【推荐1】Between the last application season and the current one, Swarthmore College, a school nationally renowned for its academic rigor, changed the requirements for students for admission into its next freshman class. It made filling out the proper forms easier.

Swarthmore is hardly alone in the desire to eliminate obstacles for a bounty of applicants. Over the last decade, many elite colleges have adjusted their applications in ways that remove disincentives and maximize the odds that the number of students contesting to get in remains robust — or, even better, grows larger.

In one sense, that’s an egalitarian (平等主义的) approach worth compliment and a sensible attempt to be sure that no qualified candidate is missed. But there’s often a less pure motive in play. In our increasingly status-oriented society, a school’s reputation is improved by a low acceptance rate, which can even influence how U. S. News & World Report ranks it. And unless a school is shrinking the size of its students body, the only way to bring its acceptance rate down is to get its number of applicants up. So, many colleges methodically generate interest only to frustrate it. They woo applicants for the purpose of turning them down.

And there can be other justifications for what looks like a loosening of application demands. Smith College and several other similarly prominent colleges no longer require the SAT or ACT, and Kathleen McCarney, the president of Smith College, said that that’s not a bid for more applicants. It’s a recognition that top scores on those tests correlate with high family income and may say more about an applicant’s economic advantages — including, say, private SAT tutoring — than about their academic potential.

Jim Bock, Swarthmore’s dean of admissions, said that by lightening the essay load for its current applicants, the college was less concerned about increasing its overall number of applicants than about making sure candidates of great merit didn’t miss out on Swarthmore and vice versa. He mentioned the hypothetical example of a high school student from a low-income family who works 10 or more hours a day and doesn’t have sufficient time to do different essays for different schools.

But will Swarthmore’s applicants this year give quite as much thought regarding whether it is suitable and the right home for them? I’m betting not.

When it’s very easy for a student to apply to yet one more college and each school is simply another desirable box of cereal on the top shelf that he or she is determined to reach, there’s inadequate thought to a tailored match, which is what the admission process should strive for. It’s what the measure of success should be.

1. What changes has Swarthmore College made in the application process?

A．It simplified its application procedure.	B．It lowered its requirements for admission.
C．It expanded the size of its next freshman class.	D．It eliminated obstacles for minority applicants.

2. The underlined word “woo” (Para.3) is closest in meaning to _________.

A．respect

B．pursue

C．impose

D．cheat

3. Kathleen McCarney holds that the results of the SAT or ACT _________.

A．should pay an essential role in the admissions process

B．conceal the uneven distribution of educational resources

C．reflect test-takers’ academic potential to a large extent

D．are closely related to test-takers’ family income levels

4. According to the author, the success of a school’s admission process lies in _________.

A．improving the school’s reputation nationwide

B．increasing the overall number of applicants for the school

C．recruiting as many genuine students as possible

D．making suitable matches between applicants and the school

【推荐2】Rosie Dutton, a teacher from Relax Kids in Tamworth, UK, used two apples to show her students the often unseen but harmful effects of school bullying(校园欺凌). She posted the lesson on Facebook, where it's been shared more than 160,000 times.

Rosie Dutton explained that during one of her classes she presented the children with two red apples. What the kids didn’t know was that before the lesson, she had repeatedly dropped one of the apples on the floor. And yet, on the outside at least, both apples looked perfect.

“I picked up the apple I’d dropped on the floor and started to tell the children how I disliked this apple,” Dutton wrote. “I told them that because I didn't like it, I didn't want them to like it either, so they should call it names too.”Some of the children looked at her as if she were “crazy”, but the students passed the apple around the circle, calling it names.

Continuing the exercise, the teacher then passed the second apple around the circle. This apple, however, was showered with words like: “Your skin is beautiful,” and “ what a beautiful colour you have.”

Dutton then showed the students both apples once again, stressing that “there was no change, and both apples still looked the same.”

Finally, Dutton cut both apples open. The apple that the class treated kindly looked fresh inside. But the other apple—the one they’d treated poorly —was bruised（瘀伤的) beneath its skin.

“I think there was a light bulb moment for the children immediately,” Dutton said. “When people are bullied, especially children, they feel horrible inside and sometimes don’t show or tell others how they are feeling. If we hadn’t have cut that apple open, we would never have known how much pain we had caused it.”

Dutton explained how important it is to teach children to stand up for one another, and to stop any form of bullying.
“Let’s create a generation of kind caring children,” the teacher wrote. “The tongue has no bones, but is strong enough to break a heart. So be careful with your words.”
1. What had the teacher done to the first apple before the lesson?

A．She had introduced it to the kids.

B．She had coloured it brightly.

C．She had made it look perfect.

D．She had damaged it purposely.

