【推荐1】Dear Micheal,

How’s your vacation? I’m visiting my uncle in Spain. He lives in the sunny and beautiful city of Valencia in Spain.

Yesterday, I had great fun. My uncle took me to the tomato festival in Bunol, which is just 30 miles away from where my uncle lives. You have probably never heard of this festival before. Neither had I. The tomato festival is called “La Tomatina” in Spanish. It was the biggest and messiest tomato fight in the world. When we first got to the square where the festival took place, it was very crowded with people from all around the world, and many trucks (卡车) were carrying tomatoes. My uncle told me the crowded people here were around 38,000 and this was more than four times the population of Bunol.

The tomato fight started as soon as the first banger (破旧的汽车) was beaten. Then everyone including me started throwing tomatoes at each other. I took red tomatoes and threw them at anyone that ran, moved, bent down, or turned around. Tomatoes must be squashed (压扁) before people threw them in order not to hurt anybody.

After a little while, the streets, people and nearby buildings were splashed with red. There was no winner in this fight, but we all had fun. As soon as a second banger was beaten, people stopped throwing.

I really had a great time, I wish you were here, too. I hope I hear from you soon. Take care.

With love,

From Spain

Linda

1. From the letter, we can know ________.

A．Linda lives in Valencia	B．Linda doesn’t want to go to Spain
C．Linda is visiting her uncle in Spain	D．Linda is studying in Spain

2. According to the letter, which statement of the following is NOT true?

A．Bunol is 30 miles away from where Linda’s uncle lives.

B．Linda had heard of this festival before.

C．It was the first time Linda went to this festival.

D．Linda’s uncle took her to the tomato festival in Bunol.

3. The population of Bunol is ________.

A．around 38,000.	B．more than 38,000.
C．more than 152,000	D．about 9,500.

4. What happened when the second banger was beaten?

A．The fight started.	B．The fight stopped.
C．The fight got bigger and bigger.	D．The fight continued again.

【推荐2】While people usually consider New Year’s Day as the beginning of a new year, the Chinese think differently. According to the Chinese calendar, we Chinese think the start of a new year is Chinese New Year.

     ①     

Chinese New Year is a traditional and very important Chinese holiday. It is known as the Spring Festival.

     ②     

Chinese New Year is celebrated through a number of traditions.

Red envelopes: Red is an important color in Chinese culture as it shows good luck and joy. Money is given in red envelopes. The amount (金额) people receive is usually a lucky even number, like two, six, eight and so on. The amount cannot have four, as in Chinese tradition, it means death.

Firecrackers: Firecrackers are popular during Chinese New Year. They are thought to scare off ghosts. Some countries have stopped the use of firecrackers because they can be dangerous.

Lion and dragon dances:These dances are performed by highly-skilled acrobats (杂技演员). The drums are played along with the dance, to frighten away bad spirits. The dragon dance is a highlight (亮点) of the festival around the world, and large crowds get together to watch it .

Food and families: It’s common for Chinese families to have a big dinner the night before Chinese New Year. Many different kinds of delicious food will be prepared for the family get-together.

     ③     

Each year is named after a different animal. It’s said that twelve kinds of animals had a race to decide the order of the Chinese years. And then the name of each year depended on the order the animals finished the race. The rat won the race, with the pig coming in last.

根据材料内容选择最佳答案。
1. What’s the topic of the passage ?

A．Travel.

B．Animals.

C．Family.

D．Festivals.

2. What’s the best title of Paragraph 1,2,3 in the text?
A: A folk story.          B: How is it celebrated?          C: Different animals.        D: Why is it important?
E: What is Chinese New Year?

A．①e, ②d, ③c

B．①e, ②b, ③a

C．①d, ②b, ③a

D．①d, ②e, ③c

3. Which of the following is an even number?

A．2023.

B．9.

C．378.

D．110815.

4. Which is TRUE according to the text?

A．Lion and dragon dances are easy to perform.	B．The dragon dance is quite popular across the world.
C．Bad spirits are scared away by the dance and the crowds.	D．The acrobats perform the dance and play the drums at the same time.

