【推荐1】When you hear the word "birthmark", you probably think of one of those black or brown spots that you have on your body. For me, it's different -I have them on my lips and inside my mouth. I'm used to being asked, "What are those black marks on your lips?" When I tell people they're birthmarks, they usually say, "That's strange." I used to consider them ugly. However, my mom calls them beauty marks

In pictures, I used to hide my birthmarks by pursing（噘起）my lips so I wouldn't have to deal with people's questions. As I was growing up, people wore me out with them. Some people would ask me the same questions even before knowing my name. In society I feel like we judge people by their looks before their personality.

My birthmarks are caused by a genetic condition from my mom's side of the family. My mom's mom has birthmarks on her lips, and my mom's uncle and my uncle have some on their bodies. Every year I plan to have a procedure to remove them. But when imagining the process, I always get nervous and give up.

My cousin faces a similar challenge. She has a huge birthmark that takes up her whole arm. She's never tried to hide it or change her appearance. Once, her grandmother told her that the birthmark looked extremely prominent and suggested that she should wear long sleeves more often. If my cousin had actually taken that suggestion, she wouldn't be such a person as she is.

Inspired by my cousin, I am finally accepting who I am and now I don't hesitate when someone asks me about them either. I say, "They`re beauty marks" and smile without pursing my lips.

1. How did the author feel when asked about the birthmarks?

A．She was bored to be faced with the question.

B．She felt annoyed to give others an answer.

C．She was scared to be made fun of by people.

D．She felt excited to show her difference.

2. Who has the similar birthmarks like the author?

A．Her mother.	B．Her grandmother.
C．Her cousin	D．Her uncle.

3. What can be inferred about the author's cousin?

A．She dislikes talking about her birthmark.

B．She is more confident than the author.

C．She never judges others by their looks.

D．She has taken her grandma's suggestion.

4. What does the underlined word "prominent" in paragraph 4 mean?

A．Brilliant.	B．Harmful
C．Obvious.	D．Impressive

【推荐2】On the night of November 14, 1978,a six-year-old Korean boy was flying to the United   States. All he knew was that he was on a plane heading for somewhere. The plane landed at   Kennedy International Airport, where he was greeted by a family. This young boy was me.
I have grown up in a town where there were few Asians, so I stuck out in the crowd. I   made friends quickly and they treated me just like anyone else. You may ask if anyone made   fun of my appearance. Well, of course, I met that' kind of person. I just shrugged it off.
As an adopted child, I have something that others don't have. I have had the benefit of two   families. I'm lucky to have got a chance to start a new life. But we must try never to forget our   past. Someday I will go back to Korea to find out what kind of culture I left behind.
There is only one thing that I regret about being adopted. When I argue with my parents and they realize they are losing the argument, they sometimes wonder what I would be doing if   I were back in Korea. I don't understand this because I thought the purpose of adopting   someone was to give them a better chance of growing up in a family. Some day when I am   older, I want to adopt a girl and raise her the way my parents have raised me, but I would do it   better, for I know what went well and what did not.
1. We learn that when the writer was on the way to his new family,______.

A．he was with his own parents

B．he was very happy and excited

C．he was about ten years old then

D．he didn't know he was going to be adopted

2. If someone sticks out in the crowd, it means that he/she_______.

A．is very good-looking

B．is very kind-hearted

C．is easily noticed by others

D．is disliked by others

3. When the writer was made fun of by others, he _______.

A．was deeply hurt

B．wanted to go back to Korea

C．didn’t care about it that much

D．tried to make friends with them

4. What can we learn from Paragraph 3?

A．The writer wants to forget his past.

B．The writer isn't sad about being adopted.

C．The writer isn't interested in Korean culture.

D．The writer aren't know anything about Korea.

5. What does the writer want to do when he is older?

A．Go back to live with his parents in Korea.

B．Tell his parents what they have done wrong.

C．Find out how to raise children in a better way.

D．Adopt a girl and raise her in a good way.

