【推荐1】First aid is emergency care for a victim of sudden illness or injury until more skillful medical treatment is available. First aid may save a life or improve certain important signs including pulse, temperature, an unobstructed (未堵塞的) airway and breathing. In minor emergencies, first aid may prevent a victim’s condition from worsening and provide relief from pain.

First aid must be done as quickly as possible. In the case of the badly injured, a few minutes can make the difference between complete recovery and loss of life.

First-aid measures depend upon a victim's needs and the provider's level of knowledge and skill. Knowing what not to do in an emergency is as important as knowing what to do. Improperly moving a person with a neck injury, for example, can lead to lifelong disability.

Despite the variety of possible injuries, several suggestions should be followed if first aid applies to all emergencies. The first step is to call for professional medical help. The victim, if sensible, should be reassured that medical aid has been requested, and asked for permission to provide any first aid. Next, assess the scene, asking other people or the injured person’s family or friends about details of the injury or illness, any care that may have already been given, and pre-existing conditions such as high blood pressure and heart trouble. The victim’s medical card should be checked that describes special medical conditions. Unless the accident scene becomes unsafe or the victim may suffer further injury, do not move the victim.

First aid requires rapid assessment of victims to determine whether life-threatening conditions exist. One method to assess a victim’s condition is known as the ABC, which stands for:

A-Airway: Is it open and unobstructed?

B-Breathing: Is the person breathing? Look, listen, and feel for breathing.

C-Circulation (循环): Is there a pulse (脉搏)? Is the person bleeding badly? Check skin color and temperature for additional indications of circulation problems.

1. It is very important in first aid to_______.

A．know what to do and what not to do according to the condition of the victim

B．spend a few minutes making the difference between recovery and death

C．move the injured person from the scene of accident immediately

D．make it clear what illness the victim has had

2. Which of the following practices is NOT right in the first aid?

A．Checking whether the victim is breathing.

B．Checking whether the victim is bleeding.

C．Waiting for medical treatment before giving first aid.

D．Telephoning a hospital at once.

3. The underlined word “indications” in the last paragraph means _____.

A．injures	B．instruments
C．treatments	D．signs

4. This passage mainly tells us _______.

A．the history and skills of first aid

B．basic knowledge about how to give first aid

C．some knowledge to help anyone who may be injured in an accident

D．that first aid is dangerous to those who do not know how to do it

【推荐2】It’s important to spend time talking to your teen about the news and how the media works. Studies show kids experience fewer harmful effects when they’ve been taught basic media literacy skills.     1    

Encourage critical thinking. Encourage your teen to question the information he’s reading. Ask him to consider who wrote the story and why that person may have written it.

Discuss advertising techniques.    2     Promising that a product will help you look beautiful or be more popular, for example, is often part of the message.

Teach your teen to look at all the information.     3       It helps to learn more about who produced the content. Also, show your teen how to look at photographs more closely. Just a picture paired with an article doesn’t mean the picture was taken at the actual event being discussed in the story.

Look at websites together.     4     And discuss how to tell between news stories and the sponsored content. Read articles together and talk about the messages that you’re viewing.

    5    Make sure your teen is aware that many writers get paid by the page view. Clickbait headlines are intended to get traffic, rather than provide quality information. Explain how many writers are trying to sell products, rather than report the facts.

A．Watch your teen’s use.

B．Here are the ones you can refer to.

C．Mention the ways to check stories online.

D．Discuss people’s reasons for creating the content.

E．Sit down with your teen and review popular news sites.

F．Emphasise the importance of looking at the “about us” page on a website.

G．Talk about the methods companies use to convince people to buy their products.

【推荐1】History Fair Competition

Understanding history is vital to understanding ourselves as a people and as a nation. History is much more than the study of dusty old objects and events long past. It is an essential part of who we are today and who we will become. Thornton Middle School History Fair Competition makes understanding history exciting, engaging, and fun!

