【推荐1】

The “big four” fashion weeks—London, Milan, Paris and New York Fashion Week—are witnessing (见证) many Chinese designers to show their fashion brands (品牌). “Made in China” is more and more popular now—and it’s a fashinable one.

The story of Chinese fashion began in 2011 when Feiyue and Huili, Chinese sports shoes brands, made the world look. Chinese sports brand Li Ning also had a new design at New York Fashion Week in February 2019—it is the second time the brand shows its design at the NYFW. Chen Lijie, the brand’s designer, says his design comes from old Chinese truth (真理) that man is part of nature.

“Chinese brands don’t use ‘cheap’ as a selling point any more. They are impressive and can go head to head with foreign brands (外国品牌).” says Shaun Rein, director of China Market Research Group. Rome is not built in a day. Chinese designers spend much time trying to design the best and most fashionable clothes.

These Chinese brands become so popular perhaps because of the easy online shopping and the fact that China is growing stronger than before. Also, more and more people begin to like Chinese culture.

“We want to replace (代替) the words ‘made in China’ with ‘designed in China’, but there is a long way to go.” said Chinese designer Aric Chen. We’re happy to show Chinese fashion ideas to the whole world.

1. Which fashion week did Li Ning show its design at?

A．Milan Fashion Week.	B．Paris Fashion Week.
C．New York Fashion Week.	D．London Fashion Week.

2. What does the underlined word “impressive” in the third paragraph mean?

A．Making people worried.	B．Making people surprised.
C．Making people nervous.	D．Making people dangerous.

3. Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?

A．People around the world all like Chinese design very much.

B．Li Ning is the first Chinese brand to show its design to the world.

C．It is easy for Chinese designers to design the most fashionable clothes.

D．There’s a long way to replace “made in China” with “designed in China”.

4. Why do Chinese brands become so popular now?

A．People can spend less money on Chinese brands.

B．More people show an interest in Chinese culture.

C．China becomes the strongest country in the world.

D．Chinese brands make online shopping become easy.

5. What is the best title for this article?

A．Li Ning’s fashion show in New York.

B．Chinese design heading to the world.

C．Chinese designers’ wonderful fashion ideas.

D．“Designed in China” replaces “made in China”.

【推荐2】Confucius was one of the most important people in human history. He taught people to be polite and love each other. His ideas changed people’s life.

Early Life

Confucius was born around 551 B. C. in China. That was over 2,500 years ago. Some say that Confucius was born into a rich family. Others say he was born poor. One thing is clear: Confucius lived during a time of great trouble.

Philosophy(哲学) and Teachings

Different groups in China were fighting. People forgot about good manners. This made Confucius sad. He wanted people to be kind and polite to each other. He believed in the idea of “ren”. That means “loving others”. “People should follow the Golden Rule,” he said. The Golden Rule is “to treat others as you would like to be treated”. He believed that a good leader should treat his followers with care. This would help the leader set a good example. Confucius thought leaders could make people follow the law (法律).

________

Confucius promoted music education. He thought music had a strong influence on people and believed that music could make the things on the earth get on well with each other. So music made it possible for our society to develop well.

Death

Confucius died at the age of 71 or 72. After his death, he was honored as a man of wisdom. His ideas helped shape the Chinese government. Today he is known as one of the most important teachers in Chinese history.

1. Which of the following is the Golden Rule according to the passage?

A．学而时习之，不亦说乎。	B．邦有道，不废。
C．三人行，必有我师焉。	D．己所不欲，勿施于人。

2. “________” can be put in the blank “________”.

A．Experience

B．Music

C．Manners

D．Society

3. From the passage, we can learn that ________.

A．a good leader should control people by law

B．the idea of “ren” means one should be careful

C．good manners were very important to Confucius

D．Confucius lived an easy life when he was young

4. We may read the passage in ________ column(专栏) of a newspaper.

A．GREAT PEOPLE	B．HEALTHY LIFE
C．FUNNY STORIES	D．ANIMAL WORLD

【推荐3】

You must have read or heard of the sad love story between Jia Baoyu and Lin Daiyu. But can you imagine the two singing opera in English instead of speaking poetic Chinese?

Jia and Lin are two characters from the classic Chinese novel A Dream of Red Mansions《红楼梦》），written by Cao Xueqin （1715-1763）. Now the book has been made into an English-language opera. The opera was first performed last September in San Francisco, US. This month it comes to Beijing, Changsha and Wuhan.

Many of the opera’s creators have backgrounds （背景）in both Chinese and American cultures, including the director and playwrights. Their understanding of both cultures helped them to change a Chinese classic into a foreign-language opera.

The book, which covers the rise and fall of the Jia family, has 120 chapters and hundreds of characters. But opera writer David Henry Hwang cut down the number of characters to just seven. Huang, a Chinese-American, focused on the love story between Jia and Lin and tried to write a heartbroken tragedy （悲剧）that everyone would understand.

The art director Timmy Yip, from Hong Kong, tried to help foreign people understand the characters using costurnes （服装）and stage settings （布景）.He compared Lin to water and gave her a light green costurne. When Lin shows up on stage, there is usually water around her on the stage.

The creators consider it to be a meaningful job to introduce a Chinese classic to Western audiences. Hwang told China Daily he was happy to “have made a contribution to the land where my parents were born.

