【推荐1】My wife, daughter, and I moved into our home nine years ago and we spent a lot of time and energy in the yard to get it looking like the way it does today. We live on a corner, higher than street level, and the entire side of the yard is surrounded by a professionally built rock wall. The front of the house though is another story because instead of a wall along the sidewalk, the rocks appear to be just thrown up onto the dirt as if someone were in a hurry to finish.

We did the best we could with what we had to work with and called this area our “rock garden”. Whenever we had leftover flowers or plants, Denise or I would stick them out front, just to bring some color to the area. We would do all of the yard work on our own, even the tiring weed-pulling.

Last summer I had reached the end of the rock garden and found a tiny little plant that I could not immediately identify, I knew I didn’t plant it and Denise claimed that she didn’t either. We decided to let it continue growing until we could figure out what it was.

Weeks passed and as I made my way back to the mystery plant, it appeared to be a Sunflower with a tall skinny stalk（茎，杆）and only one head on it. I decided to baby it along and weed around it. As I pulled rocks from the area to get to the weeds, I noticed something unusual. The Sunflower had not started where I saw the stalk begin. It actually had begun under a big rock and grown under and around it to reach the sun.

That’s when I realized that if a tiny little Sunflower didn’t let a big rock stand in its way of developing, we too have the ability of doing the same thing. Once our environment begins to see that we believe in ourselves like that little Sunflower, we can attain the same nourishment（营养）and growth as well.

Stand tall like the Sunflower and be proud of who and what you are and the environment will begin to support you. You will find a way to go under or around your big obstacle in order to reach your desires.

1. We can know from the first paragraph that ______.

A．the author finished building his home hurriedly

B．the author’s family have lived in this home for nine years

C．the author’s home is made of rock walls

D．there is a wall along the sidewalk

2. The author found it unusual that ______.

A．the mystery plant turned out to be a Sunflower

B．the Sunflower had a tall stalk and only one head

C．the Sunflower grew under and around a big rock

D．the Sunflower had started where the stalk was seen

3. Which of the following best describes the Sunflower?

A．Brave and stubborn	B．Confident and persistent
C．Optimistic and modest	D．Mysterious and devoted

4. What can be inferred from this passage?

A．Human beings are able to remove obstacles

B．The universal truth made the sunflower survive

C．A big rock blocked out the sunlight of the sunflower

D．We can achieve success as long as we are self-confident

【推荐2】There are few creators whose legacy (遗产) is as far-reaching as Walt Disney. Disney transformed a simple cartoon mouse into a huge empire. Through the years, Disney also had his share of critics. But his view of criticism (批评) may be different than what you’d imagine.

Way back in 1975, the book The Story of Walt Disney shared one of my favorite quotes from the famous entertainer. “You may not realize it when it happens, but may be the best thing in the world for you.” There is a lot to be learned from that sentence. As you go through life, there will be no shortage of persons telling you what you need to improve. You could simply ignore them or you could do what Disney did: use that negative feedback to make you better.

Negative feedback is like a freshly mined (开采的) diamond. On the surface, you’ve got what would appear to most persons to be a dull, ugly rock. But to a trained eye, that ugly rock is extremely valuable. All it needs is a little cut and polish (抛光). Criticism is like an unpolished diamond: it is ugly. Here you are, trying your best, and someone comes along to tell you it’s not good enough. But much like a processional diamond cutter can take that unpolished rock and turn it into something beautiful, you can learn to get the benefits of criticism.

Think about it: smart as you are, there’s always room for improvement. Additionally, all of us have blind spots. Of course, some criticism will be completely wrong. But even in these cases, it’s valuable because it helps you to see your actions through another perspective (角度), one you may not have considered.

Learning to benefit from such criticism takes emotional intelligence-the ability to make emotions work for you, instead of against you. The key is to change the way you process criticism and learn to turn negative feedback into something constructive. It never feels good to hear that you are wrong. When you do, take a page out of Walt’s book and remember: it is the ones who tell you the truth-even when it hurts-who will make you better.

1. How is the third paragraph mainly developed?

A．By offering numbers.	B．By analyzing causes.
C．By comparison.	D．By describing a process.

2. Why is even wrong criticism meaningful?

A．It offers you a fresh perspective.	B．It leads you to rethink your blind spots.
C．It prepares you for future similar criticism.	D．It helps improve your emotional intelligence.

3. What’s the main idea of the passage?

A．Learn to see criticism in a different light.	B．Polish your skills of emotional intelligence.
C．Train yourself to ignore negative feedback.	D．Face criticism and set another goal.

