【推荐1】Different weather makes people feel different. It influences (影响) health, intelligence (智力) and feelings.

In August, it is very hot and wet in the southern part of the United States. People there have heart trouble and other kinds of health problems during this month. In the northeast and the middle west, it is very hot sometimes and very cold sometimes. People in these states have more heart trouble after the weather changes in February or March.

The weather can also influence intelligence. For example, in a 1983 study by scientists showed that the IQ of a group of students was very high when a very strong wind came, but after the strong wind, their IQ was 10% lower. The wind can help people have more intelligence. Very hot weather, on the other hand, can make it lower. Students in many schools of the United States often do worse on exams in the hot months of the year (July and August).

Weather also has a strong influence on people’s feelings. Winter may be a bad time for thin people. They usually feel cold these months. They might feel unhappy during cold weather. But fat people may have a hard time in hot summer. At about 18℃, people become stronger.

Low air pressure (气压) may make people forgetful. People leave more bags on buses and in shops on low-pressure days. There is “good weather” for work and health. People feel best at a temperature of about 18℃.

Are you feeling sad, tired, forgetful, or unhappy today? It may be the weather’s fault.

1. ________ can have a bad effect on health.

A．Hot and wet weather

B．Good weather

C．Warm weather

2. People may have more intelligence when ________ comes.

A．a rain

B．very hot weather

C．a wind

3. In “good weather” of 18℃, ________.

A．people are in better health

B．people are very sad

C．people can’t do their work well

4. What is the best title of the passage?

A．Weather Influences People’s Health

B．Weather and People’s Lives

C．Temperature and People’s Intelligence

【推荐2】Hainan is in the south（南方）of China. The weather there is different from that of other areas of China. There is no winter in Hainan. It’s not cold all year round. Many people go there in winter, because it’s cold in the north（北方）of China. In summer, it’s very hot. It’s usually sunny, but it often rains. So people often take a pair of sunglasses and a raincoat at the same time. People can enjoy many kinds of ____like bananas and coconuts (椰子) there, too.
Hainan is a good place to go for holidays and have fun. People can go fishing, boating, swimming and so on. When we want to have a rest, we can walk on the beach (海滩) and enjoy the fresh air and white clouds. It’s so interesting.
Would you like to go to Hainan?
根据短文内容，选择正确答案。
1. Hainan is in the _______ of China.

A．south

B．north

C．center

2. What’s the weather like in Hainan?

A．It’s not cold all year round.

B．It’s hot all year round.

C．It’s different from other areas of China.

3. The word“fruits”means _______ in Chinese.

A．食物

B．饮料

C．水果

4. Which of the following is NOT true?

A．Many people go to Hainan because it’s very hot.

B．In Hainan, people often take a pair of sunglasses and a rain coat in summer.

C．People can enjoy the fresh air and white clouds in Hainan.

5. The main（主要的）idea of the passage is _______.

A．where is Hainan

B．Hainan is a good place to go for holidays and have fun

C．the weather is fine in Hainan

【推荐3】Four students from different countries are camping(野营) and they are talking about the weather. Let’s listen to them!

Tiffany: It’s cool and sunny most of the time in our country. I live in Beijing, a beautiful city. It’s summer now. It is a little hot, but I still feel good.

Lolita: I live in Moscow. It’s usually windy there. It makes me feel bad. I don’t like that.

Ben: I live in the north(北方) of Canada. It’s very cold in winter, so we wear warm clothes. Many people like snowy weather because they can make snowmen and Canada is beautiful then.

Jeff: I come from Australia. I never see a snowy day. It’s very hot most of the time in our country. And in winter it’s not very cold. Many people like to come to my country for their vacation.

1. It can be ________ in Beijing now.

A．March

B．July

C．December

D．February

2. Who doesn’t like the weather of his/her country?

A．Jeff.

B．Ben.

C．Lolita.

D．Tiffany.

3. Jeff never sees a ________ day in Australia.

A．snowy

B．rainy

C．windy

D．cloudy

4. What can we learn from the passage?

A．Tiffany comes from Australia.	B．It’s usually warm in Moscow.
C．Ben lives in the south of Canada.	D．Many people like to go to Jeff’s country for their vacation.

5. What is the passage mainly about?

A．Different habits.	B．Different countries.
C．Different talks in different cities.	D．The weather in different countries.

【推荐1】All over the world, things are becoming more expensive. But many people do not have more money. People do not need to buy a lot of things. But everyone needs to buy food. Recently（最近）. food prices went up by 15%. This means many poor people may not be able to buy food.

Food is more expensive now for a few reasons. In some places, there has been too much or too little rain. This means that some foods did not grow as well. It also costs a lot to get food from other countries.

Everyone has a right to get enough food to eat. Richer people should help the poor be able to afford food.

