1.推荐小说《西游记》(Journey to the West)；
2.推荐的理由。
注意:1.词数100左右；
2.可适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
Dear Peter,
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Yours,
Li Hua
2 . Best Science Fiction
The Sprawl Trilogy by William Gibson
This classic trilogy from william Gibson consists of Neuromancer, Count Zero and Mona Lisa Overdrive. The book that started the entire concept of Cyberpunk, the Hugo Award-, Nebula Award-and Philip K. Dick Award-winning Neuromancer remains one of the best sci-fi books ever written and the entire trilogy is worth a read, even if it’s the original that gets all the praise.
Hyperion Cantos by Dan Simmons
This series by Dan Simmons consists of Hyperion, The Fall of Hyperion, End ymion and The Rise of Endymion. Truly one of the great works in science fiction history, the Hugo Award-winning Hyperion Cantos is an absolutely excellent story of extreme terror, character-building and wild-world-building that is almost without equal in the type. How we haven’t gotten a proper onscreen adaptation of this series yet, I have no idea, but Perhaps it’s best left in its original, amazing book form.
Ender’s Game Quartet by Orson Scott Card
Ender’s Game is often read in schools, but it has incredibly mature themes like isolation, loneliness, competition and fear- many of which are more relevant now than when Orson Scott Card first began the series in 1985. If you love Ender’s Game, it’s worth reading the whole series to follow the sci-fi adventures of Andrew “Ender” Wiggin: Ender’s Game, Ender in Exile, Xenocide and Children of the Mind.
Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson
This is the only stand-alone book on this list, as the rest are all in a series, so if you don’t feel like investing in 300, 000 pages of content, Neal Stephenson’s Snow Crash is for you. This book is the heir ( 继 承 人 ) to Neuromancer’s Cyberpunk throne and an absolutely excellent read from Stephenson. The author uses virtual reality as his setting, and the main character is a pizza deliveryman in one world and a warrior prince in another.
1. Which book won the most awards?| A．Neuromancer. | B．Hyperion. |
| C．Ender’s Game. | D．Snow Crash. |
| A．It consists of three books. | B．It is popular among students. |
| C．It has been adapted into a film. | D．It focuses on children’s problems. |
| A．It’s the longest story. | B．It’s about the solar system. |
| C．It’s not a series. | D．It’s not a real story. |
3 . Frankenstein, written by Mary Shelley, turned 200 years old in 2018! It has been called the first true work of science fiction and the first English horror novel. The story has been told over and over again—not just in books, but in movies and television shows. To celebrate, New York City s Morgan Library & Museum has a special exhibit on the writer and the book.
The reason for the success is that Doctor Frankenstein and his creature, the monster, live on in numerous remakes, shows, and even comic books.
Mary Shelley’s classic is one of the most famous horror stories of all time. But Frankenstein is so much more than that. It presents ideas or themes that are still important today. Knowing something about her suffering can help readers have a good knowledge of her work. Shelley wrote the book when she was only 18 years old. And it relates to her own sad life. Her mother died 10 days after she gave birth to her. She knew what it meant to be a child without a mother. It is no surprise that Shelley wrote a story about a motherless creature one that is very much alone in the world.
Losing her mother shortly after her birth in 1797 was only part of her life story. Mary Shelley gave birth to four children, but only one child survived to adulthood.
Around the age of 17, she fell in love with the poet Percy Shelley. The two writers got married in 1816. However, the marriage of Percy and Mary Shelley was short-lived. Her husband died in a sailing accident in 1822. She was still in her twenties when she became a widow. In some ways, it’s not entirely surprising that she ended up with a story about a monster without a mother.
After the publication of Frankenstein, Mary Shelley continued to write. She died from brain cancer on February 1,1851. Her most important legacy is a monster that is still very much alive today.
