【推荐1】All through the long summer vacations, I sat on the edge of the street and watched enviously the other boys on the block play baseball. I was never asked to take part even when one team had a member missing — not out of special cruelty, but because they took it for granted I would be no good at it.

I would never forget the wonderful evening when something changed. The baseball ended about eight or eight thirty when it grew dark. Then it was the custom of the boys to sit at a little stoop (门廊), mostly talking about the games played during the day and of the game to be played tomorrow. Then long silences would fall and the boys would wander off one by one. It was just after one of those long silences that my life as an outsider changed. I can no longer remember which boy it was that summer evening who broke the silence with a question; but whoever he was, I nod to him gratefully now. “What’s in those books you’re always reading?” he asked casually. “Stories,” I answered “What kind?” asked somebody else without much interest.

Nor do I know what drove me to behave as I did, for usually I just sat there in silence, glad enough to be allowed to remain among them; but instead of answering his question, I told them for two hours the story I was reading at the moment. The book was Sister Carrie. They listened bug-eyed and breathless. I must have told it well, but I think there was another and deeper reason that made them so keen an audience. Listening to a tale being told in the dark is one of the most ancient of man’s entertainments, but I was offering them as well, without being aware of doing it, a new and exciting experience.

The next night and many night thereafter, a kind of unspoken ritual (仪式) took place. As it grew dark, I would take my place in the center of the stoop and begin the evening’s tale. Some nights, in order to taste my victory more completely, I cheated. I would stop at the most exciting part of a story by Jack London or Bret Harte, and without warning tell them that that was as far as I had gone in the book and it would have to be continued the following evening. It was not true, of course; but I had to make certain of my new-found power and position. I enjoyed the long summer evenings until school began in the fall.Other words of mine have been listened to by larger and more fashionable audiences, but for that tough and athletic one that sat close on the stoop outside the candy store, I have an unreasoning love that will last forever.

1. Watching the boys playing baseball, the writer must have felt _____.

A．special and different

B．bitter and lonely

C．pleased and excited

D．disturbed and annoyed

2. The writer feels grateful even now to the boy who asked the question because the boy _____.

A．broke the long silence of that summer evening

B．liked the book that he was reading

C．invited him to join in their game

D．offered him an opportunity that changed his life

3. According to Paragraph 3, story-telling was popular among the boys basically because _____.

A．the story was from a children’s book

B．the boys had few entertainments after dark

C．listening to tales was an age-old practice

D．the boys didn’t read books by themselves

4. Sometimes the writer stopped at the most exciting part of a story to _____.

A．experience more joy of achievement

B．play a mean trick on the boys

C．add his own imagination to the story

D．help the boys understand the story better

5. What is the message conveyed in the story?

A．Reading is more important than playing games.

B．Friendship is built upon respect for each other.

C．One can find his position in life in his own way.

D．Adult habits are developed from childhood.

【推荐2】British chemist David Evans has become an overnight celebrity on Chinese social media. His chemistry experiments have attracted over 2 million followers in just a few months. Evans is a chemistry professor at Beijing University of Chemical Technology. The 60-year-old always wears a white lab coat, a pair of safety goggles (护目镜）， and smiles often. Some web users say he looks just like “the Grandpa of KFC”.

Evans has posted videos of various experiments. His most popular experiments have attracted millions of hits on video-sharing apps. Excited children's cheers and shouts can be heard in his videos. “I hope my experiments can arouse people's interest in science,” he says.

Evans has been interested in China since childhood. In the early 1970s, before the reform and opening-up, he viewed China as “a country full of mysteries”. He first visited the Chinese mainland in 1987 to attend a chemistry conference in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province. He quit his job in the United Kingdom and moved to Beijing in 1996. Many of his friends thought he was crazy. But Evans said they just saw China's challenges but not its potential.

Since 2011, Evans has turned to the Internet to popularize science. He learned short-video apps are also popular in small cities and rural areas. And he realized this enables him to reach more students, who lack opportunities to perform fun experiments. But even a one-minute video requires a considerable amount of work. Still, he thinks it's worth it to fulfill his responsibility to popularize science.

His experiments always fill schools’ lecture halls with laughter. Some viewers call him “a Harry Potter-like magician”, but he disagrees. “ A magician never tells the secrets behind his tricks, but a scientist always gives an explanation.” He sees himself as a teacher. He performs experiments to spread knowledge, inspire thinking, remove misunderstandings and show that science can create change. Evans says he looks forward to more “chemical reactions” with China.

