【推荐1】

Blow your nose

We usually have a runny nose when catching a cold. Yet our parents tell us not to blow our nose so hard. Why is that?

When we blow our nose very hard, the air can move from our nose to our ears and cause problems. When we have a cold, the tube that connects our nose to our ears gets smaller. So the air can’t go back to the nose and stays in the ear. This can hurt the eardrum (鼓膜) and might make our ears ring or even lose our hearing. If the things from our nose go into our ears with viruses (病毒) and bacteria (细菌), it can cause ear infections (感染).

If the air from the nose goes into the eyes, it can make the pressure in the eyes go up. This might cause different eye problems and even affect how well we can see in the long run. This is why, sometimes, when you blow your nose too hard, both your eyes and ears may feel uncomfortable.

To clear your nose in the right way, just close one nostril (鼻孔) at a time and softly blow. If your nose is blocked up (被堵住), putting a warm towel (毛巾) on your nose and forehead (前额) can also help you feel better.

Since your nose and throat are connected, you can also try to get the mucus (粘液) out from your mouth. It’s a good idea to take a deep breath with the nose, then cough quickly to get out the mucus in your mouth.       .

1. What will happen if you blow your nose too hard?

A．You may become too blind.	B．Your eyes may get an infection.
C．You may get a hearing problem.	D．The pressure in your ear will go down.

2. What does “pressure” mean in Paragraph 3?

A．压强

B．温度

C．污染

D．空间

3. What is a good way to clean your nose?

A．Put a towel on your forehead.	B．Clean the mucus in your mouth.
C．Blow with two nostrils at a time.	D．Breathe deeply and cough quickly.

4. What is the structure (结构) of the passage?

A．

B．

C．

D．

5. What is the passage mainly about?

A．Ways to deal with colds.	B．Other illnesses caused by colds.
C．Common eye, ear and nose problems.	D．Things to know about blowing your nose.

【推荐2】Do you know what decides your personality?

In the Chinese lunar calendar there are 12 animal signs. Some people believe that people born under the same animal sign may have similar personalities. For example, they think that people born in the Year of the Rabbit are more careful, while people born in the Year of the Dragon are very powerful. In Western countries, a year is divided into a cycle of 12 star signs. Your star sign depends on your date of birth. Some people believe that your star sign may decide your personality.

Do animal signs or star signs really tell anything about your personality? No, not really. If you are interested in either animal signs or star signs, read about them just for fun. It is you who shape your life and your future.

How is your personality formed?

Personality includes your thoughts, feelings and behaviors which make you different from other people. How is your personality formed? Most people believe that it is formed by both nature and the environment.

By nature

Some aspects of your personality are passed onto you by your parents, for example, liveliness and impatience. That is why people say “like father, like son”. Sometimes these personalities do not change and remain the same throughout your life.

By the environment

The environment, including your education, your experiences and the people around you, can change your personality. For example, you may become confident if you successfully complete a difficult task through hard work. That is how your experience influences your personality.

1. Why do people say “like father, like son”?

A．Because your star sign or animal sign decides your personality.

B．Because your experience makes you the same as your parents.

C．Because some aspects of your personality are passed onto you by your parents.

D．Because people around and your education influence your personality.

2. Which example shows how experiences influence people’s personality according to the text?

A．Some Chinese think people born in the Year of the Rabbit are more careful.

B．Some Western people think their star signs depends on their dates of birth.

C．Some people are born lively or impatient, just like their fathers.

D．Some people become confident after they complete a difficult task successfully.

3. What can we know from the text?

A．All these personalities will be changed throughout your life all the time.

B．All people in Western countries believe their star signs decide their personalities.

C．All Chinese believe people born under the same animal sign have similar personalities.

D．All your education, your experiences and the people around you may change your personality.

4. Which part of a magazine can we probably read the text in?

A．Animal.

B．Nature.

C．Life.

D．Health.

【推荐1】Shaolin Temple is in Henan Province, China. People founded (建立) Shaolin Temple in the 5th century. It is well-known for its Chinese martial arts (武术) and Shaolin Kung fu.

Do you know where Shaolin Kungfu comes from?

In the year 527, an Indian monk (和尚) named Bodhidharma went to Shaolin Temple. He found the monks there were weak so he decided to teach them Kung fu to keep their bodies strong.

At the end of Sui Dynasty, some Shaolin monks helped Li Shimin win a war (战争). In return for that, he gave a lot of land to the temple. After that, Shaolin Temple and Shaolin Kung fu became famous all over China.