1. Who wrote the opera for the Chinese classic novel A Dream of Red Mansions?

A．Lin Daiyu.

B．Cao Xueqin.

C．Jia Baoyu.

D．David Henry Hwang.

2. The opera was ________

A．sung in poetic Chinese	B．performed in many languages
C．performed in China after one year	D．first performed Beijing

3. Which of the following is NOT a difference between the book and the opera?

A．The sad love story.	B．The whole family’s story.
C．The language used,	D．The number of characters.

4. The “land” in the last paragraph refers to?

A．America	B．San Francisco
C．China	D．the place where David was born

5. Why did the creators make the book into an English-language opera?

A．Because they thought the book was not good enough.

B．Because they hope to help others learn English.

C．Because they wanted Westerners to know about the Chinese novel.

D．Because they have backgrounds in Western culture.

【推荐1】Have you ever bought Genki Forest (元气森林) sparkling water because it’s advertised as “sugar-free”? It’s popular among students. 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 (果糖) and sugar alcohol (糖醇), 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.

However, studies find that the sweeteners might make people eat more. When you eat sweet-tasting things, it sends 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, you will feel hungry and start getting energy by eating more food. According to China Daily, drinking too many diet drinks might lead to obesity (肥胖) and type 2 diabetes (糖尿病). Would you like to try diet drinks now?

1. Why did Genki Forest apologize?

A．For not having sugar in its drinks.	B．For misspelling words on its packaging.
C．For advertising its products incorrectly.	D．For making too many advertisements.

2. What can we infer 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 with its drinks.

3. What do studies show about sweeteners?

A．They cause the brain to stop receiving signals.	B．They provide enough energy for people.
C．They stop the body from getting energy.	D．They probably make people feel hungrier.

4. According to the passage, drinking diet drinks can be __________.

A．fun

B．harmful

C．refreshing

D．fashionable

5. What does the writer mainly want to tell us?

A．Sweeteners can make drinks sweeter.	B．Genki Forest is popular with people.
C．Diet drinks can help people lose weight.	D．Think twice about the diet drink trend.

【推荐2】The world is full of amazing nature, buildings, technology and discoveries. Some are man-made and others happen naturally.

	Musical road In Japan, there are roads that play music as cars travel over them. Grooves(沟)are carefully cut into the surface of the road. The spaces between the grooves make different music as cars touch them. The closer the grooves are, the louder the music will be.
	Bicycle in the tree On Vashon Island, Washington, a bike is seen high up in a tree. The bike is not hanging on a branch(树枝), it is fixed in the tree and the tree has continued growing upwards. The tree grows around the bike instead of pushing it over, making it part of its growth.
	Underground city In Cappadocia, Turkey, a man knocked down a wall of his home and discovered a huge underground city. It has many tunnels(隧道), rooms and wells. Thousands of shafts(通风井)bring air to even the deepest levels. The city is huge enough for 200 people and their animals to live in.

1. According to the passage, the musical road plays music because ________.

A．the road is huge enough	B．cars are running very fast
C．there is a piano on the road	D．cars touch the spaces between the grooves

2. What does the underlined word “it” refer to in Bicycle in the tree?

A．The tree.

B．The bike.

C．The island.

D．The branch.

3. Where can we find the underground city?

A．In Turkey.

B．On Vashon Island.

C．In Japan.

D．In Washington.

【推荐3】Do video games do harm to our children? Today, many children spend a lot of their free time playing games on the Internet. In the UK, 99% of kids aged 8 to 15 play video games every week. This information tells us that the benefits and dangers of video games must be carefully considered.

For many people, video games are fun. They have bright lights, funny cartoons and exciting stories. Everywhere you look, you can see children playing these games. They play on buses and trains, in restaurants and even at school.

Video games are educational too. They make kids think in a creative way and they have to move their hands and eyes quickly. This can improve the way that a child’s brain works. What’s more, video games make children use their imagination. The player has to do many creative things, like drawing, telling stories and building things. Video games are also a good way to teach children about technology because they can learn how computers and other devices work while they play.

However, a recent study suggests that video games can also be bad for children. First, children can download many games for free. This means that parents often don’t know if their children are playing violent or scary games. Second, many children spend too much time playing games on computers and this can lead to health problems. Third, if children spend too much time playing games instead of doing homework, they can have problems at school and get bad grades. Finally, video games can affect children’s social skills. If children spend too much time playing video games by themselves, they might not learn how to play with their friends.

In short, it seems clear that video games have some advantages and some disadvantages. It is up to parents to know what games their children are playing and how much time they spend on them. Parents should also make sure their children get enough exercise and spend time with other children.

1. Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?

A．Some video games are interesting and educational.

B．All the games children download are free.

C．Spending too much time playing video games does harm to health.

D．Children who play video games a lot seem to have more trouble in school.

2. What does the underlined word “affect” mean in Paragraph 4?

A．提高

B．培养

C．影响

D．感动

3. Who should play an important role in video games play for kids, in the writer’s opinion?

A．Society.

B．Family.

C．Schools.

D．Game companies.

4. What is the main idea of the passage?

A．The ways to keep healthy

B．The harm of video games

C．The ways to play video games

D．The advantages and disadvantages of video games

5. Where can we most probably read the passage?

A．A novel.	B．A travel diary.
C．A guide book.	D．A science magazine.