【推荐1】

The traditional Chinese calendar divides the year into 24 solar terms. In China, the 24 solar terms were created thousands of years ago to guide agricultural (农业的) production. But solar term culture is still useful today to guide people’s lives through cultural activities and special foods that go with each term.

Great Heat, the 12th solar term of the year, begins this year on July 22 and ends on August 6. During Great Heat, most parts of China enter the hottest season of the year. Here is something you should know about Great Heat.

Great Heat is a season of harvesting (收割). During this time, the sunshine, high temperatures and heavy rainfall are good for the plants. But many natural disasters also happen. So, it’s important to harvest and plant in time.

Sending the Great Heat ship is a tradition in Taizhou. The ship is full of all kinds of meat. More than 50 fishermen take turns carrying the ship as they walk through the streets. The ship will finally be pulled out of the port and burned at sea. People believe that is a symbol of good harvests and health.

Great Heat is a season with most crickets (蟋蟀) in the countryside. Cricket fighting is a popular game for some people in China during this period. The custom dates back over 1000 years ago.

People in different places enjoy different food. For example, in southern Shandong, people would like to drink mutton soup. Grass jelly (仙草) is very popular in Guangdong because there is a saying “Eating grass jelly in Great Heat will make you stay young.”

1. Ancient Chinese people created 24 solar terms to ________.

A．keep a healthy life

B．serve different food

C．help farming

D．enjoy different food

2. Great Heat lasts for ________ days this year.

A．6

B．16

C．22

D．15

3. According to the passage, ________.

A．Great Heat is an important time to harvest and plant

B．cricket fighting games are getting popular in China now

C．people in Guangdong enjoy mutton soup during Great Heat

D．It’s always a good day during the Great Heat

4. Which of the following shows the structure of the passage? (P=Paragraph)

A．

B．

C．

D．

【推荐2】

Nearly everyone knows “Bing Dwen Dwen” and “Shuey Rhon Rhon”, who are the mascots(吉祥物) for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympic Games.

Bing Dwen Dwen is a cartoon image of a panda wearing a spacesuit. It looks like a winter sports athlete from the future. “Bing” means “ice” in Chinese, which is a symbol of winter sports. “Dwen” suggests health. “Dwen Dwen” gives the image a more friendly feel. “Bing Dwen Dwen” shows the spirit of the Olympics, including a strong mind and a healthy body. The mascot “Bing Dwen Dwen” was designed by a 14-member team led by Cao Xue, a professor at the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts, taking nearly one year to finish.

“Shuey Rhon Rhon” looks like a red lantern hanging on homes and streets to celebrate Chinese New Year. On its head are paper cuts of pigeons in the shape of the Temple of Heaven（天坛）. “Shuey” means “snow” in Chinese. “Rhon Rhon” are two different Chinese characters with the same pronunciation. The mascot “Shuey RhonRhon” symbolizes communication among different cultures. It makes people think of warmth, friendship and good luck.

In fact, it is not easy to choose the mascots. The organizing committee got 5816 pieces of great work from 35 countries in the world and finally made the decision. People like them because of their lovely looks and cute names.

Bing Dwen Dwen and Shuey Rhon Rhon can be said to be the “Super Stars”, winning our hearts. Many products based on them have been sold out both online and offline.

1. Who designed Bing Dwen Dwen?

A．Cao Xue and his team.

B．The Organizing Committee.

C．Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts.

2. How do people feel when they hear the words “Dwen Dwen”?

A．Friendly.

B．Warm.

C．Lucky.

3. What does the underlined word “symbolizes” mean?

A．创造

B．带领

C．代表

4. Which of the following is TRUE?

A．It is difficult to choose the mascots.

B．People can buy the two mascots only online.

C．Shuey Rhon Rhon is a cartoon image of a panda wearing a spacesuit.

5. According to the passage,what is the spirit of the Olympics?

A．Snow, lanterns and ice.

B．A strong mind and a healthy body.

C．Warmth, friendship and good luck.

【推荐3】You may have known about many traditional Chinese festivals such as the Spring Festival or the Lantern Festival, but have you ever heard of Dragon Heads-raising Day?

Dragon Heads-raising Day is also called the Spring Dragon Festival. It is on the second day of the second lunar (农历) month. It’s on February 21st this year. It came from an old story. After that day, the Dragon King will wake up from his winter sleep and bring more rain. So that day is the start of spring and farming season.

One of the most interesting things related to the day is about haircut. People believe that a haircut during the first lunar month is not a good idea. It may bring bad things to your uncles. So people can only cut it on or after Dragon Heads-raising Day. Although it’s not true, many people still do it.

