【推荐1】My best friend travelled to stay with my family last weekend. when she arrived, she went straight to the kitchen and, without asking, ate some dried fruit. She wasn’t being rude. I knew she would do this. We’ve known each other for almost 20 years. She can eat anything she wants from my kitchen. Indeed, I bought her favorite fruits and snacks at the shop that morning.

Our long weekend together was simple. I was recovering from surgery and couldn't go to shopping malls, We passed the time running errands（差事）, but there's never been a quiet moment. We’ve lived in different cities for almost a decade, Reunions demand conversation.

Our personalities are matched, to be sure，and a shared history is indescribably（难以形容地）valuable. We were competitors at high school before bonding. Then we discovered the many interests that we had in common. Our friendship developed itself quickly. We stayed companions and supported each other through law school and through our first jobs. Ours is a friendship for the ages.

There is something special about friends who know everything about you. They are rare. They have seen your bright lights of achievements, the depths of desperation（绝望的境地）and the boring routine of the in-between. It's special to unpack feelings without wasting time filling in the blanks. As my long weekend shows, with such friends we don't have to “do”, but we simply have to “be”. We drop the act, the performance, the public version of ourselves, The special friendships are those which never fail to delight, whose continuation is worth the extra effort, despite distance and difference in our separate lives. I had the very great joy of this reminder last weekend. I'm lucky to have found this friend, and to see a future where her companionship remains. Being together is perfection.

1. What can we infer from Para. 2?

A．They talked constantly about their lives.	B．They enjoyed running errands.
C．They had a noisy weekend	D．They quarreled at times.

2. What does the author appreciate about their friendship?

A．They help each other achieve in their fields

B．They’re best friends despite different hobbies

C．They inspire each other to be their best selves.

D．They' re comfortable just being themselves

3. What message is conveyed in the last paragraph?

A．Real friends are easy to make

B．Good friendships need devotion

C．Special friendships may fail to delight.

D．Distance and difference bring friendship

4. Why does the author write this text?

A．To express thanks to her best friend

B．To share the friendship she treasures.

C．To describe what her best friend is like

D．To explain how she offers help to her friend

【推荐2】Have you ever bought a gift for a friend, simply because it’s a gift that you like yourself?     1     Such activity is called “social projection (投射)” and is the focus of new marketing research.

The study, “I Love the Product, but Will You? The Role of Interpersonal Attachment Styles in Social Projection,” is authored by David, an assistant professor of marketing, and published in Psychology & Marketing. Research results are based on the surveys of 1,272 people.

The research reveals that people who are “secure” in interpersonal settings are the ones most likely to engage in social projection. Conversely(相反)，those who are “anxious” in such settings are less likely to assume that others share their own preferences.     2    

“You’d think that secure people who tend to be older, in a committed relationship and earn a higher-income with lots of friends and healthy personal relationships would have a better idea of what someone would like as a gift.    3     David said. “This research shows that individuals who are anxious in interpersonal situations and who have fewer close, personal relationships are better at predicting what a person may like.”

    4     Anxious individuals, on the contrary, tend to be younger and earn a lower income. Securely attached persons, who are people expecting others will be available and supportive when needed, are more likely to choose a gift based on their own preferences, while an anxious one more likely to consider what the recipients(接收者) may like.

Gifts should be thoughtful. Therefore, secure people should be mindful of their choice of gifts. They need to take caution when selecting and buying gifts.     5    

A．But that’s not the case.

B．However, anxious individuals may not always be the best.

C．Secure individuals tend to be older and earn a higher income.

D．If so, it’s likely that you projected your own attitudes onto your friend.

E．Secure individuals make choices on behalf of others based on their own preferences.

F．Thus, they are less likely to make choices for a friend based on their personal attitudes.

G．Preferably, these individuals should put their own preferences aside when choosing gifts.

【推荐3】   When we think of leadership, we often think of strength and power. But what are these really, and how do they operate?

Leadership today is not about forcing others to do things. If this is even possible, it is short-term, and tends to backfire. If you order someone to do something against their will, they may do it because they feel they must, but the anger they feel will do more harm in the long-term. They will also experience fear.

