Charles Dickens (1812-1870), the great nineteenth century English novelist, was born near Portsmouth. His father ran heavily into debt and when he was twelve, he had to go and work in a factory for making boot polish. The only formal education he received was a two-year schooling at a school for poor children. In fact, he had to teach himself all he knew. He worked for a time as junior clerk in a lawyer’s office. After that, he worked as a reporter in the law courts, and later in parliament, for London newspapers. His career as a writer of fiction began in 1833 with short stories and essays in periodicals, and in 1837 his comic novel The Pickwick Papers made him the most popular author at his time in England.
He was a great observer of people and their places because he was attracted by life and conditions in mid-nineteenth century London. He wrote 19 novels all his life and in many of them, Dickens gave a realistic picture of all classes of England society, showing deep sympathy for the poor and unfortunate, exposing the injustice and inhumanity of the bourgeoisie.
Many of his novels like Oliver Twist, David Copperfield, Nicholas Nickleby, Great Expectations, A Tale of Two Cities and so on drew attention to the unsatisfactory social conditions that existed in England over a hundred years ago.
Dickens criticized capitalist society from the point of view of bourgeois humanism. He wished to see improvement in the living conditions of the poor, but failed to find any effective means to achieve that end.Dickens only received a little formal education because______.
| A．he wanted to teach himself |
| B．he wanted to work and made a lot of money |
| C．he was too poor to afford any more formal education |
| D．he wanted some working experiences to be a novelist |
According to Dickens, the society at his time in England was________.
| A．just | B．poor |
| C．comfortable | D．unsatisfying |
Which of the following novel made Dickens the most popular writer at his time in England?
| A．Oliver Twist | B．The Pickwick Papers |
| C．A Tale of Two Cities | D．Great Expectations |
According to the passage, which of the following about Dickens is true?
| A．He didn’t go to school at all. |
| B．He only wrote about poor people and showed deep sympathy for them. |
| C．He began to write fictions when he was 21 years old. |
| D．He found some effective ways to improve the living conditions of the poor. |
Anyone can try to lead a group, but not every individual is cut out for leadership. The better leaders possess a few qualities that can mean the difference between the success and failure of the group. These aret he qualities the leader of higher rank will look for when choosing a leader for a group, or when evaluating the performance of a leader. They're also the qualities team members want in a group leader, and appreciate when they find them.
Take Responsibility
Group leaders might share tasks around a group as necessary, but eventually a group leader needs to be able to accept that responsibility lies on her shoulders. That means that if things go wrong in a group project, she's the one who must accept the consequences and work out what mistakes were made. The group leader won't always have the power to control everything group members do, but she should be ready to admit any mistakes the group has made as a result of her leadership.
Concern for Members
The group leader has a commitment to the task or project at hand, but perhaps more importantly, he has a real concern for each and every person who is part of his group. This means getting to know the strengths, weaknesses and goals of team members, as well as making time to build the group through collective activities. The group leader should make sure that everyone is included, even if an individual is new to a group.
Good Listener
The group leader needs to be able to listen to the suggestions, complaints (抱怨) and ideas of group members. Not only will this allow complaints to be addressed and potentially suitable ideas to be put into practice, but a leader who listens will also encourage group members to share their concerns and thoughts,creating an atmosphere of free speech and productivity.The passage is mainly about____________.
| A．choosing a good leader for a group. |
| B．assessing the performance of a leader. |
| C．qualities of a good group leader. |
| D．team members’ appreciation of a leader. |
A good leader should always be able to_______.
| A．tell when things go wrong in a group project. |
| B．control everything group members do. |
| C．make group members admit their mistakes. |
| D．recognize any mistakes as his own. |
According to “Concerns for members”, which of the following is a good quality of a leader?
| A．fair | B．reliable |
| C．determined | D．generous |
Which of the following is not the benefit of being a good listener?
