【推荐1】Selah Thompson shares her love of reading and even creates her own stories.

Books have the power to transport you to another place and make you feel like you are part of the story. A love of reading should be developed at a young age so children can benefit a lot. That’s a gift 8-year-old Selah Thompson from Atlanta, Georgia, received from her parents and wants to pass on to other children.

When Selah was five, she came home from her first day at kindergarten and told her parents that a lot of her new friends at school didn’t know their ABCs, which really bothered Selah and she wanted to do something about it.

She then asked her parents to give away 20 hundred thousand books. Her parents began to do research and found that there is a huge amount of illiteracy (文盲) in America and that two-thirds of students who cannot read skillfully by the end of the fourth grade will end up in prison or on welfare.

After understanding the need for books and establishing a love for reading, Selah’s parents were on board. In 2018, they created the nonprofit Empowered Readers Literacy Project. This organization promotes families to create solid reading habits so children see books as something positive.

More than 2,400 kids and their parents participated in the reading activities in Atlanta in the first year. They also run an adventure time readers club and the 500 books project to get books into children’s hands.

Over the past two years, the literacy project has donated 8,000 books, including Selah’s own series. Although her goal of “20 hundred thousand books” is still quite far, Selah is on the right track. She is ambitious and a true role model for children and adults. Hopefully her love for books is contagious and children will be more willing to read when the main character actually looks like them.

1. How did Selah feel when knowing some kids were illiterate?

A．Surprised.	B．Relieved.
C．Concerned.	D．Embarrassed.

2. What can we infer from Paragraph 4?

A．Selah’s parents have the habit of researching literature.

B．Poor reading skills might cause one to fail in life.

C．Only a small number of parents teach kids at home.

D．Two-thirds of kids receive good school education.

3. What does the underlined phrase “on board” in Paragraph 5 mean?

A．Deeply moved.	B．Ready to take action.
C．In a group as a member.	D．Riding on or in a ship, train, airplane.

4. What do the last two paragraphs mainly focus on?

A．What they have done to help local schools.

B．How kids have formed the habit of reading.

C．How Selah has turned her dream into reality.

D．The influence Selah and her parents have brought.

【推荐2】After university in 2011, Samuel went to a rural primary school for native children, where, on his first day, another teacher told him, "Samuel, you don't have to do much, they're just Orang Asli-native children." This was what Samuel would spend years fighting against.

The Orang Asli community has struggled with poverty, melting into society, and losing their own identity and culture due to others' disregard of it. The main barrier in teaching these children was that many of the teachers thought that the native children were not worth their efforts. It was thought that whatever was taught would make no difference, so nobody bothered to try. The children themselves ended up believing these stigmas (污名), often doubting what they can achieve. Teachers skipped or slept in classes, and little effort was made to create an appropriate learning environment. Consequently, the school was one of the worst-performing in the district.

Samuel cared about his native students and accepted their culture, leading him to see their potential. However, he also came to see that they did not have equal opportunities compared to urban schools, due to the lack of facilities. So he set up a crowdfunding project to create a fully equipped 21st-century English classroom with tablets and computers. The Orang Asli children now learn technology, experience English and communicate in English with volunteers all over Malaysia and overseas.

Consequently, the students have improved in national standardized examinations, from a pass rate of 30% in English (2008-2012) to an average of 80% (2013-2017). These efforts have resulted in a shift of what local children are considered capable of academically.

1. What did the teacher's words suggest about the native children?

A．They were intelligent.	B．They were hopeless.
C．They were unfriendly.	D．They were independent.

2. What major problem did Samuel need to solve?

A．The poverty of local people.	B．The lack of facilities in his school.
C．The unfair treatment of the native kids.	D．The unsuitable teaching methods.

3. What is paragraph 3 mainly about?

A．The change of native students.

B．The importance of learning English.

C．The improvement of native education.

D．Samuel's work for the native kids.

4. What can we learn from Samuel's story?

A．Respect makes a big difference.

