【推荐1】Long before the Internet, and even before the telephone, people relied on pen and paper to communicate. It’s a lot different from writing an email because when you make a mistake, you cannot “backspace” your errors away.     1    

Letter writing has been a key means of communication for people throughout history.    2     Famous names like Christopher Columbus and Amerigo Vespucci graced my history textbooks growing up, with stories of their explorations. Much of what we know about them is through the letters they wrote to people back in Europe.

There were two main reasons why these early explorers wrote letters.    3     The other reason for writing letters was to assure and update the people who financed their trips. These so-called sponsors were often noblemen or wealthy people who had a personal interest in world discoveries. Letters from explorers would raise hopes that new lands could bring more riches.

When the British began building colonies (殖民地) in America during the 17^th century, these lands were settled by people who sailed across the Atlantic Ocean.    4     Their letters were mixed with news of illness as well as details of their exotic (异国的) surroundings.

    5     With the widespread use of the Internet, the tiny differences of a person’s handwriting are lost to the cold, typewritten text that comes with an email. A person’s unique signature is reserved for signing a receipt for a credit card payment.

A．Letter writing is just how you travel around the world.

B．You simply cross out your mistakes with your pen and continue writing.

C．The early settlers faced a lot of challenges in the unfamiliar environment.

D．One was a boy from England who liked the same music as me: rock and roll.

E．Four hundred years later, however, we don’t really need to write letters anymore.

F．It played a vital part in the exploration of the ‘"New World”, as America was once known.

G．One was to document for the people back home what they saw as they journeyed through the faraway, mysterious land.

【推荐2】More than 10 million Chinese cultural relics have been lost overseas, most of which were stolen and illegally shipped out (运出) of China during the times of war before 1949. About 1.67 million pieces are housed in more than 200 museums (博物馆) in 47 countries, which accounts for 10 percent of all lost Chinese cultural relics, and the rest are in the hands of private collectors.

Most of these treasures are owned by museums or private collectors in the United States, Europe, Japan and Southeast Asian countries. There are more than 23, 000 pieces in the British Museum, most of which were stolen or bought for pennies more than 100 years ago.

The major method to recover these national treasures was to buy them back. In some cases, private collectors donated the relics to the government. Also the government can turn to official channels (渠道) to demand the return of relics.

In 2003, a priceless (无价的) bronze pig’s head (青铜猪头) dating from the Qing Dynasty (清朝) was returned to its home in Beijing after it was removed by the Anglo­French Allied Army over 140 years ago. Macao entrepreneur (企业家) Stanley Ho (何鸿燊) donated 6 million yuan to buy it back from a US art collector and then donated it to the Poly Art Museum in Beijing.

Although buying­back is the most feasible way to recover the lost treasures, limited funding is always a big headache.

In recent years, the Chinese government has improved efforts to recover the precious cultural relics lost overseas. It has started a national project on the recovery of the treasures and has set up a database (数据库) collecting relevant information.It has signed several international agreements with many countries on this matter, and is also looking for international cooperation to recover the relics by working closely with several international organizations.

1. What is the passage mainly about?

A．How to recover cultural relics.

B．The efforts to recover Chinese cultural relics.

C．Stanley Ho donated a bronze pig’s head to Beijing.

D．Chinese cultural relics were stolen by the Anglo­French Allied Army.

2. Which of the following statements about the bronze pig’s head is NOT true?

A．It was made in the Qing Dynasty.

B．It is now in the Poly Art Museum in Beijing.

C．It was donated by the French government to China.

D．It was removed by the Anglo­French Allied Army over 140 years ago.

3. The underlined word “feasible” in Paragraph 5 can be replaced by “________”.

A．possible	B．difficult
C．popular	D．careful

【推荐3】When the explorers first set foot upon the continent of North America, the skies and lands were alive with an astonishing variety of wildlife. Native Americans had taken care of these precious natural resources wisely. Unfortunately, it took the explorers and the settlers who followed only a few decades to decimate a large part of these resources. Millions of waterfowl (水禽) were killed at the hands of market hunters and a handful of overly ambitious sportsmen. Millions of acres of wetlands were dried to feed and house the ever-increasing populations, greatly reducing waterfowl habitat.

In 1934, with the passage of the Migratory Bird Hunting Stamp Act (Act), an increasingly concerned nation took firm action to stop the destruction of migratory (迁徙的) waterfowl and the wetlands so vital to their survival. Under this Act, all waterfowl hunters 16 years of age and over must annually purchase and carry a Federal Duck Stamp. The very first Federal Duck Stamp was designed by J.N. “Ding” Darling, a political cartoonist from Des Moines, Iowa, who at that time was appointed by President Franklin Roosevelt as Director of the Bureau of Biological Survey. Hunters willingly pay the stamp price to ensure the survival of our natural resources.

About 98 cents of every duck stamp dollar goes directly into the Migratory Bird Conservation Fund to purchase wetlands and wildlife habitat for inclusion into the National Wildlife Refuge System—a fact that ensures this land will be protected and available for all generations to come. Since 1934, better than half a billion dollars has gone into that Fund to purchase more than 5 million acres of habitat. Little wonder the Federal Duck Stamp Program has been called one of the most successful conservation programs ever initiated.

1. What was a cause of the waterfowl population decline in North America?

A．Loss of wetlands.	B．Popularity of water sports.
C．Pollution of rivers.	D．Arrival of other wild animals.

2. What does the underlined word “decimate” mean in the first paragraph?

A．Acquire.	B．Export.
C．Destroy.	D．Distribute.

3. What is a direct result of the Act passed in 1934?

A．The stamp price has gone down.

B．The migratory birds have flown away.

C．The hunters have stopped hunting.

D．The government has collected money.

4. What’s the writer’s attitude towards Migratory Bird Hunting Stamp Act (Act)?

A．Negative.	B．Positive.
C．Indifferent.	D．Unknown.