A Book Review—The Snake-Stone by Berlie DohertyThe setting: Urban England (the c
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A Book Review—The Snake-Stone by Berlie Doherty
The setting: Urban England (the cities), but also rural England (the countryside) including remote English villages．
The theme: The main theme is a teenage research of self-discovery, in this case the search for a mother from whom the hero was separated at an early age．Its other concerns are love, getting on with others, being persistent and courageous and trying to deal with doubts, troubles and worries．As the book moves to a close, James’ swimming coach says to him: “You are not like a kid obeying instructions any more．You are diving like a young man who knows where he is going．”
The characters: James is the hero of the story．He is a championship diver, and has a comfortable life with his foster parents (养父母)．Yet he also has the qualities to take him on a long journey to find his birth mother．The other characters in The Snake-Stone, James’ parents, his diving instructor, best friend, the villagers, people he meets on his journey, are pictured realistically．
The turning point: The turning point in the story comes while James’ foster parents are away in London, and he wonders about the identity of his birth mother．The only clue he has is a fossil, “the snake stone” which she left behind along with a note on which she had written: “Take good care of Sammie．It was written on a torn envelope with parts of an address still there．
The journey: Instead of going to London, James decides to find his birth mother．With help from his geography teacher, James sets out for the remote country village where his mother might be found．James has painful, challenging, but also humorous and happy travels．The mother he finally meets, Anne, has a minor yet powerful voice in the novel．He comes to understand why she left him at a stranger’s door fifteen years before．Although the meeting is not long, it leaves him with a feeling of completeness．As a journey of self-discovery The Snake-Stone also provides its readers with a happy ending．Its hero says, on returning to his foster parents, “I was home．”
小题1:What is the main theme of the novel?| A．A journey of self-discovery． | | B．Life in the world of diving． | | C．Life with foster parents． | | D．A travel around the country． |
小题2:What do the coach’s words in Paragraph 2 suggest?| A．James is a successful diver． | | B．James is an independent young man． | | C．James is an outgoing young man． | | D．James is a hopeful swimmer． |
小题3:The snake stone in the novel is ．| A．a stone with an address on it | | B．a gift from the swimming coach | | C．a clue left by the birth mother | | D．a fossil left by the foster parents |
小题4:Which of the following is true about the novel?| A．The story has a sad ending． | | B．The story takes place in the city of London． | | C．The characters are vividly described． | | D．The turning point comes after the hero meets his birth mother． |
小题5:It can be concluded that James’ journey is _________．| A．disappointing | B．boring | C．comfortable | D．worthwhile |
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答案
小题1:A
小题2:B
小题3:C
小题4:C
小题5:D |
解析
本文是一篇书评。
小题1:细节题。根据The theme: The main theme is a teenage research of self-discovery可知A正确。
小题2:推理题。根据第二段最后一句e．You are diving like a young man who knows where he is going．”可知他是一个知道该去那里的人，是一个自信的人。故B正确。
小题3:推理题。根据The turning point 部分的The only clue he has is a fossil, “the snake stone” which she left behind along with a note on which she had written: “Take good care of Sammie．It was written on a torn envelope with parts of an address still there．可知C正确。
小题4:细节题。根据The characters 部分是最后以句are pictured realistically．可知C正确。
小题5:推理题。根据最后一段第3，4行．James has painful, challenging, but also humorous and happy travels．可知这次旅游还是值得的。故D正确。 |
举一反三
Life gets noisier every day and very few people can be free from noise of some sort or another. It doesn’t matter where you live－ in the middle of a modern city, or a faraway village the chances that you will be disturbed by jet planes , transistor radios, oil-powered engines, etc, are almost everywhere. We seem to be getting used to noise, too. Some people feel quite lonely without background music while they are working.
Scientific tests have shown that total silence can be very frightening experience for human beings. However, some people enjoy listening to pop music which is very loud, and this can do harm to their eardrums (耳鼓). The noise level in some disco is far above the usual safety level for heavy industrial areas.
One recent report about noise and concentration(专心) suggested that although a lot of people say that any noise disturbs their concentration , what really affects their ability to concentrate is a change in the level of noise. It goes on to say that a background noise, which doesn’t change too much (music, for example ) may even help people to concentrate.