1. What do we know about Frankenstein?| A．It exists in different forms of art. |
| B．It is a romantic fiction. |
| C．It is not popular with modern readers. |
| D．It has been made into the most interesting science fiction movie. |
| A．They were quite creative. | B．They felt lonely. |
| C．They had the same character. | D．They behaved badly at home. |
| A．To show pity to her. | B．To introduce her to readers. |
| C．To make readers understand her novel better. | D．To show her difficulty in writing the novel. |
| A．Success comes from struggle. |
| B．Hardship creates a great person. |
| C．Shelley’s experiences contribute to the success of Frankenstein. |
| D．Frankenstein comes into the market. |
4 . Sam is a fourth-year student at Harvard Medical School，but poetry is still a big part of his life，now with a new teacher，Rafael Campo，who believes poetry can benefit every doctor’s education and work. Rafael is a physician，professor and a highly respected poet.
“Poetry is in every encounter(邂逅)with my patients. I think healing is really in a very great way about poetry. And if we do anything when we’re with our patients，we’re really immersing(使沉浸于)ourselves in their stories，really hearing their voices. And，certainly，that’s what a poem does，”he said.
Rafael worries that something important has been lost in medicine and medical education today：humanity，which he finds in poetry. To end that，he leads a weekly reading and writing workshop for medical students and residents(住院医生).
He thinks medical training focuses too much on distancing the doctor from his or her patients，and poems can help close that gap.
Third-year resident Andrea Schwartz was one of the workshop regulars. She said. “I think there’s no other profession other than medicine that produces as many writers as it does. And I think that is because there’s just so much power in doctors and patients interacting when patients are at their saddest. ”Not everyone believes that’s what doctors should do，though.
Rafael said，“I was afraid of how people might judge me，actually. In the medical profession，as many people know，we must always put the emergency first. But，you know，that kind of treatment，if it’s happening in the hospital，very regrettably，sadly，results in a bad outcome. The family is sitting by the bedside. The patient hasn’t survived the cancer. Don’t we still have a role as healers there?”
In a poem titled“Health”，Rafael writes of the wish to live forever in a world made painless by our incurable joy. He says he will continue teaching students，helping patients and writing poems，his own brand of medicine.
1. What do we know about Rafael Campo?| A．He works as a doctor. | B．He is under medical care. |
| C．He is a literature professor. | D．He knows little about poetry. |
| A．The importance of medical training. |
| B．The effect of poetry in medical treatment. |
| C．The similarity involved in poetry and medical work. |
| D．The present relationship between patients and doctors. |
| A．It comforts patients’family. |
| B．It contributes to medical work. |
| C．It has nothing to do with doctors. |
| D．It keeps doctors away from patients. |
| A．It requires a lot of spare time. |
| B．It can provide a useful tool for doctors. |
| C．It has little effect on patients’conditions. |
| D．It should be included in emergency treatments. |
5 . Writing poetry can seem frightening. However, with the right inspiration and approach, you can write a poem that you can be proud to share with others in class or with your friends.
A poem might start as a piece of a verse, a line or two that seems to come out of nowhere, or an image (景象) you cannot get out of your head. You can find inspiration for your poem by doing writing exercises and using the world around you. Once you have inspiration, you can then shape your thoughts into a poem.
You may also be inspired by going for a walk in your neighborhood or to your favorite spot in the city. You may observe people on a park bench or in a public square as the inspiration for a poem. You could try writing a poem about a person who is important to you in your life, such as your mother or your best friend. You could use the person as inspiration for your poem.
You can start your poem by focusing on a specific theme or idea that you find attractive or interesting. Picking a specific theme or idea to focus on in the poem can give your poem a clear goal or point. This can make it easier for you to limit what images and descriptions you are going to write around the theme of “love and friendship”. You may then think about specific moments in your life when you experienced love and friendship based on your relationships with others.
There are many different poetic forms that you can use, from free verse (自由诗) to sonnet to rhyming couplet. You may go for a poetic form that you find easy to use, such as free verse or a form that you find more challenging, such as sonnet. Choose one poetic form and stick to that structure so your poem feels cohesive (连贯的) to your readers.
