November not only marks the publication of Toni Morrison’s eagerly anticipated(期待) eighth novel, Love, but it is also the tenth anniversary of her Nobel Prize for Literature. Morrison is the first black woman to receive a Nobel, and so honored before her in literature are only two black men: Wole Soyinka, the Nigerian playwright, poet and novelist, in 1986; and Derek Walcott, the Caribbean-born poet, in 1992. But Morrison is also the first and only American-born Nobel prizewinner for literature since 1962, the year novelist John Steinbeck received the award.

    Like Song of Solomon, Love is a multigenerational story, revealing the personal and communal legacy(遗产) of an outstanding black family. As Morrison scholars will tell you, Love is the third volume of a literary master’s trilogy(三部曲)investigating the many complexities of love. This trilogy began with Beloved(1988), which deals with a black mother’s love under slavery and in freedom. Jazz (1993), the second volume, tells a story of romantic love in 1920s Harlem. This latest novel looks back from the 1970s to the 1940s and ’50s.

     The emotional center of Love is Bill Cosey, the former owner and host of the shabby Cosey’s Hotel and Resort in Silk, North Carolina, described in the novel as “the best and best-known vacation spot for colored folk on the East Coast.” We get to know  Cosey through the memories of five women who survive and love him: his granddaughter, his widow, two former employees, and a homeless young girl.

      The latest novel, Love, had been described in the promotional material from her publisher as “Morrison’s most accessible work since Song of Solomon.” This comparison to her third novel, published in 1977, was an effective selling point.

61. What would be the best title for the text?

A.Toni Morrison’s latest novels                          B.Toni Morrison and her trilogy

C.Toni Morrison and her novel Love                  D.Toni Morrison, the Nobel prizewinner

62. What can we learn about John Steinbeck?

A.He was a black writer.                                          B.He was born in America.

C.He received the Nobel Prize after Morrison

D.He was the first American novelist to win a Nobel

63. The similarity between Love and Song of Solomon is that they both _____.

A.belong to the same trilogy together with Beloved

B.concern families of more than one generation

C.deal with life of blacks under slavery              D.investigate life in 1920s Harlem

64. The novel Love mainly describes ______.

A. the best-known vacation spot for blacks

B. the life of an outstanding black family under slavery

C. the miserable experience of the five women in Harlem

D. the memories of five women about Bill Cosey

Two magazines recently listed the best cities to live in. Here are two of the cities listed as “the world’s best.”
SAN JOSE, COSTA RICA  The city has comfortable weather all year round (15°C to 26°C ). Housing is not very expensive in San Jose. Also, many of the city’s older neighborhoods are very beautiful and have small hotels and cafés(咖啡馆). Beautiful mountains are around the city. You can visit them easily from San Jose. So lots of people go sightseeing there every year. But air pollution is a problem in the city center.
HONG KONG, CHINA This lively city—once a small fishing village—is today an international business center. It is an interesting mixof East and West, old and new. Modern tall buildings are next to small temples (庙宇). Popular nightclubs are close to traditional teahouses. Busy people fill the streets at all hours of the day. But outside the city, there are parks for walking or relaxing. Hong Kong is famous for its wonderful native dishes. There’s also food from Europe, North America, and other parts of Asia. However, this small city has a large population. Nearly 7 million people live in Hong Kong! That’s why housing is often very expensive. Traffic and air pollution are also a problem.
【小题1】Which of the following is not mentioned about San Jose?

A.The weather.B.The mountains. C.The air.D.The traffic.
【小题2】What makes Hong Kong the world’s best according to this passage?
A.The lively city and the wonderful dishes.B.The beautiful mountains and the lively city.
C.The expensive housing and the food.D.The city and the people.
【小题3】The writer thinks housing in Hong Kong is expensive because    .
A.it was a small fishing villageB.it is a mix of East and West
C.it is famous for its wonderful foodD.there are too many people in the city
【小题4】What do the two cities have in common?
A.They both have beautiful mountains.B.They both have a large population.
C.Air pollution is a problem in both.D.They are both crowded.
【小题5】From the passage, we can know that        .
A.San Jose and Hong Kong are the only two cities of the world’s best
B.San Jose has more natural sights than Hong Kong does
C.the weather in both cities is fine
D.Hong Kong is the more popular city of the two

On his bench in Madison Square Soapy moved uneasily, and he realized the fact that the time had come for him to provide against the coming winter.

The winter ambitions of Soapy were not of the highest. In them there were no dreams of Mediterranean voyages or blue Southern skies. Three months on the Island was what his soul desired. Three months of assured board and bed and good company, safe from north winds seemed to Soapy the most desirable thing.

Just as the more fortunate New Yorkers had bought their tickets to Palm Beach each winter, Soapy had made his arrangements for his annual journey to the Island. And now the time had come.