This Year’s Theme

All participants must address how communication or transportation technology has promoted the quality of life for Americans throughout history. To many people, technology means computers, hand-held devices, or vehicles that travel to distant planets. However, technology is also the application of scientific knowledge to solve a problem, touching lives in countless ways.

Individuals or groups may enter one of the following categories:

· Performance

· Documentary

· Essay Writing

Category Requirements

Performance: A dramatic presentation of the topic no more than 10 minutes long. If special clothes are used, they should truly represent a given period.

Documentary: A visual presentation (such as a video, slide show, or computer project) no more than 10 minutes long. A desktop computer, screen, projector, and loudspeakers will be available. Students must provide their presentations on CDs before Friday, March 23.

Essay Writing: An academic paper of 2, 000 to 2, 500 words. No illustrations (图解) are allowed. Please do not include covers. A list of references must be included.

Important Dates

January 5Submit a topic proposal to your history teacher. The teacher may require a second proposal if the first is off-topic or unclear.

February 5       Submit a first draft of your essay, performance script, or documentary highlights.

February 19       A committee of teachers will evaluate materials and give opinions. Students then have an opportunity to improve their products.

March 9     Submit a final draft of your essay.

March 15        Performance and documentary committee preview

March 24            Thornton Middle School History Fair Competition

7:00A. M-9:00A. M       Participants signing in at the gym

10:00A. M. -6:00PM.       Competition and judges’ review

7:00P.M.            Awards ceremony and picnic

1. According to Paragragh 1, what is the major goal of understanding history?

A．To preserve national traditions.	B．To prepare for a history competition.
C．To better know the present and future.	D．To further explore historical mysteries.

2. What is the theme of this year’s competition?

A．How has technology developed in America.	B．How has science interacted with technology.
C．How has science made the study of history easy.	D．How has technology improved the life of Americans.

3. What would a participant have to do with an essay of 1,500 words to meet the category requirement?

A．Include more information in the essay.	B．Remove the references.
C．Provide a cover for the essay.	D．Explain the details with illustrations.

4. What will the committee of teachers do on February 19?

A．Preview performances and documentaries.	B．Make comments on the materials.
C．Improve the participant’s first draft.	D．Collect a second proposal from the participant.

【推荐2】Back in September of 2005, on the first day of school, Martha Cochran, a social studies school teacher at Robinson High School, did something unforgettable. On the first day of school, with permission of the school headmaster, she took all of the desks out of the classroom.
The kids came into the first period. They walked in, and there were no desks. They looked around and said, "Ms Cochran, where are our desks?" And she said, “You can't have a desk until you tell me how you earn them.”
They thought, "Well, maybe it's our grades.”
"No," she said.
"Maybe it's our behavior."
And she told them, "No, it's not even your behavior."
Second period, the same thing. Third period... By early afternoon television news reporters had gathered in Ms. Cochran’s class to find out about this crazy teacher.
The last period of the day, Martha Cochran gathered her class. They were at this time sitting on the ground floor around the sides of the room. "Throughout the day no one has really understood how you earn the ordinary desks in this classroom." she said, "Now I'm going to tell you."
Martha Cochran went to the door of the classroom and opened it, and as she did, twenty-seven adults, who were fathers or mothers of the kids, walked into that classroom, each one having a school desk. And they placed those school desks in rows. And when they finished placing those desks, those kids for the first time in their lives understood how they earned those desks.
Martha said, "You don't have to earn those desks. They did it for you. They put them out there for you, but it's up to you to sit here responsibly to learn, to be good students and good citizens, because they paid a price for you to have that desk, and don't ever forget it!"
1. Why did Cochran take all the desks out of the classroom?

A．Because she wanted to punish the kids.

B．Because she wanted to let kids know how they earned the desks.

C．Because kids didn't need any desks at her classes.

D．Because the desks were all broken.

2. Who get kids to have a chance to get education?

A．Teachers.	B．The headmaster.
C．Kids themselves.	D．Kids’ parents.

