When Marilynne Robinson published her first novel, Housekeeping, in 1980, she was unknown in the literary world. But an early review in The New York Times ensured that the book would be noticed. “It’s as if, in writing it, she broke through the ordinary human condition with all its dissatisfactions, and achieved a kind of transfiguration(美化),” wrote Anatole Broyard, with an enthusiasm and amazement that was shared by many critics and readers. The book became a classic, and Robinson was recognized as one of the outstanding American writers of our time. Yet it would be more than twenty years before she wrote another novel. 

During the period, Robinson devoted herself to writing nonfiction. Her essays and book reviews appeared in Harper’s and The New York Times Book Review, and in 1989 she published Mother Country: Britain, the Welfare State, and Nuclear Pollution, criticizing severely the environmental and public health dangers caused by the Sellafield nuclear reprocessing plant in England—and the political and moral corruption(腐败). In 1998, Robinson published a collection of her critical and theological writings, The Death of Adam: Essays on Modern Thought, which featured reassessments of such figures as Charles Darwin, John Calvin, and Friedrich Nietzsche. Aside from a single short story—“Connie Bronson,” published in The Paris Review in 1986—it wasn’t until 2004 that she returned to fiction with the novel Gilead, which won the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Pulitzer Prize. Her third novel, Home, came out this fall.

Her novels could be described as celebrations of the human—the characters in them are unforgettable creations. Housekeeping is the story of Ruth and her sister Lucille, who are cared for by their eccentric(古怪的)Aunt Sylvie after their mother commits suicide. Robinson writes a lot about how each of the three is changed by their new life together. Gilead is an even more close exploration of personality: the book centres on John Ames, a seventy-seven-year-old pastor(牧师) who is writing an account of his life and his family history to leave to his young son after he dies. Home borrows characters from Gilead but centers on Ames’s friend Reverend Robert Boughton and his troubled son Jack. Robinson returned to the same territory as Gilead because, she said, “after I write a novel or a story, I miss the characters—I feel like losing some close friends.”

1.Robinson’s second novel came out ____.

A. in 1980                         B. in 1986                          C. in 1998                          D. in 2004

2.What is Paragraph 2 mainly about?

A. Robinson’s achievements in fiction.

B. Robinson’s achievements in nonfiction.

C. Robinson’s influence on the literary world.

D. Robinson’s contributions to the environment.

3.According to Paragraph 3, who is John Ames?

A. He is Robinson’s close friend.

B. He is a character in Gilead. 

C. He is a figure in The Death of Adam.

D. He is a historian writing family stories.

4.From which section of a newspaper can you read this passage?

A. Career.                        B. Lifestyle.         C. Music.                           D. Culture.

 

All her life, my mother wanted busy children. It was very important that her house should remain at all things clean and tidy.

You could turn your back for a moment in my mother's house, leave a half written letter on the dining room table, a magazine open on the chair, and turn around to find that my mother had "put it back where it belonged." as she explained.

My wife, on one of her first visits to my mother's house, placed a packet of biscuits on an end table and went to the kitchen to fetch a drink. When she returned, she found the packet had been removed. Confused (疑惑的), she set down her drink and went back to the kitchen for more biscuits, only to return to find that her drink had disappeared. Up to then she had guessed that everyone in my family held onto their drinks, so as not to make water rings on the end tables. Now she knows better.

These disappearances had a confusing effect on our family. We were all inclined to (有......的倾向) forgetfulness, and it was common for one of us, upon returning from the bathroom, to find the every sign of his work in progress had disappeared suddenly. "Do you remember what I was doing?" was a question frequently asked, but rarely answered.

Now my sister has developed a second-hand love of clean windows, and my brother does the cleaning in his house, perhaps to avoid having to be the one to lift his feet. I try not to think about it too much, but I have at this later time started to dust the furniture once a week.

1.Which of the following is TRUE about my mother?

A. She enjoyed removing others' drinks.      

B. She became more and more forgetful.

C. She preferred to do everything by herself.   

D. She wanted to keep her house in good order.

2.My wife could not find her biscuits and drink in my mother's house because _______.

A. she had already finished them

B. my mother had taken them away

C. she forgot where she had left them

D. someone in my family was holding them

3. The underlined part to the fifth paragraph suggests that my sister _______.

A. is happy to clean windows    

B. loves to clean used windows

C. is fond of clean used windows

D. likes clean windows as my mother did

4.This passage mainly tells us that _______.

A. my mother often made us confused

B. my family members had a poor memory

C. my mother helped us to form a good habit   

D. my wife was surprised when she visited my mother

 

Zoe, Damacela, 19, didn't have nice clothes when she was young. It wasn't easy for Zoe’s hard-working single mother to make ends meet. They moved in and out of homeless shelters.

