Jane Austen was born in the English countryside more than 200 years ago. She lived a simple life. She seldom travelled. She never married and she died from illness when she was only 41.
However, people all over the world remember her. Why? It is because Jane Austen is the author of some of the best-loved novels in the English language. These novels include Emma, Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility and Persuasion.
Jane completed her last novel Persuasion in 1816, but it was not published until after her death. Persuasion is partly based on Jane’s naval brother.
Anne, the daughter of Sir Walter Elliot, falls in love with Captain Wentworth, a person of a lower social position. But she breaks off the engagement when persuaded by her friend Lady Russell that such a match is unworthy. The breakup produces in Anne a deep and long-lasting regret. Eight years later, Wentworth returns from sea a rich and successful captain. He finds Anne’s family on the edge of financial ruin. Anne and the captain rediscover their love and get married.
Jane Austen once compared her writing to painting on a little bit of ivory(象牙), two inches square. Readers of Persuasion will see that neither her skill of delicate, ironic(讽刺的) observations on social custom, love, and marriage nor her ability to apply a sharp focus to English manners and morals has abandoned her in her final finished work.
Persuasion has produced three film adaptations: a 1995 version starring Amanda Root and Ciaran Hinds, a 2007 TV miniseries with Sally Hawkins and Rupert Penry-Jones, and a 1971 miniseries with Ann Firbank and Bryan Marshall.
People who are interested in Jane Austen can still visit many of the places she visited and lived. These places include the village of Steventon, although her family house is now gone. Many of the places Jane visited in Bath are still there. You can visit Jane Austen’s home in Chawton, where she did her best writing, and Winchester, where she died.What is the theme of Persuasion?
A.Never regret what you’ve chosen. |
B.True love lasts forever. |
C.Be matched for marriage. |
D.Love waits for no man. |
Which of the following CANNOT describe Jane’s writing style?
A.Her application of symbolism. |
B.Her delicate observations. |
C.Her focus on manners and morals. |
D.Her use of irony. |
Which of the following about Jane Austen is TRUE?
A.Her family house is now in the village of Steventon. |
B.Many of the places she visited in Bath are still available. |
C.The latest film adaptation of Persuasion was produced in 1995. |
D.Her last novel Persuasion is considered her most successful one. |
The article mainly talks about _______.
A.Jane Austen’s unique writing style |
B.the original residence of Jane Austen |
C.Jane Austen’s last novel: Persuasion |
D.the popularity of Jane Austen’s novels |
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60. This passage is written to ________.
A. offer some wonderful stories to readers
B. encourage people to write something
C. show that making money is not difficult
D. remind people that life is full of joy
61. The underlined word “karma” is closest in meaning to ________.
A. wish B. explanation C. luckD. imagination
62. Which of the following statements is true according to the passage?
A. The magazine is mainly intended for entertainment.
B. The more words you write, the more money you get.
C. Anecdotes and Jokes isn’t paid much attention to.
D. New jokes can be sent in for Life’s Like That.
63. Where can you most probably see this passage?
A. In a library. B. In a magazine. C. In a story book. D. On a website.
第三部分阅读理解(共20 小题;每小题2分,满分40分)
阅读下列短文,从每题所给的四个选项(A、B、C和D)中,选出最佳选项,并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
Amanda took whatever pills she could get, largely because she was finding life hard to take. “There were a lot of problems,” she says. She had just found out that her parents were splitting(分开). It took her by surprise—and she was shocked. “I woke up one morning, and they told me.”
“On a few occasions during my two years of going to pharming parties(品药聚会), my heart would race so fast it felt like it was going to explode. I felt weak and confused sometimes and even passed out several times,” she recalls. “But I picked up from the ground because I had a lot of pride in my drinking and drugging. I was really crazy about it and proud of the fact that I could take more than a lot of people.”
Finally, though, things got out of control. “I couldn’t go a day without taking something,” she recalls, “and after a while, the pills upset my stomach; it hurt all the time, and I hardly ate. Finally, I couldn’t take it any more. I went to my parents and told them I needed help.”
Amanda entered a treatment program and has been calm since her release last January. “Detox(戒瘾) was the worst four days of my entire life,” she says. “I was throwing up all the food and had the shakes.”