【推荐3】When I was little, I always wanted a luxurious house. That was my idea to be successful. I took all the classes with full carefulness and tried to do well in the exams with my mind set on going to a key school. I just knew that I would somehow become famous and be able to afford the dream house. All the way through junior years, my mind was planning this wonderful future.

Then in the tenth grade, many losses changed my mind. First, one of my friends died at 16. Soon after, my great-grandmother passed away, followed by my beloved fourth-grade teacher. These events left me not knowing what to do or where to go. Death had never touched me so closely.

After a long period of emptiness, it finally struck me: Life is not promised and neither is future success. Though I was attempting to achieve material success, I was not enjoying my daily life. I realized that finding inner peace, purpose and happiness will stick with me forever and that is real success.

Enjoying life's precious quirks(偶发事件) makes an ordinary person more successful than a wealthy person who isn't content and takes everything for granted. The summer before senior years, my attitude changed greatly. Instead of memorizing facts, I began learning skills. Instead of focusing on the future, I focused on today and the many blessings and successes that came with it.

I still get excellent grades, but now I devote weeks to studying instead of struggling for exams, and I think about the future with a deeper sense of meaning. For me, being successful means truly living life each day.

1. What’s the idea of success for the author at first?

A．Getting a great house	B．Taking classes carefully
C．Doing well in the exams	D．Being famous

2. Why did the author change his idea to be successful?

A．His beloved teacher was dead

B．He lost a few beloved persons in a short time

C．He couldn’t afford a house

D．He didn't know how to fight for the house

3. According to the passage, which of the following is true?

A．His teacher died before the death of his grandpa

B．He thought that life and success were not promised

C．He failed the exams after he changed his attitude

D．He didn’t want to achieve material success any longer

4. What does the author wants to tell the readers?

A．Material success is unnecessary

B．He was glad that he changed his mind

C．Set goals and work hard to be successful

D．Cherish every moment and truly live life

【推荐1】I have worked as a keeper at the National Zoo, Paris for 11 years. Spot and Stripe are the first tiger cubs that have ever been born here. Globally, a third of Sumatran cubs in zoos don't make it to adulthood, so I decided to give them round-the-clock care at home.

I've got two children—the younger one, Kynan, was extremely happy about the tigers arriving - but all of us really looked forward to being part of their lives and watching them grow. I wasn't worried about bringing them into my home with my wife and kids. These were cubs. They weighed about 2.5 kg and were so small that there was absolutely no risk.

As they grew more mobile, we let them move freely around the house during the day, but when we were asleep we had to contain them in a large room, otherwise they'd get up to mischief. We'd come down in the morning to find they'd turned the room upside down, and left it looking like a zoo.

Things quickly got very intense due to the huge amount of energy required to look after them. There were some tough times and I just felt extremely tired. I was grateful that my family was there to help. We had to have a bit of a production line going, making up “tiger milk”, washing baby bottles, and cleaning the floors.

When Spot and Stripe were four months old, they were learning how to open doors and jump fences, and we knew it really was time for them to go. It was hard for us to finally part with them. For the first few days, Kynan was always a bit disappointed that the cubs weren't there.

I'm not sad about it. I'm hands-on with them every day at the zoo, and I do look back very fondly on the time that we had them.

1. Why did the author bring the tiger cubs home?

A．To ensure their survival.

B．To observe their differences.

C．To teach them life skills.

D．To let them play with his kids.

2. What did the author think of raising the tiger cubs at home?

A．Boring.

B．Tiring.

C．Costly.

D．Risky.

3. Why did the author decide to send Spot and Stripe back to the zoo?

A．They frightened the children.

B．They became difficult to contain.

C．They annoyed the neighbours.

D．They started fighting each other.

【推荐2】17-year-old Elexis Webster grew up homeless with cruel family members and serious health problems. But Webster has got over these difficulties to become an honor student at her high school.

The teen spent her childhood living in dug-outs (防空洞), cars, and any place where her family could find shelter. She was treated cruelly by her mother, a drug user, who left her and her sister alone without food for days. Her older brother disturbed her study too many tunes. Her poor living conditions led to her becoming extremely weak, which caused her to miss school often.

