Sandra Cisneros was born in Chicago in 1954 to a Mexican American family. As the only girl in a family of seven children, she often felt like she had “seven fathers,” because her six brothers, as well as her father, tried to control her. Feeling shy and unimportant, she retreated(躲避) into books. Despite her love of reading, she did not do well in elementary school because she was too shy to participate.

In high school, with the encouragement of one particular teacher, Cisneros improved her grades and worked for the school literary magazine. Her father encouraged her to go to college because her thought it would be a good way for her to find a husband. Cisneros did attend college, but instead of searching for a husband, she found a teacher who helped her join the famous graduate writing program at the University of Iowa. At the university’s Writers’ Workshop, however, she felt lonely----a Mexican American from a poor neighborhood among students from wealthy families. The feeling of being so different helped Cisneros find her “Creative voice.”

“It was not until this moment when I considered myself truly different that my writing acquired a voice. I knew I was a Mexican woman, but I didn’t think it had anything to do with why I felt so much imbalance in my life, but it had everything to do with it! That’s when I decided I would write about something my classmates couldn’t write about.”

Cisneros published her first work, The House on Mango Street, when she was twenty-nine. The book tells about a young Mexican American girl growing up in a Spanish-speaking area in Chicago, much like the neighborhoods in which Cisneros lived as a child. The book won an award in 1985 and has been used in classes from high school through graduate school level. Since then, Cisneros has published several books of poetry, a children’s book, and a short-story collection.

Which of the following is TRUE about Cisneros in her childhood?

A. She had seven brothers.     B. She felt herself a nobody.

C. She was too shy to go to school.

D. She did not have any good teachers.

The graduate program gave Cisneros a chance to _____.

   A. work for a school magazine        B. run away from her family

   C. make a lot of friends              D. develop her writing style

According to Cisneros, what played the decisive role in her success?

   A. Her early years in college.           B. Her training in the Workshop.

   C. Her feeling of being different.        D. Her childhood experience.

What do we learn about The House on Mango Street?

   A. It is quite popular among students.

   B. It is the only book ever written by Cisneros.

   C. It wasn’t success as it was written in Spanish.

   D. It won an award when Cisneros was twenty-nine.

Washington D. C. is a great city to live in and visit – partly because D. C.’s public transportation can get you almost anywhere in the city, D. C.’s subway, the Metro, is great for getting you to the main tourist sites, but the bus is also a great resource and is cheaper. Learn how to conquer the D.C. bus system in a few quick steps will help you to have fun in this city.

* Things You’ll Need: cash or a D. C. Smart Trip card, a transfer (转乘卡) and a map of Washington, D. C.

* To choose a bus line to take from home or your hotel, look at the buses that arrive at the closest Metro stations.

Many bus routes start at a Metro subway terminal and make their way across the greater D.C. area.

*Learn to identify bus stops. They are usually located at the intersections(交叉) of streets. Look for a tall sign with a tall sign with the words of “Metro Bus” that is dark blue at the top, white in the middle and red at the bottom. Once you’ve found one of these signs, check the red section at the bottom of the sign. In it, you should see several number or letter combinations written in white. Those are the bus lines that service that stop.

*Be careful of the direction buses are heading for. All buses have an electronic screen on the front, side and back of the bus that let you know which way they are headed and what line the bus is. The signs will list the last stop on the bus route. Know where your bus terminates on each end so you can get on the bus heading in the direction you want to go.

*To board the bus, you'll obviously need some sort of payment. The bus will only accept cash or a SmarTrip card. Smar-Trip card are purchasable at several Metro stations or at Metro headquarters(总部) and cost $5. You can also buy the card online at www.wmata.com.

*If you do order it online, purchase it in advance as it will take time for it to ship. Riding the bus costs $1.35 if you pay in cash and $1.25 if you pay with your SmarTrip card.

*If you pay in cash, ask for a transfer slip. This will allow you to board the bus within a two-hour time period without having to pay again. These machines are located by the escalators that take you to the waiting platforms.

To enjoy a wonderful tour in Washington D. C., you won’t need        .

      A.a D. C, Smart -Trip card    B.a transfer

       C.a map of Washington D. C      D.a tall sign

According to the passage, you can identify bus stops by           .

       A.looking at the buses that arrive at the closest Metro station from your hotel

       B.checking the red section at the bottom of the sign with a “metro bus” logo

       C.checking electronic screens on the front, side and back of the bus

       D.checking the machines located by the escalators taking you to the platforms

The underlined word “terminates” probably means        .

       A.stops B.decides     C.starts D.passes

Where can you get a Smart-Trip card?

      A.At a platform.         B.At a post office.

       C.At www. wmata. com     D.At a bus station.

 

第三部分  阅读理解(共20小题,每题2分,满分40分)

The writing of Shakespeare are today little read by young people in Britain.His young readership is limited to those who choose to study literature at university.

Shakespeare’s work, together with most other classics, is seen as remote, and written in a 400-year- old version of English that is about as inviting as toothache.