| A．Offer a chance for group members to express themselves freely |
| B．Allow the leader to put all his ideas into practice easily. |
| C．Make it possible to deal with group members’ complaints. |
| D．Make group members productive by sharing their thoughts. |
School children are using mobile phone applications to do their homework, which seem to be increasing during summer vacations. But instead of blaming students for their behavior, we should say no to too much homework. This is important because by using mobile phone applications to do their homework, students don't add much to their knowledge, says an article in Guangzhou-based Yangcheng Evening News. Excerpts (摘录):
Using mobile phone applications to do homework is no different from copying from someone else's work. This is the opinion of a vast majority of teachers. Students who seek cell phone apps help to do their homework will pay dearly during major exams when they cannot seek the help of such applications, the teachers say.
The heavy load of homework Chinese students are burdened with, said to be the heaviest in the world,has led to the popularity of these applications.
Senior high school students in China rarely go to bed before 11 pm. A report in Shanghai published in2013 showed that students in the city on average spend 28.2 hours in class every week, the 9th highest among 65 countries and regions surveyed. Also, they spend an average of 13.8 hours a week doing homework, most in the world.
There is no association between the amount of homework one does and the amount of knowledge one gathers. In fact, a research by Australian experts shows that the result is exactly the opposite: the more hours students spend doing homework, the less effective they will be in gaining knowledge.
The United States is one of the countries where students do little homework, but that has not damaged the country's academic status in the world.
So, it's time Chinese schools understood this fact and freed students of the unnecessary burden of homework.What’s the writer’s attitude toward the students’ using mobile phone applications to do their homework?
| A．Supporting | B．Understanding |
| C．Scolding | D．Praising |
The cause of the students’ using mobile phone applications to do their homework is______.
| A．the heavy burden of homework |
| B．the advance of modern technology |
| C．the pressure of the students’ parents |
| D．the influence of other countries |
What does the underlined phrase “pay dearly” mean?
| A．be rewarded | B．be dismissed |
| C． provide much money | D．suffer a lot |
Which of the following is probably the best title?
| A．Free kids of the burden of homework. |
| B．Stop using mobile phones to do homework. |
| C．Spend less time to gain much knowledge. |
| D．Improve China’s academic status in the world. |
Why read, and sometimes even write poetry? That question is not difficult to answer if we change the word poetry to songs.
I sing when I feel good. When I sing my favorite songs, I feel even better. Sometimes when I am listening to music and to the song words, I feel that it was written for me. A good song always makes me feel something. There are songs that I sing in my head between classes and songs that I want to sing when the school bell rings by the end of the day. They help me get through the day.
They are like bright and warm colors in the middle of grays and shades. I like songs about love and friendship. The extraordinary thing is that my feelings are more special when I sing my favorite songs in English.
I also like reading. I used to avoid poetry until an e-friend told me I should recite poems and not look up the meaning of the words. Poetry uses many difficult words and idioms, but the best thing is to just forget about them. In the beginning I felt quite strange. Now I always lock the door. Reading aloud gives you a strange feeling, but when you have some practice and fall into the rhythm, and the sounds of the words, it is really a special experience.
I started with small poems, but now I think I most like long poems. I have different feelings with different poems. When I have had a bad day at school, I read Keats and forget everything. When I am sad I read Wordsworth by the light of a candle. When the poem is finished, I close the book and my sadness is gone.According to the writer, _______.
| A．people like poems the same way they enjoy songs |
| B．poetry is the same form of art as songs |
| C．people always feel the same while reading poems |
| D．the meaning of words is the key to appreciating poetry |
Which of the following statements is closest in meaning to the underlined sentence?
| A．Songs are like different colors in different times. |
| B．Songs can help people better understand colors. |
| C．Songs can describe a mixture of different colors. |
| D．Songs can bring people warmth and comfort. |
What we can infer from the passage is that______.
| A．the writer likes singing songs aloud at any time |
| B．songs and poems can help get over bad emotions |
| C．the writer’s native language is English |
| D．the writer like songs better than poems |
What can we know about the poems of Keats and Wordsworth through the passage?
| A．Keats’ poems are full of bad feelings. |
| B．Wordsworth’s poems contain much sad description. |
| C．Both of their poetry can create positive feelings. |
| D．The themes of their poems are not different at all. |
The message what the "Eat up All on Your Plate" campaign tries to convey is not new. Our ancestors had poems about the importance of frugality (节俭) in the consumption of food. But it makes a lot of sense when many are yet to have the awareness that food waste borders on a crime.