Fear causes the thinking brain to shut down, making the person unable to function at his or her best. If they associate you with this emotion of fear, they will become less functional around you, and you will have succeeded in not only shooting yourself in the foot, but possibly making a very good employee or partner unable to perform effectively. Fear has no place in leadership.

The way we influence people in a lasting way is by our own character, and our understanding and use of emotion. We can order someone to do something, which may be part of the work day; or we can employ them at the emotional level, so they became fully devoted to the projects and provide some of their own motivation (积极性). Today’s work place is all about relationships. Anyone works harder in a positive environment in which they’re recognized and valued as a human being as well as a worker. Everyone produces just a bit more for someone they like. Leaders understand the way things work. They know the pay check is not the single most motivating factor (因素) in the work life of most people.

The true strength of leadership is an inner strength that comes from the confidence of emotional intelligence---knowing your own emotions, and how to handle them, and those of others. Developing your emotional intelligence is the single best thing you can do if you want to develop your relationships with people around you, which is the key to the leadership skills.

1. The underlined phrase “shooting oneself in the foot” means _____ in this passage.

A．throw or walk in a specific direction or towards a specific objective

B．to grow forth (向前) from the ground

C．to move or pass suddenly or swiftly

D．to injure or harm one's own interests

2. An employee may have a feeling of fear in the work place when ___.

A．he cannot work at his best	B．he is forced to do things
C．he feels his brain shut down	D．he thinks of his work as too heavy

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

A．People tend to associate leadership with fear.

B．Working conditions affect people’s physical health.

C．Smart people are more functional in the work place.

D．Good relationship is the key to business success.

4. To positively influence employees, a leader should first of all ____.

A．develop his own personality	B．provide better suggestions
C．give his employees a pay raise	D．hide his own emotion of fear

5. Good leadership is mainly seen in a leader’s ability to_____.

A．provide a variety of project for employees

B．help raise employees’ living standards

C．deal wisely with employees’ emotions

D．give employees’ specific instructions（指导）

【推荐1】“When your mother scolds you, you can look elsewhere and think about other things. Just ignore her words. But remember: such a tough attitude cannot be used often.” These words are from a series of cartoons which outline skills for children to fight against their mothers. The images have created heated debate among Chinese netizens(网民).

Regarded as “a book for children aged 6 to 12 who are always scolded by their parents”,   the cartoons, drawn by two 10-year-old Beijing girls, list over 20 skills which children can use to deal with their mothers’ anger such as crying, pretending to be ashamed, fleeing into the toilet and pleasing her afterwards. Each skill is described with vivid pictures and humorous notes. The creativity of the young girls has amazed netizens, the Yangtse Evening Post reported on Thursday.

According to one of the girls’ mothers, her daughter once received a poor mark in an exam, and the mother blamed her and compared her performance with another classmate. The daughter’s feelings led to her creating the cartoons. The girl’s father, who first posted the pictures on his Sohu Microblog on Monday, said he hopes parents pay close attention to the pictures, allow children to feel free to develop their own characteristics and try not to criticize them so often.

“The cartoons, although an individual case, reflect a modern phenomenon and some of the problems within Chinese family education,” said Yu Qinfang, an expert on family education. According to a survey of 104 children and their parents, Yu discovered that as many as 51.9 percent of primary school students hate being urged to do things by their mothers.“Not giving children enough time and hurrying them to do things seems to be a very tiny detail within family life, but it is potentially a huge problem which can easily be ignored by parents. A mother’s blame may lead to negative feelings within her child’s heart,” Yu said. “Parents should learn to blame less and be more patient.”

1. Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?

A．Yu Qinfang found that primary school pupils disliked being forced to do things.

B．The father posted the cartoons on his microblog to show off his daughter’s cleverness.

C．Parents are advised to speak highly of their children frequently.

D．How to blame children needs parents’ further study of cartoons

2. What do we know about the cartoon book according to the passage?

A．It is finished by children aged 6 to 12.

