【推荐1】When I was young, I wondered why neighborhoods didn’t plant fruit trees to build community Later, my husband and I decided the right way to answer this question was to do it ourselves, so we began to fill our front yard with fruit trees, such as strawberries, pomegranates (石榴) and oranges.

Every crop (庄稼) brought us closer to neighbors and strangers. The food was an excuse to communicate. Kids in the neighborhood, including our sons, learned patience and gentle timing. When we had extra, we’d share it. Then, we received a powerful lesson:a gift hidden as a loss. Our first-ever crop of pomegranates had ripened (成熟), but at harvest (丰收), they were all gone, stolen in the middle of the night.

We were shocked, sad and angry. One of my friends had fun suggesting we post a sign to curse (诅咒) thieves who stole our fruit.

And suddenly, the lesson was clear. We did need a sign, but our sign would encourage sharing and community. Last fall, we had a larger crop of pomegranates. We posted a sign that read, “If you’d like one, please knock and introduce yourself and we’d be happy to cut one off the tree for you. Cutting saves the branches (枝条) and is good for future growth so we can continue to share with new friends like you. Thanks, the Green Family.” Out of eight pieces of fruit, one pomegranate was taken, and most others gifted to new friends.

This year, we planted three new fruit trees — a peach, a pear and a plum. Today, I am happy to role model generosity (慷慨，大方) for my young sons and to have been blessed (祈福) with the chance to provide an edible (可食的) front yard (院子) for others.

1. What was the author and her husband’s decision?

A．To plant fruit trees in their front yard.

B．To invite their neighbors to share fruits.

C．To help their neighbors by planting fruit trees.

D．To find the right answer to their neighbor’s question.

2. In the author’s opinion, fruit trees in her yard ________.

A．provided food for the whole family

B．satisfied the needs of her neighbors

C．made her family lead a happier life

D．offered a chance to get close to others

3. We learn from the fourth paragraph that the author’s sign ________.

A．was made at the request of her friends

B．was quite effective in stopping thieves

C．didn’t bring the author any new friends

D．contained information about the Green Family

4. What message does the author want to express by telling the story?

A．Prevention is better than cure.

B．Learning to share is important.

C．Never judge a book by its cover.

D．Good fences make good neighbors.

【推荐2】Years ago, I could not stick to exercising until I bought a CD called I Enjoy Exercise. I listened to it every day. I bought the CD because I wanted to run in a race and hopefully win!

I had promised my 10-year-old son Todd that I would run in a race with him. Unfortunately, however, when that race came about, his left leg was hurt in a car accident. Without him running with me, although I took part in that race, yet I didn’t do quite well in it.

While Todd couldn’t run together with me because of his injury, he never forgot the promise I made for him. He was always asking me whether I would keep my promise when he recovered in the future. So I decided I was going to train and go all out to win the next race. What I needed was motivation (动力). It happened that one of my friends mentioned the CD which he liked very much, saying that he got a lot from the music in it when feeling down. So I bought it and listened to it while exercising every day.

It was amazing what happened to my thinking as I listened to it daily. I started to think about the repeated words on the CD — “I enjoy exercise”. Instead of dreading exercise, I was thinking, “I enjoy exercise.”

I found out how important words are that we play in our minds every day. I went from a person who seldom exercised to someone who started to exercise daily. Just think how our lives will improve if we reflect on the motivating words of the famous works. I have found the positive messages have greatly improved my thinking and then changed my life.

How did I do in that race, you might be thinking? I actually won the gold medal in my age group.

1. Why did the author take part in the race by herself?

A．She would like to win the race.

B．She had a good talent for running.

C．Her son got injured in a car accident.

D．Her son was unwilling to run with her.

2. How did the author get the motivation for training?

A．By recalling some inspiring stories.

B．By listening to the CD while running.

C．By getting timely help from her friend.

D．By forcing herself into keeping running.

