【推荐1】Is there intelligent（有智力的）life on other planets? For years, scientists said “no,” or “we don’t know.” But today this is changing. Seth Shostak and Alexandra Barnett are astronomers（天文学家）. They believe intelligent life exists（存在）somewhere in the universe. They also think we will soon contact these beings（人；生物）.

Why do Shostak and Barnett think intelligent life exists on other planets? The first reason is time. Scientists believe the universe is about 12 billion years old. “This is long enough for other planets to have intelligent life,” say Shostak and Barnett. The second reason is size—the universe is huge. “Tools like the Hubble Telescope（哈勃望远镜）have shown that there are more than 100 billion galaxies,” says Shostak. “And our galaxy, the Milky Way, has more than 100 billion stars. Some planets going around these stars might be similar to Earth.”

In the past, it was hard to look for signs of intelligent life in the universe. But now, powerful telescopes（高倍望远镜）allow scientists to discover smaller planets—the size of Mars or Earth—in other solar systems. These planets might have intelligent life.

Have beings from space already visited Earth? “Probably not,” says Shostak. “It’s a long way away.However, intelligent beings may contact us in other ways, such as radio signals（信号）. In fact, they may be trying to communicate with us now, but we don’t have the right tools to receive their messages. However, this is changing. By 2025, we could make contact with other life forms in our universe and we might help each other.”

1. Seth Shostak and Alexandra Barnett are ________.

A．astronomers

B．farmers

C．singers

D．drivers

2. What is the best title for Paragraph 2?

A．The Age and Size of Earth

B．Our Galaxy: The Milky Way

C．Why Intelligent Life Might Exist

D．Earth: The Only Planet with Intelligent Life

3. Why was it hard to look for signs of intelligent life in the universe in the past?

A．There were not any smaller planets.

B．There were not any powerful telescopes.

C．The astronomers were not interested in them.

D．The Milky Way didn’t exist at that time.

4. Why haven’t beings from space visited us yet according to Shostak?

A．They’re afraid of us.	B．It’s a long way away.
C．They don’t want to see us.	D．They don’t know how to use radio signals.

5. What does the underlined phrase “life forms” in the last paragraph mean?

A．Messages.

B．Tools.

C．Intelligent beings.

D．Radio signals.

【推荐2】Like many other countries around the world, China hopes to explore the moon. It has already done so with several probes (探测器) and lunar rover (月球车). But it has even bigger plans to put a man on the moon in the near future.

Yang Liwei, China’s first man in space, said that it will “not take long” for a manned mission (任务) to get official agreement and money support, according to the Xinhua News Agency.

China’s space program is still young compared to those of the United States and Russia. But it has already made great achievements in exploring the moon. Its moon mission began with Chang’e 1, an unmanned orbital (轨道) probe that was sent up in October, 2007. It collected data that was used to create a 3-D map of the moon’s surface.

China achieved another achievement with the Chang’e 3 mission. For this mission, China’s first lunar rover, Yutu, successfully landed on the moon.

For China’s space program, it was another great achievement that Chang’e 4, the second lunar rover successfully landed on the moon’s far side, an area that has not yet been explored, in December, 2018.

China will follow Chang’e 4 with a series of other lunar mission. These missions will include taking lunar soil and rock samples, building “moon base”, and hopefully landing a human on the moon’s surface around 2030, according to Zhao Xiaojin, a senior official at the China Academy of Space Technology.

Last year, when Yang Liwei was asked if he had any plans to visit the moon himself, he replied, “If I am given the chance, no problem!” It is likely that many other Chinese share Yang’s excitement about this new stage of China’s space exploration efforts.

1. Which of the following countries may be better than China in space program?

A．Russia.

B．The UK.

C．Canada.

2. China has already made great achievements in exploring the moon, such as, Chang’e 1 was ________.

A．the first lunar rover and landed on the moon

B．the second lunar rover and landed the moon’s far side

C．an unmanned orbital probe and began the moon mission

3. From this passage, we can know that Yang Liwei ________.

A．is China’s first man on the moon

B．is worried about China’s future space program

C．believes it won’t take long to put a man on the moon for China

4. What`s the best title for this passage?

A．Hope for Future

B．China for Space

C．A Moon Base

【推荐3】The solar system has eight planets. The planets are Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. The Planets are all round, like balls. The planets all go around the sun.
Mercury is the closest to the sun. It is very hot on Mercury. The planets that are far away from the sun are very cold. Venus is between Mercury and the Earth. It is sometimes called Earth’s “sister planet” because they have almost the same size and shape. The Earth is the planet where we live. From space, the Earth looks blue because it has so much water. Jupiter is the largest planet in our solar system. Saturn is known for having rings around it. Uranus was the first planet discovered with a telescope. We can see Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn with our eyes, however, to see Uranus, we need a telescope. Neptune is the 8th planet in our solar system. The planet is farthest from the sun.
Probes (探测仪) go into space and take pictures of the planets. We learn a lot from these pictures. If you could send a probe to any planet, where would you send it?
1. What goes around the sun?

