【推荐1】In 1985, the BMX bike craze was at its height. Every kid in our community was doing tricks on their BMX Raleigh Burner. Every kid apart from two: me and Martin Ogley. Martin was the owner of a purple Raleigh Chopper, and to be seen riding it in 1985 was embarrassing. The kids would knock into Martin mercilessly at every opportunity. And although I didn’t own any kind of bike, I would join in. I knew that by keeping the focus on Martin, I was less likely to be a target.

When other kids asked where my bike was, I would say my BMX was so top-of-the-range that I didn’t ride it on the street. While I knew it would not hold up forever, I wasn’t too worried. The New Year was coming and, after months of complaining to my dad, I was confident that a BMX would appear.

On the New Year, I was disappointed to see Martin playing at the end of our street on what was clearly a brand-new BMX. As we entered the house, my eyes were drawn to where my presents were piled up. There was a bike. A purple Raleigh Chopper. You see, in the week before the New Year, my dad just happened to be drinking in the local working men’s club with Martin’s dad, who was eager to sell an old bike after buying his son a new one.

It wasn’t until I was in my 30s that we were in that same working men’s club and I reminded my dad of that year, the year of Martin Ogley’s Chopper. I thought he wouldn’t remember the whole thing, but he did. And so I asked him the question: How the hell did I end up with Martin Ogle’s Chopper? And my dad smiled and said as though it were the most obvious thing in the world, “Well, because you were mean to Martin.”

1. Why did the writer join the kids in treating Martin badly?

A．To protect Martin.	B．To be friends with them.
C．To get Martin’s bike.	D．To avoid being the focus.

2. Which of the following is closest in meaning to the underlined words “hold up”?

A．Work.

B．Stop.

C．Fail.

D．Stay.

3. How did the writer’s father get the purple bike?

A．He bought it from the market.	B．He got it from Martin’s father.
C．He asked Martin to give it away.	D．He exchanged it with his friend.

【推荐2】A few years ago, my husband Matt offered to get me a digital piano for my 41st birthday. Matt knew that I had taken piano lessons as a kid, but stopped doing so in the seventh grade. I was at the age when I would rather go to the mall with friends than play the piano on the weekends.

I was game for a digital piano, but skeptical — I wasn’t sure I was going to play it that often. However, Matt was persistent. He reminded me that I’d mentioned wanting to play the piano again, so he bought me one and set it up in my office.

To be honest, I had only made half-hearted attempts over the years to take up various hobbies, mostly craft-related ones like knitting (编织) and cross-stitch (十字绣), to relax. But nothing really stuck.

Then, two years ago, I had a baby. The piano became even more of an afterthought as I became consumed by the challenges of parenting. I had enough on my plate, I told myself. There was no point in adding another thing that was probably just going to stress me out.

But recently, my 2-year-old son had figured out how to turn on the digital piano and loved to bang on the keys. Seeing him play so joyfully, I thought maybe I could take piano lessons and help him to prepare for the music world.

I started lessons a couple of weeks later, and it turned out that I could handle 15 minutes a day.

Sometimes, I could handle 40 minutes. I found myself completely immersed in playing the piano. The repetition calmed me. Going over difficult parts in each piece I was learning was incredibly satisfying. To my great surprise, at age 44, I have an actual hobby now, and I really look forward to performing together with my son one day.

1. How did the author feel when her husband offered to buy her a digital piano?

A．She was excited.	B．She was thankful.
C．She doubted herself.	D．She considered it a joke.

2. Which of the following statements about the author is true according to the passage?

A．She devoted herself entirely to bringing up her baby.

B．She dropped out of school in the seven grade.

C．She gave up playing the piano again at her forties.

D．She ate a lot for parenting.

3. What do we know about the author’s craft-related hobbies?

A．She loved knitting and cross-stitch the most.

B．She gave them up eventually.

C．They made her more patient.

D．They gave her too much pressure.

4. What inspired the author to restart learning how to play the piano?

A．Her husband’s encouragement.

B．Her son’s interest in the piano.

C．Her hope to make her son happy.

D．Her desire to reduce the stress of parenting.

5. What happened after the author started taking piano lessons again?

A．She taught her son to play the piano.

B．She determined to become a pianist.

C．She practiced harder for competition.

D．She felt peaceful and content while playing.

【推荐3】Do you like writing a few paragraphs every day about your experiences, hopes, memories or feelings? If you don’t, it’s time to make a change now.