Still, in British schools, it is necessary to study the poet, and when something is made compulsory, usually the result is boredom, resentment(憎恨) or both.

This was my experience of the classics at school.But when I reached my late teenage years, I had a change of heart.Like every other young person since the dawn of time, the world confused me.I wanted answers, so I turned to books to find them.

I went on to take a PhD in literature and have taught it in Britain and China.I have never regretted it.There is something in literature that people want, even if they don’t read books.You see this in the popularity of TV and movie adaptations of great works, the recent film version of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice being a case in point.These popular adaptations may help increase people’s interest in the classics.

Reading a simplified Romeo and Juliet may perhaps lead to a reading of Shakespeare’s actual plays.If that is the case, then I welcome the trend.But do not make the mistake of thinking that it is the same thing.Shakespeare is a poet.His greatness is in his language.Reading someone else’s rewriting of his works is like peeling a banana, throwing away the fruit, and eating the skin.Take on the original.It really is worth the effort.

1.Which of the following is true according to the passage?

     A.The language used in classics is no longer in use today.

     B.British students usually find compulsory reading dull.

         C.Only those studying literature read Shakespeare’s works.

         D.For British people, Shakespeare’s works are no longer classics.

2.According to the passage, the writer _____ .

         A.has liked literary classics since an early age

         B.was forced to read the classics for a PhD

         C.turned to literature to seek answers in his teens

         D.thinks only people who read books like literature

3.The underlined phrase “a case in point” in Paragraph 5 is closest in meaning to “_____”.

         A.a great hit                    B.a good example

         C.a movie adaptation                  D.a popular phenomenon

4.What does the writer intend to tell us in the last paragraph?

         A.The fruit of a banana is more useful than its skin.

         B.The rewriting trend does more harm than good.

         C.Readers should try to read the original versions.

         D.Readers need to learn the language in the classics.

 

The idea of sailing west to reach the riches of the East Indies and the Asian mainland was much in fashion with cultured Europeans during the late fifteenth century. Learned people agreed that the earth was round: their only questions were how long and how dangerous would be a trip to reach the Orient. Christopher Columbus, the son of an unknown weaver, and himself a weaver of ambitious dreams, made his historic voyage to the New World in 1492. He didn't go to school very much, but be learned to read and write Spanish during his travels. He also taught himself Latin because all the geography books were written in Latin. Sailing with a tiny fleet of three ships, the Santa Maria and two smaller ships, the Pinta and the Nina and a crew of ninety sailors, be found the thirty-three-day crossing easier than his nearly-decade-long effort to find royal sponsors willing to support it. The trip drew not only on his own skills as an expert ship's captain, but also on his ability to plan such an expedition, obtain governmental approval and financing, and finally, demonstrate its success so that such explorations could continue. He tried for years to get King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella to supply him with ships and money. Finally they agreed, but he made more demands. He wanted to be made a knight, admiral of the Ocean Sea. He wanted to be the viceroy(总督)and governor general of all lands he would discover. Also he wanted one-tenth of everything he found of value in the new lands. The explorations that followed Columbus-those of Cabot, Verrazano, Cartier, and many others-benefited from a new maritime technology borrowed from Arab sailors and from a variety of new vessels (船,舰) such as the light-weight caravels employed by Columbus. Sailors also perfected sails and various types of riggings that gave ships added stability and greater maneuverability(可操作性)on the open seas. And when leaving sight of the coast, new navigational aids-charts, compasses, and astrolabes-permitted them to determine their position with some, though not perfect, accuracy. Columbus himself made a total of four voyages to the New World but he did not become rich as he had hoped. At the end of his life he only had a pension the king and queen had given him because he was the first to reach the New World. He spent the last few months of his life in bed because of the pain of arthritis(关). Columbus not only discovered a New World, but led the way for other explorers.

1.What was the dream destination of Europeans in the late fifteenth century?

A.The oriental countries.

B.The East Indonesia.

C.The Old World.

D.The African mainland. .

2.What preparations did Columbus make for his first voyage to the New World?

①He planned the expedition thoroughly.

②He spent almost ten years in looking for sponsors.

③He gathered a great many ships.

④He hired 90 sailors.

⑤He demonstrated his success of former far-reaching explorations.

A.①②③④⑤

B.①②④

C.①④⑤

D.②④⑤

3.We can learn from the passage that ________.

A.Christopher Columbus was an ambitious explorer

B.he was a geologist with ambitious dreams

C.Columbus became extremely wealthy after making a total of four voyages

D.he was an unsuccessful canvasser(游说者)

4.What equipment aided the sailors in locating relatively more accurately?

A.A variety of new vessels.

B.The light-weighted caravels.

C.Various types of riggings.

D.Charts, compasses and astrolabes.

5.In the passage, the author mainly tells us ________.

A.the tragedy of Columbus's life as a whole

B.Columbus's life story and his achievements

C.Columbus's exploration to the East Indies and Asia

D.how Columbus arrived in the New World .

 

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