【推荐1】For years the Italian city of Venice has been struggling with a few concerns. Saint Mark’s Square is often flooded. Venice’ s waterways require repairs. But, by far, the biggest problem is the rapidly growing number of visitors to the city.

So city officials have decided to require all visitors to pay a fee to enter Venice. The money will help to pay for cleaning and other services that help to keep the city beautiful.

Venice’s Mayor Luigi Brugnaro explained the decision to international media during a visit to Rome last week. “Venice is a wonder of the world and only in this way can it be saved”, the mayor said. “The fee process will be experimental at first”, he added.

A one - day visit will cost about $ 7. City officials have yet to decide when the fee collection will begin. The money will be collected by transport companies that bring the tourists to Venice. The city will set up cameras for those arriving in private cars. And there will be fines for those who do not pay the fee. Students, some workers and children under the age of six will not have to pay- Naturally, anyone born or living in Venice is exempt.

City officials hope this will prevent the overcrowding that often comes with large numbers of tourists. Some people living in Venice say they do not believe the fee plan will work, Lawyer Roberta Pierabon says it will be impossible to collect the money from everyone who visits the city. Visitors arrive from all sides. She does not believe tourists can be controlled and added that she disapproved of the plan. Other Venetians like the idea. They say it will make tourism less aggressive. Venetians love their city and know it will never stop appealing to visitors. Venice is so special, they say, that it belongs to the whole of humanity.

1. What is the biggest problem that arises in Venice?

A．The visitor boom.	B．The poor city service.
C．The frequent flood.	D．The waterway repair.

2. How will city officials deal with the big problem?

A．By educating citizens.	B．By charging fees.
C．By doing experiments.	D．By turning to media.

3. What does the underline word “exempt” probably mean in Paragraph 4?

A．Asked to stay.	B．Permitted to settle.
C．Required not to enter.	D．Allowed not to pay.

4. Who opposed the fee plan?

A．Mayor Luigi Brugnaro.	B．All Venetians.
C．Lawyer Roberta Pierabon.	D．City officials.

【推荐2】Dear SJ,

Losing a best friend is never easy.

Your problem, is not just that you miss your best friend, it is that you feel empty and lost without her friendship.

It takes time to get over a lost, and during that time, your mind is getting used to a new way of being. This is usually a good thing, even if it feels like a bad thing.

Now that you are on your own, you are being forced to learn to be by yourself and to rely upon your own inner voice for guidance. I am sure that this feels strange for you, but if you can hang on for a bit longer, it may work to your advantage.

Best friends are cool, but it is important to know the difference between missing someone and being too independent upon them.

At your age, girls do tend to stick together and having a good boyfriend may not yet be the better choice. Your friend is leaving you, her best friend, for a boyfriend. Boyfriends are completely different from best friends. The distinction is that boyfriends come and go, while girl friends often stay in your life throughout high school, and even afterwards. It is a completely different sort of bond.

I suggest that you take advantage of this period in your life to expand your horizons. Enjoy the freedom of having no best friend for a while, and hang with the group. By the time your former best friend breaks up with her boyfriend, you will be in a completely different place, a far better place.

And, by the way, next time you feel empty and lost, try to write about it in a diary. In several months, you will look back and read it with curiosity about yourself. “Who was I then, and what could I have been thinking?”

1. Judging from the letter, SJ’s problem was that she didn’t know _______ .

A．whether to give up her best friend	B．what to do without her best friend
C．whom to choose between two friends	D．how to stop missing her former friend

2. The underlined part “a new way of being” (in Paragraph 3) refers to the situation in which SJ has to _______.

A．find a new friendship	B．live without her boyfriend
C．learn to give up	D．learn to be independent

3. The writer believes by the time SJ’s former friend loses her boyfriend, SJ will _______.

A．take revenge on her former friend	B．comfort her former friend
C．feel more independent and confident	D．continue friendship with her former friend

4. What does the last paragraph seem to suggest?

A．Unhappy experiences are easy to forget.	B．Keeping a diary helps correct oneself.
C．SJ will get over her problem soon.	D．One shouldn’t forget the past experiences.

【推荐3】A few things to do during weekends to improve your life

Weekend at last! Something you’re so looking forward to after a tiring week at work. Here are several tips on how to make the most of your weekends.

Spend time with loved ones. Reconnect with family members or friends you neglected(疏忽) lately. Don’t do it out of guilt or because you have to. Do it because you want to. Reach out to them to see how they are doing.     1     Return their calls if you were busy when they last tried to reach you. Talk to them. Listen to them. Be there for them.

    2     Stay away from TV, iPad, iPhone and any other electronic devices. Unplug! Your brain needs to clear up from all the stress you’re put on yourself during the week. Why not read instead? A paper one. Seriously, when was the last time you did that?

Laugh, laugh and laugh again. You can never have enough of it. Laugh is the best medicine ever.     3     For example, it helps you manage stress, strengthen your immune system and you are 40 percent less likely to suffer a heart attack.

