【推荐1】Hip hop is a form of musical and artistic expression that started in urban (城市) areas in New York in the 1970s. The expression comes from joining together two words with special meanings. “Hip” means cool or current while “hop” refers to the style of dancing.

Kool Herc Campbell is considered very important in starting hip hop culture. He was from Jamaica and used the Jamaican tradition of poetry and speech over music. He started playing music and speaking poetry at outdoor basketball courts to give encouragement to the young dancers. This speech soon came to be known as “rapping”.

Then hip hop as a culture started to develop and spread throughout some areas of New York City. This culture featured graffiti (涂鸦) art as well as its own unique style and music. Artists and rap musicians came to consider hip hop as a new urban culture. As it grew in popularity, newspapers and magazines started reporting about it.

In the early 1980s, bands and musicians started experimenting with electronic instruments to make a new sound. Hip hop was starting to mature (成熟) as the art of making music in new ways spread. Rap artists also started to change their style. Many rappers talked about urban problems, showing their disappointment in drugs, unemployment, and unfair treatment by authorities such as the police.

Recently, hip hop has spread globally. In Europe, it has also become a way for many young people to express their anger at social problems and environmental issues. In many parts of Asia, hip hop has been adopted as a form of music for business, produced only with consumers in mind. Many people believe that this is not “real” hip hop music and argue that many countries have simply borrowed the “look” and “sound” of hip hop without really understanding the culture behind it.

1. Why does the writer introduce Kool Herc Campbell?

A．To inform us that he was the founder of hip hop.

B．To tell us how he became a world-famous singer.

C．To prove that he combined music with American poetry.

D．To explain why he inspired artists to explore urban culture.

2. What did the early US hip hop culture focus on?

A．Solving urban problems.

B．Developing its unique style.

C．Spreading around the world.

D．Using advanced musical instruments.

3. What concerns the author as hip hop spreads globally?

A．The culture behind it has changed.

B．It can easily cause negative emotions.

C．It sounds totally different from its origin.

D．Some people use it for improper purposes.

4. What can be the best title for the text?

A．Hip Hop around the World

B．The Rise and Spread of Hip Hop

C．Hip Hop: The Most Popular Art Form

D．Kool Herc Campbell: The Father of Hip Hop

【推荐1】Widespread descriptions of animals in pop culture could actually be hurting the animals’ survival chances in the wild, new research suggests.

Franck Courchamp of the University of Paris-Sud was interested in the idea of “appeal”in animals. He wanted to know: What species do people consider appealing? And what are the influences of being appealing on populations in the wild?

In a research published this month, Courchamp and other researchers list the top 20 appealing species. Most of the animals identified as appealing are large mammals living on land. Coming in first place were tigers, followed by lions, elephants, giraffes, panthers, pandas, cheetahs, polar bears, wolves, and gorillas. However, at least half of the interviewees didn’t realize that five of the top ten most appealing species are threatened. It is paradoxical that we haven’t been able to protect the species we care about the most.

The study also found that we are flooded with images of these creatures, even as they are becoming fewer in the wild. The study suggests that too much of imagination might be creating a “virtual(虚拟的) population” of the animals in peoples’ minds, making them believe there are far more individuals in the wild than is exact.

The study authors suggest that companies who benefit from the use of these images should set aside a small percentage of their profits for protection efforts and informational campaigns. “That would be not only something fair, but that would be something that could bring a win-win situation for them,” Courchamp says. It could bring them positive public relation, for example. Besides, if a company’s mascot(吉祥物) goes extinct, that could hurt them from a marketing point, Courchamp says. But not enough companies are “truly concerned about the protection of the species that they work on,” he adds.

1. It can be inferred that the widespread images of animals in pop culture ________.

A．leads people to forget the less appealing animals

B．makes a false impression of the animals’ real situation

C．raises people’s wildlife protection attention and efforts

D．brings a win-win situation for both animals and companies

2. What does the writer mean by saying the underlined sentence in Paragraph 3?

A．It is important to protect these endangered species.

B．It is natural to regard the large mammals as attractive.

