【推荐1】Americans love cars. They go everywhere in them. 85% of people in the US go to and from work by car. And most adults have driving licenses. Why does this car culture exist?

How it started

America’s love of cars started after the war when soldiers returned home from World War Π to rebuild their lives. They borrowed money from the government to buy houses and cars which became the symbols of status（地位）. The more money they had, the bigger their cars were.

Making of roads

During the war, President Eisenhower noticed what good roads Germany had. He decided to build new four-lane（四车道）roads in America. He said if something happened suddenly, the two-lane roads wouldn’t be able to carry all the cars that would suddenly leave the cities. Car and oil companies liked his idea and building started.

Car lovers

Not just teenagers are crazy about cars. Some Americans love their cars so much that they paint their cars beautifully. These are called Art Cars. Every April there is an activity in Houston, Texas, where they show their cars.

Pollution

Cars have polluted the environment. American President Bush refused a worldwide law that is against pollution. Many countries were angry about it. Bush said he had to think of the American economy（经济）and all the American people that make money from cars. Factories say they want to make cars that pollute less. But others say making cars that pollute less will never be as good as having fewer cars.

1. When did Americans begin to love cars?

A．Before the new two-lane roads were built.	B．After World War Π.
C．During World War Π.	D．Before World War Π.

2. The underlined word “building” here means “the building of________”.

A．companies

B．soldiers’ lives

C．houses

D．roads

3. What were other countries’ feeling about Bush’s decision?

A．They agree with him.	B．They showed anger to it.
C．They paid no attention to it.	D．The passage doesn’t tell us.

4. The meaning of the last sentence is: “________”.

A．It’s better to have fewer cars.	B．It’s better to make cars that pollute less.
C．It’s easier to make cars that pollute less.	D．It’s easier to make people have fewer cars.

【推荐1】Although people everywhere seem to enjoy drinking coffee, they do not all have the same coffee culture. In Europe for example, coffee shops are common places for people to meet friends and to talk when they drink coffee. However, coffee shops were not as common in North America in the past. Although some people in North America went to coffee shops, most Americans liked to drink coffee in their homes with their friends better. The coffee culture in the USA changed（改变）when Starbucks coffee shops opened across the country.

The first Starbucks coffee shop opened in 1971 in Seattle, Washington, in the USA. It was a small coffee shop that roasted（烘焙）its own coffee beans（豆）. The coffee sold well, and by 1981 there were three more Starbucks shops in Seattle.

Things really began to change for Starbucks in 1981. That year, Howard Schultz met the three men who ran（经营）Starbucks. He found that Starbucks ordered a large number of special coffee makers, and he really wanted to know why. Schultz went to Seattle to see what Starbucks did. In1982, the three Starbucks owners hired（雇用）Schultz as the Starbucks head of marketing.

In 1983, Schultz traveled to Italy. He was interested in the special feeling of coffee shops there. Back in the USA, Schultz created a comfortable feeling for Starbucks coffee shops, and people everywhere seemed to like it. With the help of Schultz, Starbucks became successful and famous. It began opening more coffee shops. Today there are more than 16, 000 Starbucks coffee shops around the world.

However, that does not mean Starbucks doesn’t have problems. For example, many Starbucks shops have closed over the past few years. In some places this is because there were too many coffee shops in one small place. In other places or countries, this is because the coffee culture there isn’t the same as Starbucks culture.

1. What can we learn from Paragraph 1?

A．All the coffee cultures are the same.

B．People in Europe don’t like to drink coffee.

C．Americans never went to coffee shops.

D．Starbucks changed American coffee culture

2. Which of the following is TRUE about Schultz?

A．He didn’t do a good job in Starbucks.	B．He helped Starbucks to be successful.
C．He had over 16, 000 shops in the US.	D．He couldn’t stand coffee shops in Italy.

3. What’s the reason for Starbucks closing?

A．All of the coffee tasted the same.	B．Coffee in Starbucks was too expensive.
C．People wait too long in Starbucks.	D．A small place has too many coffee shops.

4. What is the passage mainly about?

A．The history of Starbucks.	B．Starbucks’ main problems
C．Different coffee cultures.	D．Coffee shops in the world.

【推荐2】Hotels are no longer the first or the only choice for travelers in China to sleep in at night. A new type of accommodation（住宿）choice called bed-and-breakfast（B&B）is welcoming more visitors in China.

