【推荐1】Tom was a little boy. Whenever (无论何时) he asked people to do things, no one would listen to him. He was sad. So he asked a wizard (巫师) to solve the problem by using magic. The old wizard tried a lot of spells, but it didn’t work.

A young man heard about the problem. He went to the boy and said that he knew the solution. He gave the boy two small pieces of paper.

“There are two spells, my boy. Use the first before you ask others to do something, and use the second after they did it. A smile is also necessary.” the young man said.

“Please” before his words and “Thank you” after they did it. People were very surprised that the boy could be polite. Soon, they agreed to do what the boy asked them to do.

The wizard was surprised, and asked the young man about the spells.

“It’s not magic. When I was a child, my teacher told me that without good manners one can get nothing he wants. And he was right. The boy only needed good manners to get what he wanted.”

1. What’s the boy’s problem?

A．He didn’t know how to use magic.

B．No one listened to him when he asked them to do things.

C．The wizard refused to help him.

D．He wanted to learn to practice magic.

2. Who helped the boy solve his problem?

A．His father.

B．No one.

C．The young man.

D．The wizard.

3. What the young man did was to _________.

A．teach the boy to be polite	B．teach the boy how to use spells
C．ask the people to help the boy	D．tell the wizard what good manners are

4. The underlined sentence in the last paragraph means “_________”.

A．不学礼，无以立	B．己所不欲，勿施于人
C．不在其位，不谋其政	D．仁者不忧，勇者不惧

5. Where can we most probably read this text ?

A．a story book

B．a magazine

C．a newspaper

D．a travelling guide

【推荐2】Just how popular was Mini? Very. Every year her classmates voted(推举) her the favorite student. The friends she had were much more than those of anyone else.
One day Mini was caught yakkety-yakking(大声说笑) and ordered to stay back as punishment(惩罚). Staying back meant doing something “useful”, like helping in the library after school.
Now Mini’s school had a rule. Once a month, if you had something else to do the day you were punished, you could ask a friend to stand in for you.
Unluckily, her aunt was visiting Mini that day. That afternoon was the only chance Mini had of seeing her for another five years.
Mini needed someone to stand in for her. She asked Betty, her “best” friend. “Oh, no, Mini, I can’t,” Betty said. “I must help my brother do his homework.”
“Tony, will you stay back for me?” Mini asked another friend. “I wish you’d told me earlier. I have to go to a relative’s house with my father,” he said.
Now, Mini was beginning to doubt(怀疑) if even one of her friends would agree to stay. But she tried again. She asked three more friends and each one refused.
So, after school Mini stayed to help the librarian. And, when she found Mini crying after everyone had left, it was she who surprised Mini by allowing her to leave to meet her aunt. “I may have many friends,” Mini said to herself, “but in reality I have none.”
1. What does staying back mean in Mini’s school?

A．It means you have to do more homework.

B．It means you must study harder.

C．It means you have to do something “useful”.

D．It means you should ask a friend for help.

2. How many friends did Mini ask for help?

A．Two.

B．Three.

C．Four.

D．Five.

3. Who helped Mini in the end?

A．The teacher.

B．Tony.

C．The librarian.

D．Nobody.

4. What is the meaning of the underlined phrase “in reality”?

A．最后

B．事实上

C．终于

D．首先

5. Which of the following can describe Mini’s feeling?

A．Happy.

B．Excited.

C．Sad.

D．Bored.

【推荐3】

Lulu, a Hungarian PhD (匈牙利哲学博士) student at Tsinghua University, first came to Beijing in 2017. She soon fell in love with the city. She also found her greatest hobby—Peking Opera.

Lulu watched Peking Opera for the first time in an opera museum. “I found it really fantastic,” she said. “Both the outfits (装束) and the movements were so wonderful. The face-painting was something I’d never seen before. It is so different from Western opera.”

With great interest, she joined the Peking Opera group of Tsinghua University. That made her see that Peking Opera is much more than just the looks. “There is really, really huge cultural and historical background in Peking Opera.”

The group members practice twice a week. Mostly, they practice singing and movements. The biggest problem for Lulu was learning the Asian way of singing. “To start with, my throat was in great pain, because I was using my voice in the wrong way,” she said. But with the help of teachers, she has improved a lot.

There are other international students in the group. “I really love Peking Opera because it brings us together,” she said. “I believe that art has no boundaries (界限) and music has no language barriers (障碍). I hope to share my love for Peking Opera with more people outside China.”

1. Lulu first came to Beijing in ________.

A．2016

B．2017

C．2018

D．2019

2. When Lulu first watched Peking Opera, she found the outfits and movements were ________.

A．ugly

B．strange

C．wonderful

D．old

3. Lulu practices Peking Opera ________ a week in the group.

A．once

B．twice

C．three times

D．four times

4. Lulu had trouble with the way of singing at first because ________.

A．she didn’t get enough practice

B．she wasn’t good at singing at all

C．she couldn’t pronounce Chinese well

D．she didn’t use her voice in the right way

5. From this passage, we can infer (推断) that ________ in the future.

A．fewer Peking Opera groups will be set up

B．the Asian way of singing will be harder to learn

C．Lulu will introduce Peking Opera to more foreigners

D．more students in Tsinghua University will learn Western opera

【推荐1】If you need some advice but don’t have time or money for experts, an 11﹣year old American kid may help you.

Every Sunday, Ciro Ortiz spends about two hours at a subway station in New York. There is a sign in front of him that reads “Emotional （情感的） Advice ＄2.” Believe it or not, some people stop for help from the kid. They ask him about all kinds of things, from relationships to jobs. And the kid always does his best to help them find the answers to their problems.

