【推荐1】Homework is a problem for students all over the world. As a student, you have a lot of homework to do every day. It’s the best way to go over what you learned in class. And it helps you understand important knowledge (知识). Luckily, there’re some things you can do to make homework less difficult.

Be sure you understand the homework. Write your homework down in your notebook if you need to. Don’t be afraid to ask questions about it. Understand why you should do your homework.

Use some time to do homework at school. Many school have study halls. The students can study there. It’s more interesting to study with your friends. But the more homework you finish at school, the less you’ll have to do at home.

Take a break. It is difficult to hold your attention (引起你的注意) for too long. So take some breaks when doing your homework. Taking a 15-minute break every hour is a good idea for most people.

Make a plan. If you don’t finish your homework at school, think about how much you have left. It’s a good idea to make a homework plan, especially when you want to enjoy sports or other activities.

根据材料内容选择正确答案。
1. What helps you understand important knowledge in the passage?

A．Homework.

B．Problems.

C．Questions.

D．Breaks.

2. How many ways of making homework less difficult are mentioned (提到) in the passage?

A．Three.

B．Four.

C．Five.

D．Six.

3. What’s the best way to go over what you learned in class?

A．Making a plan.

B．Taking a break.

C．Doing homework.

D．Reading.

4. Which of the following is TRUE?

A．The more homework you finish at school, the less you’ll do at home.

B．It’s easy to hold your attention for long.

C．You can’t take breaks until you finish your homework.

D．If you want to enjoy sports or other activities, please do it.

5. What’s the passage mainly about?

A．How to study with your friends.	B．How to make a homework plan.
C．How to finish your homework at school.	D．How to do to make homework easier.

【推荐2】In 1638, John Harvard donated some money and about four hundred books to a new university. This was the beginning of the library at Harvard University. The gift was so important that the university was named for John Harvard.
Thomas Bray began the first free lending library in the late 1600s. He set up more than 30 or these libraries in the American colonies. However, the idea for this kind of free library ended when Bray died in 1730. In 1731, Benjamin Franklin and some friends started the first subscription（订阅费） library in the United States. In a subscription library people pay money to become members, but they may borrow the books without paying again.
In the United States, every child had a free education. This idea soon led to free libraries. One of the first libraries that used tax money to buy books was a library in Peterborough, New Hampshire. This library was set up in 1833.
1. The main idea of paragraph 2 is________.

A．Franklin started the first subscription library

B．in a subscription library people pay money to become members

C．Bray and Franklin were important in the history of public libraries

D．Bray died in 1730 and Franklin died in 1833

2. The underlined word “borrow” means_______.

A．read and write with no help from another person

B．use for a short time and then return

C．like very much

D．lend

3. The reading does not say it, but we can guess that_______.

A．there were free schools in the United States before there were free libraries

B．free schools and free libraries in the United States began at about the same time

C．the library in New Hampshire also had a free school in it

D．there were free libraries in the United States before there were free schools

4. Havard University began_______.

A．in 1731	B．in 1730
C．in 1833	D．in 1638

5. At the library that Franklin started, ________.

A．children could use books for no money at all

B．people paid a little money in the beginning but none after that

C．people paid a lot of money in the beginning but none after that

D．both A and B

【推荐1】One day, Confucius (孔子) led his students to the State of Chu.

When crossing through a large forest, they saw an old man standing under a tree, catching cicadas (蝉) with a bamboo stick. Confucius said, “You are very good at catching cicadas. You must have some special skills.” “That’s right!” the old man answered. “Cicadas are clever little insects. If they hear the noise of the leaves in the wind, they will fly away. So people who want to catch cicadas must train their hands to hold a bamboo stick without shaking. If you can place three pellets (小球) on top of the bamboo stick without them falling off, you might be able to catch cicadas; when five pellets are placed on top without falling off, catching cicadas is as easy as picking a ball up from the ground.” He then added, “But that is not enough. People must be good at hiding themselves. Right now, I am standing under a tree like half of a tree sturmp, with my arm reaching out like part of a withered twig (枯萎的树枝). Last but not least, one must be careful. When I am catching cicadas, I only see the cicadas’ wings. No matter what happens, I will concentrate.”

Hearing this, Confucius turned to his students and said, “No matter what you do, you can only succeed if you love what you are doing and pay enough attention to it. This is what this old man has taught us.”

1. How many special skills does the old man mention?

A．Two.

B．Three.

C．Four.

D．Five.

2. What’s the right order of the story?
a. They saw an old man catching cicadas.
b. The old man told them some special skills.
c. Confucius took his students to the State of Chu.
d. Confucius told his students something meaningful.

A．a-b-c-d.

B．c-d-a-b.

C．c-a-b-d.

D．a-c-b-d.

