题目内容
It was a cold winter. The day my husband fell to his death, it started to snow, just 31 any November day. His 32 , when I found it, was lightly covered with snow. It snowed almost every day for the next four months, while I sat on the couch and watched it 33 . One morning, I walked slowly 34 and was surprised to see a snow remover clearing my driveway and the bent back of a woman clearing my walk. I dropped to my knees and crawled back upstairs, 35 those good people would not see me. I was 36 . My first thought was, how would I ever 37 them? I didn’t have the 38 to brush my hair, 39 clear someone’s walk.
Before Jon’s death, I felt proud that I 40 asked for favors. I identified myself by my competence and 41 . So who was I if I was no longer capable? How could I 42 myself if I just sat on the couch every day and watched the snow fall?
Learning to receive the love and 43 from others wasn’t easy. Friends cooked for me and I cried. Finally, my friend Kathy said, “Mary, cooking for you isn’t a 44 for me; it makes me feel good to be able to do something for you.”
Over and over, I heard 45 words from the people who supported me during those 46 days. One wise man told me, “You aren’t doing nothing because being fully open to your 47 may be the hardest work you will ever do.”
I am not the person I 48 was, but in many ways I have changed for the 49 . I’ve been surprised to learn that there is incredible freedom coming form 50 one’s worst fear and walking away whole. I believe there is strength, for sure, in accepting a dark period of our life.
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1.C
2.A
3.D
4.B
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6.D
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8.B
9.D
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11.B
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13.B
14.A
15.D
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17.C
18.B
19.D
20.A
【解析】略
阅读下面短文,掌握其大意,然后从36—55各题所给的四个选项(A、B、C和D)中,选出最佳选项,并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
Last night, when I was driving back home, I noticed a hitchhiker(搭便车的人) who was having no luck getting a ride. I rolled down my 36 and signed to the man to my car. I asked him where he was 37 and he told me he needed a 38 to his doctor’s office which would close in 15 minutes. I told him to 39 and he gratefully did so.
40 he got in he told me that he was a 41 and went out to sea for weeks at a time. He took medicine for his nerves and 42 to get another prescription(处方) before he left on the boat. He said that he had prayed (祈祷) 43 would stop for him so he could be there before the 44 office closed. With some 45 driving we managed to make it there in about 10 46. I then asked him how he 47 on getting back home and he said he could walk. “I’ll patiently 48 for you and bring you back,” I told him. He 49 me and said he should only be about 15 minutes.
Afterwards he got back in my 50 and tried his hardest to pay me back: offering me dinner, gas money, even offering to ship me 40 lbs of scallops (海扇贝)! I 51 refused, gave him a smile card and asked him to help someone else the next time he had a 52. I drove him back to where I had picked him up and 53 one more “thank you” he was on his way.
I feel that the universe 54 provides us with what we need. In the man’s 55 it was a ride, in mine the opportunity to help someone else.
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I started winning competitions. We still had very little money -- my father had to borrow $5,000 to pay for a trip to the International Young Pianists Competition in Ettlingen, Germany, in 1994, when I was 12. I realized later how much pressure he was under. Tears streamed down his face when it was announced that I'd won -- earning enough money to pay back our loan.
It was soo n clear I couldn't stay in China forever. To become a world-class musician, I had to play on the world's big stages. So in 1997, my father and I moved again, this time to Philadelphia, so I could attend The Curtis Institute of Music. Finally our money worries were easing. The school paid for an apartment and even lent me a Steinway(斯坦威钢琴).At night, I would sneak into the living room just to touch the keys.
Now that I was in America, I spent two years practicing, and by 1999 I had worked hard enough for fortune to take over. The Chicago Symphony orchestra heard me play and liked me, but orchestra schedules were set far in advance. I thought I might join them in a few years.
The next morning, I got a call. The great pianist Andre Watts, who was to play the "Gala Benefit Evening" at Chicago's Ravinia Festival, had become ill. I was asked to replace him. That performance was, for me, the moment. After violinist Isaac Stern introduced me, I played Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1. My father's mouth hung open throughout the entire song.
