题目内容
I am a music store owner. One day, when I was cleaning the instruments in my store, I saw an old man come in. His short steps dragged on the carpet. “Is 77 too old to learn the banjo (班卓琴)?” he asked.
“You can learn to play it well,” I replied, holding back my doubts. My mind told me I was giving false encouragement. I reached the instructor’s schedule and gave the rates, the available time and the additional information that he would need. To my surprise and delight, the old man, Carl, began banjo lessons three days later with my most patient teacher.
With nothing to do at home but practice, Carl made surprising progress. After breakfast he practiced for his required half hour. While waiting for lunch he picked up his banjo again for just a couple of minutes. Since TV was difficult for him to see and hear, he often played the banjo in the evenings. Carl was always early for lessons so it was a surprise that he didn’t arrive one Tuesday.
The next morning I listened to the answering machine with sadness. “Carl’s in hospital,” the voice recorded.
Two months later, I shared the newspaper obituary with the banjo teacher. We both shed tears for a surprisingly clever banjo student.
Several months later, a woman came into the store carrying a plant. “This is for Carl’s banjo teacher,” she said. “I’m his wife, Mary.”
“Why did Carl want to play the banjo?” I asked. Mary took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Carl was at some show when he was 10 years old. He came close to the stage to watch the performers. When they were packing up their instruments, the banjo player said to Carl, ‘You want to see this up close?’ Carl climbed up on the stage and from then on he wanted to play the banjo.” Carl had waited 67 years to realize a dream! Mary gave the plant to Carl’s banjo teacher. “Thank you for the best six months of his life,” she said.
1.How did Carl learn to play the banjo well?
A. By working hard.
B. By taking short cuts.
C. By asking his wife to help him.
D. By finding the best teacher.
2.From Paragraph 2, we can know the author ______.
A. was unwilling to help Carl
B. was giving true encouragement
C. didn’t want to encourage Carl
D. encouraged Carl though he had doubts
3.The underlined word “obituary” in Para.5 means a notice that _______.
A. announces somebody has died
B. announces somebody is needed
C. announces a good piece of news
D. announces a gift for somebody
4.Why did Carl want to learn banjo?
A. He wanted to become a banjo performer.
B. He wanted to make his dream of his young age come true.
C. His wife encouraged him to learn it.
D. He wanted to spend the last best six months of his life.
任务型阅读
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Deep reading, as opposed to superficial (shallow) reading we do on the Web, is an endangered practice, one we ought to take steps to preserve as we would a historic building or a significant work of art.
Recent research has illustrated that deep reading, characterized as a unique experience different kind from the mere understanding of words, is slow, immersive (沉浸的), rich in sensory detail and emotional and moral complexity. Although deep reading does not, strictly speaking, require a conventional book, the limits of the printed page are uniquely helpful to the deep reading experience. A book’s lack of hyperlinks (超链接), for example, frees the reader from making decisions—should I click on this link or not—allowing her to remain fully absorbed in the story.
That immersion is supported by the way the brain handles language rich in detail, indirect reference and figures of speech: by creating a mental representation that draws on the same brain regions that would be active if the scene were unfolding in real life. The emotional situations and moral dilemmas that are the material of literature are also vigorous (有活力的) exercise for the brain, driving us inside the heads of fictional characters and even, studies suggest, increasing our real-life capacity (能力) for recognition.
None of this is likely to happen when we’re browsing through a website. Although we call the activity by the same name, the deep reading of books and the information-driven reading we do on the Web are very different, both in the experience they produce and in the capacity they develop. A growing body of evidence suggests that online reading may be less satisfying, even for the “digital natives” to whom it is so familiar. Researchers reported that 39% of children and teens read daily using electronic devices, but only 28% read printed materials every day. Those who only read onscreen were three times less likely to say they enjoy reading very much and tell which book they like best. The study also found that young people who read daily only onscreen were nearly twice less likely to be above-average readers than those who read daily in print or both in print and onscreen.
All in all, the disappearance of deep reading would harm the intellectual and emotional development of generations growing up online, as well as the preservation of a critical part of our culture: the novels, poems and other kinds of literature that can be appreciated only by readers whose brains have been trained to understand them.
Passage outline | Supporting details |
The present situation about deep reading | ◆ As we are reading more on the Web, deep reading has a tendency to 1. . ◆ Like a historic building or a significant work of art, deep reading 2. our preservation. |
3. of deep reading | ◆ Deep reading4. complex emotional and moral experiences. ◆ Deep reading usually 5. from printed materials. ◆ Deep reading helps train a reader’s brain and make it more6. . ◆ Compared with online reading, deep reading can bring readers more 7. . ◆ Deep reading makes a bigger 8. in increasing readers’ reading ability. |
Conclusion | ◆ Without deep reading, generations in this digital world can’t develop well in emotion and9. . ◆ Without deep reading, people may be10. to appreciate literature. |