There were many institutions of charity in New York where he might receive lodging and food, but to Soapy’s proud spirit the gifts of charity were undesirable. You must pay in humiliation of spirit for everything received at the hands of mercy. So it was better to be a guest of the law.

Soapy, having decided to go to the Island, at once set about accomplishing his desire. He left his bench and went up Broadway. He stopped at the door of a glittering cafe. He was shaven and his coat was decent. If he could reach a table in the restaurant, the portion of him that would show above the table would raise no doubt in the waiter’s mind. A roasted duck, with a bottle of wine, a cigar and a cup of coffee would be enough. Such a dinner would make him happy, for the journey to his winter refuge.

But as Soapy entered the restaurant door, the head waiter’s eye fell upon his shabby trousers and old shoes. Strong hands pushed him in silence and haste out into the street.

Some other way of entering the desirable refuge must be found.

At a corner of Sixth Avenue Soapy took a stone and sent it through the glass of a glittering shop window. People came running around the corner, a policeman at the head of them. Soapy stood still, with his hands in his pockets, and smiled at the sight of the policeman.

“Where is the man that has done that?” asked the policeman.

“Don’t you think that I have had something to do with it?” said Soapy, friendly.

The policeman paid no attention to Soapy. Men who break windows don’t remain to speak with policemen. They run away. He saw a man running and rushed after him, stick in hand. Soapy, disgusted, walked along, twice unsuccessful.

On the opposite side of the street was a restaurant for people with large appetites and modest purses. Soapy entered this place without difficulty. He sat at a table and ate beefsteak and pie. And then he told the waiter he had no money.

“Go and call a cop,” said Soapy. “And don’t keep a gentleman waiting.”

“No cop for you,” said the waiter. “Hey!”

Then Soapy found himself lying upon his left ear on the pavement. He arose with difficulty, and beat the dust from his clothes. Arrest seemed a rosy dream. The Island seemed far away.

After another unsuccessful attempt to be arrested for harassing a young woman, Soapy went further toward the district of theatres.

When he saw a policeman standing in front of a glittering theatre, he thought of “disorderly conduct”. On the sidewalk Soapy began to sing drunken songs at the top of his voice. He danced, cried, and otherwise disturbed the peace.

The policeman turned his back to Soapy, and said to a citizen, “It is one of the Yale boys celebrating their football victory. Noisy, but no harm.”

Sadly, Soapy stopped his useless singing and dancing. The Island seemed unattainable. He buttoned his thin coat against the north wind.

In a cigar store he saw a well-dressed man who had set his silk umbrella by the door. Soapy entered the store, took the umbrella, and went out with it slowly. The man with the cigar followed hastily.

“My umbrella,” he said.

“Oh, is it?” said Soapy. “Well, why don’t you call a policeman? I took your umbrella! Why don’t you call a cop? There stands one on the corner.”

The umbrella owner slowed his steps. Soapy did likewise. The policeman looked at them curiously.

“Of course,” said the umbrella man, “well, you know how these mistakes occur…if it’s your umbrella I hope you’ll excuse me – I picked it up this morning in a restaurant – if it’s yours, I hope you’ll…”

“Of course it’s mine,” said Soapy.

The ex-umbrella man retreated. The policeman hurried to help a well-dressed woman across the street.

Soapy threw the umbrella angrily. He was angry with the men who wear helmets and carry clubs. They seemed to regard him as a king who could do no wrong.

At last Soapy stopped before an old church on a quiet corner. Through one window a soft light glowed, where, the organist played a Sunday anthem. For there came to Soapy’s ears sweet music that caught and held him at the iron fence.

The moon was shining; cars and pedestrians were few; birds twittered sleepily under the roof. And the anthem that the organist played cemented Soapy to the iron fence, for he had known it well in the days when his life contained such things as mothers and roses and ambitions and friends.

The influence of the music and the old church produced a sudden and wonderful change in Soapy’s soul. He thought of his degraded days, dead hopes and wrecked faculties.

And also in a moment a strong impulse moved him to battle with his desperate fate. He would pull himself out of this pit; he would make a man of himself again. Those sweet notes had set up a revolution in him. Tomorrow he would be somebody in the world. He would…

Soapy felt a hand on his arm. He looked quickly around into the broad face of a policeman.

“What are you doing here?”

“Nothing.”

“Then come along,” said the policeman.

“Three months on the Island,” said the Judge the next morning.

1.Soapy regarded the Island as his winter ambition because _____.

A. he wanted to go on Mediterranean voyages and enjoy blue Southern skies

B. he wanted to spend the cold winter somewhere warm other than New York

C. he wanted to be put into prison to survive the coming winter

D. he wanted to buy a ticket to the Island to spend the cold winter

2.Which of the following is the reason for Soapy’s not turning to charity?