1. Who is David Evans according to the passage?

A．A manager of KFC.	B．A film celebrity.
C．A chemistry teacher.	D．A British magician.

2. What can we learn from Paragraph 3?

A．Evans considered the U.K. to be a country full of mysteries.

B．Evans first visited the Chinese mainland in the 1970s.

C．Evans didn’t fancy moving to Beijing.

D．Evans attended a chemistry conference in China in 1987.

3. Why did Evans begin to post videos of experiments on the Internet?

A．To popularize science.	B．To rise to fame.
C．To use short-video apps.	D．To make much money

4. What can we infer from the passage?

A．Evans knows exactly how a magic works.

B．Evans will continue to post videos of experiments in China.

C．Evans’ students like to interrupt（打扰） his experiments with laughter.

D．Evans’ friends thought highly of his decision to move to China.

【推荐3】I chose to take psychology because one is able to better understand himself, understand others, and learn how people think, so I can use that to my advantage in the business world.

    1     By learning psychology I will learn how and why I think the way I think. This is important to me because I want to know whether my up-bringing or the genes I possess from my parents influence me.     2     I hope to find an answer this year through my studies.

I also think it is important to be accepting and tolerant of others and their certain beliefs about different matters. Some people like activities and subjects that I may not entirely agree with. It is important to learn why they believe what they do. People are different throughout the world.     3     I would like to learn what customs, traditions, and ways of thinking are witnessed worldwide and why some are apparent one place but not another.

My final reason for taking psychology is that I can better understand people from a business standpoint.     4     Knowing how they think will help in making major marketing and promotional decisions. I hope to learn how people react to certain situations or ads to see what will get them interested.

I know the effort I put into this course will benefit me later in life. Of course, learning the course may be challenging at times.     5    

A．If I had to predict, I would say a mix of both.

B．But there are similarities between them.

C．Psychology is beneficial to my future.

D．Positive psychology has developed rapidly via the Internet.

E．It is vital to know what consumers want and need.

F．I often wonder why I like the items, subjects, and activities that I do.

G．However, what I learn will influence my future decisions and goals.

【推荐3】As a young man, Al was a skilled artist, a potter (陶艺工人) with a wife and two fine sons. One night, his elder son developed a severe stomachache. Thinking it was only some common intestinal (肠道) disorder, neither Al nor his wife took the condition very seriously. But the boy died suddenly that night.

Knowing the death could have been avoided if he had only realized the seriousness of the situation, he always felt he was guilty. To make matters worse, his wife left him a short time later, leaving him alone with his six-year-old younger son. The hurt and pain of the two situations were more than Al could stand, and he turned to alcohol to help, In time Al became an alcoholic.

As the alcoholism progressed, Al began to lose everything he possessed-his land, house etc. Finally Al died alone in a small bar. Hearing of AI's death, I thought, “What a totally wasted life! What a complete failure!”

As time went by, I began to reevaluate my earlier rough judgment. I knew Al's now adult son, Ernie. He is one of the kindest, most caring and most loving men I have ever known, I saw the love between Ernie and his children, thinking that kindness and caring had to come from somewhere.

I hadn't heard Ernie talk much about his father. One day, I worked up my courage to ask him what on earth his father had done so that he became such a special person. Ernie said quietly. “As a child until I left home at 18, Al came into my room every night, gave me a kiss and said, ‘I love you, son.’”

Tears came to my eyes as I realized what a fool I had been to judge Al as a failure. He had not left any material possessions behind. But he had been a kind and loving father, and left behind his best love.

1. What directly made the author think of Al as a failure?

A．His losing everything and his life.	B．His older son's death.
C．His strong addiction to alcohol.	D．His wife's divorcing him.

2. What can we infer from Al's son, Ernie?

A．His father's life was indeed wasted.

B．The love from his father made him what he was.

C．A great fortune must have been left to him.

D．He was not very kind but very loving.

3. What might be the best title of the article?

A．Love you, son

B．A failure father

C．Parents' love

D．A skilled artist

【推荐1】Kenya’s long-distance runners are among the best in the world. Is their food and daily routine (常规) a key to the secret of their success? We spent a week at a training camp with ten top athletes (运动员) to find out. This is what we discovered.

They eat five times a day:

08:00          Breakfast

10:00          Mid-morning snack

13:00          Lunch

16:00          Afternoon snack

19:00          Supper

The Kenyan runners’ food is based on bread, rice, potatoes, porridge, cabbage, beans and ugali (balls of cornmeal). Ugali is usually eaten with vegetables.

