【推荐1】Dr Swift was a famous man. Near his house lived a rich old lady who often sent him some presents by her servant, Dr Swift took her presents but never gave the boy anything. One day as Swift was busy with his writing, the boy ran into the room and hit the desk, and some books on it began to fail to the floor. Then he threw a plastic bag of meat on the desk and said, "My mistress has sent you some meat."
Swift turned round and said, "My boy, that is not the way to give someone a present. Now you sit in my chair, watch my way of doing it and learn your lesson."
The boy sat down. Swift went out, knocked on the door and waited. The boy said, "Come in." The doctor entered, walked to the desk and said, "If you please, sir, my mistress sends me to say hello to you and hopes you will take the plastic bag of meat."
The boy answered, "Thank you, my boy. Give your mistress Dr Swift's thanks for her kindness, and here is two shillings for yourself." The doctor laughed and after that, Swift never forgot to give him his tip.
1. What do we know about the old lady?

A．She didn't know Dr Swift.

B．She liked Dr Swift very much.

C．She lived far from Dr Swift's house.

D．She often sent Dr Swift some presents herself.

2. What did Dr Swift want to do to the boy?

A．He wanted to have the boy do something for him.

B．He wanted to teach the boy how to write.

C．He wanted to ask the boy to watch his way of working.

D．He wanted to teach the boy how to give someone a present.

3. What did the boy show the doctor?

A．How to help others.	B．What to do when in trouble.
C．What to do for his mistress.	D．What to do when receiving a present.

4. What would Dr Swift do after that?

A．Welcome the boy.

B．Invite the boy to have supper with him.

C．Remember to tip the boy.

D．Remember to say "Thank you" to the boy.

【推荐2】Social skills are important to successful careers and personal relationships.    1     Learn how to improve your social skills and be more comfortable in the outside environment. Here is some advice for you.

Pay attention to your own means of communication with other people. Find out which behavior patterns and situations make you uncomfortable. Ask others for honest answers about your means of communication.     2     Think about how you can change your own behavior and turn it into a positive experience.

    3     When you communicate with other people, use eye contact, face the person you’re speaking to and avoid being inattentive (漫不经心的). At times body language is more important than the words you speak.

Listen carefully,    4     Try to respect others and do not interrupt others’ words. It’s polite to listen to their complete words and then respond (回应).

Change yourself little by little. To improve your whole personality at once is impossible.    5    

Ask your friends and family about your positive qualities, and let them shine while communicating with others. At the same time, let them point out what you need to improve. Then make yourself get better and better day by day.

A．Listen to what others are saying.

B．In this way, you can know where you have made mistakes.

C．Use positive body language.

D．Losing confidence can often prevent us from being the sociable type.

E．Fortunately (幸运的), social skills can be improved.

F．Try to change one or two bad patterns of behavior at a time.

G．Good communication and great listening skills are important tools.

【推荐3】I work as a waiter in a cafe. I spend the morning hours with coffee and see the friendly customers every day. But there are always those mornings when a few unwanted customers come in. They often ask for coffee without looking at me directly. Some customers are discourteous and they think that customers are always right.

Just like me, Austin Simms of Cups Coffee and Tea has had enough of this. To help some customers with their manners (礼貌), he put a sign outside showing their new way of setting prices.

His new sign shows the cost of a coffee is $5. If a customer walks up to the waiter and simply says, “Small coffee”, he or she will need to pay $5 for that small coffee. The price of “small coffee, please” goes down to $3. In other words, a nice word “please” with a request for a small coffee will cut the price by $2. The coffee only costs $1.75 if the customer says, “Hello. One small coffee, please.” So you can see that customers who show the best manners get the largest discounts (折扣).

This new way has made some customers rethink their manners. We can be sure that at least some customers have become polite even though they do it just to get discounted coffee. The more you do something, the more you will get used to it. This way can actually help some customers be polite.

1. What can we learn from Paragraph 1?

A．The writer always thinks he is right.

B．The writer is happy with his job in the cafe.

C．Some customers often make the writer unhappy.

D．Some customers want to learn to make coffee from the writer.

2. What does the underlined word “discourteous” mean?

A．Worried.

B．Impolite.