Not all emperors liked Kungfu. During the Qing Dynasty, the emperors stopped Shaolin monks from studying Shaolin Kung fu, so many monks had to leave the temple for different places. During that time, they saw many new kinds of Kung fu and studied them. At last, all these new ideas changed and developed Shaolin Kung fu a lot. But until now, Shaolin Kung fu is still the largest and most famous Kung fu in China. Shaolin monks want people to know about their Kung fu. It is said that al Kung fu comes from Shaolin and Shaolin Kung fu is the best.

根据短文内容，选择正确答案。
1. When did people found Shaolin Temple?

A．In the 5th century.	B．At the end of Sui Dynasty.
C．In the year 527.	D．During the Qing Dynasty.

2. Why did Bodhidharma teach Shaolin monks Kung fu?

A．Because he wanted to make them strong.	B．Because he wanted to make Kung fu popular.
C．Because he wanted to get money.	D．Because he wanted to help them fight.

3. Who did the Shaolin monks help win a war at the end of Sui Dynasty?

A．Bodhidharma.

B．An Indian monk.

C．Li Shimin.

D．All emperors.

4. Which of the following is true?

A．All emperors liked Shaolin Kung fu.

B．The monks developed Shaolin Kung fu a lot after leaving the temple.

C．Now Chinese people don’t like Shaolin Kung fu.

D．Shaolin monks didn’t want people to know about their Kung fu.

5. The passage mainly tells us ________.

A．how to practice Shaolin Kung fu	B．the history of Shaolin Kung fu
C．why Li Shimin won the war	D．the name of Shaolin Kung fu

【推荐2】①Deyuwangquan is one of my Chinese teacher’s favorite Chinese idioms(成语). It comes from Zhuangzi and mainly means that you take help for granted—catch the fish and then forget the net.

②______ When I studied this idiom in the United States. I read traditional characters. The character for “fish” has four dots at the bottom. However, when today’s Chinese students study the traditional character this idiom, they read simplified characters. The character for “fish” only has a horizontal line at the simplified character the bottom. This “simplified” character takes fewer strokes(笔画) to write. However, why have the four dots been replaced by a horizontal line, rather than something else? And how many of you have thought about this?

③______The simplification of Chinese characters started in the 1950s. The aim was to make it easier for people to read and write.

④______However, some people think we are taking Chinese characters for granted. They fear that over-simplifying Chinese characters may cause some culture to be lost. The original four dots at the bottom of the character for “fish” come from even older characters. These characters not only mean fish but also look like a fish. There are hundreds of such “pictographs(象形文字)” in Chinese. Each of them has a story behind its meaning.

⑤______ They have suggested that schools should teach traditional characters. But Chinese is already among the most difficult languages to read and write. To save time, perhaps we should still learn and use simplified characters. However, traditional Chinese characters are valuable and should stay, too. You may take some time to learn about them and the stories behind them. In this way, you will help pass down Chinese culture and also have some fun.

1. Deyuwangquan refers to someone who is _________.

A．careless

B．helpless

C．forgetful

D．unthankful

2. The traditional Chinese character for “fish” is different in ________ from the simplified one.

A．writing

B．using

C．meaning

D．reading

3. According to the article, the sentence “Some people consider traditional characters important.” can be put at the beginning of Paragraph _______.

A．②

B．③

C．④

D．⑤

4. This passage is mainly to _______.

A．encourage people to use simplified Chinese characters

B．share the writer’s experience of learning Chinese culture

C．remind readers of the importance of traditional Chinese characters

D．give an introduction to the history of simplified Chinese characters

【推荐3】Take a look at this year’s February on your calendar (日历), what do you see? Feb 29! It comes around only once every four years during a leap year (闰年), like this year. So, why do we need it? It takes 365. 25 days for the Earth to go around the Sun once.

We call this a solar year. However, our calendar year is only 365 days. That’s why we have leap years. They help make our calendar more accurate (准确的).

The difference between the two numbers may seem small, but think of it over a long time. If we didn’t have leap years, in a few hundred years’ time, July would actually happen during the cold winter months.

Leap years usually happen every four years, but sometimes there are special rules. When a year is a century year, like 1900 or 2000, if the year is divisible (可整除的) by 100 and not divisible by 400, then it is not a leap year. So, 1900 was not a leap year, but 2000 was.

Fun facts

People born on Feb 29 are often called “leapings”. So, how do leapings celebrate their birthdays? They don’t wait four years, they just celebrate their birthdays on Feb 28 or March 1.

Because it’s a rare (少有的) day, some people think Feb 29 is a good time to do some special things, like having a party or getting married (结婚).

1. What happens in a leap year?

A．February has twenty nine days.

B．February comes later than usual.

C．There are 365. 25 days in the calendar year.

D．The Earth goes around the Sun more slowly.

2. How often do leap years usually come around?

A．Every two years.	B．Every three years.
C．Every four years.	D．Every five years.

