【推荐1】Mr. and Mrs. Smith open a small restaurant. In order to attract (吸引) customers (顾客), they put a notice in front of the restaurant. It says: “Meals on the house for three days.”

A foreign student who doesn’t know much English walks past the restaurant on the second day. It is lunchtime and he feels hungry. “Well, here is a restaurant. I’m going to have something to eat,” he says.

He sees the notice when he walks to the restaurant. “American people are really strange. They even eat dinners on the house! But how can I get onto the top of the house?” he asks himself.

He looks around and finds a ladder (梯子) against (紧靠) a tree nearby. He is very glad. But as he reaches the top, he hears someone shouting at him: “Hey, what are you doing up there?” Mr Smith looks at him angrily. Beside him is a policeman.

“Doesn’t your notice say ‘Meals on the house for three days’? Is it just a joke?” the foreign student answers.

On hearing this, both Mr Smith and the policeman laugh happily. “Do you know what On The house means?”

Do you know the meaning of On The House?

1. The story is in ______.

A．England

B．Australia

C．the USA

D．Canada

2. The student walks past the restaurant ______.

A．when the smiths start their business	B．when the Smiths put the notice
C．when the policeman come to the restaurant	D．when it is time to have lunch

3. The student gets to the top of the house to ______.

A．have a meal	B．look around
C．make a joke	D．shout at someone

4. The student ______ so Mr smith shouts at him.

A．is very hungry	B．knows little about English
C．climbs onto the top of the house	D．takes away the ladder

5. “Meals On the house” may mean that ______.

A．you eat meals on the house	B．they cook meals on the house
C．you can eat meals and pay for them on the house	D．you don’t need to pay for your meals

【推荐3】There are many expressions that use vegetables and fruits. For example, a cucumber is a long, green vegetable that people eat in salads. You might say a person is as cool as a cucumber if he never seems to worry about anything and stays calm in a stressful situation.
If two people are very similar, you might say they are like two peas in a pod. There are several expressions about beans. If someone is very energetic, you might say she is full of beans. If you say something does not amount to a hill of beans, you mean it is of little importance. I might say you don't know beans about a subject if you do not know anything at all about it. But if you spill the beans, you tell something that was supposed to be a secret.
Potatoes are a popular food in many areas. But something is considered small potatoes if it is not important. You probably would not want to hold a hot potato in your empty hands. This also means a problem or an issue that no one wants to deal with. Someone might call you a couch potato if you sit and watch television all day and get little or no physical exercise.
Finally, let us talk about lemons. Lemons have a sour taste if you eat them plain. But lemons make a nice drink when you mix their juice with sugar and water. So here is an expression about lemons that we like: If life gives you lemons, make lemonade. This means you should always try to make the best of a bad situation.
1. Who are most probably described as two peas in a pod?

A．Lovers.

B．Partners.

C．Deskmates.

D．Twins.

2. If one knows nothing about the project you are working on, we can say he___________ about it.

A．doesn't know beans

B．makes lemonade

C．holds a hot potato

D．is as cool as a cucumber

3. "A couch potato" refers to people who __________.

A．are of little importance	B．get little or no physical exercise
C．are interested in TV programs	D．have difficult problems to deal with

4. What's the passage about?

A．The way of using vegetables and fruits.	B．The importance of vegetables and fruits.
C．Expressions about vegetables and fruits.	D．The humor of English words and expressions.

【推荐1】Storytelling has caught the human imagination for thousands of years. People everywhere have told stories to amuse, to teach, to remember, and just to pass the time. People started telling stories long before writing was invented.     1     But people all over the world still tell one another stories out loud. A person who can tell a good story nearly always finds listeners.

Before people developed writing, storytelling was the most important way to pass along information. Anything a culture wanted to protect—its beliefs, its history, and its traditions—had to be told out loud. Each generation would tell the culture’s stories to the next     2     Knowledge passed on in this method is called the spoken tradition. Even cultures that know how to write still pass along some information in this way.

    3     In other cultures only special storytellers were trusted to do this important job. A culture's best storytellers had good memories. They could also make the stories very interesting, so people would listen and remember them. Sometimes people would sing the stories or tell them in the form of poems.     4    

However, stories told aloud change over time as different people tell them. A storyteller might change a story in order to make it better. Or a teller may simply not remember all the details of a story. Unlike written stories, the spoken tradition is not created by any one person.     5     Sometimes the stories are collected and written down long after they have been created.

