【推荐1】

Why is it called Mars? You might have asked yourself this before. Well, Mars is the name of the Roman god of war. People have seen the planet as a symbol of war for thousands of years. The ancient Greeks called the planet Ares after their god of war. Chinese people called it the“fire star" for the same reason.

Scientists have been interested in the planet since long before any space tasks. Egyptian scientists first saw Mars in the sky more than 4,000 years ago. Since then, people from all over the world have studied the planet.

Over the years, scientists have continued to study the planet and learned some basic things about it.

Mars is 10 times lighter and about 6 times smaller than Earth. Earth is 93 million miles (about 150 million km) from the sun, while Mars is 142 million miles away. That means it is much colder on Mars. In fact, the average temperature on Mars is - 62℃. Scientists found water on Mars long ago, but because of the low temperatures there, it is frozen. One day on Mars is called a sol and is about 40 minutes longer than one Earth day. The Red Planet's surface gravity is only 37% as strong as Earth's, meaning you would be able to jump nearly two times higher on Mars.

1. What did the ancient Greeks call Mars?

A．Mars

B．Ares

C．The“fire star"

D．The Red Planet

2. Which of the following is TRUE about Mars?

A．Chinese scientists first saw Mars.	B．Mars is lighter and bigger than Earth.
C．Earth is father from the sun than Mars.	D．A sol is about 1480 minutes.

3. An astronaut may jump like____on Mars.

A． Earth               Mars

B． Earth             Mars

C． Earth               Mars

D． Earth               Mars

4. The passage is probably taken from a(an) ________.

A．history book

B．story book

C．science book

D．art book

【推荐2】If someone asks you, “    1    ” I think you will answer “Blue”. I’m afraid that you will be wrong.     2     It looks blue because we are looking at the blue sunlight. The sunlight is shining on little bits of dust (灰尘) in the air.

    3     I’m sure that you have asked this question, too. We know that there is air all around the world, but we couldn’t fly very high because as we go high, the air gets thinner. If we go far enough away from the Earth, we find there is no air.

Maybe we can answer some questions now. What is the sky? Where is it? It is all around the world.     4     In space, there is nothing, but only the Sun, the Moon, the Earth and all the other stars.

A．The sky is space.

B．Is the sky full of air?

C．The sky has no colour.

D．What colour is the sky?

E．There is no air on the Moon.

【推荐3】读下面的文章，然后判断文章后面各小题，正确的答案写T，错误的答案写F。

The moon is the earth’s closest neighbor. It is the brightest object in the night sky. Scientists have studied the moon for thousands of years.

The moon is about 4.5 billion years old. It is made of rocks. It is covered with craters (火山口). They were made when objects hit the moon’s surface.

The moon has no weather. That means there is no wind or rain. Footprints (脚印) left by astronauts could last billions of years.

The moon has eight phases (月相). Once a month, we see a full moon. Sometimes we can’t see a full moon at all. The shape we see depends on how the earth, the sun, and the moon line up.

Only 12 people have walked on the moon. U.S. astronaut Neil Armstrong was the first one in 1969. He took a photo of Edwin Aldrin.

1. Scientists have studied the moon for 4.5 billion years.
2. Many objects hit the moon.
3. There is no wind or rain on the moon.
4. Edwin Aldrin took a photo of Neil Armstrong on the moon in 1969.

【推荐1】If you really want to see that number on weight loss, what you put in your mouth matters most. People who simply cut calories to lose weight lose about 2 pounds a week, says a study in the International Journal of Obesity and Related Metabolic Disorders. At the same time, people who exercise but don’t cut calories drop less than half a pound each week.

Why doesn’t the physical activity produce the same pound-dropping results as calories cut? One thought is that though exercise burns calories, it doesn’t increase your metabolism （新陈代谢）, says a study in Obesity Reviews. It doesn’t stop your metabolism from slowing as you lose pounds. As you slim down through any method, your metabolism slows with your weight loss and exercising doesn’t keep that from happening. As you lose weight, you burn fewer calories through exercise. For example, a 150-pound person who exercises for 30 minutes burns about 306 calories. After losing 10 pounds, that person will burn about 286 calories doing the same exercise. So to burn 306 calories, you need to increase your exercise.