小题1:The best title for this passage is________.| A．Noisy Life | | B．Background Noise | | C．Disturbed Concentration | | D．Changeable Noise |
小题2:From this passage, the pollution of noise __________.| A．doesn’t matter much | | B．has become better in big cities | | C．has become better in villages | | D．has become worse everywhere |
小题3:Scientists have discovered that what prevents people from concentrating is _________.| A．any kind of noise | | B．great changes in level of noise | | C．background noise | | D．various background music |
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Are your children liked by their teachers? All parents want their children to impress(给...的印象) their teachers and succeed in school. You can get your children to impress their teachers by following these easy steps.
Make sure they’re prepared. Teachers are impressed by children coming to school prepared to learn. Make sure they have everything they need—pencils textbooks, erasers and so on.
Require them to be active in class. Teach them to ask teachers questions when they don’t understand something. Some children think teachers are bothered by questions, but most teachers are impressed when children take the initiative(采取主动) in asking questions. They should take part in class discussions, giving their opinions politely.
Keep your children healthy. If your children are tired and hungry, they won’t be ready to learn. Children need at least 8 to 10 hours of sleep per night. Feed your children a solid breakfast and prepare a healthy lunch. Provide them with fruit and other healthy foods—apples or bananas are better for them than cookies.
Make sure that your children do their homework. If they really don’t understand it, discuss it with them patiently. Don’t help them do their homework. Teachers can always tell who it is that does the work.
Teach your children good manners and habits. Children need to arrive at the school punctually, and be polite to their teachers and classmates. Parents need to teach these skills at home. Nothing is sweeter than children who say “please” and “thank you”, and these are children their teachers are certain to love.
小题1:The first paragraph serves as ________.| A．an explanation | B．an introduction | C．a background | D．a guidance |
小题2:Which of the following statements is NOT true? | A．Hungry and tired children can’t focus on their study. | | B．Children should go to school on time and learn to behave well. | | C．Teachers aren’t able to decide if parents do homework for their children. | | D．Teachers are impressed when children take an active part in class. |
小题3:The passage mainly tells us that being parents, you should ________.| A．help your children to impress their teachers at school | | B．ask your children to get ready for classes before going to school | | C．teach your children to be polite to both their teachers and classmates | | D．remind your children to observe all the rules when at school |
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Is it difficult for you to get up in the morning? Do you sometimes oversleep？ Are you often late for work or school? Yes? Then Hiroyuki Sugiyama of Japan has a (an) 1 bed for you. Hiroyuki"s bed will get you up in the morning! Here is how it 2 .
The bed 3 an alarm clock. First, the alarm clock rings. You have a few minutes to wake up. Next, a tape recorder in the bed plays 4 music or other pleasant sounds. The tape recorder in Hiroyuki"s bed plays a recording of his girlfriend. She whispers in a sweet 5 , "Wake up, darling, please." A few minutes later, a second recording 6 . The sound recording can be loud music or 7 sounds. Hiroyuki hears a recording of his boss shouts, "Wake up immediately, 8 you"ll be late!"
If you don"t get up 9 the second recording, you will be sorry! A mechanical "foot" is in the bed. The mechanical foot kicks you in the head. Then the bed waits a few 10 minutes. What! You"re still in bed! Slowly the 11 of the bed rises higher and higher. The foot of the bed goes lower and lower. 12 the bed is vertical (垂直的). You slide off the bed and onto the floor. You are out of bed and 13
Hiroyuki made his bed because he wanted to 14 a contest. He works for Honda Motor Company. Once every two years Honda has a contest for its 200,000 employees ---"All-Honda Idea Contest". The employees think of new ideas. If their ideas win, the employees win 15 . Hiroyuki Sugiyama won a lot of money for his bed.
