【推荐1】One weekend, Taylor, an eight-year-old girl, went shopping with her parents. She asked her parents to buy a toy she wanted. Instead of giving her money to buy the toy, Taylor’s father encouraged her to make money by herself. “How can I make money?” Taylor thought for a while and had an idea, “Why not make cakes and sell them at church to raise money to buy the toy?”

The next day. Taylor started her plan. She first needed some money for tools and materials. So she borrowed $40 from her parents and promised to pay it back. Then she began to make cakes by herself. To her parents’ surprise, she made $175 by selling the cakes that Sunday.

Everyone thought Taylor would buy the toy she wanted. She certainly had made enough money for it, but she didn’t. Instead, Taylor decided to buy business cards and had her father’s phone number on them. Then she began handing the cards out. More people knew Taylor and came to buy her cakes. Even large companies began to try buying her delicious cakes.

Though Taylor has made a lot of money, she still works hard at school. She also likes to take part in other activities. So Taylor must carefully manage her time. For example, instead of watching TV after school, Taylor might have to bake（烘焙）a lot of cakes for customers. When she has dance lessons on some days, she needs to get her baking done on time so she isn’t late for class.

Making cakes may take time and be hard work, but Taylor sees the fun in it. “I think making cakes is mostly my hobby.” she says. She also decorates（装饰）the boxes that are used to pack the cakes. Taylor uses all kinds of decorations to make sure each box looks special for her customers. People love the extra feeling Taylor gives them by decorating the boxes, so more and more people come for her cakes.

Taylor’s cakes are becoming very popular. She achieves a sweet success.

1. Why dig Taylor start selling cakes?

A．Because she loved baking cakes very much.

B．Because she wanted to make a lot of money.

C．Because her parents encouraged her to sell cakes.

D．Because she needed money to buy the toy she wanted.

2. How mainly did Taylor tell people about her cake business?

A．By handing out business cards.

B．By selling her cakes at church.

C．By advertising at her dance class.

D．By inviting large companies to buy her cakes.

3. What happens to Taylor after she has made a lot of money?

A．She doesn’t work hard at school.

B．She can’t manage her time well.

C．She sees the fun in her cake business.

D．She is too busy to take part in other activities.

4. What is the author’s main purpose to write the article?

A．To explain how to buy a toy.

B．To teach us how to make good cakes.

C．To show us that it is fun to sell cakes.

D．To introduce a girl who is talented in business.

【推荐2】One day Mrs. Smith was sitting in her doctor’s waiting room when a young boy and his mother entered the office. The young boy caught Mrs. Smith’s attention because he wore a patch over one eye. She was surprised at how unaffected he seemed to be by the loss of an eye and watched as he followed his mother to a chair nearby.

The doctor’s office was very busy that day, so Mrs. Smith had an opportunity to ask the little boy what had happened to his eye while he played with his soldiers. He considered her question for a long moment, then replied,” I’m a pirate!” Then he returned to his game.

Mrs. Smith was there because she had lost her leg from the knee down in an auto accident. Her trip today was to determine whether it had healed enough to be fitted with a prosthesis. The loss had been a disaster to her. Intellectually, she knew that this loss should not interfere with her life; but emotionally, she just couldn’t overcome this obstacle. Her doctor had suggested imagination, but she had been unable to imagine such an emotionally unacceptable, lasting image.

The word “pirate” changed her life. Instantly, she was transported. She saw herself dressed as Long John Silver, standing aboard a pirate ship. She stood with her legs wide apart—one artificial. Her hands were clenched at her hips, her head up and her shoulders back, as she smiled into a storm. Cold water blew across the board as great waves broke against the ship. Still she stood firmly — proud, fearless.

A few minutes later, the nurse called her. As she balanced on her walking sticks, the young boy noticed her amputation. “Hey, lady,” he called, “what’s wrong with your leg?”

Mrs. Smith looked down at her shortened leg for a moment. Then she replied with a smile, “Nothing. I’m a pirate, too.”