There are also other ways to celebrate this festival. For example, people eat food with dragon names. People call noodles dragon’s beard (胡须). Dumplings are dragon’s ears and spring rolls (春卷) are dragon’s scales (鳞).

People also do dragon dances and make dragon lanterns. The lanterns stand for people’s best wishes and good luck.

1. When is Dragon Heads-raising Day?

A．On the second day of February.	B．On the second day of the second lunar month.
C．On February 21st last year.	D．On the first day of the second lunar month.

2. Which is one of the most interesting things about Dragon Heads-raising Day according to the writer?

A．Haircut.

B．Farming season.

C．Food with dragon names.

D．Dragon dances.

3. Which is NOT true according to the passage?

A．Dragon Heads-raising Day is also called the Spring Dragon Festival.

B．After Dragon Heads-raising Day, there will be more rain.

C．A haircut will bring good things to uncles during the first lunar month.

D．People eat food with dragon names to celebrate the festival.

4. You may read the passage in the ________ section of a newspaper.

A．culture

B．business

C．health

D．nature

5. The purpose of the passage is ________.

A．To ask students to cut their hair.	B．To introduce Dragon Heads-raising Day.
C．To ask people do the farm work.	D．To teach people celebrate the festival.

【推荐1】There are countless myths（神话）to explain how the world came to have a moon to bring light to the night time. But now there is a plan for a man-made moon. It will give us far more light than the natural Moon.

China is preparing to put a man-made moon in the sky above Chengdu by 2020. It will reflect sunlight back on to the Earth. If it succeeds, three more such objects will be sent out in 2022, according to Wu Chunfeng, a space scientist. Wu said it would be similar to how we get moonlight, but he predicted that the man-made moon would have eight times the brightness of the real one. “This is because the object will be about 500 kilometers above the Earth. That will make it a lot closer to us than the Moon, which is over 380,000 kilometers away,” Wu added.

If the plan works, the man-made moon will save a lot of power. Scientists predict that Chengdu could save around 1.2 billion yuan in electricity every year if a new moon lit up 50 square kilometers of the city. And in 2022, four man-made moons can take turns to work as they will not always be in the best position（位置）relative to the Sun. Together, they can give light to an area of up to 6, 400 square kilometers on the Earth for 24hours. That means its brightness will be seen in most areas in China, reducing the need for streetlights.

1. Above which city is China preparing to put a man-made moon in the sky by 2020?

A．Beijing

B．Shanghai

C．Chengdu

D．Wuhan

2. The underlined word “reflect” in Paragraph2 means“________”.

A．吸收

B．反射

C．照耀

D．覆盖

3. The man-made moon will be about ________above the Earth.

A．500 kilometers

B．380,000 kilometers

C．50 kilometers

D．6,400 kilometers

4. What can we learn from the passage?

A．The man-made moon will be as bright as the natural one.

B．The man-made moon will work similarly to the natural one.

C．The man-made moon has already lit up the city of Chengdu.

D．The man-made moonlight will cover the whole china.

5. Which part of a newspaper may this passage be from?

A．Culture

B．Sports

C．Education

D．Science

【推荐2】Mind maps are a great way of showing a picture of information that you need to learn. You can use mind maps for all kinds of learning. They work very well for vocabulary when you are learning a new language.

1. Draw a circle in the middle of the page and write the key word in the middle. For example:

2. Think of some word groups for “transport” and think of headings for each one. For example: air transport land transport sea transport

3. Look at each group and try to add more groups. For example, in “land transport” there are two sub-groups: λ road λ rail

4. When you can’t make any new groups, add a line for each word you know. Write the words along the lines.

5. As you learn new vocabulary, add it to the mind map.

6. To make the mind maps even better, use color to show important ideas or parts of the map.

1. What is the first step for drawing a mind map?

A．Draw some lines.	B．Think of some word groups.
C．Look up words in the dictionary.	D．Draw a circle and write the key word.

2. How many word groups for “transport” are shown in the map above?

A．Two

B．Three

C．Four

D．Five

3. What should you do when you can’t make any new groups?

A．Add lines and write words along it.	B．Write the words down in a list.
C．Draw a new map on another page.	D．Write the words on pieces of paper.

【推荐3】Can you make a telephone call? Of course you can make it in Chinese. But a call in English is quite different from one from one in Chinese. If you want to ask somebody to answer the telephone, you can not say, “Please ask Mr. XX to answer the telephone.” Instead（代替），you must say,“May I speak to Mr. XX?” If you want to ask who is answering the phone, you should say,“Who is that?”“Is that Mr. XX ( speaking)?”Instead of “Who are you?” If you want to tell the other one who you are, you should say,“This is XX (speaking)”instead of(而不是)“I am
XX”
1. An English telephone is ____________ a Chinese one.