| 小题1: | | A．expensive | B．special | C．valuable | D．comfortable |
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| 小题2: | | A．works | B．runs | C．happens | D．moves |
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| 小题3: | | A．is separated from | B．is made up of | C．is attached to | D．is made into |
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| 小题4: | | A．loud | B．classical | C．pop | D．soft |
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| 小题5: | | A．sound | B．voice | C．noise | D．way |
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| 小题6: | | A．sends | B．turns | C．plays | D．appears |
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| 小题7: | | A．pleasant | B．interesting | C．unpleasant | D．funny |
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| 小题9: | | A．after | B．until | C．since | D．before |
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| 小题10: | | A．other | B．another | C．more | D．one |
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| 小题12: | | A．However | B．Finally | C．Therefore | D．Otherwise |
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| 小题13: | | A．angry | B．work | C．happy | D．awake |
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| 小题14: | | A．win | B．achieve | C．gain | D．defeat |
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| 小题15: | | A．praises | B．contents | C．prizes | D．medals |
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A rainforest is an area covered by tall trees with the total high rainfall spreading quite equally through the year and the temperature rarely dipping below 16℃.Rainforests have a great effect on the world environment because they can take in heat from the sun and adjust the climate. Without the forest cover, these areas would reflect more heat into the atmosphere，warming the rest of the world. Losing the rainforests may also influence wind and rainfall patterns, potentially causing certain natural disasters all over the world.
In the past hundred years, humans have begun destroying rainforests in search of three major resources (资源): land for crops, wood for paper and other products, land for raising farm animals. This action affects the environment as a whole. For example，a lot of carbon dioxide(二氧化碳)in the air comes from burning the rainforests. People obviously have a need for the resources we gain from cutting trees but we will suffer much more than we will benefit.
There are two main reasons for this. Firstly, when people cut down trees, generally they can only use the land for a year or two. Secondly, cutting large sections of rainforests may provide a good supply of wood right now, but in the long run it actually reduces the world’ s wood supply.
Rainforests are often called the world’s drug store. More than 25% of the medicines we use today come from plants in rainforests. However, fewer than 1% of rainforest plants have been examined for their medical value. It is extremely likely that our best chance to cure diseases lies somewhere in the world’s shrinking rainforests.
小题1:Why did humans destroy rainforests in the past hundred years?| A．They tried to get crops and paper | | B．They needed other products | | C．They wanted to raise farm animals | | D．They aimed to get three major resources. |
小题2:Rainforests can help to adjust the climate because they________.| A．reflect more heat into the atmosphere | | B．bring about high rainfall throughout the world | | C．rarely cause the temperature to drop lower than 16℃ | | D．reduce the effect of heat from the sun on the earth |
小题3:What does the word “this” underlined in the third paragraph refer to?| A．We will lose much more than we can gain. | | B．Humans have begun destroying rainforests. | | C．People have a strong desire for resources. | | D．Much carbon dioxide comes from burning rainforests. |
小题4:It can be inferred from the text that________.| A．we can get enough resources without rainforests | | B．there is great medicine potential in rainforests | | C．we will grow fewer kinds of crops in the gained land | | D．the level of annual rainfall affects wind patterns |
小题5:What might be the best title for the text?| A．How to Save Rainforests | | B．How to Protect Nature | | C．Rainforests and the Environment | | D．Rainforests and Medical Development |
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Strange things happen when you travel, because the earth is divided into twenty-four zones. The time difference between two zones is one hour. You can have days with more than twenty-four hours and days with fewer than twenty- four hours. You can have weeks with more than seven days and weeks with fewer than seven days.
If you make a five-trip across the Atlantic Ocean , your ship come into a different time zone every day. As you come into each zone, the time changes one hour. If you travel west, you set your watch back. If you travel east, you set it ahead. Each day of your trip has either twenty-five or twenty-three hours.
If you make a trip by ship across the Pacific Ocean , you cross the International Date Line. This is the point where a new day begins when you cross the line, you change one full day. If you travel east, today becomes yesterday, if you travel west it is tomorrow.
小题1:Something interesting will happen to the time if you travel because .| A．a day has always fewer than twenty-four hours | | B．a day has always more than twenty- four hours | | C．a day has more or fewer than twenty-four hours, | | D．some time zones are large and some time zones are small |
小题2:The time difference between two time zones is .| A．twenty-four hours | B．one hour | | C．two hours | D．twenty-three hours |
小题3:If we cross the Atlantic Ocean, we .| A．change one full day | B．set our watch back | | C．set our watch ahead | D．set our watch back or ahead |
小题4:If we travel east across the International Date Line on July 5th, the date becomes July .小题5:Which of the following sentences is true?| A． If we travel around the world, we will get into trouble in telling the time. | | B．If we travel west across the Atlantic Ocean, we will have twenty-three hours. | | C． If we travel by ship across the Atlantic Ocean, we will cross the International Date Line. | | D． If we travel across the Pacific Ocean, today becomes tomorrow. |
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