She doesn’t care about drugs. “I’m so hurt from this,” says Amanda, who has ulcers(溃疡) and damaged kidneys from the drugs and alcohol. “I have to struggle daily to stay calm. But in some ways, I feel lucky I went through it, and I’m out of it now.” Amanda wrote a song called “Goodnight to the Moonlight”. Amanda says, “It’s about how it feels to be taking drugs and alcohol, how it hurts, how it makes you feel like you’re losing yourself.”
56. The purpose of writing this passage is to tell us that _______.
A. parents have a great influence on their children
B. drugs are a danger to our health and mind
C. once determined, you will face no difficulty
D. once formed, bad habits are hard to get rid of
57. From the second paragraph we can learn that Amanda_______.
A. was bored with her behavior
B. never felt frightened or ashamed of taking pills
C. took pride in taking much more drugs
D. was so strong in body that she never felt tired
58. After taking drugs, Amanda _______.
A. found out that her parents were splitting
B. found her lungs were damaged
C. was forced to enter a treatment program
D. She felt confused and almost broke down
59. It can be inferred from the last paragraph that _______.
A. Amanda had such a strong will that she didn’t lose herself
B. Amanda’s song expressed her thanks and delight
C. Detox was not really a success to Amanda
D. drugs and alcohol ruined Amanda’s health as well as her spirit
Recently some American scientists have given a useful sincere piece of advice to people in industrialized nations that they would be much healthier if they ate more of the same kind of food eaten by humans living more than 10,000 years ago.
The scientists say that the human body has changed very little since humans first appeared on the earth, but the way we live has changed greatly. Our body has not been able to deal with these changes in life style and this has led to new kinds of sicknesses. These new sicknesses were not known in ancient times, so they are called “diseases of civilization”. Many cancers and diseases of the
blood system, including heart attacks and strokes ( 中风 ) are examples of such diseases.
Scientists noted that people in both the Old Stone Age and the New Stone Age enjoyed very little alcohol or tobacco, probably none. Ancient people also got a great deal of physical exercise, but a change in food is one of the main differences between life in ancient times and that of today.
Stone-age people hunted wild animals for their meat, which had much less fat than domestic or tame ones ( 家畜 ). They also ate a lot of fresh wild vegetables and fruits. They didn’t have milk or any other dairy products, and they made very little use of grains. But today, we eat a large amount of these. We eat six times more salt than our remote ancestors. We eat more sugar. We eat twice as much fat but only one third as much protein and much less vitamin C.
People today probably do not want to live the way people thousands of years ago did, but scientists say that we would be much healthier if we ate
much the same way as remote ancestors did, cutting the amount of fatty, salty and sweet food.
What is the main cause that people suffer from a lot of new sicknesses?
A.Ancient people did a great deal of physical exercise. ![]() |
B.People today have a lot of alcohol.![]() |
C.People today have more tobacco.![]() |
D.Food today is quite different from that of ancient times. |
Which of the following belongs to the dairy products?
A.Milk | B.Corn | C.Pork | D.Flour |
New kinds of sicknesses have been found because ________.
A.the human body has changed compared with humans who first appeared on the earth![]() |
B.the way we live has changed a little![]() |
C.our body can’t deal with the changes in life style![]() |
D.the way we live today is proper for the human body |
According to some scientists, Stone-age people were much healthier than people today because they ate a lot of ________.
A.milk and other dairy products | B.salt and sugar![]() |
C.wild animals, fresh wild vegetables and fruits | D.grain foods |
1) Full Time Secretary Position Available. Applicants (申请者) should have at least 2 years’ experience and be able to type 60 words a minute. No computer skills required. Apply in person at United Business Ltd, 17 Browning Street, Leeds.
2) Part-time Job. We require three part-time shop assistants to work during the evening. No experience required, applicants should be between 18 and 26 years old. Call 0115-765643 for more information.
3) Computer Trained Secretaries. Do you have experience working with computers? Would you like a full time position working in an exciting new company? If you want to know more about us, call at 0457-896754.
