【推荐2】Twenty-five young musicians from around the world have come to California to train and perform this month. They will take part in an international program called iPalpiti. The name comes from the Italian word for heartbeats.

Eduard Schmieder is the program's conductor and musical director, Schmieder and his wife started the program in 1997 with help from violinist and conductor Yehudi Menuhin.

This year, the musicians come from 19 countries, including Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Israel and Italy.   Schmieder notes some of the musicians are from countries that are at war with each other.

And they are sitting next to each other, and they become friends, He says through their music and friendship, they are making the world more peaceful.

The musicians taking part in the program range in age from their late teens to their 30s.

Schmieder said they include winners of major music competitions. Peter Rainer is a violin player from Germany. He serves as concertmaster, the link between the musicians and conductor. "lt’s so great that you have so many sensitive musicians. They all are very alert and awake and listen to each other and it's a lot of fun. " Turkish viola player Can Sakul says the international group works we’ll together. "The experience is a cultural as well as a musical exchange," said Russian violinist Semyon Promoe. " Everyone has their own opinion of music, how to play every composition. It's very interesting to interact with everybody, to play together and to create one opinion for everybody. "

This year, the festival focuses on music from the 1600s to the 1900s. But cello player Franciaco Vila of Ecuador said the music has no geographic boundaries Vila added that the musicians get to know more about each other as they perform great music.

"It's interesting to see where we intersect(交集) , how many things we have in common. And also the music world is quite small, so you're only one person away from knowing everyone else" Can Sakul said the musicians who have taken part in the training and festival make up a big family. He added that he is proud to be a part of it.

1. When was the program founded?

A．This month.

B．From 1600s

C．From late teens.

D．In 1997.

2. Mentioning that "Some musicians are from countries that are at war with each other.", Schmieder intends to present that________.

A．musicians continue to fight in competitions	B．music makes the world more peaceful
C．musicians are from different countries	D．the world is not peaceful

3. What does the underlined word "sensitive ’' probably mean?

A．flexible.

B．artificial.

C．brilliant.

D．energetic.

4. What is the best title for the text?

A．Musicians have much in common.	B．A national music program.
C．Music is a universal language without borders.	D．Music competitions at war.

【推荐3】Hi, my name is Ethan King. I’m 14 years old and I love the game of soccer. In the summer of 2009, I went to northern Mozambique(Africa) with my dad to help repair water wells(井)in local villages. I took my soccer ball along. I thought I might be able to play with the local kids. When we arrived at the village of Ntette, I threw out my ball and soon, 50 kids were playing .Many of these kids had never had the chance to enjoy playing soccer with a real ball. For me, it’s no big deal to play soccer with a real ball. I do it all the time.

I’ve discovered that many kids in poor countries want to play soccer, but they can’t because they don’t have a ball. I have several soccer balls in my house. I thought that these kids would enjoy this soccer ball far more than me. So, I gave my ball to them.

As we prepared to leave, one of the boys brought the soccer ball back to me. I said to him, “No, this is yours. I gave it to you.” He laughed and cheered! I loved seeing that they had a real ball to play with.

Every kid who loves the game of soccer deserves(值得)to play. Every kid who loves the game of soccer deserves his or her own ball. And that’s why I started Charity Ball in 2010. It provides new soccer balls for kids in poor communities around the world.

1. How old is Ethen?-----__________.

A．fourteen	B．fifty
C．sixty	D．forty

2. When Ethan left Ntette,__________.

A．he made a soccer ball for the village boys

B．he gave his soccer ball to the village boys

C．one of the village boys gave him a handmade soccer ball

D．he gave the village boys some money to by soccer balls

3. What do we know about Charity Ball?

A．It collects old soccer balls

B．It trains kids who love soccer

C．It started when Ethan was 14 years old

D．It gives new soccer balls to kids in poor communities

4. We can learn from the passage that Ethan is ________.

A．kind	B．talented
C．brave	D．careful

【推荐1】Kids may need to apologize if they do something they know was wrong－like telling a lie or breaking a rule on purpose. When they do something their parents tell them not to do, or they don’t do something they are supposed to do, they apologize, too.

Grown-ups can apologize, too, to other grown-ups or even to kids. After all, even grown-ups make mistakes sometimes. By apologizing when they’re wrong, grown-ups can set a good example and show kids how to do the right thing and apologize when they need to.

Saying I’m sorry when you need to is the right thing to do. It does a lot of good. But by itself, it might not be enough to make everything all better again. Sometimes along with an apology, a person needs to fix the mistake or promise to do better. Sometimes doing a nice thing for the person after you apologize helps show that you really are sorry and want to be friendly again.

Sometimes a heartfelt “I’m” sorry fixes everything right away. Other times, it might take a while for someone to feel friendly after you apologize. You might need to give the other person some time. Even after you say you’re sorry, you might still feel bad about what you said or did－but you can feel good about apologizing and about making up your mind to do better.

