WritingScienceFiction&Fantasyb-优题课

Jenny went to visit her friends in New York last weekend. Her friends met her at the airport on Friday afternoon and drove her to the hotel. They had dinner at a Chinese restaurant and went to see a film after that.
　Jenny and her friends set out early on Saturday morning for a farm and stayed there until Sunday morning. During their stay, they went fishing and swimming in the small river on the farm. They played football in the field and enjoyed a big meal around a camp fire（篝火）, singing and dancing till late into the night.
　Nobody could get up early on Sunday morning. So when they got back to New York City, it was about three o’clock in the afternoon. They drove right to the airport because Jenny didn’t want to miss her plane back home. Jenny only stayed in New York for two nights but she had a great time with her friend.
Jenny went to New York________.

A．to do some shopping

B．to see her friends

C．to spend her summer holiday

D．to find a job

How did Jenny get to New York?

A．By train.

B．By bus.

C．By plane.

D．On foot.

Where did Jenny and her friends go on Saturday?

A．To the farm.	B．To the Chinese restaurant.
C．To the airport.	D．To the railway station.

When did Jenny go back home?
　

A．On Saturday afternoon.	B．On Sunday morning.
C．On Saturday evening.	D．On Sunday afternoon.

Once there was a poor farmer and his farm belonged to(属于) a rich man. One day he brought a basket of apples to the rich man’s house. On the doorsteps, he met two monkeys dressed like children. They jumped onto the basket to eat the apples and threw some on the ground. The farmer politely took off his hat and asked the monkeys to get off. They obeyed(服从) and the farmer went into the house. He asked to see the rich man. A servant took him to the room where the rich man was sitting.
“I have brought you the basket of apples you asked for,” he said.
“But why have you brought a half-empty basket?” the rich man asked.
“I met your children outside, and they stole some of the apples.”
Why did the farmer bring apples to the rich man? Because.

A．he was poor

B．he liked the rich man

C．his farm belonged to the rich man

D．the rich man’s children liked apples

What did the monkeys do when the farmer was on the doorsteps?

A．They jumped and jumped.

B．They played.

C．They ran away.

D．They ate some of the apples.

The monkeys left the basket because .

A．they had thrown apples on the ground

B．the farmer had politely asked them to get off

C．they were afraid of the hat

D．the farmer was angry wit h them

How did the rich man feel when he saw the basket? He felt .

A．pleased

B．moved

C．excited

D．unhappy

I receive many letters from children and can’t answer them all – there wouldn’t be enough time in a day. I’ll try to answer some of the questions that are commonly asked.
Where did I get the idea for Stuart Little and for Charlotte’s Web? Well, many years ago, I went to bed one night in a railway sleeping car, and during the night I dreamed about a tiny boy who acted rather like a mouse. That’s how the story of Stuart Little got started.
As for Charlotte’s Web, I like animals and my farm is very pleasant place to be – at all hours. One day, when I was on my way to feed the pig, I began feeling sorry for the pig because, like most pigs, he was going to die. This made me sad. So I started thinking of ways to save his life. Three years after I started writing it, it was published. (I am not a fast worker, as you can see.)
Sometimes I’m asked when I started to write, and what made me want to write. I started early – as soon as I could spell. Children often find pleasure through trying to set their thoughts down on paper, either in words or in pictures. I was not good at drawing, so I used words instead. As I grew older, I found that writing could be a way of earning a living.
Well, here is the answer to the last question. No, they are imaginary (虚构的) tales. In real life, a family doesn’t have a child who looks like a mouse and a spider doesn’t write words in her web. Although my stories are imaginary, I like to think that there is some truth in them, too – truth about the way people and animals feel, think and act.
E.B. White wrote this passage to ______.
A. introduce his new books
B. introduce two funny stories
C. explain why he enjoys writing
D. answer some readers’ questions
We can know from the passage that E.B. White is a writer who ______.
A. writes very fast
B. works on a friends’ farm
C. mainly writes stories for adults
D. writes imaginary tales for children
What inspired E.B. White to write Charlotte’s Web?
A. That he wanted children to love animals.
B. That he was deeply impressed by a clever pig.
C. That he wanted to use his own way to save a pig.
D. That he wanted to save the animals on a farm.
E.B. White started to write because he wanted to ______.
A. improve his spelling
B. express his thoughts
C. show his sadness
D. make a good living
What is probably the last question?

A．Are your stories true?

B．What is the truth in your stories?

C．Will you write more imaginary tales?

D．Do you know a child looking like a mouse?

