【推荐1】Home on the Way

People need homes: Children assume their parents’ place as home; boarders call school “home” on weekdays; married couples work together to build new homes; and travelers—have no place to call “home”, at least for a few nights.     1     Don’t they have the right to a home? Of course they do.

Some regular travelers take their own belongings like bed sheets, pillowcases and family photos to make them feel like home no matter where they are; some stay for long periods in the same hotel and as a result become very familiar with the service and attendants;     2     Furthermore, driving a camping car during one’s travel and sleeping in the vehicle at night is just like home.

And how about keeping relationships while in transit?     3    ; some send letters and postcards, or even photos；others may just call and say hi, just to let their friends know that they’re still alive and well. People find ways to keep in touch. Making friends on the way helps travelers feel more or less at home.     4    

Nowadays, fewer people are working in their local towns, so how do they develop a sense of belonging? Whenever we step out of our local boundaries, there is always another “home” waiting to be found.     5    , we can make the place we stay “home”.

A．Hostels provide a clean and safe place to stay while you are traveling the world.

B．others may simply put some flowers by the hotel window to make things more homely

C．Backpackers in youth hostels may become good friends, even closer than siblings（兄弟姐妹）.

D．So how about people who have to travel for extended periods of time?

E．No matter where you go to in the world, hotels are there, too.

F．Some keep contact with their friends via the Internet.

G．Wherever we are, with just a little bit of effort and imagination

【推荐2】Do you know the proverb “no pain, no gain”? It gives the impression that we ought to be suffering while we study. It seems that the only way to know if we’ re putting in enough work is how much hardship we bear. We are totally taken up with study, shutting ourselves away for a big exam. Is that necessarily true?

When we haven’t taken the time to come up with another idea, we just shut ourselves in a room with a book. It’s no surprise that we find revision boring and difficult. Just as children learn from playing, we can learn from doing, or at least from study techniques that interest us, rather than make us switch off. Shutting ourselves away can make us learn to hate studying, leading to a situation where, instead of being able to concentrate on our work, we are troubled by how unfair it is that we must study. This can be part of a vicious cycle (恶性循环) that traps us into ineffective revision, or poor progress fueling further annoyance.

Thankfully, working in the company of other people really helps fight against that. We just need to learn how to deal with distractions(使人分心的事). It’s not necessary to avoid all company, just lazy company. They constantly try to keep others in conversation, while studying in the same room with someone who is ironing or working out is perfectly possible. Of course, it’s also a good idea to avoid the company of people involved in activities where you would rather be playing than studying. Working while sitting next to someone playing video games is most likely to end with a new high score of games rather than productive revision.

If being around others means working in a noisy environment, a pair of headphones and some background music can block out noises. They also act as a psychological barrier, so that people think twice before interrupting you. Besides, we should know friends and family can lessen feelings of isolation. And connecting with other people makes us happy, so it’s important not to give that up and to make sure that we take the time to socialize.

1. What is the author’s purpose of writing the text?

A．To introduce effective studying means.

B．To encourage us to work as hard as possible.

C．To remind us to balance activities and study.

D．To discuss the importance of family company.

2. What can we learn from the second paragraph?

A．Good ideas are needed in terms of progress.

B．Ways that interest us can lead to effective revision.

C．Shutting ourselves away can help concentrate on work.

D．With study techniques, revision is interesting and easy for certain.

3. What does the last sentence in Paragraph 3 imply?

A．One should learn from certain activities that interest him.

B．Playing video games is helpful for effective study.

C．One shouldn’t study with the company of a video game player.

D．The more time one spends in playing games, the higher test scores one will get.

4. What should you do if you are studying in a noisy environment?

A．Give up others company at once.

B．Think twice before taking any action.

C．Give indication of not wanting to be interrupted.

D．Force yourself to be accustomed to the environment.

【推荐3】阅读短文，按照题目要求用英语回答问题。

In the animal kingdom, weakness can bring about aggression in other animals. This sometimes happens with humans also. But I have found that my weakness discloses the kindness in people. I see it every day when people hold doors for me, pour cream into my coffee, or help me to put on my coat. And I have discovered that it makes them happy.