4. What is the writer’s feeling towards Walt Disney?

A．Anger.

B．Embarrassment.

C．Fear.

D．Admiration.

【推荐1】A star athlete at the college where I work recently stopped by my office. After committing a few unforced errors during a weekend match, she suffered severely by self-criticism.

This student, like many I teach, strongly believes she should be able to control the outcomes of her life by virtue of her hard work. In her mind, “Nothing can stop me but myself”. So when these students fall short of what they imagine they should accomplish, they are filled with self-blame, reasoning, “If my accomplishments are mine to control, my failures must be entirely my faults, too”, which makes it extremely difficult for them to move on.

We often owe young adults struggling with failure to their parents’ over protection of them from discomfort. But there is another factor at play—a message transmitted by indulging (纵容的) parents who have falsely promised them that they can achieve anything if they are willing to work for it. However, the cruel reality of life is that you can do everything in your power—and still fail. _______

Psychologists Luthar and Kumar urge parents and teachers to spend time helping students find purpose, or goals they genuinely love to pursue and that make an impact on the world, which may help them gain greater life satisfaction and become more psychologically mature. Besides, instead of allowing our kids to beat themselves up when things don’t go their way, we might all question a culture where one is considered lazy without full devotion. The point is to remind them that life has a way of sucker-punching (出其不意) us when we least expect it. It’s often the people who learn to say “stuff happens” who get up the fastest.

1. What does the underlined phrase “by virtue of” in paragraph 2 mean?

A．in addition to	B．in spite of
C．by means of	D．for fear of

2. The author believes that young adults find it hard to struggle with failure because ______.

A．they are not taught how to deal with difficulties

B．they are short of the ability to handle failure

C．they are under the protection of their parents

D．they are misled by their parents’ false message

3. Which of the following sentences can go into the blank in Paragraph 3?

A．But what is the reason for that?

B．Actually there are some findings.

C．Then what should be done to help?

D．So experts have their own concerns.

4. What did psychologists Luthar and Kumar urge parents and teachers to do?

A．To teach students how to avoid faults.

B．To lead students to set their truly loved goals.

C．To help students to discover a path to success.

D．To allow kids to blame themselves.

5. What can be inferred from the passage?

A．Students don’t care about failure at all.

B．Students are sure to succeed if they try their best.

C．Students should bear all the failures on their own.

D．Students with positive attitudes can move on more easily.

【推荐3】The common cold is the world's most widespread illness, which is plagues(疫病) that flesh receives.

The most widespread mistake of all is that colds are caused by cold. They are not. They are caused by viruses(病毒) passing on from person to person. You catch a cold by coming into contact, directly or indirectly, with someone who already has one. If cold causes colds, it would be reasonable to expect the Eskimos to suffer from them forever. But they do not. And in isolated Arctic regions explorers have reported being free from colds until coming into contact again with infected people from the outside world by way of packages and mail dropped from airplanes.

During the First World War soldiers who spent long periods in the trenches(战壕), cold and wet, showed no increased tendency to catch colds.

At the Common Cold Research Unit in England, volunteers took part in Experiments in which they gave themselves to the discomforts of being cold and wet for long stretches of time. After taking hot baths, they put on bathing suits, allowed themselves to be with cold water, and then stood about dripping wet in drafty room. Some wore wet socks all day while others exercised in the rain until close to exhaustion. Not one of the volunteers came down with a cold unless a cold virus was actually dropped in his nose.

If, then, cold and wet have nothing to do with catching colds, why are they more frequent in the winter? Despite the most pains—taking research, no one has yet found the answer. One explanation offered by scientists is that people tend to stay together indoors more in cold weather than at other times, and this makes it easier for cold viruses to be passed on.

1. How many examples does the writer offer to support his argument?

A．3

B．4

C．5

D．6

2. Arctic explorers may catch colds when ________.

A．they are working in the isolated Arctic regions

B．they are writing reports in terribly cold weather

C．they are free from work in the isolated Arctic regions

D．they are coming into touch again with the outside world

3. What happened to the volunteers taking part in the experiments in the Common Cold Research Unit?

A．They suffered a lot.	B．They never caught colds.
C．They often caught colds.	D．They became very strong.

4. Which can we learn from the text?

A．Colds are not all caused by cold.

B．The Eskimos never suffer from colds.

C．People suffer from colds just because they like to stay indoors.

D．It's uncertain why people are more likely to catch colds in the winter.

5. What is the text mainly about?

A．The experiments on the common cold.