B．The academic performance comes first.

C．Everyone deserves access to education.

D．One method can't apply to each situation.

【推荐3】For the first time, a generation of children is going through adolescence with smartphones ever-present. Jean Twenge , a professor of psychology at San Diego State University, has a name for these young people born between 1995 and 2012："iGen". She says, “Members of this generation are physically safer than those who came before them. They drink less they learn to drive later. " "But psychologically," she argues, "they far more easily get hurt. It's not an overstatement to describe iGen as being on the edge of the worst mental health crisis in decades.''

Today's teens are just not spending as much time with their friends face-to-face where they can really read each others' emotions and get that social support. And we know from lots of research that spending time with other people in person is one of the best predictors for psychological well-being and one of the best protections against having mental health issues. They're more likely than young people just 5 or 10 years ago to say that they're anxious, and that they have symptoms of depression.

How much of a factor is parenting? “Parenting is playing a role. Many parents are worried about their teens driving, and going out with their friends and drinking. Yet parents are often not worrying about their teens who stay at home on their phones all the time. But they should be worried about that. I think parents are worried about the wrong thing," Professor Twenge remarked.

She proposes several helpful solutions, "The first is just awareness that spending a lot of time on the phone is not harmless and that if you're spending a lot of time on the phone, then it may take away time from activities that might be more beneficial for psychological well being, like spending time with people in person. And then for parents, I think it is a good idea to defer giving your child a smartphone as long as you can.”

1. What does iGen refer to according to the text?

A．Generation with high intelligence.

B．Generation in information age.

C．Physically strong generation.

D．Psychologically healthy generation.

2. How can today's teens avoid mental health crisis?

A．By making more friends online.

B．By seeing psychologists frequently.

C．By reading others' emotions constantly.

D．By communicating with friends face to face.

3. What should parents concern according to Professor Twenge?

A．Their teens' chatting with classmates.

B．Their teens' poor school performance.

C．Their teens' addiction to smart phones.

D．Their teens' staying out with their friends.

4. Which can best replace the underlined word “defer" in the last paragraph?

A．Put off.	B．Approve of.
C．Think of.	D．Insist on.

【推荐2】When asked how technology might improve the lives of people with vision impairments (视力障碍), Joann Becker presented a misleadingly simple challenge. “Well,” the vision impairments tech specialist recalls saying. “I’d like to be able to find my bus stop through Be My Eyes”.

Be My Eyes, which went live in 2015, establishes a direct video connection between visually impaired users and sighted volunteers. The assumption is simple: Many people who are blind don’t need any actual assistance in completing their daily tasks, but merely need a little help.

A sighted volunteer might be asked to help identify which of two cans contains tomatoes. In this case, the visually impaired user can cook a meal just fine on his/her own-all he/she needs is a quick confirmation that he/she has the correct can. The model appears to be working; more than 540,000 volunteers and nearly 40,000 people with low vision are registered on the app.

“An elderly woman can now help a visually impaired technician set up his computer,” says founder Hans Wiberg, who has very low vision. “She doesn’t need to know a thing about computers. She only needs to read what is presented on the screen. Then he can do the rest.”

Early assistive technology centered on dedicated devices (专用设备), because of the niche market (缝隙市场), which sold for hundreds or even thousands of dollars. But the smartphone, multipurpose and near-universal, has completely changed the economy of scale.

“There are larger market forces driving high-powered computation, high-quality engineering and high-quality battery management in the smartphone market than those in a specialty product,” says Aaron Steinfeld, a researeh professor at the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University.

“The reality is, most sighted people don’t know somebody who is blind.” Becker says. “They think the solutions that a blind person needs are far more expansive, it turns out, they need to be. I think these apps are enabling sighted people to see that blind people just need some simple clues to help them do any number of things in their lives.”

1. What is the first paragraph used for in the text?

A．Showing the main idea.	B．Introducing the topic.
C．Giving one example.	D．Making a conclusion.