3. Which of the following is NOT TRUE according to the text?

A．Kids finally understood what their teacher meant by themselves.

B．The headmaster supported Ms. Cochran’s idea.

C．Kids studied without desks on the first day.

D．Kids' parents earned the desks for them.

【推荐3】Every school has students who stand out for their abilities and their eagerness to learn. In Mexico, a school created a program to work with them. In 2019, both teachers Lotta Andersson and John Rennie got the idea to provide learning opportunities for students with a hunger for knowledge. They are English coordinators(协调员) in the school. “We want to have a program to inspire students who really have the abilities and the interests to learn more and continue accepting challenges,” Andersson said during a recent interview.

Students in the program, which was called Learning Challenges, met with the teachers about once a month. Andersson and Rennie would help us choose research topics. We then worked with the teachers to find books, interview subjects and Internet sources. While in Learning Challenges, I gave presentations on European culture and the fashion industry.

When asked what skills students had formed in the program, which ended in June 2020 because of the limits of a common disease. Andersson said, “They had learned to ask questions, be more open-minded and see things from different angles(角度). Also, they mastered the skills — reflecting more, acting actively, and learning not to put limits on themselves.”

A student, Yihane Abed, conducted research on the sun, the moon, stars, planets, etc, while in Learning Challenges. “The skills I developed were teamwork and the ways to do research and give a good presentation,” she said.

Andersson and Rennie continue to help students pursue their love of learning. “The program doesn’t exist formally, but as an important part of the culture at school, it is still needed,” Andersson said. “There is much more difference, not only for students who need extra help, but also for those who are higher achievers.”

1. What’s the purpose of creating Learning Challenges?

A．To help some students learn more.

B．To guide students to work out successfully.

C．To raise students’ interest in visiting Europe.

D．To encourage English students to help others.

2. What is paragraph 3 mainly about?

A．Ways that students used in the program.

B．Abilities that students got from the program.

C．Difficulties that students met in the program.

D．Topics that students chose from the program.

3. Which kind of research did Yihane Abed conduct?

A．Teamwork.

B．Travelling.

C．The universe.

D．The fashion industry.

4. What does Andersson think of the program?

A．Hard.

B．Formal.

C．Necessary.

D．Traditional.

【推荐1】“When people talk, listen completely.” Those words of Ernest Hemingway might be a pretty good guiding principle for many people.

Some firms use a technique known as a “listening circle” in which participants are encouraged to talk openly and honestly about the issues they face (such as problems with colleagues). In such a circle, only one person can talk at a time and there is no interruption. A study cited in the Harvard Business Review found that employees who had taken part in a listening circle suffered less social anxiety and had fewer worries about work-related matters than those who did not afterwards.

Listening has been critical to the career of Richard Mullender, who was a British police officer for 30 years. Eventually he became a negotiator. When he left the force, he realised that his skills might be applicable in the business world. So he set up a firm called the Listening Institute. Mr Mullender defines listening as “the identification, selection and interpretation of the key words that turn information into intelligence". It is crucial to all effective communication.

Plenty of people think that good listening is about nodding your head or keeping eye contact. But that is not really listening, Mr Mullender argues. A good listener is always looking for facts, emotions and indications of the speaker's values.

Another important point to bear in mind is that, when you talk, you are not listening. “Every time you share an opinion, you give out information about yourself," Mr Mullender says.

The lockdown has increased the need for managers to listen to workers, since the opportunities for casual conversation have dwindled. Mr Mullender thinks that many people have become depressed in their isolation (隔离),which can lead to stress and anger. He thinks there may be a business opportunity in helping managers listen more efficiently, so they can enhance employee well-being. After a year of isolation, many workers would probably love the chance to be heard.

1. What is the value of attending a “listening circle"?

A．Employees can relieve stress.	B．Managers give comfort to colleagues.
C．Employees may become more honest.	D．Managers can solve technology problems.

