【推荐1】Some British and American people like to invite friends for a meal at home. You should not be upset if your English friends don’t invite you home. It doesn’t mean they don’t like you.

Dinner parties usually start between 7 and 8 p.m., and end at about 11 p.m. Ask your hosts what time you should arrive. It’s polite to bring flowers, chocolates or a bottle of wine as gifts.

Usually the evening starts with drinks and snacks. If you want to be very polite, say how much you like the room, or the pictures on the wall. But remember—it’s not polite to ask how much things cost.

In many families, the husband sits at one end of the table and the wife sits at the other end. They eat with their guests.

You’ll probably start the meal with soup or something small, and then you have meat or fish with vegetables, and then dessert, followed by coffee. It’s polite to finish everything on your plate and have more if you want.

Did you enjoy the evening? Call your host and hostess the next day, or write them a short “thank you” letter. British and American people like to say “thank you, thank you, thank you” all the time.

1. You’re not invited to the evening by a friend, which ________.

A．means you are not welcome for some bad manners

B．means he or she doesn’t like you for some unknown reasons

C．means you should pay more visits to them and bring more gifts

D．doesn’t mean he or she doesn’t like you

2. If you are going to attend a dinner party, ________.

A．you must bring a present with you

B．you must arrive before 8 p.m.

C．you should ask your host when you should arrive

D．you should ask how much things cost

3. You should never ________.

A．say you like the host’s house very much

B．ask the host the price of the things in the house

C．have drinks and some snacks before the meal

D．sit beside the host or hostess when having dinner

4. What does the meal usually end with?

A．Soup.

B．Coffee.

C．Dessert.

D．Vegetables.

5. As a guest, you should finish everything to show ________.

A．you are healthy	B．you really like the food
C．you like cooking	D．you have a good appetite(胃口)

【推荐2】In many English homes, people eat four meals a day.

They have breakfast at any time from seven to nine in the morning.     1     Lunch comes at one o’clock.     2     and dinner is about half past seven. First they have soup（汤）, then they have meat（肉）or fish（鱼）with vegetables.     3     But not all English people eat like that.

    4     Some of them have their dinner in the middle of the day.     5     and all these meals are very simple（简单）.

A．After that they eat some other things, like bananas, apples or oranges.

B．They eat eggs or bread and drink tea or coffee at breakfast.

C．I like it because I can meet my friends.

D．Their meals are breakfast, dinner, tea and supper

E．Afternoon tea is from four to five in the afternoon

【推荐3】In many English homes people eat four meals a day. They have breakfast at any time from seven to nine in the morning. They eat porridge(粥), eggs or bread and drink tea or coffee at breakfast. Lunch comes at one o’clock. Afternoon tea is from four to five in the afternoon and dinner is about half past seven. First they have soup, then they have meat or fish with vegetables. After that they eat some other things, like bananas, apples or oranges. But not all English people eat like that. Some of them have their dinner in the middle of the day. Their meals are breakfast, dinner, tea and supper and all these meals are very simple.

1. Many English people have _________ meals a day.

A．two

B．three

C．four

D．five

2. People may have ______ for their breakfast according to(根据) the passage.

A．tea and eggs	B．hamburgers and tea
C．coffee and salad	D．eggs and fish

3. People have lunch at __________.

A．any time	B．nine
C．five	D．one

4. People don’t have ________ for their dinner.

A．bananas and apples	B．soup and meat
C．meat and fish	D．porridge

【推荐2】The tomato is from South America. When the tomato first came to Europe, people did not eat it. People grew tomatoes just because they looked nice.

Now people from all over the world eat tomatoes. Tomatoes are used in sauce, soup, juice, salad, and ketchup. The tomato is very good for you.

Most farms pick tomatoes before they are fully grown. They stay fresh longer in this way. But these tomatoes do not taste good. So lots of people grow tomatoes themselves.

Tomatoes that you grow are better than tomatoes that you buy. You can grow tomatoes in your house if you do not have a garden.

You need:
●Tomato seeds
●A big pot
●Potting soil (土壤)
●A window

Fill the pot with potting soil. Put a seed on top of the soil. Put a bit more soil on the top. Then water the pot.

Seeds like to be warm. Put your pot in a warm place. It does not need sun yet.

The plant will grow above the soil. Then put the plant by a window. The plant needs four hours of sun a day. Always keep the soil a bit wet.

Pick the tomatoes when they are red. Enjoy!
1. People in Europe grew tomatoes at first because of their ______.

A．good taste

B．beautiful colour

C．nice shape

D．good look

2. Where should you put the pot before the plant grows above the soil?

A．In a warm place.	B．In a cool place.
C．In a dry place.	D．In a wet place.

