题目内容
Jane opened the window to ________ a little air and sunshine.
A. admitB. admireC. adaptD. adopt
For many years, scholars have regarded My Mortal Enemy as somewhat of an enigma. Written in only a few months during the early spring of 1925 and published in 1926, Willa Cather’s shortest novel was sandwiched in between The Professor’s House (1925) and Death Comes for the Archbishop (1927). While the subject matter of these latter two works can be traced to Cather’s experience in the desert Southwest, My Mortal Enemy seemingly has nothing to do with these subjects or her Nebraska roots; it appears to have come out of nowhere, puzzling those who have tried to fit this rather irregular work into a logical progression of Cather’s artistic development. The question of what caused Cather to write such a novel at this point in her career, for example, has still not been answered definitively. One commonly held hypothesis (假说) was first voiced by Marcus Klein, who in his 1961 introduction to the novel wrote that for Cather, “The story of Myra Henshawe must have been a personal crisis”. Klein, though, acknowledged that he could not prove his theory, “because there is available no record other than the novel”. Emmy Stark Zitter has recently argued that in My Mortal Enemy and Sapphira and the Slave Girl (1940) Cather exercises the autobiographical impulse (冲击) by putting details of her own life into her fiction, but, like Klein, she is unable to name which “details” of her life Cather drew on in writing My Mortal Enemy.
As hinted (暗示) in the above statements by Klein and Zitter, much of the general uncertainty about the meaning of My Mortal Enemy can be traced to the absence of a persuasive theory as to who the real-life models for the novel’s characters were and what Cather’s relationship to them was. Cather herself wrote in a 1940 letter that, in James Woodress’s paraphrase, “she had known Myra’s real-life model very well, and the portrait drawn in the story was much as she remembered her”; Cather also added that the woman had died fifteen years before My Mortal Enemy was published, and that many relatives of this model later wrote to her to say that they recognized the “real” Myra from her description in the novel. Given such hints and Cather’s liking for drawing on her experiences in Nebraska for characters, settings, and plots, it is quite understandable that scholars have thus looked to Red Cloud and Lincoln for possible sources of the people and events depicted in My Mortal Enemy.
In light of the evidence presented in this article, though, I believe that Cather intended her comments about the model for Myra Henshawe to serve as red herrings (转移注意力的言语) that would protect her relationship with the couple who were the prototypes (原型) for the Henshawes, both of whom were still alive in 1925. Mark Madigan has recently confirmed how Cather in 1905 had to hold off publishing “The Profile (传略)” because of fears that the main character might recognize herself and commit suicide, and twenty years later Cather would have been well aware of how her description of the Henshawes might have affected both the real-life wife (who died in 1929) and husband (who died in 1949) if they had recognized themselves. It is my argument that the Henshawes were modeled after people Cather knew not in Nebraska but rather in New York: S. S. and Hattie McClure. Myra’s uncle, John Driscoll, was modeled after Hattie’s father, Professor Albert Hurd.
Possibly most important, identifying the Henshawes as the McClures allows us to more conclusively identify Cather herself with Nellie Birdseye. Nellie and Cather, both Midwestern onlookers and recorders, experienced four distinct stages in their relationships with the Henshawes and the McClures (especially with S. S.) My Mortal Enemy, I believe, was an extended attempt by Cather to deal with certain aspects of her own past and to move on in a world stripped of romantic illusion.
【小题１】The underlined word “enigma” in Paragraph 1 means “________”.
A. adaptationB. abstractC. best-sellerD. mystery
【小题２】Cather didn’t have My Mortal Enemy published immediately ________.
A. so as not to annoy the relatives of the prototype for Myra
B. for fear that the prototype for Myra should be badly hurt
C. because she meant to polish it by adding some new material
D. because she was forbidden to do so by the real-life couple
【小题３】We can infer from the passage that ________.
A. Myra Henshawe is particularly true to her prototype
B. Cather had a good relationship with the real-life model
C. the writer considers My Mortal Enemy as a great work
D. scholars will put an end to their argument about the novel
【小题４】In the passage, the writer ________.
A. restored the truth behind Myra
B. presented his own hypothesis
C. made a revision to Zitter’s idea
D. renewed part of Klein’s fiction
【小题５】The proper title for the passage is ______.
A. uncovering Cather’s personal secret
B. unlocking the scholars’ imagination
C. unfolding the plot of My Mortal Enemy
D. unmasking Cather’s “mortal enemy”
At first my new 1. were difficult to tolerate. The air seemed thin, as though its combination of gases had little oxygen left. Hit by a 2.of fresh air, my head ached. Just as I tried to make the necessary 3. to this new situation ,Wang ping handed a mask to me and I felt better in 4. time. Soon I was 5. on my feet again and following him to collect a hovering carriage driven by computer. Wang Ping fastened my safety belt and showed me how to use it. Soon I could fly as fast as him. However, I lost 6. of him when we reached what looked like a large market because of too many carriage flying in all directions.