2. According to Mr Muilender, the key to being a good listener is ________.

A．talking with speakers	B．keeping eyes communication
C．giving out your information	D．focusing on the analysis of speakers

3. What does the underlined word “dwindled" in the last paragraph probably mean?

A．Increased.

B．Promoted.

C．Shrank.

D．Disappeared.

4. Which can be a suitable title for the text?

A．The Definition of Listening	B．The Secret of Successful Listening
C．The Importance of Listening Circle	D．The Listening Principle for Managers

【推荐2】Neither rain nor snow nor gloom of night can separate Tennessee postal carrier Mike Crenshaw from his 4－and－a－half－year－old friend Carter Lawson or keep them from their appointed rounds.

They really hit it off over the past nine months, when Carter started bringing his neighbourhood postman, known affectionately as “Mailman Mike”， some water and a snack. The mailman brought the preschooler candy in return. The two have teamed up every day for a few minutes of delivering mail and chatting with fellow residents.

While some kids dream of being Spiderman or Batman, Carter has a different hero in mind: Mailman. “Anyone could just be like ‘Go away, kid’， but Mike has really gone out of his way to talk with Carter，” said Cassie Lawson, Carter's mom. She even got her son a matching, a mini－sized postal service uniform so that he could look the part while walking the route with his buddy.

“Every letter carrier has stops he looks forward to and this is the one I look forward to every day，” said Mike. “He's the end of my day, and the best part of my day, not just because it's the end, but because he's such a cute little guy.”

Mike once invited Carter to the post office to see the inner workings of the mail industry. During his visit, Carter learned how mail was delivered and witnessed the thrilling process of sorting mail and more, which has fueled his dream of someday becoming a mailman, too.

The man and the little boy's connection isn't a surprise to Fredric Rolando, president of the National Association of Letter Carriers. In his opinion, kids respond to mailmen because letter carriers are a friendly part of the neighbourhood who bring something to their house every day and are someone they come to recognize and trust.

1. What would Mike and Carter do every day?

A．Enjoy the beautiful scenery of night.

B．Send letters and talk with neighbours.

C．Have an enjoyable picnic together.

D．Visit the place where Mike worked.

2. Why did Mike look forward to the end of a day?

A．He wanted to finish his work early.

B．He looked forward to going home.

C．He enjoyed staying with the kid.

D．He could work with his role model.

3. From the last paragraph, we can infer that ________．

A．mailmen play an important role in people's life

B．children are taught to be careful of strangers

C．mailmen are good at getting along with kids

D．kids should often come out to make new friends

4. What would be the best title for the text?

A．Hero Mailman Mike	B．The Best Colleague
C．Little Boy's Big Dream	D．An Unusual Friendship

【推荐3】Friendship is a very beautiful bond（联系）in which no one is big or small，no one is rich or poor，and no one is ugly or beautiful.     1     In friendship，there are no terms. There is no age factor in friendship. Each person has his or her own minds, own views, and own perspective on life. You can learn a lot from every one of your friends.

    2     It is best to have one good friend who accepts you as you are, who bridges gaps and never lets you fall. As the ancient Greek poet Euripides put it, “Friends show their love in times of trouble, not in happiness.”

Be happy and cheerful about your friends' success.     3     Never be selfish, and always try to give more and expect less. Give whatever you want from your friends, like honesty, love, support and understanding, and never boast to your friends when you are more successful.

If you are looking for a friend who is faultless, you will be friendless.     4     And for a good friendship, we need patience, because patience is the key to everything. A beautiful friendship is like a childhood friendship, free of jealousy and full of love. Children are unaware of bad feelings, where anger can suddenly arise. This is the quality that makes children pure and special. For a good friendship, one needs true love, and children are full of love.     5    

A．Everybody has flaws.

B．The best mirror is an old friend.

C．Friendship means understanding and help.

D．Ask your new friends questions about themselves.

E．That is why they are loved by everyone.

F．One good friend is better than thousands of ordinary friends.

G．Always stand by your friends in every situation.