【推荐1】We have noticed our life becoming a little easier these days. Now, when you go to a certain shopping mall, you can enjoy its free WiFi there. When you want to take a taxi, you can book one with your phone. In fact, all these can be seen as the basic parts of a smart city.

The idea of a smart city was brought up by US company IBM in 2010.Gernally, a smart city is a city that uses digital(数字的) technologies such as the Internet to improve city planning, save money and resources, and make our life convenient. How smart can a city be? Here are great examples that we can learn from.

In 2009, Dubuque became the first smart city in the US. The city used smart water meters to take the place of traditional water meters. They can examine water waste and leakage(泄露) and send data to let the house owner know. The same system is used for other city resources like electricity and natural gas. This way, people know how they use their resources and are glad to help reduce waste.

Santander in Spain also gives us a look at the future. If people point a phone toward a nearby bus stop, the phone quickly shows all bus lines that serve the stop as well as their arrival times. The government organized a research team and provided an App that collects data on almost everything: light, temperature, and the movements of cars and people. Opening the APP near a supermarket provides immediate information on special offers.

1. A smart city improves city planning, save money and resources and makes our life convenient by ______.

A．using a robot.

B．the government.

C．using digital technologies.

D．working hard

2. According to the passage, which of the following is TRUE?

A．An English Company first raised the idea of a smart city.

B．Digital technologies are used in smart cities.

C．A smart city is mainly made up of free WiFi and phones.

D．A smart city is still an idea and hasn’t come into being.

3. Compared to traditional water meters, smart water meters do better in ______.

A．cleaning water.

B．supplying water.

C．saving water.

D．producing water.

4. The example of Santander shows the use of smart system in aspects EXCEPT _____.

A．health care.

B．business.

C．traffic controlling.

D．public transportation.

5. What’s the main idea of the passage?

A．Digital technologies help improve city planning.

B．Smart cities will make our future life better and smarter.

C．Smart cities are very common in both Dubuque and Santander.

D．Spain and the US take the leading position in building smart cities.

【推荐2】Can you imagine a world without the Internet? It’s surprising to think about it.
Now, China has more than 162 million Internet users, according to the China Internet Network Information Centre. This is the second highest number of user in the world after the United States. Today, 66% of Chinese “netizens（网民）”are teenagers. “They spend about thirteen hours every week online,” said Qian Hulin, an Internet expert（专家）. Doctor Song in Beijing Xuanwu Hospital said about 14% of Chinese netizens who are teenagers often lasted over ten hours to play online games.
The main reasons why teenagers surf the Web are to search for information, to communicate with others and to have fun. On the Internet, teenagers can find out almost anything. And surfing the Web can help students with their homework and widen their knowledge.
Li Dong,   a   teacher   in   NO. 41 Middle School in Shijiazhuang, likes her students to use the Internet.   “When   we talk in   class, students who surf the Net usually know more background information than the others,” she said.
In addition, people can use the Internet to write letters or stories and send emails. Many teenagers〖JP〗 keep in touch with their friends online. It is cheaper than phoning somebody far away and also much quicker.
1.          has the most Internet users in the world according to the article.

A．China

B．America

C．Canada

D．Russia

2. There are about        Chinese netizens to play online games for over ten hours.

A．107 million old	B．22.7 million old
C．107 million young	D．22.7 million young

3. Which isn’t mentioned about the main reason why teenagers surf the Web?

A．having fun

B．searching for information

C．shopping on line

D．communicating with others

4. Li Dong in NO. 41 Middle School likes her students to use the Internet because she         .

A．thinks surfing the Net can help students spend less time on homework

B．thinks her students can get more background information than the others

C．wants her students to talk to her about their hobbies and interests

D．wants to know what her students do and think about at home

5. Which way is the cheapest and quickest to learn something about friends far away?

A．Giving them a call.

B．Going to see them.

C．Writing a letter to them.

D．Sending emails to them.

【推荐1】Can the “double reduction” policy (双减政策) really help you? Some students have different answers. Let’s have a look.

Shen Yuzhe, 13, Beijing

It really helps me a lot. I don’t need to do too much homework. I can finish it at school. I don’t need to take it home. I can swim or play ping-pong with my father. I’m very happy.

Zhang Hangming, 13, Tianjin

I like the “double reduction” policy very much, because I can have free time to do my favorite things on Saturday and Sunday. I like to play the piano and play volleyball. I join a music club and I can go there on Saturday.

