THE BRONTE FAMILY

Yorkshire, England was the setting for two great novels (小说) of the 19th century. These were Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre and Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights. The youngest sister, Anne, was also a gifted novelist, and her books have the same extraordinary quality as her sisters’.

Their father was Patrick Bronte, born in Ireland. He moved with his wife, Maria Bronte, and their six small children to Haworth in Yorkshire in 1820. Soon after, Mrs. Bronte and the two eldest children died, leaving the father to care of the remaining three girls and a boy.

Charlotte was born in 1816. Emily was born in 1818 and Anne in 1820. Their brother Branwell was born in 1817. Left to themselves, the children wrote and told stories and walked over the hills. They grew up largely self-educated. Branwell showed a great interest in drawing. The girls were determined to earn money for his art education. They took positions as teachers or taught children in their homes.

As children they had all written many stories. Charlotte, as a young girl, alone wrote 22 books, each with 60 to 100 pages of small handwriting. Therefore, they turned to writing for income. By 1847, Charlotte had written The Professor; Emily, Wuthering Heights; and Anne, Agnes Grey. After much difficulty Anne and Emily found a publisher(出版商), but there was no interest shown in Charlotte’s book. (It was not published until 1859.) However, one publisher expressed an interest in seeing more of her works. Jane Eyre was already started, and she hurriedly finished it. It was accepted at once; thus each of the sisters had a book published in 1847.

Jane Eyre was immediately successful; the other two, however, did not do so well. People did not like Wuthering Heights. They said it was too wild, too animal-like. But gradually it came to be considered one of the finest novels in the English language. Emily lived only a short while after the publication of the book, and Anne died in 1849.

Charlotte published Shirley in 1849, and Villette in 1853. In 1854 she married Arthur Bell Nicholls. But only a year later, she died of tuberculosis(肺结核) as her sisters had.

We know from the text that      .

A. Jane Eyre was published in 1847    

B. Charlotte Bronte wrote 22 books in all

C. the Bronte sisters received good education     

D. Patrick Bronte helped his daughters with their writing

The underlined words “the other two” in the 5 th paragraph refer to      .

       A. Shirley and Villette   B. The Professor and Agnes Grey

       C. Agnes Grey and Wutheriing Heights   D. The Professor and wuthering Heights

What do we know about the Bronte sisters from the text?

       A. Their novels interested few publishers.

       B. None of them had more than two books published.

       C. None of them lived longer than 40 years old.

       D. Emily was the least successful of the three.

One of my wonderful memories is about a Christmas gift. Unlike other gifts,it came without wrap(包装).
On September 11 th , 1 958,Mum gave birth to Richard.After she brought him home from hospital,she put him in my lap,saying, “I promised you a gift, and here it is.” What an honor! I turned four a month earlier and none of my friends had such a baby doll of their own.I played with it day and night. I sang to it, I told it stories.I told it over and over how much I loved it!  
One morning, however,I found its bed empty. My doll was gone! I cried for it.Mum wept and told me that the poor little thing had been sent to a hospital.It had a fever. For several days,I heard Mum and Dad whispering such words as “hopeless”,“pitiful",and “dying”, which sounded Ominous
Christmas was coming, “Don’t expect any presents this year,” Dad said, pointing at the socks I hung in the living room. “If your baby brother lives, that’ll be Christmas enough.” As he spoke,his eyes filled with tears. I’d never seen him cry before.
The phone rang early on Christmas morning.Dad jumped out of bed to answer it.From my bedroom I heard him say, “What? He’s all right?” He hung up and shouted upstairs. “The hospital said we can bring Richard home!” “Thank God!” I heard Mum cry.
From the window upstairs,I watched my parents rush out to the car.I had never seen them so happy. And I was also full of joy. What a wonderful day! My baby doll would be home. I ran downstairs. My socks still hung there flat.But I knew they were not empty: they were filled with love !
【小题1】What happened to the author on September 11th,1958?

