【推荐1】

Do you like exercise? Do you know something about plank exercise?

Plank exercise has become more and more popular in recent years. It requires little time. It’s easy to do. What’s more, doing plank exercise regularly may bring you lots of benefits.

Performing plank exercise as a daily home exercise before or after school will not only speed up your metabolism（新陈代谢）, but also keep your metabolic rate high all day long. Doing the exercise regularly will make you burn lots of calories. This is especially useful if you have to sit in the classroom for hours every day. A high metabolic rate will help you lose weight and keep in good shape.

Have you ever tried standing on one leg? You couldn’t stand straight for more than ten seconds, right? It’s not because you are drunk, of course. Instead, it’s because your muscles（肌肉） aren’t strong enough to give you the balance you need. Doing plank exercise regularly will improve your balance. Stronger muscles will also help you stand with straight posture（姿势） at all times.

You will also see some mental benefits. Just think about it: You are sitting in your chair, at home or at school, all day long. Your muscles get tired, and your legs get heavy. Plank exercise will relax the muscle groups that may cause stress in the body. As a result, it can have a powerful and positive effect on our mood.

Considering all the benefits of plank exercise, will you make it part of your everyday life?

1. Plank exercise ________ according to the passage.

A．requires much time	B．is kind of hard to do
C．may bring you lots of benefits	D．in only welcomed by young people

2. How can plank exercise improve our mood?

A．By making our muscles strong.	B．By speeding up our metabolic rate.
C．By slowing down our metabolic rate.	D．By relaxing the muscle groups that usually cause stress.

3. What does the passage mainly talk about?

A．The danger of regular plank exercise.	B．The benefits of regular plank exercise.
C．The growing popularity of plank exercise.	D．The common mistakes in doing plank exercise.

【推荐2】【语篇来自二十一世纪学生英文报·试题原创】

Imagine having an ear made out of an apple. It seems like a crazy idea from a horror movie. But it could happen in the near future.

Canadian biophysicist Andrew Pelling used an apple to grow a human ear. He thinks fruit and vegetables can be used to cheaply repair human body parts in the future.

Scientists have been trying to grow organs in labs to replace our old ones. But it is a hard job. For example, liver cells can grow in a lab, but the cells still need things like blood vessels to actually work. These things have to grow inside a scaffold called the extracellular matrix.

In the past, scientists have used man-made materials, animal parts and even dead people as scaffolds. But that has proved to be complicated and expensive.

Pelling and his team, however, found the apple to be a cheap and easy-to-use scaffold.

They first cut an apple into the shape of an ear. Then they used a special way to take out the apple’s cells and make it a scaffold. The team then added human cells to the apple, and watched it grow.

“You can implant these scaffolds into the body, and the body will send in cells and a blood supply and actually keep these things alive,” Pelling said during a Ted Talk speech.

The team put the apple scaffold inside a living mouse and the mouse’s cells slowly took over the pieces of apple.

Now Pelling is thinking of other fruit, plants or vegetables to use.

He says that the shape of flower petals could be perfect for repairing skin. And asparagus could fix a broken spine.

1. Pelling’s idea of a man-made ear seems crazy because he uses ________ as scaffolds．

A．animal parts

B．dead people

C．man-made materials

D．ordinary apples

2. The underlined word “it” in Paragraph 6 probably means ________.

A．apple’s cells

B．human cells

C．the scaffold

D．the apple

3. Which is the right order of making an ear out of an apple according to the passage?
a. put the apple scaffold inside a mouse                    b. add human cells to the apple scaffold
c. cut an apple into the shape of an ear                    d. make the apple ear a scaffold
e. take out the apple’s cells in a special way

A．a-b-c-d-e

B．b-c-d-a-e

C．c-e-d-b-a

D．c-d-a-e-b

4. From the last two paragraphs, we can know that Pelling will experiment with other fruit, plants or vegetables ________.

A．to make human ears	B．to repair burnt skin
C．to fix a broken spine	D．to make human body parts

5. Which is the best title of the passage?

A．A new use of fruits and vegetables	B．How to replace organs
C．The cheapest way to use apples	D．A crazy idea from horror movies

【推荐3】Hello,

Welcome to FutureLearn. Thanks for joining our community of learners.

To help you learn about FutureLearn, we’ve put together a welcome pack. Take a few minutes to read it. It will help you make the most of FutureLearn.

How FutureLearn works?

	Learn online, from anywhere All FutureLearn courses take place online, through a mixture of videos, articles, quizzes, discussions and assignments. You can access them on desktop, iPad or mobile. Find out more in our FAQs.
	Learn anytime, at your own pace Once a course starts, you can learn whenever you like, at a pace that suits you. You don’t need to be online at a certain time and all materials stay available after the course ends. Find out more in our FAQs.
	Learn with other people We learn best when we learn with other people, sharing our opinions, experiences and ideas. That’s why discussion is built into every FutureLearn course — make sure you join in. Read our six social learning tips.

Download your free Guide to Learning

Make your learning fun and effective with our free e-book — 60 pages of study tips and expert advice, crowdsourced from learners and educators. Download your copy.

1. Which is NOT included in FutureLearn courses?

A．Videos.

B．Articles.

C．Games.

D．Discussions.

2. According to the text, learners must ________ in FutureLearn.

A．be online at a certain time	B．study on the mobile only
C．get materials before the course begins	D．join in the discussion in every course

3. ________ will most probably be interested in the text above.

