题目内容
B. Judged the best
C. Having judged the best
D. Judging the best
In a recent class I was asked “What is a short story?” My first answer was that it was something that could be read in one sitting and brought an illumination（启示）to the reader, sudden and golden like sunlight cracking(破裂, 砸开) through a heavy cloud. I went on to say that in my opinion a “real” short story was closer to poetry than to a novel.
Here are some definitions of the short story. My favorite is Benet's: “something that can be read in an hour and remembered for a lifetime”. One writer said, “The theme of a novel won't fit into the framework of a short story; It's like trying to squeeze a large painting done on a wall into the frame of a miniature （微型画）。 And as in a miniature painting, the details need to be sharp. ”
The short story is an example of one aspect of human nature. Often a character undergoes some event, something that offers him or her change. This is why it’s said that short stories usually “say something ”， often a small something, but sometimes delivered with such accuracy that the effect is strongly felt, even a life-moment for some readers, something similar to a religious experience or to witnessing a never-to-be-repeated scene in nature.
Ok, let’s form a definition here: A short story is an account, rarely over 10, 000 words or below 500 words-more commonly 1, 500 to 5, 000 words-a single-sitting read, but with enough time and weight to move the reader. It is narrow and focused to produce an effect through the story, most commonly through events affecting some change in an individual.
Writer Isabelle Allende once wrote: “Novels are, for me, adding up details, just work, work, work, then you're done. Short stories are more difficult-they have to be perfect, complete in themselves. ”
【小题1】The writer of the passage is probably a ______.
| A．poet | B．painter | C．teacher | D．student |
| A．at most 10, 000 words | B．below 500 words | C．over 5, 000words | D．around 2, 000 words |
| A．experiences | B．discovers | C．discusses | D．appreciates |
| A．Novels are too long for us to read. |
| B．Short stories are too short for us to read. |
| C．Short stories have more details than novels. |
| D．Short stories are more perfect and difficult than novels. |
| A．How Do You Write a Short Story? | B．What Exactly Is a Short Story? |
| C．Is a Short Story Similar to Poetry? | D．Are Short Stories Perfect and Complete? |
If you give something to someone for free, will that person value it and use it? Development experts have debated this question for decades. Some think the act of paying causes people to value something and use it more.
Selling necessary health treatments, others argue, may deny them to the people who need them the most.
Consider, for example, chemically treated bed nets, which kill mosquitoes anti protect people against malaria(疟疾)while they are sleeping. William Easterly, an economist at New York University, believes this is one example of development having gone wrong. In a recent book, Professor Easterly suggests bed nets given free in Africa are often used for the wrong purpose. Yet, the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends bed nets be given out free and used by whole communities. The success of a large free bed net campaign in Kenya led the WHO to announce this recommendation
This debate will likely influence social programs in the developing world. Many non-governmental organizations support the creation of self-supporting programs in poor countries. Goods and services are sold for a price to help these programs survive.
According to Rachel Glenerster, who runs a research lab doing development and poverty studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, her several studies have proven that small price changes have a big influence on the number of people who use a product. A price change will reduce the total amount of use of the product as well, she says. She has also found no evidence that the very act of paying for something changes how people use it.
As for a particular product among special populations, some development experts argue that pricing is useful. When it comes to bed nets, Miss Glenerster says research shows no evidence of this. People are just as likely to use a bed net whether they paid for it or not.
【小题1】 The debate among experts focuses on .
| A．a special use of bed nets in Africa |
| B．the use of assistance-related products |
| C．the importance of social programs for the poor |
| D．a popular way to help the poor |
| A．can only be sold to the rich | B．should be completely free |
C．are to o expensive | D．are not needed by the poor |
| A．The WHO's advice may not be always practical. |
| B．Many Africans don't know the function of bed nets. |
| C．The case of Kenya is doubtful. |
| D．Bed nets given to Africans are poor in quality. |
| A．Some of them may become financially independent. |
| B．Many of them will not be organized by the government. |
| C．Some of them will go to developed countries. |
| D．Most of them will be free of charge. |
Deep in the Amazon forest, thousands of people still live in isolation from the rest of the world.
In a recent press release, the Brazilian government confirmed the existence of another isolated tribe of about 200 people living in the Vale do Javari reservation. The 200 people living in the Vale do Javari reservation. The reservation, located near the Peruvian border, is about the size of Portugal. At least another 14 isolated tribes, with a total population of about 2000, call the area home.
The newly observed group lives on four large straw-roofed buildings and grows corn, peanut and other crops.
Brazil’s National Indian Foundation (BNTF) first noticed the reservation in the forest using satellite maps, but it wasn’t until April that an airplane expedition was able to confirm the tribe’s existence. “The work of finding and protecting isolated groups is part of Brazilian public policy,” said the BNIF officer for Vale do Javari, Fabricio Amorim. “To confirm something like this takes years of hard work.”
BNIF estimates there are 68 isolated tribes living in the Amazon. The organization uses airplanes to avoid disturbing the tribes through personal contact, but that doesn’t mean others are so respectful of their right to privacy.
Illegal fishing, woodcutting and hunting bring people into the protected area. Oil exploration on the Peruvian side of the border is another threat. All kinds of criminals also invade the lands of the local groups, said Amorim. The outsiders can damage the land and influence the cultures of indigenous(土著的)peoples. They can also bring diseases which can wipe out the whole population that still lack even basic antibiotics(抗生素).
Brazil’s indigenous peoples won the legal right to their traditional lands in Brazil’s 1988 Constitution, which stated that all indigenous lands shall be divided and turned over to tribes within five years. Indigenous groups now control 11 percent of Brazil’s territory, including 22 percent of the Amazon.
Allowing indigenous groups the right homelands is not just a matter of human rights. The rest of the world can benefit from their knowledge. Mark Plotkin has spent years living with the people of the Amazon and learning from their traditional healers. In his lecture, he pointed out that many useful materials and knowledge, including numerous drugs, can be gained from listening to the indigenous groups of the Amazon. Besides this, they are also more effective at protecting the land, and less expensive, than hired rangers(护林人).
1.The underlined word in the first paragraph probably means “a state of ”.
|
A．separation |
B．interaction |
|
C．satisfaction |
D．excitement |
2.From the passage we can learn that the tribes in the Amazon forest .
|
A．only live on a reservation designated for them |
|
B．prefer straw-roofed buildings to wooden ones |
|
C．keep contact with the outside world through airplanes |
|
D．have the legal right to the land they live on |
3.Which of the following is TRUE according to Amorim?
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A．Privacy violation is common among the Amazon tribes. |
|
B．The laws dividing the lands of the tribes are far from enough. |
|
C．Modern civilization endangers the tribes and their cultures. |
|
D．It is hard to make public policy to protect primitive tribes. |
4.The last paragraph is mainly about .
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A．the lost human rights of the indigenous peoples |
|
B．the benefits of protecting the primitive tribes |
|
C．the value of traditional healing |
|
D．the indigenous peoples as guardians of the Amazon forest |