2. How does the app Be My Eyes work?

A．By creating a video link between the dibbled and .sighted one.

B．By recognizing which of two cans have tomatoes and cooking.

C．By establishing a high-quality engineering and computation.

D．By flashing the everyday tasks of the technician and volunteers.

3. From the text we can know.

A．only people with low vision are registered to use the app

B．slight assistance can help the blind free from some troubles

C．volunteers should be very familiar with high-tech computers

D．Joann Becker thinks it hard to find a bus stop using Be My Eyes

4. What do the 5^thand 6^thparagraphs mainly mean?

A．Smartphone market has great economic potential.

B．The smartphone becomes a special app.

C．Fine devices have changed the economy.

D．Cost matters when it comes to as5istivc technology.

【推荐3】War or natural disasters often destroy or cause major damage to sanitary systems. The destruction of waste treatment systems can increase the risk of disease and even death among survivors.
Some people dig holes in the ground that serve as individual toilets. However, micro-organisms from human wastes can reach water supplies and cause cholera or other diseases.
A United Nations team is now developing a toilet for disaster areas. The experimental project is called eSOS—for the Emergency Sanitation Operation System. The system is lightweight and operates on sunlight power.
Scientists are working on the toilet at the UN’s Institute for Water Education in the Netherlands. Damir Brdjanovic is heading the project. He says his team hopes to bring disaster assistance into the 21st century.
The eSOS system has several ‘smart’ features, such as a self-contained energy supply unit. Another is a global positioning system sensor, very much like the GPS equipment in some vehicles. There is also equipment that measures waste buildup. All of the information from the toilet system can be shared with an emergency organization center. Officials at the center can then identify the needs of an affected disaster area. The eSOS system can also recycle liquid wastes into water that can be used for farming. This involves treating the urine(尿液)with the help of a membrane bioreactor system(膜生物反应器系统).
The smart toilet is being tested. Damir Brdjanovic and his team plan to test the toilet at a refugee camp in the Philippines later this year. The developers hope this disaster relief will save the lives of many refugees.

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

A．Toilet for Our Future Life

B．Machine to Recycle Human Wastese

C．New Technology to Reduce the Risk of Disease

D．SOS—the Emergency Sanitation Operation System

2. Which of the following is NOT true about eSOS?

A．It weighs light.

B．It serves as individual toilet for disaster survivors.

C．It doesn’t need any power.

D．It is equipped with a global positioning system sensor.

3. What can we infer from this passage?

A．eSOS can prevent any risk of disease.

B．eSOS will be put into use in the near future.

C．Damir Brdjanovic holds a negative attitude to eSOS.

D．The eSOS system can recycle liquid wastes into drinkable water.

【推荐1】Last Friday a storm swept through two villages in the south China, destroying fourteen homes. Seven others were so badly damaged that their owners had to leave them, and fifteen others had broken windows or broken roofs. One people was killed, several were badly hurt and taken to hospital, and a number of other people received smaller hurt. Altogether over two hundred people were homeless after the storm.
A farmer, Mr. Tan, said that the storm began early in the morning and lasted for over an hour. “I was eating with my wife and children,” he said, “When we heard a loud noise. A few minutes later our house fell down on top of us. We tried our best to climb out but then I saw that one of my children was missing. I went back inside and found him, safe but very frightened.”
Mrs. Woo Mei Fong said that her husband had just left for work when she felt that her house was moving. She ran outside at once with her children. “There was no time to take anything,” she said, “A few minutes later, the roof came down.”
Soldiers helped to take people out of the flooded area and the welfare department (福利机构) brought them food, clothes and shelter.
1. How many homes altogether were damaged in the storm?