C．It is terrible that the species are dying out at an alarming speed.

D．It is strange that people’s thoughts contrast with their behaviors.

3. Courchamp lists the companies’ responsibilities and their advantages by ________.

A．giving examples	B．making definition
C．making comparisons	D．using numbers

4. What’s Courchamp’s attitude to the companies benefiting from animal images?

A．Neutral.	B．Supportive.
C．Dissatisfied.	D．Positive.

【推荐2】To save endangered arctic wolves, the Beijing-based Sinogene Biotechnology Company cooperated with Harbin Polarland on cloning the arctic wolf. As a result, after two years of thorough efforts, the arctic wolf was cloned successfully. It is the first case of its kind in the world.

Born on June 10, 2022, the wolf, named Maya, is energetic and in very good health. Her donor cell came from the skin sample of a wild female arctic wolf, who had been introduced from Canada. However, her oocyte (卵母细胞) was from a female dog, and her surrogate mother(代孕母体)was a beagle(小猎犬). The selection of a dog as Maya’s surrogate was made because dogs share a genetic ancestor(祖先) with ancient wolves, and it’s more likely to succeed through cloning technology.

“This is our new attempt and breakthrough in protecting and breeding(繁育) wild and endangered animals. The birth of the world’s first cloned arctic wolf is a milestone for the application of cloning technology and is of great importance to biodiversity, the protection of wildlife, and the restoration(修复) of endangered species in the world,” Mi Jidong, the company’s general manager, said.

Cloning technology is a breeding method different from natural reproduction. Some raised arguments relating to the cloned arctic wolf. Sun Quanhui, a scientist from the World Animal Protection Organization, said that cloning technology is still in the exploratory stage of research, and there are many technical and moral issues that need to be handled and treated with caution. Sun believed cloning should be considered only for endangered wild animals whose species are extinct, or whose captive populations are very limited.

The cloned wolf now lives with her surrogate beagle in a lab, and later she will be delivered to the Harbin Polarland and displayed to the public. The cloned wolf would live by herself in the park in the initial stage because she may not be able to adapt to original arctic wolf groups. However, it is reported that the technology of cloning arctic wolves has gained strong value in its application, and another male cloned arctic wolf will come into this world in the near future.

1. What do we know about Maya?

A．She was born in Canada.

B．She is in good condition.

C．She is the first cloned animal in China.

D．She shares similar living habits with dogs.

2. What is the third paragraph mainly about?

A．The development of cloning technology.

B．The difficulties of maintaining biodiversity.

C．Scientists’ efforts to protect endangered animals.

D．The importance of the birth of the cloned arctic wolf.

3. What is Sun Quanhui’s attitude towards cloning technology?

A．Cautious.

B．Confident.

C．Uncertain.

D．Disapproving.

4. What can we learn from the last paragraph?

A．Maya was trained to live with wolf groups in the lab.

B．Another male arctic wolf is expected to be born soon.

C．Maya is favored by many visitors to the Harbin Polarland.

D．Cloning technology will be applied to more endangered species.

【推荐3】In the future, chances are we don’t need to depend on human donations for life-saving skin grafts (移植).

That’s the goal of Xeno Therapeutics, a biotech non-profit organization. The US Food and Drug Administration approved the group’s initial application for temporary skin grafts removed from genetically modified (基因改良) pigs. This means that they can start testing pig skin grafts on people who have experienced severe burns.

Skin, the body’s largest organ, plays an important role in blocking pathogens (病原体) from reaching our organs inside. It also helps the body keep a constant temperature. People with severe skin damage are at a high risk of developing deadly infections as a result of changes in temperature.

At the moment, the only skin grafts available in the US come from the dead people who have agreed to be organ donors, or patients who have gone through surgery to remove skin after large weight loss. These human skins used for grafts are not easy to find.

Xeno Therapeutics, which gets its name from animal-to-human transplants, has raised pigs that have skin remarkably similar to our own. Grafts from these pigs are therefore more likely to hide without being detected by the host's immune system — at least temporarily. The idea is that they could be used for immediate burn treatment, followed human skin graft treatment later.