4) Teaching Assistants Needed. Hania's Playschool needs 2 young teaching assistants to help with classes from 9 am to 3 pm. Applicants should have references. For more information please visit www.haniaplayschool.co.uk.
5) Weekend Work Available. We are looking for retired adults who would like to work part time on weekends for Rubberlast Group Ltd. Duties include answering the telephone and giving customers' information. For more information call us at 0153-6741326.
6) University Positions Open. The University of Bristol is looking for 4 teaching assistants to help with homework correction. Applicants should have a degree in one of the following: Political Science, English, Economics or History. Please call the University of Bristol for more information.
7) Home Delivery Representative. We are looking for someone who has excellent customer care, communication skills, a sales background with at least one year's experience and is a good team player with creative ideas. In return we offer a starting salary of 20,000 and 25 days paid holiday per year. For more information please call Direct Delivery Team of Yorkshire Post on 0113-2388325 or 0113-2388318.
Which position is most suitable for a retired person?
A.Part-time Shop Assistant. | B.Teaching Assistant in Hania's Playschool.![]() |
C.Weekend Work in Rubberlast Group Ltd![]() |
D.Teaching Assistant in the University of Bristol. |
If you have good computer skills and recently graduated from university (English degree), which jobs can you apply for?
A.Job 1, 2 and 7. | B.Job 3, 4 and 6. | C.Job 4, 6 and 7. | D.Job 2, 3 and 5. |
Which is the only position that has a formal educational requirement?
A.Full Time Secretary at United Business Ltd.![]() |
B.Home Delivery Representative for Yorkshire Post.![]() |
C.Teaching Assistant at Hania's Playschool.![]() |
D.University Positions at the University of Bristol. |
How can you get more information if you are interested in the position of a full-time computer trained secretary?
A.By telephone. | B.By letter. | C.By Internet. | D.In person. |
Eat, drink and be merry. That’s what Spring Festival is all about. But there are millions of people, too, who love to let happiness go up in smoke.
Offering cigarettes to guests is a traditional Chinese way of showing respect to them. A cup of tea and cigarettes are perhaps the most common way of welcoming a guest in China, especially during festive occasions.
No wonder, 40 percent of the people surveyed(调查) recently said they would smoke at least twice the usual number of cigarettes during the Spring Festival because of all those gatherings and parties. Only 20 percent of the respondents said they would refuse a cigarette when offered one. Why can’t the others do the same? Because they could be seen as being rude, said more than half in the respondents. 15 percent feared they could be taken as “someone who cannot get along well with others”.
The Think-tank Research Centre for Health Development and sohu. com survey shows 61 percent Chinese think offering a cigarette is useful for socialising, and 52 percent have offered cigarettes to others. The study surveyed 3,800 people, and 64 percent of them were men.
One-third of those surveyed were smokers, out of which 57 percent said they couldn’t give up smoking because of the offering-and-accepting culture. “People have accepted offering cigarettes as an effective way of making friends,” research centre director Wu Yiqun says.
China has more than 350 million smokers, catering to the tobacco market that is worth 500 billion yuan. “The survey shows we still have a lot of work to do,” Wu says. “It is time to let people know that offering a cigarette is a bad habit and it should be given up immediately.”
The passage is written with the purpose of ________.
A.telling us a custom about the Chinese Spring Festival![]() |
B.introducing a way to make friends with Chinese![]() |
C.stopping smoking during the Chinese Spring Festival![]() |
D.telling us that offering cigarett![]() |
The third paragraph mainly tells us ________.
A. the fact that smokers are greatly increasing during the festival
B. the reason why refusing cigarettes is acceptable
C. the fact that many people have to smoke more cigarettes during the festival
D
. it is rude to attend parties without smoking cigarettes
Which of the following may NOT be the reason that makes many people fail to refuse the offered cigarettes?
A.It’s impolite to refuse. | B.Smoking is harmful for non-smokers.![]() |
C.They want to be friendly | D.It’s a kind of social habit. |
The writer mentions the 500 billion yuan tobacco market because ________.
A.the tobacco market is not developing smoothly![]() |
B.the writer thinks that smoking wastes a lot of money![]() |
C.smoking is helpful to the tobacco market![]() |
D.the tobacco market attracts too many smokers |