【推荐1】“Stop making excuses for him. Mom,” I said. “But maybe he is feeling unwell...” Mom said. “Maybe nothing.” I interrupted. I had been tending Mom since her health began to decline and this would be the first time in a year that my husband and I had a night out together. Jerry had promised to stay with Mom. But again he let us down. And more often than not, his drinking had a lot to do with it. His irresponsibility upset me.

I remembered our happy growing-up years in a small town in West Virginia. With good family education. Jerry had been a kind kid. He was only 15 when Dad died. Unlike him, I got over the sorrow soon, but he started drinking. Soon he began hanging out with bad guys.

Jerry and I didn’t see each other often, but we talked on the phone. Usually, though, we ended up fighting. When Mom came to live with us, Jerry dropped in regularly at first, but after a while his visits became sporadic. He explained he couldn’t handle seeing Mom in such a bad condition. Another excuse, I thought.

One day I went to see the doctor about my back. It had been aching for months. “I can’t find anything wrong with you physically,” the doctor said. “But I can tell you’re very tense. Is something bothering you?” I poured out my story about Jerry. “Do you think he’s likely to change?” he asked. I shrugged. “Probably not.” “But, you can,” he said gently.

Me? Why did I have to change? He was the one who constantly let us down. But what had I done? Maybe the doctor was right. I couldn’t love his behavior, but I could love him—the way 1 did when we were little. As I walked into the house I sensed a relief.

Jerry died young due to drinking. I miss him. But Pm grateful I was given the opportunity to show him I loved him—as he was, not as I wanted him to be.

1. When Jerry failed to carry out his promise that night, his mother ________.

A．felt very angry	B．tried to defend him
C．was indifferent about it	D．phoned him to ask him to come back

2. Jerry got into the habit of drinking mainly because ________.

A．he was influenced by bad guys

B．his mom left to live with his sister

C．nobody cared for him after his father died

D．he couldn’t get over the sadness of losing his father

3. The underlined word “sporadic” in Paragraph 3 probably means “^________”.

A．occasional	B．frequent
C．formal	D．unpleasant

4. What did the author think of the doctor’s suggestion at first?

A．It was acceptable.	B．It gave her much hope.
C．It was unreasonable.	D．It made her confused

【推荐2】“Fire! Fire!” What terrible words to hear when one wakes up in a strange house in the middle of the night! It was a large, old, wooden house and my room was on the top floor. I jumped out of bed, opened the door and stepped outside the house. It was full of thick smoke.

I began to run, but as I was still only half-awake, instead of going towards the stairs I went in the opposite direction. The smoke grew thicker and I could see fire all around. The floor became hot under my bare feet. I found an open door and ran into a room to get to the window. But before I could reach it, one of my feet caught in something soft and I fell down. The thing I had fallen over felt like a bundle of clothes, and I picked it up to protect my face from the smoke and heat. Just then the floor gave way under me and I crashed to the floor below with pieces of burning wood all around me.

I saw a doorway in fire, then I put the bundle over my face and ran. My feet burned me terrible, but I got through. As I reached the cold air outside, my bundle of clothes gave a thin cry, I nearly dropped it in my surprise. Then I was in a crowd gathered in the street. A woman in a night-dress and a borrowed man’s coat screamed as she saw me and came running madly. She was the Mayor’s wife, and I had saved her baby.

1. When the fire arose in the middle of the night, the author was ________.

A．at home

B．sleeping

C．sitting in bed

D．both A and B

2. The author saved the baby ________.

A．because he was very brave.	B．because he liked the baby very much.
C．but he just happened to save it.	D．because it was the Mayor’s baby.

3. He ran in the wrong direction because he ________.

A．was a stranger there	B．could see nothing
C．was not completely awake	D．Both A and C

4. He put the bundle over his face and ran in order to ________.

A．save the baby

B．call for help

C．protect his face

D．run quickly

【推荐3】阅读短文，按照题目要求用英语回答问题。

“Every life is a boat, the dream is the boat sail.” Every child has a dream of what they want to be. When Renee Butts was little, her dream was to become a volunteer firefighter because her father was one. Sadly, when she was 14, her beloved father died and she was never able to do volunteer work with him. However, Renee’s story didn’t end there. She was determined and never gave up, which makes for a good firefighter.

Now Renee is a member of the Carmel Fire Department, where she is required to be an Emergency Medical Technician. She should also be ready to deal with any emergency, like fighting a fire, dealing with a car accident or helping someone who’s sick. Sometimes she is in the driver’s seat or using the water pump. Renee works nine to eleven days a month on 24-hour shifts. She also has a family to care for, as her husband is also a busy firefighter. Dealing with housework and working so much can show her great determination.

When I asked Renee what the best part of her job was, she replied, “Helping people and saving lives.” I think that shows signs of being a true hero. She’s always willing to do anything for anyone in need. Renee says that her job is frightening at times, but extremely exciting. “The worst part of my job is that I see death. Actually, sometimes people die in the accident, for which I am very sorry.” With 140 people in her station, Renee is one of the only three women, but that doesn’t bother her. She says everyone can get a fair shot and do the same jobs.

I was inspired by this because I knew I would be very scared to do her job and didn’t know if I could handle seeing people die. We would never live without people like her who have the courage to risk their lives. Renee’s determination rubs off on me and makes me believe that I can do anything.

1. What’s Renee’s job in the Carmel Fire Department? (no more than 5 words)
_________________________________________________________________
2. How does Renee feel about her job? (no more than 5 words)
_________________________________________________________________
3. Why does the author think Renee Butts is a true hero? (no more than 15 words)
_________________________________________________________________
4. How do you understand the underlined part in Paragraph 3?(no more than 5 words)
_________________________________________________________________
5. What do you think of Renee? Please give your reasons. (no more than 25 words)
_________________________________________________________________

【推荐2】Have you ever heard of a Cucamelon? If not, you’re missing out on the cutest fruit on earth!

Cucamelons look like baby watermelons and taste like cucumbers mixed with lemon.     1     You can grow them in a pot, plastic bag or directly into a garden. These plants are fast growers and have a maturity of 80 days, which means you can grow them when it starts to get colder, too.     2     You’d have to look online and purchase them. Generally speaking, you can receive them within 7 days.

If you choose to plant them directly into your garden, you can plant them as soon as the chance of frost is gone.     3     You can put wood sticks into the ground for the roots to grow on, or use bamboo sticks as an alternative. After your first season of growing Cucamelons, you’ll notice that the root is very long. You can dig up these roots and store them in a cool, dry place and re-pot them at the start of the next growing season.     4     It will be a big harvest! By the way, you can use Cucamelons in food dishes or in drinks. The thought sounds pretty excellent!

    5     Your neighbors might even feel inspired to grow Cucamelons themselves!

A．This means you can eat fruit all the year round.

B．However, you won’t find these seeds in a store.

C．They’ll need a lot of water and a little support with growing.

D．They’re from Mexico and are known as “Sandíitas de Raton”.

E．That’s because the young plants can’t stand the cold weather.

F．If you’re looking for a new, exciting fruit to try out, try Cucamelons!

G．This will give you ten times as many Cucamelons the next time around!