5. Which part of a newspaper does the text probably come from?

A．Culture.

B．Sports.

C．Education.

D．News.

【推荐3】

After the Spring Festival, here comes the Lantern Festival. It is on the 15th of the first lunar (农历) month. It is one of the biggest holidays in China. It gets its name because the most important activities during the festival are watching wonderful lanterns and eating yuanxiao (a kind of rice balls).

The festival usually comes in February or early March. A few days before the festival, people begin to make lanterns with bamboo (竹子) or paper. It often takes three days to make one by hand. There are many kinds of lanterns. And children like animal lanterns best.

When people make lanterns, they usually write riddles (谜语) on them. On the evening of the Lantern Festival, some people hang up (悬挂) the lanterns and others have a guess of the riddles.

Yuanxiao is the food of the Lantern Festival. Chinese people think eating yuanxiao can bring them good luck in the new year.

1. When is the Lantern Festival?

A．On the first day of February.	B．On the first day of March.
C．On the fifteenth day of the first month.	D．On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month.

2. What kind of lanterns do children like best?

A．Animal lanterns.

B．Fruit lanterns.

C．Flower lanterns.

D．Tree lanterns.

3. What don’t people do on the Lantern Festival?

A．Eat rice balls.

B．Guess riddles.

C．Eat rice dumplings.

D．Hang up lanterns.

【推荐3】As time goes by, are you still the same person you used to be? Many of you might think you are. But according to a new study, your personality can change greatly. You could be a completely different person at 77 compared to when you were 14 years old, HuffPost reported.

Psychologists (心理学家) at the UK’s University of Edinburgh did the study on a group of Scottish people. The research found that almost everyone’s personality changed when they grew old. The findings were published in the journal Psychology and Aging.

The research is based on a study that began in 1950. A group of teachers gave more than 1,200 14-year-old students personality tests. They tested six basic personalities: self-confidence, conscientiousness (责任心), perseverance (耐性), desire to excel (好胜心), creativity and moods.

In 2012, researchers successfully found 174 of the 1,200 students, who were 77 years old on average at the time. They agreed to take a personality test similar to the one they had completed 63 years earlier.

Researchers then compared the then-and-now test results. They were surprised a lot to find great changes to all six personalities of these people. Moods and conscientiousness had changed. But there were still not too many similarities between the two results.

The younger and older seemed to be totally different for each person. It was “as if the second tests had been given to different people,” the study’s authors noted.

In the past, personality was widely believed to be stable. William James, the father of American psychology, said that personality is “set like a plaster (石膏板)”. This new study may bring some fresh ideas to the theory.

1. What did the UK psychologists study in this passage?

A．Blood type.

B．Eye color.

C．Personality.

D．Physical strength.

2. How many people were tested in 2012 according to the passage?

A．77

B．174

C．1,200

D．63

3. The underlined word “stable” in the last paragraph means ________.

A．fixed

B．skilled

C．stressed

D．amazed

4. Which of the following is TRUE?

A．The researchers did the research on a group of Irish teenagers.

B．The 2012 personality test was the opposite of the old one completely.

C．In 2012, other students no longer wanted to take part in the test.

D．The researchers were very surprised after comparing the results.

5. What does the result of the study show?

A．People’s personalities always keep the same.

B．A person’s personalities can change with time.

C．Different people have different personalities.

D．Even a plaster has changeable personalities.

【推荐1】I didn’t feel well when I woke up yesterday morning. My throat hurt and ________ I also felt hot. My mother said I had a bad cold. I didn’t want to get up, so she let me stay in bed all day. I don’t usually like being in bed during the day, but I like it yesterday. I listened to the music and read a magazine. I slept a lot. I had all my meals in bed, though I didn’t want to eat much. I had just soup and toast for lunch and some rice and chicken for dinner. By evening I was beginning to feel better. I asked my mother if I could get up and watch television but she said no. Today I feel much better, so I didn’t stay in bed. I didn’t go to school again, though. I’ll go tomorrow if I feel well enough.
1. He stayed in bed all day because he ______.