From my wheelchair experience, I see the best in people, but sometimes I feel sad because those who appear independent miss the kindness I see daily. They don’t get to see this soft side of others. Often, we try every way possible to avoid showing our weakness, which includes a lot of pretending. But only when we stop pretending we’re brave or strong do we allow people to show the kindness that’s in them.

Last month, when I was driving home on a busy highway, I began to feel unwell and drove more slowly than usual. People behind me began to get impatient and angry, with some speeding up alongside me, horning (按喇叭) or even shouting at me. At the moment I decided to do something I had never done in twenty-four years of driving. I put on the car flashlights and drove on at a really low speed.

No more angry shouts and no more horns!

When I put on my flashlights, I was saying to other drivers, “I have a problem here. I am weak and doing the best I can.” And everyone understood. Several times, I saw drivers who wanted to pass. They couldn’t get around me because of the stream of passing traffic. But instead of getting impatient and angry, they waited, knowing the driver in front of them was in some way weak.

Sometimes situations call for us to act strong and brave even when we don’t feel that way. But those are few and far between. More often, it would be better if we don’t pretend we feel strong when we feel weak or pretend that we are brave when we are scared.

1. When will people feel happy as the author has discovered ? (No more than 7 words)
_____________________________________________________________________
2. Why does the author feel sad sometimes in Paragraph 2? (No more than 12 words)
_____________________________________________________________________
3. What did the other drivers do when they saw the flashlights? (No more than 6 words)
_____________________________________________________________________
4. What does the underlined the sentence in the last paragraph probably mean?(No more than 5 words)
_____________________________________________________________________
5. What can we learn from the author’s experience? (No more than 20 words)
_____________________________________________________________________

【推荐1】Once there was a huge apple tree．A little boy loved to come and play around it every day．He loved the tree and the tree loved to play with him．
Time went by…the little boy had grown up and he no longer played around the tree every day．One day, the boy came back to the tree and he looked sad．“Come and play with me,” the tree asked the boy．“I’m no longer a kid．I wouldn’t play around the tree any more.” the boy replied．“I want toys．I need money to buy them.” “Sorry, I don’t have money．But you can pick all my apples and sell them．So, you will have money.” The boy picked all the apples on the tree and left happily．The boy never came back after he picked the apples．
One day, the boy returned and the tree was so excited, “Come and play with me,” the tree said．“I don’t have time to play．I have to work for my family．We need a house for shelter．Can you help?” “Sorry, I don’t have a house．But you can cut off my branches to build your house.” So the boy cut all the branches off the tree and left happily．The tree was glad to see him happy but the boy never came back since then．The tree was again lonely and sad．
One hot summer day, the boy returned and the tree was pleased．“Come and play with me!” the tree said．“I am sad and getting old．I want to go sailing to relax myself．Can you give me a boat?” “Use my trunk to build your boat．You can sail far away and be happy.” So the boy cut the tree trunk to make a boat．He went sailing and never showed up for a long time．
Finally, the boy returned after he left for so many years．“Sorry, my boy．But I don’t have anything for you any more．The only thing left is my dying root,” the tree said with tears ①.
“Good! Old tree root is the best place to lean on and rest．Come and sit down with me and rest.” The boy sat down and the tree was glad and smiled with tears ② …
1. ----Why did the boy pick all the apples on the tree?
----Because __________．

A．he wanted to eat them

B．he needed money to buy toys

C．he liked the tree without apples

D．he wanted to share them with friends

2. ----When did the boy come back to the apple tree?
----He came back _________．

A．whenever he was happy

B．if he missed the apple tree

C．when he was in times of difficulty

D．as soon as he was free

3. ----What did the boy want at last?
----He wanted ___________．

A．to have a house to live in

B．nothing except a place to rest

C．the root of the apple tree

D．anything that the apple tree had

4. ----What can we learn from the story?
----We should _________．

A．plant more apple trees

B．learn from the boy

C．always stay at home

D．be thankful to our parents

5. According to the passage, which of the following statements is NOT true?

A．The phrase “with tears ①” means that the apple tree was sad because the boy asked for too much．

B．The phrase “with tears ②” means that the apple tree was still happy because she could help the boy for the last time．

C．Each time the boy asked the apple tree for help, the tree tried her best to satisfy him.

