As we grow old, we realize that we have so little time to read and there are so many great books that we’ve yet to get around to. Ye re-readers are everywhere around us. For certain fans, re-reading The Lord of the Rings is a conventional practice annually. One friend told me that Jane Austen’s Emma can still surprise him, despite his having read it over 50 times.
New sudden clear understandings can be gained from the process of re-reading. Journalist Rebacca Mead, a long-time Englishwoman in New York, first came across George Eliot’s Middlemarch at 17. Since then, she has read it again every five years. With each re-reading, it has opened up further; in each chapter of her life, it has resonated (引起共鸣) differently. Mead evidenced the large number of ways in which really good books not only stand the test of repeat reads, but also offer fresh gifts each time we crack their spines. These kinds of books grow with us.
Scientists have also recognized the mental health benefits of re-reading. Research conducted with readers in the US found that on our first reading, we are concerned with the “what” and the “why”. Second time round, we’re able to better appreciate the emotions that the plot continues to express. As researcher Cristel Russell of the American University explained, returning to a book “brings new or renewed appreciation of both the great book and its readers.”
It’s true that we often find former selves on the pages of old books (if we’re fond of making notes on the pages). These texts can carry us back to a time and place, and remind us of the kind of person that we were then. We’re changed not only by lived experience but also by read experience – by the books that we’ve discovered since last reading the one in our hand.
More so than the movie director or the musician, the writer calls upon our imaginations, using words to lead us to picture this declaration of love or that unfaithfulness in life. A book is a joint project between writers and readers, and we must pour so much of ourselves into reading that our own life story can become connected with the story in the book.
Perhaps what’s really strange is that we don’t re-read more often. After all, we watch our favourite films again and we wouldn’t think of listening to an album only once. We treasure messy old paintings as objects, yet of all art forms, literature alone is a largely one-time delight. A book, of course, takes up more time, but as Mead confirms, the rewards make it adequately worthwhile.The two books are mentioned in Paragraph 1 mainly to __________.
| A．attract the attention of readers |
| B．introduce the topic of the passage |
| C．provide some background information |
| D．show the similarity between re-readers |
The underlined expression “crack their spines” in Paragraph 2 refers to ________.
| A．recite them | B．re-read them |
| C．recall them | D．retell them |
It can be learned from the passage that __________.
| A．reading benefits people both mentally and physically |
| B．readers mainly focus on feelings on their first reading |
| C．we know ourselves better through re-reading experience |
| D．writers inspire the same imaginations as film directors do |
The purpose of the passage is to __________.
| A．call on different understandings of old books |
| B．focus on the mental health benefits of reading |
| C．bring awareness to the significance of re-reading |
| D．introduce the effective ways of re-reading old books |
At the age of 16, Clara Barton was advised to become a teacher, since she was quite shy. She taught in Massachusetts for ten years, and was invited to Bordentown, New Jersey, to teach in a private school. She saw personally that these communities needed free education for their citizens, and she responded by creating a free school, one of the first in her state. Later, officials ignored her and appointed a male as principal instead. She resigned and moved to Washington DC, becoming the first woman employed by the U. S. Patent Office.
Clara Barton was forever changed by her experience with the troops in the Civil War. She saw surgeons dressing wounds with cornhusks（玉米叶）, since they had nothing else. The medical supplies for the Army were well behind the troops, who were moving faster than their medical supply lines. She brought in a wagon of bandages and medical supplies that she had collected personally beforehand.Barton continued to work on the battlefields throughout the war.
She helped in the identification process of 13,000 dead Union soldiers. Afterward, she was an important figure in a campaign to identify missing soldiers from the Civil War. This non-stop work debilitated her, and upon recommendation by her physicians, she traveled to Europe to recover herself.
While in Europe, and still in poor health Miss Barton was moved by the hardship on civilians brought about by the France-Prussia war. She helped in their relief effort, and in that work she was inspired to create the Red Cross, which served all troops and civilians.
Clara Barton returned to America and then began the establishment of the American Red Cross. The US government did not think there would ever be another war, after the horror of the Civil War. But she convinced them that the Red Cross would be valuable to serve in times of natural disasters, as well. This was her lasting legacy（遗产）, an agency that still provides aid to victims today.What does this text mainly tell us about?
| A．The establishment of the American Red Cross. |
| B．A general introduction of Clara Barton’s life. |
| C．Clara Barton’s contribution to the Red Cross. |
| D．Clara Barton’s service in the army. |
Why did Clara give up her job in the free school?
| A．Because officials didn’t make her principal. |
| B．Because she wanted to work in a Patent Office. |
| C．Because she wanted to serve in the army. |
| D．Because she was not satisfied with the pay. |
The underlined word “debilitated” in the third paragraph means .
| A．rewarded | B．satisfied | C．disturbed | D．weakened |
What is the greatest contribution made by Clara Barton?
| A．She set up a free school. |
| B．She collected supplies for the army. |
| C．She identified missing soldiers. |
| D．She set up the American Red Cross. |
Once upon a time, there was a lovely vegetable field, on which grew a very thick tree. Both the vegetables and the tree gave the place a wonderful appearance, which was the joy of the garden’s owner. What no one knew was that the vegetables in the field and the tree couldn’t stand each other. The vegetables hated the tree’s shadow, because it left them only just enough light to survive. The tree, on the other hand, hated the vegetables because they drank nearly all the water before it could get to him, leaving him with just enough to survive.
The situation became so extreme that the vegetables got totally fed up and decided to use up all the water in the ground so that the tree would dry up. The tree answered back by refusing to give the vegetables shadow from the hot midday sun, so they both began to dry up. Before long, the vegetables were really thin and the tree’s branches were drying up.