The clock rules our lives. The more we try to save time, the less time we seem to have. In every area of our lives we are doing things faster. And many of us live in towns and cities which are getting noisier and more stressful as each day passes. But now a worldwide movement, whose aim is to slow life down, has started. Its supporters are people who believe that a happier and healthier way of life is possible.
The Slow Food movement was founded the day that an Italian journalist, Carlo Petrini, saw that McDonald’s had opened a restaurant in a beautiful square in Rome. He thought it was sad that many people today live too quickly to sit down for a proper meal and only eat much fast food. He decided that he had to try to do something about it and so he started the Slow Food movement. Slow Food has become a global organization ever since and now has more than 80,000 members in 100 countries.
Slow Food also encourages people to eat local and regional food, to use local shops and markets, to eat out in small family restaurants, and to cook with traditional recipes.
The idea of Slow Cities was inspired by the Slow Food movement. The aim of Slow Cities is to improve people’s quality of life. Towns which want to become a Slow City have to reduce traffic and noise, increase the number of green areas, plant trees, build pedestrian zones, and promote local businesses and traditions. Now it has spread to other countries all over the world, from the UK to Japan and Australia. There are now 135 Slow Cities in 24 countries across the world that have been named since founding of the organization in 1999. Gao Chun County, in east China’s Jiangsu Province, is expected to be named the first “Slow City” in China next year.
“Slow Cities are about having a community life in the town,” said a local resident. “It is not ‘slow’ as in ‘stupid’. It is ‘slow’ as in the opposite of ‘worried’ and ‘stressful’.”
But not everybody is happy. For teenagers, who have to go 25km to Norwich, the nearest city, to buy CDs, living in a Slow City is not very attractive. “It’s all right here,” says Lewis Cook, 16. “But if you want excitement, you have to go to Norwich. We need more things here for young people.”
What’s the aim of the Slow Food movement?

A．To call on people to eat out.

B．To make people enjoy cooking.

C．To drive McDonald’s out of Rome

D．To encourage people to slow down.

All the following are necessary to be a Slow City EXCEPT ______.

A．reducing traffic and noise

B．increasing the number of green areas

C．building more department stores

D．promoting local businesses and traditions

From the fourth paragraph, we know that ______.

A．the Slow Food was founded in 1999

B．there is no Slow City in China now

C．Slow Cities are mainly in the UK

D．there are about 24 Slow Cities in the world

What’s Lewis Cook’s attitude to living in a Slow City?

A．Positive

B．Neutral

C．Negative

D．Indifferent

What would be the best title for the passage?

A．Slow down and you’ll move fast

B．Time flies never to be recalled.

C．Eat slowly and you’ll be healthy.

D．Pay attention to the quality of life.

Not all vegetables need lots of sunshine. Mark Hoffman and his wife own a bed-and-breakfast guesthouse in rural Kempton, Illinois. They often serve their guests fresh products from the garden.
The Hoffmans have been growing food and flowers for twenty-five years. For almost ten of those years, Mr. Hoffman has been experimenting and working with shade (阴凉) plantings. He says, “The bottom line here is that most plants will produce more in full sun. But if you do not have full sun, there are other choices.”
For example, he grows tomatoes near oak trees. Oak trees can produce a lot of shade. But Mr. Hoffman says his tomato plants grow as long as they get five hours’ direct sunshine a day, especially morning sun. Not only does this go against the traditional advice that tomatoes need six, eight, even twelve hours’ full sun a day. It also shows how plants and tree roots can share nutrients and water.
Mr. Hoffman says plants with wider leaves seem to do better in shady environments. He also found that his potatoes did better partly in shade than in full sun.
Moving them out of the sun helped control an insect problem. Mr. Hoffman does not use pesticide (农药). Instead, he planted the potatoes in the shade, especially on the east side of the tree. The potatoes get morning sun, but they are shaded during the hottest part of the day. Some insects dislike shade, and the hottest part day is when they do the worst of their damage.
Time of day, sun intensity (强度), shadows from trees, walls and buildings all influence how much sunlight falls on plants. And people interested in shade planting should also remember something else. The term “shade” can describe different amounts of darkness. It can even mean different things in different parts of the world.
How many hours of sunshine are enough to keep tomato plants growing in Hoffman’s garden?

A．five hours a day	B．Six hours a day
C．Eight hours a day	D．Twelve hours a day

From the passage we can know that ______ .

A．plants with wider leaves produce more in full sun.

B．as a matter of fact, plants don’t need to grow in full sun.

C．the more sunshine plants get, the more they will produce

D．plants with wider leaves grow better in shadows

All of the following can influence how much sunlight falls on plants EXCEPT ______.

A．length of day time

B．brightness of the sun

C．changes of the season

D．shadows

Which of the following can best describe Mr. Hoffman?

A．Curious

B．Experienced

C．Easy-going

D．Funny

We may read the passage on a website in the section of ______.

A．environment

B．travelling

C．agriculture

D．lifestyle