You will gradually become better at expressing yourself.    1    However, when you become lazy with words, you find it is more difficult to describe feelings, share experiences and make yourself understood.

    2    As you write about memories, it is like opening an old photo album. Your pen begins to explore feelings and details you have forgotten and dreams you have let behind. You suddenly remember people you would like to contact again. Writing is an activity that avoids distraction long enough for you to explore those wonderful moments of the past. Sometimes they are frightening.    3    

Writing about daily experiences and feelings provides a recorded history that will influence how you make future decisions.    4     They learned from what had happened before. Your history is important. Don’t let it be forgotten.

Writing reminds you of your dreams and keeps you moving toward them. It is a means of keeping track of your purpose and the goals that will lead you to achieve them.    5    .It shows when you have been distracted and may need to give all your attention again to your writing.

A．You will remember things long forgotten.

B．Writing keeps you energetic and full of imagination all the time.

C．Sometimes they are wonderful and almost always they are helpful.

D．Sooner or later, you are surely to become a great professional writer.

E．Reviewing what you have written is a perfect way to see your progress.

F．There’s a reason that the greatest leaders in history were students of history.

G．When you write daily, you can be amazed at how quickly your writing skills improve.

【推荐2】Like lots of other girls and boys，when Lisa Cao was a kid，she used to watch the Olympics. “I always wanted to be good at sport and I found athletic potential in my body”， the New York City citizen tells her friends. But there was no sport available so she took up piano lessons. Then，at the age of 15，she decided to drop the lessons and put her athletic potential to the test with running. At age 18，Lisa Cao ran her first-ever marathon in New York City. And now，the 27-year-old   has 54 marathons (26. miles) and ultramarathons (100miles) under her belt.
What does it take to be an ultramarathoner? A lot of devotion，even when difficulties occur sometimes. “Making time for running is really hard when life is so busy，” she says. “There’s a big work-life balance that I have to keep. I have to wake up earlier on the weekends. And oh，the potential for excuses! With NYC’s wild winters as of late，it’s easy to blame the weather，roll over in bed and put off a solid run. I have a fix for this，though，” she says. “Cute clothes. With the horrible weather， I bought cute clothes as motivation to run and actually wear them. ”
While she’s training during low season in the winter，Lisa Cao tries to run a “base” of 20 to 30 miles per week to stay prepared. During high season in the spring and summer，she’ll run around 30 to 40 miles，but she also gets a lot of quality miles from her races.
1. When did Lisa Cao run her first marathon?

A．At the age of 27.

B．When she was 15 years old.

C．Three years after she began running.

D．Nine years after she dropped her piano lessons.

2. What made Lisa Cao have the desire of joining in sports?

A．Being different from other kids of her age.

B．Wanting to join in the Olympics.

C．Having no interest in piano lessons.

D．Having athletic potential.

3. Why does Lisa Cao buy beautiful clothes in terrible weather?

A．To have a better sleep.

B．To motivate herself to keep running.

C．To protect herself from any harm.

D．To save time for further training.

4. Where is the text probably taken from?

A．A sport website

B．A science book.

C．A college poster

D．A football magazine.

【推荐3】When I was sixteen years old, I made my first visit to the United States. It wasn’t the first time that I had been abroad. Like most English children, I learned French at school. I had often been to France, so I was used to speaking a foreign language to the people who didn’t understand English. But when I went to America, I was really looking forward to having a nice easy holiday without any language problems.

How wrong I was! The misunderstandings (误解) began at the airport. I was looking for a public telephone to give my American friend Jenny a call and tell her that I had arrived. A friendly old man asked me if he could help me.

“Yes,” I said, “I want to give my friend a ring.”

“Well, that’s nice,” he said. “Are you getting married?”

“Who is talking about marriage?” I replied. “I only want to give my friend a ring to tell her I’ve arrived. Can you tell me where there’s a phone box?”

“Oh!” he said, “there’s a phone downstairs.”

When at last we met, Jenny explained the misunderstandings to me.

“Don’t worry,” she said to me. “I had so many difficulties at first. There are lots of words which the Americans use differently in meaning from the British. You’ll soon get used to all the funny things they say. Most of the time British and American people understand each other!”