3. The writer wrote Paragraph 3 to show that _________.

A．a solar year is very different from a leap year

B．it’s important for our calendar to have leap years

C．it took a long time for people to know about leap years

D．leap years usually have longer and colder winter months

4. According to the fourth paragraph, which year will be a leap year?

A．2100.

B．2400.

C．2600.

D．3000.

【推荐1】Almost everybody has some bad habits. Here are some bad habits you need to give up (放弃).

Junk food—they are everywhere today. However, junk food such as ice cream and hamburgers becomes a staple for some young people, especially in some foreign countries. The study shows junk food is bad for our health. If we eat too much junk food, we may not be as healthy as we are now.

Watching TV can be a good way to relax. However, remember that TV isn’t your life. Spending three hours watching TV every night will not help make your life better. Instead, you may feel tired the next day.

Being late is rude (粗鲁的) to others. It also means you must go from one place to another fast and say sorry to everybody you meet. So, stop being late and practice being early. Try to arrive 15 minutes earlier before any appointment (约会).

1. If we eat too much junk food, we ________.

A．may not want to eat fruit	B．may be thinner and thinner
C．may have health problem	D．may be much cleverer

2. The underlined word “staple” in Paragraph 2 means ________.

A．something looks like fruit	B．something people eat every day
C．something people hardly every eat	D．something that is healthy

3. What we can know from the third paragraph?

A．Watching TV is part of our life.	B．Everybody should watch TV.
C．We should watch TV more than 3 hours a day.	D．Don’t spend too much time watching TV.

4.          bad habits are mentioned (被提及) in the text.

A．Two

B．Three

C．Four

D．Five

5. What can we learn from the text?

A．We should give up bad habits.	B．We should keep good habits.
C．We should know more about bad habits.	D．We should help others give up bad habits.

【推荐2】A group of students from Tianjin found a very common problem among young people. Most of them know little about how to choose jobs in the future, and they can get little help from schools or family.

To offer them helpful advice on careers, the students from a school in Tianjin started a project. “Our survey shows that 72% of the students want to know about different jobs. Doctors, accountants (会计) and teachers are the top three,” said Wang Xinran, the project leader.

According to the students’ needs, the team interviewed 32 excellent workers with different jobs and put their interviews on the Internet. These workers shared true stories behind each job, and the stories helped the students learn about the jobs further.

“We also invited the workers to give speeches in our school. In this way, the students could have a chance to talk to them face to face,” said Wang.

Team member Lu Jinyan said, “I used to think being a photographer (摄影师) was fantastic and romantic (浪漫的). Now I realize that photographers need to deal with lots of problems, such as sudden changes in the weather or broken cameras. They also need to communicate with different people.             

But the project doesn’ t mean to make the students disappointed by telling them the truth. “We want to show the workers’ love and spirits of never giving up instead of the bad sides,” said another group member. “We believe working isn’ t just for bread and butter. It should be like a poem, full of love and beauty. And we hope our project can let the students know that.”

1. Why did the team start the project?

A．To provide useful career information for teenagers.

B．To turn the students’ dream jobs into beautiful poems.

C．To deal with problems the students may meet at home.

D．To help the students communicate with different people.

2. What did the team invite the workers to their school for?

A．Teaching working skills.

B．Communicating directly.

3. What did the project member Lu Jinyan use to think of being a photographer?

A．Wonderful and romantic.	B．Hard and boring.
C．Rich and romantic.	D．Cool and interesting.

4. Which of the following can be put in “________” in Paragraph 5?

A．Actions speak louder than words.	B．And they try their best.
C．There are too many reasons.	D．This is not easy.

5. What’s the passage mainly about?

A．An interview made by a reporter for students to relax.

B．A speech given by a teacher for students to do more housework.

C．A project made by a team for sudents to learn about different jobs.

D．A story told by a worker for students to know the importance of being honest.

【推荐3】Have you ever had the strange feeling that you were being watched You turn around and ,sure enough, someone was looking right at you!
Parapsychologists(心灵学家) say that humans have a natural ability to sense when someone is looking at them. To research whether such a “ six sense” really exists, Robert Baker, a psychologist（心理学家） at the University of Kentucky, did two experiments.
In the first one, Baker sat behind unknowing people in public places and stared at the backs of their heads for 5 to 15 minutes. The subjects (受试者) were eating, drinking, reading, studying, watching TV, or working at a computer. Baker made sure that the people could not tell that he was sitting behind them during those periods. Later when he questioned the subjects, almost all of them said they had no sense that someone was staring at them.
For the second experiment, Baker told the subjects that they would be stared at from time to time from behind in a laboratory setting. The people had to write down when they felt they being stared at and when they weren’t. Baker found the subjects were no better at telling when they were stared at and when they weren’t.
Baker concludes that people do not have the ability to sense when they are being stared at. If people doubt theoutcomeof his two experiments, said Baker, “I suggest they repeat the experiments and see for themselves.”
1. what’s the aim of the two experiments ？

A．To study whether humans can sense when they are stared at.

