【推荐1】Have you ever bought Genki Forest sparkling water because it’s advertised as “sugar-free”? The company recently apologized for a misleading advertisement.

The company said the drinks are “sucrose-free” (零蔗糖), but this is not the same as “sugar-free”. Now the company has changed the words “sugar-free” to “low-sugar” on the bottles.

In fact, there are many kinds of sugar. Sucrose is just one of them. Other kinds of sugar, such as fructose and sugar alcohol, are still in Genki Forest drinks. These types of sugar are used as sweeteners (甜味剂). They offer little energy, but a small amount of them can make drinks taste sweet. That’s why diet drinks like Genki Forest are popular among people who want to lose weight. They believe that they can not only enjoy sweet drinks, but also avoid taking in too much sugar. However, studies find that the sweeteners might make people eat more. When you eat sweet-tasting things, sweeteners send up your brain a “sweet signal”. Then your brain tells your body to prepare itself to take in energy. But since the diet soft drink has little energy, the brain will not receive what it is expecting. At this time, you will feel hungry and start getting energy by eating more food.

According to China Daily, drinking too many diet drinks might make you fat and lead to type 2 diabetes. It’s time for you to think twice about the diet drink trend.

1. Why did Genki Forest recently apologize?

A．For not having any sugar in its drinks.

B．For making too many advertisements.

C．For advertising its drinks incorrectly.

D．For incorrectly spelling words in its packaging.

2. What do we know about Genki Forest from Paragraph 3?

A．There are sweeteners in its drinks.

B．Its drinks have high levels of sucrose.

C．Its drinks taste sweeter than other drinks.

D．People can lose weight by drinking its drinks.

3. What does the underlined word “itself” in Paragraph 4 refer to?

A．your brain

B．your body

C．sweetener

D．fructose

4. What do studies show about sweeteners?

A．They are used more in food than drinks.

B．They might make people feel hungry.

C．They provide enough energy for those on a diet.

D．They cause the brain to stop receiving signals.

5. According to the last paragraph, drinking lots of diet drinks can be ________.

A．harmful

B．strange

C．enjoyable

D．fashionable

【推荐2】Think of the animal world. And a group of colorful wild animals will spring to mind: a parrot's rainbow feathers or the showy scales of sea fish. But, many mammals(哺乳动物) on the planet come in only two colors: black and white. Spend some time exploring what science has discovered about these animals' appearances, and you’ll see that basic black and white isn't so basic at all.

	The panda's white body helps it hide in snowy areas. The arms and legs are black, helping it hide in forests. The markings on its head are not used to hide, but to communicate. Black ears can act as a warning to enemies.
	Depending on the species, black skunks(臭鼬) may wear white spots that act as covering or white stripes that signal enemies to be aware of their smelly spray, which causes no real harm to its victims, but it makes them uncomfortable.
	Zebras' thin coats make them more vulnerable than long-haired animals to biting flies that carry disease, but the coats stripes prevent flies from landing on them, for reasons that scientists are still studying. Further, their attractiveness to flies increases with stripe width. No two zebras' stripes are exactly the same.

1. What color are a parrot’s feather according to passage?

A．Light green.

B．Showy.

C．Colorful.

D．Black and white.

2. What do pandas, skunks and zebras have in common?

A．The color of their bodies prevents them from being attacked.

B．Their ears can act as a warning to enemies.

C．Their smelly spray can drive the enemies away.

D．Their coat strips can prevent flies landing on them.

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

A．Zebras with wider stripes are less attractive to flies.

B．Both white spots and white stripes help skunks kill their victims.

C．The panda's white part help it hide in snow.

D．Scientists have already known all the secrets about the stripes.

4. What does the underlined word "vulnerable" mean?

A．Being easily landed.

B．Being easily attracted.

C．Being easily discovered.

D．Being easily attacked.

5. Which could be the best title of the passage?

A．Why Animal Stripes Come in Different Shapes

B．Why So Many Animals Wear Black-and-White Coats

C．How Wild Animals Protect Themselves from Enemies

D．How Black and White Become Basic Colors in Animal World

【推荐3】Everything has a name. All people, places, and things have names. Jenny is the name of a student from the UK. The UK is the name of a country. Cities and towns（城镇）have names, too. Schools also have names. Tomato, potato and carrot are names of vegetables. Apple, orange and banana are names of fruit.

When we meet a new person（人）, we usually ask, “What’s your name?” Most people have two names. Names are different all over the world. In Jenny’s class, she must know the names of the students from all over the world. This is not easy because the names are very different（不同的）.

In the USA, most people have a first name, a middle name and a last name. Parents choose（选择）the first and middle names for their babies. The last name is the family name. Usually it is the father’s family name. In a family, the mother, the father and the children usually have the same last name.

Sometimes a person has a nickname, too. A nickname is a special name. It’s not a person’s real name. Abraham Lincoln’s nickname was “Honest Abe”, because he was honest（诚实的）. And it is short for Abraham. Pele is the nickname of the football player, Edison Aeraesde Nascimento. But everyone calls him Pele.