However, she got a 4.1 GPA in the exam, though many wouldn’t expect her to have such a hard life. Surviving in the family in an environment like that, she was able to come out of it, and she knew she had to make the best of what happened to her.

At 14, her mother was put in prison for leaving Webster and her sister in a car in the middle of a school day. The two girls were placed in foster care (寄养所) with a woman whom Webster still lives with. She calls her “Mema”.

“Mema”, who the teen sees as her mom, encouraged Webster as she returned school again. Even after missing three years of school, Webster was able to be excellent. Now Webster has planned to attend University of California at Los Angeles and study physics.

“I got to a place where I was able to keep going and push for higher than a 4.1 and push to get into a really great college or university. I see success. I see happiness and I see peace,” she told KPIX 5.

1. Where does Webster live now most probably?

A．In a car.	B．In the dug-out.
C．In foster care.	D．At the University of California.

2. Why was Webster’s mother put into prison?

A．She was always taking drugs.

B．She left her daughters alone in a car.

C．She stole food for her three children.

D．She didn’t let her children attend school.

3. What’s the future goal of Webster?

A．Becoming a physics teacher.

B．Earning enough money to buy a house.

C．Being admitted into a really good college.

D．Breaking away from her mother and brother.

4. What do we know about Webster?

A．She wouldn’t believe in anyone any longer.

B．She got a lot of help from her brother.

C．She was brought up in a warm family.

D．She got motherly love from Mema.

【推荐3】It was late one evening. I can’t remember what it was about, but my dad and I had a very big argument when my mom was away. We both said things we didn’t mean, and in the end I said, “I’m leaving.” And he said, “Good. The sooner, the better.”

I threw a few things in a suitcase and closed the door angrily behind me, not knowing where I was going. After walking aimlessly for about 20 minutes, I stopped at a local supermarket. Then my phone rang. It was my mom calling. She said, “Hey, Mary. Where are you？Dad is worried about you.”

“How can he worry about me？I’ve been away for nearly half an hour, but he didn’t call,” I said with annoyance(气恼). My anger returned and I remembered all the hateful things he’d shouted to me. “Listen, Mom. You can tell Dad that I’m fine. I’ll call you tomorrow,” I said and hung up.

I walked around the store, trying to get my thoughts together. By the time I paid for my purchases, it had been much later than I used to be out alone. When I left the supermarket, a large piece of white paper was in front of me. On the piece of white paper were these words: “Please come home! I miss you and I’m worried about you！”

Then a car pulled up beside me. Hanging out of the window was my dad. Beside him, smiling gently, sat my mom. And that’s when I started laughing. I laughed so hard that I cried. Despite my best efforts to run away from home, my father finally managed to track me down. I couldn’t leave now, not with him sitting there with caring eyes.

1. Hearing Mary decided to leave home, Mary’s father was very ________.

A．worried	B．nervous
C．angry	D．surprised

2. After her mother called her, Mary ________.

A．became angrier than before	B．gave in to her father
C．cried and calmed down	D．agreed to go home

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

A．Actions Mary regretted.	B．Goods Mary bought.
C．Telephone calls Mary made.	D．Lessons Mary learned.

4. What probably happened at the end of the story?

A．Mary’s mother hated her father.	B．Mary still refused to go home.
C．Mary’s father became angry again.	D．Mary returned home happily.

【推荐1】For several months, Cara has been working up the courage to approach her mom about what she saw on Instagram. Not long ago, the 11­year­old girl, like all the other kids in this story, discovered that her mom had been posting her photos for much of her life. “I’ve wanted to bring it up. It’s strange to see myself up there, and sometimes there are pictures I don’t like of myself, ”she said.

Like most other modern kids, Cara grew up immersed(沉迷…之中) in social media. While many kids may not yet have accounts themselves, their parents, schools, sports teams, and organizations have been organizing an online presence for them since birth. The shock of realizing that details about your life have been shared online without your permission or knowledge has become an important experience in the lives of many teenagers. Recently a parenting blogger(博主) wrote in a Washington Post essay(散文) that despite(不顾) her 14­year­old daughter’s horror at discovering that her mother had shared years of highly personal stories and information about her online, she simply could not stop posting on her blog and social media. The writer said that promising her daughter that she would stop posting her publicly on the Internet would mean shutting down a vital part of herself, which isn’t necessarily good for herself or her daughter.