B．Some treatments for the common cold.

C．The continued spread of common colds.

D．The reason and the way people catch colds.

【推荐1】If you think about World Heritage Sites, you probably think of places connected with ancient art and culture, historical buildings and monuments. And of course, many of these are on the World Heritage List (WHL). But the WHL contains a lot of sites that are not so obvious. Let's look at a few of them.

Robben Island in South Africa

This island was used through the centuries as a prison, a hospital and a military base. But it's probably most famous as a maximum­security prison for political prisoners in the twentieth century. Nelson Mandela was one of its most famous residents. The WHL says it represents “the victory of democracy and freedom over oppression and racism”．

Borders of France and Spain

This is an area of great natural beauty and the mountains have many interesting geological formations. But it is also an area of small farms. People there still use a type of agriculture that used to be common in mountainous areas of Europe but has almost completely disappeared in modern times.

The city of Brasilia , Brazil

Brasilia is a capital city that was created from nothing in 1956. The WHL calls it “a landmark in the history of town planning”. The different areas of the city and the buildings themselves were all designed at the same time carefully. Every part of the city shows the ideas of the planner and architect．

Simien National Park , Ethiopia

Simien National Park was one of the first sites to be listed in 1978. It is one of the highest mountain areas in Africa, and the WHL calls it “one of the most spectacular landscapes in the world”. It is also important for its wildlife. The population of some rare animals is getting smaller and smaller.

1. The passage mainly talks about ________.

A．the remains of ancient cultures on the WHL	B．the household heritage sites on the WHL
C．some of the not so obvious sites on the WHL	D．places of artistic or cultural importance

2. The WHL has listed Borders of France and Spain probably because ________.

A．it shows us past European society through the type of agriculture

B．this is an area of great natural beauty

C．the mountains there have many interesting geological formations

D．people there still use a type of agriculture that is common in Europe in modern times

3. Which of the following sites was listed on the WHL for its political symbol?

A．Simien National Park, Ethiopia.	B．The city of Brasilia, Brazil.
C．Borders of France and Spain.	D．Robben Island in South Africa.

【推荐2】Halloween is a festival celebrated on October 31st. The name of the holiday means "hallowed" or "holy evening" because it happens the day before All Saints Day. It is said that Halloween is the children's New Year's Eve. They dress up with special costumes (服装), they eat too much, and they stay up too late celebrating.

Children go around the neighborhood wearing make-up, and dress in masks and colorful costumes. The most common costumes are witches, ghosts, skeletons (骷髅), and popular TV, movie and storybook characters. Some costumes are homemade; others are bought in stores. The children go from door to door saying "trick or treat". People give them candy, cookies, fruit or money. Sometimes money is collected to help UNICEF, United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund.

Homes, stores, and classrooms are decorated in the traditional Halloween colors, orange and black. Usual decorations are witches, ghosts, skeletons, and Jack-o'-lanterns, Jack-o'-lanterns are pumpkins that are carved (雕刻) to look like faces. They are placed on doorway entrances and in windows. Horror movies and ghost stories are shown on TV on this day.

Adults and older children also celebrate Halloween with parades, festivals, and costume parties. Some people create their costumes; other people rent them. Contests are held, where the best costume receives a prize. One of the party events popular with children is dunking (浸泡) for apples. Apples are put in tubs filled with water. People try to get the apples using only their mouths; hands cannot be used.

1. Which of the following statements is NOT true about the common costumes according to the text?

A．They are colorful.

B．Some of the costumes are homemade.

C．All of the costumes are bought in stores.

D．They are witches, ghosts, skeletons, popular TV characters and so on.

2. Which of the following statements is INCORRECT?

A．Horror movies are shown on TV on October 31st.

B．Apples are the favorite fruit people eat on Halloween.

C．Adults also celebrate Halloween together with children.

D．Jack-o'-lanterns are pumpkins that are carved to look like faces.

3. Why is it said that Halloween is the children's New Year's Eve?

A．Because Halloween comes the day before All Saints Day.

B．Because children can get money from their parents on Halloween.

C．Because only on that day can children go around the neighborhood.

D．Because children dress up with special costumes, eat a lot, and stay up late celebrating.

4. What are the traditional Halloween colors?

A．Orange and black.	B．Red and green.
C．Black and white.	D．Orange and brown.

【推荐3】A desire among many seniors is to “age in place.” Aging in place is a term used to describe a person living in their own house, for as long as they are able to, as they age. Yes, the familiarity of your current home is the advantage of aging in place, but the potential financial drawbacks to renovate（翻新）the house might actually be more costly than the long-term benefits.