When someone apologizes to you, you might not feel like being friendly again right away. Once in a while, if a person doesn’t change, you might not want to be friends anymore. You might feel glad that the other person apologized and admitted being wrong. But if someone keeps behaving in mean ways or does something that keeps hurting, you might not feel the same way anymore. Just because someone apologizes to you doesn’t mean you have to be friendly again. That part is up to you.

1. The writer suggests that grown-ups should set a good example of ________.

A．working hard

B．making an apology

C．doing good deeds

D．making mistakes

2. The underlined pronoun “it”(in Paragraph 3) probably refers to ________.

A．promising to do better

B．a lot of good

C．fixing mistakes

D．saying I’m sorry

3. What would you like your friend to say to you if he/she hurts you?

A．I am really wrong.

B．Excuse me.

C．I beg your pardon?

D．What’s wrong with you?

4. The passage mainly deals with a topic about ________.

A．politics

B．history

C．communication

D．science

【推荐2】There is a very long list of rules for the New York City subway. Don’t put your feet on a seat, don’t carry open cups of coffee or soda, don’t take more than one seat... Those are just a few of the rules. There are hundreds more.

With so many rules, why is it still unpleasant to ride the subway?

Some people think that the problem is that no one enforces the rules. Other passengers sometimes try to enforce rules. But you can’t rely on them because New Yorkers have unwritten rules against talking to strangers and making eye contact with strangers. How can you tell someone to take her shopping bags off the seat and throw away her Coke without talking to her or looking at her? It is difficult.

There are other New Yorkers who think that the subway is unpleasant because there are not enough rules. One rider wrote a letter to The New York Times a couple of weeks ago suggesting a few more subway rules. Here are some of the rules that she would like to see:

—Don’t lean on the poles. You prevent other people from holding on. They can fall down.

—Talk quietly. The trains are already too noisy.

—Give your seat to elderly passengers or to parents with small children.

If those unwritten rules of etiquette are written down, will the rude people be more likely to follow them? It doesn’t make sense to make more rules that no one will enforce.

The real problem is that we are forgetting how to be nice to each other. It is embarrassing that we need a rule to tell us to give our seat to elderly passengers. Nobody should need to be reminded to do that.

I say we stop talking about the rules and try to remember our manners. Let’s be nice to each other not because a police officer might tell us to get off the train, but because it is the right thing to do. Then New York City would be more civilized —both above ground and below.

1. Don’t make eye contact and don’t talk to strangers are examples of     .

A．New York subway rules	B．personal preferences on the subway
C．behavioral habits in New York City	D．unpleasant experiences on the subway

2. The underlined word “etiquette” is closest in meaning to     .

A．manners

B．phenomena

C．festivals

D．moods

3. In the writer’s opinion, what measures should be taken?

A．The authority should set stricter rules.

B．The government should employ more police.

C．The citizens should ride the subway less.

D．Everyone should take better care of their behavior.

【推荐3】Some people are so rude. Who sends an e-mail or a text message that just says “Thank you”? Who leaves a voice mail message rather than texts you?     1     Don’t these people realize that they’re wasting your time?

Maybe I’m the rude one for not appreciating life’s little courtesies (礼节). But many social norms (规范) just don’t make sense to people drowning in digital communication.

Take the thank-you note. Daniel Post Senning, a coauthor of Emily Post’s Etiquette, asked, “At what point does showing appreciation outweigh the cost?”

    2     Think of how long it takes to listen to one of those messages. In texts, you don’t have to declare who you are or even say hello. E-mail, too, is slower than a text. The worst are those who leave a voice mail and then send an e-mail message to tell you they left a voice mail.

This isn’t the first time technology has changed our manners.     3     Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor, suggested that people say, “Ahoy!” Finally, hello won out, and the victory sped up the greeting’s use in face-to-face communications.

In the age of the smart phone, there is no reason to ask once-acceptable questions about: the weather forecast, a business’s phone number, or directions to a house, a restaurant, or an office, which can be easily found on a digital map. But people still ask these things.     4    

How to handle these differing standards? Easy: Consider your audience. Some people, especially older ones, appreciate a thank-you message.     5     In traditional societies, the young learn from the old. But in modern societies, the old can also learn from the young. Here’s hoping that politeness never goes out of fashion but that time-wasting forms of communication do.

A．Then there is voice mail.

B．Others, like me, want no reply.

C．Who asks for a fact easily found on the Internet?

D．Won’t new technology bring about changes in our daily life?

E．And when you answer, they respond with a thank-you e-mail.

F．Face-to-face communication makes comprehension much easier.

G．When the telephone was invented, people didn’t know how to greet a caller.