A. His pride gets in the way.

B. What the institutions of charity offer isn’t what Soapy needs.

C. He wants to be a citizen who obeys the law.

D. The institutions of charity are not located on the island.

3. How many times did Soapy try to accomplish his desire?

A. 4.                                       B. 5.                                       C. 6.                                       D. 7.

4. From the passage, we can see what the two restaurants have in common is that _____.

A. they are both fancy upper class restaurants

B. neither of them served Soapy

C. they both drove Soapy out of the restaurant after he finished his meal

D. neither of them called cops

5.Hearing the Sunday anthem at the church, Soapy _____.

A. was reminded of his good old days and wanted to play the anthem again

B. was reminded of his unaccomplished ambition and was determined to get to the Island

C. was reminded of his disgraceful past and determined to transform himself

D. was reminded of his rosy dream and wished to realize it

6.By ending the story this way, the author means to _____.

A. show that one always gets what he/she wants with enough efforts

B. make a contrast and criticize the sick society

C. surprise readers by proving justice was done after all

D. put a tragic end to Soapy’s life and show his sympathy for Soapy

 

When talking with young Swedish students, Mo Yan showed respect for Chinese authors that he learned writing from, particularly Shen Congwen, who was twice nominated(提名)for the Nobel Prize.

“Lu Xun, Lao She, Mao Dun and Shen Congwen, they are more qualified(有资格的)for the Nobel Prize than me,” he said,. Among the writers he learned from, he said he especially felt close to Shen Congwen, as they have similar life experiences.

Both of them left school early and did not get formal education. Shen quit after high school and Mo only finished the fifth grade. They both joined the army after school. “ We both learned from the book of life,” said Mo.

The themes of their writing are also similar. Both writers have their hometown as the theme and root of their writings. Shen’works are mostly about his hometown, Xiangxi, and most of Mo’s stories are set in his hometown, Gaomi, in Shandong Province.

Mo said he also learned from Shen how to deal with characters in a fiction. Unlike most Chinese writers, Shen has a humanistic(人文主义的) touch towards all of his characters. Said Mo, “In his works, there are no particularly bad person or good person. Even gangsters(匪徒) and thieves have their humane(仁慈的)side,” he said.

“I try to use the same approach in my writing. It shows the ability of a novelist when he treats all the characters as humans,” he said.

Mo said he also learned Lu Xun’s depth and Lao She’s humor. “They are all my teachers, and I am the student,” he said. “I feel ashamed from my heart that teachers did not get the prize, but the student got it.”

1.Which of the following is NOT mentioned as the similarity between Mo Yan and Shen Congwen?

A.Writing themes                         B.Sense of humor

C.Life experiences                        D.Approaches in writing

2.By saying “We both learned from the book of life”, what did Mo Yan mean?

A.They both love reading throughout their life.

B.They both earned their living by writing books.

C.They both got nutrition(营养)from life.

D.They both experienced many difficulties.

3.According to Mo Yan, Shen Congwen was special in the way _________.

A.he described bad persons                 B.he created characters

C.he made sentences                      D.he told stories

4.From what Mo Yan said in the last paragraph, we can learn that ________.

A.he is a modest person                    B.he feels shy

C.Lu Xun’s depth influenced his early life     D.he thinks he doesn’t deserve the prize

 

阅读下面的短文,然后按照要求写一篇150词左右的英语短文。

I was brought up in the countryside by my grandmother. She was very courageous and inspiring woman and was very beautiful, too. In comparison with her or some of my classmates, I always felt that I was not beautiful or pretty. In fact, when I was studying in middle school, I thought I was not as good as other students and just because of these negative feelings, I was not very confident. One day, I went to the shoe shop to buy a pair of new shoes. When I got there, I noticed a foreign lady talking to a salesgirl. But the salesgirl didn’t understand what the foreigner was saying. They both looked worried. I went up to help them. The lady is an Australian. She wanted to buy a pair of travelling shoes. So I told it to the salesgirl. The lady was very glad when she took them. She spoke high praise for my spoken English and said that I was a pretty girl. Both of them expressed their thanks to me.

As a matter of fact, no one had ever praised me like that before. It was so encouraging. Suddenly I felt confident and happy. It is true that those words turned my life around.

【写作内容】

1.以约30个词概括短文的要点。

2.然后以约120个词写一篇记叙文,描写表扬或称赞给人带来的愉快和鼓舞,并包括以下要点:

a)叙述你或你的朋友被老师或其他人表扬的一次真实或虚构的经历;

b)被表扬后的感觉是怎么样的;

c)这次称赞、表扬带来的影响。

【写作要求】

1. 可以参照阅读材料的篇章结构,组织故事,但不得直接引用原文中的句子。

2. 作文中不能出现真实姓名和学校名称。

3. 作文题目已在答题卷中给出。

[评分标准]概括准确,语言规范,内容合适,篇章连贯。

 

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