1. According to the author, the key point of writing a poem is .| A．knowledge | B．experiences |
| C．skills | D．inspiration |
| A．Such poems will be full of imagination. |
| B．Such poems will be the most attractive. |
| C．It makes it easier to start with. |
| D．It can strengthen the relationships. |
| A．free verse | B．nursery rhyme |
| C．rhyming couplet | D．sonnet |
| A．Some forms of poems. |
| B．Some tips on how to write poems. |
| C．The author’s experience of writing poems. |
| D．Some tips to overcome the fear of writing poems. |
It’s one of the
The novel,
Expected to marry Xue Baochai, Jia falls in love with his delicately brilliant cousin, Lin Daiyu. As the lovers head toward a tragic end, the family falls on hard times, fading away eventually.
The
7 . Gwendolyn Brooks was the first African American to win a Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. Gwendolyn Brooks wrote hundreds of poems during her lifetime. She was known around the world for using poetry to increase understanding about black culture in America.
Her poems described conditions in the black community. She also wrote poems about the struggles of black women. But her skill was more than her ability to write about struggling black people. She was an expert at the language of poetry. She combined traditional European poetry styles with the African American experience.
In her early poetry, Gwendolyn Brooks wrote about the South Side of Chicago, where many black people live. In her poems, the South Side is called Bronzeville. It was A Street in Bronzeville that gained the attention of literary experts in 1945. Critics praised her poetic skill and her powerful descriptions of the black experience during the time. The Bronzeville poems were her first published collection.
In 1950, Gwendolyn Brooks won Pulitzer Prize for her second book of poems called Annie Allen. Annie Allen is `a collection of poetry about the life of a Bronzeville girl as a daughter, a wife and mother. She experiences loneliness, loss, death and being poor. Ms. Brooks said that winning the prize changed her life.
Her next work was a novel written in 1953 called Maud Martha, which received little notice when it was first published. But now it is considered an important work by some critics. Its main ideas about the difficult life of many women are popular among female writers today.
In some of her poems, Gwendolyn Brooks described how what people see in life is affected by who they are. One example is this poem, Corners on the Curing Sky.
By the end of the 1960s, Gwendolyn Brooks’s poetry expanded from the everyday experiences of people in Bronzeville. She wrote about a wider world and dealt with important political issues.
1. What does the text mainly talk about?| A．The life of Gwendolyn Brooks. | B．The struggles of black women. |
| C．The poems of Gwendolyn Brooks. | D．The understanding about black culture. |
| A．She was good at using the language of poetry. |
| B．She mainly wrote about the struggles of black women. |
| C．Her writing skills were a little worse than her ability. |
| D．Her poems were mainly about the African experience. |
| A．using statistics | B．providing examples |
| C．comparing opinions | D．describing her experiences |
| A．the poems related to political issues | B．the difficulties Ms. Brooks would meet |
| C．the awards Gwendolyn Brooks gained | D．the struggles that the black had to face |
8 . Literature reflects life. So in ageing Japan there are a large number of hit books by aged authors. “Age 90: what’s so great about it?” is a humorous essay on the difficulties of the elderly, by Aiko Sato, who is 95. It sold one million copies in 2017, making it Japan’s bestselling book that year.
In 2018 the Akutagawa literary prize went to Chisako Wakatake, 63 at the time, for her first novel “Live by Myself”. The books talk about how to live in old age. “Going to Die Soon”, also by Ms Uchidate, features 78-year-old Hana, a former alcohol-shop owner trying to make the most of her remaining years. The novel has been called a book for shukatsu, or preparing for death, making readers think more deeply about what it means to age.
Japan’s population has the world’s highest percentage of over-65s. People are living longer, so many have at least 20-30 years of retirement, for much of which they are energetic.
