. In the 1930s unemployment had averaged 18.2 percent; in the 1950s it was 4.5 percent.
To Galbraith, materialism (物质主义) had gone mad and would cause discontent. Through advertising, companies conditioned consumers to buy things they didn’t really want or need. Because so much spending was artificial, it would be unsatisfying. Meanwhile, government spending that would make everyone better off was being cut down because people wrongly considered government only as “a necessary bad.”
It’s often said that only the rich are getting ahead; everyone else is standing still or falling behind. Well, there are many undeserving rich — overpaid chief managers, for instance. But over any meaningful period, most people’s incomes are increasing. From 1995 to 2004, people feel “squeezed” because their rising incomes often don’t satisfy their rising wants — for bigger homes, more health care, more education, and faster Internet connections.
The other great disappointment is that it has not got rid of insecurity. People regard job stability as part of their standard of living. As company unemployment increased, that part has gradually become weaker. More workers fear they’ve become “___________,” as Louis Uchitelle puts it in his book by the same name.
Because so much previous suffering and social conflict resulted from poverty, the arrival of widespread wealth suggested utopian (乌托邦式的) possibilities. Up to a point, wealth succeeds. There is much less physical suffering than before. People are better off. Unfortunately, wealth also creates new complaints.
Advanced societies need economic growth to satisfy the multiplying wants of their citizens. But the search for growth cause new anxieties and economic conflicts that disturb the social order. Wealth sets free the individual, promising that everyone can choose a unique way to self-accomplishment. But the promise is so unreasonable that it leads to many disappointments and sometimes inspires choices that have anti-social consequences, including family breakdown. Figures indicate that happiness has not risen with incomes.
Should we be surprised? Not really. We’ve simply confirmed an old truth: the seeking of wealth does not always end with happiness.
1. The Wealthy Society is a book ________.

A．about poverty in the past

B．written by Louis Uchitelle

C．indicating that people are becoming worse off

D．about why happiness does not rise with wealth

2. According to Galbraith, people feel discontented because ________.

A．materialism has run wild in modern society

B．they are in fear of another Great Depression

C．public spending hasn’t been cut down as expected

D．the government has proved to be necessary but ugly

3. Why do people feel“squeezed”when their average income rises considerably?

A．They think there are too many overpaid rich.

B．There is more unemployment in modern society.

C．Their material demands go faster than their earnings.

D．Health care and educational cost have somehow gone out of control.

4. What does Louis Uchitelle mean by “the disposable American” ?

A．People with a stable job.

B．Workers who no longer have secure jobs.

C．Those who see job stability as part of their living standard.

D．People who have a sense of security because of their rising incomes.

5. What has wealth brought to American society?

A．Stability and security.

B．Materialism and content.

C．A sense of self-accomplishment.

D．New anxiety, conflicts and complaints.

【推荐2】As sea levels climb, even Washington, D. C. could see more frequent and widespread flooding at high tide.

Strong storms and high winds sometimes bring floods to coastal areas. But cities and towns along the US East Coast are flooding even in calm and sunny weather. Among them is Maryland’s capital Annapolis. Tourists there must sometimes walk through water flooding downtown streets surrounding the harbor. Sometimes water covers roads in Atlantic City, N. J. Even the yards and basements of coastal homes near New York City sometimes flood.

All are suffering from this trend—normal high tides surpass (超过) a rising sea level.

Sea levels have climbed, on average, about 20 centimeters (8 inches) over the past 135 years. And a sharp increase in tide flooding is one of the more visible impacts affecting many coastal areas, notes William Sweet, an oceanographer.

Sweet and his co-workers recently analyzed data from 45 tide gauges (计量表) along the US coasts. These tools record the changing heights of tides as they rise and fall. From these data, Sweet’s team calculated the number of : “troublesome floods” in various coastal cities. These floods, Sweet explains, typically occur when water level is about 30 centimeters (1foot) above the historic level of the highest tides. In June 2014, the team reported finding a growing rise in these flooding events.

In Charleston, S.C. from 1957 to 1963, the city experienced troublesome floods an average of 4. 6 days per year. Bur from 2007 to 2013, the occurring rate of troublesome floods jumped five times. Annapolis city was even more serious. From1957 to 1963，troublesome floods were roughly 3. 8 days per year. From 2007 to 2013, the average was 10 times higher- 39. 3days a year.

“Over the next few decades, climate change probably drives sea levels even higher,” Sweet says. “So today’s flooding problems promise to become only more widespread and frequent.”

1. What is Paragraph 2 mainly developed by?

A．Making comparisons.

B．Analyzing causes.

C．Using examples.

D．Following time order.

2. Why are more flooding problems caused?

A．Because the river levels have been climbing.

B．Because climate has changed over the years,

C．Because the weather conditions are not stable.

D．Because people are living too close to harbors.

3. What can it be inferred according to data in Paragraph 5?

A．There has been a growing rise in these analyzed flooding events.

B．The changes of heights of tides are usually in a small range.

C．The floods in coastal cities often occur when water level is above1foot.

D．The number of troublesome floods gradually gets less.

4. What is the text mainly about?

A．Sweet’s team.

B．A flood research.

C．The US East Coast.

D．American oceanographers.

【推荐3】“Our research has shown that the No. 1 reason people become fans is that it's your connection to your first community,” said Adam Earnhardt, chairman of the communications department at Youngstown State University and co-author of Sports Fans, Identity and Socialization: Exploring the Fandemonium. “I don't care if a Seattle fan moves to China, he or she carries with them their love for the sports teams,” he said. “    1    ”

    2     And when a team begins to catch fire, as with, say, the Mariners in ' 95 or the Seahawks of recent vintage, well, it's easy to get swept up in the wave.

