【推荐1】Everybody knows that Earth spins from west to east. That is to say, it appears to be spinning counterclockwise(逆时针) when viewed from above the North Pole.
But what if Earth started spinning the other way?
Scientists from Germany have made a computer simulation(模拟) in which Earth spins in the opposite direction – clockwise when viewed from above the North Pole. This showed them some interesting things about the weather and topography (地形地貌) on Earth, Live Science reported.
As Earth spins in a counterclockwise direction, it shapes ocean currents(洋流). The direction of the spin, together with wind, produces different weather around the globe(全球).
But a backwards(逆向的) spin changes the ocean currents and winds. Therefore, the climate(气候) is different. Western areas of continents(大陆) on Earth cool down as the eastern parts warm up. Winters become even colder in northwestern Europe, while eastern Russia becomes warmer than before. Rain no longer falls on the planet’s wettest places.
Another result of a backward spin is that Earth becomes greener. Scientists found that global desert(沙漠) coverage(范围) shrank(缩小) from 42 million square kilometers to 31 million square kilometers. This may have something to do with the changing climate.
Therefore, you can see lush(郁郁葱葱的), green landscapes from Central Africa to the Middle East, which are mostly covered by deserts now. More surprisingly, the Sahara Desert becomes an oasis(绿洲).
___________. They just appear in some places that they never appeared in before. Deserts would cover North America, where countries like the United States and Canada lie. Sand dunes(沙丘) would replace the Amazon rainforest in South America.
A backward spin would keep the major characteristics of Earth’s topography, such as the size, shapes and positions of continents and oceans. But it would also change the interactions between circulating(环流) air, ocean and topography, lead scientist Florian Ziemen told Live Science.
1. What condition did the German scientists use for the simulation?

A．Earth spins from east to west.	B．Earth spins from west to east.
C．The North Pole is turned upside down.	D．Earth moves around the South Pole.

2. Why would the climate be different if Earth spins backwards?

A．Because there won’t be any more large oceans.

B．Because the ocean currents and winds will be changed.

C．Because it will change the amount of sunlight that Earth can receive.

D．Because Earth will become greener without deserts.

3. What will a backwards spin bring to the Earth?

A．Winters will become colder.	B．No rain will fall in summer.
C．Eastern Russia will become warmer.	D．The Sahara Desert will become smaller.

4. The story tells us that _____.

A．Earth used to spin in the opposite direction

B．a backwards spin would cause interesting changes on Earth

C．global desert coverage has been shrinking(缩小)

D．a backwards spin would change Earth’s topography completely

5. Which of the following sentences can be put at the beginning of the eighth paragraph?

A．Sadly, deserts would cover North America.

B．Luckily, deserts would disappear.

C．Anyway, deserts would replace the Amazon rainforest.

D．However, deserts don’t disappear.

【推荐2】In most places children are forbidden to work. But at the theme park in Japan, boys and girls can fight fires, catch thieves and also perform the more boring tasks of making hamburgers and delivering parcels (投递包裹) .

Kidzania, in a shopping centre in Tokyo, is like a real town where children can act out their dreams of future careers (职业) .There are shops and even a bank on the streets. Everything inside is two-thirds normal size to hold the young workers. After their parents buy the ticket, children can try several jobs.

Being a fireman is a dream of many children. Children are being trained in fire station of the town. Suddenly, an alarm bell rings and they put on firefighter clothes before running towards the scene. The scene is created with lighting and fake (伪造的) smoke, but for children it is real enough. "Sometimes it's too hard for them," says the worker Ryoko Ish ikura."Some kids are in tears when they hear the alarm and the firebreaks out. But even with tears in their eyes they go on running and fight the fire bravely.

The idea of for Kidzania started in Mexico. It arrived in Japan three years ago and there are also theme parks in Chile, Indonesia and Portugal. Another one is opening in Dubai.