C．Rich.

D．Busy.

3. Which of the following decides the price of coffee according to Austin’s way?

A．Customers’ hope for the waiter.	B．The size of coffee customers ask for.
C．Customers’ ideas of the waiter’s work.	D．The ways that customers talk to the waiter.

4. What can we infer (推断) from the last paragraph?

A．The writer supports Austin’s way.

B．Some customers are more polite than others.

C．It’s impossible for impolite customers to learn manners.

D．The new way is the best way to help customers be polite.

【推荐2】Is there a way to quickly recall information just before taking an exam? Walking backwards might be a solution. Scientists from the University of Roehampton in the UK said this activity can help people improve their short-term memory.

Researchers asked 114 volunteers to watch a video. After watching the video, participants were divided into three groups. One group was told to walk 10 meters forward. The second group walked 10 meters backward. The third group stood in one place. All three groups were then asked 20 questions about what they saw in the video.

The scientists found that the backward-walking group got two more answers correct on average than the other two groups.

This suggests that the link between the concepts ( 概念 ) of time and space is important in terms of ( 就……而言) how our minds form memories. “Time is really expressed through space,”

Aleksandar Aksentijevic, who led the study, told the Daily Mail. When you walk backward, you see things from a different angle ( ⻆ 度 ) compared to walking forward. This difference helps people recall things that happened in the past.

And walking backward is not just good for the brain. It is also good for the rest of the body. Compared to walking forward, walking backward is more challenging. This can help us improve our health, says New Scientist. Walking backward uses more energy in a short time and burns more calories (卡路里).

In addition, walking backward is less stressful for our knees. It could be helpful for people who often have pain in their knees, according to researchers from the University of Oregon in the US. Walking backward also keeps our backbones strong, which can help to lighten pain in the lower back. This might be why many old people like walking backward.

根据短文内容，判断句子正（T）、误（F）。
1. Walking backwards can help people improve their long-term memory.
2. Paragraph 2 is written to describe how researchers did their experiment.
3. Walking forward uses more energy in a short time and burns more calories.
4. Walking backwards can lighten pain in people’s knees and backs.
5. Walking backward can help people in many ways.

【推荐3】

The dragon (龙) is a great animal in Chinese culture. It brings the wind and rain. It is said that every year on the second day of the second lunar (阴历的) month the dragon wakes up from its winter sleep and raises (举起) its head. Because of this, the day is called “Dragon Head-raising Day” (Longtaitou). This year, it falls on March 4. Old people believed that after Longtaitou, there would be more rain. And rain is very important to farming. So Longtaitou was the start of spring and farming.

People have many ways to celebrate the Longtaitou festival. The most popular one is to have a haircut. Many believe that a haircut during the first lunar month may bring bad luck to your uncles—mainly your mother’s brothers. They hope getting a haircut on Longtaitou gets rid of bad luck.

Among Chinese people’s festival traditions, there is always a place for food. During the Longtaitou festival, people eat food named after dragons. Noodles are called dragon’s beard (longxu). Dumplings are dragon’s ears (long’er). And spring rolls are dragon’s scales (鳞片) (longlin).

People also hold activities like dragon dancing on the day. In some places in Shandong province, people make dragon lanterns (灯笼) too. Small reed (芦苇) boats go down the rivers and carry the lanterns, which stand for people’s best wishes and good luck.

1. What did old people think of Longtaitou?

A．It was a good time for sleeping.	B．It was the end of Spring Festival.
C．It was the start of spring and farming.	D．It meant the weather would become colder.

2. Why do people get haircuts on this day?

A．It’s believed it will bring good luck to their uncles.

B．It’s believed that it will get rid of bad luck.

C．It may help their hair grow.

D．It may bring more rain.

3. What food do people eat named after dragons during the Longtaitou festival?

A．Noodles.

B．Dumplings.

C．Spring rolls.

D．A, B and C.

4. Which of the following best shows the structure of the passage?

A．

B．

C．

D．

5. Why did the writer write the story?

A．To introduce a traditional festival—Longtaitou.	B．To tell people how to avoid bad luck.
C．To make a traditional festival popular again.	D．To introduce some tasty foods and fun activities.