1. According to the first two paragraphs, which word can best describe the boy?

A．Enthusiastic.

B．curious.

C．athletic.

D．optimistic.

2. We can infer from the underlined sentences that _______________.

A．The pirate’s life attracted Mrs. Smith a lot

B．Mrs. Smith became a pirate after she left the hospital

C．What the boy said had a great influence on Mrs. Smith’s life attitude.

D．Mrs. Smith got to know the meaning of the word and became a knowledgeable person

3. What can we learn from this story?

A．Let bygones be bygones.

B．Whatever is worth doing is worth doing well.

C．We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are.

D．A lack of imagination is lack of the half life of beauty.

【推荐3】The idea came to him when he least expected it. Alvin Irby was at a barbershop when he saw one of his former students sitting in the shop with a bored look on his face. That’s when Irby realized that by pairing barbershops and books, he might be able to inspire young boys to read.

Alvin Irby, a former kindergarten and first-grade teacher, knows how important it is for young children to read. He also knows that young boys in particular often don’t have adult male role models who inspire them to read. “Many young boys may literally never see a man reading in school during the years when they’re learning to read because there are so few male elementary school teachers,” Irby toldMashable.

That’s where the barbershops come in. Four years ago, Irby launched Barbershop Books as a way to not just get books into the hands of young boys, but also to create community reading spaces in a place where kids go frequently. Since itsinceptionin 2013, the program has created kid-friendly reading spaces in 50 barbershops in 12 states throughout the United States.

Irby isn’t the first person to see the connection between barbershops and books and boys. Hair stylist Courtney Holmes, launched a program a few years ago offering free haircuts to kids as long as they read to him while he cuts their hair.

That’s the kind of environment that Irby wants to promote with his program. The reading spaces created by Barbershop Books help to spark an interest in books by showing kids that reading is about more than just spelling and vocabulary skills, it’s about making reading a low-stress activity that can help them relax, laugh and have fun.

“Our belief is that if we can create positive reading experiences early and often for young boys, then they will choose to read for fun,” Irby noted, adding, “This is really what Barbershop Books is about, getting young boys to say three words: I’m a reader.”

1. What happened to Alvin when he was at a barbershop?

A．He found it easy for young people to get bored.

B．He offered a barbershop to his former student.

C．He thought of a way to encourage young readers.

D．He realized the importance of reading for young boys.

2. What is the function of Barbershop Books?

A．To attract more customers who love films.

B．To provide free haircuts to book lovers.

C．To show the influence of reading on children.

D．To create a reading environment for children.

3. It can be inferred from the passage that ________.

A．reading is a low-stress activity that is relaxing

B．Barbershop Books is only suitable for young boys

C．Irby attaches great importance to school education

D．Barbershop Books can arouse (引起) young people’s interest in reading

4. What does the underlined word “inception” in the 3^rdparagraph mean?

A．discovery.	B．success.
C．popularity.	D．beginning.

【推荐2】Tyler and I stopped by our corner store. A few police cars caught Tyler's attention. ''Mom, can I use my allowance money and buy the policemen some doughnuts to say 'thank you'? '' he asked.

''Certainly! '' I said, feeling proud that I was achieving my aim to raise my children to be grateful, tender-hearted and caring.

After we left the store, Tyler asked a question that would change our lives and the lives of countless others forever.

''Why were the police so happy about the doughnuts? ''

I explained some people are not always friendly to police officers. Tyler was very sad to hear this, and instead of shrugging it off, he said that he was going to thank every cop in America and buy them each a doughnut!

I was shocked, but it never occurred to me to say ''no''. In fact, I thought it was an excellent but unachievable idea. I suggested many other options, but nothing was enough for him on the new found mission (使命)

I didn't know how to put this passion into action, but I knew one thing: Tyler had found his purpose, and it was my duty to help him. I e-mailed our local police office and asked if Tyler could host a thank-you event for them. They were delighted. At the event, they called Tyler ''The Donut Boy'', a name that has become known throughout the nation.