During the Renaissance, new ideas and values gradually 7. those held in the Middle Ages. People began to 8. less on religious themes and adopt a more humanistic attitude to life. … Rich people wanted to 9. their own paintings, so they could 10. their superb palaces and great houses.
1.When it comes to his designs, Ted becomes extremely p______, choosing colors carefully, and hard to satisfy.
2.He has decided to go abroad with the i______ of improving his English and finding a better job when he returns.
3.The reason why her novels enjoy great popularity among readers is that all the stories are a______ in everyday experience.
4.If the printer should break down under g______, we would repair it at our expense.
5.There was an a______ silence when no one knew what to say, and then I changed the subject.
6.This may have been an improvement, but "______ (突破)" was an overstatement.
7.Immediately upon seeing his manner, I knew he had a ______ (内疚的) conscience.
8.There's a danger of the government falling because it will lose its ______ (多数).
9.The subsequent events ______ (证实) my suspicions once again.
10.To extend ______ (参与) in public decision-making, they advocate telephone conference calls be widely used.
________ in Northern Europe rose steadily in the third quarter of 2016, following a 0.1 percent increase in the previous quarter.
A. Tourist spendingB. Tourist spent
C. Tourist spendD. Tourist spends
After the usual greetings and some ________ about the weather, the men got down to their own business.
A. statementsB. declarationsC. remarksD. expressions
—What about the rent?
—______. You can pay weekly or monthly.
A. It’s up to you B. That’s all right
C. You can’t miss it D. Not at all
阅读下面材料，在空白处填入适当的内容或括号内单词的正确形式。
Once there lived a rich man, __1.__ wanted to do something for the people of his town. But first he wanted to find out ___2.__they deserved his help.
In the center of the main road into the town, he placed __3.__ very large stone. Then he __4.__(hide) behind a tree and waited. Soon an old man came along with his cow.
“Who put this stone in the center of the road？” said the old man，but he did not try to remove the stone. Instead, with some difficulty he passed around the stone and continued on his way. __5.__ man came along and did the same thing; then another came, and another. All of them complained about the stone but not tried to remove __6.__. Late in the afternoon a young man came along. He saw the stone，__7.__(say) to himself: “The night will be very dark. Some ___8.__ (neighbor) will come along later in the dark and will fall against the stone.”
Then he began to move the stone. He pushed and pulled with all his __9._(strong) to move it，only to find a bag of money under the stone. Imagine ___10.___ surprised he was!
Taking a shower is relaxing．You can hum a song, daydream or think about nothing, leaving the real world behind you．But did you know that showering can also benefit your mind?
A research by Scott Barry Kaufman, a psychologist from Yale University in the US interviewed over 3,000 people around the world．It turned out that nearly two-thirds of the interviewees said they had experienced new ideas in the shower and were more likely to have them in the shower than at work．
So why does a simple shower have such magic power? Science can explain it．
Showering can help to raise our level of dopamine, a hormone (荷尔蒙) closely related to our creativity．“People vary in terms of their level of creativity according to the activity of dopamine”, explained Alice Flaherty, a famous American neuroscientist．“Taking a warm shower can make us feel relaxed and therefore make the dopamine level rise and bring 'Aha!' moment to us．”
Besides the chemical changes, showering may give you a break from what you feel you have been stuck with．Especially when you have thought hard all day about a problem, jumping into the shower can keep you from the outside world so that you can focus on your inner feelings and memories．In this way, according to American psychologist Shelley H．Carson, author of Your Creative Brain, “a showering hour may turn into an ‘incubation (孵化) period’ for your ideas．”
Compared with sitting in front of a computer, taking a shower is something we do less frequently in our daily life．When showering, we get a fresh experience with the change of location, temperature and humidity．“New and unexpected experiences can lead to positive changes in thinking,” explained Kaufman．“Getting off the couch and jumping in the shower may create a distance and force you to think from a new point of view．”
Showering allows us to enjoy the creative juices of our minds, but it needn't just be the bathroom where you get your inspiration．For instance, Gertrude Stein, a female American writer and poet, got new ideas by driving around a farm and stopping at different cows until she found the one that most inspired her．So try to create your own way to free your mind, whether it's a walk near the ocean, a country drive or reading a book at home．
1.According to the article, what changes can showering cause?
A．Bringing the terrible moment to us．
B．Increasing the level of dopamine．
C．Leading to boredom or tiredness．
D．Setting the creative part of the brain free．
2.If one has focused on something all day, showering can help _______．
A．turn one’s attention inwards
B．draw one’s attention to the outside world
C．one make an important breakthrough
D．many chemical changes to take place
3.It can be inferred from the article that _______．
A．changes in the frequency of an action can create a new perspective
B．it is a good idea to talk with others about their sources of inspiration
C．our lives might feel longer and fuller if we frequently try new things
D．it is helpful to try something different rather than stay focused on a difficult task
4.The example of Gertrude Stein in the last paragraph is used to _______．
A．encourage readers to find their own ways of getting inspiration
B．point out to readers that it's hard to find inspiration
C．explain how to link inspiration with readers’ daily lives
D．show that creativity often comes from strange places