40 years ago, with a growing family, you probably purchased a 4-bedroom child-friendly house. Now, with kids moving out, you might be thinking about changing one of your bedrooms into a massive master bathroom, and another into an open-space reading area. You might also be thinking about cutting back on lawn maintenance（草坪维护）by installing a pool surrounded by beautiful paving stones. It all sounds wonderful doesn’t it？For the short term, you may really enjoy the new upgrades, but you’ll still have to climb those stairs, pay to heat and cool a home that’s larger than what you need, and continue fixing all the things that start to go wrong with a 40-year-old home.

Last month, in their Retirement Repot, Kiplinger addressed the point, “Renovations are just a part of what you need to make aging in place work for you. While it’s typically less expensive to remain in your home than to pay for assisted living, that doesn’t mean it’s a slam dunk to stay put. You’ll still have a long to-do list. You need to plan ahead for how you will manage maintenance and care-for your home, and for yourself.”

So, at some point, the time may come when you decide to sell this house anyway. That can pose a big challenge if you’ve already taken cash value out of your home and used it to do the type of renovation we mentioned above. The family moving into your neighborhood is probably similar to what your family was 40 years ago.

1. Why do many seniors want to age in place？

A．They are familiar with the house.	B．They can enjoy long-term benefits.
C．They can live as long as they desire.	D．They are likely to avoid financial trouble.

2. What do the seniors renovate the houses mainly for？

A．Preparing for aging in place.	B．Making it more energy-efficient.
C．Cutting back on the necessary cost.	D．Making full use of the space available.

3. What is conveyed in the Retirement Report？

A．Aging in place turns out to be very rewarding.

B．Renovating the house calls for a lot of money.

C．Assisted living deserves wider public attention.

D．Aging in place is more than renovating the house.

4. What can be the author’s advice for those wishing to age in place？

A．Take life as it is.	B．Think before you act.
C．Better late than never.	D．Enjoy life to the fullest.

【推荐1】Most of the wind available on land is too gentle to push commercial wind turbine（涡轮机），but now researchers in China have designed a kind of "tiny wind turbine^,, that can use wind energy from breezes as little as those created by a quick walk. The new device is not technically a turbine. It is a nanogenerator made of two plastic strips in a tube that clap together when there is airflow. Like rubbing a balloon to your hair, the two plastics become electrically charged after being separated from contact, a phenomenon called the triboelectric effect. But instead of making your hair stand up like Einstein's, the electricity generated by the two plastic strips is captured and stored.

"Our intention isn't to replace existing wind power generation technology. "Our goal is to solve the issues that the traditional wind turbines can't solve?" says Ya Yang, a researcher from Beijing Institute of Nanoenergy and Nanosystems. "Unlike wind turbines that use coils and magnets （磁石） where the costs are fixed, we can pick and choose low-cost materials for our device. Our device can also be safely applied to nature reserves or cities because it doesn't have the rotating （旋转）structures.

Yang says he has a small vision and a big vision for the project's next steps. In the past, Yang and his colleagues have designed a nanogenerator as small as a coin, but he wants to make it even tinier and more compact with higher efficiency. Yang is also looking to make the device bigger and more powerful. "I'm hoping to scale up the device to produce 1,000 watts. We can place these devices where traditional wind turbines can't reach. We can put it in the mountains or on the top of buildings for sustainable energy.

1. What do we know about the new device in paragraph 1?

A．It is called tiny wind turbine.

B．It can help you walk quickly.

C．It consists of a tube and two plastic strips.

D．It is a turbine used to store the electricity.

2. What advantage does the new device have?

A．Its cost is fixed because of materials used in it;

B．It has solved the problems the old device can't.

C．It creates a cheap and secure way of making electricity.

D．It can take the place of the present wind generators.

3. What does Yang mean by saying he has a big vision for the project's next steps?

A．He intends to make the device much smaller.

B．He plans to apply the device to nature reserves and cities.

C．He means to make the device more powerful and widely used.

D．He wants to make the device the biggest one in the country.

4. In which section of a website can you find this text?

A．Science.

B．Culture.

C．Fashion.

D．Business.

【推荐2】The human eye can physically perceive(感知) millions of colours. But we don't all recognise these colours in the same way.

Colour perception is less about seeing what is actually out there and more about how our brain interprets colours to create something meaningful. The perception of colour mainly occurs inside our heads and is closely related to personal experience.