1. The writer thought ________ in America.

A．he wouldn’t have any language difficulties

B．he would not understand the Americans

C．the Americans might not understand him

D．he would have difficulty at the airport

2. From the passage we know that “give somebody a ring” ________.

A．means the same in America as in England

B．means “call somebody” to the old man

C．has two different meanings

D．means “be going to get married” in England

3. In the last paragraph, the word “they” refers to ________.

A．the old man and the boy	B．the Americans
C．the British	D．the French

【推荐1】Our youngest daughter can be stubborn about receiving gifts, and I told her so.

“Where do you think I get it from?” she asked.

“I’m not stubborn when it comes to receiving gifts,” I said. “I used to be but not now.”

She has a birthday coming up and we want to get her some new cowboy boots.

Cowboy boots aren’t cheap, but we want to do something special and get her something she could use and enjoy for years to come.

But my daughter is pushing back, saying she’s happy with her current boots-which are old and worn-out.

I push back, she pushes back, and we become locked in a mother-daughter match over stubbornness and how much is too much to spend on a special gift.

She thinks my husband and I do too much for her. I used to think the same thing about my parents—my parents weren’t rich, but they were generous.

They kept saying they enjoyed giving me gifts, but all I could think about was how much money they were wasting on me.

Years ago, I mentioned to a friend that I thought my mother overdid it when it came to buying gifts for her children.

My friend, closer to my mothers age than mine, looked at me and said, “Who are you to tell your mother what she can do?”

I wanted to argue with her, but I didn’t. I didn’t fully understand it then but I understand it now—now that I’m a grandmother myself.

The longer you live, the more you see how often things go wrong.

Marriages fail, friendships break down， family members become estranged, and accidents and illnesses cut lives short.

There is a brokenness that fills many of our lives.

So, when you see life going well, families working hard and growing strong, you want to celebrate.

It took a lot of time for me to understand that giving is an expression of joy, as much as it is an expression of love, understand where my daughter is coming from, but I also understand where my parents were coming from—a place of pure and simple joy celebrating those moments when life goes well.

1. Why did the author’s daughter try to refuse her mom’s gift?

A．She had many boots to wear.

B．She wanted something else for her birthday.

C．She didn’t like the style of the boots.

D．She didn’t want her mom to spend too much money.

2. The author began to understand her parents’ behavior after she ________.

A．listened to her friends’ advice

B．experienced brokenness in life

C．communicated with her husband

D．received gifts from other family members

3. The underlined word “estranged” most probably means “________”.

A．lonely

B．distant

C．joyful

D．complete

4. What does the author think about gift giving?

A．It is the best way to express our love to others.

B．It is an expression of hope for the future.

C．It is a way to show our joy when life is going well.

D．It is a way for people to escape bad things in life.

【推荐2】When I was eight years old, I had cancer. It was really hard. One of the worst things was having to sit in the doctor’s office for hours during chemo (化疗) treatments. I’d want to walk around and do things, but dealing with the big intravenous poles (静脉输液架) that hold the bags of medicine was a pain. I’d have to roll them around with me. I’d trip over them, and the poles got stuck on everything. It made my stress over being sick even worse.

Last year for science fair, my teacher said we should think of how to solve an everyday problem. When you have cancer, the intravenous poles are an everyday problem. I started thinking of making a backpack for kids so they could get around and play and go outside while they are getting chemo. I especially want to make chemo easier for kids. I know how frightening it can be.

For my project, I got a backpack and made a model. I took a small box and made it look like an intravenous machine. I had a small pole sticking out of the top, where you’d hang the bag of medicine. Then I painted it to make it look nice.

After the science fair, I got a patent for my invention. That means I officially owned the idea. I was pretty surprised. Companies started talking to my family about making the backpacks. But it’s very expensive. A lot of people have donated money to help. So far I’ve raised $55,000.

Before the backpack project, I thought of cancer as terrible. But now I realize that a good thing that came from it was that I could help others. I don’t like seeing kids with cancer suffer through treatment. I hope my invention can help them.

1. What troubled the author most?

A．Her health.	B．Her studies
C．The chemo treatment	D．The medicine for cancer

2. Why did the author want to invent a special backpack?

A．To help kids know about cancer

B．To make treatment more effective

C．To make students’ school bags lighter.

D．To help kids feel better during chemo.

3. What does Paragraph 3 mainly talk about?

A．What the author did to raise money.

B．How the author made the backpacks.

C．What the author got from her teacher.

D．How the author got an intravenous machine.

4. What can we learn about the backpack project?

A．It was fruitful.

B．It has made lots of money.

C．It was started by a company.

D．It was a school-owned business.