“I’d say that just like comparing a Coke with Pepsi, it would be hard to tell which was the human skin and which was the pig graft,” said Xeno Therapeutics CEO Paul Holzer.

The non-profit organization has been working to conduct the clinical trials, which will only be testing the grafts’ safety and tolerability in six patients with severe burns. Assuming the results are positive after a month, the grafts will need to pass through two more stages of testing before they can be approved for widespread clinical use.

Several other groups around the world are working to make animal organs suitable for clinical medicine. In Brazil, researchers are exploring using tilapia skin as temporary bandages for burn victims whose skin is regrowing.

1. What’s the aim of Xeno Therapeutics?

A．To make profit from the grafts.	B．To modify pigs genetically.
C．To apply pig skin on human patients.	D．To test people with severe burns.

2. Why is skin important to human beings?

A．It keeps one’s temperature changing.	B．It helps us recover from deadly diseases.
C．It prevents itself from being damaged.	D．It acts as a protective layer for our body.

3. What is Paul Holzer’s attitude towards the pig skin grafts?

A．Doubtful.

B．Worried.

C．Confident.

D．Ambiguous.

4. What can we know about the grafts?

A．They won’t be put to use until they pass tests.

B．Brazilian doctors have also applied pig skin for grafts.

C．Animal skin has been used on six patients safely.

D．Only skin removed from pigs can be used for grafts.

【推荐1】It is not unusual to stare at a long restaurant menu and not be able to decide what one wants to eat. At other times it is difficult to pick an item of clothing in a shop with plenty of items from which to choose.

According to a new study published in Nature Human Behavior in October, this is the phenomenon of “choice overload (选择超荷)”. It’s the result of a struggle (挣扎) in our brain, Science Daily reported.

In the study, volunteers were given varying sets of six, 12, or 24 landscape pictures. They were asked to choose one to be printed on a coffee mug. While they chose, a machine recorded their brain activities.

According to the research, two parts of the brain – the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) (前扣带皮层) and the striatum (纹状体) - were highly active in the process. The ACC is responsible for the potential costs of decisions while the striatum is to determine (决定) value, Neuroscience journal noted. The study suggests that our brain needs to weigh both reward and workload to make a proper decision.

After further study, the researchers reported that these two parts are likely to be more active for the 12-item set than the other two sets. That’s because 12 is a good number, not “too small” or “too large” in the choice pool.

“As the number of options increases, the potential reward increases, but then begins to level off due to increasing amount of workload,” Colin Camerer, a professor of California Institute of Technology, US, told Science Daily.

But that doesn’t mean 12 is the magic number for decision making. According to Neuroscience journal, the proper number of options for a person is probably “somewhere between 8 and 15”. Still, many people prefer to have a large number of options to choose from even if the experience can be distressing, researchers reported.

According to the UK journal Medical News Today, it’s partly because people tend to feel freer and more able to control their lives when there are more options.

“Essentially, our eyes are bigger than our stomachs,” Camerer told Sci-news. “When we think about how many choices we want, we may not be mentally representing the frustrations of making the decision.”

1. What did the study published in Nature Human Behavior aim to find?

A．How to make wise decisions quickly.

B．How people feel after making choices.

C．How the number of choices influences one’s decision.

D．How the brain makes choices.

2. Why did the participants prefer the 12-item set in the study?

A．It made their brains work in the most active way possible.

B．It took the least effort for the ACC and striatum.

C．It was a balance between effort and reward.

D．It included many options.

3. Why do people like to have lots of choices, according to the article?

A．They feel like they have more freedom in life.

B．They feel they can have better control of other people’s lives.

C．They don’t feel tired after making a choice.

D．They don’t know what they really want.

【推荐2】One in five children starting primary school in the UK are overweight. By the time they leave school, that figure will rise to one in three. The chance of them being overweight in adulthood, which brings range of associated health risks, is high, at 50-75%.

