【推荐1】阅读短文，根据要求完成下面各小题。

Rain helps plants grow and stay green. But too much rain-especially in cities-can cause flooding. And that can make waste water systems, like sewers(下水道), flow and send polluted water into rivers and other water ways. So several cities in the United States are stating programs like rooftop(屋顶) gardens.

A team at the University of the District of Columbia has created a garden on the top of one school building.83The garden holds many kinds of plants to help receive rain water and grow food at the same time.

"It took advantage of the resource above the city that you see all over where you have these flat roofs that aren't doing anything and it really made it something that was about urban agriculture."

84Rainwater is collected in large bottles and sent through a system that waters the garden at the top of the roof. The roof is filled with green life that appeals(吸引) to insects.

"In cities, you don't have that much space, so rooftops are just unused space," says Caitlin Arlotta, a student in the school's Urban Agriculture program.

The program is growing plants including strawberries, tomatoes and sweet potatoes. "We have the same experiment running with tomatoes as we do with strawberries, so we're doing variety trials(品种实验) and we're trying just to see which variety grows the best in a green roof setting."

The program also seeks to improve cities and make them beautiful by training people to become Master Gardeners.

It is the biggest surprise that they produced 4,250 pounds of products the first year and shared that to people in need.

A.根据短文内容简要回答问题。
1. Why do the cities in US start programs like rooftop gardens？
___________________________________________________________________________
2. What does the schools Urban Agriculture program do according to the passage？
___________________________________________________________________________
B.将短文中划线的句子译成汉语。
3. ___________________________________________________________________________
4. ___________________________________________________________________________
C.请给短文拟一个适当的英文标题。
5. ___________________________________________________________________________

【推荐2】根据短文内容，回答下列各题。

A tiny robot can crawl (爬) through your body and help doctors with their work. It’s not from a science novel. Doctors are now using robots to do operations (手术). This is because robots can do some work that doctors can’t. The robots carry small cameras which allow doctors to look inside patients’ bodies. The robots also have tiny scissors and other tools. “It’s like having little hands inside the patients,” said Dr. Wang from a hospital in Beijing.

The robots have many advantages for doctors and patients. They help cut medical costs. They can also make difficult operations quicker and easier. What’s more, they allow doctors to operate with less damage (伤害) to patients’ bodies, too.

However, the robots aren’t perfect. They can be expensive. They are just tools to help humans, and they must be used by skilled doctors. Even the best robots can’t do everything that humans can do.

Scientists are working to make robots smarter. Someday, robots may do even more than expected for humans.

1. This passage isn’t a science novel, is it?
________________________________
2. Why are doctors using robots to do operations now?
________________________________
3. How does the doctor look inside the patient’s body according to this passage?
________________________________
4. How many advantages do the robots have for doctors and patients?
________________________________
5. What is the best title for the passage? (Less than 8 words)
________________________________

【推荐3】In our daily life, robots are often found to do work that is too dangerous, boring, difficult, or dirty. And we often see kids play with toy robots.

But what exactly is a robot? There are some important characteristics (特征) that a robot must have. These characteristics might help you to decide what is and what is not a robot. It will also help you to decide what you will need to build into a machine before it can be considered as a robot. A robot has these important characteristics.

Sensing

First of all, your robot would have to be able to sense the environment around it. Give your robot sensors (传感器): light sensors (eyes), touch sensors (hands), chemical sensors (nose), hearing sensors (ears) and taste sensors (tongue).

Movement

A robot needs to be able to move around its environment. It can move on wheels, walk on legs or be driven by small engines (发动机). A robot can move either the whole body or just parts of it.

Energy

A robot needs to be able to power itself. Some robots might power itself with sunlight, some might with electricity, while others with the battery (电池). The way your robot gets its energy will depend on what your robot needs to do.

Intelligence

A robot needs some kinds of “smarts”. A programmer is the person who gives the robot its “smarts”. The robot will have to have a certain way to receive the program so that it knows what it is to do.

A Robot’s Characteristics
Sensing	Give     1     sensors to your robot: light sensors, touch sensors, chemical sensors, hearing sensors and taste sensors.
2	A robot needs to be able to move around its environment. It can move on wheels, walk on legs or be     3     by small engines.
Energy	A robot might power     4     with sunlight, electricity or the battery. The way your robot gets its energy will depend on what your robot needs to do.
Intelligence	A robot needs some kinds of “smarts”. A     5     is the person who gives the robot its “smarts”.