I played until 3:30 a.m. I felt something happening. Sure enough, it was a great success. Still, my father kept telling me, "You'd better practice!" But living in America with me was beginning to relax him. In Beijing I'd been fat -- he made sure I ate -- and he'd been skinny. Now I was getting thin. He wasn't.
My father and I had often practiced a piece called "Horses," a fun version for piano and erhu. One night in Carnegie Hall, after I played Chopin and Liszt, I brought Dad out on the stage, and we played our duet(二重奏). People went crazy -- they loved it. My father couldn't sleep for days. He was too happy to sleep.
There have been lots of concerts in Carnegie Hall, but for me playing there was especially sweet when I remember the cold days in Beijing. Together, my father and I worked to reach the lucky place where fortune spots you, and lets you shine.
【小题1】In the first paragraph his father cried when it was announced that he'd won mainly because__________.
A.his father was excited that his son succeeded at last. |
B.his father was under too much pressure. |
C.they could pay back the loan with the prize. |
D.his father was proud of him. |
a. He and his father moved to Philadelphia.
b. He was asked to replace the great pianist Andre Watts.
c. He and his father played “Horses” together.
d.The Chicago Symphony orchestra heard his performance.
e. The Curtis Institute of Music lent him a Steinway
A.a, e, c, b, d | B.b, e, a, d, c | C.d, a, e, b, c | D.a, e, d, b, c |
A.The writer’s father had been very fat before they went to America. |
B.The writer thought he would be one of them soon when he knew the Chicago Symphony orchestra heard him play and liked him. |
C.The Curtis Institute of Music finally eased their money worries. |
D.One can achieve his dream if he is lucky enough. |
A.America | B.Beijing. | C.Carnegie Hall | D.All the places he went to. |
A.I Took Off! | B.When Fortune Spots Me. |
C.No Pain, No Gain. | D.My father and I |
Reading poems is not exactly an everyday activity for most people. In fact, many people never read a poem once they get out of high school.
It is worth reminding ourselves that this has not always been the case in America. In the nineteenth century, a usual American activity was to sit around the fireplace in the evening and read poems aloud. It is true that there was no television at the time, nor movie theatres, nor World Wide Web, to provide diversion. However, poems were a source of pleasure, of self-education, of connection to other people or to the world beyond one’s own community. Reading them was a social act as well as an individual one, and perhaps even more social than individual. Writing poems to share with friends and relations was, like reading poems by the fireside, another way in which poetry had a place in everyday life.
How did things change? Why are most Americans no longer comfortable with poetry, and why do most people today think that a poem has nothing to tell them and they can do well without poems?
There are, I believe, three culprits (肇事者): poets, teachers and we ourselves. Of these, the least important is the third: the world surrounding the poem has betrayed (背叛) us more than we have betrayed the poem. Early in the twentieth century, poetry in English headed into directions hostile (不利的) to the reading of poetry. Readers decided that poems were not for the fireside or the easy chair at night, that they belonged where other difficult-to-read things belonged.
Poets failed the readers, so did the teachers. They want their students to know something about the craft (技巧) of a poem, and they want their students to see that poems mean something. Yet what usually occurs when teachers push these concerns on their high school students is that young people decide poems are unpleasant crossword puzzles.
【小题1】 Reading poems is thought to be a social act in the nineteenth century because _______.
A.it built a link among people | B.it helped unite a community |
C.it was a source of self-education | D.it was a source of pleasure |
A.diversity | B.change | C.amusements | D.happiness |
A.the difficulty in studying poems |
B.the way poems are taught in school |
C.students’ wrong ideas about poetry |
D.the techniques used in writing poems |
A.Poems have become difficult to understand. |
B.Students are poorly educated in high school. |
C.TV and the Internet are more attractive than poetry. |
D.Students are becoming less interested in poetry. |