Meat is eaten in fairly small amounts, just four times a week. The athletes drink a lot of tea with milk and sugar. They get all the vitamins (维生素) they need from their food — they never take vitamin pills.

They usually train as a group twice a day. The first run is at 6 o'clock in the morning and the afternoon run is at 5 o'clock. They run 10 to 15 kilometres in the morning and 6 to 8 kilometres in the afternoon. Once a week, the two 1,500-metre runners in the group run shorter distances at higher speeds.

An amazing part of the Kenyan food is its richness in carbohydrates (碳水化合物). Every 24 hours, they have about 600 grams of carbohydrates to give them energy for their training. They only eat a little fat, most of it coming from the milk they have in their tea. They drink about a litre (升) of water every day. Surprisingly, they drink more than a litre of tea every day, too. They always eat soon after training.

Rest and sleep are also an important part of the athletes’ programme. They are always in bed early and they always get a good night’s sleep.

1. Why did the author go to the training camp?

A．To improve his running.	B．To report who are the best runners.
C．To learn from the athletes’ good habits.	D．To find out why the athletes do so well.

2. What do we know about the first group run of the day?

A．It starts at midmorning.	B．It happens before breakfast.
C．It is shorter than the second run.	D．It is led by two 1,500-metre runners.

3. What surprised the author about the athletes?

A．They drink a lot of tea.	B．They eat five times a day.
C．They never take vitamin pills.	D．They take in a lot of milk and sugar.

【推荐2】As children, many of us dreamed of being treasure hunters when we grew up. Few of us grow up to do this work, and those who do are often professional archeologists (考古学家). And then there’s Lara Maiklem, an editor, who has taken up the hobby of mudlarking, which is a kind of treasure finding, done along the banks of rivers.

Maiklem’s idea of “treasure” is self-defined. She says she was blessed with a mother who really taught her to look, and to take pleasure in the small things around her. So for her, treasure is anything extraordinary. “Finding dry snakeskin in the long grass, or broken china in the garden bed is like finding treasure to me,” she says.

About 20 years ago, Maiklem moved to London, but having grown up on a farm, she missed the peace of the countryside. Then, one day, she found herself at the top of a set of rickety (摇晃的) wooden steps looking down at the Thames’s foreshore. “The tide (潮) was low and the riverbed was exposed. I went down and started to look about. That day I found a short piece of clay pipe stem and reasoned that there was probably more, so I went back on another low tide and I found some china. Then I found myself going there regularly,” she says.

Maiklem says after she’s photographed and researched what she finds, she often takes objects back to the foreshore of the river. “What I do keep is limited to things I don’t already have, or better examples of things I already have,” she says.

In today’s busy, stressful world, arguably the best thing treasure mudlarkers take home is the relaxation and peace of mind found in the work of mudlarking. “You’ re doing a search, yet not really doing anything so you can let your brain wander. I mudlark for 5-6 hours, which sounds like a long time, but the time flies. By the time I leave the foreshore the river has taken away my problems, and that’s more valuable than treasure,” says Maiklem.

1. What does “treasure” mean to Maiklem?

A．Anything she believes special.

B．Anything her mother places around her.

C．Anything she and her mother take pleasure in.

D．Anything archeologists consider extraordinary.

2. What does Paragraph 3 mainly talk about?

A．The best place for mudlarking.

B．The typical way of mudlarking.

C．How Maiklem got into mudlarking.

D．What mudlarking brought for Maiklem.

3. How does Maiklem usually deal with the things she finds?

A．She cleans them carefully.

B．She gives them to photographers.

C．She classifies them as limited editions.

D．She gets them back to their original places.

4. What is the greatest fun of mudlarking for Maiklem?

A．Finding special and valuable things.

B．Searching for solutions to problems.

C．Enjoying the beauty of the foreshore.

D．Gaining a peaceful state of mind.

【推荐3】Calling someone a “birdbrain” is considered rude. It implies that someone has a small brain and thus is not smart. A new study found that the expression doesn’t do birds justice either. Birds’ brains are much bigger than we thought-at least compared to their small bodies.

An international team of 37 scientists measured the brain volume of hundreds of dinosaurs and extinct birds by scanning fossils of their skulls. The readings were compared to a large database containing the brain sizes of modern birds. These measurements were then analyzed, taking into consideration each bird’s body size-resulting in something called “relative brain size”. The results showed that a dramatic change of birds’ body size happened right after the mass extinction of dinosaurs 66 million years ago.