3. What does the underlined word “dreading” in Paragraph 4 mean?

A．Fearing.

B．Improving.

C．Preferring.

D．Taking.

【推荐2】To me, Shakespeare is a bit of a touchy subject in the theatre industry. I believe Shakespeare’s plays to be the most challenging in terms of language. When you have challenging language, then understanding the plot and topics discussed becomes a challenge as well. It’s like a chain. If you don’t understand it from the start, it makes things hard later on and people tend to give up on it. Regardless of all of this, I believe Shakespeare’s plays are important in the sense that they are where true theatre started. William Shakespeare is a name everyone knows regardless of whether you enjoy his work or not.

Many high schools or colleges do at least one Shakespeare’s play every few years and I like that. I think it’s important to expose students to plays that are a bit more challenging than they’re used to. Of course, it’s not easy to understand these plays but then think about the people who act in those plays. When acting, you have to understand your character inside and out and not only that, but you need to completely know everything going on around you as well. So to understand the script is one thing, but then to take it to that next level in terms of acting in a Shakespeare’s play is a whole other thing. How about memorizing the lines? That’s one of the hardest things actors have said they had to get through. It is such heightened language that it’s almost like learning a foreign language. Shakespeare’s play is tough and that’s what I think I love about it the most. The challenge is understanding. Once you have that then you have room to play with it.

Therefore, if people walked into a Shakespeare’s play with more of an open mind, their experience would be so much better. There is an immense amount of exploration and discovery in his plays and the experience can be really satisfying. It’s hard stuff, but it’s fascinating and we should be embracing it.

1. What’s the main idea of the passage?

A．The characteristics of Shakespeare’s plays.

B．How to perform Shakespeare’s plays successfully.

C．The importance and way of enjoying Shakespeare’s plays.

D．How to understand the tough language of Shakespeare’s plays.

2. What’s the biggest challenge in understanding Shakespeare’s plays?

A．The plot and topics.

B．The challenging language.

C．Understanding the characters.

D．How to understand from the start.

3. What does the underlined word mean in paragraph 2?

A．Outstanding and lively.

B．Strange and mechanical.

C．Complicated and difficult.

D．High-leveled and interesting.

4. What does the writer suggest you do when enjoying Shakespeare’s plays?

A．Act them out.

B．Remember the lines in them.

C．Learn Shakespeare’s language.

D．Enjoy them with an open mind.

【推荐1】The human sense of smell is closely associated with our emotions. We use our limbic system — the part of the brain which is thought to control emotion — to connect our sense of smell to our feelings. Before people even recognize a smell, the deepest parts of the brain have already been stimulated (激发) and an emotional response has been triggered.

Research has shown that humans can react emotionally to smells that we can barely even notice. In one study at a major university in Chicago, three smells were given to thirty-one volunteers. The smells were of different concentrations, and some were so low that they were hardly detectable to the human nose. The different smells used were: a pleasant lemon scent (气味), a neutral anisole (中性苯甲醚), or an unpleasantly sweaty smelling acid. First, the volunteers were asked to press a button to show whether they had smelled anything or not. Then they were shown a picture of a face, which they had to rate for its likeability using a six-point marking system.

The results of the study showed that when people knew they had been exposed to a smell, it did not influence the way they judged the likeability of the faces. However, when they believed they had not smelled anything, but had actually been exposed to one of the scents, the ratings of face likeability changed. Exposure to very low concentrations of acid, so low that they were undetectable, tended to produce a negative response to a face. By comparison, after smelling lemon scent but again detecting no smell, participants rated faces as generally likeable. These findings support other research into sense perception (感觉), whether it is smell, sight, or hearing, which shows that subliminal (潜意识的) sensory information does affect our perceptions.

1. Which word can best replace “triggered” in Paragraph 1?

A．Stopped.	B．Changed.
C．Controlled.	D．Started.

2. What is the purpose of paragraph 2?

A．To discuss how smells are connected to emotions.

B．To explain why the research is important.