【推荐3】Somewhere in the warm, clear waters off the coast of Australia, a mature bottlenose dolphin is swimming with her daughter. It's dinnertime. But, instead of chasing down a fish in open waters like she usually does, mom swims over to a basket sponge (海绵)growing on the ocean floor. In a quick move, she breaks off a piece of the sponge, then fits it closely over her mouth. It's hard not to wonder what that watchful youngster might be thinking about all this. Are you going to eat that sponge? Are we playing?

With the sponge secured on her beak, the older dolphin starts sweeping her head back and forth across the ocean floor. She's looking for fish like the sand perch （沙鲈），which hide themselves on the floor of the sea under the sand. As for the sponge stuck onto her mouth, it allows her to clear away the sand without injuring herself on broken pieces of coral, or maybe even suffering the sting （刺痛）of the scorpion fish. The extra work it takes to catch a fish like the sand perch is worth it because they tend to be fattier. And for a dolphin, fattier means more nutritious.

Sure enough, after a few minutes, a sand perch comes out. The fish dashes off for a few yards and then hesitates, waiting for a moment before burying itself in the sand again. In that brief pause, the elder dolphin shakes off the sponge, surfaces for a breath, and then comes down and catches the sand perch before it can rebury itself. She then passes it to her daughter. And with that, the younger dolphin hasn't just gotten a good meal ； more importantly, she's learned a powerful hunting technique - one that years from now, she'll pass along to her own children.

1. Which word best describes the young dolphin's feeling in the first paragraph?

A．Anxious.	B．Curious.
C．Scared.	D．Relaxed.

2. Why does the mother dolphin need a piece of sponge?

A．To chase down fattier fish.	B．To play with her children.
C．To protect herself from being hurt.	D．To hide herself under the sand.

3. How does the older dolphin catch the sand perch?

A．She waits for the right time.	B．She hides under the sand.
C．She sets a trap for it.	D．She makes use of space.

4. What is the text mainly about?

A．Guidance of an experienced elder.	B．Reliance of a young dolphinonher mom.
C．Theprocess of catching fat fish.	D．The powerful hunting technique.

【推荐1】What to do when it’s wet in Woolacombe

When it’s wet in Woolacombe you still have so much to do. There are so many attractions and activities for all-weather family fun, both on our Devon Holiday Parks and in the local area.

Cinemas

Both our Woolacombe Bay and Twitchen House Holiday Parks have brand-new air-conditioned cinemas. Always showing the latest blockbuster films, with drinks and hot snacks, and comfortable seating. We let you bring in your own snacks, or order from the bar and get an in-seat delivery. Hide from wet Woolacombe in style.

What’s on Park?

Try our amazing surfing simulator (模拟器). Our Wavesurfer, at Golden Coast., creates an artificial wave you can bodyboard on—for beginner or experienced boarders alike. We also have pottery painting on three of our Parks, a winner with the kids.

Our indoor pools and waterslides are a fantastic option. Arcades (拱廊) and soft-play areas abound across our Parks, as well as eateries and bars. Ask at reception for a list of our on-Park activities—all included in the price of your holiday!

The Milky Way

This family-friendly theme park is an out of this world, all-weather adventure! Featuring North Devon’s largest indoor play area, typhoon roller-coaster, gravity rider, circular slide, bumper cars and so many more activities!

North Devon Wake Park

If you don’t mind getting a bit wet. in Woolacombe, then head across to Bideford and visit the Wake Park and Aqua Park. Something for all the family, from beginner to the experienced. Race, slide and chase each other across the fantastic Aqua Park—or learn a new skill in the Wake Park, hours of fun!

1. Where can you see a film?

A．In Twitchen House.	B．At Golden Coast.
C．In Wake Park.	D．In Aqua Park.

2. Which activity attracts the children most?

A．Indoor surfing.	B．Riding a roller-coaster.
C．Seeing films.	D．Pottery painting.

3. What can you do in The Milky Way?

A．Learn to surf.	B．Play, waterslides.
C．Play rider games.	D．Learn new skills.

【推荐2】The discovery that the universe is expanding was one of the great intellectual revolutions of the twentieth century. With hindsight(回过头看)， it is easy to wonder why no one had thought of it before. Newton,and others,should have realized that a static(静止的)universe would soon start to shrink under the influence of gravity. But suppose instead the universe is expanding.If it was expanding fairly slowly,the force of gravity would cause it eventually to stop expanding and to start shrinking. However, if it was expanding at more than a certain critical rate,gravity would never be strong enough to stop it,and the universe would continue to expand forever.