B．It tells us how to control mothers’ feelings.

C．It is intended for primary school teachers.

D．It includes a number of vivid pictures and humorous notes.

3. Where would you probably find this passage?

A．An advertisement.

B．A textbook.

C．A newspaper.

D．A novel.

【推荐3】The thought of low material need and being unwilling to work, marry and have children, is described as a “lying down” lifestyle recently. It creates an emotional reaction among many young Chinese who are eager to take pause to breathe in this fast-paced and highly competitive society.

Many young people complained to the Global Times that duties, including work stress, family argument and financial pressure, have pushed them “against the wall”. They said they hate the “involution (内卷)”, joking that they would rather give up some of what they have than get stuck in an endless competition against peers(同龄人).

“Instead of always following the ‘good quality’ of struggle and sacrifice to bear the stresses, they prefer a temporary(暂时的) lying down as release and adjustment,” said an expert. “It is no wonder that some young people, under the growing pressures from child-raising to paying the mortgage (按揭) today, would try to live in a simple way and leave the worries behind.”

Interestingly, the majority of young people, who claim to be big fans of the lying down philosophy, admit that they only accept a temporary lying down as a short rest. It is true that with the great improvement of living conditions, some Chinese youth have partially lost the spirit of hardship and are not willing to bear too much hard work. But in fact, lying down is not entirely comfortable. Young people who lie down always feel ashamed about their constant loss of morale (士气).

“Young people have both ambition and confusion about their future, but most of us have refused to waste opportunities and challenges,” a postgraduate student told the Global Times. “It’s no use running away. I have to ‘stand up’ and face the reality sooner or later.”

1. Which of the following is NOT a “lying down” lifestyle according to the passage?

A．Being uninterested in material enjoyment and refusing to shoulder duties.

B．Being involved in various social activities.

C．Stopping to breathe in a stressful life.

D．Giving up struggle and sacrifice.

2. What might have caused the “lying down” lifestyle among the young?

A．Poor health from working so hard.	B．Increasing material wealth from families.
C．Growing pressure from family and social life.	D．Temporary adjustment to failure in competitions.

3. What’s the expert’s attitude toward the “lying down” group?

A．Understanding.

B．opposed

C．Supportive.

D．Unclear.

4. What can be inferred about the young generation from the text?

A．They would rather escape than take challenges.	B．They really enjoy the “lying down” lifestyle.
C．They find their dreams far beyond their reach.	D．They never really drop their responsibilities.

【推荐1】Some people state they never forget a face. But what does that saying mean? Is there really no limit to the number of faces a person can remember?

A new study has found that, on average, people can remember as many as 5,000 faces. That number comes from a group of researchers at the University of York in England. There have been many studies recently on facial recognition. But the authors of this study say theirs is the first time that scientists have been able to put a number to the abilities of humans to recognize faces.

During the study, people spent one hour writing down as many faces from their personal lives as possible. Then, they wrote down famous faces they know, such as actors, politicians and other public people. The results showed that the participants knew between 1,000 and 10,000 faces, which is very shocking to the researchers. Rob Jenkins, coauthor of the study, said one explanation about it may be that some people have a natural ability for remembering faces. He also said it could be because of different social environments. Some people may have grown up in more populated places. So they may have had more social contact throughout their lives.

The ability to tell individual people apart is “clearly important.” In today’s modern world of big cities, televisions and social media, we meet thousands of people. Our facial recognition abilities help us to deal with the many different faces we see on the screens, as well as those we know.

The people in the study included 25 men and women. They are between 18 and 61 years old. “It would be interesting to see whether there is a peak age for the number of faces we know”, Jenkins said it is possible that we gather more faces throughout our lifetime. But, he added, there also may be an age at which we start to find it harder to remember all of those faces.

1. How is the study different from the previous ones?

A．It is the first study on facial recognition.

B．It lists the number of faces people can recognize.

C．The study includes participants of all ages.

D．Participants could only recognize faces from personal lives.