2. What does the underlined part “calling it names” (Para. 3) mean?

A．Shouting at it.	B．Making fun of it.
C．Cheering for it.	D．Saying rude things.

3. What did the teacher tell the kids to do with the second apple?

A．Drop it.	B．Praise it.
C．Ignore it.	D．Respect it.

4. What’s the purpose of the teacher’s using two apples in class?

A．To draw the kids’ attention.

B．To explain her personal preferences.

C．To help the kids understand the results of bullying.

D．To make a comparison between them.

【推荐3】A lot of students around the world have to wear uniforms every day, but dress codes are not the same in every country.    1    

Not all children like to wear uniforms in their everyday life. When I was a school girl, I had to wear a uniform. It was a dark brown dress with a black apron. I couldn’t wear anything else. All the girls in my country had to wear this uniform.    2    

I remember how I hated to put on my uniform every morning. I couldn’t even use colorful hairpins because colorful things were prohibited. All the pupils looked the same, and nobody liked that uniform.

My friends and I talked about it very often.     3     All we wanted was to feel comfortable and to be different from other children.

Nowadays, the dress code in my country has changed. There are no more uniforms.     4     For example, my younger brother, who is a high school student, now likes to wear jeans because they are comfortable, and he doesn’t want to change back to a uniform.

However, the government now wants to make a new dress for schools and require uniforms again. Fortunately, the new uniform is supposed to be less formal than the old one.

    5     If children prefer to wear colorful clothes, adults should permit them to do so. Kids have to enjoy going to school. That is why everything has to be done to make pupils feel comfortable at school.

A．For boys, it was a dark blue suit.

B．Wearing a uniform has a special meaning for students.

C．They depend on the culture and traditions of each country.

D．Caring too much about how they dress shouldn’t be a big concern for students.

E．We imagined how we would dress if there were no uniforms.

F．Children can dress whatever they like.

G．In my opinion, it is good idea to have a freestyle dress code.

【推荐1】I remember from a young age being attracted by the world around me. Whenever I observed my surroundings, I would always wonder about what they were made of.     1    After a little time had passed, this curiosity was developed by my high school chemistry teacher, which was finally furthered as I got my doctor's degree in chemistry while I was at university. From that time on, I have continuously developed my understanding and have been working in the chemical industry. It has been a decade now and my interest in chemistry has never dropped off.     2     And I have improved my understanding in this field of study.

In this day and age, as a means to continuously increase an interest in the natural sciences in your child, labs are available that provide an ideal learning environment for modern students.     3     In the lab, your children can do a great job of discovering this fascinating field of study. Designing a simple science project lab with education in mind is possible with home chemistry labs that can be bought from respected colleges or universities.

Science jobs in these subjects are and will continue to be required by industry and society.     4    One of the most important ways parents can help their children develop an interest in mathematics, science, and technology is by showing attitudes and values that support learning.    5    The sooner the children begins to learn about a field of study, the more prepared they will be to face the challenges that these subjects might offer.

A．These days, you can make a home chemistry lab.

B．Instead, it has increased as I have continued to learn.

C．Encourage your children to find out about different jobs.

D．They require great attention to details, teamwork and skills.

E．A particular field of study which I was most interested in was chemistry.

F．Help children see mathematics, science and technology that exist around them.

G．For a student to do well in science, having knowledge of it in advance is necessary.

【推荐2】About 43 years ago, spotted an advertisement in the paper for the YMCA wilderness program.     1     My first experience was a boat trip. I still have the images of sunrises and sunsets with all the beautiful colours on Lake of the Woods.

    2     Even now I can feel the cold water dripping down my arm as we sat in the boat pulling the paddles awkwardly through running water. It was my first experience in a boat and my arms became tired after many hours of paddling.

We stopped for lunch in the boat by gathering all the boats together.     3    

At night it was time to camp at our site picked out by our guide. There we learned to start campfires and cook some of our meals. This is where fell in love with noodles.     4     We cleaned up our mess and put up our tents and slept on the ground. We learned to carry the heavy packs to our next destination. I developed a sense of accomplishment and had arm muscles after that trip.

There were no phones, makeup, hair dryers... just us and the bush. We came from different backgrounds with different personalities and we all had to work together as a group.

    5    . I kept a journal from that second trip and often go back to it.

A．They dropped us off in the bush.

B．I had to experience more of the wilderness.

C．I was 15 and wanted to do something different.

D．Our guide handed out chocolate, cheese, and dried meat.

E．I liked the boat trip so much that I joined the survival trip the next year.

F．It was wonderful sharing simple meals over the fire and talking with new friends.

G．As a teenager, didn’t know that I was having the best adventure a teenager could have.