A．Fourteen	B．Twenty-one
C．Twenty-nine.	D．Thirty-six

2. Mrs. Woo and her family didn’t get hut because            .

A．her husband knew there would be a storm

B．they were all outside the house when the storm became worse

C．she felt the house was moving

D．the welfare department helped her

3. The underlined word “shelter” in the last paragraph in this passage means            .

A．something to eat	B．something to wear
C．somewhere to study	D．somewhere to stay

4. Which of the followings may be the best title for this passage?

A．A Terrible Storm	B．A Lucky Woman
C．Good Soldiers	D．Clever People

【推荐2】What’s your idea of a good time? What about dancing in a rainy field with one hundred and fifty thousand other people while a famous rock band plays on a stage so far away that the performers look like ants?
It may sound strange but that is what many hundreds of thousands of young people in the UK do every summer． Why? Because summer is the time for outdoor music festivals．
Held on a farm, the Glastonbury Festival is the most well-known and popular festival in the UK． It began in 1970 and the first festival was attended by one thousand five hundred people each paying an admission price of ￡1 — the ticket included free milk from the farm．
Since then the ___________________________ — in 2004 one hundred and fifty thousand fans attended, paying ￡112 each for a ticket to the three-day event． Tickets for the event sold out within three hours． Performers
included superstars, such as Paul McCartney and James Brown, as well as new talent, like Franz Ferdinand and Joss Stone．
Although many summer festivals are run on a profit —making basis, Glastonbury is a charity event, donating millions of pounds to local and international charities．
Glastonbury is not unique in using live music to raise money to fight global poverty （贫穷）． In July of this year, the Live 8 concerts were held simultaneously （同时） in London, Paris, Rome and Berlin． Superstars such as Madonna, Sir Elton John and Stevie Wonder performed in order to highlight （强调） international poverty and debt．
1. What does the author mean by saying “the Glastonbury Festival has gone from strength to strength”?

A．The festival has achieved growing success．

B．Great efforts have been made to hold the festival．

C．The festival has brought in a large amount of money．

D．There have been thousands of fans attending the festival．

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

A．The Glastonbury Festival is run on a profit-making basis．

B．Tickets for the 2004 Glastonbury Festival were in great demand despite the high price．

C．Both James Brown and Joss Stone were born in poor families．

D．In the 1970 Glastonbury Festival, one could have lunch on the farm for free．

3. We can learn from the last paragraph that _____．

A．the Glastonbury Festival is not so popular as the Live 8 concerts

B．the Live 8 concerts are held every year in London

C．London, Paris, Rome and Berlin are famous for outdoor music festivals

D．some superstars are concerned about global poverty

4. What is the best title for the passage?

A．How to have a good time	B．Charity events around the world
C．The Glastonbury Festival	D．Superstars’ performances in charity events

【推荐3】Late last year, I needed to transport some furniture from our house to my son’s flat in central London. I should have paid a man to do it, but foolishly confident in my driving ability, I decided to hire a lorry and drive it myself.

Moving the lorry backward in my yard, I crashed into a small shed, causing permanent damage. Fortunately, I owned the shed. I loaded up with the furniture and set out. By now it was rush hour. My nerves broke down, as I drove the huge lorry through the streets nervously.

At last I arrived at Charlotte Street and found an available parking space. I moved the lorry into it only to notice three people at a pavement cafe waving to me. I got out, trembling violently, like one who had just finished a stormy Atlantic crossing. “You’ve hit the car parked behind you,” they said. I examined the car. There were white scratches on its front face. It bore a disabled sign. So, now I was a bad driver and a bad man. Under the severe look of the three, I left an apologetic note on the damaged car’s windscreen, giving my phone number.

I unloaded the furniture, dripping the sweat, wanting only to escape from the monster. I drove it back to its base at Edgware. On arrival, the boss told me I must fill it up with petrol before returning it. “Just charge me,” I cried, still shaking with fear. He stared at me with understanding. No doubt he’d witnessed others in this state before. “How about I drive you to a petrol station, you fill up, and I drive it back?” he asked.

He danced the great lorry through the traffic so carefully that it would have shamed me if I had not been so grateful.