C．To describe how the study was done.

D．To report the results of the study.

3. What conclusion does the author come to?

A．Pleasant and unpleasant smells have the same effect on people.

B．This study’s results agree with those of previous studies.

C．Other senses aren’t connected to perception the way smell is.

D．Scents have almost no influence on people’s emotions.

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

A．Effects of scents on emotions

B．What influences how we feel?

C．Our sensitive sense of smell

D．Techniques and senses

【推荐2】Break Through the Noise

By Tim Staples & Josh Young

The chance of getting a video onto YouTube's front page is 1-in-20, 000, 000, but Tim Stales, founder and CEO of Shareability, knows how to make the algorithms (算法) of Google, and Facebook work for you — and he has the results to prove it, with a business that has gotten their videos onto You videos onto YouTube's front page an amazing 25. Here he shows marketers, businessmen, and those who want to be famous can develop clever videos that collect millions of views.

Girl, stop Apologizing.

By Rachel Hollis

Rachel Hollis has seen it too often: women not living into their full potential. In Girl, Stop Apologizing, Rachel Hollis sounds a wake-up call. She knows that many women have been taught to define themselves in light of other people — whether as wife, mother, daughter, or employee — instead of learning how to know who they are and what they want.

The Ride of a Lifetime

By Robert Iger

Robert Iger became CEO of The Walt Disney Company in 2005, during a difficult time. Competition was more intense than ever and technology was changing faster than at any time in the company's history. In The Ride of a Lifetime, Robert Iger shares the lessons he's learned while running Disney and leading its 200, 000 employees, and he explores the principles that are necessary for true leadership.

Stillness Is the Key

By Ryan Holiday

In Stillness is the Key, Holiday shows why slowing down is the secret weapon for those charging ahead. All great leaders, thinkers, artists, and athletes share one quality. It enables them to concentrate, to achieve happiness and to do the right thing. Ryan Holiday calls it stillness to be steady while the world spins (旋转) around you.

1. What does Break Through the Noise intend to teach us?

A．How to avoid noises.	B．How to share videos.
C．How to attract attention.	D．How to become wealthy.

2. What is The Ride of a Lifetime mainly about?

A．Some life lessons.	B．Some personal stories.
C．Ways to live a happy life.	D．Ways to manage a business.

3. Which of the following can help us to stay focused?

A．Break Through the Noise.	B．Girl, Stop Apologizing.
C．The Ride of a Lifetime.	D．Stillness Is the Key.

【推荐3】John Harrison has an enviable job in most people’s opinion. He’s the official taster for Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream, one of the best-selling ice-cream brands in the U.S.A. On an average day, Harrison has to sample sixty ice creams at the Dreyer’s headquarters. When he isn’t doing that, he travels all over the country, buying Dreyer’s ice cream in supermarkets so that he can carry out spot checks for appearance and flavor. But, no matter how wonderful this job may sound, it is actually quite tough. It’s difficult work, requiring discipline, selflessness, and thorough preparation.

Before tasting a sample, Harrison uses his eyes first. If the ice cream doesn’t look attractive, he skips it. Then, he uses a gold spoon instead of one made of wood, plastic, or other metals. This is because regular spoons leave an aftertaste that can dull the taste buds(味蕾). In addition, the temperature of the ice cream may also influence the taster’s taste buds.

When Harrison samples ice cream, he first takes only a small bite of the ice cream, swishes it around in his mouth to introduce it to each of his taste buds, lightly licks his lips, and then gently breathes in so as to bring the smell up through the back of his mouth to his nose. With each step, he carefully sizes up whether the ice cream conveys the ideal balance between dairy sweetness and the flavor of the added ingredients. And last of all, no matter what the ice cream tastes like, he spits(吐) it out, since a full stomach makes for a dull palate(迟钝的味觉).

