I grew up in a house where the TV was seldom turned on and with one wall in my bedroom entirely lined with bookshelves, most of my childhood was spent on books I could get hold of. In fact, I grew up thinking of reading as natural as breathing and books unbelievably powerful in shaping perspectives (观点) by creating worlds we could step into, take part. in. and live in.
With this unshakable belief, I, at. fourteen, decided to become a writer. Here too, reading became useful. Every writer starts off knowing that he has something to say, but being unable to find the right ways to say it. He has to find his own voice by reading widely and discovering which parts of the writers he agrees or disagrees with, or agrees with so strongly that it reshapes his own world. He cannot write without loving to read, because only through reading other people's writing can one discover what works, what doesn't and, in the end, together with lots of practice, what voice he has.
Now I am in college, and have come to realize how important it is to read fiction (文学作品)．As a. law student, my reading is in fact limited to subject matter-the volume (量) of what I have to read for classes every week means there is little time to read anything else. Such reading made it all the clearer to me that I live in a very small part in this great place called life. Reading fiction reminds me that there is life beyond my own. It allows me to travel across the high seas and along the Silk Road, all from the comfort of my own armchair, to experience, though secondhand, exciting experiences that I wouldn't necessarily be able to have in my lifetime. What can be inferred about the author as a child?
| A． He never watched TV. |
| B． He read what he had to. |
| C． He found reading unbelievable. |
| D． He considered reading part of his life |
The underlined word "voice" in the second paragraph most probably means "_______".
| A． an idea |
| B． a sound quality |
| C． a way of writing |
| D． a world to write about |
What effect does reading have on the author?
| A． It helps him to realize his dream. |
| B． It opens up a wider world for him. |
| C． It makes his college life more interesting. |
| D． It increases his interest in worldwide travel. |
Which of the following can be the best title of this text?
| A． Why do I read? |
| B． How do I read? |
| C． What do I read? |
| D． When do I read? |
Online Voting —The Most Beautiful Places in China
What are the most beautiful places in China in your eyes? Please take part in our activity and vote online. We are looking forward to your choice and voice!
Everyone is welcome!
Rules:
1) Voting period: October 1 to November 30.
2) The results and the winners list will be released in December.
3) 10 votes are allowed.
4) Please leave your contact information when sending your votes. CRIENGLISH takes no responsibility if a winner fails to receive the award because of incorrect contact information.
5) Your comments will be important in choosing the winners.
6) CRIENGLISH reserves the right to decide the final winners.
7) CRIENGLISH reserves the right for final explanation of the rules.
Awards:
The three top winners will each receive an award worth 300 Yuan (about 48 US dollars);
The five second place winners will each receive an award worth 200 Yuan (about 32 US dollars);
The ten third place winners will each receive an award worth 100 Yuan (about 16 US dollars).You need to leave your contact information when sending your votes so that ______.
| A．CRIENGLISH can post it online |
| B．everybody online can contact you |
| C．CRIENGLISH can reach you if you win a prize |
| D．CRIENGLISH can use it for some other purposes |
How many winners will be chosen in this activity?
| A．8. | B．10. | C．15. | D．18. |
What can be learned about the rules?
| A．The activity lasts three months. |
| B．Everyone must provide 10 votes at least. |
| C．Only the one giving his information can join the activity. |
| D．You’d better give a comment in order to win. |
The text invites people to ______.
| A．travel around the ten most beautiful places in China |
| B．choose the ten most beautiful places in China |
| C．write an article about the ten most beautiful places in China |
| D．send some photos about the ten most beautiful places in China |
Who probably wrote the passage?
| A．A Travel Research Agency | B．A Medical Center |
| C．An Animal Reservation | D．A Souvenir shopping mall |
A couple from Minneapolis decided to go to Florida for a long weekend to warm themselves up during one particularly icy cold winter. They planned to stay at the very same hotel where they spent their honeymoon 20 years ago. They both had jobs, so it was decided that the husband would fly to Florida on a Thursday, and his wife would follow him the next day. Upon arriving as planned, the husband checked into the hotel. There he decided to open his laptop and send his wife an e-mail back in Minneapolis. However, he accidentally left off one letter in her address and sent the e-mail without noticing his error.