3. What does the underlined word “concentrate” mean in Chinese?

A．捕捉

B．专心

C．继续

D．离开

4. What does the story mainly want to tell us?

A．No matter what you do, you should succeed by speaking.

B．No matter what you do, you should have some special skills.

C．No matter what you do, you should know what you are doing.

D．No matter what you do, you should pay enough attention to it.

5. Where can we most probably find the passage?

A．In a storybook.

B．In a newspaper.

C．In a guidebook.

D．In a science magazine.

【推荐2】Would you like to make more friends and be a better person in high school? Here is some advice for you to be such a person of good characters.

First, people with good characters do not tell a lie.     1     For example, if a child promises his parents to be home on time, he keeps his word, so his parents will trust him next time.

    2     It also means being willing to accept the mistakes you have made. A responsible person accepts the results of his or her actions and decisions, whether they are good or bad.

Third, learn how to listen to others’ ideas without trying to make them accept yours.     3    

Finally, caring means treating others with understanding. Caring people are kind and they care the feelings of others. Try to help others when you can. Change your ways of helping others.     4    

A good character is not something you feel or show once in a while.     5     By having a good character, you feel good about yourself and are able to make responsible decisions. At the same time, you set a good example for others to follow.

根据材料内容，从下面五个选项中选出能填入文中空缺处的最佳选项，使文章意思通顺，内容完整。

A．For example, you can make an effort to welcome new students to your school.

B．They always tell the truth and keep their promises.

C．Second, being responsible means being glad to take on duties or tasks.

D．Be kind to others like the way you expect others to treat you.

E．It is a part of who you are.

【推荐3】Are kids getting too much praise? Too much praise may be doing kids more harm than good.

A cover story in Scholastic Instructor magazine asks whether kids today are over-praised. The worry is that while trying to build up kids’ confidence (自信), parents are paying little attention to kids’ real goals and achievements. In a recent study, eighth graders in Korea and the United States were asked whether they were good at math. Among the American students, 39 percent said they were excellent at math, compared to just 6 percent of the Korean eighth graders. But the reality was kind of different. The Korean kids scored far better than the over-confident American students.

The disadvantage of too much praise is that kids may start to focus on the reward (奖励) rather than what they are learning. Worse, when a student fails, whose confidence comes from a blind sense of achievement rather than his or her real abilities, the result can be devastating (毁灭性). This doesn’t mean we shouldn’t praise our kids or that teachers shouldn’t try to build up their students’ self-confidence. But self-confidence should be the result of good grades and real achievements instead of empty praise from others.

Last month, Cognitive Daily reported that parents and teachers should be specific rather than general when they offer praise. An example of general praise is telling a child, “You’re smart.” Specific praise would be to say, “You did a good job on reading...”, or “You did great on your math test.” Kids who receive general praise about their abilities probably show “helpless” behavior when they meet with problems with learning, compared with kids who receive specific praise about their achievement on a task. The reason: a child who knows she’s a smart girl feel defeated (挫败的) if she has trouble reading a sentence. But a child who has been told she is a good reader will probably have confidence in that specific ability and work a little harder to deal with a more difficult book.

1. The study of the eighth graders in Paragraph 2 shows that ________.

A．Korean students are over-praised so they got higher scores

B．American students are over-confident but they achieve less

C．American students are really good at math

2. According to Paragraph 3. kids’ self-confidence should come from ________.

A．teachers’ love and support

B．what they are able to do well

C．a blind sense of achievement

3. Which of the following is the best example about specific praise?

A．Mr. Miller told her daughter “You are a fantastic girl”.

B．The headmaster wrote to one of his students, saying “I am so proud of you”.

C．Your English teacher said to you, “Your writing has improved a lot because of practice.”

4. Kids getting general praise will ________ in the face of problems with learning.

A．probably give up easily

B．encourage themselves to try again

C．work harder than before

5. The writer of the passage means to prove that ________.

A．too much praise may be doing kids more harm than good

B．Korean students are less confident than American students

C．Achievement lies in self-confidence

【推荐1】Dads have Father’s Day. Moms have Mother’s Day. Kids have Children’s Day. However, do our grandparents have a special holiday? Yes, they do!

The Double Ninth Festival is a special day for elderly people in China. The festival is on the ninth day of the ninth month of the lunar calendar. As the Chinese word for nine has the same sound as the word for long, people take the Double Ninth Festival to show their wishes of long life for elderly people. This year it falls on Oct. 4.

There are many traditions for this festival. On that day, families get together and climb mountains for luck and in the hope that elderly people will live much longer. They also drink chrysanthemum wine (菊花酒) and wear a plant called zhuyu to celebrate it. Both chrysanthemum and zhuyu are regarded as clean plants that can clean houses and cure diseases.

