After Mom died, l began visiting Dad every morning before I went to work. He was frail and moved slowly, but he always had a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice on the kitchen table for me, along with an unsigned note reading," Drink your juice." Such a gesture, l knew, was as far as Dad had ever been able to go in expressing his love. In fact, l remember, as a kid I had questioned Mom "Why doesn't Dad love me?" Mom frowned, "Who said he doesn’t love you?" "Well, he never tells me, "I complained." He never tells me either," she said, smiling. " But look how hard he works to take care of us, to buy us food and clothes, and to pay for this house. That's how your father tells us he loves us. "
I nodded slowly. I understood in my head, but not in my heart. l still wanted my father to put his arms around me and tell me he loved me. Dad owned and operated a small scrap (片) metal business, and after school I often hung around while he worked. Dad handled scrap steel into a device that chopped it as cleanly as a butcher chops a rack of ribs. The machine looked like a giant pair of scissors, with blades thicker than my father's body. If he didn’t feed those terrifying blades just right, he risked serious injury. "Why don' t you hire someone to do that for you?" Mom asked Dad one night as she bent over him and rubbed his aching shoulders with a strong smelling liniment. "Why don’t you hire a cook?" Dad asked, giving her one of his rare smiles.
Many years later, during my first daily visit, after drinking the juice my father had squeezed for me. l walked over, hugged him and said, "I love you, Dad." From then on I did this every morning. My father never told me how he felt about my hugs, and there was never any expression on his face when I gave them.
【小题1】What would be the best title for the passage?

A.My father never loved meB.I just couldn't understand my father
C.My hard-working fatherD.Silent fatherly love
【小题2】The author’s father always prepared a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice for him because____.
A.that was the author's favorite
B.that was a gesture of love
C.the author was always complaining
D.he was sure the author would be thirsty
【小题3】The author’s father didn’t hire a helper because________.              .
A.he wanted to save money
B.his job required high skills
C.his job was too dangerous
D.he was not good at communicating with others
【小题4】We may infer from the passage that _______.
A.the author's father lacked a sense of humor
B.the author's-father didn't love him very much
C.the author quite understood his father as time went on
D.the author's father was too strict with him

After Mom died, l began visiting Dad every morning before I went to work. He was frail and moved slowly, but he always had a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice on the kitchen table for me, along with an unsigned note reading," Drink your juice." Such a gesture, l knew, was as far as Dad had ever been able to go in expressing his love. In fact, l remember, as a kid I had questioned Mom "Why doesn't Dad love me?" Mom frowned, "Who said he doesn’t love you?" "Well, he never tells me, "I complained." He never tells me either," she said, smiling. " But look how hard he works to take care of us, to buy us food and clothes, and to pay for this house. That's how your father tells us he loves us. "

I nodded slowly. I understood in my head, but not in my heart. l still wanted my father to put his arms around me and tell me he loved me. Dad owned and operated a small scrap (片) metal business, and after school I often hung around while he worked. Dad handled scrap steel into a device that chopped it as cleanly as a butcher chops a rack of ribs. The machine looked like a giant pair of scissors, with blades thicker than my father's body. If he didn’t feed those terrifying blades just right, he risked serious injury. "Why don' t you hire someone to do that for you?" Mom asked Dad one night as she bent over him and rubbed his aching shoulders with a strong smelling liniment. "Why don’t you hire a cook?" Dad asked, giving her one of his rare smiles.

Many years later, during my first daily visit, after drinking the juice my father had squeezed for me. l walked over, hugged him and said, "I love you, Dad." From then on I did this every morning. My father never told me how he felt about my hugs, and there was never any expression on his face when I gave them.

1.What would be the best title for the passage?

A.My father never loved me                B.I just couldn't understand my father

C.My hard-working father                  D.Silent fatherly love

2.The author’s father always prepared a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice for him because____.

A.that was the author's favorite

B.that was a gesture of love

C.the author was always complaining

D.he was sure the author would be thirsty

3.The author’s father didn’t hire a helper because________.              .

A.he wanted to save money

B.his job required high skills

C.his job was too dangerous

D.he was not good at communicating with others

4.We may infer from the passage that _______.

A.the author's father lacked a sense of humor

B.the author's-father didn't love him very much

C.the author quite understood his father as time went on

D.the author's father was too strict with him

 

Minimalism (简约主义) is a term that describes movements in various forms of art and design, especially visual art and music, where the work is reduced to its most basic features.

As for me, minimalism functions well not in art or design, but in my daily life.

When I was packing for university, I found it extremely difficult to let go of some of the things I owned. I knew I couldn’t take everything with me, but I kept asking myself “how could I possibly throw this away?”, “what if I need it one day?”, and “what about all of the memories?” Now that I’ve moved, and left that stuff behind, I don’t even miss it. Whether or not I got rid of it, it barely makes a bit of difference to me now.

I’ve learned that over time people forget, or their need for a particular object eventually disappears. Either they store it away or they get rid of it.

You might think nostalgically(怀旧的) about the toys you cared about when you were a child, but what is making you smile now is not the thing itself but the memory of it. 1’ve heard it a hundred times, “you don’t need things to make you happy.” It takes something life-changing like moving across the country to realize how true this is.

Speaking of which, for a lot of people, minimalism is about able to move. It’s about being able to go almost anywhere at any time because you don’t have many possessions to carry. When you keep things you don’t need they become a burden that ties you to a place. Moving to university was a good time to let go of a lot of stuff. And when I visit for the holidays, I’ll probably get rid of even more, to lighten the burden.