The root cause of diet-related fatness is no secret: an energy imbalance between the quantity of food being consumed and the level of physical activity being conducted. Addressing this imbalance needs to be, in part, a review of our diet. More fresh ingredients(原料) especially fruit and vegetables, less processed foods and fewer additives(添加剂) are all important factors in building a balanced diet.

The Department of Health has recognized that a collective approach, rather than just individual behavior change, is a successful way of achieving this. Universal adjustments like a blanket decrease in sugar content influence the way we eat through the choices available to us.

Applying this approach to school kitchens makes sense. They have an important role to play in maintaining healthy diets. Offering a school menu packed with fresh ingredients and without artificial additives makes a direct and effective impact on what children eat at school.

It's an area the Soil Association consistently works to handle through its Food for Life program -working with schools to transform food culture, improve food education and encourage lasting changes to the way schools think about food. It works. In Food for Life schools, pupils are a third less likely to eat no fruit or vegetables than those in comparison schools.

One way for schools to get involved is a Food for Life Served Here award, which means at least 75% of dishes are prepared on site using fresh ingredients. It encourages local seasonal produce and, at silver or gold level, requires a commitment to environmentally friendly produce. At its heart, the award is designed to support health and enhance food understanding.

Over 50% of English primary schools have such an award, already, -serving around 1.7 million meals each day to over10.000 schools and it's a figure we'll see grow.

1. What does the underlined word “addressing” in paragraph 2 mean?

A．Tackling

B．Ignoring.

C．Maintaining.

D．Postponing.

2. Which approach will work for students to build balanced diet?

A．Stopping them eating alone in schools.

B．Getting them aware of the harm of fatness.

C．Ensuring healthy recipes on school menus.

D．Increasing the availability and flavor of food.

3. What can we say about the Food for Life program?

A．It's a heavy load on schools.

B．It's complicated to operate.

C．It's a temporary project.

D．It's fruitful attempt.

4. Which type of food may the Food for Life Served Here award promote?

A．Sugary snacks.

B．First-class sausages.

C．High-quality imported beef.

D．Freshly picked organic beans.

【推荐3】The trouble with school is that you can’t choose the people you get to see every day. If you’re unlucky enough to be stuck with classmates who don’t really “get” you, you’ve just got to try to make the best of it.
But that doesn’t mean you need to “fit in”, or at least in the way that people think. If you try to transform yourself into a clone of everyone else, it won’t help you make friends. It’ll just make you feel like a fake.
You also shouldn’t shut down or refuse to be friends with everyone who doesn’t like you. If you do that, you’ll just make yourself miserable. Instead, you’ve got to work on being comfortable and confident with whom you are while ignoring all the haters. Keep on speaking up, asking questions and getting to know people better. If you send out positive energy, then people will generally send some back to you. A couple of them will stay the same, and you’re allowed to forget about them.
If you feel like you’re doing all that but still not getting anywhere, then don’t give up. Just expand your circle. Get a part-time job at a cool-looking place, join an after-school art class or youth group—do whatever it takes to find a couple of like-minded people to connect with. Even if you don’t find anyone right away, you’ll still be getting some more social experiences under your belt, and that’s always a good thing.
A fun book called Uncool, by Erin Elisabeth Conley, has some tips for folks like you who want to stay positive at school while being true to your personality:
·Throw caution to the wind.
·Don’t tolerate others’ mistakes.
·Have patience with people who are different from you.
·Don’t change just because someone else thinks you should.
·Know that even though you may be a misfit, there’s always some place where you will be welcomed in the world.
1. According to the author, what should you do if you meet people who don’t appreciate you?

A．Just give up.

B．Ask someone else for help.

C．Show positive attitude toward them.

D．Try your best to fit in with them.

2. The author agrees that you should take part in more activities in order to __________.

A．get more chances of making friends

B．lay a better foundation for your future jobs

C．transform yourself into a clone.

D．make you feel like a fake.