A．had a vacation	B．hurt his foot
C．needed to read	D．was sick

2. On which days of the week was he probably sick?

A．Monday, Tuesday	B．Saturday, Sunday
C．Sunday, Monday	D．Friday, Saturday

3. What didn’t he do during his day in bed?

A．eat	B．listen to music
C．read	D．watch television

4. What happens when your “nose is running”?

A．You can’t find your nose.	B．Your nose began to run.
C．Your nose feels fine.	D．Watery stuff comes out of your nose.

5. The passage is probably from ______.

A．a student’s diary	B．an ad in newspaper
C．a student’s plan	D．a teacher’s notebook

【推荐2】The world is not only hungry, but it is also thirsty for water. This may seem strange to you, since nearly 70% of the Earth’s surface is covered with water. But about 97% of that is sea water, or salt water which is not drinkable. Man can only drink and use the other 3%—fresh water from rivers, lakes, underground, and other sources. But we cannot even use all of that. However, our need for water is becoming larger almost day by day. We should take steps to deal with this problem now and in this way we can avoid a serious worldwide water shortage later on.

We all have to learn how to stop wasting our valuable water. One of the first steps is to develop ways of reusing it. Today in most large cities, water is used only once and then sent out into a sewage system. From there it returns to the sea or runs into underground places.

But even if every large city reused its water, we still would not have enough. All we have to do, to make use of sea water in the world, is to remove the salt. If we take these steps we’ll be in no danger of drying up.

1. About ________ of the Earth’s water is fresh.

A．70%

B．30%

C．3%

D．1%

2. The world is thirsty for water because ________.

A．man hasn’t got enough food to eat

B．we haven’t got enough fresh water

C．only 70% of the Earth’s surface is water

D．more water is sent into a sewage system

3. The underlined word “valuable” means “________”.

A．much and salty	B．dear and useful
C．cheap and useful	D．much and helpful

4. What should we do if we want to have enough fresh water?
a. Make full use of the sea water.
b. Carry salt water into lakes or rivers.
c. Try to save the fresh water as much as possible.
d. Do our best to use the water again.
e. Drink and use all the water on the Earth’s surface.

A．c and e	B．a and d
C．a, c and d	D．b, d and e

5. The best but the most difficult way to solve the water problem of the world is to ________.

A．remove the salt from the sea water

B．make the water in the cities clean

C．take water from underground

D．make the need for water smaller

6. The best title of this passage is ________.

A．The World is Not Only Hungry But Also Thirsty

B．We Should Make Steps To Deal With The Water Problem

C．The World’s Water Problem

D．The Fresh Water Is Still Enough

【推荐3】Do you want to find a job? What kind of job do you want to get? Here are some jobs for you to choose from.

Waiter required At UK Grill Restaurant Pay: ￡6.90 per hour, 20 hours per week, 5 pm-10 pm, 4 nights. Experienced waiters only. To apply, email your CV to terry@ ukgrill. com.	Cleaner needed Salary: ￡6.75 per hour. No experience needed. Working on Monday, Wednesday to Saturday 4:30 pm-6 pm. Apply by telephone: 013-89483761.
Driver wanted We are looking for delivery drivers. Salary: ￡7.20-7.60 per hour. No experience needed. Hours: 8:00 am to 4:00 pm, 5 days per week. Ring 024-79103694 for an application form.	Support Worker wanted Do you like to care for others? Can you understand older people? Do you have good listening skills? Can you work on weekends? If you have answered YES to the above, we would like to hear from you. Starting rate of ￡7.50 per hour. Excellent Training Contact us at careers@golden-care. com.

1. Which job needs only experienced persons?

A．Waiter.

B．Cleaner.

C．Driver.

D．Support Worker.

2. Which is the most probably a full­time job?

A．Waiter.

B．Cleaner.

C．Driver.

D．Support Worker.

3. To work as a cleaner, you need to ______.

A．have enough experience	B．work from 4:30 pm-6 pm
C．ring for an application form	D．satisfy many requirements

4. How can you get the job as a support worker?

A．Ring 024-79103694.	B．Ring 013-89483761.
C．Send an email to terry@ukgrill.com.	D．Send an email to careers@golden­care.com.