Different languages and cultural groups carve up the colour spectrum differently. Some languages like Dani, spoken in Papua New Guinea, and Bassa, spoken in Liberia, only have two terms, dark and light. Dark roughly translates as cool in those languages, and light as warm. So colours like black, blue, and green are cool colours, while lighter colours like white, red, orange and yellow are warm colours.

Remarkably , most of the world's languages have five basic colour terms. Cultures as diverse as the Himba in the Namibian plains and the Berinmo in the rainforests of Papua New Guinea employ such five term systems. As well as dark, light, and red, these languages have a term for yellow, and a term that represents both blue and green. That is, these languages do not have separate terms for “green” and “blue” but use one term to describe both colours, a sort of “grue”.

Historically, Welsh had a “grue” term, namely “glas”, as did Japanese and Chinese. Nowadays, in all these languages, the original “grue” term has been restricted to blue, and a separate green term is used. This is either developed from within the language—as is the case for Japanese—or through lexical borrowing, as is the case for Welsh.

The way we perceive colours can also change during our lifetime. Greek speakers_, who have two fundamental colour terms to describe light and dark blue (“ghalazio” and “ble”)，tend to see these two colours as more similar after living for long periods of time in the UK. There, these two colours are described in English by the same fundamental colour term: blue.

This is because after long term everyday exposure to an English-speaking environment, the brain of native Greek speakers starts interpreting the colours “ghalazio” and “ble” as part of the same colour category.

1. Which of the following can be best used to describe colour perception?

A．Subjective.	B．Realistic.
C．Reliable.	D．Helpful.

2. What did the original grue term in Chinese represent?

A．Glas.	B．Green.
C．Blue.	D．Green and blue.

3. What is the probable reason that there are no terms for light and dark blue in English?

A．English speakers can hardly perceive the color blue.

B．The two colours make little difference to English speakers.

C．There is no need to distinguish between the two colours.

D．The two colours are not so important to English speakers.

4. What is the best title for the text?

A．Colour Terms Vary from Country to Country

B．Languages Change What Colours We See

C．Languages Influence the Ability to Perceive Colours

D．Colours Change with Language Development

【推荐3】Living gratefully has a huge transforming power,not just when something wonderful or special happens,but every day no matter what is happening.

I've recently been involved with two people whose lives were challenged by bad luck.I have seen how grateful living had the power to keep one of them going and how it's beginning to lift the other.One was a friend and the other is my sister.

My friend seemed to be in good health when she received a deadly diagnosis(诊断）：a disease with no effective treatment.She had all the emotions that a tragedy(悲剧）brings,but she also had a powerful response to despair that gave her"the happiness that doesn't depend on what happens."She wrote online daily,honestly sharing the details of her situation.

She wrote that even though it was difficult to move,this gave her more time to notice small things.

She was grateful not only for the love and help of family and friends,but also for time to see the sun rise and watch the birds in her yard.No opportunity for gratefulness was wasted.

She taught that gratefulness is not a false cheerfulness.It's taking every opportunity to celebrate the blessings of small things.We can be grateful for the challenges that help us develop compassion(同情）for each other.Life is a precious gift.

She repeatedly blogged(写博客）that she was happier than she had ever been.

When she wrote about"the worst day",she ended with"life is still a lovely gift."She died later that day.

Her message,however,changed my sister's life.My sister's health was getting worse and worse, though nothing life-threatening.She did have a very painful knee.Her life was in danger from her defeated spirit.She was bedbound(卧床不起），getting weaker and weaker.Fearful,angry and depressed,she felt out of options for recovery.

I read my sister a few of my friend's messages.I was careful not to say,"Why can't you be more like her?"Instead,I let the words do their work.I'm grateful to say that an attitude of gratitude began to replace her anger and fear.I believe this helped her to heal.

We can't be grateful for all that happens,but we can practice gratefulness for all that happens,but we can practice gratefulness for life itself,for all we can learn to deal with,for all the ways we can help each other grow and heal.

1. How did the author's sister feel when she was ill?

A．calm.

B．lonely.

C．sad.

D．confused.

2. What happened when the author's friend found she had an incurable disease?

A．She complained that life was unfair to her.

B．She started to appreciate and enjoy the small things in life.

C．She tried her best to look for treatment.

D．She repeatedly blogged about how painful it was.

3. What message does the article mainly convey?

A．A friend in need is a friend indeed.

B．Gratitude has the power of lifting people's spirits.

C．Health is the most important thing for people.

D．Families will always be there no matter what happens.