Everything changed for Zoe in grade nine. At that time, she heard about a sewing(缝纫) class at her school. She signed up and couldn't wait to turn her designs into clothes. The color of the first dress she made was white-black strips. Soon the clothes she wore were all made by her. Other girls at school loved her designs too. They asked her if they could buy dresses from her. Zoe sold her first dress for $13. Unfortunately, it cost her $25 to make the dress. “I had the creativity in designs," says Zoe. “But I really had no idea about business.”

Zoe kept selling the clothes she designed. Her business was booming, and even the girls who had ever teased her became her customers. In the eleventh grade, Zoe took a business class. She learned how to price her clothes so that she could be sure to make a fair profit.

Her business teacher suggested she take part in a contest for teenaged entrepreneurs (企业家). The contest was for teens from all over the United States. Zoe sent in her business plan, which explained how she planned to make her company grow. She won the second prize in the end. Zoe ’s success became a news item. Supermodel Tyra Banks heard about it and she invited Zoe to take part in her TV show. “Being recognized I felt really unreal,”says Zoe. Zoe has advice for teens who want to start their own business. “If you really work hard on it, you will be able to make it happen,” she says. “If I can do it, anyone else can.”

1.We can learn that ______when she was in grade nine.

A.Zoe had no interest in designing clothes

B.Zoe seldom wore her self-made clothes

C.Zoe didn' t know how to make money

D.Zoe attended a business course

2.After winning the contest, Zoe ______

A.considered it a reward

B.expected to be known

C.was proud of her own gift

D.could hardly believe it

3.Zoe advised the teens  ______  .

A.to make efforts to achieve their dreams

B.to design and make their own clothes

C.to try every means to become famous

D.to do whatever they would like to

4.What is the main idea of the passage?

A.How Zoe learned to design clothes.

B.A poor girl achieved success in business.

C.How Zoe got a prize in a contest.

D.A poor girl was invited to a TV show.

 

In this age of Internet chat, videogames and reality television, there is no shortage of mindless activities to keep a child occupied. Yet, despite the competition, my 8-year-old daughter Rebecca wants to spend her leisure time writing short stories. She wants to enter one of her stories into a writing contest, a competition she won last year.

  As a writer I know about winning contests, and about losing them. I know what it is like to work hard on a story only to receive a rejection slip from the publisher. I also know the pressures of trying to live up to a reputation created by previous victories. What if she doesn’t win the contest again? That’s the strange thing about being a parent. So many of our own past scars and dashed hopes can surface.

  A revelation (启示) came last week when I asked her, “Don’t you want to win again?” “No,” she replied, “I just want to tell the story of an angel going to first grade.”

  I had just spent weeks correcting her stories as she spontaneously (自发地) told them. Telling myself that I was merely an experienced writer guiding the young writer across the hall, I offered suggestions for characters, conflicts and endings for her tales. The story about a fearful angel starting first grade was quickly “guided” by me into the tale of a little girl with a wild imagination taking her first music lesson. I had turned her contest into my contest without even realizing it.

  Staying back and giving kids space to grow is not as easy as it looks. Because I know very little about farm animals who use tools or angels who go to first grade, I had to accept the fact that I was co-opting (借用) my daughter’s experience.

  While stepping back was difficult for me, it was certainly a good first step that I will quickly follow with more steps, putting myself far enough away to give her room but close enough to help if asked. All the while I will be reminding myself that children need room to experiment, grow and find their own voices.

1.What did the author say about her own writing experience?

A.She was constantly under pressure of writing more.

B.Most of her stories had been rejected by publishers.

C.Her way to success was full of pains and frustrations.

D.She did not quite live up to her reputation as a writer.

2. Why did Rebecca want to enter this year’s writing contest?

A.She wanted to share her stories with readers.

B.She had won a prize in the previous contest.

C.She was sure of winning with her mother’s help.

D.She believed she possessed real talent for writing.

3. The author took great pains to refine her daughter’s stories because ________.

A.she wanted to help Rebecca realize her dream of becoming a writer

B.she believed she had the knowledge and experience to offer guidance

C.she did not want to disappoint Rebecca who needed her help so much

D.she was afraid Rebecca’s imagination might run wild while writing

4. What’s the author’s advice for parents?

A.Children should be given every chance to voice their opinions.

B.Children should be allowed freedom to grow through experience.

C.Parents should keep an eye on the activities their kids engage in.

D.A writing career, though attractive, is not for every child to pursue.

 

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