The children are paid for their efforts in"Kidzos", the theme park money. In most countries it is quickly spent in shops and restaurants. But in Japan, children form long queues at the theme park's bank. "I'll keep it in the bank," said nine-year-old Na Morita, who wants to be a fashion designer.

1. What is the passage mainly about?

A．A shopping centre	B．A training centre
C．A children's town	D．A theme park named Kidzania in Japan

2. What do children mainly do in Kidzania?

A．They are trained to be a volunteers	B．They play roles in children's movies
C．They experience different jobs for their future.	D．They do part time jobs to make money.

3. When the children arrive data fire scene in Kidzania, they ________.

A．are too frightened to runaway	B．are trained to fight the fire
C．call the firefighters quickly for help	D．tried to put out the fire bravely

4. How did Na Morita deal with her Kidzos?

A．She put it in the park's bank.	B．She paid it for her fashion designing
C．She asked her parents to keep it for her	D．She spent it quickly in the shops and restaurants

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

A．The idea of Kidzania came from America.	B．Children can try one job with a ticket.
C．Japan is the fourth country to build Kidzania	D．Everything inside it is almost half normal size

【推荐3】Betty has travelled to Beijing several times since 1980, and this is how she has seen the city change.

	The Great Wall	Shopping
Then	Visiting the Great Wall at Badaling on my first trip, I ran into only a few tourists from local Chinese tour buses. Years later, to avoid the crowds at Badaling, I went to the Great Wall at Mutianyu. My six-year-old son was so excited that he said, “Every step is enjoyable!”	In the 1980s, tourists used foreign exchange certificates(证券) and the Chinese people used renminbi. Credit cards (信用卡) were not widely used. We visited the Beijing Department Store (opened in 1955). And it was on the street, Wangfujing. Everything in it was very cheap and made in China.
Now	Most tourists still see the Great Wall at Badaling, but a great many come to Mutianyu now. Many hikers like to visit the Great Wall at Jiankou for the beautiful sights. There are no cable cars (缆车) and often even no steps.	People can pay in many new ways such as Alipay (支付宝) and Wechat Pay. Also, credit cards are accepted almost everywhere. Now Wangfujing is a famous street where people can buy all kinds of things. The Beijing Department Store is still there. Goods are cheap. The store is bigger now.

1. Betty shows new methods of payment (付款方式) in Beijing by ________.

A．giving reasons	B．comparing numbers
C．giving examples	D．sharing her experiences

2. What do we know about the Beijing Department Store?

A．It’s as big as before.	B．It has a history of 500 years.
C．Things in it are not expensive.	D．It’s on the food street Nanluoguxiang.

3. The reading is mainly about ________.

A．Betty’s love for Beijing	B．some changes in Beijing
C．the history of Beijing hutongs	D．Betty and her family

【推荐1】配对阅读。左栏是中学生要注意的五种安全隐患，右栏是七个可供详细解释或解决的方案，请为每种安全隐患选择相应的方案，并将其字母编号填写在题前括号内。

1     Running after each other at the rest time between two classes may get you hurt.     2     Making a fire in the bedroom is very dangerous.     3     When you get angry with anybody, you may fight against him. It isn’t good at all.     4     If you go swimming in the river without your parents or teachers, it will be dangerous.     5     Riding a bike inside the schoolyard fast is regarded as one of the dangerous things at school.

A. Some students die in this way without their parents or teachers. B. So students must wait in line when they are waiting to get their meals in the dining hall. C. When class is over, you should have a short rest either inside or outside your classroom. Don’t run here and there. D. When it’s time for you to go to bed, you should turn off the lights and lie on your bed to sleep. E. You may burn the things inside your bedroom and even be killed by the fire. F. If you go home by bike, please don’t ride on it inside your school. G. Some classmates are your friends. Even if you can’t agree with anything, you needn’t quarrel or fight. You should learn how to get along well with others.

【推荐2】Kitchen Safety Rules

●Preparation:

Always wash your hands before and after touching food.

