【推荐2】①Would you like to get fewer colds and feel better? Would you like to have a taste of a special plant? Would you like to keep a plant with little care? An Aloe Vera plant could be just what the scientists may suggest!

②Growing Aloe Vera plants at home can make the air clean and fresh. Studies have shown that they give off oxygen (氧气) and take away harmful things from the air. With clean and fresh air, you are more likely to stay away from colds, sore throats and dry coughs. And even if you do get sick, Aloe Vera plants may help you get better from the illness faster.

③Did you know that Aloe Vera plants can be used as medicine? Aloe Vera gel (胶体) helps to deal with the pain of burns. And it also helps with itchiness (痒) caused by insect bites. To get this gel, just cut off a part of the plant, peel it, and put the gel on the affected skin (患处). This easy-to-get and safe-to-use medicine is available to you all year round.

④Apart from medical use, Aloe Vera plants are also popular in food industry. Whether you are interested in Aloe juice or crazy about Aloe yogurt, you’ll easily find them in the supermarket. Aloe Vera can also go with other vegetables to make a safe dish on your dinner table.

⑤ __________ They like dry, warm air with bright light, so they grow best when placed near a window. Aloe Vera plants are able to keep water in their leaves. So, they do not need to be watered so often as most houseplants. Just wait until the earth is completely dry before you water them. When watering, make sure the earth is wet enough so that it can last for a long time. That’s all you need to do to take care of an Aloe Vera plant. Isn’t it the perfect plant for lazy and forgetful gardeners?

1. How does the writer introduce the topic in Paragraph 1?

A．By telling stories.	B．By listing numbers.
C．By giving examples.	D．By asking questions.

2. What are the uses of Aloe Vera gel as medicine in Paragraph 3?
a. It’s good for eyes.               b. It stops nosebleed.                    c. It helps with the itchiness.
d. It helps people lose weight.             e. It deals with the pain of burns.

A．c, e

B．a, b

C．b, d

D．a, d

3. Which of the following can be the best to fill in “__________” in Paragraph 5?

A．Aloe Vera plants help you improve memory.

B．Aloe Vera plants are very easy to take care of.

C．Aloe Vera plants can serve as a delicious dish.

D．Aloe Vera plants are good-looking houseplants.

4. What’s the structure of the passage?

A．

B．

C．

D．

【推荐3】Most of us have many pencils. But do you know how these common writing tools came into being?

It started in Rome

The first example of a pencil-type instrument probably came from ancient Rome. There, a thin piece of metal was used to draw onto an early form of paper. It was also used to write down numbers on the page.

England's find

Around 1564, graphite(石墨) was discovered near Cumbria, England. It was regarded as a perfect way to record their sheep at that time. But the graphite was very soft. So people provided it with a covering.

Italian changes

A couple from Italy thought of a better idea. They hollowed (掏空) out a wooden stick and then placed graphite stick inside it. This created a wooden holder for the graphite.

German improvements

In 1839, Germany's Lothar von Faber invented a way to make graphite sticks all the same. He also invented a machine to cut the pencil wood.

American production

By the late 1860s in America, pencils were in great need. American companies began designing machines to produce them. It helped meet the need and cut the cost of pencils by 50%.

Japanese ideas

In 1915, Japan's Tokuji Hayakawa created a mechanical pencil (自动笔) which was similar to one used now.

Today both kinds of pencils are very popular with the wooden pencil being number one. More than 6 billion wooden pencils are produced in 40 different countries each year.

1. Which is the first country to use a pencil-type instrument?

A．Rome.

B．England.

C．Italy.

D．Germany.

2. What can we learn from the passage?

A．Englishmen used the graphite to write on the paper.

B．Lothar Von Faber invented a machine to produce pencils.

C．The machines Americans designed helped save half of the cost.

D．Mechanical pencils are more popular than wooden pencils now.

3. Which is the best title for this passage?

A．The Kinds of Pencils.	B．The Use of pencils.
C．The Inventors of Pencils.	D．The History of Pencils.

【推荐2】There are many stories about the start of Nian. It is said that Nian was a fierce (凶猛的) monster. Usually it stayed deep in the mountains. But in winter, it couldn’t find enough food. So it entered villages to eat whatever it could catch. Villagers became frightened and moved away. Later the people found that Nian was afraid of three things—the red color, the bright fire and the loud noise. After learning this, they thought of how to prevent Nian from entering their villages. Thus, a tradition was established (获得认可). People had couplets (对联), lanterns and fireworks for the Spring Festival.

Now most people in the countryside still keep these traditional celebrations. However, the people in cities have used new ways to celebrate the Spring Festival. For example, they don’t send out so many greeting cards as before. Instead they usually send short text messages to greet friends on mobile phones. And for safety, fireworks were not allowed in some large cities a few years ago, making the cities much quieter than before. It seems that all Chinese traditions are facing new challenges. Maybe when the children of the next generation grow up, they can only learn about Chinese traditions from books.