2. What does the underlined word “it” in Paragraph 3 refer to?

A．The difference of social environments.	B．People’s natural ability to learn.
C．The wide range of the numbers.	D．The necessity of facial recognition.

3. What will the researchers probably focus on after this study?

A．Why older people remember more faces.

B．How our ability to remember faces vary at different ages.

C．Whether people’s ability to remember faces is necessary.

D．When people can remember the most faces.

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

A．Human Beings Never Forget a Face	B．Face Recognition Benefits Humans
C．The Brain Remembers Thousands of Faces	D．The Key to Remembering More Faces

【推荐2】What kinds of rooms are your favorite spots for studying? We are going to guess that they are probably not painted bright red or yellow. But maybe they should be. Imagine. You are suddenly asked to prepare for an exam. You have two rooms to choose from. One is a pale blue, and the other is a bright red. Which one do you settle into for study? Is one going to get your brain fired up for learning, or let you relax into the best state of concentration?

According to researchers at Curtin University in Australia, it might be best to camp out in the bright red room when you are looking to store information. It might sound strange, since we often think of pale rooms — soft blues or light greens — are relaxing. And they seem to be: The Curtin University study showed that pale colors made participants feel more relaxed and calm, while bright colors increased heart rate. But calming and relaxing, it turns out, may not always be the best environment for deep concentration or knowledge gaining. Reading comprehension was much better in the bright rooms than in the pale rooms. Although participants reported that they generally preferred the pale rooms to study in as an approach to relax into work, the researchers saw just the opposite — that the bright - colored rooms seemed to lead to greater concentration.

While this might seem only surprising, the findings get into a rather controversial (有争议的) area of psychological study. The Yerkes — Dodson Law says that a little bit of stress is good for achieving best performance, while too much stress negatively affects it. The higher heart rate and the reports of the bright colors creating a heavy atmosphere might just suggest that a little stress was good for the brain.

1. What is the common idea mentioned in the first paragraph?

A．Pale colors appeal to all tastes.

B．Few people like bright red or yellow.

C．Light — colored rooms make you feel nervous.

D．Bright — colored rooms are not good for studying.

2. What might directly affect the research results according to Para 2?

A．How participants react to colors.	B．Participants’ preferences in colors.
C．What participants read in the rooms.	D．Time participants spent in the rooms.

3. What can be concluded from the study by Curtin University?

A．Higher stress leads to better performance.

B．Most people know how to make use of colors.

C．Stress is necessary when you want to concentrate.

D．Being relaxed is very important for people studying.

4. What’s the main idea of the text?

A．Findings about people’s favourite room colors.

B．Room colors can affect one’s academic performance.

C．Bright — colored rooms can create a heavy atmosphere.

D．Light — colored rooms help people feel relaxed into work.

【推荐3】A 16-year survey on the arctic Norwegian island of Svalbard found the reindeer（驯鹿）there have declined in weight by an alarming 12 percent. The reduction in average body-mass is being blamed on global warming.

In research presented lately at a meeting of the British Ecological Society in Liverpool, scientists will explain how rising temperatures are making female reindeer difficult to obtain nutrients during important periods of being pregnant.

Snow in Svalbard typically covers the ground for eight months of the year, which, combined with low temperatures, limits grass growth to June and July. But as summer temperatures have increased by around 1.5℃, grasslands have become more productive, allowing female reindeer to gain more weight by the autumn and therefore to conceive（孕育）more calves.

However, warmer winters have brought with them greater rainfall which freezes when is settles on the snow, therefore locking out the reindeer from the life-supporting food below. As a result, female reindeer are becoming starved, causing them to give birth to much lighter young. The average mass of an adult reindeer in 1998, when the survey began, was 55kg, but by 2016 IT had dropped to 48kg.

Professor Steve Albon, an ecologist at the James Hatton Institute in Aberdeen , said that, because the mammals have a relatively high surface-area-to-volume ratio（表面积与体积比）, they are no particularly energy efficient.