And although the Japanese have been spending less on books, that is least true for the over-60s. Lawson, a convenience-store chain, recently decided to stock books with the older generation in mind.
But the wrinkly writers’ books are attracting younger readers, too. Some are preparing for their own old age or want to understand the increasing number of old people they see around them. Others find relevance in the themes explored, such as loneliness, a problem that stretches well beyond the silver-haired.
The most notable feature of the new trend is that the vast majority of authors, and main characters, are women. Especially popular, are the ara-hun (“around-hundred” years-old) writers like Ms Sato, whose book, readers say, helps them be more positive. Their popularity also reflects support for strong women who are passionate about their work, a phenomenon that is all too rare in Japan today.
1. “Going to Die Soon” is a book ________.| A．about how to stay positive in old age |
| B．which won the Akutagawa literary prize in 2018 |
| C．which helps people live the rest of the life to the fullest |
| D．written by a 78-year-old Hana, an alcohol-shop owner |
| A．young readers now have more elder relatives |
| B．young readers face similar problems as the elderly |
| C．young readers are worried about becoming old |
| D．young readers are as lonely as the elderly |
| A．Aged writers might be more successful than younger writers. |
| B．An aging society brings more chances for women writers. |
| C．People have to work after their retirement in an aging society. |
| D．Ambitious career women might not be popular with the Japanese. |
Dear John，
I am so glad hear from you. Learn that you are working on Chinese, I strongly recommend the novel Journey to the West. The novel is one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature. It tells about a Buddhist monk and his three disciples, animal with human characteristic，traveling west to India in search for Buddhist scriptures. I think, the study of this novel open the way to Chinese values and history, from what you will get a better understanding of Chinese culture. Beside, the novel offers a mixture of adventure and comedy, so while enjoying reading, you will surprisingly find you can speak and write in Chinese more fluent.
I hope you keep reading to enjoy the charm of Chinese language but you will achieve a great progress in your Chinese.
10 . First published in 2001，the book Life of Pi written by the Canadian author Yann Martel won the Man Booker Prize and an Asian American Prize for Literature.It is the story of a young boy named Pi who spends 227 days at sea with a small group of animals after a disaster strikes their ship and is an account of his journey of survival and hardship.
Piscine“Pi” Molitor Patel，on whom Life of Pi is based，is a young boy living in Pondicherry，India, where his father owns a zoo.The story starts when Patel's family decide to move to Canada，along with their zoo animals for their new home.
However，because of the bad weather，the ship sinks.Pi along with an orangutan(猩猩)，an injured zebra，a hyena(鬣狗)and a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker are the only survivors who take shelter in a small lifeboat.Both the injured zebra and the orangutan are soon killed and eaten by the hyena.The tiger in turn kills and eats the hyena，leaving just the two of them alone on the boat now.
In an effort to avoid being eaten by Richard Parker，Pi acts himself as the head of the group and remains safe from harm.Since he does not want the tiger to die for fear of going mad by being alone on the boat，he fishes and feeds the two of them in order to stay alive.
The life of Pi then enters its third stage when their lifeboat washes up on the shores of Mexico and the tiger escapes into a nearby forest leaving Pi alone.After the Mexicans refuse to believe Pi's story，he changes his tale by replacing the animals with his mother，a cook and a sailor and asks the Mexicans which one they prefer.They prefer hearing the first story though they do not believe a word of it.
In my view，life of Pi is a must read book for all those who love reading.
1. We can learn that the book Life of Pi ________．| A．was written in 2001 |
| B．was awarded two prizes |
| C．tells a story about friendship |
| D．is based on the author's personal experience |
| A．Pi | B．the zebra |
| C．the orangutan | D．Richard Parker |
| A．By catching fish for the tiger. |
| B．By locking the tiger in a cage. |
| C．By being the leader of the two of them. |
| D．By fighting with the tiger. |
| A．Disappointed. | B．Supportive. |
| C．Unconcerned. | D．Doubtful. |