B．To explain when people can have a sixth sense

C．To show how people act while being watched in the lab.

D．To Prove why humans have a sixth sense.

2. what sense does parapsychologists say that humans have to

A．A looking feeling	B．A natural staring ability
C．A strange thinking	D．A natural ability

3. The underlined word” outcome” in the last paragraph most probably means

A．value	B．performance
C．result	D．connection

4. What can we learn from the passage

A．People are born with a sixth sense.

B．The experiments support parapsychologists’ idea.

C．The subjects do not have a sixth sense in the experiments.

D．People have a sixth sense in all places.

【推荐1】Hi, Mona,

Thanks for your e-mail of April 17th. These days I’m in Beijing, China and having a good time here. Are you happy at home in the US, too?

Today is the Dragon Boat Festival in China. Do you know this important Chinese festival? It’s a festival to remember a great Chinese poet named Qu Yuan.

Now it’s 8:30 a.m., and I’m in a big park with my Chinese friend Meimei. There are many interesting things in the park.

I can see many boats on the lake. On every boat, there are some men wearing the same clothes. What are they doing? They are having the boat races. The boats are running very fast and many people are cheering for them around the lake. How exciting!

However, not all the people in the park are watching the boat races. A young father is taking a photo of his beautiful daughter. A young woman is taking a walk with her mother. Under a big tree, some girls are playing games. All of them are having fun!

What am I doing now? Can you guess? When I’m writing this e-mail to you, I’m eating zongzi with Meimei. What’s zongzi? It’s a kind of traditional Chinese food for the Dragon Boat Festival. It’s really delicious!

What are you doing now, Mona? Please e-mail and tell me.

Yours,

Judy

1. Where is Judy now?

A．In the US.

B．On a bus.

C．In a park.

D．Under a tree.

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

A．等待

B．寻找

C．凝视

D．喝彩

3. Which thing isn’t Judy doing now?

A．Watching the boat races.	B．Eating zongzi.
C．Taking photos.	D．Writing an e-mail.

4. Which of the following things is NOT mentioned (提及) in the e-mail?

A．Having the boat races.	B．Making zongzi.
C．Playing games.	D．Taking photos.

5. From the e-mail, we can infer (推断) that ________.

A．Judy loves the Dragon Boat Festival very much

B．Mona knows a lot about the Dragon Boat Festival

C．Judy wishes Mona to watch the boat races with her

D．Judy wants to do something fun on the Dragon Boat Festival

【推荐3】A well-known poem by Tang dynasty poet Du Mu tells of a sad scene in early April: “Rains fall heavily as Qingming comes, and passers-by with lowered spirits go.”

This scene takes place on Tomb Sweeping Day, also known as Qingming Festival. Tomb Sweeping Day is a traditional Chinese festival. It began in the Zhou dynasty, over 2,500 years ago. Chinese people celebrate it to remember and honor their ancestors (祖先). This year, it falls on April 4. Tomb Sweeping Day became a public holiday in the Chinese mainland in 2008. People have one day off for that day.

On this day, families bring flowers, food and wine to the grave sites (墓地) of their ancestors. They place cakes, fruits in front of the graves and some may burn joss paper, as money for the dead. After that, they sweep the tombs and cherish (怀念) the memories of their dead family members.

Tomb Sweeping Day gives us a chance to show respect to our ancestors and family members who have passed away and show that we miss them. This tradition shows that family values are an important part of Chinese culture.

Tomb Sweeping Day is also the beginning of the time for gardening and outdoor activities in China. Families often get together for outings or to fly kites at this time.

1. Tomb Sweeping Day is celebrated for people to ________.

A．go out to fly kites	B．have a public holiday
C．remember and honor their ancestors	D．get together with their families

2. What can people take to the grave sites according to the passage?

A．Flowers, food, fruits and umbrellas	B．Flowers, wine and pets
C．Food, fruits, joss paper and kites	D．Flowers, food, wine and joss paper

3. The Chinese meaning of the underlined word “passers-by” is?

A．行人

B．陌生人

C．古人

D．古代人

4. Which of the following is NOT mentioned in the passage?

A．People in the world celebrate Tomb Sweeping Day.

B．We have on day off for Tomb Sweeping Day.

C．Tomb Sweeping Day began in the Zhou dynasty.

D．Family values play an important role in Chinese culture.

5. What does the passage mainly discuss?

A．People bring many things to the grave sites.

B．Du Mu wrote a poem about Qingming.

C．Tomb Sweeping Day is a traditional Chinese festival.

D．Qingming Festival is a good time for outdoor activities.