According to the study, published on April 23 in the journal Current Biology, birds and non-avian (非鸟类的) dinosaurs had similar brain sizes before the extinction. After the extinction of the dinosaurs, however, birds had to find a way to survive, so they shrank their bodies-since smaller animals need less food-but they kept their big brains.

“The changed landscape may have caused the rapid evolution of new brain-body scaling patterns (缩放比例) by favoring both larger brains and smaller bodies,” US paleontologist (古生物学家) Daniel Ksepka, who is the lead author of the study, told CNN.

This “evolutionary brain leap”-as scientists call it-also happened very rapidly. Without dinosaurs, birds quickly repopulated. They came in all types and sizes, which contributed to the diverse species of birds we see today.

But among all the bird species, certain ones “show above average rates of brain and body size evolution”, study co-author Adam Smith at Clemson University, US, said in a statement-with crows and parrots being the most evident. In fact, previous studies have already discovered that these birds have an amazing cognitive ability. They are able to use tools, imitate human speech and even remember human faces.

So, in the words of Smith, “calling someone ‘bird-brained’ is actually quite a compliment!”

1. How did scientists learn the brain sizes of dinosaurs and extinct birds?

A．By referring to a database.

B．By analyzing their body size.

C．By studying their fossil skulls.

D．By examining the brain size of modern birds.

2. What were birds’ brains like after the extinction of the dinosaurs?

A．They were the same size as non-avian dinosaurs.

B．They shrank to adapt to the environment.

C．They kept growing to avoid extinction.

D．They remained as big as they were before.

3. According to Adam Smith, what do we know about birds?

A．Their brain evolution happened very rapidly.

B．Some species evolved to be smarter than others.

C．Crows and parrots have the largest bird brains.

D．Birds have amazing abilities to copy human speech.

4. What is the purpose of this text?

A．To explain the origin of the word “birdbrain”.

B．To describe how a bird evolved through history.

C．To present a new study on birds’ brain size.

D．To reveal reasons for the rapid growth of bird populations.

【推荐1】The secret to eating less and being happy about it may have been found years ago — by McDonald’s. According to a new study from Cornell University’s Food and Brand Lab, small non-food rewards — like the toys in McDonald’s Happy Meals — stimulate the same reward centers in the brain as food does.

The researchers, led by Martin Reimann, carried out a series of experiments to see if people would choose a smaller meal if it was paired with a non-food item.

They found that the majority of both kids and adults chose a half-sized portion when combined with a prize. Both options were priced the same.

Even more interesting is that the promise of a future reward was enough to make adults choose the smaller portion. One of the prizes used was a lottery ticket (彩票), with a $10, $ 50 or $100 payout, and this was as effective as a tangible gift in persuading people to eat less.

“The fact that participants were willing to substitute part of a food item for the mere prospect of a relatively small monetary award is interesting,” says Reimann. “One explanation for this finding is that possible awards may be more emotionally inspiring than certainty awards. The uncertainty of winning provides added attraction and desirability through emotional ‘thrills’. The possibility of receiving an award also produces a state of hope — a state that is in itself psychologically rewarding.” In other words, there’s a reason why people like to gamble.

How might this knowledge be used to help people eat more healthily?

One possibility is a healthy option that offers the chance to win a spa weekend. Or maybe the reward of a half-sized portion could be a half-sized dessert to be claimed only on a future date. That would get you back in the restaurant — and make you eat a little less.

1. What do we learn about McDonald’s inclusion of toys in its Happy Meals?

A．It may throw light on people’s desire to find a secret.

B．It has proved to be key to McDonald’s business success.

C．It appeals to kid’s curiosity to find out what is hidden inside.

D．It may be a pleasant way for kids to reduce their food intake.

2. What is the finding of the researchers led by Martin Reimann?

A．Reducing food intake is not that difficult if people go to McDonald’s more.

B．Most kids and adults don’t actually feel hungry when they eat half of their meal.

C．Eating a smaller portion of food does good to the health of kids and adults alike.

D．Most kids and adults would choose a smaller meal that came with a non-food item.

3. What is most interesting in Martin Reimann’s finding?

A．Kids preferred an award in the form of money to one in the form of a toy.

B．Adults chose the smaller portion on the mere promise of a future award.

C．Both kids and adults felt satisfied with only half of their meal portions.

D．Neither children nor adults could resist the temptation of a free toy.

4. What can we infer from Martin Reimann’s finding?

A．People should eat much less if they wish to stay healthy and happy.

B．More fast food restaurants are likely to follow McDonald’s example.