1. Long ago, people thought Nian was ________.

A．serious

B．friendly

C．interesting

D．dangerous

2. People set off fireworks because Nian was afraid of ________.

A．the loud noise

B．the red color

C．people

D．animals

3. Now people ________ to greet their friends at the Spring Festival.

A．write letters

B．play cards

C．prefer to use mobile phones

D．send telegraphs

4. Setting off fireworks is not allowed in some large cities in order to ________.

A．make the cities quiet

B．save money

C．keep safe

D．keep clean

5. What does the underlined sentence in the passage mean?

A．Chinese people will not have the Spring Festival any longer.

B．Perhaps Chinese people won’t celebrate the Spring Festival in traditional ways.

C．It’s clear that Chinese traditions will disappear.

D．Chinese people dislike the Spring Festival.

【推荐3】配对阅读   左栏是五位读者的书评，右栏是七本书的介绍，请将二者进行匹配，并将答题卡上对应题目所选的选项涂黑。

1    . Along the way Phileas Fogg travels by train, boat, elephant, and more. The dialogue is excellent, and the story is so fun!     2    . This book is well worth reading, especially for students of Chinese history and anyone who seriously wants to make a study of today’s China.     3    . This book sends a great message about seeing a person not by his face. It teaches kids that it is okay to ask questions but to always choose kindness.     4    . This science fiction book has changed the way I think about human beings’ place in the universe and the way I view technology, etc.     5    . I laughed and cried as I read this heart-warming story about the power of love between man and animals.

A. A Street Cat Named Bob was on the bestseller list in England for 52 weeks and sells in 26 countries around the world. When a poor street musician met and nursed a street cat back to health, both of their lives changed. B. Around the World in Eighty Days is a classic adventure novel published in 1873. A scientist goes around the world in 80 days by train, boat, elephant with his servant to win a 20,000 pounds wager. This book is one of Jules Verne’s most famous works. C. The Three-Body Problem is a science fiction novel by the Chinese writer Liu Cixin. A secret project sends signals into space to get into touch with aliens (外星人) who get them and prepare to take over the earth. D. My Memories of Old Beijing is an autobiographical novel written by Lin Haiyin. There are 5 exciting stories based on the author’s childhood memories from the age of 7 to 13. The little girl’s happiness and tears can be found in this book. E. Journey to West, one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature, was published in the 16th century. It is about a monk Xuanzang who traveled to the “Western Regions” with his three disciples in search of Buddhist sacred text (佛经). F. Wonder is a No. 1 New York Times bestseller. It is about a boy who was born with a facial (面部的) difference. When he starts to go to school, he wants nothing more than to be treated as an ordinary kid—but his new classmates can’t get past his strange face. G. In Red Star Over China, Edgar Snow records the months he spent with the Chinese Red Army in 1936. It remains one of the most important books ever written about the birth of the Communist Movement (共产主义运动) in China.

【推荐2】We all know that many people like to go to the café (咖啡馆) and drink some coffee there. They can talk with other people and listen to music when drinking coffee. However, the “silent (沉默的) cafes” are very popular in Tokyo, Japan these days.

A young woman sits alone (单独地) in a cafe. She is drinking coffee and reading a book. After a while, she writes some words on the notebook and then she shows it to the waiter. It says “Where is the toilet (厕所), please?”

We can see many “silent cafes” in Tokyo. They look the same as other cafes. But people in “silent cafes” don’t speak. They can only talk with each other by writing on the notebook.

The “silent cafes” are very popular in Tokyo, because some people there are under too much pressure of work, and they need a place to relax themselves. They want to stay alone for some time, so they like to go to the “silent cafes”.

根据材料内容选择最佳答案。
1. What can’t people do in a café?

A．Talk with other people.	B．Drinking coffee.
C．Listen to music.	D．Play sports.

2. How do people in the “silent cafes” talk with each other?

A．By talking with other people quietly.

B．By writing words on a notebook.

C．By talking on the phone.

D．By drawing pictures on the paper.

3. What does the underlined word “pressure” mean in Chinese?

A．热情

B．压力

C．娱乐

D．性质

4. Why do people like “silent cafes”?

A．Because the coffee there is very cheap.

B．Because they can get many notebooks there.

C．Because they can stay alone and relax there.

D．Because the “silent cafes” are very nice.

5. What does the writer mainly wants to tell us? He wants to _________.

A．tell us something about the “silent cafes”

B．tell us a good way to relax ourselves

C．ask us to drink coffee in the “silent cafes”

D．tell us a story about a young woman