For Harrison, keeping a sharp palate means no onions, garlic, or cayenne pepper. He also doesn’t have any coffee or tea, since these block the taste buds. But to him, this is just a small price to pay for what he calls “the world’s best job” .

Harrison’s family has been in the ice-cream business for four generations, and Harrison himself has spent almost his whole life in it as well. Yet, he has never lost his love of the cold, creamy sweetness. He orders ice cream in restaurants for dessert, even when he’s not at work. On these occasions, he swallows the ice cream, taking in about a liter a week. Though he has gained some weight over the years he’s been with Dreyer’s, he couldn’t care less. “Who would trust a skinny ice-cream taster?” he jokes.

1. What is forbidden in Harrison’s job?

A．Doing shopping.	B．Eating the ice cream.
C．Using gold spoons.	D．Skipping the ice scream.

2. What can we learn about Harrison?

A．He learned his work skills from his family.

B．His job affects his appetite for the ice cream.

C．He is willing to give up something for his job.

D．He has to gain some weight to meet the need of work.

3. What does Harrison think of his job?

A．Creative.	B．Ordinary.
C．High-paying.	D．Proud.

4. What is the main purpose of the passage?

A．To describe Harrison’s job and how he does it.

B．To analyze the reasons why Harrison chose his job.

C．To make suggestions on how to apply for popular careers.

D．To introduce the advantages of working for a best-selling brand.

【推荐1】In the United States in recent years, camping has become very popular. Every summer, thousands of families leave the city behind to spend weekends and vacations outdoors. Some families take along trailers(拖车). Others load their cars with tents, small stoves, and air­filled sleeping mattresses(床垫). Then they head for one of the country's many campgrounds.

Some campgrounds offer campers little more than clean water and places to pitch their tents or park their trailers. People who go to these places like to “rough it.” Other campgrounds offer campers such comforts as electricity, outdoor fireplaces, and even showers.

In the United States, most campgrounds are publicly owned. The national parks and many national monuments and national forests have land set aside for campers. State governments also run campgrounds in state­owned parks and forests. Even countries and cities may have their own campgrounds.

A few years ago, campers could always find room to camp in a public campground. But today, government­owned campgrounds are often overcrowded. To meet the needs of the ever­growing number of campers, some businessmen are opening privately owned land to campers.

More private campgrounds are opening across the country. The campers usually pay a higher fee than they pay at government­owned grounds. But many private parks also offer more comforts. And as public parks and forests become greatly overcrowded, private campgrounds will give more people the chance to enjoy camping.

1. The story is mainly about ______.

A．new campgrounds that will give more people a chance to camp

B．the problems of running the national parks and national forests

C．how countries and cities can have their own campgrounds

D．why camping has become so popular in the USA

2. Most campgrounds are ______.

A．national monuments	B．governed by cities
C．privately owned	D．publicly owned

3. The word in the last paragraph that means “payment or charge” is “______”.

A．campgrounds	B．fee
C．comforts	D．campers

4. Which statement does the story lead you to believe?

A．Each country and city will have to build its own campgrounds.

B．All people who go camping like to “rough it”.

C．Many people who go camping live in big cities.

D．Fewer and fewer people like to camp in the country.

【推荐2】Some people believe that international sport creates goodwill between the nations and that if countries play games together they will learn to live together. Others say that the opposite is true: international contests encourage false national pride and lead to misunderstanding and hatred. There is probably some truth in both arguments, but in recent years the Olympic Games have done little to support the view that sports encourage international brotherhood. Not only was there the incident of tragedy involving murders of athletes, but the Games were also ruined by lesser incidents caused principally by minor national contests.

One country received its second-place medals with visible anger after the hockey final. There had been noisy scenes at the end of the hockey match, as the losers disagreed with the final decisions. They believed that one of their goals should have been allowed and that their opponents' victory was unfair. Their manager was in great anger when he said: “This isn't hockey. Hockey and the International Hockey Federation are finished.” The president of the Federation said later that such behavior could result in the suspension(停赛) of the team for at least three years.

