【推荐1】I walked into a restaurant and ordered some food. After about 20 minutes, a large group of people came in and placed their own orders.

To my disappointment, the group got served before me. I watched as they began to eat and laugh heartily. I heard one of them bragging (吹嘘) about how he’d connected to someone who worked at the restaurant. Unable to stand it anymore, I decided to leave. I called the waiter over to cancel my order.

He calmly told me, “Yours is a special order being prepared by the head chef himself. It’ll take a little more time. Please have a drink while you wait.”

I calmed down and waited patiently. Shortly after, my meal was served by six waiters.

To my surprise, the owner of the restaurant turned out to be a long-lost friend of mine. He had seen me as I walked in and decided to surprise me. He upgraded (升级) my simple meal to a five- star meal for free. The people at the other table were shocked and couldn’t stop staring. Suddenly they started murmuring (低声抱怨 ), asking why they didn’t get that kind of service.

Such is life! Some people are ahead of you, laughing at you and talking about how they are smarter, wiser and better than you, how they are well-connected and blessed (幸运的 ). You are working hard tirelessly, wondering why it’s taking so long for you to be rewarded.

You just have to wait longer because your reward (回报) is more special.

1. The author’s meal turned out to be ________.

A．forgotten by the waiter	B．a special treat from an old friend
C．served to the other table purposely	D．less tasty than he thought it would be

2. How did the writer feel through the whole story?

A．bored, glad

B．lucky, excited

C．angry, surprised

D．shocked, unhappy

3. Which of the following saying can best describe the passage?

A．Pride goes before a fall.	B．He who laughs last laughs best.
C．A friend in need is a friend indeed.	D．Industry is the parent of success.

【推荐2】“I’d better not take part in the tennis tryouts (选拔赛),” said my 14-year-old daughter Emily. “I’m afraid I won’t make the team.”

“Do you want to join the team?” I asked.

“Yes, but I’ll probably be out.”

“Well, you won’t succeed if you don’t try out,” said her brother Ben.

Her dad and I encouraged her to try-to take risks, to realize her dreams, and to learn it is OK to fail. I hoped Emily would make her own decision. A few days later, however, Emily still did not make a decision. Then Ben told her, “You should try, or you’ll regret it.” At last, Emily nodded.

On Sunday night, the day before tryouts, the coach emailed the players to explain the rules. Each day, the girls could challenge (挑战) the person right above them on the list. By the end of the week, the top 12 players would make the team. Emily was the lowest, Number 25 out of 25 players.

The next day, Emily went to the school playground. When I picked her up that afternoon, she was quite calm. “I beat Number 24,” she said. During the week, she continued her challenge and ended up at Number 19.

Emily didn’t make the team, but she didn’t care. She had overcome her fear (克服恐惧), won more than she expected, and found herself pretty strong.

1. How did Emily feel about taking part in the tryouts at first?

A．Calm.

B．Worried.

C．Excited.

D．Confident.

2. Emily decided to enter the tryouts because of ________.

A．the coach’s order	B．the advice from other players
C．her brother’s words	D．the encouragement from her parents

3. What is the rule of the tryouts?

A．The tryouts last for seven days.

B．The top 25 players will make the team.

C．Everyone can challenge the person at the top of the list.

D．Each person can only be challenged once during the tryouts.

4. Which of the following is TRUE about Emily?

A．She finally made the team.	B．She got tired of the tryouts.
C．She beat six players in total.	D．She didn’t want to join the team at first.

5. What can we learn from the story?

A．Practice makes perfect.	B．A man can do no more than he can.
C．Where there is a will, there is a way.	D．Failure is a chance to learn and grow.

【推荐3】A number of years ago, a man went to visit a circus in New York. He was able to walk around looking at the lions, monkeys, bears and other circus animals. As he was passing the elephants, he suddenly stopped. He found that these huge elephants were being held by only a small rope tied to their front leg. No chains, no cages. It was clear that the elephants could, at any time, break away from their ropes but for some reasons, they did not.

He saw a trainer nearby and asked why these animals just stood there and didn’t try to get away, “Well,” the trainer said, “when they are very young and much smaller, we use the same size rope to tie them and, at that age, it’s enough to hold them. As they grow up, they still believe they can not break away. They believe the rope can hold them, so they never try to break free.” “How could it be?” said the man. These animals could at any time break free from ropes. But because they were always stuck right where they were, they believed they couldn’t.

Just like the poor elephants, how many of us go through life believing that we can not do something, just because we failed at it once before?

Failing is a part of learning.

Word Bank circus马戏团

根据材料内容选择最佳答案。
1. Where were the animals kept?

A．In the zoo.

B．In the circus.

C．In the fore.

D．In the park.

2. How were the elephants held?

A．By a strong rope.

B．In cages.

C．By a small rope.

D．With chains.

3. What does the underlined phrase “break away” mean?

A．击败

B．打破

C．折断

D．挣脱

4. Which of the following is NOT true?

A．The elephants often escaped.

