【推荐1】After finishing my teaching for a school year, I thought that I should go back to Montreal, Quebec, my hometown for a visit. My main goal was to relax in preparation for the challenges of my retirement in the coming year.

Through my stay in Montreal, I met lots of Chinese who were struggling to succeed and then led a better life in Canada.

Some travelled thousands of miles to get knowledge. When I spoke with some of them about the major barrier they had to face after they arrived in Canada, they all talked about the two official languages of Canada. But I was impressed by their ability to express their ideas while they switched between English and French.

Almost all of those people said they often felt homesick. They missed their families and friends. Though Montreal had lots of Chinese restaurants, they longed for a home-cooked meal.

I met some tourists who were trying to realize their childhood dreams of experiencing the life in a developed country. When I asked them if Montreal had lived up to their expectations, they hesitated. They said that reality never agrees with fantasies. However, they were glad to have the opportunity to visit Montreal and didn’t regret taking the trip.

Not all the Chinese people I met were happy. I once met a young lady who met a gentleman through the Internet. However, to her disappointment, he disappeared after he promised to marry her in Montreal.

I was served by another Chinese person who could not handle the challenges of studying in an English environment and ended up working in a restaurant with minimum pay.

Exploring different parts of the world, without any doubt, is an amazing experience. However, one should be realistic when it comes to leaving his hometown to set up a new life in a foreign country. One should take the time to examine the advantages and the shortcomings of the venture before they decide to chase an uncertain dream of achieving success or leading a better life.

1. The writer went to his hometown to ______.

A．meet his old friends	B．prepare for his retirement life
C．go on with his teaching	D．study a new language

2. The main barrier for some Chinese to get knowledge in Canada is ______.

A．food

B．homesickness

C．income

D．language

3. What is the author’s attitude towards one’s chasing dreams abroad?

A．Worried.

B．Unconcerned.

C．Cautious.

D．Positive.

【推荐2】Most mornings, the line begins to form at dawn: scores of silent women with babies on their backs, buckets balanced on their heads, and in each hand a bright-blue plastic jug. On good days, they will wait less than an hour before a water tanker goes across the dirt path that serves as a road in Kesum Purbahari, aslumon the southern edge of New Delhi. On bad days, when there is no electricity for the pumps, the tankers don’t come at all. “That water kills people,” a young mother named Shoba said one recent Saturday morning, pointing to a row of pails filled with thick, caramel (焦糖)-colored liquid. “Whoever drinks it will die.” The water was from a pipe shared by thousands of people in the poor neighborhood. Women often use it to wash clothes and bathe their children, but no­body is desperate enough to drink it.
There is no standard for how much water a person needs each day, but ex­perts usually put the minimum at fifty li­ters. The government of India promises (but rarely provides) forty. Most people drink two or three liters—less than it takes to wash a toilet. The rest is typically used for cooking and bathing. Americans consume between four hundred and six hundred liters of water each day, more than any other people on earth. Most Europeans use less than half that. The women of Kesum Purbahari each hoped to drag away a hundred liters that day—two or three buckets’ worth. Shoba has a husband and five children, and that much water doesn’t go far in a family of seven, particularly when the temperature reaches a hundred and ten degrees before noon. She often makes up the difference with bottled water, which costs more than water delivered any other way. Sometimes she just buys milk; it’s cheaper. Like the poorest people every­where, the people of New Delhi’s slums spend a far greater percentage of their incomes on water than anyone lucky enough to live in a house connected to a system of pipes.
1. The underlined word “slum” most likely means ______.

A．a village

B．a small town

C．a poor area of a town with badly-built, over-crowded buildings

D．the part of a town that lacks water

2. Sometimes the water tanker doesn’t come because ______.

A．the weather is bad

B．there is no electricity

C．there is no water

D．people don’t want the dirty water

3. Which of the following statements is wrong?

A．water is the biggest expense for people in New Delhi’s slums

B．Shoba has a family of seven people

C．in Kesum Purbahari milk is cheaper than bottled water

D．Americans uses the largest amount of water each day

4. The passage mainly tells us ______.

A．how women in Kesum Purbahari gets their water

B．how much water a day a person deeds

C．that India lacks water badly

D．how India government manages to solve the problem of water

【推荐3】Different countries have different customs. When you travel to another countries, please follow their customs, just as the saying goes, “____”
Very often people who travel to the United States forget to tip. It is usual to tip porters who help carry your bags, taxi drivers and waiters. Waiters expect to get a 15% tip on the cost of your meal. Taxi drivers expect about the same amount.
In England, make sure to stand in line even if there are only two of you. It’s important to respect lines there. It’s a good idea to talk about the weather. It’s a favorite subject of conversation with the British.
In Spain, it’s a good idea to have a light meal in the afternoon if someone invites you for dinner. People have dinner very late, and restaurants do not generally open until after 9 pm.
In Arab countries, men kiss one another on the cheek. Your host may welcome you with a kiss on both cheeks. It is polite for you to do the same.
In Japan, people usually give personal or business cards to each other when they meet for the first time. When a person gives you a card, don’t put it into your pocket right away. The person expects you to read it.
Don’t forget to be careful of your body language to express something in conversation. A kind of body language that is acceptable in one culture may be impolite in another.
1. When you travel to the USA, you don’t need to tip     .

A．porters	B．waiters
C．teachers	D．taxi drivers

2. The missing sentence in the first paragraph should be“     .”

A．Love me, love my dog

B．He who laughs last laughs best

C．When in Rome, do as the Romans do

D．Where there is a will, there is a way

3. The underline word “porters” in the passage means      .

A．搬运工	B．清洁工
C．接线员	D．售票员

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

A．In Spain, People usually have dinner very early.

B．In England, It’s a not polite to talk about the weather.

C．In Arab countries, men kiss one another on the cheek.

D．In Japan you should not read the business card as soon as you get it.

5. What’s the best title of the passage?

A．How to Tip

B．Body Language

C．When to Have Dinne

D．Advice to International Travelers