Then we kept planning thank- you events and many caring people joined. We were invited to TV stations, and flew to Washington, D.C. for National Police Week. It has been three years since a simple act of kindness sparked a wonderful idea in an eight-year-old boy.

In forty-eight states, more than 90,000 doughnuts have been delivered so far, with no end in sight. We've made memories that will last a lifetime, but most importantly, we have served those who serve us daily and made our mark on this world.

1. What quality of Tyler made the author feel proud?

A．Independence.	B．Honesty.
C．Kindness.	D．Cautiousness.

2. How did the author react to Tyler's wish to thank all the police at first?

A．She praised him for his ambition.	B．She told him it was impossible.
C．She expressed her doubt about it.	D．She tried to change his idea.

3. Which of the following is true according to the text?

A．Tyler got the idea of buying the policemen doughnuts from the author.

B．The policemen were confused about Tyler's behavior.

C．Tyler has achieved his mission.

D．More people joined Tyler in doing Thank-you events.

4. What is the author trying to tell us?

A．A grateful heart can make a difference.	B．Curiosity is the key to children growth.
C．It's never too old to learn.	D．It's better to be famous at an early age.

【推荐1】As a dad of 4 children, Joel Wegener of Loveland, Ohio, is always looking out for his kids. That includes Mary Kate, who is 18. She has Down syndrome （唐氏综合征）, which, unfortunately, has made it difficult for her to find employment.

Mary Kate finished up at Pathways, a program designed for people of all abilities, not long ago. While she was there, she was often asked questions about what she would like to do. Her answer---“I wanna work with Papa. ” That's when Joel decided to take action to make her dreams come true.

One of his first steps was buying an ice cream truck. Fittingly, he was able to purchase one from another family with special needs in Indiana. Soon after, his wife came up with a perfect name for their new business: Special Neat Treats.

Although their business is still relatively new, they're already a massive hit! In fact, according to Joel, they're “exceeding expectations” with thousands of desserts sold. They're even planning on expanding outside of the Cincinnati area with more trucks next summer.

All the while Joel is spending precious time with his child and teaching her valuable financial and social skills, such as how to manage money and how to interact with customers. One thing the teen loves best is smiling and waving to customers who, according to Mary, go crazy for their ice cream!

Joel created this business for his kid, but their mission goes beyond their family. It's about the special needs community as a whole and raising awareness about the difficulties they face. Joel shows other parents that there is something creative out of the box hat we can come up with for our family and for our kids to do.

“Almost every time I find a family with special needs, it's just been an unbelievable journey, ”Joel said. “No matter what your abilities are, there's something that you can do and you can spread joy and interact with other people. ”

1. What is Mary Kate's dream?

A．To hunt for a job.	B．To work with her father.
C．To get good grades at Pathways.	D．To help families with special needs.

2. Who gave the new business a name?

A．Mary Kate.

B．Joel Wegener.

C．Mary Kate's mother.

D．Mary Kate's teacher.

3. The author's main purpose of writing paragraph 6 is to show

A．difficulties the special community faces

B．dilemmas of parents educating their children

C．the government's ways to deal with teenage problems

D．meanings of Joel creating the business for his daughter

4. Which of the following can best describe Joel as a father?

A．Weak but determined.	B．Strict but caring.
C．Wise and humorous.	D．Supportive and considerate.

【推荐3】Pablo Picasso was born on October 25 in Malaga, Spain in 1881. Taking after his father, Picasso shared a passion (热爱) for painting and art. Even though he wasn't the best student in school, Picasso excelled at drawing. Noticing his amazing talent, Picasso's father, an artist, taught him everything he knew. Before long, Picasso could paint and draw much better than his father. With this rich talent, Picasso paid less and less attention to his schoolwork and spent the majority of his day sketching and drawing in notepads and sketchbooks.

When he was a little bit older, Picasso moved twice and was accepted into two fine art programs. However, he didn't care very much for the special techniques they taught and often wandered the streets by himself drawing the scenes around him. After moving to these two places, Picasso moved back home to Barcelona and decided that he would develop new techniques of art and painting based on what he saw.