3. In the book Uncool, Erin Elisabeth Conley thinks you should _________.

A．always be kind to your friends

B．keep your own personality

C．tolerate others’ mistakes

D．help improve characters of others

4. This passage was written mainly for _______.

A．doctors	B．scientists
C．students	D．Teachers

【推荐1】When I was about twelve，I headed to a restaurant for dinner with my family. It was winter，and on that night, the wind was really blowing hard．As my mom and I headed to the restaurant from our car, a girl about my age and her mother came up to us. They asked if we had any spare change (零钱). My mom right away asked where they lived. They pointed to an old car in a parking lot across the street. The girl said there were six of them living in that car．

My mom said she had something to do after handing the people a few dollars. She sent me inside the restaurant with my dad and my three siblings. But she didn't come. Later, I found out she had gone home and put all the food in our cupboards into a few bags. Then, she brought that food over to the car and handed the bags to the family．I wasn't there when that happened，but I can only imagine the joy it brought to those people．

A few days later , when I actually found out what she had done ,I asked her why she helped those people. She told me that they were not lucky. I remember the face of that girl who had asked us for change. She was the same age as me, yet we looked so different．

Here I stood，dressed in almost new clothes，headed to eat in a restaurant and then came back home to the bedroom I shared with my younger sister. I remember thinking that the other girl didn't have any food to eat and she was heading back to a cold car shared with five other people．

After painting this picture in my mind，I understood why my mom had done what she did. I will never forget what she did that night, and how she taught me one of the best lessons I have ever learned．

1. From the passage，we can know the writer's mother was ______ ．

A．determined	B．kind-hearted
C．humorous	D．selfish

2. From Paragraph 2，we can learn that ______ ．

A．the poor family had no place to live

B．the poor girl was older than the author

C．the writer's mother didn't know how to cook

D．the poor girl lived near the restaurant

3. Which of the following best explains “siblings” underlined in paragraph 2 ?

A．friends	B．parents
C．sisters	D．neighbours

4. What is the best title of the passage?

A．How to support a poor family

B．A friend in need is a friend in deed

C．The hard life of a little girl's family

D．A lesson in kindness from my Mum

【推荐3】When Lina was awoken by the sound of thunder, she was alone on the island. The air was cool and bullfrogs croaked. It was that brief moment when the summer sun had set but the stars hadn’t yet appeared. Lina rubbed her eyes and looked around.

“Hello?” she called. “Celia? Marie?”

There was no response.

The moon was rising now, shedding light on the island. They had always called it “Forgotten Island” because no one but they seemed to remember its existence. It wasn’t on any of the maps they could find, and even the forest rangers(护林人) didn’t know about it. Lina loved that the island, hidden in a heavily-wooded side stream of the river, was a secret between the three friends—her, Celia, and Marie.

But now Lina was here alone, and it was night. Worse still, it was her own fault.

“Come on, Lina, let Marie row the boat.” Celia had said. Marie was two years older than Lina, but she was a hopeless rower. That’s why Lina refused and rowed the boat to the island. The argument that followed the refusal took the usual form. Celia took Marie’s side as she always did. Lina had exploded and yelled at them to just leave. So they got back in the boat and left.

A bolt of lightning crossed the darkened sky, accompanied by a deafening thunder clap. The storm was here. As the first cold raindrop slid down her neck, Lina’s mind returned to her current problem. She was stuck here by herself. She just hoped she didn’t become as forgotten as the island. The thought of it sent a chill(寒意) down her back.

Suddenly, Lina spotted something in the water. It was a boat, and inside it were Marie, Celia, and Marie’s dad, who was steering through the fast flowing waters. As the boat approached, they saw Lina waving and the worried expressions on their faces turned to relief.

1. What can be inferred about the island?

A．It is very near the ocean.	B．It is surrounded by thick forest.
C．It is a popular place for boating.	D．It has never been reached by others.

2. Why did Lina get angry?

A．Lina was left alone on the island.	B．Marie would not help row the boat.
C．Marie didn’t know how to row the boat.	D．Celia supported Marie in the disagreement.

3. What caused Lina to feel a chill?

A．Her shame about the unnecessary argument.

B．The first raindrops of the approaching storm.

C．The idea that no one would come to save her.

D．The drop in temperature as the sun went down.