During this month’s Golden Week, bookings for the B&B in China grew by 400 percent from 2016, according to the B&B booking website tujia.com.

Starting in Europe, B&B is often a private family home. Travellers pay to stay overnight and have breakfast. In China, many B&Bs are in rural（农村的）areas and more about fun, experiences and new friendships, reported by China Daily.

“The meals are cooked by the host. Very often, vegetables are homegrown. Hosts and guests chat over the meal and play with the pets together,” Yu Minliang, a 23-year-old tourist from Shanghai, told China Daily.

However, as more B&Bs come out, the service sometimes may not be good enough. Some guests complained the soundproofing（隔音）was bad and the house was dirty.

To solve the problem, the first national industry standards were carried out on Oct.1. For example, every B&B should provide not more than 14 guest rooms and things like towels and sheets must be changed after every visitor.

The standards will help the B&B industry develop in a healthy and sustainable（可持续的）way, reported CNR（中国广播网）.

1. What is B&B?

A．A new way of welcoming visitors in Europe.	B．A new type of sleeping at night in China.
C．The first choice to sleep at night in China.	D．A new type of accommodation choice in China.

2. What do travelers usually do in B&Bs in China?

A．Cook meals and grow some vegetables.

B．Sleep at night and have breakfast.

C．Chat with each other and draw some pictures.

D．Cook meals and play with the pets together.

3. Which of the following is NOT included in the standards?

A．Changing towels and sheets.	B．Providing not more than 14 guest rooms.
C．Making sure the rooms are clean and tidy.	D．Making sure hot water is in service all day.

4. According to the last paragraph, we can infer ________.

A．the national standards are useless for the B&B industry

B．people have no interest in B&Bs

C．there will be a brighter future for the B&B industry

D．people will no longer choose B&Bs to live

【推荐3】Streetball is a city game. People play it on playgrounds and in gyms around the world.

Usually only one side of the court is used in the streetbal, but the rules of the game are almost the same as basketball games. The number of players in a game may be only 2, and it is called one-to-one. Sometimes there are also two teams of five players each. It is easy for you to join a streetball game. You only need to go to an outdoor court. If there are some teams playing, and they agree to let you take part in, then you have a chance to join any team.

Streetball is a very popular game in the world, and it is very popular with the young people. Some cities in the United States even have streetball programs on TV. It is said (据说) that this is a good way for young people to keep away from troubles such as crimes (犯罪) and drugs (毒品).

1. Where do people usually play streetball?

A．On the hill.

B．In the classroom.

C．On playground.

D．In the water.

2. The rules of streetball games are almost the same as ___________ games.

A．baseball

B．football

C．volleyball

D．basketball

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

A．麻烦

B．荣誉

C．诱惑

D．纠缠

4. Why do people say the streetball game is good for the young people?

A．Because it is very popular.

B．Because it can be played by two people.

C．Because it can make them strong.

D．Because it can keep them from some troubles.

5. What can we know from the passage?

A．It’s not easy to join a streetball game.

B．The streetball game is only for good players.

C．The streetball is very popular with young people.

D．There are many programs on TV about the streetball game all over the world.

【推荐1】Imagine this: you sit down and begin to eat a tasty tomato when, suddenly, it starts to scream (尖叫). While this thing will never really happen, a new study showed that plants can make sounds when they are stressed.

Researchers from Tel Aviv University in Israel did the study. They used ultrasonic microphones (超声波麦克风) to record the sounds of tomato plants in boxes.

Three groups of plants were listened to : One group wasn’t watered for five days, another group had the stems (茎) cut off, and the third group, was untouched. It turned out that the first two groups made sounds 30 to 50 times per hour at a frequency(频率)   of 40 to 80 kilohertz, while the untouched group only made the sound once per hour. “When tomatoes are not stressed at all, they are very quiet,” Lilach Hadany from the team told CNN.

The researchers don’t know how the sounds are made, but they believe the noise comes from the breaking of air bubbles in the plants. This means the noise produced by the plants is not intentional (故意的) or a form of active communication.

Although there’s no evidence(证据) that plants can intentionally communicate, animals and insects may be “listening in” to benefit from the sound. For example, the sound can tell moth that the plant is under stress and not suitable (合适的) to lay eggs on. An animal that wants to eat a plant could also use the sounds to make decisions, according to Science Focus.