3. The plant is put by a window to make sure it has ______ hours of sun a day.

A．2

B．3

C．4

D．5

【推荐3】Some people think only school children do not agree with their parents, however, it is not true.

Communication is a problem for parents and children of all ages. If it’s hard for you to communicate with your parents, don’t worry about it. Here is some advice for you to bridge the generation gap (消除代沟).

Don’t argue (争辩) with your parents. Don’t get to your parents when you are angry. Your parents probably won’t consider your ideas if you are shouting at them. And you can’t express yourself well if you are angry. Go someplace to cool off. Make sure you understand why you are unhappy. Then think about what you want to say to your parents. If you don’t think you can speak to them at the moment, try writing a letter.

Try to reach a compromise (和解). Perhaps you and your parents disagree on something. You can keep your disagreement and try your best to accept each other. Michael’s mother didn’t agree with him about buying a motorcycle. They argued over it. But they finally came to a compromise. Michael bought the motorcycle, but only drove it on certain days.

Of course, your parents might refuse to compromise on something. In these situations, it is especially important to show love and respect (尊敬) to them. Showing respect will keep your relationship strong.

Talk about your values. The values of your parents are probably different from those of your own. Tell your parents what you care about, and why. Understanding your values might help them see your purposes in life.

A good relationship with your parents can make you a better and happier person. It is worth having a try!

1. The passage tells us ________ have a communication problem.

A．parents and other people

B．school kids and their parents

C．teachers and their students

D．parents and children of all ages

2. Your parents probably won’t consider your ideas if you ________.

A．don’t get to them often

B．write a letter to them

C．don’t speak to them politely

D．express yourself well

3. The underlined phrase “cool off” in the passage means “________”.

A．to make yourself happy

B．to get you quiet and relaxed

C．to have a good rest

D．to hide yourself quickly

4. If there’s really a generation gap between you and your parents, you’d better ________.

A．have a talk with them often

B．keep away from them

C．agree with them all the time

D．know about their values

5. From the passage we learn that ________.

A．parents and children should not have a generation gap

B．parents should show love and respect to their children

C．there are some good ways to bridge the generation gap

D．there are so many serious problems in families today

【推荐1】I entered a university after years of hard study. I thought my life would be full of happiness and knowledge. But my life in the university is not as what I had expected. Then I became lazy and silent, even puzzled (困惑). I don’t know what my future would be like.
Four years in the university is only a short period. And a half of it has passed already. This year, many people, such as my parents and my friends, asked me what I wanted to do, and they all told me to make a plan for my life with their thought. I don’t want to take their advice. I want my own style. So I think carefully.
I have been a young volunteer for five years. It has been a happy time and it is a big thing for me. Then I have a dream to join the University Student Volunteer Go West Program. I think I can be a teacher in the west. I would like to devote my life to helping the children there. I want to make the world a better place for them. To make it come true, I will work harder in the next two years. There is an old saying “Where there is a will, there is a way”. I think my dream will come true in the near future.
At last, I want to say to everybody, “Try your best to realize your dreams, no matter how big or small they are. The path to dream may not be smooth and wide. Even there are some difficulties you will face. But hold on to the end, you can find there is no greater happiness than making our dream come true.”
1. What is the writer?

A．A teacher.

B．A doctor.

C．A college student.

D．A reporter.

2. Why is the writer puzzled?

A．Because he is lazy and silent.

B．Because he is not sure about his future.

C．Because he is too young to realize his dream.

D．Because he thinks the life in the university is not so meaningful.

3. What can we infer(推断) from the passage?

A．The writer never listens to parents and friends.

B．The writer became a volunteer before he entered the university.

C．The writer thinks there is no happiness in making his dream come true.

D．The writer wants to go to the west because the world there is better.

4. What does this passage mainly tell us?

A．Never give up your dreams.	B．Never listen to others’ advice.
C．To work harder when needed.	D．To be confident when facing difficulties.

【推荐2】

A twin sister

Something very special happened to Tamara. She never knew she had a twin (双胞胎）sister until she started university!

Tamara was born (出生）in Mexico. Her parents could not look after her so she went to live with a family in Manhattan，New York, USA.

When Tamara was twenty years old，she started university in Long Island. She enjoyed her university life. But one day she was walking home from class, and a student smiled at her. “Hello, Adriana!” said the student. “I’m not Adriana.” said Tamara.

This happened to Tamara again and again. Tamara didn’t know why people kept calling her Adriana. One day, when a woman called her Adriana, Tamara asked, ‘‘Why do you keep calling me Adriana?”

The woman said，“You look like my friend Adriana. You have the same face and the same hair. Is Adriana your sister?” Tamara said that she did not have any sisters. But she was interested in the girl named Adriana. At last she asked someone for Adriana’s e-mail address.