Respecting elderly people is shown not only on this special day but also in daily life. For example, when an older person enters a room, everyone stands up. When there are several guests at the table, the host usually introduces them from the oldest to the youngest. When a younger person is presenting something to an older person, two hands are used. On a crowded subway or bus, younger people always offer their seats to elderly people.

It is a traditional virtue (美德) in China to respect elderly people. That’s because the Chinese know that elderly people have knowledge and experience that young people can learn from. So, Chinese people are proud of being old. Besides, to respect the elderly people is to respect yourself tomorrow.

1. The Double Ninth Festival is a celebration for ______.

A．fathers

B．mothers

C．children

D．elderly people

2. When do people usually have the Double Ninth Festival?

A．On the ninth day of September.

B．On the fourth day of October.

C．On the ninth day of the ninth month of the lunar calendar.

D．On the ninth day of the ninth month of the solar calendar.

3. Which of the following may NOT be a tradition for the Double Ninth Festival?

A．Wearing the plant zhuyu.	B．Cleaning houses.
C．Families climbing mountains together.	D．Drinking chrysanthemum wine.

4. What is Paragraph 4 about?

A．Why we should respect older people.

B．What young people usually do on this festival.

C．Examples of respecting older people in daily life.

D．Traditional ways of celebrating the festival.

5. Why are Chinese people proud of being old?

A．It means they don’t have to work for others.	B．It means they have knowledge and experience.
C．It means they have more virtues than others.	D．It means what they did in the past was meaningful.

【推荐2】Do you do team projects at school? I do a lot. I enjoy team projects because I like sharing ideas with other people. Of course, team activities aren’t always easy. You need to know how to work well together. Here are some suggestions to make teamwork easier.

Know the goals (目标)

Make sure everyone understands the goal of the project. If you’re doing a class project, you need to check the teacher’s instructions (指示) carefully and ask questions whenever something is vague.There’s a popular saying: If you don’t know where you’re going, you probably won’t get there.

Assign (指派) roles

Everyone should have a role in the team. For example, there should be a leader who helps everyone make decisions. There might be a note-taker who writes down the team’s ideas during meetings, and a time-keeper to control the time. There might also be a fact-checker or a group speaker.

Divide (分开) the work

For large projects, the work can be divided into smaller tasks. Then you can choose tasks that you do well or enjoy. Of course, you shouldn’t always do the same task. It’s good to try new things, even if they’re difficult!

Make a plan

After you divide the work, write down a plan on paper. You can use a calendar to help you. List all the tasks and think about when each one must be finished. It’s important for everyone to follow the plan.And if you can’t finish your part on time, tell the others as soon as possible.

Try to be positive. Everything is easier when you’re enjoying yourself in the team.

1. How does the writer begin the passage?

A．By telling a story.	B．By asking a question.
C．By showing a saying.	D．By sending a message.

2. What does the underlined word “vague” in Paragraph 2 probably mean?

A．Unclear.

B．Unfair.

C．Unreal.

D．Unlucky.

3. What is the leader’s main job in the team?

A．Controlling the activity time.	B．Writing down the team’s ideas.
C．Making speeches for the team.	D．Helping the others make decisions.

4. What’s the passage mainly about?

A．The advantages (优点) of teamwork.	B．The importance of creative ideas.
C．The ways to do team projects.	D．Some information about smaller tasks.

【推荐3】Spam (垃圾邮件) mail is a fact of Internet life. Some of it carries bad things, but the main problem with spam is that it is unpleasant because it fills your mail box with pointless messages.
Most email programs have built-in filters (过滤器) that will discover unwanted messages and put them into a junk folder (垃圾文件夹). You can make the filter learn what you consider to be spam or block certain senders.
Avoid letting your email address appear on websites—spammers search the Internet for email addresses. Be careful who you give your email address to, and if you need to send out several copies of an email, use blind copy instead to cover the other people’s addresses.
Delete (删除) spam emails without opening them. Signs of possible spam are bad spelling in email headers, strange sender addresses, or emails sent at unusual hours. If you do open a spam mail, never reply to it or click on any pictures it may have.
If you receive an unexpected email pretending (伪装) to come from your bank, credit card company or other suppliers, be very careful. If the email asks you to reply, don’t do it! Instead, call up these places or visit their websites.
Consider setting up a second email address and keep one address for your personal use and another for your online communication.
1. What is the main problem with spam?

A．It’s everywhere.	B．It carries bad things.
C．It’s unpleasant.	D．It fills one’s mail box.

2. How many suggestions are there in the passage?

A．Three.

B．Four.

C．Five.

D．Six.

3. What should you do if you receive a spam email?

A．Reply to it quickly.	B．Delete it at once.
C．Click its pictures.	D．Visit its website.

4. Which of the following is the writer’s idea about spam emails?

A．Be careful with them.	B．Don’t be afraid of them.
C．Find interest in them.	D．Try to fight against them.