A research shows people who diet and exercise for weight loss drop the same amount of weight as people who have a balanced diet. They are, however, more successful keeping the weight off than their counterparts （相当的人）who simply eat less.

1. Why can’t the physical activity help people lose the same weight as calories cut?

A．Because it doesn’t increase metabolism.

B．Because it doesn’t burn calories.

C．Because it burns less calories than calories cut.

D．Because calories cut slows metabolism.

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

A．The physical activity is the most useful to lose weight.

B．As you lose weight, you burn more calories through exercise.

C．Doing exercise has the same effect with diet.

D．People who exercise but don’t cut calories will lose less weight.

3. What’s the main idea of this passage?

A．How to lose weight.

B．How to diet.

C．People who like sports can easily lose weight.

D．People who have a balanced diet can lose weight easily.

【推荐2】Now more and more adults (成年人) are enjoying relaxing hours of coloring. This is because of a new book craze (时尚), an adult coloring book craze. In December, five of the top ten best-selling books in the United States were coloring books for adults.     1    

Artist Lucido creates coloring books. Her latest coloring book contains 40 pages filled with flowers, birds and shapes.     2     And many of her customers are buying the coloring books for others who are sick. The act of coloring becomes almost healing (治愈).

    3     For example, when you are filling in a flower with a purple color, you focus on the flower and not on your troubles. Coloring can bring out your imagination (想象力).     4     The shape and form of the drawings activate one side of the brain, while the color activates the other.

    5     Jackson says coloring relaxes her and just makes her feel happy. For now, there is strong need for adult coloring books. That fact keeps Lucido happy and busy.

A．She says her latest book is to help encourage people do something creative.

B．Coloring activates (使活动) your brain in a healthy way.

C．Susan Jackson is a big fan of Lucido’s coloring books.

D．They’re fun, but are coloring books good for you?

E．Coloring can make people happy by focusing on (关注) a simple task.

【推荐3】Spending two or three hours playing outdoors each day can reduce(减少)a child’s chance of becoming short-sighted（近视）,research shows . It challenges the belif that short-sightedness is caused by computer use , watching TV or reading in weak light .
Australian government researchers believe that sunlight is good for people’s eyes . They compared the vision （视力）and habits of 100 seven-year-old children in China and Australia .In all,30% of the Chinese children were short-sighted .This percentage was ten times higher than Australian children.
Both groups spent a similar amount of time reading, watching TV and playing computer games .However , the Australia children spent an average of two hours a day outdoors ,90 minutes more than the Chinese children.
Professor Ian Morgan said ,“Humans are naturally long-sighted ,but when people begin to go to school and spend little or no time outdoors ,the number of short-sighted peoplegets larger. We are also seeing more and more short-sighted children in cities all around the world –and the main reason may be that city children spend less time outdoors .
Daylight can be hundreds of times brighter than indoor light . But why does playing outside prevent us from becoming short-sighted ? Scientists believe that natural light has a special chemical（化学物质）which stops the eyeball from growing out of shape and prevents people from becoming short-sighted .
So go outdoors .It doesn’t matter if that time is spent having a picnic or playing sports .
根据材料内容选择最佳答案，并将其标号填入题前括号内。
1. What can reduce a child's chance of becoming short-sighted according to the passage ?

A．Playing computer games.

B．watching TV.

C．Reading books.

D．Spending 2 or 3 hours playing outside every day.

2. What does the underlined word "percentage" mean?

A．百分比

B．功率

C．平均分

D．效率

3. How much time did the Chinese children spend outdoors according to the research?

A．2 hours.

B．90 minutes.

C．1 hour.

D．30 minutes.

4. What is the fifth paragraph mainly about?

A．Why people become short-sighted.

B．Why natural light has a special chemical.

C．Why playing outside is good for one's eyesight.

D．Why daylight is much brighter than indoor light.

5. Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

A．People will all become short-sighted after they begin to go to school.

B．Playing outdoors for 2 or 3 hours every day can help protect your eyesight.

C．Children in Australia are more likely to become short-sighted than those in China.

D．lf you spend 2 or 3 hours playing outside each day, you will become short-sighted.