This is a bit like what happens when one fires a rocket upward from the surface of the earth. If it has a fairly low speed,gravity will eventually stop the rocket and it will start falling back. On the other hand, if the rocket has more than a certain critical speed, gravity will not be strong enough to pull it back, so it will keep going away from the earth forever.

This behavior of the universe could have been predicted from Newton's theory of gravity at any time in the nineteenth, the eighteenth, or even the late seventeenth centuries.Yet so strong was the belief in a static universe that it persisted into the early twentieth century.Even Einstein,when he formulated(构想) the general theory of relativity in 1915, was so sure that the universe had to be static that he modified his theory to make this possible,introducing a so-called cosmological constant(宇宙常数)into his equations. When Hubble's study of nearby galaxies showed that the universe was in fact expanding,Einstein regretted modifying his elegant theory and viewed the cosmological constant term as his "greatest mistake".

1. What does the passage mainly talk about?

A．the discovery of the expanding universe theory

B．the differences between two universe theories

C．scientists' unwillingness to abandon a widely accepted theory

D．scientists' doubts about the theory that the universe is expanding

2. Which of the following can be inferred about the expanding universe?

A．It did not agree with a theory widely accepted in the nineteenth century.

B．Most scientists nowadays believe that the idea is no longer acceptable.

C．The existence of gravity makes it impossible for the universe to expand.

D．Einstein discovered it when working with the general theory of relativity.

3. The author mentions Newton in order to

A．show respect for his great scientific work of gravity

B．provide evidence that the universe is not expanding

C．give one example of a supporter of the expanding universe theory

D．show that the expanding universe theory might have been discovered earlier

4. What can we know from the last two paragraphs?

A．The author mentions a rocket to prove the theory of a static universe.

B．The force driving the universe to expand is similar to that driving the rockets upward.

C．Einstein used the term "cosmological constant" to challenge Newton's gravity theory.

D．Einstein's mistake is used to show the author's doubt whether the universe is expanding.

【推荐3】A group of scientists trained dogs to detect(发现)a crop disease called citrus greening. The disease has affected orange, lemon and grapefruit trees in the American states of Florida, California and Texas. The dogs can detect the disease weeks to years before it appears on tree leaves and roots, the researchers report. Using dogs is also faster, less costly and more exact than having people collect hundreds of leaves for lab analysis.

Timothy Gottwald is a researcher in the study. He said, “This technology is thousands of years old — the dog's nose. We^’ve just trained dogs to hunt new prey：the bacteria that cause a very damaging crop disease.^”

Citrus greening is caused by a kind of bacteria that are spread by a tiny insect that feeds on the leaves and stems of citrus trees. Once a tree is infected(感染)，there is' no cure. The disease has also hurt citrus crops in Central and South America and Asia. In one experiment involving grapefruit trees in Texas, trained dogs were correct 95 percent of the time in telling the difference between newly infected trees and healthy ones. “The earlier you detect the disease, the better chance you have at stopping healthy trees being infected by removing infected ones,” Gottwald said.

Professor Matteo Garbelotto says the new research shows that dogs can detect an infection well before present methods. He has been involved in similar research but had no part in the new study.

Laura Sims is a plant scientist. She praised the steps taken to find out if the dogs were detecting the bacteria itself or a plant's reaction to an infection. To do that, the researchers infected different kinds of unrelated plants with the bacteria in a laboratory. The dogs were still able to pick out the infected plants.

Gottwald said, "You've seen dogs working in airports, detecting drugs and explosives. Maybe soon you will see them working on more farms."

1. What does the text say about citrus greening?

A．It mainly damages tree branches.

B．It' s impossible to detect at an early stage.

C．Dogs can better detect it than humans.

D．Humans have to analyze tree roots to detect it.

2. How does a dog detect citrus greening?

A．By tasting.	B．By touching.
C．By observing.	D．By Sniffing.

3. Early detection of citrus greening enables farmers to ______.

A．help infected trees to recover	B．keep it from spreading further
C．improve the quality of fruit.	D．better protect infected trees

4. Which of the following statements reflects Gottwald's opinion?

A．Dogs will take the place of humans to conduct risky jobs.

B．Trained dogs make no mistakes in citrus greening detection.

C．Dogs use plants' reaction to an infection to help with their detection.

D．Using dogs for citrus greening detection will be more widespread.