1. The man felt ________ to have delivered the furniture himself.

A．grateful

B．proud

C．confident

D．regretful

2. The man trembled violently because ________.

A．driving the lorry was too difficult for him

B．he caused a terrible traffic accident

C．he was afraid to see the three people

D．the furniture was too heavy for him

3. The man said he was a bad man most probably because ________.

A．he shouldn’t have driven the lorry himself

B．he made the traffic accident on purpose

C．he shouldn’t have caused trouble for the disabled

D．he parked the big lorry on the pavement

4. The writer intended to suggest that ________.

A．it was thrilling to drive a lorry

B．being too confident is foolish

C．it was hard to avoid accidents

D．the boss was expert in driving

【推荐1】As you grow older, you’ll be faced with some challenging decisions -like whether tout class or try cigarette. Making decisions on your own is hard enough but when other people get involved and try to pressure you one way or another it can be even harder. People who are your age, like your classmates, are called peers. When they try to influence bow you act to get you to do something, It's called peer pressure.

Peers can have positive inference on each other. Maybe another student in your science class taught you an easy way to remember the planets in the solar system. Maybe you got others excited about your new favorite book , and now everyone's reading it. These are examples of how peers positively influence each other.

Sometimes pers influence each other in negative ways. For example, a few kids in school might try to get you to cut class with them; your soccer friend might try to convince you to be mean to another player and never pass him the ball.

It is tough to be the only one who says “no" to peer pressure, but you can do it. Paying attention to your own feeling and beliefs about what is right and wrong can help you know the right thing to do.

You've probably had a parent or teacher advising you to "choose your fiends wisely. " Peer pressure is a big reason why they say this. If you choose friends who don’t cut class smoke cigarettes or lie to their parents, the you probably won't do these things either, even if other kids do.

If you continue to face peer pressure and you're finding it difficult to handle, talk to someone you trust. Don't feel guilty if you've made a mistake or two.

1. For whom is the passage most probably written?

A．Students.	B．Parents.
C．Teachers.	D．Doctors.

2. In the last three paragraphs, the author mainly___________.

A．explains why friendship is so important.

B．gives advice on how to deal with peer pressure.

C．discusses how peers influence us.

D．shows how to make more good friends.

3. Which following may help handle peer pressure?

A．Spending more time with classmate.	B．Taking up more relaxing hobbies.
C．Choosing fiends with no bad habits.	D．Helping others who are in trouble,

4. What is discussed in the second paragraph from bottom?

A．One day teacher, a life a father.

B．Keep good men company and you shall be of the number.

C．A single slip may cause lasting sorrow.

D．A young idler, an old beggar.

5. What is the topic to the of the passage?

A．Friendship.	B．Making decisions.
C．Self-confidence,	D．Peer pressure.

【推荐2】The Covid-19 disaster will have many losers, but it already has one clear winner: big tech. The large digital platforms, including Alphabet and Facebook, will come out of the crisis even stronger. They should use this good chance to reset their sometimes tense relations with their users. Otherwise the government is likely to do it for them.

Demand for online services has exploded and the infrastructure behind the internet has proved to be admirably reliable. Newcomers such as Slack and Zoom, which help businesses operate remotely, have become household names. Facebook has said that messaging activity has increased by 50%in those countries hit hard by the virus. Amazon is planning to hire 100,000 new staff to keep up with higher e-commerce.

Just as the big firms are standing even taller, many of the tech industry's younger, smaller firms are being crushed since the dotcom crash 20 years ago. Even before the coronavirus hit. trouble was starting to develop .Among many firms catering to consumers, the strategy of growing at all costs had turned out to be problematic, Some firms had already started laying off people. All this will make it easier for the big firms to hire the best talent.