A.He got a baby brother.B.He got a Christmas gift.
C.He became four years old.D.He received a doll.
【小题2】What does the underlined word “ominous” in Paragraph 3 probably mean?
A.Impossible.B.Boring.C.Difficult.D.Fearful.
【小题3】Which word can best describe the feeling of the father when Christmas was coming?
A.Excitement.B.Happiness.C.Sadness.D.Disappointment.

THE BRONTE FAMILY
Yorkshire, England was the setting for two great novels (小说) of the 19th century. These were Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre and Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights. The youngest sister, Anne, was also a gifted novelist, and her books have the same extraordinary quality as her sisters’.
Their father was Patrick Bronte, born in Ireland. He moved with his wife, Maria Bronte, and their six small children to Haworth in Yorkshire in 1820. Soon after, Mrs. Bronte and the two eldest children died, leaving the father to care of the remaining three girls and a boy.
Charlotte was born in 1816. Emily was born in 1818 and Anne in 1820. Their brother Branwell was born in 1817. Left to themselves, the children wrote and told stories and walked over the hills. They grew up largely self-educated. Branwell showed a great interest in drawing. The girls were determined to earn money for his art education. They took positions as teachers or taught children in their homes.
As children they had all written many stories. Charlotte, as a young girl, alone wrote 22 books, each with 60 to 100 pages of small handwriting. Therefore, they turned to writing for income. By 1847, Charlotte had written The Professor; Emily, Wuthering Heights; and Anne, Agnes Grey. After much difficulty Anne and Emily found a publisher(出版商), but there was no interest shown in Charlotte’s book. (It was not published until 1859.) However, one publisher expressed an interest in seeing more of her works. Jane Eyre was already started, and she hurriedly finished it. It was accepted at once; thus each of the sisters had a book published in 1847.
Jane Eyre was immediately successful; the other two, however, did not do so well. People did not like Wuthering Heights. They said it was too wild, too animal-like. But gradually it came to be considered one of the finest novels in the English language. Emily lived only a short while after the publication of the book, and Anne died in 1849.
Charlotte published Shirley in 1849, and Villette in 1853. In 1854 she married Arthur Bell Nicholls. But only a year later, she died of tuberculosis(肺结核) as her sisters had.
【小题1】We know from the text that      .

A.Jane Eyre was published in 1847
B.Charlotte Bronte wrote 22 books in all
C.the Bronte sisters received good education
D.Patrick Bronte helped his daughters with their writing
【小题2】The underlined words “the other two” in the 5 th paragraph refer to      .
A.Shirley and VilletteB.The Professor and Agnes Grey
C.Agnes Grey and Wutheriing HeightsD.The Professor and wuthering Heights
【小题3】 What do we know about the Bronte sisters from the text?
A.Their novels interested few publishers.
B.None of them had more than two books published.
C.None of them lived longer than 40 years old.
D.Emily was the least successful of the three.

THE BRONTE FAMILY

Yorkshire, England was the setting for two great novels (小说) of the 19th century. These were Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre and Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights. The youngest sister, Anne, was also a gifted novelist, and her books have the same extraordinary quality as her sisters’.

Their father was Patrick Bronte, born in Ireland. He moved with his wife, Maria Bronte, and their six small children to Haworth in Yorkshire in 1820. Soon after, Mrs. Bronte and the two eldest children died, leaving the father to care of the remaining three girls and a boy.

Charlotte was born in 1816. Emily was born in 1818 and Anne in 1820. Their brother Branwell was born in 1817. Left to themselves, the children wrote and told stories and walked over the hills. They grew up largely self-educated. Branwell showed a great interest in drawing. The girls were determined to earn money for his art education. They took positions as teachers or taught children in their homes.

As children they had all written many stories. Charlotte, as a young girl, alone wrote 22 books, each with 60 to 100 pages of small handwriting. Therefore, they turned to writing for income. By 1847, Charlotte had written The Professor; Emily, Wuthering Heights; and Anne, Agnes Grey. After much difficulty Anne and Emily found a publisher(出版商), but there was no interest shown in Charlotte’s book. (It was not published until 1859.) However, one publisher expressed an interest in seeing more of her works. Jane Eyre was already started, and she hurriedly finished it. It was accepted at once; thus each of the sisters had a book published in 1847.