1. What is happening to food prices? ___________

A．They are the same.	B．They are much lower
C．They are higher.	D．They are a little lower

2. Some foods did not grow well because___________

A．they were too expensive	B．they were not planted
C．there were few farmers	D．there was too much or too little rain

3. When food prices go up, people ___________

A．get more money	B．cannot buy food
C．need to grow more food	D．need to get food from other countries

4. It is ___________ for rich people to help the poor to afford food

A．interesting

B．expensive

C．necessary

D．lucky

5. The best title for this passage should possibly be“____________”.

A．Food Becomes More Expensive	B．Travelling around the World
C．Polluting Air and Water	D．Getting Food from Other Countries.

【推荐2】On a school day, 60 students at Xishan Primary School in Shunde, Guangdong, are learning how to make corn soup and fried rice in an after-school cooking class. Working in groups of four or five, the little cooks take their responsibilities (责任) very seriously. Soon, they are showing off their own delicious dishes.

“Since last September, the school has set up after-school classes for students, with cooking classes being the most popular”, said Xinhua. It comes after the “double reduction” policy (政策). The policy aims to ease the burdens (负担) of too much homework and off-campus tutoring (课外辅导) for primary and junior high school students.

The policy lists requirements in areas such as reducing the amount and difficulty of homework, as well as improving the quality (质量) of education and after-school services. For example, homework for junior high school students should take no longer than 90 minutes to finish. It gives students more free time for their hobbies and interests. Also, off-campus tutoring has been further regulated (管理) to reduce the burden on students.

“Our homework is clearly less than before,” said 13-year-old Shen Yuzhe from Beijing. “We are not encouraged to buy workbooks any more. The exercises are mainly from the textbook.” According to Shen, teachers have taught at a much slower pace, which gives students enough time to study.

In December, the Ministry of Education reported on the progress (进步) made through the policy so far. Almost all primary and middle schools now offer two-hour after-school services on weekdays. More than 90 percent of students can finish their written homework in the set time. About 92.7 percent of schools have opened after-school arts and sports classes. More than 80 percent of academic tutoring institutions (学科类校外培训机构) have closed down or turned to other fields of business.

“With homework done at school, my child and I can read books and listen to music together in the evening, or we can go out to play badminton or skip rope,” said Lu Di, the parent of a fifth-grader in Qiqihar, Heilongjiang.

1. Xishan Primary School opened cooking classes to ________.

A．train professional cooks	B．make after-school activities colorful
C．make money by teaching students	D．teach students to save food

2. What is the aim of the “double reduction” policy?

A．To ease students’ schoolwork burdens.	B．To close down academic tutoring institutions.
C．To offer teachers more time to study.	D．To allow schools to keep children longer.

3. Under the “double reduction” policy, ________.
a. students have more time to develop interests   b. students have less homework to do
c. the quality of school education is improving   d. academic tutoring institutions are more popular

A．abc

B．abd

C．acd

D．bcd

4. Paragraph 5 is about ________.

A．who likes the policy	B．what problems the policy causes
C．what progress the policy brings	D．what people think of the policy

【推荐3】Many people take trains for their trips in China, because the train is fast and cheap. But there are many problems when people take trains. It’s not easy to take trains when it is a festival. Lots of people hope someone can solve (解决) the problem.
Then, the CRH trains (和谐号列车) come out. The first CRH train from Beijing to Tianjin runs in August, 2008. There are the letters “CRH” on the head of the train. CRH 1 and CRH 2 can go up to 200 km/h, and CRH 3 can run 300 km/h. Taking CRH trains is more expensive than taking a traditional train, but cheaper than taking a plane. Some people think the CRH trains and their workers are good, and they enjoy the trips by CRH train.
China will start to make a CRH train, 350 kilometres an hour from Beijing to Shanghai. It can save people more time than taking the traditional trains.
Can CRH trains solve all the problems? “Of course not. There is still a long way to go,” about 85% of the people answer.
1. The first CRH train runs ________.

A．in August, 2009	B．in May, 2008
C．in August, 2008	D．in June, 2010

2. How fast will the CRH train from Beijing to Shanghai go?

A．100 km/h.	B．200 km/h.
C．300 km/h.	D．350 km/h.

3. The word “save” means “________” in Chinese.

A．浪费

B．节省

C．积攒

D．拖延

4. Which of the following is Right about the CRH trains?

A．Not all people enjoy taking CRH trains.

B．The workers on the first CRH train are not friendly.

C．People can see the letters “CRH” on the traditional trains.

D．It costs people more money to take CRH trains than to take planes.

5. What can we learn from the fourth paragraph (段落)?

A．CRH trains don’t help transportation (交通) in China at all.

B．People need to look for other ways to solve problems of taking trains.

C．Many people think CRH trains have problems.

D．About 85% of the people need to go on a trip on foot.

【推荐1】阅读下面短文，从题中所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中选出正确选项。

Every week in China, millions of people will sit in front of their TVs watching teenagers compete in the Chinese Characters Dictation Competition, in which young competitors must write Chinese characters by hand.