The campaign has been started online and thousands of people have answered the call. Many restaurants have joined the program by announcing that customers are encouraged to order half a dish and take home what they can't finish.
However, it is estimated (估计) that 50 million tons of grain are wasted every year in China, enough to feed 200 million people for a year.
True, official banquets (宴席) paid with public money contribute much to such waste. But it is important that everyone thinks about how they can do their bit to reduce food waste. We need to develop the habit of never ordering or cooking more than we can eat and feeling guilty when we dump our leftovers.
Many people have a bad habit of entertaining guests with more than enough food, believing that they have not satisfied their guests' appetites if there is no food left on the table. In fact, to be a good host they order more than their guests can possibly eat and their guests eat more than they want out of politeness.
Such a mentality needs to change. People need to be made aware that it is impolite to force guests to eat more than they are comfortable with and it is insensible and uncivilized to waste food. Even if one is wealthy, ordering more than one can eat is a bad way to show off one's wealth. The writer thinks the campaign "Eat up All on Your Plate" makes sense because______.
| A．some people have some bad eating habits |
| B．some officials are wasting a lot of food |
| C．wasting food is still rather common in China |
| D．saving food is a traditional virtue of China |
The writer shows how serious the problem of food waste is by_____.
A. Using examples
B. Offering figures
C. Comparing
D. Analyzing people’s attitude
【小题3The problem of food waste can be handled only when_______.
A. officials are forbidden to eat out with public money
B. more similar campaigns like this one have been started
C. restaurants don’t serve all the food people have ordered
D. everyone takes action to fight against food waste
Towards the end of Middle English, a sudden change in pronunciation started, with vowels (元音) being pronounced shorter and shorter. From the 16th century the British had contact (接触) with many people from around the world. This meant that lots of new vocabulary entered the language. The invention of printing also meant that there was now a common language in print. Books became cheaper and more people learned to read. Spelling and grammar became fixed, and the dialect of London became the standard. In 1604 the first English dictionary came out.
Early Modern English and Late Modern English are mostly different in the number of words. Late Modern English has many more words, mainly because of the following two reasons: First, the Industrial Revolution (工业革命) led to the need for new words. Second, the British Empire covered one quarter of the earth’s surface, and the English language took in foreign words from many countries.
From around 1600, the English colonization (殖民地化) of North America led to American English. Some English pronunciations and words “froze” when they reached America. In some ways, American English is more like the English of Shakespeare than modern British English. Some expressions that are called “American English” are in fact from British expressions. They were kept in the colonies while lost for a time in Britain. Spanish also had an influence (影响) on American English. For example, words like canyon, ranch, stampede and vigilante are from Spanish. They entered English by the people of Spain who settled in the American West. French words and West African words also influenced American English.
Today, American English has a greater influence, because of the USA’s movies, television, popular music, trade and technology.The main difference between Early and Late Modern English lies in _____.
| A．vocabulary | B．pronunciation |
| C．spelling | D．grammar |
What helped to increase the vocabulary of Late Modern English?
a. the invention of printing
b. the Industrial Revolution
c. the colonization
d. the contact with other countries
| A．a, b, c | B．a, c, d |
| C．a, b, d | D．b, c, d |
From the passage, we can learn the word “canyon” is from _____.
| A．American dialect | B．African dialect |
| C．Spanish | D．French |
The third paragraph mainly talks about _____.
| A．English colonies in North America |
| B．the development of American English |
| C．other languages’ influence on American English |
| D．the difference between American English and British English |