When I was eleven, my parents gave me the first book I ever owned--The Tales of Edgar Allan Poe. It was written by the famous novelist Edgar Allan Poe. I clearly remember opening it, reading the first lines of the book, and saying to myself, “So this is what reading is!” I was delighted. Little did I know at the time that I was at the beginning of a lifelong journey.
So, if I read my first real book at the age of eleven, what was I reading before then? In a word, these books are relatively plotless and repetitive, and they attempt to teach children to recognize letters and their sounds and to build their vocabulary. But I still had no idea what writing was. In Poe's stories, the sentences were more complex and stylish than anything I had ever read before.
Poe, in short, was a start. My parents gave me that first book, but then I searched for other books. I liked science, which led me to discover Jules Verne and H. G. Wells. Other writers followed in quick one after another, Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, and Arthur C. Clarke. But I didn't limit myself to science fiction. Other books that deeply impressed me, and which I have carried on my life's journey, include: The Yearling. Shane, Ivanhoe, Of Mice and Men, To Kill a Mockingbird, and The Good Earth.
It went on from there. I became that kid who, long after his parents turned the lights off, hid under the covers with a flashlight, a book, and his greatest fear of being discovered and having his flashlight taken away. I realized that my parents must have known I was defying them. But in their wisdom they pretended to ignore it. And so I owe my start as a reader to my parents.
1. What can we learn from Paragraph 1?| A．The first book the author read was a novel. |
| B．The author didn't read any books before 11. |
| C．The author developed an interest in reading. |
| D．The importance of reading was understood by the author. |
| A．To broaden children's visions. |
| B．To teach kids how to write. |
| C．To arouse kids' interest in novels. |
| D．To help children learn new words. |
| A．He tried doing scientific research. |
| B．He expanded the range of reading materials. |
| C．He started to write science fiction. |
| D．He advised his parents to buy more books. |
| A．disobeying | B．blaming |
| C．appreciating | D．satisfying |
相似题推荐
Both these sayings mean the same thing. Men rule the world, but their mothers and wives rule them.
Most American women wish to make their husbands and sons successful, but some of them want more for themselves. They want good jobs. When they work they want to be better paid. They want to be as successful as men.
The American women’s liberation movement was started by women who didn’t want to stand behind successful men. They wanted to stand beside men, with the same chance for success. They refused to work side by side with men who do the same work for a higher pay.
A liberated woman must be proud of being a woman and have confidence in herself. If somebody says to her, “You have come a long way, baby.” she will smile and answer, “Not nearly as far as I’m going to go, baby!”
This movement is quite new, and many American women don’t agree yet. But it has already made some important changes in women’s lives--- in men’s lives, too.
1. “Behind every successful man there is a woman:” means______.
| A．men are always successful but not women |
| B．women are not willing to stand in front of men |
| C．women do play an important part in men’s lives and work |
| D．women can be as successful as men |
| A．Some American women want to work side by side with men and get the same pay for the same work. |
| B．Most American women want to be more successful than men. |
| C．Not every American woman wants to get a job. |
| D．The American women’s liberation movement did make some changes in women’s lives. |
| A．I’m still going to work farther away from home |
| B．I’m not going to work far away from home |
| C．I’m not satisfied with what I’ve done |
| D．What I have done is not far from success |
| A．has still a long way to go |
| B．is a failure |
| C．was started by many successful women |
| D．is a new thing not accepted by the writer |
【推荐2】Lin Hanxing is a 30-year-old who lives in Beijing. She owns just five shirts, two pairs of pants, four pairs of shoes and a few other things. It's hard to believe that only five years ago, Lin was one of those people who couldn't stop buying stuff. Back then, she had more than 400 pieces of clothing and handbags
But that was before she saw an online challenge in 2014, introduced by Joshua Becker, a blogger in the United States who was promoting(推广) a minimalist lifestyle(极简生活方式). He encouraged people to reduce the number of their belongings to fewer than 100. Lin wasn’t strongly against it, so she got rid of 90 percent of her stuff. She also deleted(删除) 120 contacts she never spoke to from her social networking account. After doing all that, Lin said she felt “lighter”.
We used to think owning more was the way to lead a rich life. But now many people tend to believe that the opposite is also true--and perhaps truer.
According to US sociologist Joel Stillerman, people who are educated and well-off are more likely to have a minimalist lifestyle. “These people are making the statement: ‘I can afford to have less.’,”he said.
But leading a minimalist lifestyle doesn't mean spending less. A report by UK market research company Euromonitor found young Chinese people spend less on possessions, but more on short holidays and visits to the movies.
“They are looking for a life that is all about culture,” Alison Angus, head of lifestyles at Euromonitor, said about Chinese youth.