In the same time: In Houston, a woman had just returned from her husband’s funeral(葬礼). He was a minister of many years who had been “called home to glory” following a heart attack. The woman checked her e-mail, expecting message from family and friends. Upon reading the first message, she fainted(昏厥)and fell to the floor. Her son rushed into the room, found his mother on the floor and saw the computer screen which read:
To: My Loving Wife
From: Your Departed Husband
Subject: I’ve arrived!
I’ve just arrived and have been checked in. I see that everything has been prepared for your arrival tomorrow. Looking forward to seeing you then. Hope your journey is as uneventful(平静)as mine was.
P.S. Sure is hot down here.Why did the couple decide to go to Florida for weekend?
| A．To visit their family and friends |
| B．To escape from the cold winter |
| C．To escape from their busy work |
| D．To attend a friend’s funeral |
What mistake did the husband make after checking into the hotel?
| A．He checked into a wrong hotel |
| B．He forget to bring the laptop |
| C．He misspelled her wife’s address |
| D．He forgot to mail his letter |
The expression “called home to glory” probably suggests that the man had.
| A．gone back to his hometown |
| B．called his family to say hello |
| C．been awarded a prize |
| D．died and gone to heaven |
How did the woman probably feel after reading the e-mail?
| A．Pleased | B．Amazed | C．Frightened | D．Moved |
Which of the following is true according to the text?
| A．The woman’s husband died of a heart attack |
| B．The woman liked to chat with her friends by e-mail |
| C．The couple held their wedding in Florida 20 years ago. |
| D．His wife wouldn’t go to Florida for his error. |
Elizabeth Blackwell was born in England in 1821, and moved to New York City when she was ten years old. One day she decided that she wanted to become a doctor. That was nearly impossible for a woman in the middle of the nineteenth century. After writing many letters asking for admission(录取) to medical schools, she was finally accepted by a doctor in Philadelphia. She was so determined that she taught school and gave music lessons to get money for the cost of schooling.
In 1849, after graduation from medical school, she decided to further her education in Paris. She wanted to be a surgeon(外科医师) , but a serious eye problem forced her to give up the idea.
Upon returning to the United States, she found it difficult to start her own practice because she was a woman. By 1857 Elizabeth and her sister, also a doctor, along with another woman doctor, managed to open a new hospital, the first for women and children. Besides being the first woman physician and founding her own hospital , she also set up the first medical school for women.Why couldn’t Elizabeth Blackwell realize her dream of becoming a surgeon?
| A．She couldn’t get admitted to medical school |
| B．She decided to further her education in Paris |
| C．A serious eye problem stopped her |
| D．It was difficult for her to start a practice in the United States |
What main obstacle(障碍) almost destroyed Elizabeth’s chances for becoming a doctor?
| A．She was a woman. |
| B．She wrote too many letters. |
| C．She couldn’t graduate from medical school. |
| D．She couldn’t set up her hospital. |
How many years passed between her graduation from medical school and the opening of her hospital?
| A．Eight years | B．Ten years | C．Nineteen years | D．Thirty-six years |
According to the passage, all of the following are “firsts” in the life of Elizabeth Blackwell except that she ______.
| A．became the first woman physician |
| B．was the first woman doctor |
| C．and several other women founded the first hospital for women and children |
| D．set up the first medical school for women |
Elizabeth Blackwell spent most of her life in _______.
| A．England | B．Paris | C．the United States | D．New York City |
阅读下列短文，从每题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出最佳选项。
I found the imagination of becoming a grandmother somewhat discouraging. I was younger than I thought a grandmother should be when I got the news that I was going to become one myself. I admit, it was not a role that I was emotionally ready to accept. I had been a young mother, and had certainly hoped my daughter would not face that same challenge. I remarried when she was a teenager, and then had two more children. On getting the news that she was expecting(怀孕), I remember thinking “What do I know about being a grandmother? —I haven’t even finished raising my own kids yet!” I don’t like to be unprepared, so I read a few books about grandparenting. That gave me a little help, but I was still uncertain. I thought about other grandmothers I knew, and got a few ideas I liked and a few more that I didn’t. But I couldn’t quite figure out what kind of grandmother I wanted to be. Then I thought about my own grandmother, Granny, as she’s known by most people, and I knew I had the answer.