1. The UK is the name of ________.

A．a city

B．a town

C．a country

D．a school

2. It is not easy for Jenny to know all the names in her class because ________.

A．the names are different

B．most people have two names

C．some people have nicknames

D．some names are very long and some are very short

3. In the USA, ________.

A．parents choose the middle and last name for their babies.

B．the mother, the father and the children usually have different last names in a family

C．every person has a nickname

D．Abraham Lincoln’s nickname was “Honest Abe” because he was an honest person

4. According to the passage, what is Pele’s real name?

A．Honest Abe.	B．Abraham Lincoln.
C．Edison Aeraesde Nascimento.	D．We don’t know.

【推荐2】What’s the first thing that you notice when you walk into your favorite restaurant? Is it the smell of fresh pizza, or the sight of your favorite desserts? Food that looks and smells good will probably taste good, but what about sound? Is that important?

Scientists now believe that the taste of food can change when your ears hear different sounds, but it has to be the right kind of sound. When you turn on a microwave with popcorn in it, it soon starts to pop. Do you think “That sounds tasty!”? Not really, you probably think it’s nearly ready. But when smell it, you go to get the salt and the butter. Hearing the popcorn make you think about it, but smelling it tells you that it tastes good. So what are the sounds to change the tastes of the things?

In an experiment in a fish restaurant, customers listened to the sound of the seaside while they were eating. Did it make a difference? Yes, it did. Listening to the seaside seemed to improve the taste of the food. It was fresher and saltier. When the restaurant tried the same experiment with the sound of the farm animals, there was no difference in taste. The results are going to be useful for restaurants. Perhaps they will try to use fewer unhealthy things, like salt and sugar in food. With the right music or sounds, perhaps we won’t taste the difference.

Restaurants are also setting a connection between food and the sound that the packet(包装袋) makes. Pick up a packet of your favorite potato chips, what does it sound like? One restaurant recently changed the material that they used to make their potato chip packets because experiments show that the packet which makes a right sound will make customers think the potato chips are fresher. Another idea is that a list of music will begin to appear on food packets, so if you don’t like your green vegetables, the right music or sounds could help you learn to love them.

1. According to the passage, what makes you think the popcorn tastes delicious?

A．Turning on the microwave.	B．Smelling the popcorn in the microwave.
C．Hearing the popcorn.	D．Taking the popcorn out of the microwave.

2. What was the result of the experiment in the restaurant?

A．The sounds of the seaside made the food taste better.	B．The customers didn’t like the food.
C．The music changed the food.	D．The customers preferred the sounds of the farm animals.

3. Why is the material of the food packet important?

A．Because customers want it to sound and look right.

B．Because customers enjoy looking at the different materials.

C．Because customers think the food is good if it makes the right sound.

D．Because customers don’t like noisy packets.

4. The passage mainly tells us                .

A．sounds make a difference to the taste of food

B．the smell of food makes a difference to the taste of food

C．right music could help people love green vegetable

D．there is a connection between the sight of food and the taste of food

【推荐3】“How are you?” is a nice question. It’s a friendly greeting that people in the United States use. However, “How are you?” is also an unusual question. It’s a question that often doesn’t need an answer. The person who asks, “How are you?” expects to hear the answer “Fine,” even if the person isn’t fine. The reason is that “How are you?” isn’t really a question and “Fine” isn’t really an answer. They are common ways of saying “hello” or “hi”.

Sometimes, people don’t say exactly what they mean. For example, when someone asks “Do you agree?” the other person may be thinking, “No, I don’t. I think you’re wrong.” It isn’t polite to disagree very strongly, so he might say, “I am not so sure.” This is a nicer way to say that you don’t agree with someone.

People also don’t say exactly what they are thinking when they finish talking to other people. For example, many conversations over the phone end when one person says, “I’ve got to go now,” or the person who wants to hang up gives an excuse such as “Someone is at the door,” or, “Something is burning on the stove.” The excuse may be real, or not. The person who wants to hang up simply doesn’t want to talk any more, but it isn’t polite to say so. An excuse is polite, and it doesn’t hurt the other person’s feelings.

Whether they are greeting each other, talking about an opinion, or ending a conversation, people often don’t say exactly what they are thinking. This is one way of being nice to people, and it’s a part of the game of language.

1. If you have a different idea from that of someone else, it is polite to say “________.”

A．You’re wrong	B．I’m not so sure
C．Of course, I disagree	D．No, I don’t agree with you

2. Which of the following is a polite way to finish a conversation?

A．I have no time to talk to you now.	B．I want to stop talking now.
C．I have to go now.	D．I don’t want to talk any more.

3. According to the passage, when a person says “Something is burning on the stove,” it means that ________.

A．he is going to prepare an exam	B．he is interested in the conversation
C．he is hurting someone’s feelings	D．he’s giving an excuse to end the conversation

4. One of the rules of the game of language is ________.

A．to be polite	B．not to disagree with others
C．to say what you mean	D．to make sentence funny

5. What’s the passage mainly about?

A．How to make friends with other people.	B．Some polite questions used to greet other people.
C．Important ways of being polite to other people.	D．How to end a conversation.