B．There were many kinds of animals in the circus.

C．The animals were trained to perform.

D．The elephants were held in this way when they were young.

5. What can we learn from the passage?

A．Well begun is half done.	B．The early bird catches the worm.
C．One tree can’t make a forest.	D．We should never give up.

【推荐1】Small talk like “What do you have there? Ice cream?” or “The weather today is beautiful, isn’t it?” is not meaningful to some people. But scientist believe that it is more useful than it may appear to be in fact.

A study by the University of Chicago found that people who talked to strangers enjoyed a better ride than those who sat in silence or kept playing with their phones.

In the study, scientists asked people at Chicago train stations to start to talk with other travelers. Most of them refused to do so at first because they didn’t think they could get a friendly answer. But the result was opposite（相反的）. Most strangers were happy to talk with others.

“People are social animals,” Nicholas Epley, one of the scientists said. “It turned out that they also wanted to know others.”

Besides making you happy, chatting with strangers can also help you feel connected（有联系的）with your environment. Some students found that when people often smiled at, made eye contact（交流）with and talked with other people at public places, there was a better chance that they would have a sense of belonging（归属感）instead of felling lonely.

And if you are used to talking with strangers, you can try to talk with people about something different. A study showed that having a deep and meaningful talk gave you more happiness than small talk.

根据材料内容选择最佳答案。
1. What can we know from the result of the study by the University of Chicago?

A．All people are polite to strangers.

B．Talking with other people is good for people.

C．People like to show their good side to strangers.

2. What does the underlined word “them” refer to in the passage?

A．Scientists.

B．People at Chicago train stations

C．Students at the University of Chicago.

3. Which paragraph talks about the advantages of small talk?

A．Paragraph 3.

B．Paragraph 4.

C．Paragraph 5.

4. How can people get more happiness from small talk?

A．By starting with easy topics.

B．By choosing a pleasant environment before talking.

C．By turning the small talk into a deep and meaningful talk.

5. What does the passage mainly tell us?

A．Small talk can be very useful.

B．How to start small talk in our daily life.

C．The difference between small talk and deep talks.

【推荐2】Tips for teenagers

Step 1: Be active in class

Speaking up in class might be difficult, but it helps to make you feel more confident. It’s okay if you give the wrong answer. All smart students do and your classmates won’t really care.

Step 2: ________________

Nobody can work well when they are tired. Make sure you get enough sleep and take study breaks.

Step 3: Develop healthy habits

Starting your young life with good habits sets you up for a healthy future. Get regular(定期的) exercise, eat a healthy diet, and maintain your hygiene(保持卫生).

Step 4: Manage your stress

You should spend time having fun and enjoying life. Join a sports team, read a book, make some art, or watch a good movie: whatever you need to do to help reduce stress, make time for it.

1. What is Step 2 about?

A．Getting enough rest.

B．Studying hard.

C．Doing some exercise.

D．Making friends.

2. To develop good habits, you can ________.
a. exercise regularly       b. eat healthy food       c. have fun       d. maintain your hygiene

A．abc

B．abd

C．acd

D．bcd

3. These tips can help teenagers ________.

A．find a job in the future

B．get good grades on tests

C．make more friends

D．live healthy lives

【推荐3】Do you like traveling? How can you make your trip more interesting? Here’s some advice.

Read!

Before we leave, we should find some information about the place you want to go to, such as its geography, its history and its famous people. And we should read them carefully. So, we can really understand that place during our trip even though we don’t have much time.

Take photos!

Most of us take a camera(相机) when we travel. If you want to take some photos, remember to choose the most special sights. Don’t choose the sight we can see in other places. For example, Beidaihe, Qingdao and Zhuhai are coastal cities. Don’t only take photos of the sea. You should take photos of something special, too.

Taste!

Don’t buy the food that you like most because you can buy it in your own city or town. You’d better taste something special in that place. Food in some places is very delicious. And from food, you can find its food culture. So why not taste it? Maybe you have just one chance to taste it in your life.

Write!

When you visit a place, you should take a pen and a notebook, so you can write down what you see and what you think during the trip. Later, when you read it, you’ll feel that you can find the pleasure (乐趣) during the trip.

根据短文内容，选择正确答案。
1. Before we travel to a place, we should ________.

A．learn something about it

B．decide which hotel to live in

C．phone the restaurant for the tables

D．choose which bus to take

2. When we travel to Hainan Island, we’d better take photos of _________.

A．Tianya Haijiao	B．the sea
C．the sky	D．the beach

3. The underlined word “coastal” means “________” in the passage.

A．内陆的

B．沿江的

C．海滨的

D．现代的

4. During the trip we’d better taste ________ in that place.

A．something tasty	B．something delicious
C．something favorite	D．something special

5. What’s the best title of the passage?

A．How to Make Your Trip More Interesting

B．The Most Popular Way to Travel

C．How to Make a Travel Plan

D．The Best Place to Travel