*Tie back long hair.

*Wear an apron (围裙) and roll up your sleeves (挽起袖子).

●Cleaning:

*Keep food preparation surfaces clean.

*Wash fruit and vegetables under cold water before use.

*Always ask an adult before using knives or going near hot things.

● “_________”

*Use knives and other sharp tools with care.

*Don’t put tools on the edge (边缘) of the work table.

*When using a knife, always cut away from yourself to avoid cutting yourself.

*Use oven gloves when taking hot dishes from the oven or microwave.

●Special attention:

*Clean food spills (溢出) as soon as they happen.

*Do not run around the kitchen where food is being prepared.

根据材料内容选择最佳答案。
1. Which of the following actions is suggested before touching food?

A．Cut your long hair.	B．Put on your coat.
C．Clean your hands.	D．Wash your sleeves.

2. You should ask for permission from your parents before you _________.

A．wear an apron	B．pour out boiling water
C．wash fruit and vegetables	D．put things into a microwave

3. Which can be put into the missing part “_________”?

A．Knives

B．Hot things

C．Tables

D．Tools

4. Where might you see the poster?

A．In a storybook.	B．In a store selling toys.
C．On a cooking website.	D．On the wall of a restaurant.

5. Who is the text probably written for?

A．Children.

B．Parents.

C．Teachers.

D．Cooks.

【推荐3】Kitchens are considered one of the most dangerous areas of a home, for children and for the elderly. Many more accidents and falls happen in the kitchen. Keeping the kitchen a safe environment isn't always easy, but it can be completed through some steps.

Look at the kitchen with a critical eye and realize that what may seem perfectly harmless to you may be a potential (潜在的) danger to your elderly father. Watch out for dangerous objects that you take for granted. This can mean anything from the cookers to the cleaning objects stored under the sink (洗碗槽). Considering elderly parents, safety is the key point.

As most caregivers of elderly parents know, it's often very difficult for your Mom or Dad to change their habits. However, stress the importance of safety whenever possible. Especially, remind him or her not to place canned (罐装的) goods in the microwave or be careful with knives that just doesn't work. It's up to you to unplug (拔掉…的电源插头) the microwave and to place the kitchen knives well.

Many caregivers of elderly parents can't make such changes because they are afraid of hurting feelings. However, making elderly parent safe in the house, not just the kitchen, is important. As many elderly parents, it may be difficult for him or her to tell between safe and unsafe.

Ensure that any room in the house, especially the kitchen, has safe ways for those using canes (拐杖) and walkers. It's not an easy task, but with a little planning and a developed course of action, you can help make the kitchen one of the safest areas of the house, and not the other way around.

1. The writer stresses (强调) kitchen in the passage because ________.

A．elderly parents like to work there	B．the kitchen floor is too smooth
C．lots of plates are kept there	D．there have been more accidents there

2. The third paragraph mainly talks about ________.

A．how to deal with the canned goods

B．how to avoid the dangers in the kitchen

C．where to keep the kitchen knives well

D．where to change the elderly parents' habits

3. According to the passage, the writer suggests that we should ________.

A．not make the kitchen a mess

B．clean the kitchen as often as possible

C．keep everything in order in the house

D．watch out for dangerous objects in the kitchen

4. The main idea of the passage is mainly about ________.

A．keeping elderly parents safe at home

B．elderly parents are easily hurt at home

C．avoid using knives in your kitchen

D．kitchen is a danger to family members

【推荐1】Tea is the second most popular drink in the world. Earlier, people used to make tea in large pots, even when they just needed one cup. This led to a waste of tea and that was where the tea bag came in.

The tea bag was invented in 1980 by Thomas Sullivan, an American tea seller. He once sent out free tea in silk bags for people to try. People put the bags together with the tea leaves into the cup and added hot water. The tea tasted good, and people thought it was easy to clean the cup. So they were not happy when Sullivan started to send them loose（散的）tea again.

