THE BRONTE FAMILY
Yorkshire, England was the setting for two great novels (小说) of the 19th century. These were Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre and Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights. The youngest sister, Anne, was also a gifted novelist, and her books have the same extraordinary quality as her sisters’.
Their father was Patrick Bronte, born in Ireland. He moved with his wife, Maria Bronte, and their six small children to Haworth in Yorkshire in 1820. Soon after, Mrs. Bronte and the two eldest children died, leaving the father to care of the remaining three girls and a boy.
Charlotte was born in 1816. Emily was born in 1818 and Anne in 1820. Their brother Branwell was born in 1817. Left to themselves, the children wrote and told stories and walked over the hills. They grew up largely self-educated. Branwell showed a great interest in drawing. The girls were determined to earn money for his art education. They took positions as teachers or taught children in their homes.
As children they had all written many stories. Charlotte, as a young girl, alone wrote 22 books, each with 60 to 100 pages of small handwriting. Therefore, they turned to writing for income. By 1847, Charlotte had written The Professor; Emily, Wuthering Heights; and Anne, Agnes Grey. After much difficulty Anne and Emily found a publisher(出版商), but there was no interest shown in Charlotte’s book. (It was not published until 1859.) However, one publisher expressed an interest in seeing more of her works. Jane Eyre was already started, and she hurriedly finished it. It was accepted at once; thus each of the sisters had a book published in 1847.
Jane Eyre was immediately successful; the other two, however, did not do so well. People did not like Wuthering Heights. They said it was too wild, too animal-like. But gradually it came to be considered one of the finest novels in the English language. Emily lived only a short while after the publication of the book, and Anne died in 1849.
Charlotte published Shirley in 1849, and Villette in 1853. In 1854 she married Arthur Bell Nicholls. But only a year later, she died of tuberculosis(肺结核) as her sisters had.We know from the text that .
A.Jane Eyre was published in 1847 |
B.Charlotte Bronte wrote 22 books in all |
C.the Bronte sisters received good education |
D.Patrick Bronte helped his daughters with their writing |
The underlined words “the other two” in the 5 th paragraph refer to .
A.Shirley and Villette | B.The Professor and Agnes Grey |
C.Agnes Grey and Wutheriing Heights | D.The Professor and wuthering Heights |
What do we know about the Bronte sisters from the text?
A.Their novels interested few publishers. |
B.None of them had more than two books published. |
C.None of them lived longer than 40 years old. |
D.Emily was the least successful of the three. |
(四)
A
One sixth of undergraduates (本科生) in Beijing this year have registered at a driving school . The students , mostly from majors such as business management or international trade , will finish there driving courses within 20 days or so .
Training costs have dropped to ,2,600yuan for students , according to the Haidian Driving School in Beijing . The price is not really low , but students will accept it , seeing it as an investment (投资) in their future . Familiarity with the operation of computers and fluent English are the basic skills graduating students need to find a job . But a driver’s permit has become another factor.
“In the job market , owning a driver’s permit sometimes strengthens a graduating student’s competitiveness for a good position ,” says Zhou Yang , an undergraduate at the China University of Political Science and Law .
Cars will become a necessary part of many people’s lives in the coming years , and it’s difficult to get a permit out of campus because of the pressures on working people’s time . “Having a full-time job after graduation offers limited time to learn to drive . We senior students have plenty of spare time , plenty of opportunities to learn.”
Xu Jian , an official at the driving school, said undergraduates were very able and serious , and could grasp in an hour what it took ordinary people four hours to learn . In this driving school, middle-aged people , young women and college students are the main customers .
To get a driver’s permit , a beginner is now required to have at least 86 hours’ practice before the final road test .
56.The undergraduates are learning to drive because .
A.they like to drive cars
B.they need this skill to find a good job .
C.most of them will be able to buy cars in the future
D.they want to become full-time drivers after graduation
57.Which of the following is Xu Jian’s opinion of students learning to drive ?
A.He decided it was a waste of money and time .
B.He thought they must learn it at school .
C.He thought they would spend three times more time .
D.He agreed that young people had an advantage in learning to drive .
58.Which of the following would be the best title of this passage ?
A.Students Learn to Drive B.Welcome to Driving School
C.It’s Better to Learn to Drive at College D.Students Pay Less to Learn to Drive Now
E
BUKHANNON, West Virginia—Two rescue teams slowly moved along a two-mile path on Monday night to the site of a coal mine explosion that trapped 13 miners, who had not been heard from since the early morning accident.
Meanwhile, at a nearby church, more than 250 family members and friends gathered, waiting for updates(最新报道)on the rescuers’ progress.
The miners were trapped at about 6:30 and many families weren’t informed of the accident until about 10 a.m-more than three hours after it happened. “It’s very upsetting, but you’ve got to be patient, I guess,” said John Helms, whose brother, Terry, was trapped in the mine.
The trapped miners were about 260 feet underground and about 10,000 feet from the Sago Mine’s entrance, said Roger Nicholson, general counsel from International Coal Group.
At a late night news conference, Nicholson said one team had advanced about 4, 800 feet in the four hours since entering the mine just before 6 p.m. Another team entered the mine about 30 minutes later.
He said the crew was very experienced, with some members having worked underground for
30 to 35 years. The miners were equipped with about one hour of breathable oxygen each. The company has not released the names of the miners.
The teams test the air about every 500 feet, and have to disconnect (remove) the power to the phones they use to communicate with the surface before doing that. “ We don’t want to be energizing anything if it’s in an atmosphere with burnable gases,” Kips said.
The cause of the explosion was not immediately known. High levels of carbon monoxide were detected shortly after the explosion, which delayed rescue efforts, but those levels have since subsided(减退), authorities said.
72. According to the passage, we can infer that ________.
A. all the miners who were trapped underground were still alive
B. communication with the trapped miners was cut off
C. the two rescue teams entered the mine at the same time
D. the rescue started as soon as the accident happened
73. If the first team advanced at an average speed, they could dig about _______ per hour.
A. 1,000 feet B. 2,400 feet C. 1,200feet D. 4,800feet
74. Where can the passage be seen?
A. In a magazine. B. In a newspaper.
C. In a science book.. D. On an advertisement.
75. Which of the following shows the position where the miners were trapped?
![]() |
||||
|
||||
|
||||