A．Moon.

B．Stars.

C．Spaceships.

D．Planets.

2. Which planet is Earth’s “sister planet”?

A．Mercury.

B．Venus.

C．Jupiter.

D．Saturn.

3. Some planets are far away from the sun so they are very ______.

A．cold

B．hot

C．small

D．bright

4. What does the underlined word “telescope” mean in Chinese?

A．潜水镜

B．显微镜

C．高台

D．望远镜

5. Which of the following is TRUE?

A．Earth is the second closest planet to the sun.

B．Jupiter is larger than any other planet in our solar system.

C．Uranus is famous for having rings around it.

D．We can’t see Mars with our eyes.

【推荐3】

Scientists know that our weight, mental health and immune (免疫) system are connected to our sleep habits. So are your grades-to a surprising degree, a new study finds. It showed that sleep caused for nearly one-fourth of the difference among students’ grades in a class. So even if you spend hours studying for a test but get too little and inconsistent (不一致的) sleep, you might still do poorly. And boys with poor sleep habits appeared to suffer (遭受) most.

Jeffrey Grossman, a scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge wanted to test sleep in the real conditions. People’s sleep timetables are often disordered and unpredictable. He wanted to see if the sleep connects performance even when a study was done with people who kept regular timetables at home. To find out, his team turned to Fitbits. These wristbands can follow how long people sleep and how often they wake up.

The researchers invited 100 around 18-year-old students. Each got a Fitbit to wear all term long. At the end of the term, the scientists looked at the students’ sleep data (数据). They paid attention to patterns (模式) in the days and weeks before exams. They then compared those patterns to the students’ test scores. The results showed the importance of sleep for students.

As expected, teens who stirred (微动) a lot during the night were likely to perform poorly. The same went for those who didn’t get enough sleep. But how much someone slept the night before an exam didn’t affect that person’s grade. So, is pulling an all-nighter before the big test okay? No, it turns out. That’s because there was a third important factor: consistency of sleep a week and even a month before an exam. That means “a student who sleeps seven hours at night, every night, will do better than a student who sleeps 7. 5 hours one night and 6.5 another night,” Grossman says. That was true even when both students got the same amount and quality (质量) of sleep.

Sleep length, quality and consistency together caused 24.4 percent of the difference among the students’ test grades. And these factors appeared especially important for boys. Grossman’s team is not sure why. But boys who didn’t get enough sleep or regular sleep were likely to do worse on an exam than girls who had similar sleep patterns.

Helping students get more sleep depends in part on schools starting their days later. But it also comes down to students making sleep a higher priority (优先权). That may require getting more sleep and limiting late evening use of phones and other screens. Even with extracurricular activities, schoolwork and a social life, you need to get your sleep.

1. The researchers used Fitbits to ________.

A．help the students sleep well	B．predict the students’ sleep length
C．improve the students’ grades	D．collect the students’ sleep data

2. What can we learn from the research?

A．Students with the same quality of sleep have no difference in grades.

B．Students who sleep for more hours are likely to have higher grades.

C．Boys with poor sleeping habits appear to suffer more than girls.

D．Staying up before a big test can make a good result in grades.

3. According to the writer, the students should ________.

A．put sleep in the first place

B．wear wristbands to keep healthy

C．pay more attention to test scores

D．compare sleep patterns to their performance

4. Which of the following would be the best title for the passage?

A．Sleep: Is quality important?	B．Sleep: Does it influence grades?
C．Sleep: Is 7.5 hours enough?	D．Sleep: Does it depend on schoolwork?

【推荐1】Swimming is a good way to exercise. But do you know about open water swimming? It means swimming in the sea, a river or a lake. Open water swimming is enjoyable, but there is a lot more to think about. It’s very important to know how to keep safe (安全的) in the water.

Most swimming pools make sure that the water is comfortable enough for people to get into. However, in open water swimming, the water is often much colder, even in summer. It’s not the same as swimming in the pool. So many people like to wear a wetsuit (潜水衣) to help keep them warm.