Sullivan realized that he had a hot new thing in his hands, and he built a machine to pack the bags. As tea bags became popular, they were changed from silk to gauze（薄纱）and later paper. In 1952, Lipton made the tea bag even more popular with its invention of the four-sided tea bag. Tea bags soon became popular and widely used in the UK, and today 85% of the tea in the UK is packed in paper bags.

Although it’s more convenient to use a tea bag than brew（沏）tea leaves when you want to make a cup of tea, many people still like loose-leaf tea. This is because some tea companies put not very good tea in their tea bags. But for most drinkers, tea bags are still the easy, tasty way to go.

1. The first paragraph wants to tell us ________.

A．a story of the tea bag	B．why the tea bag was invented
C．how to make tea	D．how popular the tea bag is

2. Who invented the tea bag?

A．The Chinese.

B．An English tea seller.

C．Thomas Sullivan.

D．Lipton.

3. Why did people like the tea in silk bags?

A．Because it was cheap.

B．Because silk bags looked more beautiful.

C．Because the tea tasted good and the cups were easy to wash.

D．Because people didn’t know any better way to enjoy the tea.

4. The material of the tea bag is usually ________ now.

A．silk

B．gauze

C．cloth

D．paper

5. What’s the best title for this passage?

A．The invention of tea	B．The history of tea bags
C．The way of drinking tea	D．The famous tea in the world

【推荐2】These days, many pictures of Chinese students wearing winged-hats have been posted on line. They use the hats to keep the distance when they return to school. Many people say the hats look like those worn during the Song Dynasty. But why did Song Dynasty officials wear hats that has two “wings”?

It is true that in the Song Dynasty, officials wore hats that had two long straight wings. According to one legend (传说), the hats were designed by Zhao Kuangyin, the first emperor of the dynasty.

One day, when listening to a minister’s report, Zhao noticed that many ministers were whispering (耳语) to each other and not respecting court’s (朝廷的) rules. Zhao came up with a practical solution. He required that wings should be added to the ministers’ hats.

Using a metal plate and bamboo strips as the frame, the “wings” prevented the ministers from talking to others sitting beside them. Since then, the court order had been kept.

Although the story is recorded in a book from the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368), some historians think the story may not be true: The wing-like extensions might just be a decoration (装饰) that could make people look dignified (庄严的). As they were not convenient to wear, the hats gradually disappeared in later dynasty. Maybe days later, the students will forget the “wings”, too.

1. Students wear winged-hats these days to ________.

A．look dignified	B．keep distance
C．whisper to each other	D．keep in good order

2. The last sentence in the passage implies (暗示) that ________.

A．students won’t wear winged-hats soon.

B．students will forget the story of the hats.

C．students won’t decorate the hats with wings.

D．students will record the story of the hats in a book.

3. The passage above might be from the ________ column(专栏) in a magazine.

A．Sports Center	B．Movie World
C．Art Corner	D．Culture Square

4. According to the passage, students may wear the hat in Picture ________ to school.

A．

B．

C．

D．

【推荐1】Which animals are smart? You may first think of dogs because they can help people a lot. And there is one more animal which is also clever: sheep.

Scientists said that people could train sheep to identify(识别) familiar human faces.

Before the test, scientists let the sheep take a look at pictures of four famous people. Then the sheep went into a room with two computer screens. Each screen showed a human face. One screen showed a famous person and the other screen showed a random(随机的) person. The sheep always walked toward the screen with the famous person’s face.

After discovering the sheep’s ability to recongnize(认出) famous people, scientists gave them a new task. They wanted to see if the sheep could correctly recognize the same people from different angles(角度). The result showed that the sheep could. Though they were a bit slower than before.

Finally, the scientists wanted to know if the sheep could recognize the photos of their trainers. Without any training, the sheep could identify their trainers easily.