After the experiment, the researchers listened to other plants such as wheat (小麦), corn and grapevine, and found they also made more sounds when stressed. Researchers said the study can benefit farmers in the future, as they can better take care of the crops(庄稼) by “hearing” how plants feel.

1. What is the finding of the study by researchers from Tel Aviv University? ________

A．Plants often feel stressed.

B．Some plants can scream.

C．Plants can make sounds when stressed.

D．Plants can communicate with each other.

2. Which one of the following groups can replace group two? ________

A．A group that is fully-grown.

B．A group which has its fruits picked.

C．A group that is watered regularly.

D．A group that has suitable temperature.

3. What does “active communication” in Paragraph 4 refer to? ________

A．Plants make sounds on purpose.

B．Plants receive messages from animals.

C．Plants make noise in a high frequency.

D．Air bubbles in the plants can break.

4. What might be the benefits of the finding? ________

A．It may help improve crop production.

B．It will help protect the environment.

C．It can help farmers predict weather.

D．It helps farmers decide what to plant.

5. What is the best title of the passage? ________

A．Plants can also “scream”	B．Tasty vegetables
C．How can vegetables make sounds	D．Imagination about vegetables

【推荐2】请阅读下面短文，请根据语篇内容，从文后所给的选项中选出能填入空白处的最佳选项，使短文意思通顺。选项中有一项为多余项。

There were two men who lived next to each other. One of them was an old teacher and the other was a businessman.     1     The teacher seldom watered his plants and didn’t pay much attention to them. But his neighbor was very careful with his plants and watered them often. The teacher’s plants were small, but still looked OK.     2    

One night, there was a storm with a heavy rain and strong wind. The next morning, both of the neighbors came out to check in their gardens. The businessman saw that his plants had come out from the earth and were totally dead.     3     The businessman was surprised. He went to ask the teacher. “    4     We both grew the same plants and I cared for my plants better than you did.”

The teacher smiled and said, “    5     You made it too easy for them to grow. I gave my plants just a little bit of water, so they had to grow deeper to get more water. That is why my plants survived (生存).”

A．How could your plants still be OK?

B．Because you gave your plants too much attention.

C．But the teacher’s plants nicely stood where they were.

D．While the businessman’s plants were much bigger and greener.

E．The teacher felt upset.

F．Both of them had planted many different plants in their gardens.

【推荐3】Bananas are the perfect snack. Not only are they sweet and delicious, but they are easy to carry around, so you can take them anywhere. Best of all, bananas provide different things that the human body needs!

Bananas grow best in warm places that get lots of rain. They grow on plants that look like trees. The banana plant, however, is considered a herb rather than a tree because it doesn’t have a strong, woody stem（茎）. The plants can grow as high as 30 feet. When they reach their full height, flowers grow out from the stem. These flowers produce bananas.

Two or three times each year, the plants produce fruit. The bananas grow together, which seem like “hands”. A hand is made up of 10 to 20 bananas. Growers sometimes call bananas “fingers”. Each bunch（丛）of bananas has about 15 hands, and so a whole bunch may have as many as 200 bananas and can weigh more than 100 pounds.

After about three months, the bananas are ready to be picked. At this point, they still aren’t the sunny yellow color of bananas. Farmers pick them when they’re green. They turn yellow along the way and are ready to be sold.

If you love bananas, you’ve got a lot of company（陪伴）. Americans have been enjoying bananas since the first shipment（装载货物）arrived in the United States in 1876. Today, Americans eat more bananas than any other fruit. More bananas are sold than apples and grapes together. Every American eats over 26 pounds of bananas each year!

根据短文内容，选择最佳答案：
1. The first paragraph mainly talks about________.

A．why people like bananas

B．how bananas taste

C．what bananas are rich in

2. What does the underlined word “herb” most probably mean in Chinese?

A．香草

B．草本植物

C．树

3. What is the correct order in which these happen?
a. The bananas begin to turn yellow       b. A banana plant grows to full height.
c. The flowers produce bananas.       d. The bananas are ready to be picked.

A．c-b-a-d

B．b-c-d-a

C．b-c-a-d

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

A．The banana plant is not a kind of tree.

B．Bananas like growing in hot and dry areas.

C．One banana plant usually produces fruit once a year.

5. The passage mainly tells us that ________.

A．the popularity of bananas and the process of their growing

B．bananas are popular in America

C．eating bananas can benefit people a lot