A．as good as	B．better than
C．the same as	D．not the same as (与)

2. If you want to tell the people who you are, you should say, "   _____

A．This is XX	B．I am XX
C．That is XX	D．He is XX

3. If you want to ask who is answering the phone , you should say, "   _______   .

A．Who am I?	B．Who is he?
C．Who are you?	D．Who is that?

4. If you want to ask someone to answer the call, you can say, " _______   ".

A．May I speak to Mr. XX

B．Please tell Mr. XX to answer the call.

C．I want to talk to Mr. XX?

D．Are you Mr. XX?

5. Which is right about the passage?

A．We don't understand how we call in English.

B．We know how we call in English.

C．It tells the difference between making a call in Chinese and one in English.

D．It's easy to call in English.

【推荐1】Once there was a girl in New York. Her name is Julie. It was going to be her mother’s birthday. She wanted to buy her a present that would be nice and useful but not expensive.

She went shopping after a quick and simple lunch. After she looked for half an hour, she found a shop that was selling cheap umbrellas, and she decided to take a black one.

She thought, “Mom can carry it when she is wearing clothes of any color.” So she bought a lovely black umbrella and took it to school with her until her classes ended.

On her way home on the train she felt hungry because she had so little for lunch. So she went to the buffet car（餐车）. She left the umbrella on her seat.

But when she got back, it was lost!

Julie began to cry. The other passengers felt very sorry for her and asked what was the matter. She told them the black umbrella she bought for her mother was lost, and she had to get off at the next station. After the three passengers heard this, they asked her for her mother’s address（地址）so that they could send the umbrella to her if someone took it by mistake and brought it back.

And now a week passed, Julie got a letter from her mother. It said “Thank you very much for your lovely gifts, but why do you send me three black umbrellas?”

1. Which of the followings means the same as “Mom can carry it when she is wearing clothes of any color”?

A．Mom must carry it when she is wearing any clothes.

B．Mom is beautiful in any clothes.

C．Mom can buy any clothes that she likes to wear.

D．The color of the umbrella is OK for Mom's clothes of any color.

2. Where did Julie find the umbrella was lost?

A．At the buffet car.	B．On the train.
C．At the next station.	D．In the shop.

3. From the passage,we can know that________.

A．Julie’s mother would write to her if Julie didn’t send a gift to her

B．Julie sent one umbrella to her mom at last

C．nobody on the train took away the umbrella

D．the three passengers sent the three umbrellas to Julie’s mother

4. The best title（标题）for the story is “________”.

A．The story of an umbrella	B．A lucky girl
C．On the train	D．A happy mother

5. The writer wants to tell us ________.

A．if we show our love to others, we can get love from others

B．we should look after our things when we are travelling

C．we should often send our parents gifts

D．it’s no use crying when we are in trouble

【推荐2】

There once lived a great warrior(勇士). He was quite old, but still famous for his bravery, so many students came to study under him.

One day, a young man who was known for his strength went to the warrior’s village. He thought the warrior was old and could not be invincible(不可战胜的) forever, so he decided to be the first man to fight the old warrior. To everyone’s surprise, the old man gladly accepted the young man’s challenge. The young man insulted(辱骂) the old man and attacked(攻击) him, while the old man just stood there and defended(保卫) himself. After several rounds, the young warrior exhausted(使筋疲力尽) himself and finally lost the fight. He felt upset.

After that, the young man started to study under the old warrior, but he still wanted to know the old man’s secret to success. He went to question the old warrior with a group of students. “Don’t you feel angry when you hear my insults? How can you still stay calm and defend yourself?”

The warrior didn’t answer the questions but asked, “If someone comes to give you a gift and you do not accept it, to whom does the gift belong?”

The young man and the other students were confused. After a period of silence, the old warrior said, “It belongs to one who tried to give it. The same goes for envy(嫉妒), anger and insults.”

1. Why did many students come to study under the warrior?

A．Because he was old.	B．Because he was invincible forever.
C．Because he was exhausted.	D．Because he was still famous for his bravery.

2. What did the young man want to do at first?

A．To fight the old warrior.	B．To study under the old warrior.
C．To insult the old warrior.	D．To defend himself.

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

A．失望的.

B．紧张的.

C．困惑的.

D．惊奇的.

4. How was the old warrior when the young man insulted and attacked him?

A．Happy.

B．Upset.

C．Angry.

D．Calm.

5. What’s the meaning of the old warriors last sentence?

A．If someone insults you, you should fight him.

B．Never mind others’ insults, envy and anger.

C．Always be confused when someone attacks you.

D．If someone comes to give you a gift, do not accept it.