When Tamara wrote to Adriana, she found out that they both had the same birthday, they looked the same and both of them were from Mexico. When Tamara went to live with the family in Manhattan, Adriana moved to Long Island to live with a family there. It had to be true! Adriana and Tamara were twin sisters!

1. When did Tamara know that she had a sister?

A．Before she started school.	B．After she visited a woman.
C．After she went to university.	D．Before she moved to America.

2. How might Tamara feel when a student called her Adriana?

A．Sorry.

B．Scared.

C．Surprised.

D．Nervous.

3. What did Tamara decide to do after she talked with the woman?

A．Have a talk with Adriana's parents.	B．Find something about Adriana.
C．Give Adriana a telephone call.	D．Buy Adriana a birthday gift.

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

A．Tamara had two sisters all together.

B．Adriana wrote an e-mail to Tamara first.

C．Adriana’s family moved to Mexico when she went to university.

D．Tamara and Adriana were both in Long Island when they were 20.

5. The passage is mainly about_____.

A．what twin sisters should be like	B．what kind of family Tamara liked
C．why Tamara disliked her twin sister	D．how two sisters knew each other

【推荐3】Do you know the late leader of China, Deng Xiaoping? He was called the“chief architect of China’s reform and opening-up (中国改革开放的总设计师)”. August 22 is the 110 anniversary of his birth. President Xi Jinping held an important meeting for the event on August 20 , 2014 in Beijing. Senior leaders Li Keqiang, Zhang Dejiang, Yu Zhengsheng, Liu Yunshan, Wang Qishan and Zhang Gaoli also attended the event.
Deng was born on Aug, 22, 1904 in the southwest China’s Sichuan Province. He also had the name Deng Xiaosheng. His father , Deng Wenming , was a middle-level landowner（地主）. His mother died early in Deng’s life. He has three brothers and three sisters. Deng’s first wife , one of his schoolmates from Moscow , died when she was 24, a few days after giving birth to Deng’s first child, a baby girl, who also died. His second wife left him in 1933. His third wife, Zhuo Lin, was the daughter of an industrialist in Yunnan Province. She married him in 1939 in Yan’an. They had five children：three daughters and two sons.
Deng was sent to private primary school at the age of five. In the summer of 1919, Deng Xiaoping graduated from the Chongqing School. Then he went to study and work in France in the 1920s. His father strongly supported him, the night before going to France, Deng’s father took his son aside and asked him what he hoped to learn there. He repeated the words he had learned from his teachers：“To learn knowledge and truth from the West in order to save China.”He joined the Communist Party of China（中国共产党） in 1924. In late 1927 , Deng left Moscow to return to China. He joined the army to save China. He died on February 19 , 1997.
1. Deng Xiaoping’s birthday is ________.

A．August 20	B．February 19
C．August 22	D．September 18

2. There were _______ in his family.

A．three brothers and two sisters

B．two brothers and three sisters

C．two daughters and two sons

D．three daughters and two sons

3. Deng went to school ___________.

A．in 1909

B．in 1919

C．in 1911

D．in 1933

4. How old was Deng when he died?

A．Eighty-three years old	B．Ninety-three years old
C．Twenty-three years old	D．Thirty-five years old

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

A．Deng’s first daughter was alive

B．Deng’s father was poor at that time

C．Zhuo Lin was Deng’s schoolmate

D．Deng left school in1919.

【推荐1】You want to run across the street to catch the bus which is leaving soon? But wait! You’ d better not. If a policeman sees you, you’ll have to pay a fine （罚款）. New traffic laws say that if people cross the street when the light is red, they can be fined as much as 50 yuan.

Traffic accidents killed more than 104,000 people in China last year. Chinese cities have more cars than ever. Drivers and pedestrians must work together to make the streets safer. The law has new rules for drivers. Drivers have to slow down when they are close to crosswalks (人行横道). If people are in a crosswalk, cars must stop to let them pass.

___▲___ If bus drivers smoke, drink or make phone calls while driving, they can be fined. Buses that carry too many people are also against the law.

Pedestrians will have to walk more safely under the new law. They must cross streets at crosswalks. Also, they shouldn’t climb over the fence s along streets.

Do you bike to school? It’s not a good idea to carry classmates on the back. You could be fined 50 yuan. And stay in the bike way when you’re riding. The big roads are for cars and buses.

Do you like to ride your uncle’s motorbike? When you put on your helmet（头盔）, ask him to put one on, too. People on motorbikes must wear helmets, the new law says. If they don’t, they’ll have to pay 200 yuan.

Do you ride in cars often? Don’t forget to put on your seat belt, even if you’re going for a short taxi ride. It could save your life.

If you see a hit-and-run （肇事逃逸）, tell the police. They may give you thanks. And don’t be afraid to help to send people to the hospital if they are hurt in an accident. Don’t worry about money. The new law says that doctors must take care of them even if they can’t pay right away.