Of course there are exceptions. There are some things that are irreplaceable, very rare or expensive or we simply love and cherish for some reason or another, since we are humans. But after we keep those, how much is left that we don’t really need?

Hence, minimalism. And why does minimalism bring happiness? That was a bit of a roundabout way of saying that, it’s because what really makes me happy is freedom. And the key to freedom is minimalism because minimalism reduces our attachment to things.

Attachment to too many objects creates a great mess and can severely hold back our freedom to do whatever we want, while minimalism helps us start new projects, move, travel, learn new things, work, expand, be debt-free, be healthy – really living life to our full potential.

I left the nest to fly onwards and upwards, I can’t do it with old things weighing me down. And that is why I have adopted minimalism with open arms.

1.In paragraph l, the writer gives the definition of minimalism to      .

A.introduce a topic                       B.present his own idea

C.describe a scene                        D.offer an argument

2.Many people don’t want to let go of some of their belongings because       .

A.they haven’t had any life-changing experiences

B.they fear their memories will be gone with the thrown-away stuff

C.they hope to live life to their full potential by storing things away

D.they may have to change their lifestyle because of the loss of them

3.Which of the following is NOT the reason why the writer favors “minimalism” in life?                          

A.It takes the burden off her while she is moving.

B.It reduces her attachment to her personal things.

C.It enables her to gain the freedom that she desires.

D.It helps her to realize how true life is.

4.By saying “there are exceptions”, the writer means       

A.little is left if we keep what we cherish most in our life

B.minimalism should be practised accordingly in different situations

C.minimalism is a method difficult to employ in reality

D.life is full of exceptions so it’s difficult to preserve what we value

5.What’s the main idea of the passage?

A.Minimalism brings happiness.

B.Minimalism is applied in many fields.

C.Minimalism makes people think nostalgically.

D.Minimalism is about able to move.

 

阅读下面短文,根据所读内容在表格中的空白处填入恰当的单词。注意:每个空格只填一个单词。

Time, a faithful company of our life, is a universal topic. People are always curious about what it is, how it travels and who it meets.

Stephen Hawking, one of the world’s smartest physicists, once said. “I’m fascinated by time.”

Many of us are, and the popularity of time travel novels, movies and TV series has proved that. After Palace and Startling by Each Step achieved astonishing ratings last year, Palace 2 aired on January 20, attracting time travel fans back to TV.

Woody Allen’s movie Midnight in Paris achieved great success. It was nominated for Best Picture, Directing, Original Screenplay and Art Direction for the 2012 Academy Awards.

Dream of heroism

Time travel TV series and movies connect both today and the past, thus offering room for imagination. Imagination creates a chance for the young to fulfill a dream that is hard to achieve in reality.

Chinese writer Xi Juan is a pioneer of time-travel stories in China. In 1993 she published a love story about a young woman time traveling to ancient times. The leading role’s modern personality and perception of love help her win the heart of a cool, handsome martial art master. Such a plot satisfies female fans’ love fantasy.

Starting from the late 1990s, novels about men traveling back to the past prevailed (盛行), with a Step into the Past as the most popular example. In these stories, the male leading roles accomplish great things with their modern skills and wisdom.

It is usually “a dream of heroism come true”, along with enviable romances.

Eye candy

“I’m hooked by the shows because they are characterized by dramatic and poetic love and have eye-pleasing actors,” Xia Xiaoyan, who works for a foreign-owned enterprise in Shanghai, explained her love for time travel TV series.

Her comment echoes a 2011 survey by Creat Marketing Research Co Ltd in China. When asked about what is so appealing about time travel TV series, 21 percent of respondents answered, “These attractive characters.”

A bigger reason behind the popularity of time travel stories, however, is the relaxation they offer, according to the survey.

Cai Yinong agrees. “Many people are facing tremendous pressure in their fast-paced lives, so this genre is more relaxing than other shows as it provides people with a terrific outlet to escape reality,” Cai told China Daily.

Cultural homesickness

“Which dynasty would you like to live in if you could travel to the past?” asked a survey launched by Shanghai University and Shanghai Social Sciences Association last December.

About 60 percent of the 2,543 respondents chose Tang Dynasty, while Qing Dynasty, and the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods were the other top two destinations.

The survey results reflects people’s definition of the good days: prosperous economy and culture, steady society, fair and uncorrupted politics, and opening up to the outside world.

As for the movie Midnight in Paris, it features modernity versus cultural homesickness. The New York Times commented, “The past seems so much more vivid, more substantial, than the present. The good old days are so attractive because we were not around, however much we wish we were.”

Time  travel  wins  fans

Phenomenon

l  Stephen Hawking shows great interest in 1.    _.

l  People prefer 2.____ time travel movies and TV series.

l  Woody Allen was 3._______ in his time travel movie.

Reasons for its 4.___

Supporting details

Dream of

heroism

l  Chances are offered for the young to fulfill 5.__________ hard to

l  achieve in reality.

l  Xi Juan’s 1993 love story6._______ a young woman traveling to

l  ancient times, which satisfies females fans.

l  From the late 1990s, novels about 7.________ traveling back to

l  the past became increasingly popular.

l  The male leading role in A Step Into the Past travels back to the past

l  to fulfill great things by using his 8._______ skills and wisdom.

Eye candy

Attractive actors and travel stories make viewers under pressure

9._________.

Cultural homesickness

Most respondents chose to live in a certain dynasty for:

l  Prosperous economy and10.________;

l  Steady society;

l  Fair and uncorrupted politics;

l  Opening up to the outside world.

 

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