If you want to swim in the open water, here are some rules for you to follow. First, choose a safe place. You can ask the workers there and they can tell you the safest place. Next, never swim by yourself. Always have an adult (成人) swimmer beside you. Third, wear a bright swimming cap. It can help people find you easily if something dangerous happens. Fourth, don’t swim too far and stay close to the river bank or the beach if you are in the sea.

Remember all these rules and you can have a great time swimming in the open water.

1. Which of the following means open water swimming? ________
①swimming in the sea   ②swimming in rivers   ③swimming in lakes   ④swimming in pools

A．①②④

B．②③④

C．①③④

D．①②③

2. How is the water in the open water swimming different from the water in pools? ________

A．It’s much safer.	B．It’s much colder.
C．It’s much warmer.	D．It’s much more comfortable.

3. Who may know best if the open water is safe for swimming? ________

A．A scientist.

B．An adult swimmer.

C．A worker there.

D．A visitor there.

4. What does the underlined word “It” in Paragraph 3 refer to? ________

A．A wetsuit.

B．A bright swimming cap.

C．A safe place.

D．The bank or the beach.

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

A．Swimming in the open water	B．Don’t swim in the open water
C．Swimming—a good way to exercise	D．Ways to keep warm when swimming

【推荐2】With the development of science and technology, our daily life is becoming more colorful and more convenient. Here are some examples.

The Book-less Library        Can you imagine walking into a library and finding all books have turned into computers? The first book-less public library is planned to open in San Antonio, Texas. Computers will take the place of books there soon.	Google Glass        Google Glass is a pair of glasses. It can carry out many of the same tasks as smart phones. The glass has a hidden camera and a tiny screen. It is designed to take hands-free photos or videos of anything people are doing.
A New Kind of Shirt        Do you hate washing clothes? You’re going to love this kind of shirt made by an American clothing company, Wool & Prince. This shirt can be worn for 100 days without washing! The Wool & Prince shirt never needs ironing (熨烫).	An Underwater Hotel        It looks like a spaceship but it is actually a picture of an underwater hotel. A company plans to build in the sea which is about 18 meters under the water. The whole building is underwater and you can get to it by swimming and diving.

1. What can a Google Glass do according to the passage?

A．It can be used for reading.	B．It can be used exactly as a phone.
C．It can be used for taking photos and videos.	D．It can be used to hide camera.

2. Which of the following is TRUE?

A．There are many book-less libraries in the US now.

B．You don’t need to iron your Wool & Prince shirt.

C．People can arrive at the Underwater Hotel by spaceship.

D．This kind of new shirt never needs to be washed.

3. What does the underlined phrase “take hands-free photos” mean in the passage?

A．You don’t need to pay for your photos.	B．There are no hands appearing in your photos.
C．Take free photos with your hands.	D．You don’t need to use your hands to take photos.

【推荐3】Do you know why different insects (昆虫) or animals have their special colors? These colors can help them stay away from other dangerous animals.

Some birds like eating locusts, but ________. Why? It is because locusts change (改变) their colors with the plants. When plants are green, locusts look green. When plants are brown, locusts change to the same color. But not all insects can change their colors. It’s easy for other animals to see them. So they have to come out only at night.

If you study animal life, you will know the change of color is also important for animals to live in the wild (野外). Bears, monkeys, and other animals live in the mountains. Others can’t see them easily because they have the color much like the trees.

What about sea life? Octopus can send out something black when it faces danger and quickly (飞快地) swim away. It is not strong, but it can save itself in this way.

1. What help(s) insects and animals live in the wild according to the passage?

A．Good sleep.

B．Healthy food.

C．Strong bodies.

D．Special colors.

2. Which of the following is the best in ________ in Paragraph 2?

A．locusts often run away	B．locusts don’t come out
C．they can often catch a lot	D．they can’t see any at night

3. Octopus can save itself by ________.

A．changing its color	B．dancing with its legs
C．giving out something black	D．staying behind green plants

4. In which column (专栏) of a newspaper can we read the passage?

A．Sports News.

B．Animal Science.

C．School Time.

D．Life Stories.