If that happens, it is likely that regulators will do little or nothing to stop a round of expansion. In America antitrust(反垄断) investigations against Alphabet, Google's parent. and Facebook have essentially been put on hold, as officials deal with other priorities during a crisis. A new federal privacy law seems further away than ever. Even tech skeptics in the European Union want to rethink their approach to regulating artificial intelligence(AI). In an abrupt twist, big tech's business practice is essential to deal with the virus. Yet before Covid-19,such activity would have caused howls of great anger over privacy and prejudice.

In fact, more than ever it is clear that big tech firms play vital roles. There lies the trap, because almost everywhere other big firms, such as water or electricity, are heavily regulated and have their prices and profits capped(规定限额). Once this crisis passes, concerned citizens and governments could make a push for the state to have similar control over big tech.

The companies seem to sense this danger. Their best defence is to propose a new deal to the citizens of the world. That means clear rules on how they publish and moderate content, helping users own, control and profit from their own data, as well as fair treatment of competitors that use their platforms. This approach may even be more profitable in the long run. Today the most valuable firm in America is Microsoft, which has been more successful by building a reputation for being trustworthy.

1. The writer suggests the big techs use the outbreak of Covid-19 to      _

A．escape from the crisis of large digital platforms

B．improve their relationship with their users

C．ask for help from the government

D．demand more online services and reliable infrastructure

2. What has led big tech firms' business to increase rapidly?

A．The crush of the tech industry.	B．The strategy of growing at all costs.
C．The stricter antitrust investigations.	D．The loosened government regulations.

3. What does “that” in Paragraph 4 refer to?

A．The easier access of best tech talents to big tech firms.

B．The severe unemployment rate in companies.

C．The fast spread of the coronavirus.

D．A new round of expansion of big firms.

4. In Paragraph 6,Microsoft is used as an example of___.

A．benefiting from good relations with its users	B．catering to consumers whatever they want
C．sensing danger from other big firms in time	D．being heavily regulated by the government

【推荐3】Nowadays with the development of technology， people have gradually relied on the mobile phones seriously.Many people， especially the younger generation， like to use social media to connect with others. However， everyone is ignoring an important point- face-to-face communication between people is missing.

Social media is all about connecting with others. But a new study suggests that too much social media use leads to disconnection and loneliness. The study finds that heavy use of platforms such as Facebook， Snapchat， and Instagram is associated with feelings of isolation among young adults.

Brian Primack and his team in the study surveyed that 1，787 U.S. adults aged 19to 32 and asked them about their usage of 11 social media platforms. Surprisingly，people that spend more time on social media feel lonelier than others.

Tom Kersting， a psychotherapist， said“Although people think being on social media all the time makes them‘connected’ to others， they are actually‘disconnected，’because the more time one spends behind a screen， the less time one spends face-to-face.”Kersting continued. “They are spending a lot of time looking at everyone else’s posts， where they are， where they are going and what they are doing.The constant connection to everyone else’s‘perfect’life experiences causes feelings of being left out， and of being lonely.”

So what’s the answer?“It’s simple，” says Kersting—although it does involve a significant amount of willpower.“The solution to this is refusing the addiction to look at everyone else’s life.Just focus on your own life， where you’re going， what you are grateful for， and what you want to achieve in this world. Then go out and do it， andstop wasting so much time comparing.”

1. Which word below can replace the underlined word“isolation”in Paragraph 2?

A．satisfaction	B．separation
C．sadness	D．happiness

2. Wat's the result of the new study?

A．Too much social media use causes loneliness.

B．Young people rely too much on mobile phones.

C．The effect the social media has on everyone is equal.

D．More time on social media contributes to more friends.

3. According to Kersting， how to prevent people feeling left out and lonely?

A．Learn to improve one's willpower.

B．Cut down the time spent on social activities.

C．Share one's own perfect life instead of viewing others'.

D．Concentrate on one's own life rather than anyone else's.

4. What's the best title for the text?

A．No Looking at Others' Perfect Life

B．Social Media May Not be So Social

C．Face-to-face Communication Comes First

D．Our Life Will be Destroyed by Social Media