【推荐1】根据短文内容，回答下列各题。

A tiny robot can crawl (爬) through your body and help doctors with their work. It’s not from a science novel. Doctors are now using robots to do operations (手术). This is because robots can do some work that doctors can’t. The robots carry small cameras which allow doctors to look inside patients’ bodies. The robots also have tiny scissors and other tools. “It’s like having little hands inside the patients,” said Dr. Wang from a hospital in Beijing.

The robots have many advantages for doctors and patients. They help cut medical costs. They can also make difficult operations quicker and easier. What’s more, they allow doctors to operate with less damage (伤害) to patients’ bodies, too.

However, the robots aren’t perfect. They can be expensive. They are just tools to help humans, and they must be used by skilled doctors. Even the best robots can’t do everything that humans can do.

Scientists are working to make robots smarter. Someday, robots may do even more than expected for humans.

1. This passage isn’t a science novel, is it?
________________________________
2. Why are doctors using robots to do operations now?
________________________________
3. How does the doctor look inside the patient’s body according to this passage?
________________________________
4. How many advantages do the robots have for doctors and patients?
________________________________
5. What is the best title for the passage? (Less than 8 words)
________________________________

【推荐2】Coffee is the best!

Wake up in the morning and drink coffee. Coffee is a kind of drink. It helps you wake up and feel ready for the day.

When you are tired but you have a lot of work to do, you can have a cup of coffee. So you can finish the work. Coffee tastes great too. You can drink coffee from Brazil (巴西) or China.

Tea! Tea! Tea!

Chinese tea is famous (有名的). There are many different kinds of tea like black tea, green tea and flower tea. You can drink tea from different places of China. There is Longjing tea from the West Lake in Hangzhou and Pu’er tea from Yunnan. Tea is not very expensive (贵的) but there is also very expensive tea from some places. Wulong tea from Taiwan or Fujian is very expensive.

Hot chocolate—the best friend in winter!

Hot chocolate is the best drink for winter days. It makes you feel warm. In summer, drink a chocolate milkshake (奶昔) with ice. It’s nice and it will help you keep cool.

1. Why does the writer say coffee is the best drink for you in the morning?
_____________________________
2. Where is Longjing tea from?
_____________________________
3. If you feel very hot, what drink is the best according to the passage?
_____________________________
4. What tea is not cheap in the passage?
_____________________________
5. What drink do you like best? And why?
_____________________________

【推荐3】阅读下面短文, 完成表格。

Each language is unique （独一无二的） and there is no “easy language” in the world to learn. But some of them are easier, and some more difficult. Now I’d like to talk about the top 5 most complicated sign systems （复杂的字符系统）.

The Chinese language is worthy of the most difficult language. The Chinese dictionary lists more than 87, 000 characters. Many of them don’t reflect the phonetic （语音的） meaning of the word（声调）. Using the wrong tones can change the meaning of your sentences.

The Arabic language is the second on my list because it is one of the most complicated sign systems in the world. One letter can have up to 4 different forms in writing, depending on its position in the word. It uses a right—to—left writing system. How strange!

The Russian language is difficult, though it’s my native language. There are words which sound the same but written in different ways, or words that are written the same（逗号） has different meanings. The punctuation（标点符号） is of great importance as well.

The Basque language is considered to be one of the most ancient languages in Europe. It has been mastered by some populations in southern France and northern Spain. The interesting thing is that this language was used by American soldiers during WWⅡto communicate secret information.

Inuit languages have so many tenses（时态） which makes them difficult to study. There are about 63 tenses. The Inuit writing system is in the Guinness Book of World Records for being the most complicated.

Five Most Complicated Sign Systems
1	Some points
The Chinese language	If you want to pronounce the language, you must know it well.
The Arabic language	One letter can have up to 4 different forms in writing. It’s strange that a letter is written     2    .
The Russian language	The punctuation     3     part in a sentence.
The Basque language	It is one of the most ancient languages in Europe. During WWII,     4     used it to communicate secret information.
Inuit languages	5     its complication, the writing system has been recorded in the Guinness Book of World Records.