Reindeer can often access the inadequate food sources beneath the snow by clearing IT away with their antlers（鹿角）, but they cannot break through the hard ice. Without access to the food in winter, calves are being born far lighter than they should be. Numbers of reindeer have also increased rapidly in the past 20 years, meaning that those which are born are facing greater competition for food. “The implication（含义）are that there may well be more smaller reindeer in the Arctic in the coming decades, but possibly at the risk of catastrophic die-offs because of increased ice on the ground,”said Professor Albon Despite the gloomy findings, reindeer appear to be suffering less from the impact of climate change than some other arctic species.

1. Which of the following may be the most important reason for the smaller reindeer?

A．Heavy snow.

B．Greater rainfall.

C．Hard ice.

D．Global warming.

2. According to the passage, rising temperatures will not lead to_________.

A．grass growing more rapidly in summer

B．more rainfall in the arctic area in winter

C．female reindeer’s gaining more weight in winter

D．female reindeer’s suffering from hunger in winter

3. What does the underlined word“gloomy”in the last paragraph mean?

A．Exciting.

B．Optimistic.

C．Disappointing.

D．Doubtful.

4. How does the writer develop the passage?

A．By analyzing the research.

B．By classification of reindeer.

C．By comparing opinions of experts.

D．By telling stories of different species.

【推荐1】Scientists may one day be able to destroy viruses in the same way that opera singers break wine glasses. New research mathematically determined the frequencies at which simple viruses could be shaken to death.

The capsid (壳) of a virus is something like the shell of a turtle, said physicist Otto Sankey of Arizona State University. “If the shell can be damaged by mechanical vibrations (震动), the virus can be destroyed.”

Recent experimental evidence has shown that laser (激光) pulses with the right frequency can kill certain viruses. However, locating these resonant (共振的) frequencies is a bit of trial and error. Experiments must try various conditions, Sankey said.

To further this search, Sankey and his student Eric Dykeman have developed a way to calculate the vibrations of every atom in a virus shell. From this, they can determine the lowest resonant frequencies. An experiment has recently shown that pulses of laser light can cause destructive vibrations in virus shells. Sankey said, “Like pushing a child on a swing from rest, one sudden push gets the virus shaking.”

However, it is difficult to calculate what sort of push will kill a virus, since there can be millions of atoms in its shell structure. A direct calculation of each atom’s movements would take several hundred thousand Gigabytes of computer memory, Sankey explained.

The team plans to use their technique to study other, more complicated viruses. However, it is still a long way from using this to destroy the viruses in infected people. “This is such a new field, and there are so few experiments that the science has not yet had enough time to prove itself,” Sankey said. “We remain hopeful but remain skeptical at the same time.”

1. What is the new way to kill viruses?

A．Replacing viruses’ capsids with shells.

B．Breaking viruses’ capsids by vibration.

C．Locating the position of certain viruses.

D．Damaging the conditions that viruses like.

2. Why does Sankey mention “pushing a child on a swing” in Paragraph 4?

A．To prove how simple the new theory is.

B．To explain how to start the virus shaking.

C．To suggest the idea comes from our real life.

D．To show the destructive power of vibrations.

3. What is the fifth paragraph mainly about?

A．The shell structure of viruses.

B．The lack of computer memory.

C．The challenging part of the research.

D．The importance of atoms’ movement.

4. What is Sankey’s attitude towards the theory?

A．Disapproving.	B．Worried.
C．Uncaring.	D．Positive.

【推荐2】The driver who cuts you off in traffic.The neighbors who don't pick up after their dog.Situations such as these get our hearts racing and send our stress levels skyrocketing.Anger isn't a pleasant feeling.Some of us bottle up the emotion, while others explode in a wild rage (狂怒).Both habits do considerable harm to our bodies, our minds, and our relationships.

“Anger may fee1 uncomfortable and a lot of people think they have to get rid of their anger," says Patrick Keelan, a registered psychologist in Calgary, Alberta.“But anger is an emotion built into us to signal that something needs to be addressed.When we take notice of that signal and actually wrestle with the problem instead of turning a blind eye to it, we' re usually much better for it.”