“I don’t make much money,” Ciro’s dad, Adam, Ciro said. “One night, Ciro Ortiz suddenly told me an idea of making his own money. I trusted my son and the next day, we went to the station to start working.” To his surprise, Ciro did a good job on that day. Since then, Ciro Ortiz has become more and more popular.

It seems that Ciro is very good at giving advice. But in fact, he used to be a very shy boy at school and students often laughed at him.

In the beginning, Ciro was nervous and was not sure of himself. But after a few day, he said to his mother, “I have met so many wonderful people and made many friends.”

1. What does Ciro Ortiz do now?

A．An expert.

B．A worker.

C．A student.

D．A teacher.

2. Ciro Ortiz ________during his working time.

A．can do his homework	B．has lots of his own problems
C．is too shy to talk to others	D．helps people with their problems

3. What can we know from the passage?

A．Ciro Ortiz enjoys his job very much.

B．Ciro Ortiz lives in a very rich family.

C．Ciro Ortiz always gives people advice for free.

D．Students in Ciro’ s school used to be friendly to him.

4. Where may you read this passage?

A．In a dictionary.

B．In a newspaper.

C．In a science report.

D．In a cooking magazine.

【推荐2】Once upon a time, there was a garden in the village. Its owner was an old man. He had been away for several years to visit his friends. It was a large lovely garden with soft green grass and beautiful flowers. While the old man was away, some children came to play in the garden every afternoon. The birds in the garden sang so sweetly that the children used to stop their games to listen to them. For them, the time they spent there was the happiest they had ever had.
One day the old man came back. When he saw the children playing in his garden, he was very angry. "What are you doing here?" he shouted. "Nobody except myself is allowed to play in my garden." The children were terrified and ran away. Then spring came, but it was still winter in the old man’s garden. There were blossoms (花) and birds all over the village, except in the garden. The birds didn’t like singing in his garden, since there were no children." Why is spring arriving so late this year?" the old man thought. "How pretty it would be if it were spring now!" One morning, the old man was woken up by some sounds. He heard birds singing and children laughing. When he opened the window, he saw the birds sitting in the trees and the children running about happily. "I’m sure spring has come. What I’m seeing is the most ______scene (场景) I have ever seen, and the sounds which I’m hearing are the most beautiful in the world," said the old man.
1. When the children were enjoying themselves in the garden, the old man ______.

A．was happy to watch them

B．was away to visit his friends

C．pretended that he didn’t see them

D．was angry but didn’t drive them off

2. What did the children think the old man was like at first?

A．Kind

B．Creative

C．Outgoing

D．Terrible

3. The underlined word "spellbinding" in the passage means "______"in Chinese.

A．迷人的

B．无聊的

C．普通的

D．丑陋的

4. Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

A．The old man’s garden was small but pretty.

B．The old man didn’t like the birds in his garden.

C．The old man was anxious (渴望)for a peaceful life.

D．The birds and the children made the old man’s garden full of life again.

【推荐3】Chinese became an official language of the UN in 1946. More and more UN offices and staff members work with the Chinese language. April 20 marks United Nations Chinese Language Day. On this day, people around the world celebrate the Chinese language. Teens has invited three Chinese learners to share stories of their studies.   

Practicing Chinese with Chinese friends I started taking a short beginners’ course in Chinese when I was in the UK. Since I came to China in 2021, I have been using an APP on my phone called Hello Chinese. I find reading the small stories on there really helpful. I first read them with pinyin and the Chinese characters and then I’ll read them again with just the characters. Also, going out for dinner with my Chinese friends can be a good way to learn. In a social setting, I’m a bit more confident to practice speaking naturally spoken Chinese. David House. UK

Chinese can make language simpler When I worked at Tsinghua University, one of my jobs was translating information from Chinese to English. Each day I would find something new and interesting about Chinese. Chinese can be emotive (有感染力的) and often give out information simpler than English. For example, a Chinese sign on campus might read, “疫情期间隔坐，人人有责”. But the English sign would read: “During the pandemic, please sit apart from each other. We are all responsible for doing our part.” The English one is much longer and not as simple.                                                                                        Madeleine King. Australia

Learning is fun with tongue twisters I’ve always been amazed by tongue twisters (绕口令) in Chinese. English has its own tongue twisters, for example: “Sally sells seashells by the sea coast”. But Chinese takes it a step forward with its use of four tones (声调). As a native English speaker, I first learned Chinese through the use of pinyin. But as I found out, even when the letters in pinyin are the same, different tones can result in different Chinese words, like 马 vs 妈. But things get harder when this is used in tongue twisters! Can you manage this one? Fourteen is fourteen, forty is forty; fourteen is not forty, forty is not fourteen. Patrick McCarthy. US

1. What are the ways that David learn Chinese?
① He takes short courses in China.                    ② He reads small stories on an APP.
③ He reads pinyin loudly every day.                    ④ He goes out for dinner with Chinese friends.

A．① ③

B．② ④

C．① ④

D．② ③

2. According to Madeleine, the difference between Chinese and English is that ________.

A．Chinese has more words than English	B．English can make people feel more emotions
C．Chinese signs are usually simpler and shorter	D．English is easier to speak and write than Chinese

3. Why does Patrick think tongue twisters in Chinese are harder?

A．Chinese characters have four tones.	B．English tongue twisters are usually shorter.
C．Many Chinese words share the same meanings.	D．Each Chinese character has a different meaning.