A．In this way the stories were passed along.

B．In some cultures everyone would pass along the stories.

C．Songs and poems can both make stories easier to remember.

D．Instead, a whole culture helps shape the changing stories throughout history.

E．Today stories are also written down in books and acted out in movies, TV shows, and plays.

【推荐2】In China, there are 24 solar terms（节气）in a year. And there are six of them in winter. They are beginning of winter, light snow, heavy snow, winter solstice（冬至）, lesser cold(小寒）and greater cold.

Beginning of winter usually falls on November 7th or 8th. After beginning of winter, most parts of the country can start to expect cold weather. On this day, after a year of hard work, people are happy to have a rest and spend time with family. The northern China celebrates beginning of winter as the “Small Spring Festival”. People usually have dumplings and mutton soup on that day.

Light snow usually falls on November 22nd or 23rd and heavy snow usually falls on December 7th or 8th. When winter solstice comes, it brings the shortest days of the year and the longest nights. Many places around the country can expect the coldest weather yet. People often start counting “nine cold periods” starting from winter solstice. Every cold period has nine days. People believe that after 81 cold days, spring will come.

Greater cold comes after lesser cold. The field is covered with snow. And all Chinese are ready to welcome the Spring Festival after it. Of course, a new round of solar terms will start.

1. From the passage, we know that there are six solar terms in winter.
2. People in northern China usually have dumplings and mutton soup on beginning of winter.
3. Heavy snow comes before light snow.
4. All Chinese are ready to celebrate the Spring Festival after greater cold.
5. The passage tells us how people celebrate the Spring Festival.

【推荐3】Dumplings are the traditional food for the Spring Festival in China.     1     Do you know why they are so popular?

    2     They usually made dumplings in the shape of Chinese gold ingots (金锭), because they hoped for a rich life in the coming year.

    3     For example, sugar dumplings will make people’s life happy and sweet in the future. Peanut (花生) dumplings can bring people a long and healthy life. Anyway, people eat dumplings with their best wishes.

On Spring Festival Eve, every family makes dumplings ready early. When the midnight comes, the whole family will sit together and eat the dumplings.     4     It means that the New Year comes at this time. And it sounds the same as the Chinese word for dumplings: jiaozi (饺子).     5    

A．It’s my favorite festival.

B．Dumplings with different foods in them have different meanings.

C．Almost everyone eats them that day.

D．The dumplings are delicious.

E．In the old days, people thought eating dumplings could make their wishes come true.

F．The midnight is also called “jiao zi (饺子)”.

G．So eating the dumplings is also a way to welcome the New Year.

【推荐1】Imagine one day the water taps (水龙头) in your house stop running. You have to pay a lot of money to buy water from shops. And still there isn’t enough water for everyone. Your mother has to save the family’s shower water to use for washing clothes. Would you be able to stand that kind of life?
Probably not. But that is what kids in Yemen (也门) are experiencing (经历). According to a report, the capital, Sana, will run out of drinking water as early as 2025.
Because of the water shortage (短缺), the Yemen government often cuts the water supply (供应). Hannan, an 18-year-girl, tells the Teens, “In a good week we’ll have a water supply all week. But then the next week there will be water only for a day or two.”
Hannan says only rich people have enough water to use. They can buy water from the shops or from the water trucks. Private (私人的) companies own the trucks, They travel around the city every day to sell water--- at very high prices.
“ A lot of people can’t pay for it,” she says.
The government is thinking of making use of seawater. But it will cost a lot and it may not happen soon enough to help the people of Yemen.
1. How old is Hannan?

A．She is eight.

B．She is eighteen.

C．She is seventeen.

D．She is seven.

2. The underlined word “that” means_______.

A．buying water from shops

B．having enough drinking water

C．suffering(忍受) from water shortage

D．washing clothes with used water

3. From the passage, we know that ______.

A．the people of Yemen don’t have to worry about water

B．people in Yemen have no water to use during a bad week

C．Sanna will have no drinking water in 10 years

D．private companies make much money by selling water

4. The Yemen government ______.

A．may try to make use of seawater

B．does nothing about the water problem

C．only cares about rich people’s lives

D．may solve the problem soon

5. The writer wants to tell us ______.

A．not to use seawater	B．not to waste water
C．to drink less water	D．to sell water to Yemen