Unfortunately, many of us have been conditioned to keep our emotions hidden.Increasingly,research is suggesting that this can have long-term effects on our health.Investigators at the University of Rochester noticed that people who contain their emotions tend to live shorter lives.When we're angry, stress hormones are released, which can make us more likely to develop a wide range of diseases, including diabetes, depression, immune related conditions.

Is it better, then, to scream and howl whenever something makes you mad? That's probably the reason why“rage rooms" have popped up in many American cities, where folks are invited to let steam off by violently smashing (打碎) stuff in a“safe" environment.However, the research indicates that when people display anger aggressively, it can actually increase the intensity of the anger -- and increase the likelihood of aggressive actions in the future.It doesn't take much imagination to predict how such behavior can affect your relationship with your spouse, your kids, or your colleagues.It also hurts your health.A large 2016 study at McMaster University found that people are more than twice as likely to have a heart attack after an angry explosion.

If we shouldn't bottle up our angry feelings but aggressive behavior isn't healthy either, how should we handle things that tick us of? It's the extreme highs and lows that cause the damage.If you're able to apply techniques that smooth out some of those peaks and valleys, you can have a gentler ride.

1. What does the underlined phrase“bottle up" in paragraph 1 mean?

A．Build up.

B．Hold back.

C．Let off.

D．Bring out.

2. What does Patrick Keelan think of anger?

A．Uncomfortable and avoidable.

B．Terrible and threatening.

C．Confusing and complex.

D．Normal and natural.

3. What is the consequence of displaying anger aggressively?

A．It leads to people's depression.

B．It warns people against violence.

C．It adds to people's anger.

D．It helps people to calm down.

4. What will be talked about if the passage is continued?

A．Possible causes of anger.

B．Tips on handling anger.

C．Possible harm of anger.

D．Tips on avoiding anger.

【推荐3】Now, cities large and small often have remains of earlier historic streets and sidewalk pavements(人行道）。Yet they often go unprotected even when they may be older than neighbouring historic buildings that have enjoyed protection for tens of years.

There are many reasons to protect historic pavements - culture value, economics, environmental benefits and public safety. Pavements represented an important step in the modernization of city environments in the 19th century.

Before the laying of pavement, streets of dirt caused many problems to citizens,especially in wet weather when they became muddy(泥泞的），which limited the movement of people and vehicles.

To solve the problem, cities experimented with a wide range of materials in an attempt to balance durability(耐用性），economics,sources of materials and noise considerations.

The earliest pavement in many cities were cobblestones-naturally rounded stones.They were cheap and durable, but rough and noisy. Loose stone pavements were cheap and smooth, but not very durable. Wood also appeared in the 1850s as a popular option-smooth,quiet and affordable,but not very durable.

In many cities and towns,brick(砖）streets are the only historic pavements that have survived.This fact covers up the truth of pavement experimentation between the 1850s and 1920s, when a city could use up to a dozen different paving materials at the same time! Indeed, each city developed a unique "pavement identity” in the materials chosen and the way they were laid.

It is easy to think of the past when seeing historic pavements, as recalling “old world” city qualities. However, they are more similar to the early high buildings and parks-important city features that showed the modernization of the city. At a time when cities are becoming increasingly similar, such pavements also help define an important sense of place.

1. What is the present situation of historic pavements?

A．Failing to represent modern environments.

B．Failing to receive protection they should get.

C．Being brought back to its former glory.

D．Being highly valued as cultural buildings.

2. Why was the first pavement built in history?

A．To help develop the local economy.

B．To prevent earth from being washed away.

C．To limit the movement of people and vehicles.

D．To bring convenience to citizens' life.

3. What is mainly talked about in Paragraphs 4-6?

A．Popularity of different paving materials.

B．Different experiments on city identity.

C．Advantages and disadvantages of stone pavements.

D．Development of pavements of different materials.

4. What does the writer want to express about historic pavements in the last paragraph?

A．They are similar to tall buildings.

B．They make cities appear similar.

C．They are unique of a particular place.

D．They represent the modernization of today's city.