But it’s not just crazy mommy bloggers who construct a child’s online identity; plenty of average parents do the same. There’s even a special word for it: sharenting. Almost a quarter of children begin their digital lives when parents upload their photos to the Internet, according to a study conducted by the Internet­security firm AVG. The study also found that 92 percent of kids under the age of 2 already have their own unique digital identity.

1. How does Cara feel about her mom’s behavior?

A．It’s aggressive.	B．It’s appropriate.
C．It’s annoying.	D．It’s favorable.

2. Why did the parenting blogger post about her daughter online?

A．Because it filled up her blog.	B．Because it showed off her success.
C．Because it recorded her stories.	D．Because it meant a lot to her.

3. Who are fond of sharenting?

A．A quarter of students.	B．Most ordinary parents.
C．Kids under the age of 2.	D．Some crazy bloggers.

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

A．Children’s New Trouble	B．Social Media
C．Kids’ Online Performance	D．Mommy Bloggers

【推荐2】Global warming is the increase of the earth’s average surface temperature due to the effect of greenhouse gases, for example, carbon dioxide, which traps heat that would otherwise escape from the earth. After the trees are cut down and more greenhouse gases are released. the “blanket” around the earth called the ozone layer（臭氧层）, will get thicker. This catches more heat and makes the earth hotter. Luckily, there are many things that every citizen of the earth can do to help reduce the effects of global warming, and it’s never too late or too early for children to take action.

The children should learn what a carbon footprint is. A carbon footprint is the amount of carbon and greenhouse gases people make as they lead the daily life and go about the normal activities. In other words, the carbon footprint is a measure of the environmental impact（冲击）the life has. To live an environmentally friendly life that doesn’t contribute to global warming, people-want to have the smallest carbon footprint possible.

Almost everything people do contributes to global warming and is related to fossil fuel consumption. These can be direct uses of fossil fuels, like riding in a gasoline-powered car, or indirect contributions to greenhouse gases, such as eating fruits or vegetables that have to be shipped from far way to reach their tables.

If a child wants to make a contribution to reducing global warming, he should ride a bicycle to the near park, school, his friend’s house, or anywhere else instead of taking the car. Or he may try to walk or jog, which is also helpful. In addition, although trains and buses often run on fossil fuels, on average, each person uses less energy and produces less pollution to run. Next time if children with their parents have to get around town or it’s too far to walk or bike, take the bus or other public transportation instead of asking for a ride.

1. What is the main reason for global warming?

A．Too much greenhouse gases are released.

B．The ozone layer has caught more heat.

C．Much more ozone layer has been released.

D．The increase of the earth’s inner temperature results in the global warming.

2. What is the main idea of Paragraph 2?

A．Life has an impact on carbon footprint.

B．The definition of a carbon footprint.

C．People should live an environmental friendly life.

D．People make a huge amount of carbon and greenhouse gases.

3. The author wants to write the passage for_________

A．children

B．parents

C．children educators

D．adults

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

A．What Can People Do To Use Less Energy?

B．Why Global Warming Affects Humans’ Life?

C．How Can Kids Help Reduce Global Warming?

D．How Does Carbon Footprints Measure Pollution?

【推荐3】To develop one’s taste in English, the most effective way is to read English books extensively (广泛地). Yet one may be at a loss to choose the suitable books, especially as a beginner. As a native Spanish, I would like to share some of my experience.

My first English novel was Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, recommended by many English teachers and professors as an ideal book for English learners. But my experience was somewhat disastrous. I had great difficulty in understanding the novel, let alone enjoying it. It's not the vocabulary that troubled me, but rather the way Austen made sentences, and her way of thinking, which seemed too distant to me at that time. My fading enthusiasm was much recovered after reading Hemingway's novel A Farewell to Arms. No long and complicated sentences. And I particularly liked his brief and simple style. So my first suggestion is, as a beginner, you’d better choose contemporary (当代的) novels instead of classical ones.

