When Marilynne Robinson published her first novel, Housekeeping, in 1980, she was unknown in the literary world. But an early review in The New York Times ensured that the book would be noticed. “It’s as if, in writing it, she broke through the ordinary human condition with all its dissatisfactions, and achieved a kind of transfiguration（美化）,” wrote Anatole Broyard, with an enthusiasm and amazement that was shared by many critics and readers. The book became a classic, and Robinson was recognized as one of the outstanding American writers of our time. Yet it would be more than twenty years before she wrote another novel. 

During the period, Robinson devoted herself to writing nonfiction. Her essays and book reviews appeared in Harper’s and The New York Times Book Review, and in 1989 she published Mother Country: Britain, the Welfare State, and Nuclear Pollution, criticizing severely the environmental and public health dangers caused by the Sellafield nuclear reprocessing plant in England—and the political and moral corruption(腐败). In 1998, Robinson published a collection of her critical and theological writings, The Death of Adam: Essays on Modern Thought, which featured reassessments of such figures as Charles Darwin, John Calvin, and Friedrich Nietzsche. Aside from a single short story—“Connie Bronson,” published in The Paris Review in 1986—it wasn’t until 2004 that she returned to fiction with the novel Gilead, which won the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Pulitzer Prize. Her third novel, Home, came out this fall.

Her novels could be described as celebrations of the human—the characters in them are unforgettable creations. Housekeeping is the story of Ruth and her sister Lucille, who are cared for by their eccentric（古怪的）Aunt Sylvie after their mother commits suicide. Robinson writes a lot about how each of the three is changed by their new life together. Gilead is an even more close exploration of personality: the book centres on John Ames, a seventy-seven-year-old pastor(牧师) who is writing an account of his life and his family history to leave to his young son after he dies. Home borrows characters from Gilead but centers on Ames’s friend Reverend Robert Boughton and his troubled son Jack. Robinson returned to the same territory as Gilead because, she said, “after I write a novel or a story, I miss the characters—I feel like losing some close friends.”

1.Robinson’s second novel came out ____.

A. in 1980                         B. in 1986                          C. in 1998                          D. in 2004

2.What is Paragraph 2 mainly about?

A. Robinson’s achievements in fiction.

B. Robinson’s achievements in nonfiction.

C. Robinson’s influence on the literary world.

D. Robinson’s contributions to the environment.

3.According to Paragraph 3, who is John Ames?

A. He is Robinson’s close friend.

B. He is a character in Gilead. 

C. He is a figure in The Death of Adam.

D. He is a historian writing family stories.

4.From which section of a newspaper can you read this passage?

A. Career.                        B. Lifestyle.     　   C. Music.                           D. Culture.

Liverpool, my hometown, is a unique city. It is so unique that in 2004 it became a World Heritage （遗产） Site.  

I recently returned to my home city and my first stop was at a museum on the River Mersey. Blanketed in mist （薄雾）, Victorian architecture rose from the banks of the river, responded to the sounds of sea-birds, and appeared unbelievably charming. When I headed toward the centre, I found myself surrounded by buildings that mirror the best palaces of Europe. It is not hard to imagine why, on first seeing the city, most visitors would be overpowered by the beauty of the noble buildings, which are solid signs of Liverpool’s history.  

As if stress its cultural role, Liverpool has more museums and galleries （美术馆） than most cities in Britain. At Walker Art Gallery, I was told that it has best collections of Victorian paintings in the world, and is the home of modern art in the north of England. However, culture is more than galleries. Liverpool offers many music events. As Britain’s No.1 music city, it has the biggest city music festival in Europe, and its musicians are famous all over the world. Liverpool is also well-known for its football and other sports events. Every year, the Mersey River Festival attracts thousands of visitors, madding the city a place of wonder.  

As you would expect from such a city, there are restaurants serving food from around the world. When my trip was about to complete, I chose to rest my legs in Liverpool’s famous Philharmonic pub （酒馆）. It is a monument to perfection, and a heritage attraction itself.  

Being a World Heritage Site, my home city is certainly a place of “outstanding universal value”. It is a treasure house with plenty of secrets for the world to explore.  

　　68. Visitors who see the city for the first time would be deeply impressed by________

　　A. its charming banks

　　B. its famous museums

　　C. its wonderful palaces

　　D. its attractive buildings

　　69. The third paragraph is developed mainly by______

　　A. providing different examples

　　B. following the order of space

　　C. making comparisons

　　D. analyzing causes

　　70. The author uses the Philharmonic pub to prove that_______

　　A. Liverpool is a well-known city for its restaurants

　　B. Liverpool is an impressive place full of attraction

　　C. a pub is a wonderful place for visitors to relax themselves

　　D. a pub is a perfect choice for visitors to complete their journey

　　71. What is the passage mainly about?

　　A. The universal value of the world heritage in Liverpool

　　B. The exciting experience of the author in Liverpool

　　C. The special cultural atmosphere of Liverpool

D. The beautiful historic sites of Liverpool

任务型阅读 (共10小题；每小题1分，满分10分)

请认真阅读下列短文，并根据所读内容在文章后表格中的空格里填入一个最恰当的单词。注意：每个空格只填1个单词。请将答案写在答题卡上相应题号的横线上。

There are many destructive (破坏性的) forces when it comes to nature, which have destroyed whole cities and killed many people. They’re really terrible, but they occur somewhat often, and this is why you see so many charities these days which focus their efforts on helping people who have been affected by natural disasters.