Jane Eyre was immediately successful; the other two, however, did not do so well. People did not like Wuthering Heights. They said it was too wild, too animal-like. But gradually it came to be considered one of the finest novels in the English language. Emily lived only a short while after the publication of the book, and Anne died in 1849.

Charlotte published Shirley in 1849, and Villette in 1853. In 1854 she married Arthur Bell Nicholls. But only a year later, she died of tuberculosis(肺结核) as her sisters had.

1.We know from the text that      .

A.Jane Eyre was published in 1847

B.Charlotte Bronte wrote 22 books in all

C.the Bronte sisters received good education

D.Patrick Bronte helped his daughters with their writing

2.The underlined words “the other two” in the 5 th paragraph refer to      .

A.Shirley and Villette

B.The Professor and Agnes Grey

C.Agnes Grey and Wutheriing Heights

D.The Professor and wuthering Heights

3. What do we know about the Bronte sisters from the text?

A.Their novels interested few publishers.

B.None of them had more than two books published.

C.None of them lived longer than 40 years old.

D.Emily was the least successful of the three.

 

 

    Dr Wiseman started “the laugh lab” project in September 2001. It is the largest study of humour. Participants are invited to log on  to the laugh lab website, give a few personal details , tell their favorite jokes and judge the jokes told by other people.

    The project will last for a year, and the organizers hope to finally discover the world’s funniest joke. But there is also a serious purpose, the researches want to know what people from different nations and cultures find funny. And they want to find out the differences between the male and female sense of humor. The idea is that if we want to understand each other, we have to find out what makes us laugh.

This is a subject that has long interested psychologists and philosophers. Most of the time, people are not completely honest. We do things that society expects us to and say things that help us get what we want. But laughing cannot be controlled. When we laugh, we tell the truth about ourselves.

By December 2001 over 10,000 jokes had been submitted(提交). This gave the scientists enough evidence to make early conclusions. It seems that men and women do have different senses of humor, for instance.

“Our findings show the major differences in the ways in which males and females use humor,” said Dr Wiseman. “Males use humor to appear superior(优越的) to others, while women are more skilled in languages and prefer word play.”

Researchers also found that there really is such a thing as a national sense of humor. The British enjoy what is usually called “toilet humor”. But the French like their jokes short and sharp: “You’re a high priced lawyer. Will you answer two questions for $500?” “Yes. What’s the second question?”

The Germans are famous for not having a sense of humor. But the survey found that German participants were more likely to find submitted jokes funny than any other nationality. Perhaps that proves the point. Is this joke funny? I don’t know, but let’s say yes, just to be safe.

Dr Wiseman and his workmates also submitted jokes created by computer. But none of those who took part in the survey found any of them amusing. Perhaps this is relief. Computers already seem like they can do everything. At least they should leave the funny stuff to us.

1.Scientist started “the laugh lab” project ____________

   A.to find the funniest joke in European countries

   B.to know what funny people are from different nations and cultures

   C.to find out the differences between the male and female sense of humor

   D.to get more personal details about participants

2.What is the main idea of the 4 th and 5 th paragraph?

    A.Man and woman have different senses of humour.

    B.Male and female have similar senses of humour.

    C.About 10,000 jokes have been submitted from September 2001 to December 2001.

    D.Scientists have collected enough evidence to make conclusions.

3.The writer gave the examples of the British, the French and the Germans        .

    A.to show that French people have a better sense of humour

    B.to prove the British people have a sense of “toilet humour”

    C.to show people from different nations have different senses of humour

    D.to prove that the Germans have no sense of humour

4.Which statement is TRUE according to the passage?

   A.The jokes by computer are less funny than those by humans

   B.The Germans cannot find the submitted jokes amusing

   C.Males are better at word play compared with women

   D.Females like to use humor to show that they are superior

 

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