Yu Zhiyue, 14, Jiangsu

With the “double reduction” policy, I really have less homework to do. But now I can only take tutoring classes (辅导班) from Monday to Friday. So Monday is a very long day for me. On that day, I need to have classes on the computer at home after school. I am very exhausted.

Cui Ruqi, 12, Liaoning

It makes me happy weekends. I can play the piano or read my favorite books on the weekend. I want to be a musician like my mother. She can play the piano and the violin very well.

1. How many students like the “double reduction” policy?

A．One.

B．Two.

C．Three.

D．Four.

2. What does the underlined word “exhausted” mean?

A．疲惫

B．开心

C．自豪

D．紧张

3. What can we know from the passage?

A．Yu Zhiyue is free after school on Monday.

B．The four students are in the same middle school.

C．Cui Ruqi’s mother can teach her to play the piano.

D．The policy makes Zhang Hangming have a busy weekend.

【推荐2】October is getting closer and it also means that the year of 2014 is coming to an end. “Hooray! It’s a holiday!” While you are thinking of putting textbooks aside and playing video games, let’s take a look at what children in other continents usually do during their holidays.
Children in America don’t have much homework to do. They keep themselves busy by playing camp games. A parent says, “My daughter Shirley usually attends different camps. We don’t ask her to spend plenty of time on maths problems or spelling tests.”
Children in Australia take partin activities on over twenty different themes (主题). They learn painting, dancing, singing, history, culture and so on. Parents can accompany their kids to enjoy the learning process and to build a closer relationship with them.
These are what African kids do: build a boat, have a camel race, make a drum and make a rag (碎布) football. Don’t you think it is interesting that kids in other places have no idea how to make a drum, but kids in Africa do?
Plan your holiday well and try what you want to try. Make a good plan and you will have a lot of fun.
1. Where does Shirley come from?

A．Asia.	B．America.
C．Australia.	D．Africa.

2. What does the underlined word “accompany” mean in Chinese?

A．提醒

B．监视

C．陪伴

D．排斥

3. According to the passage, only kids in Africa know how to ______.

A．play camp games

B．do spelling tests

C．build a boat

D．make a drum

4. Which of the following is TRUE?

A．The passage was written before October.

B．Kids in America are good at maths.

C．Kids in Australia spend much time on homework.

D．Kids in Africa don’t play football.

5. What is the purpose of this passage?

A．To advise kids to make holiday plans.

B．To introduce some good holiday camps.

C．To encourage kids to make friends with parents.

D．To show the importance of doing homework during holidays.

【推荐3】It is well-known that many hotter countries are poorer. Now, according to a new study from Harvard University, the University of California and Georgia State University, hotter weather makes students get poorer grade. What's more, hotter weather may make students lose the interest in learning in both the short term and the long term.

Researchers reported that hot weather on test days resulted in poorer grades. They also found that students’ grades weren't good when the temperatures of the test days were higher than the average(平均的) temperature throughout the school year. The study is the main research into the effect of hot weather on students in the USA. Researchers studies how test scores from 10 million American students were affected by the weather. Their findings showed that an average increase of 0.55°C in the temperature over one year resulted in a one percent decrease(减少) in learning.

The research is in a paper called Heat and Learning and was published by the USA’s national Bureau of Economic Research. One of the opinions in the study is that global warming may make a difference to learning and the income-earning potential(盈利潜力) of students around the world. The researchers predicted that if global temperatures continued to rise, an American student could lose $25,000 on average during his lifetime because of lower exam results. They also found that using air conditioning(空调) in classrooms could be a useful way of helping students get better grades.

1. What does the underlined world “effect” mean in Chinese?

A．管理

B．要求

C．依赖

D．影响

2. What's the researchers’ opinion according to the last paragraph?

A．Air conditioning can help students find good jobs.

B．Students can make much money if they work in cooler countries.

C．Global warming may lower the income-earning potential of students.

D．American students won’t make much money because of global warming.

3. What's the main idea of this passage?

A．Never take an exam when it’s hot.	B．Low income(低收入) has to do with hot weather.
C．hotter weather leads to poorer exam results.	D．Schools should fix air conditioning in classrooms.

4. Where is the passage probably from?

A．A notice.

B．A letter.

C．A guidebook.

D．A magazine.