“It's phenomenal,” said Simons. “We have this ability to understand other people so remarkably that their victories literally become ours. Our testosterone literally responds to their victory.     3     They're us, and competing on a literal level as us—a little extension of us.

Professor Robert Cialdini at Arizona State University came up with the term BIRG— Basking In Reflected Glory—to describe the intense pride fans feel when their teams succeed. It can be used as a verb, as in, "Seahawks' fans are currently BIRGing up a storm." The counterpoint, as coined by researchers C. R. Snyder, Mary Anne Lassergard and Carol E. Ford, is the concept of CORFing—Cutting Off Reflected Failure.     4    We've all heard it in action: We won, but they lost.

This leads into another concept, that of cognitive bias, also known as confirmation bias, which causes fans to help explain away defeats by blaming outside factors, such as referees. I'm sure it would also help explain why Seahawks fans rallied around Richard Sherman after his postgame interview, rationalizing behavior that was widely criticized by many fans with no vested interest. It could also explain the notion of "eustress", invented by endocrinologist Hans Selye to refer to a combination of euphoria(极度愉快的心情)and stress, such as that resulting from watching tense sporting events. Indeed, it's much of the appeal.

A．It means that different team is accessible to you.

B．Belonging to your favorite team stimulates your confidence.

C．That identity is first and foremost.

D．The more we follow a team, the deeper the bond becomes.

E．In that sense, your favorite team can serve the same purpose as church and family: Fostering a sense of belonging.

F．This refers to the inclination by fans to distance themselves from their team after a defeat.

【推荐1】Life under lockdown is strange and lonely but people are finding ways to come together and support those in need by volunteering. Here are just a few more ways you can take part in.

NHS Responders

After asking retired medical professionals to return to work, the government has also put out a call for 250,000 volunteers to support the NHS (National Health System). You can apply to be a community response volunteer, collecting and delivering supplies for those in isolation; a patient transport volunteer, helping patients who are dismissed from hospital get home and settled; and an NHS transport volunteer, to assist with delivery of medical supplies.

GAIL'S Bakery

As well as baking breads and pastries for the general public, GAJL's is supplying front-line NHS teams with fresh food, and they need more help to get it where it needs to be. If you want to lend a hand, drop them an email.

Re-engage

Re-engage is a voluntary group that helps reduce loneliness among old people and given that so many people are isolated because of the virus outbreak, they need more volunteers to become call companions. If you want to join them in the telephone befriending service, contact them at 18112256.

A Plate For London

This online platform helps match volunteers with Londoners in need . Now they are focusing on doorstep deliveries of food parcels and hot meals to children who rely on free school meals and those who have lost their jobs as a result of the widespread disease.

1. What is the duty of a patient transport volunteer?

A．Picking up patients.	B．Sending patients home.
C．Moving patients to clinics.	D．Delivering supplies for patients.

2. Which volunteer group especially cares for the senior?

A．NHS Responders.	B．GAIL’s Bakery.
C．Re-engage.	D．A Plate For London.

3. Who may be offered food by the online platform?

A．The aged.	B．The volunteers.
C．The patients.	D．The unemployed.

【推荐2】In Western countries people have been using the installment plan since the first half of the twentieth century.Today, a large number of families in Great Britain buy furniture, household goods and cars by installments In the U.S.A, the figure is much higher than in Great Britain, and people there spend over 10 percent of their income on the installment plan.

The price of an article bought on installments is always higher than the price that would be paid by cash.There is a charge for interest.The buyer pays one quarter or one third of the price as a down payment when the goods are delivered to him.He then makes regular payments, weekly or monthly,until the full price is paid up.The legal ownership of the goods remains with the seller until the final payment has been made.

Installment buying has advantages and disadvantages. It can help couples with small incomes to fumish their homes and star housekeeping, It increases the demand for goods, and in this way helps business and employment .There is ,however, the danger that when business is bad, installment buying may end suddenly, making business much worse.This may result in a great increase in unemployment.If the people on the installment plan lose their jobs, they will probably not be able to make their payments.If great numbers of people are not able to pay their installment debts, there is a possibility that businessmen cannot collect their debts and will therefore lose money.If businessmen lose money or fail to make a satisfactory profit, it becomes more likely to have a depression .This is why, in some countries,the government controls the installment plan by fixing the amount of the down payment and installments to discourage people from buying more than they can pay for on the installment plan.

1. Which of the following is NOT TRUE about the installment plan?

A．A lot of British families use the installment plan.

B．More than 10 percent American families buy things on installments.

C．Americans depend more on installment than British people do.

D．Americans spend one tenth of their income on installment buying.

2. Goods bought on installments are more expensive than goods bought by cash because ________ .

A．the buyer has to pay extra money as interest

B．the delivery of the goods charges extra money

C．the buyer has to pay a down payment

D．the service offered by installment plan charged extra money

3. What will happen to a buyer if he fails to make the full payment for an item bought on installments?

A．He might lose his job.

B．He will stop owning the item he has bought

C．He will have to sell what he has bought.

D．He will go into debt

4. The advantage of installment buying might include all the following EXCEPT that ________ .

A．purchasing power is strengthened.

B．employment might be increased

C．people develop a good habit of saving money

D．young couples are able to furnish their homes

5. In some countries,the governments control the installment plan to ________ .

A．increase employment

B．avoid depressions

C．ensure that businesses make good profits

D．ensure that people can pay for what they buy