C．We can lead people to eat less while helping the restaurant business.

D．More studies are needed to find out the influence of emotion on behavior.

【推荐2】From visiting museums to watching Changing the Guard, there are some amazing experiences for you to get while in London. Here we pick some of the best free activities in London.

Changing the Guard

For a display (展览) of British ceremony, watch Changing the Guard outside Buckingham Palace. This is where one member of Queen’s Guards exchanges (交换) duty with the old guard. Both guards are dressed in traditional red uniform and bearskin hats, and the handover is accompanied by a Guards band. Guard Mounting takes place at 11:30 am. It is held daily from May to July, and on alternate (间隔的) dates throughout the rest of the year.

Sir John Soane’s Museum

Sir John Soane was an architect. During his lifetime he collected some valuable antiquities (古董) from all four corners of the globe. They are now on display in Sir John Soane’s Museum which gives a real insight into the life of this outstanding Victorian gentleman.

Geffrye Museum

A very unique experience, the Geffrye Museum, located in 18th century almshouses (救济院), gives a fascinating insight into the lives of the British middle classes from the 1600s to the present day. Explore a series of room sets, complete with furnishing and textiles from each period.

Hogarth’s House

Hogarth was very famous and criticized 18th century society in his engravings (雕刻), such as A Harlot’s Progress, A Rake’s Progress and Marriage-a-la-Mode. As the name suggests, Hogarth’s House is where he lived before he died in 1764, and it’s here that you’ll find the largest collection of his paintings on public display.

Bank of England Museum

The splendid Bank of England Museum traces the history of the bank from its foundation by Royal Charter in 1694 to its role today as the country’s central bank. Here are many items you have never expected to see.

1. What can we learn about the ceremony of Changing the Guard?

A．Visitors need to pay when watching the ceremony.

B．Visitors can listen to some music at the ceremony.

C．The ceremony is held at 11:30 am every day throughout the year.

D．Changing the Guard involves two groups of guards every time.

2. What can visitors learn about the British People at Geffrye Museum?

A．The home life	B．The social life
C．the political life	D．The cultural life

3. What would be the best title for this text?

A．Free London Attractions	B．Active Life in London
C．Famous Museums in London	D．Enjoy Your Stay in London

【推荐3】You are just waking up in the spring of 2030. Your Internet of Things bedroom opens solar powered e-windows and plays gentle music while your smart lighting displays a montage (剪辑的)of beachfront sunrises from your recent vacation.

Your shower uses very little water or soap. It recycles your grey water and puts the extra heat back into your home's operating system. While you dress, your artificial intelligence (Al) assistant shares your schedule for the day and plays your favorite tunes.

You still start your day with a coffee but it comes from your lot refrigerator which is capable of providing a coffeehouse experience in your home. A hot breakfast tailored to your specific nutritional needs (based on chemical analysis from your trips to the “smart toilet” is waiting for you in the kitchen.

When it's time to leave, an on-demand transport system has three cars waiting for you, your wife (or husband) and your kids. On the road, driverless cars and trucks move with mathematical accuracy, without traffic jams, routine maintenance or road rage. Accident rates are near zero.

On the way, you call your R&D team, who are enveloping a day's work in Shanghai. Your life-sized image is projected (投射)into the China Innovation Centre and your colleagues see you as if you were sitting in the room. It’s a bit surreal for them to see you in the morning light given that it's dark on the Bund, Shanghai's waterfront, though the novelty disappears after a few uses.

You review the day's cloud-based data from your Shenzhen manufacturing center, your pilot project in San Diego, and your QA team in Melbourne. The large amounts of datasets were collected in real-time from every piece of equipment and have been beautifully summarized by your company's AL All these facilities are closely maintained and operated through a advanced predictive analytics platform.

Pleased with the team's progress, you end the call and ease into a good book.

This is the future and it will be here sooner than you think.

1. How can we describe the life in the future?

A．Artificial

B．Accurate

C．Remarkable

D．Intelligent

2. What can we do in the year 2030 according to the passage?

A．We can have a bath without using water.

B．We can drive to work without concerning any accidents.

C．We can enjoy the coffeehouse experience without going there.

D．We can deal with all our work at home without turning to others for help.

3. How does the author develop the passage?

A．In time order.	B．In logical order.
C．By comparing.	D．By offering examples.

4. What's the purpose of writing the passage?

A．To attract us to use the Al system.

B．To introduce the life in the future.

C．To teach us how to use the Al system.

D．To encourage us to study hard for the future.