Neither of them thought that the gardener, on seeing his vegetable field becoming worse, would stop watering it. When he did that, both the tree and the vegetables really learned what thirst was. There seemed to be no solution, but one of the vegetables, a small courgette（小胡瓜）, understood what was going on, and decided to deal with it. Despite the little water and the unbearable heat, the little courgette did all he could to grow, grow...He managed to grow so big that the gardener started watering the field again. The gardener wanted to enter that beautiful big courgette in some gardening contest.
And so the vegetables and the tree realized that it was better to help each other than to fight. They should really learn how to live in harmony with those around them, doing the best they could. So they decided to work together, using both the shadow and the water in the best combination to grow good vegetables. Seeing how well they were doing, the gardener now gave the best of care to his vegetable field, watering it better than any other field for miles around.What is the problem between the tree and the vegetables?
| A．They looked down upon each other. |
| B．They didn’t leave water to each other. |
| C．They couldn’t stand each other. |
| D．They didn’t know how to protect themselves. |
What is the result of the fight between the tree and the vegetables?
| A．They grew taller and stronger. |
| B．They were both drying up. |
| C．The tree defeated the vegetables. |
| D．The vegetables defeated the tree. |
The courgette thought of ways to solve the conflict by .
| A．making peace with the tree | B．working together with other vegetables |
| C．entering the gardening contests | D．growing big enough |
What can we learn from this passage?
| A．We ought to live in harmony with others. |
| B．We ought to save as much water as possible. |
| C．We ought to learn from each other in some ways. |
| D．We ought to learn to respect each other. |
Uncle Li and Uncle Wang are good friends. They live next to each other and their farms are both at the foot of the mountain. So they can help each other. But neither of them likes to use his head. They're both poor though they work hard. Most villagers have built new houses, but they still live in the low and broken houses. They never find out why.
Once Uncle Li went to town to buy some medicine for his wife. In the town he heard the apples in a city were expensive. He told Uncle Wang about it as soon as he went back. They decided to carry some apples to the city. They borrowed some money from their friends and bought nearly 1,000 kilograms of apples in the villages and carried them to the city on a tractor（拖拉机）. Bad luck! A lot of apples had already been carried there when they arrived. A few days later they had to sell them at a low price (价格)。They felt unhappy and returned to their village.
"I can't understand why we sustained (蒙受) losses in business while others always profit (盈利)" Uncle Li asked one day. "The tractor was too small " Uncle Wang said without thinking. "We'll carry more apples on a truck next time!" "I agree!" said Uncle Li.
How foolish they were !Uncle Li and Uncle Wang live in the low and broken houses because __________.
| A．they hope to save money |
| B．they're both poor |
| C．their farms are at the foot of the mountain |
| D．they're not far from their farms |
The two farmers carried the apples to the city to _________.
| A．make a journey | B．visit some places of interest |
| C．meet their friends | D．make a profit |
the two farmers had to sell their apples at a low price because ________.
| A．theirs weren't as good as the others' |
| B．theirs were much less than the others' |
| C．a lot of apples had been already carried to the city |
| D．they forgot to carry them on a truck |
Mr Brown was going away for a week. Before he left, he said to his son, "if anyone asks for me, you can tell him that your father has been out for doing something, and will be back in a week, then be sure to ask him to sit down for a cup of tea.""OK, Dad," said his son. But he was afraid his son couldn't remember this, he wrote these words down on a piece of paper and gave it to him. His son put it into his small pocket, took it out and looked at it every now and then.
Four days passed, but no one came to see his father. The boy thought that there was no man to come and that the piece of paper was of no more use for him, so he burnt it that evening.
The next afternoon, someone knocked at the door. The boy opened it. A man was standing at the door and said, "Where is your father?" The boy put his hand into his pocket at once and looked for the piece of paper. He could not find it. He suddenly remembered he had burnt it, so he shouted, "No more."The man was very surprised. He asked, "No more? I met your father last week. When did it happen?"
"Burnt yesterday evening."Mr Brown told his son that _____.
| A．he would be away from home for four days |
| B．he would be back in seven days |
| C．he would be back in a month |
| D．he liked a cup of tea |
Mr Brown wrote the words down on ________.
| A．the wall | B．the door | C．a piece of paper | D．his son's pocket |
A man came to visit the boy's father on ________.
| A．the second day | B．the third day | C．the fourth day | D．the fifth day |
What was burnt? ___________.
| A．The piece of paper | B．Mr Smith | C．The visitor | D．The boy |
In England, people often talk about the weather because they can experience (经历) several seasons in one day. In the morning the weather is warm just like in spring. An hour later black clouds come and then it rains hard. The weather gets a little cold. In the late afternoon the sky will be sunny, the sun will begin to shine, and it will be summer at this time of a day.
In England, people can also have summer in winter, or have winter in summer. So in winter they can swim sometimes, and in summer sometimes they should take warm clothes.
umbrella (伞)or a raincoat with them in the sunny morning, but you should not laugh at them.If you don't take an umbrella or a raincoat, you will regret (后悔) later in the day.Why do people in England often talk about the weather?
| A．Because they may have several seasons in one day |
| B．Because they often have very good weather |
| C．Because the weather is warm just like in spring |
| D．Because the sky is sunny all day |
From the story we know that when _________come, there is a heavy rain.
| A．sunshine and snow | B．black clouds |
| C．summer and winter | D．spring and autumn |
In the sunny morning some English people usually take a raincoat or an umbrella with them because ________.
| A．their friends ask them to do so | B．it often rains in England |
| C．they are going to sell them | D．they are their favourite things |
The best title (标题)for this passage is ________.
| A．Bad Seasons | B．Summer or Winter |
| C．The Weather in England | D．Strange English People |