So perhaps it all comes down to how we define(定义) “rich”. Is wealth in life about buying more and owning more, or is it about having a more colorful life?
1. The author mentioned the change of Lin Hanxing to _______.| A．introduce the minimalist lifestyle |
| B．encourage us readers to buy less |
| C．explain the popularity of owning less |
| D．explain the importance of a new lifestyle |
| A．She was very fond of it. |
| B．She thought it worth a try. |
| C．She was strongly against it. |
| D．She thought it must be painful. |
| A．possessions | B．culture |
| C．education | D．clothes |
| A．spend less | B．buy more |
| C．own less | D．experience more |
【推荐3】The booking notes of the play “the Age of Innocence”:
Price: $10
BOOKING
There are four easy ways to book seats for performance:
In person
The Box Office is open Monday to Saturday, 10a.m-8p.m.
By telephone
Ring 01324976 to reserve your tickets or to pay by credit card (Visa, MasterCard and Amex accepted)
By post
Simply complete the booking form and return it to Global Theatre Box Office.
Online
Complete the on-line booking form at www.Satanfiedtheatre.com
DISCOUNTS:
Saver: $2 off any seat booked any time in advance for performances from Monday to Thursday Savers are available for children up to 16 years old, over 60s and full-time students.
Supersaver: Half-price seats are available for people with disabilities and one companion. It is advisable to book in advance. There is a maximum of eight wheelchair spaces available and one wheelchair space will be held until an hour before the show.
Standby: Best available seats are on sale for $ 6 from one hour before the performance for people
eligible (suitable) for Saver and Supersaver discounts and thirty minutes before for all other customers.
Group Bookings: There is a ten percent discount for parties of twelve or more.
School: School parties of ten or more can book $6 standby tickets in advance and will get every tenth ticket free.
Please note: we are unable to exchange tickets or refund money unless a performance is cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances.
1. If you want to book a ticket, you can’t ________.| A．go to the Box Office on Sundays |
| B．ring the booking number and pay for the tickets by credit card |
| C．use the Internet |
| D．complete a booking form and post it to the Box Office |
| A．The people who book the tickets on Fridays. |
| B．An 18-year-old teenager. |
| C．A 55-year-old woman. |
| D．A20-year-old full-time college student. |
| A．$120 | B．$126 |
| C．$140 | D．$150 |
| A．The standby tickets for school parties of ten or more. |
| B．The standby tickets. |
| C．The tickets for Saver discount. |
| D．The tickets for group booking |
【推荐1】Books Kids Should Read Before They' re Twelve
◆The Snowy Day By Ezra Jack Keats
A young boy wakes to a world of freshly fallen snow and goes exploring throughout the cityscape in this gentle, shinning classic. With simple text and imaginative pictures, Ezra Jack Keats catches the delight kids feel in the simplest pleasures.
◆Goodnight Moon By Margaret Wise Brown
As the moon rises in a winter night sky, a young rabbit settles down for the night. An old lady rabbit rocks quietly in a nearby chair sewing (缝补), two cats playing on the carpet. The room grows gradually darker as the rabbit says goodnight to each object in his room and outside the window, and he falls asleep.
◆The Tale of Peter Rabbit By Beatrix Potter
Despite his mother's warning, Peter Rabbit enters Mr. McGregor's garden. Sure enough, Mr. McGregor tracks Peter with a spade (铁锹). Peter loses his shoes among the potatoes and cabbages. Frightened and out of breath, Peter finally sees the gate and slips back home. He is put to bed with a cup of tea while his three well-behaved sisters enjoy fruits and milk.
◆Frog and Toad Are Friends By Arnold Lobel
Once Frog convinces the sleepy Toad that winter is actually over, the two friends run outside to see how the world is looking in spring. With each new season comes new journeys. Even though the characters are imaginary, the feelings they share are very real, and the care they show for each other and the world around them stands out as good example of friendship.
1. Which book can help children develop a bedtime routine?| A．The Snowy Day. | B．Goodnight Moon. |
| C．The Tale of Peter Rabbit. | D．Frog and Toad Are Friends. |
| A．He explores a private garden. |
| B．He has an argument with his mother. |
| C．He is too frightened to go back home. |
| D．He harvests the vegetables in the garden. |
| A．Friendship. | B．Travel guides. |
| C．Information sharing. | D．Animal protection. |
【推荐2】A couple of years ago, when my older daughter was 8,she gently told my wife and me that she’d gotten too old for us to read her books anymore. We didn’t try to talk her out of it or tell her many benefits of reading aloud to a child (even after they can do so themselves).
Two weeks after stopping our bedtime readings, though, my older daughter asked whether we could start again.