While the world is a very beautiful place to live in, there will always be parts of the world where natural disasters happen more often than in other places, where properties（财产）and lives are destroyed. Only the people who live in the country where tsunamis and earthquakes as well as other disasters occur experience these, and we can only imagine the suffering that they go through.

For some people out there, the world is cruel, but they have no choice but to stay where they are. A lot of the time people simply cannot afford to move away, as they might not be able to get a job when they leave.

In 2004, there was a tsunami in the Indian Ocean. A tsunami is a large wave that towers hundreds of feet into the air, and covers whole areas when it comes crashing（冲进） down on to dry land. This particular tsunami was caused by an earthquake that happened in the middle of the sea, shooting the water away from the ground and towards dry land. This tsunami actually reached thirty meters in height, and was one of the worst waves the world has ever seen. Over 200,000 people were hurt in the disaster.

In 2005, we also saw a hurricane happened in the United States. This hurricane was known as hurricane Katrina, and is perhaps the worst in the history of the world. It happened in 2005 and destroyed millions of properties in the area. It also took the lives of nearly 2,000 American people. It was known that for ten days, the wind swept through the area, meaning the most powerful country in the world became helpless in their attempts to save the people who were affected by the hurricane.

Finally, in 2008 we saw yet another natural disaster. This time it was a cyclone (旋风), which is similar to a hurricane but happens in a circular motion (圆周运动). This cyclone Nargis had been one of the strongest to have ever occurred, causing the death of nearly 150,000 people. All of these were terrible disasters that were unavoidable.

Title: Forces of Nature

Diamonds may be a girl’s best friend. But some women show great interest in colorful beads（珠子）from Uganda made of recycled paper. The beads are sold by a nonprofit organization called BeadforLife.

BeadforLife began as a chance meeting between three American women on a trip to Uganda and a local jewelry maker. Millie Grace Akena was rolling paper beads near her home. She made paper beads as a hobby. But there was no real market in her country.

Torkin Wakefield says she and her daughters Devin and Ginny brought some of the beads back home. Immediately people started admiring the beads. The three Americans started BeadforLife in 2004. Nearly 700 women have taken part.

The group says its beaders earn an average of more than 2,000 dollars a year in the program. This is five times what they earned before. The beads are sold across Uganda and in Boulder, Colorado. They are also sold online and at jewelry shows called bead parties. “Because they have meaning, because these are gifts that help people, when folks in America and beyond buy our beads, they feel a sense of generosity. They feel a direct connection, like they can really take part in getting rid of poverty.” Torkin said.

The jewelry costs between five and thirty dollars. BeadforLife reported sales in its last budget year of more that 3.5 million dollars. It says for every ten-dollar necklace sold, the beader gets two dollars and forty-three cents in money or materials. It says more than 90% of earnings are reinvested in community development projects in Uganda. Torkin Wakefield estimates that BeadforLife has helped more than 8,000 people this way.

So what about Millie Grace Akena, the jewelry maker? Mrs Wakefield says she has gone on to organize a small group of women who work with her, and they sell their beads to a religious group.

1.According to the passage, BeadforLife is an organization that ______.

A. provides poor people worldwide with free education

B. mainly encourages people to learn to earn a living on their own

C. has attracted many businessmen to invest in beading

D. supports community development projects in Uganda

2.When Torkin Wakefield brought the beads to America, ______.

A. she didn’t know people would like them

B. she wanted to make a fortune out of them

C. people showed great interest in them at once

D. she was thinking of how to find investors

3.According to Paragraph 4, the beads are popular because ______.

A. people think buying them is a good way to help the poor

B. they are of good quality and can be kept for a long time

C. they symbolize the most important thing in people’s life

D. they look even more beautiful than diamonds

4.Which of the following can best summarize the main idea of the passage?

A. Mrs Wakefield makes a great contribution to developing countries.

B. BeadforLife makes beads out of recycled paper.

C. BeadforLife uses paper beads to improve people’s lives.

D. Mrs Wakefield’s career takes off thanks to paper beads.

读写任务（共1小题，满分25分）

在全国“两会”上，“农村留守儿童” 问题成为人大代表和政协委员普遍关注的热门话题之一。请阅读下面的短文，然后按照要求写一篇150词左右的英语短文。

In China, with one or two parents going out to earn money, many children are left in their hometown in the countryside. These children are called “leftover children”. A large number of leftover children have emerged since 1978, and the statistics showed in 2004, the total is 22 million.

Usually their grandparents or their parents’ friends or relatives look after these leftover children. Sometimes they are brought up by one of their parents at home. In most cases, their guardians are not quite educated. To them, making sure that the children are healthy and fed well is the most important task, and that the children are safe and sound is considered to have done a good job. But they seldom care about children’s study, their psychological needs, or mental demands. Neither do they spend  some time teaching kids how to develop good habits.

Therefore, for most of the time, the leftover children can’t get emotional support from their parents, which can result in so many problems.

[写作内容]

1. 以大约30个词概括短文的内容。

2. 然后以约120个词就“如何关心农村留守儿童（leftover children）的成长？”的主题发表看法，并包括如下要点：

1）农村留守孩子存在的原因是什么。

2）你认为他们面临的最大困难是什么。

3）解决留守孩子问题的关键是什么, 提出解决问题的措施。

[写作要求]

1. 你可以使用实例或其他论述方法支持你的论点，也可以参照阅读材料的内容，但不能直接引用阅读材料的句子。

2. 题目自定。

[评分标准] 

概括准确、语言规范、内容合适、篇章连贯。

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