【推荐1】阅读下面的短文，根据其内容写一篇60词左右的内容概要。

Recently, a professor of philosophy in the United States has written a book called Money and the Meaning of Life. He has discovered that how we deal with money in our day - to - day life has more meaning than we usually think. One of the things he asks his students to do is to keep a record of every penny they spend for a week. From the way they spend their money, they often see what they really value in life.

He says our relation with others often becomes clearly defined when money enters the picture. You might have wonderful friendship with somebody and you think that you are very good friends. But you will know him only when you ask him to lend you some money. If he does, it brings something to the relationship that seems stronger than ever before. Or it can suddenly weaken the relationship if he doesn't. This person may say that he has a certain feeling, but if it is not carried out in the money world, there is something less real about it.

Since money is so important to us, we consider those who possess a lot of it to be very important. The author interviewed some millionaires in researching his book.

Question: What is the most surprising thing you have discovered about being rich, because you are a self - made man?

Answer: The most surprising thing is why people give me so much respect. I am nothing. I don't know much. All I am is rich.

People just have an idea of making more and more money, but what is it for? How much do I need for any given purposes in my life? In his book, the professor uncovered an important need in modern society: to bring back the idea that money is an instrument rather than the end. Money plays an important role in the material world, but expecting money to give happiness may be missing the meaning of life.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

【推荐2】阅读下面短文，根据其内容写一篇60词左右的概要。

In our childhood, our weekends were open and filled with possibilities. We liked to read in strange places such as the stairs of the local church. We went to the movies and read our handwritten reviews of Ghostbusters. When my son, aged 12, started asking on Sunday nights, “Was that a weekend? Are you kidding?” I knew he meant that those two days hadn't seemed like a weekend at all.

With the weakening of unions and worker protections, the weekend faded. The number of people working more than 48 hours a week rose by 15%. A week that is a patchwork of multiple tasks makes two days off rare as hen's teeth. Technology binds (捆绑) us to work, and we move through our weekends as if on call, checking emails and asserting our importance by engaging with work. Then there is our own fault. We stuffed weekend with activities. It seems hard to shake the value that time must be occupied, which is why taking two days off can seem suspect, or a bit like failure.

This more-faster-better mode slips into our family lives, too. Many parents feel pressured to cultivate the perfect weekend as part of an overall effort to engineer the perfect childhood. So our children spend their weekends being dragged from enriching courses to the high-level sport to a scheduled 90-minute visit with other toddlers (幼童). The fear of falling behind is a powerful force working against leisure.

In childhood, those open weekends allowed me to stumble (踉跄) towards myself. Later, the tape recorder became a film critic and a writer. Since my son complains of the weekend, we try to turn off the devices, and visit the people we love. If I need to work, I will try to put a clock on it — a few hours, no more. The goal is that every weekend includes at least a little unoccupied time.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

【推荐3】阅读下面短文, 根据其内容写一篇 60 词左右的内容概要。

How could we possibly think that keeping animals in cages in unnatural environments - mostly for entertainment purposes is fair and respectful?

Zoo officials say they are concerned about animals. However, most zoos remain “collections” of interesting “things” rather than protective habitats. Zoos teach people that it is acceptable to keep animals bored, lonely, and far from their natural homes.

Zoos claim to educate people and save endangered species, but visitors leave zoos without having learned anything meaningful about the animals’ natural behavior, intelligence, or beauty. Zoos keep animals in small spaces or cages, and most signs only mention the species’ name, diet, and natural range (分布区). The animals’ normal behavior is seldom noticed because zoos don’t usually take care of the animals’ natural needs.

The animals are kept together in small spaces, with no privacy and little opportunity for mental and physical exercise. This results in unusual and self-destructive behavior called zoochosis(动物精神病). A worldwide study of zoos found that zoochosis is common among animals kept in small spaces or cages. Another study showed that elephants spend 22 percent of their time making repeated head movements or biting cage bars, and bears spend 30 percent of their time walking back and forth, a sign of unhappiness and pain.

Furthermore, most animals in zoos are not endangered. Captive breeding(圈养繁殖) of endangered big cats, Asian elephants, and other species has not resulted in their being sent back to the wild. Zoos talk a lot about their captive breeding programs because they do not want people to worry about a species dying out. In fact, baby animals also attract a lot of paying customers. Haven’t we seen enough competitions to name baby animals?

Actually, we will save endangered species only if we save their habitats and put an end to the reasons why people kill them. Instead of supporting zoos, we should support groups that work to protect animals’ natural habitats.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

【推荐1】Directions: Write an English composition in 120-150 words according to the instructions given below in Chinese.

文章必须涵盖下列内容：
1、简单描述图片。
2、分析造成此现象的原因。
3、谈谈自己的看法。
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

【推荐2】阅读下面短文，根据其内容写一篇60字左右的内容概要。

In recent years, our parenting culture began to send the message that competence was important for building self-esteem. However, that same parenting culture made a big mistake by telling parents that the way to instill competence in their children was to tell them how competent they were. But here's the problem. Children can't be convinced that they are competent

When parents try to convince their children of how competent they are, they often have the exact opposite effect. There is this little thing called reality that children have to confront on a daily basis. When children are faced with the conflict between what their parents had told them about how good they are and what reality is telling them, the result is the bursting of the “You are the best” bubble that their parents blew up for them.

You can, however, do several things to encourage them to develop their own competence. First, you can give them opportunities in their daily lives to gain a sense of competence, for example, dressing, eating, drawing, cooking, and interacting with others. These daily experiences allow your children to develop specific competencies that will be helpful to them as they progress through childhood and into adulthood.

Second, you can be sure that they gain the most value from their experiences. You can direct their focus to the competencies that enabled those successes (e.g., “You were really focused and worked hard on that project.”) rather than some generic praise of the accomplishment itself (e.g., “Good job.!). And you can praise their accomplishments (e.g., “You must feel so good about your project.”).

But you shouldn't just focus on the successes because, as every parent knows, as your children develop, they will experience far more failures than successes as they begin to gain competence. How you react often dictates how they will respond to those failures. if you are positive and supportive, your children will get the message that failure is okay and just a part of life.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

【推荐3】Directions: Write an English composition in 120-150 words according to the instructions given below in Chinese.

请简单描绘图片内容，并用你生活中的一个经历来具体说明。你的文章必须包括：
1） 对图片的简单描述；
2） 对个人经历的具体描写；
3） 你当时的感受或想法。