Reading aloud to children improves a young mind’s cognitive development (thinking, problem-solving, decision-making) and reduces behavior problems, research shows. As with playing board games, reading to them increases concentration and attention spans.
And yet, too many of us stop before the kids want us to.
The conversations children have around themes and ideas in books help them make sense of the world. And it’s a joyful way to connect and be close with your kid. While reading in bed, my daughters and I lie next to each other, sometimes leaning into one another.
| A．She simply enjoyed the practice too much to let it go yet. |
| B．When she was a young child, we began a nearly daily reading called Milk & Books. |
| C．We were disappointed but respected her. |
| D．Reading aloud was significantly beneficial to children and their parents. |
| E．In Australia, more than a third of children aged 6 to 1l whose parents had stopped reading to them wanted to continue. |
| F．We laugh and are surprised together and have deep conversations about the novels. |
| G．It’s one of the most virtuous circles of parenting and teaching. |
【推荐3】What’s your favorite online magazine for kids? Here are four that are worth a look and a read.
National Geographic Kids
Parents, students, and teachers can take the help of this quality resource to learn about people, places, science, space, history, nature, and various fun activities. The magazine aims for the age group of 8-14. Interactive content includes videos, games, photos, blogs, etc. This is one online magazine that parents and teachers will always choose without hesitation (犹豫).
TIME For Kids
TIME magazine for adults might be too serious. The version for kids isn’t but it does go deep with a lot of educational content and teaching resources that are helpfully arranged around grades. The weekly classroom news magazine covers world news and aims to develop the reading and analyzing (分析) habit in kids.
Weekly Reader
An offline and online magazine for elementary school students features a lot of educational tools for teachers and students alike. All of its magazines are arranged around grades from pre-kindergarten to grade 12. Lots of the tools are interactive and based around nicely designed stories that make learning fun. Some sections are open to only subscribers (注册人) though.
Highlights
Highlights, com brings out magazines for kids of ages 2-12. The publication group’s purpose is to help children become their best selves. The homepage also gives you further websites to explore like Puzzlemaniakids.com and Highlightskids.com. Play free online puzzles, solve riddles, go creative with fun activities, and even learn a little about nature and science at these two sites. For instance, you can go into a story adventure or create your own stories at The Timbertoes.
1. In order to browse all the sections on Weekly Reader, you need to ________.| A．download the contents | B．ask for permission |
| C．subscribe to it | D．use some tools |
| A．National Geographic Kids. | B．TIME For Kids. |
| C．Weekly Reader. | D．Highlights. |
| A．They are accessible through the Internet. | B．They are arranged around grades. |
| C．They are interactive with story-telling. | D．They are encourged by teachers. |
【推荐1】It was a fine day. Jeffrey Del Monte was driving With his friend late Friday afternoon along the beach near Ramp 49 in Friso when they heard the screams of children. They surveyed the water trying to locate the screams and， two young girls were spotted apparently struggling while being swept out in a rip current（激流）.
Del Monte then swam out into the ocean and helped one of the girls who were caught in the rip current, passing her to his friend for the lengthy swim back to shore. He then went back to search for the second girl and found her in great pain before he swam back to shore, bringing the child to the beach from nearly 100 yards out.
After both girls were safe on the beach, Del Monte and his friend attended to them until Dare County Emergency Medical Services and a Cape Hatteras National Seashore Ranger arrived on the scene. The children's parents also arrived and expressed their thanks to Del Monte and his friend.
“Jeffrey Del Monte's heroic, selfless and quick actions were key to saving these two girls from a very dangerous situation," National Parks of Eastern North Carolina Superintendent David Hallac said in a statement. "His courage and expertise allowed him to perform this successful ocean rescue. "
Park officials said the incident was a reminder of how quickly ocean conditions could change, even on what appeared to be a perfect clay.
“A perfect clay on the beach doesn't always mean that it's a perfect day in the ocean, so it is important that all visitors check the beach forecast for danger and rip currents before heading to the beach and always use something that floats when in the water. If individuals do find themselves caught in rip currents, please don't swim against the currents, instead swimming out of the currents and then to shore," David Hallac said.
1. Why did Del Monte hand the first rescued girl to his friend?| A．To go to seek for the other struggling girl. |
| B．To give his friend a chance to be praised. |
| C．To relieve his pain caused by the current. |
| D．To experience the lengthy swim himself. |
| A．They took them to hospital quickly. | B．They looked after them on the beach. |
| C．They drove them back to their parents. | D．They blamed them for taking the risks. |
| A．Worried, | B．Envious. | C．Appreciative. | D．Grateful. |
| A．Going swimming with others. | B．Avoiding floating in the water. |
| C．Swimming against the currents. | D．Preparing well for beach trips. |
【推荐2】Although it’ll take weeks to harvest all of their cabbage, farmers in a town in Pingdu, Shandong province, have started preparing to sell the vegetables to overseas markets.