Later, Picasso decided to move to Paris, France, where he began perfecting his own techniques of painting, drawing and other forms of art. His drawings, paintings and art included pieces about sadness, poverty, classics and self-portraits. One of his major types of work is called cubism   (立体派), which includes art with all sizes of geometric shapes together on the piece of art. This type of art is very important because no other artists had come up with the idea before. Picasso decided to try something new, and as a result, cubism is widely accepted today as a classic style of art.

Picasso inspires us to be always thinking. He tells us to think outside the box and come up with fresh new ideas that can change the world. He surely plays an important role in the art field.

1. What do we know about Picasso as a student at school?

A．He shared a passion for his schoolwork.

B．He was very proud of his paintings.

C．He showed great talent for drawing.

D．He was often praised by his teacher.

2. What did Picasso's father do when he found Picasso's gift?

A．He encouraged Picasso to do better at school.

B．He felt angry at Picasso for his laziness.

C．He asked Picasso to finish his work on time.

D．He tried his best to help Picasso.

3. What was Picasso's attitude towards the special techniques at that time?

A．He show no interest in them.	B．He thought highly of them.
C．He was curious about them.	D．He was concerned about them.

4. What does the author tell us in the last two paragraphs?

A．Picasso decided to go to Paris to sell his drawings.

B．Picasso has greatly changed the world a lot.

C．Picasso is a highly creative and influential artist.

D．Picasso can do anything he wants to.

【推荐1】

When the natural climate changes due to global warming, it can surely affect seals. The majority of them live in the Antarctic region so as the ice is melting, their natural habitat can be seriously affected. These changes don’t take place overnight. They can be the result of many years of additional temperatures in the area. The seals then have to find ways to adapt.

Seals depend on the cool air currents to bring plenty of food for them. When the temperature gets higher there is less and less food and the seal population starts to shrink. Mothers aren’t healthy enough to feed their babies. Many of them end up abandoned as the mothers have to leave to find their own source of food.

The fact that their desire to produce young can be changed by the warmer temperature is frightening too. It is also believed that the warmer temperature can allow different diseases and viruses to attack the seals. This is a huge concern as they can rapidly wipe out huge numbers of seals out there.

However, these changes in climate and temperature aren’t all bad for other species of seals. Scientists have found that those living in warmer climates are producing more young due to the changes. Research also shows that the females are moving further to find food and water. When they are out of the reach of the governing males, they are more willing to accept the moves of other males in the group.

This is good news too because it means that there will be more selection in the gene pool (基因库) for future generations. It can help the seals as a species adapt to changes in their natural environment more easily.

The climate change problem for seals is directly linked to humans.When we take action to change what we let out into the environment, we will make positive changes for the seals. However, it is going to take a very long time to reverse (彻底改变) the effects of what has already been done.

1. What does the author regard climate changes for seals as?

A．A double-edged sword.

B．An unavoidable disaster for existence.

C．A mirror of evolution.

D．A requirement for more choice in the gene pool.

2. What will happen to the seals in warmer climates?

A．Their number will be on the increase.

B．The female seals will be in the lead.

C．Their genes will change a great deal.

D．The females will keep away from the males.

3. Which of the following can be the best title for the text?

A．The Importance of Protecting Seals

B．Seals’ Adaptation to Climate Change

C．How Climate Change Affects Seals

D．Why Are Seals Becoming Less and Less

【推荐2】There’s nothing magical about the number 10,000. In fact, the idea of walking at least 10,000 steps a day for health goes back many years to a marketing campaign started in Japan for the sale of a pedometer (计步器). And, in the years that followed, it was accepted in the US as a goal to build up good health. It’s often the default setting (默认设置) on fitness trackers, but what’s it really based on?

“The original basis of the number was not scientifically determined,” says researcher I-Min Lee of Brigham and Women’s Hospital. She was curious to know how many steps you need to take a day to maintain good health and live a long life, so she and her workmates designed a study that included about 17,000 older women. Their average age was 72. The women all agreed to wear devices to track their steps as they went about their day-to-day activities.