【推荐1】Americans use many expressions with the word dog. People in the United States love their dogs and treat them well. They take their dogs for walks, let them play outside and give them good food and medical care. However, dogs without owners to care for them lead a different kind of life. The expression, to lead a dog’s life, describes a person who has an unhappy existence.
Some people say we live in a dog-eat-dog world. That means many people are competing for the same things, like good jobs. They say that to be successful, a person has to work like a dog. This means they have to work very, very hard. Such hard work can make people dog-tired. And, the situation（状况） would be even worse if they became sick as a dog.
A Cavalier King Charles Spaniel (the name of a kind of dog), is____ for months before competing in the Oklahoma City Summer Classic Dog Show and can be the winner sometimes. So people say every dog has its day. This means that every person enjoys a successful period during his or her life. To be successful, people often have to learn new skills. Yet, some people say that you can never teach an old dog new tricks. They believe that older people do not like to learn new things and will not change the way they do things.
Some people are compared to dogs in bad ways. People who are unkind or uncaring can be described as meaner than a junkyard dog(比垃圾场的狗更凶狠). Junkyard dogs live in places where people throw away things they do not want. Mean dogs are often used to guard this place. They bark or attack people who try to enter the place. However, sometimes a person who appears to be mean and threatening is really not so bad. We say barking dogs never bark.
Dog expressions are also used to describe the weather. The dog days of summer are the hottest days of the year. A rainstorm may cool the weather. But we do not want it to rain too hard. We do not want it to rain cats and dogs.
1. What does this passage mainly talk about?

A．How to live with the dog.

B．Expressions related to(与...相关) the dog.

C．Americans’ love for the dog.

D．Dog expressions with the weather.

2. Working too hard can make people ___________.

A．lead a dog’s life	B．become sick as a dog
C．live in a dog-eat-dog world	D．work like a dog

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

A．trained

B．honored

C．awarded

D．dressed

4. What can we learn from the passage?

A．Everyone can be successful if he learns from the old.

B．It might be difficult for the young to learn new skills.

C．Junkyard dogs are careful in money arrangement.

D．Mean dogs aren’t so awful as their appearance in fact.

5. To support her idea, the author develops the passage mainly by ________.

A．listing reasons

B．using quotations（引用语）

C．making comparisons（作比较）

D．giving examples

【推荐2】D)阅读下面的短文，从每小题所给的A、B、C 三个选项中选出最佳选项。

Bruce Vento High School

Back-to-School Celebration

February 28th, Friday 9:30 a.m. — 11:30 a.m.

BVHS is having a back-to-school celebration with sports, games, art programs and more. You don't want to miss it!

You don't need to register (登记) for the event. Your school ID card is required to receive a free backpack.

Volunteers needed for the Back-to-School Celebration!

Click (点击) here to register to volunteer at our Back -to-School Celebration. We will need your help before, during and after the event. Please feel free to register for the area you feel best fits you. Both parents and students are welcome.

Volunteer Training

February 21st, 5:00 p.m. — 8:00 p.m.

In the School Hall

If you have any questions about dates and times, feel free to contact (联系) us during our office hours.

E-mail: info@familyvaluesforlife.org

Phone: 651-774-6663

Office Hours: Monday — Friday, 9:00 a.m. — 5:00 p.m.

1. The Back-to-School Celebration will be _______.

A．in the afternoon

B．on the weekend

C．two hours long

2. Which activity requires the students to bring their school ID cards?

A．Making art.

B．Getting a backpack.

C．Playing games.

3. To volunteer at the Back-to-School Celebration, one has to _______.

A．get some training	B．start work in early February
C．go to the School Hall for registration

4. How many ways of contacting the school are provided?

A．One.

B．Two.

C．Three.

5. The material may be from the school's _______.

A．noticeboard

B．newspaper

C．website

【推荐3】Hi, Han Li,

I got some good news to tell you. One of our old friends, Zhao Yan, is going to visit us at the weekend. Do you remember her? She has a round face and two big eyes. She lives with her parents in Tianjin and is coming to see us. Lisa is her English name. I’ve got two photos of Zhao Yan. In one photo, she is playing basketball. In the other one, she is drinking pear juice. It is her favorite.

Let’s have a picnic near a lake on Saturday. Of course, we can go boating too. Maybe you’d like to swim in it. Remember not to catch the fish when you see them in the water. I’m going to meet Zhao Yan at the train station on Saturday morning. And we can meet near the lake at about eleven o’clock. You may come by bus. Remember to get off the bus at Lake Stop.

Yours,

Wu Tong

1. Who is Zhao Yan?

A．Wu Tong’s sister.	B．Wu Tong’s teacher.
C．Wu Tong’s friend.	D．Wu Tong’s classmate.

2. What does Zhao Yan look like?

A．She has a long face with small eyes.	B．She has a long face with big eyes.
C．She has a round face with small eyes.	D．She has a round face with big eyes.

3. What does the underlined word “It” refer to（指的是）?

A．The photo.	B．The pear juice.
C．The English name.	D．Playing basketball.

4. Which of the following is TRUE?

A．Zhao Yan is coming on Saturday.

B．Han Li lives in Tianjin with her parents.

C．Swimming is Wu Tong’s favorite sport.

D．Han Li is going to meet Zhao Yan on Sunday.