The scientists said it might be intertesting in the future to find whether sheep can identify different facial expressions(面部表情) made by humans.

1. Which kind of animals can help people do many things according to the passage.?

A．Sheep

B．Elephants

C．Dogs

D．Cats.

2. From the third paragraph we can know that        .

A．sheep can identify familiar human faces

B．famous people’s face are bigger than others’

C．famous people are more beautiful than others

D．sheep can only identify famous people’s faces

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

A．Scientists can make sheep identify their trainers faster.

B．In the future sheep will make different facial expressions.

C．Sheep are not able to recognize their trainers without training.

D．Sheep spend more time recognizing the same people from different angles.

4. What’s the best title for the passage.

A．Scientists and Sheep	B．Sheep’s Special Ability
C．Some Animals’ Ability	D．Animals and Human Faces

【推荐2】Every winter the Indians caught beavers (河狸或称为海狸).They sold these beaver furs to men from France. In the 1600s and 1700s,people in France wanted beaver furs for coats and hats. Other countries wanted these furs, too . Wearing a beaver fur hat became a sign .It said ,“Look at this man! This man is rich!”
In the 1800s,men in this country began to wear beaver hats. They too, wanted to wear the sign that said,“ Look at those men! They are rich!”
Soon it was hard to find beavers. To get more beaver furs, traders had to move West. Traders began to explore this new country. They came back with wonderful stories about the new land. Before long, many people wanted to go West to live.
Where people go, towns grow. Soon there were new towns in the West. Men looking for beaver for fancy(珍贵的，昂贵的) hats helped the West grow.
1. Wearing a beaver hat was a sign that a man was _________.

A．a hunter

B．rich

C．a trader

D．an Indian

2. Which of the following does this story lead you to believe?

A．Beavers began to wear fancy hats.

B．The traders would not go West.

C．The fur traders helped the country grow.

D．The traders wore furs.

3. What did the traders do when beavers were hard to find?

A．To get more beaver furs, traders had to move West.

B．The traders had to find rich men wearing signs.

C．The traders had to wear beaver hats out West.

D．They made friends with beavers.

4. When did Indians begin to wear beaver hats?

A．1600s.

B．1700s.

C．1800s.

D．1900s.

5. The main idea of the whole story is that _________.

A．traders carried signs for rich men

B．the search for beavers helped the West to grow

C．many wonderful stories were told about the West

D．the beavers were very foolish

【推荐3】

	FUTURE VIEW
			It will be great if there is some kind of fuel(燃料）we can use in cars that won’t produce any   pollution. I guess there are scientists right now trying to do that, and I hope they’ll succeed because the world would be a much cleaner place, wouldn’t it? Charlie
	I think it will be great if they invent something so that we only have to sleep for one or two hours every day. Then we’d all have much more time to do things and to enjoy ourselves. Life would be better, I think, and everyone would do a lot more with their lives. Miguel
	If I could choose anything, I’d go for a time machine so that I could go back and do some things differently. Of course, It will be great if there that’s impossible— but wouldn't it be great if it was possible? I wish I could go back in time to when I was a kid and say some of the things in a different way! Hannah
	Well, of course, the best thing is medicine for rally bad diseases（疾病）.A lot of scientists are working very hard to stop diseases like Ebola, a terrible disease that has killed many thousand people in Africa. So if they found a special treatment for Ebola, or a way of completely preventing it, life would be easier in so many places. Isabella
I wish there was a machine that did homework! Wouldn’t that be fantastic? But I guess teachers wouldn’t be very happy. Georgina

1. Why does Hannah want to go back in time?

A．To be young again.	B．To live a better life.
C．To do something for Africans.	D．To say some words differently.

2. Who might be worried about the pollution of the world?

A．Miguel.

B．Isabella.

C．Charlie.

D．Georgina.

3. In which part of a newspaper may this passage appear?

A．Health.

B．Science.

C．Travel.

D．Education.