It turns out that women who took about 4,000 steps per day got an increase in longevity (长寿), compared with women who took fewer steps. In fact, women who took 4,400 steps per day, on average, were about 40 percent less likely to die during the follow-up period of about four years compared with women who took 2,700 steps. The findings were published Wednesday in JAMA Internal Medicine.

Another surprise: The benefits of walking maxed out at about 7,500 steps. In other words, women who walked more than 7,500 steps per day saw no additional increase in longevity.

Janz, who released the new national exercise recommendations last November, says the message that comes from this study was encouraging. “I think it’s really good news for women who may not be particularly active.” says Janz. “All they have to do is walk. To me, this study suggests there are more benefits to light activities than we were previously thinking there might be.”

1. How did the idea of walking 10,000 steps a day come into being?

A．It was made up by a group of elderly ladies.

B．It was indeed the result of a scientific research.

C．It actually came from a business advertisement.

D．It was based on a test by both Japan and the US.

2. Which is an ideal choice for women walkers according to the study?

A．2,700 steps.	B．4,400 steps.
C．10,000 steps.	D．17,000 steps.

3. Which of the following does Janz agree with?

A．Light activities benefit people most.

B．The study is not as satisfying as expected.

C．Women should be more active than before.

D．The result of the study is a little surprising.

4. In which part of a newspaper can you read the passage?

A．Health.	B．Culture.
C．History.	D．Tourism.

【推荐3】It could be said that the northernmost part of our planet holds the secrets of our past as well as our future.

Through our exploration of the Arctic, scientists have discovered more about the biodiversity (生物多样性) of the area as well as how to preserve Earth’s ecosystems. Yet as one of the most severe but most primitive (原始的) places on Earth, the Arctic has been affected by human activities---research and exploration, booming tourism and above all, global warming---in recent decades.

Jonathan Smith, producer of the BBC documentary Blue Planet II, shared his filming experience in the Arctic. “We were all set and ready to film but we needed two major things---walrus (海象) and ice. I had expected that walrus may be hard to find, but I didn't expect it to be hard to find ice,” he told the BBC. “The crew was all commenting on how surprisingly warm it was.”

They were not mistaken. Scientists have been recording changes in the Arctic. Its sea ice minimum in summer, for example, has reduced by 40 percent in the past 30 years, NASA data showed. These changes have had bad influences on the Arctic and the human, animal and plant life that calls it home.

But the effects of these changes are not limited to the inhabitants of this area alone. In fact, it could be said that the weight of the world relies on this icy region. The Earth’s steady climate depends on the Arctic’s sea ice, which acts as a huge white reflector (反光体) at the top of the planet, bouncing some of the sun’s rays back into space. The more Arctic sea ice melts, the less light is reflected, and the more the dark oceans will absorb the sun’s radiation. The Arctic also helps circulate ocean movement, moving cold and warm water around the globe.

With visible changes in the global climate, the Arctic has given us a wake-up call---what happens “up in the North” doesn’t just stay there. It comes with a high cost to the world at large. It's time for us to pay attention to this chilly region and learn more about what’s happening there, as well as its past and possible future.

1. According to the passage, which of the following is the most threatening challenge the Arctic faces?

A．Coldness.

B．Darkness.

C．Global warming.

D．Wilderness.

2. Why does the author quote Jonathan Smith’s words in Paragraph 3?

A．To give an example.	B．To support an idea.
C．To clarify a question.	D．To provide more information.

3. Why are the effects of the changes in the Arctic so important to the whole world?

A．The sea ice absorbs the sun’s radiation to keep the Earth’s climate steady.

B．The Arctic helps circulate air around the world.

C．The Arctic is home to the human, animal and plant life.

D．The sea ice helps reduce global warming by reflecting the sunlight.

4. Which word best describes the author’s attitude to the present situation of the Arctic?

A．Concerned.

B．Approving.

C．Optimistic.

D．Contradictory.