1. The underlined word “pedestrians” in paragraph 2 means ______ in Chinese.

A．行人

B．交警

C．红绿灯

D．斑马线

2. Which of the following sentences can be put in the __▲____?

A．Do you drive to school?

B．Do you often take the bus?

C．There are other rules for bus drivers, too.

D．But pedestrians should pay attention to the traffic.

3. The passage is written to______.

A．help pedestrians cross streets safely	B．introduce new traffic laws
C．warn drivers not to drive too fast.	D．help bus drivers avoid traffic accidents

4. The passage is written in a/an ______tone.

A．sad

B．angry

C．crazy

D．serious

【推荐2】We eat an average of 9 kilograms of chocolate per person per year. But where does chocolate come from, and how is it made into the sweet, delicious treats that we love to eat?

The story of chocolate begins in the rainforest where cacao trees grow. Pods (豆荚) grow on the cacao trees and inside the pods are seeds called cocoa beans. These cocoa beans are the magic ingredient (原料) in chocolate.

Only a few of the hundreds of blossoms (花) of cacao trees develop into cocoa pods. In about four months, the cocoa pods grow to the size of melons. It takes another month before they are fully ripe (成熟的). The color of the ripe pods ranges from yellow to dark red. The pods are hard and must be split (剥开) open to show the beans, which are the valuable beans that make chocolate. The Mayans were the first people to plant the beans of wild cacao trees. This was the beginning of the cocoa farming. In return for other goods，the Mayans traded cocoa beans to the Aztecs, whose land was too dry to grow cacao trees.

Both the Mayans and Aztecs used cocoa beans to make a chocolate drink. The beans were dried and crushed, and then mixed with water. The Mayans drank it hot, while the Aztecs drank it cold.

In 1492 , Christopher Columbus became the first European to take some cocoa beans back to Spain. But the taste of the drink was too bitter (苦) for them. In 1519, the Spain explorers added some sugar into it, and introduced the hot, sweet drink to their country. The chocolate drink soon became popular with rich families. In 1765, the first American chocolate factory opened in Massachusetts, the USA. In 1765, James Watt built a steam engine that made goods quickly and cheaply. Using a steam-powered chocolate grinder (研磨机) made chocolate drink a cheaper treat for everyone.

1. Where does the story of chocolate begin?

A．In the rainforest.

B．On the mountain.

C．Near the sea.

D．In the field.

2. How long do the cocoa pods grow to be fully ripe?

A．For four months.

B．For five months.

C．For three months.

D．For two months. .

3. What does the underlined word“ crushed”mean?

A．Increased.

B．Closed.

C．Broken.

D．Collected.

4. What would be the best title for the passage?

A．The Invention of Chocolate Grinder.	B．The Story of Chocolate.
C．The Popularity of Chocolate.	D．The Planting of Cacao Trees.

【推荐3】In Britain, his name is known by almost everyone. And his clothing -a blue duffle coat and an old red hat is iconic(标志性的). During a trip to China four years ago, Britain's Prince William even met the famous bear at the Chinese opening of the film Paddington.

Paddington was first introduced to the world in 1958 in the children's book A Bear Called Paddington by British writer Michael Bond. In the story, Paddington is kind and humorous also polite and always calls people "Mr.", "Mrs." and "Miss". This cute bear immediately won over people's hearts. "Many Britons were raised on tales of Paddington, the second-best-known bear in fiction(小说) after Winnie the Pooh. "The Economist noted.

The story shows how kind British people are towards those who are in trouble, as Paddington is given a new home in London after escaping from an earthquake in Peru.

As time went on, Paddington became popular in other countries. He first appeared on TV in 1975. He's also been made into toys that wear different costurnes. He's been a guard for the British royal(l王室的) family, a British policeman and a' coffee shop waiter.

Paddington is also beloved that it's common to find plates and tea towels with Paddington patterns(图案) in British homes. Paddington has a special facial expression. He is known for giving a hard stare(瞪视) whenever he meets somebody he doesn't like. Therefore, when someone gives a hard stare, you could say that they're making a "Paddington Bear face."

1. How long has paddington been around?

A．For about four years.

B．For about 17 years.

C．For nearly 45 years.

D．For over 60 years.

2. Why do many people love Paddington?

A．Because he has magic powers.	B．Because he is polite and humorous.
C．Because he is their grandparents, favorite.	D．Because he always helps others in trouble.

3. Giving someone a "Paddington Bear face" means ________.

A．being rude to someone	B．putting on a black face
C．staring hard at someone	D．watching someone carefully

4. Which might be the best title for this passage?

A．Paddington is beloved by the world	B．Paddington's first TV appearance.
C．Paddington is famous in Britain.	D．Paddington s new home.