I didn’t realize it until that moment, but my own grandmother was the example for the kind of grandmother I wanted to be. I am fortunate that I got to spend a lot of time with my grandparents when I was a little kid. Here is what I learned from my Granny：
Grandmothers always have a cookie jar. For my whole life, Granny always had a cookie jar full of cookies. When I was a little tiny girl, just at eye level with the counter, Granny would get the cookie jar down for me. When I was a little older I learned how to pull the chair over so I could reach. As I got taller, if I really stretched, I could reach the cookie jar with my finger tips and move it close enough to get it down off the counter to find out what kind of treat was inside. Always the first thing I did when I went to Granny’s house was check the cookie jar, and there were always cookies in it. Many years later, I’ll drive my own children to Granny’s house and the first thing to do is get us all a cookie.
So grandmothers must have a cookie jar, and on my granddaughter’ s first Christmas，my daughter bought me my own cookie jar. She said when they came to see me，her daughter would find the treat the way she did and I did.The writer thought it was a little discouraging to be a grandmother because________.
| A．she was not old enough to be one |
| B．she was not emotionally ready to be one |
| C．she thought her daughter was too young to be a mother |
| D．grandmother should be older than she was |
The underlined phrase “that same challenge ” in the first paragraph refers to “________”
| A．taking care of a grandchild |
| B．taking care of a baby |
| C．being a young grandmother |
| D．being a young mother |
It can be inferred from the last paragraph that________.
| A．the writer has many happy memories of her grandmother’s cookie jar |
| B．the writer always wanted to know what was inside her grandmother’s cookie jar |
| C．the writer often drove her grandchildren to see her grandmother’s cookie jar |
| D．women of the writer ‘s age all have a cookie jar for their grandchildren |
What kind of grandmother did the writer want to be?
| A．One who has a jar filled with many kinds of cookies for children and herself. |
| B．One who grows up with her grandmother^ cookie jar with all kinds of cookies. |
| C．One who is like her own grandmother with a cookie jar to treat her grandchildren. |
| D．One who always makes different kinds of cookies to treat her grandchildren. |
Which of the following can be the best title of this text?
| A．Grandmother’s Cookie Jar |
| B．Grandmother’s Treat for Children |
| C．Grandmothers and Grandchildren |
| D．Happy Memories of Cookies |
阅读下面短文，根据小题的具体要求，简要回答问题。
UFO is short for Unidentified Flying Object. It’s also called Flying Saucer. It is one of the most popular topics in the 20th century. With films like Close Encounters of the Third Kind and ET in the 1970s came a rapid increase in reports of flying saucers and men from Mars. More than 20 countries said their people once saw the UFO and there were over 1,200 reports about the UFO. Some even said they saw aliens.
In July, 1916, Gaynor was a nine-year-old girl and lived in North Wales. One day, on her way home from school, she saw a silver object in a field not far from her home. The object looked like a saucer. Gaynor was very scared. She stayed in the tall grass and watched the door of the strange object open. She saw two aliens wearing silver suits get ou. Then they use something to examine the ground. They were short and had pink eyes. After about half an hour, the two aliens went back into the object. Then it took off. When Gaynor got home, she told her mother about her unusual experience, but her family decided to keep quiet about it. They didn’t want others to laugh at their daughter. However, 18 months later, Gaynor told her story to UFO scientists. They found out that Gaynor told the truth.What does UFO stand for? (No more than 3 words)
How did Gaynor feel when she saw the silver object like a saucer? (No more than 4 words)
Why did Gaynor’s parents keep quiet about her experience ? (No more than 10 words)