A．People who look for jobs	B．People who enjoy traveling
C．People who are good at sports	D．People who want to learn online

【推荐1】How fast can someone climb 15 meters—the height of a five-floor building? The answer from Chinese speed climber Cao Long is 4.988 seconds.

The 23-year-old man is the third person to have finished the speed climbing route (竞速攀岩路线) in less than 5 seconds. The other two are Indonesian sportsmen Kiromal Katibin and Veddriq Leonardo. People call Cao “the fastest man in China” or “Chinese Spider-Man”.

According to Cao, the result of speed climbing can change every time because it’s a highly stressful (紧张的) race where two climbers compete at the same time. It’s also a sport that finishes in seconds. If you want to succeed, everything has to be perfect.

But this pressure (压力) is part of the reason why Cao loves the sport. “The pressure of competing side by side with another climber really excites me,” he said. “And I do enjoy the excitement when the result of a climb is better than my personal best.”

Cao tried climbing at the age of 8. Like many kids who first get into climbing, Cao was mainly doing bouldering (抱石攀岩) and lead climbing and was doing very well. However, he got hurt unluckily. And then at the age of 18, he decided to try speed climbing because it uses different skills from bouldering and lead climbing and puts less pressure on his body. It turned out that Cao was great at speed climbing as well, even though he thinks he is hardly the strongest sportsman. He understands how to use his body to win.

In his eyes, the national record of 4.988 seconds has become a thing of the past. “I’ll keep trying to do better and improve myself,” said Cao.

根据材料内容选择最佳答案。
1. How does the writer lead into the topic?

A．By telling a story.	B．By asking a question.
C．By using an old saying.	D．By making a conversation.

2. What can we know about Cao Long from Paragraph 2?

A．He climbs fastest in the world.

B．He likes watching the film Spider-Man.

C．He competed with Indonesian sportsmen and won.

D．He is the first Chinese climber to finish the speed climbing route in 5 seconds.

3. Which of the following can describe speed climbing?

A．

B．

C．

D．

4. Why did Cao turn to speed climbing?

A．Because he got hurt.	B．Because it is more exciting.
C．Because it needs fewer skills.	D．Because he didn’t like pressure.

5. What will the text most probably talk about next?

A．Cao’s plan for the future.	B．The key to Cao’s success.
C．Cao’s hard training in the past.	D．The way to be perfect during climbing.

【推荐2】In 1981, the Chinese women’s volleyball team first stood on the top at the World Cup. And in 2019, it defended (保住)its World Cup crown with a record of 11 wins. The women’s volleyball team has been the pride of the Chinese people. Director Peter Chan’s sports film Leap came out.

Based on the volleyball team’s stories, the film shows the struggles (奋斗)and achievements of the Chinese women’s volleyball team over the past 40 years. Gong Li, a world-famous Chinese actress, plays the role of Lang Ping, who has won the world championships many times with the team and is now the team’s head coach. In order to play the role well, Gong came to the training site of the team, observing Lang’s words and deeds carefully.

Zhu Ting, captain of the Chinese women’s volleyball team, also plays a part in the film. It is the first time that she has taken part in a film shooting and she says it’s a little bit difficult. However, her playing volleyball is more difficult than being an actress. It took her at least 10 years to rise to fame in the field but playing herself in the film could be realized in a short time.

The film hit the screen in January, 2020. The Chinese women’s volleyball team not only is a competitive sports team but also shows the spirit of struggling and never giving up.

1. When did the Chinese women’s volleyball team first win the World Cup?

A．In 1981.

B．In 2004.

C．In 2019.

D．In 2020.

2. The underlined word “observe” in Paragraph 2 most probably means ________.

A．听

B．完成

C．理解

D．观察

3. Who was the director of the film Leap?

A．Gong Li.

B．Peter Chan.

C．Zhu Ting.

D．Lang Ping.

4. What is mentioned about Zhu Ting?

A．She thinks it’s easy to be an actress.	B．She has led the team to win many prizes.
C．It took long for her to become famous.	D．She once played a part in a film.

5. What can we learn from the Chinese women’s volleyball team?

A．Keep on fighting.

B．Fight for the first.

C．Learn from mistakes.

D．Seeing is believing.

【推荐3】

Alice	I like sports. And I like a lot of male athletes. I like David Beckham, Lionel Messi and Fernando Torres. They are great soccer players. I want to be a soccer player in the future(在将来).
Lucy	I like music and I like the Changers. Do you know them? They are my favorite. There are four people in the Changers: Tom is the singer, Mickey is the lead guitarist, Paul is on bass guitar and James and Terry are on the keyboards, James on the piano and Terry on the accordion.
Mary	I like Tom Holland, Robert Downey, and Chris Evans. They are outstanding actors. They win a lot of prizes(奖项). I also like Ellen Page and Emma Watson because they are amazing. But I don’t like Angelina Jolie. I think she is terrible. What about you?

1. Who does Alice like?

A．David Beckham.

B．Lionel Messi.

C．Fernando Torres.

D．All of them.

2. What are the Changers?

A．A singer.

B．A band.

C．A soccer team.

D．A singing group.

3. What does the underlined(划线) word outstanding mean?

A．杰出的

B．时尚的

C．好看的

D．挺拔的

4. Which actor or actress DOESN’T Mary like?

A．Robert Downey.

B．Ellen Page.

C．Angelina Jolie.

D．Emma Watson.

5. Which of the following topics(话题) is NOT mentioned(提及)?

A．Sports.

B．Activities.

C．Music.

D．Actors and actresses.