Express appreciation.     4     Be grateful for your family, friends, health, the food you put on the table, the clothes you wear and the air that you breathe.

There you are. Doing a few things during weekends will have a positive long-term effect on your life.     5    .

A．Apply the “no technology” rule.

B．Pause and pay attention to your thoughts.

C．Friendship is the best source of happiness.

D．Don’t call them only when you need them.

E．Put them into practice and you’ll beat the Monday Blues.

F．It benefits your mental and physical health in so many ways.

G．This is something you should be doing every day, not only on weekends.

【推荐1】American actress Marisa Tomei won an Academy Award for her work in the 1992 movie My Cousin Vinny. People laughed when they saw her film character telling a boyfriend that they need to get married. Why marriage? Because her biological clock is ticking and she wants a baby.

“Well I hate to bring it up because I know you got enough pressure on you already. But…we agreed to get married as soon as you won your first case(law case). Meanwhile, ten years later…my niece…the daughter of my sister is getting married. My biological clock is ticking like this (stomp, stomp, stomp). And the way this case is going…I ain’t never getting married.”

“Lisa, I don’t need this. I swear to God I don’t need this right now.”

Using it this way, a biological clock means the time in a woman’s life when she is able to bear children. In the not-so-distant past, most people thought that when a woman reached her 40s it was too late for her to have children. The time on her biological clock had run out.

Well, that has changed. These days some women are resetting their biological clocks. They are giving themselves more time to have children.

Make no mistake. Being a “Single Mother by Choice” is very different from younger women who find themselves pregnant, perhaps not by choice.

Generally speaking, single mothers by choice are older and well educated. They are usually financially secure and successful in their careers. So, they have the money. What they may not have is a partner.

This is the place in life where writer Kerry Reichs found herself several years ago. She says she did not plan to become a single mother. She says she just did not find the right partner.

“Well, I think I had a set of standards for the partner I was looking for and I didn’t meet anyone that fit those standards. And, at 39 I found myself single, without children and I wanted them very much. So, I made the difficult decision that I could do this on my own.

1. According to the passage, what is a biological clock?

A．It’s a clock made of biological matters.

B．It refers to a women’s certain life period.

C．It records when women need to bear children.

D．It refers to a woman in her 40s.

2. According to the passage, in the past, when a woman reached her 40s, ________.

A．she can’t get married.	B．she might not be able to have children.
C．her biological clock will need to be reset.	D．her status of being a single mother is difficult.

3. What does “Single Mother by Choice” mean?

A．It means single mothers have a choice.

B．It means single mothers are pregnant by chance.

C．It means single women in their late 30s or early 40s decided to have children.

D．It means women want to make a choice.

4. What would be the best title for the passage?

A．Choosing to be a single mother.	B．A woman’s biological clock.
C．Getting married by force.	D．Single women wanting marriage.

【推荐2】I love winter birds and I love photographing them in snow. I admit that I’m a fair-weather bird watcher. Worse, I’m a lazy, fair-weather bird watcher. I don’t like weather extremes, so when it’s very hot or really cold, it is hard to get me to leave the comfortable home. In summer, I only photograph hummingbirds (蜂鸟) in my yard, and in winter, I try to only go out on relatively mild (温和的) days. Most of my bird pictures are done within an hour’s drive of my hometown of Elmira. So it’s all about finding a balance that works.

The winter of 2021 was a great period for snowy owls (雪鸮) here in Woolwich Township. One day in early January, I was on my way home from work when I noticed a beautiful snowy owl sitting in a tree right at the crossing. I pulled over to admire him, and then kept heading home unwillingly.

Two hundred meters or so down the road, there were two more snowy owls in a field by a fence, and in the next field over, another on top of a fence post. I couldn’t find words to express my feelings at that moment. Thus I rushed home, took my camera and went right back out to get some pictures. It was one of the most magical local birding moments I’ve ever experienced.

When I’m looking for excellent opportunities to photograph snowy owls and other birds without spending dozens of hours searching for them, I head to the Canadian Raptor Conservancy (CRC) or the Mountsberg Raptor Centre. I’ve attended so many photo sessions at each of these fantastic places that I’ve lost count of.

1. What factor (因素) has the most effect on whether the author goes out to photograph birds or not?

A．road conditions.	B．personal emotions.
C．weather conditions.	D．time arrangement.

2. How did the author feel when he saw the snowy owls on his way home?

A．awkward.	B．excited.
C．anxious.	D．confused.

3. What can we learn from the passage?

A．Photographing winter birds is gaining great popularity.

B．The author prefers to have the pictures done over an hour’s drive from his hometown.

C．The author only heads to CRC to photograph snowy owls.

D．There were four snowy owls on his way home, one day in early January.

4. What can we infer about the author?

A．The author only photographs snowy owls.

B．The author can take excellent photos easily.

C．The author makes a living by photographing birds.

D．The author values each chance to photograph birds.