Perhaps the show’s popularity should not be a surprise. Along with gunpowder (火药) and paper, many Chinese people consider Chinese calligraphy to be one of their primary contributions to civilization. Unluckily, many Chinese people are forgetting how to write their own language without the help of computers. Software on smart phones and computers allows users to type in the basic sound of the word using the Latin alphabet (拉丁字母表). The correct character is chosen from a list. The result? It’s possible to recognize characters but forget how to write them.

But there’s still hope for the writing brush. China’s Ministry of Education wants children to spend more time learning how to write. In one Beijing primary school we visited, students practice calligraphy every day in a special classroom with traditional Chinese paintings hanging on the walls. The calligraphy teacher, Shen Bin says: “The ability to write characters is part of Chinese tradition and culture. Students must learn so they don’t forget when they grow up.”

1. What can we learn about the Chinese Characters Dictation Competition?

A．It’s the most-viewed TV program in China.

B．It’s open to people of all ages.

C．It draws great public attention across the country.

D．It aims to spread Chinese culture to the world.

2. What does “calligraphy” in Paragraph 2 mean in Chinese?

A．印刷术

B．书法

C．造纸术

D．指南针

3. Why are many Chinese people forgetting how to write the characters according to the passage?

A．Chinese people are using the Latin alphabet instead of the characters.

B．Chinese people no longer use writing brushes or practice calligraphy.

C．Chinese people needn’t write by hand very often with the help of technology.

D．Chinese people don’t refer to dictionaries very often.

4. According to Shen Bin, being able to write characters by hand is ________.

A．playing an important role in keeping Chinese tradition and culture alive

B．a requirement made by the Ministry of Education

C．necessary for people to make a living in China

D．an ability to be developed only when you are a student

5. What can we infer from the passage?

A．Chinese people forget how to write Chinese characters.

B．Schools should help students practice calligraphy more.

C．Chinese calligraphy is the greatest creation in history.

D．People use the Latin alphabet to write Chinese characters every day.

【推荐2】Here are a number of ways to help improve your English vocabulary.

Synonyms (同义词) and Antonyms (反义词)

Synonyms are words that have the similar meanings, such as happy and joyful. Synonyms can be useful when you don’t want to repeat the same word again and again. Antonyms are the words that have the opposite meanings. Life is full of antonyms.

Memorize common prefixes (前缀), roots (根) and suffixes (后缀)

Many English words can be divided into different parts, which are called prefixes, roots and suffixes. A prefix comes at the beginning of a word, a suffix comes at the end of a word, and the root is the main part of a word. For example, the word “happily” is made up of the word “happy” and the suffix“-ly”. However, if you add a prefix “un-” to the word “happy”, the new word becomes “unhappy”, which means not happy. In your vocabulary notebook, make a list of prefixes and suffixes as you come across them. It is one of the keys to success for high-level English learners.

Vocabulary Trees

Vocabulary trees help provide context (语境). Once you’ve drawn a few vocabulary trees, you’ll discover yourself thinking in vocabulary groups. When you see a cup, your mind will quickly relate such words as knife, fork, plate, dishes, etc. By connecting these vocabulary trees into a word web, you can remember more related words together.

1. What is the antonym of the word “usual”?

A．Common.

B．Same.

C．Strange.

D．Direct

2. What is “ment” in the word “development”?

A．A prefix.

B．A word root

C．A suffix

D．A word

3. Which is the best title for the passage?

A．The development of English	B．Ways to learn a new language
C．The importance of studying English	D．Ways to increase English vocabulary

【推荐3】阅读下面一篇短文，判断文后各小题的正(A)误(B)。

There are many colors in nature. But do you know if a color has weight? If you don’t believe, you may do a small experiment (实验).

First, put two objects with the same weight into two boxes. Then cover the boxes. Wrap (包裹) one box with a red piece of paper, the other with a white piece of paper. Now hold the boxes with your hand one by one. It is certain that you will think the red one is a little heavier.

Why does it happen? A scientist found that different colors have different weight in a man’s mind. So he did many tests and at last he got the result. That is to say, every color has its own weight in our mind. The heaviest color is red, then blue, green, orange, yellow and white.

According to this discovery, scientists say that people accept the color they like, and refuse the color they hate. So your body and mind will be healthy by using the colors you like. Or you’ll be nervous or even get ill. If you stay in a room with red windows, wallpapers and furniture (家具) for two hours, you’ll feel you have been there for four hours. But if the room is blue, you’ll feel you have been there for only one hour. Another example, if a person walks out of a red room and into a blue room, his temperature will fall. That means our body temperature will change when we see different colors.

1. A color has weight in a man’s mind.
2. Red is the lightest color in a man’s mind.
3. Using the color you don’t like will keep you healthy.
4. Your temperature will fall when you get into a cool colored room from a warm colored room.
5. According to the passage, you’ll feel you have been there for four hours if you stay in a red room for an hour.