Li Wenbin, who runs a vegetable trading business in the town of Renzhao, said his fresh vegetable sales to overseas markets mainly in Japan, South Korea and Malaysia doubled to 20,000 metric tons last year due to high demand for kimchi, a dietary staple in South Korea.
South Korea suffered from an abnormally long rainy season and three typhoons last year that damaged large amounts of Chinese cabbage, the major ingredient(原料) for kimchi, creating high demand for the vegetable.
“Based on the current performance of vegetable exports in parts of southern China, such as in Fujian province, we predict this year’s business won’t be sad,” said Li, adding that he is confident because vegetables from Renzhao are competitive in terms of quality and price.
Around 120 kilometers west of Pingdu, vegetable traders in Shouguang, Weifang, one of the country’s major vegetable production bases, have started exporting this year’s carrots. Pei Shengji, manager of Zhonglong Food, headquartered in Shouguang, said the harvesting of the company’s 65-hectare carrot growing base in Fujian is in full swing. All of the carrots will be processed and shipped to overseas markets.
What’s more, Shandong province is developing seeds to meet diverse needs for quality crops, which helps to support the agricultural sector. “The seed developed domestically brings rich harvests. The Chinese cabbage tastes good and is good for being preserved,” he said. Besides, it’s much cheaper than foreign seeds.
Unlike Li, who can choose quality Chinese cabbage seeds developed in China, Pei has to spend more buying foreign seeds because there are no domestically developed carrot seeds available. According to Weifang’s five-year plan, the seeds of medium-and high-end vegetables such as bell peppers, broccoli and carrots will be researched and developed.
1. Why did the fresh vegetable sales to markets in South Korea double last year?| A．Chinese cabbage tastes better than others. |
| B．Kimchi is a favourite food in South Korea. |
| C．China has a vegetable trade with South Korea. |
| D．Vegetables there experienced climatic disasters. |
| A．Indifferent. | B．Doubtful. | C．Optimistic. | D．Pessimistic. |
| A．In ruins. | B．Under way. | C．In the dark. | D．On the scene. |
| A．Pei bought foreign carrot seeds at a lower price. |
| B．Overseas markets are fond of Chinese vegetables. |
| C．More seeds in high quality will appear in the future. |
| D．All the seeds developed in Shandong are not productive. |
【推荐3】Last month, Anna took her five-year-old daughter to a supermarket to buy some cupcakes. She didn’t know that it would be a life-changing experience.
As Anna pushed her daughter Daisy around the supermarket, she passed an old man who was by himself. The old man looked cold, until Daisy shouted to him, “Hi! It’s my birthday today!” The man stopped and his demeanor changed from distant and serious to warm and friendly. “How old are you today?” the man asked. After some time talking together, Daisy asked her mom to take a picture of her with her new friend “Mr. Bruce”, Bruce Peterson, 82. They hugged and after ten minutes went their separate ways. That could have been the end of the story. But it is actually the beginning of a special relationship.
Anna posted the picture of her daughter and Mr. Bruce on Facebook and someone who recognized him reached out to her with his contact information. It turned out that Mr. Bruce’s wife died in March and he had been suffering from depression and anxiety ever since. The person on Facebook told Anna that it was the first time they had seen Mr. Bruce smile since the death of his wife. Knowing that, Anna contacted Mr. Bruce, and ever since Daisy and the 82-year-old have developed a friendship unlike any other. “She has shown me a depth of love, a depth that I didn’t know existed,” Mr. Bruce told the reporter.
Mr. Bruce told Anna that before meeting Daisy, he hadn’t had one night of uninterrupted sleep. Anxiety kept him up at all hours and made him restless. After meeting Daisy, he said he could finally get a good sleep. For Mr. Bruce’s 82nd birthday on October 20, the mother and the daughter brought balloons and presents—and of course cupcakes. Mr. Bruce will also spend a day around Thanksgiving with Daisy and her family. “If you don’t take the time to notice people, you will never know how you can positively impact a life,” Anna said.
1. Why did Mr. Bruce look cold?| A．He caught a cold. | B．He disliked little kids. |
| C．He felt lonely. | D．He knew little about Daisy. |
| A．Words | B．Body | C．Thoughts | D．Attitude |
| A．From a news reporter. | B．From a stranger. |
| C．From a shop assistant. | D．From his neighbor. |
| A．On his 82nd birthday. | B．On Thanksgiving Day. |
| C．Before meeting Daisy. | D．After meeting Daisy. |
| A．Giving makes a real difference. | B．It’s important to respect each other. |
| C．We should not judge a person at first sight. | D．Good things will happen if one keeps trying. |