The American basketball team announced that they would not yield first place to Russia, after a disputable(有争议的) end to their contest. The game had ended in disorder. It was thought at first that the United States had won by a single point, but it was announced that there were three seconds still to play. A Russian player then threw the ball from one end of the court to the other, and another player popped it into the basket. It was the first time the US had ever lost an Olympic basketball match. An appeal jury (评审委员会) debated the matter for four and a half hours before announcing that the result would stand. The American players then voted not to receive the silver medals.

Incidents of this kind will continue as long as sport is played competitively rather than for the love of the game. The suggestion that athletes should compete as individuals or in non-national teams, might be too much to hope for. But in the present organization of the Olympics there is far too much that encourages aggressive patriotism (爱国主义).

1. According to the author, recent Olympic Games have _______.

A．created goodwill between the nations

B．hardly showed any international friendship

C．caused only false national pride

D．led to more and more misunderstanding and hatred

2. What did the manager mean by saying, “...Hockey and the International Hockey Federation are finished”?

A．Hockey and the Federation are ruined by the unfair decisions.

B．His team would no longer take part in international games.

C．There should be no more hockey matches organized by the Federation.

D．The Federation should be ended.

3. Which statement best summarizes this passage?

A．Athletes should compete as individuals.

B．Different teams often have disputes when fighting for the first place.

C．Any team that has disrespectful behavior should be suspended.

D．The organization of the Olympic Games must be improved.

【推荐3】It’s good to make mistakes, and here is why.

First of all, mistakes are a clear sign that we are trying new things. It’s always good to try new things because when we are trying new things, we are growing. If we never try anything new, how can we improve? How can we expand? The simple answer is “We can’t”. Look around us. With very few exceptions, either everything you see in your physical world or every single detail of every single thing is the result of someone trying something new.

Another good thing about mistakes is this: When we are making mistakes, we are learning. Consider this --- Edison failed 10,000 times before he perfected the light bulb. When asked how it felt to fail that many times, he said that he had learned 10,000 things that didn’t work.

Finally, when we make a mistake, we are much closer to success. Why? Because when all is said and done, we will have tried some number of things before we succeeded. Every time we make a mistake, we eliminate one of those things and are one step closer.

But all this doesn’t mean that we should go through life without considering the consequences of a mistake. Quite the contrary, when we try something new, we have to be willing to set some reasonable limits so that in the event that it doesn’t work out the way we want it to, we will be in a position to try again. We all have limited resources --in the form of time and money -- so we shouldn’t blow them all on one approach to a problem. Realize that it probably won’t be perfect the first time and allocate these resources appropriately so we can learn, make corrections, and try it again. Only by accepting and using our mistakes in this way can we make significant advances in our lives.

There is an old saying that goes, “If you’re not making mistakes, you’re not trying hard enough.” So go forth and make mistakes. And learn. And grow. And prosper.

1. From the second paragraph, we can conclude that ________.

A．mistakes are unnecessary for development	B．mistakes let us see our own limits
C．it’s common for people to make mistakes	D．making mistakes is better than not trying

2. According to the passage, if we try new things, we can ________.

A．move forward

B．never fail

C．obtain nothing

D．be closer to mistakes

3. The underlined word “eliminate” means ________.

A．make up for

B．get rid of

C．avoid

D．solve

4. According to the article, one thing we should pay attention to about making mistakes is ________.

A．avoiding making the same mistakes	B．accepting the outcome willingly
C．making proper arrangements for our next try	D．reflecting on the consequences after each mistake

5. The article is mainly about ________.

A．how to deal with mistakes	B．what benefits making mistakes brings
C．how to achieve success	D．how to make use of our mistakes

6. What may the writer probably suggest we say to ourselves when we make a mistake?

A．Never mind, I tried my best.	B．That’s all right. I’ll try again.
C．Great! Now I have learned something.	D．Look at this mess. Anyone would be upset.