However, if you limit yourself to novels you will miss lot of treasures. English essays (散文) can at once inform you, interest you, and improve your taste in English. The best example is Bertrand Russell's work. Its language is plain, yet you cannot help feeling the simplicity and the sense of humor. His simple language enables his philosophy within the reach of ordinary people. Here comes my second suggestion — essays are indispensable.

Never follow others' recommendations and opinions blindly, however famous the person might be. We should open to different ideas, but always think and determine for ourselves. As a saying goes, one man’s meat is another man’s poison. With that in mind, we are sure to find out our favorite writers through reading and develop our fine taste in English.

1. What made the first English novel that the author read hard to understand?

A．Complicated conversations.	B．Sentences and Austen’s thinking pattern.
C．The old-fashioned vocabulary.	D．Not knowing the social background.

2. When can best replace the underlined word “indispensable”?

A．Necessary.

B．Challenging.

C．Expert.

D．Responsible.

3. What advice does the author give in the last paragraph?

A．Choose books that challenge us most.	B．Read books that are amazing.
C．Don't be affected by others’ choices.	D．Compare books before buying.

4. What is the author’s purpose of writing the passage?

A．Give comments on literature works.

B．Tell beginners how to choose English books.

C．Encourage people to read more English books.

D．Recommend first class books to English learners.

【推荐1】Bamboo is one of the nature's most surprising plants. Many people call this plant a tree, but it is a kind of grass.

Like other kinds of grass, a bamboo plant may be cut very low to the ground, but it will grow back very quickly. A Japanese scientist recorded one bamboo plant that grew almost 1.5 meters in 24 hours! Bamboo grows almost everywhere in the world except Europe. There are more than 1,000 kinds of bamboo that grow around the world on both mountains and plains (平原)．

Not all bamboo looks the same. Some bamboo plants are very thin. They may only grow to be a few centimeters wide while others may grow to more than 30 centimeters across. This plant also comes in different colors, from yellow to black to green.

Many Asian countries have been using bamboo for hundreds of years. They often use bamboo for building new buildings. As a matter of fact, the cables (绳索) that hold up the hanging bridge across the Min River in Sichuan are made of bamboo. The bridge has been in use for more than 1,000 years, and is still holding strong.

In Africa, engineers are teaching poor farmers how to find water using bamboo. These African countries need cheap ways to find water because they have no money，and their fields often die from no rain and no water. It seems that bamboo is one of the best things they can use. Bamboo pipes and drills (钻) can help to make the poor thirsty fields to be watered.

1. How is bamboo like grass?

A．It is thin and easy to cut.	B．It grows everywhere.
C．It grows quickly after its cut short.	D．It is short and green.

2. The sentence “while others may grow to more than 30 centimeters across” means “Some other bamboo plants may grow to be very ________.”

A．short

B．strong

C．thick

D．tall

3. From the text we know ________.

A．most people call bamboo plant trees

B．bamboo plant may grow 4.5 meters in three days

C．the bamboo plant changes its colors when it grows

D．a bridge held by bamboo cable was built thousands of years ago

4. Why did the engineers teach the poor farmers in Africa to make use of bamboo?

A．Because it is cheap.	B．Because it is colorful.
C．Because it drills fast.	D．Because it is used by Asians.

【推荐2】A new study of 8,000 young people in the journal of Health and Social Behavior shows that although love can make grown-ups live healthily and happily, it is a bad thing for young people. Puppy love (早恋) may bring trouble for young people and can cause depression (沮丧). The study shows that girls become more depressed than boys，and young girls are the worst of all.

The possible reason for the connection between love and higher risk of depression for girls is “loss of self”. According to the study，even though boys would say “lose themselves in a romantic (浪漫的) relationship”, this “loss of self” is much more likely to cause depression when it happens to girls. Young girls who have romantic relationships usually like hiding their feelings and opinions. They won’t tell that to their parents.