D．After reading the passage, we can easily think of the old Chinese saying “Parents’ love is universal!”

【推荐2】One day, a train was approaching the small town of Cheekyville. On the train was a young man with a big suitcase. He was called William Warbler, and he looked very common indeed. What made him most unusual, though, was the fact that whenever he needed to communicate he did it by singing opera (歌剧). It didn’t matter to William whether it was simply a matter of answering a brief greeting, like “good day”. He would clear his voice and respond, “Gooood dayyy to youuuuuuuu... toooooo!”
No one could get a normal spoken word out of him and no one knew how he made his living. As he lived quite simply, always wearing his same old second-hand suit, people often looked down on him.
William had been in Cheekyville for some years, when, one day, word spread round town like wildfire: William had played a role in a very important opera in the nation’s capital. Everyone in the capital went to see it, and it was a great success. Everyone in Cheekyville felt it was a surprise. But something more surprising was, when William was being interviewed by reporters, he answered their questions by speaking rather than singing. And he did it with great manners, and with a clear and pleasant voice.
From that day, William gave up singing at all hours. Now he did it only during his stage appearances and world tours. Some people suspected why he had changed, but others continued believing him to be somewhat mad. They wouldn’t have thought so if they had seen what William kept in his big suitcase. It was a large stone, with a hand-carved (手工雕刻的) message on it. The message said: “Practice, my boy. Practice every second, for you never know when your chance will come.”
Little did people realize that he only got the role in the opera because the director had heard William singing while out buying a newspaper.
1. Why did people in Cheekyville consider William strange?

A．He always carried a big suitcase.

B．He always spoke by singing opera.

C．He always greeted people gladly.

D．He always wore an old suit.

2. Hearing the news about William, people in Cheekyville felt it was _____.

A．unbelievable	B．satisfying
C．disappointing	D．interesting

3. According to the text, William _____.

A．had no idea whether he should continue doing something mad

B．was nervous and didn’t know how to sing when he was interviewed

C．was selling newspapers when the opera director heard him singing

D．practiced singing whenever possible before he became famous

4. What can we learn from the story?

A．Live and learn.

B．Better late than never.

C．Practice makes the master.

D．Experience is the best teacher.

【推荐3】On the evening of June 21, 1992, a tall man with brown hair and blue eyes entered the beautiful hall of the Bell Tower Hotel in Xi’an with his bicycle. The hotel workers received him and telephoned the manager, for they had never seen a bicycle in the hotel ball before though they lived in “the kingdom of bicycles.”
Robert Friedlander, an American, arrived in Xi’an on his bicycle trip across Asia which started last December in New Delhi, India.
When he was 11, he read the book Marco Polo and made up his mind to visit the Silk Road. Now, after 44 years , he was on the Silk Road in Xi’an and his early dreams were coming true.
Robert Friedlander’s next destinations (目的地) were Lanzhou, Dunhuang, Urumqi, etc. He will complete his trip in Pakistan.
1. The best headline(标题) for this newspaper article would be _________.        .

A．The Kingdom of Bicycles	B．A Beautiful Hotel in Xi’an
C．Marco Polo and the Silk Road	D．An American Achieving His Aims

2. The hotel workers told the manager about Friedlander coming to the hotel because________.            .

A．he asked to see the manager

B．he entered the hall with a bike

C．the manager had to know about all foreign guests

D．the manager knew about his trip and was expecting him

3. What made Friedlander want to come to China?

A．The stories about Marco Polo .	B．The famous sights in Xi’an .
C．His interest in Chinese silk.	D．His childhood dreams about bicycles .

4. Friedlander can be said to be________.

A．clever

B．friendly

C．hardworking

D．strong—minded