5. Where is this passage probably from?

A．A storybook.

B．A newspaper.

C．An English book.

D．A travel book.

【推荐1】根据短文内容，判断下面各小题的正误，正确地写（A），错误的写（B）。

Gregg’s dream was to travel around the Americas（美洲）. He got the idea after he finished a long bike ride. Gregg’s friend, Brooks, also liked riding a bike. The two friends talked and made a plan. They would travel from Alaska to Argentina by bike.

To pay for the trip, Gregg and Brooks worked to save money for a long time. When they were on the road, they often camped outdoors and ate cheaply. In many places, local people opened their doors to the two friends and gave them food. On their way, there were deserts, rainforests and mountains. They visited modern cities and ancient ruins. And they made many friends from all over the world.

Two years later, Gregg finally reached Ushuaia, Argentina in May 2007. When they were near Guatemala, Brooks had to go back and Gregg continued without him.

They both learned a lot about traveling. Here are some of Gregg’s suggestions.

Travel light. You shouldn’t carry many things with you.

Be flexible（灵活的）. Don’t plan everything. Then you’ll be more relaxed and pleased.

Be polite. One traveler told Gregg, “Nobody wants to cheat a nice man.” It’s true.

1. Before the trip, they had a lot of money.
2. All of their food came from local people.
3. They began to travel to the Americas in 2005.
4. Both of them reached Ushuaia, Argentina.
5. A nice man won’t be cheated.

【推荐2】On the morning of Thanksgiving Day, it snowed heavily. Nobody (没有人) could come to visit Mary’s family. She was not happy. “It is not interesting,” she thought. And her neighbors were not happy, either (也).

“I planned to go to my son’s home,” said Mr. Smith. “I didn’t make turkey.”

“I planned to go to my sister’s home,” said Mrs. Black. “I made special bread, but no turkey.”

“I didn’t have turkey, either,” said Ms. Green.

Mary had an idea. She told it to her mother. “Good idea,” said her mother.

“I invite (邀请) you to come to my home for thanksgiving dinner,” Mary told her neighbors. “We have turkey.”

The neighbors were very happy and went to Mary’s home. There was lots of nice food to eat. Mary was thankful to share good food with her neighbors on Thanksgiving Day.

根据材料内容选择最佳答案。
1. What was the weather like on Thanksgiving Day?

A．Windy.

B．Rainy.

C．Snowy.

D．Sunny.

2. Where did Mr. Smith plan to spend (度过) his Thanksgiving Day?

A．His son’s home.	B．His daughter’s home.
C．His sister’s home.	D．His brother’s home.

3. What’s Mary’s idea?

A．To make a turkey for her neighbors.	B．To invite her neighbors to have dinner.
C．To visit her neighbors’ home for dinner.	D．To play games with her neighbors.

4. The underlined word “thankful” means________in Chinese.

A．好奇的

B．内疚的

C．认真的

D．欣慰的

5. From the passage, we know that Mary is a________girl.

A．lucky

B．friendly

C．noisy

D．special

【推荐3】Peter is a boy. His full name is Peter Brain. He is nine years old. His telephone number is 010-5588-2226. Peter has an email. His email address ispeterbrain@hotmail.com. His favourite color is black and his favourite sport is playing volleyball.

Jane is Peter’s sister. Jane is seven years old. Her QQ number is735469. Jane’s email address is Janebrain@hotmail.com. Pink is her favourite color. She always buy something pink, like pink bags, pink pens, pink dolls and so on. Jane likes spots very much. She is good a running and playing tennis.

1. Peter’s telephone number is________.

A．010-5558-2266	B．010-5858-2226
C．010-5588-2226	D．010-5588-2266

2. What color does Peter like？

A．Black.

B．Brown.

C．Pink.

D．Purple.

3. Which sentence is True?

A．Jane’s QQ number is 735496.

B．Peter’s email address ispeterbrain@hotmail.com.

C．Jane’s favourite color is red.x.

D．Peter is good at playing tennis.