Dr. Marianm Kaufman, who works on young people problems, says 15% to 20% of young people will have depression during their growing. Trying romance often causes the depression. She advises kids not to jump into romance too early. During growing up，it is important for young people to build strong friendship and a strong sense of self. She also suggests the parents should encourage their kids to keep close to their friends，attend more interesting school activities and spend enough time with family.

Parents should watch for their children’s eating or mood changes. If they see some，they need to give help. The good news is that the connection between romance and depression seems to become weak with age. Love will always make us feel young，but only maturity (成熟) gives us a chance to avoid its bad side effects.

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

A．Puppy love may bring young people depression.

B．Parents should agree to their children’s love.

C．Romance is a two-edged sword for grown-ups.

D．Romance is good for young people.

2. Who are most likely to become depressed?

A．Young people who have a strong sense of self.

B．Young boys whose parents watch for their behavior.

C．Careless parents whose children are deep in love.

D．Young girls who always hide their feelings and opinions.

3. According to the passage, the author ________ puppy love.

A．is for	B．is against
C．is not interested in	D．thinks highly of

4. Dr. Marianm Kaufman does NOT suggest parents’encouraging their kids to ________.

A．chat more on line

B．keep close to their friends

C．attend more interesting activities

D．spend more time with their family

【推荐3】If you think about it, work-life balance is a strange ambition for a fulfilling life. Balance is about stasis: if our lives were ever in balance-parents happy, kids taken care of, work working-then our overriding thought would be to shout “Nobody move!” and pray all would stay perfect forever. This false hope is made worse by the categories themselves. They imply that work is bad, and life is good. And so the challenge, we are told, is to balance the heaviness of work with the lightness of life.

Yet work is not the opposite of life. It is instead a part of life-just as family is, as are friends and community. All of these aspects of living have their share of uplifting moments and moments that drag us down. The same is true of work. Treat work the same way you do life: by maximizing what you love.

We have interviewed several anesthesiologists (麻醉师) about the thrills they feel in their jobs. One said he loved the thrill of holding each patient hovering at that one precise point between life and death. Another said she loved the bedside conversations before the operation aiming to calm the panic that affects many patients. Another was drawn mostly to the anesthetic mechanism and has devoted himself to defining precisely how each drug does what it does.

Think of your life’s many different activities as threads. Some are black and some are white. But some of these activities appear to be made of a different substance. These activities contain all the tell-tale signs of love: before you do them, you find yourself looking forward to them; while you’re doing them, time speeds up and you find yourself in flow; and after you’ve done them, you feel energetic. These are your red threads, and research by the Mayo Clinic suggests that doctors who weave the fabric of their life with at least 20% red threads are significantly less likely to experience burnout.

The simplest way for you to do this is to spend a week in love with your job. During the week, any time you find yourself feeling one of the signs of love write down exactly what you were doing in the column “Love”. And any time you find yourself feeling the inverse write down what you were doing in the column “Loathe”. By the end of the week you will see a list of activities in your “Love” column, which create in you a positive feeling, one that draws you in and lifts you up.

Our goal should be to, little by little, week by week, intentionally unbalance all aspects of our work toward the former and away from the latter. Not simply to make us feel better, but so that our colleagues, our friends and our family can all benefit from us at our very best.

1. What is the author’s attitude towards work-life balance?

A．Doubtful.	B．Disapproving.
C．Supportive.	D．Neutral.

2. The author uses three anesthesiologists as examples to ________.

A．prove people benefit from work

B．indicate doctors take pride in their work

C．show people gain joy from different situations

D．imply doctors reduce the pressure of work successfully

3. “Red threads” in Paragraph 4 refer to the activities that ________.

A．arouse your passion	B．satisfy your desires
C．improve your motivation	D．require your efforts

4. Which of the following does the author probably agree with?

A．Red threads are necessary for a balanced life.

B．Recording activities helps create positive feeling.

C．Find love in work instead of keeping work-life balance.

D．Maximize what you love to remove the heaviness from work.