【推荐2】Many years ago, when we were a young couple with two small children, aged 2 and 4, we were practically impecunious. My in-laws lived from hand to mouth, so we didn’t expect any help from them. My parents lived a great distance away, and I was too ashamed to let them know about our situation.

My husband was trying to earn a living with an old pick-up truck, carrying groceries for local shopkeepers, but it was constantly breaking down. It took almost all the money we had to have it fixed. The truck was also the only means of transportation for us.

We lived in the countryside, and we always used the back door because the driveway led to it. One winter evening, I stepped outside to take a bag of trash to the barrel and almost tripped over something. It was nearly dark, and I had to bend down to see what it was. I could hardly believe my eyes. There sat a large basket loaded with food.

It was heavy, so I called to my husband to carry into the house. Once inside, we discovered two loaves of bread, some butter, several cans of vegetables, a can of orange sauce, and a large turkey. There was so much that I can’t remember it all, but it was everything we needed to fix a wonderful dinner — everything except potatoes.

A little while later I remembered that I hadn’t taken the trash to the barrel. By now it was dark, so I had to turn on the yard light — and that’s when I spotted a small bag of potatoes sitting on the porch.

That dinner was the best I can remember.

We weren’t able to thank our donators, though, because we never found out who had been so generous in helping a struggling young family. Whoever it was, we are forever grateful.

1. Which of the following can replace the underlined word “impecunious” in Paragraph 1?

A．Adequate.

B．Penniless.

C．Harmonious.

D．Stubborn.

2. How did the author’s husband support the family?

A．By starting a garage.	B．By selling food door to door.
C．By working as a shop assistant.	D．By delivering goods.

3. How did the author feel when she saw the basket?

A．She was annoyed.	B．She was astonished.
C．She was terrified.	D．She felt a sense of relief.

4. What may be the best title for the text?

A．A tale of potatoes	B．A reward from a stranger
C．A helping hand in time	D．A struggling young couple

【推荐1】American writer A.N.DEVERS was at a rare-book fair in New York City in 2015 when she noticed a Joan Didion title selling for just $25. Then she saw the price tag of a novel by the equally famous Cormac McCarthy: about $600. “I realized we don’t value women’s work the same way we do men’s,” Devers says. “It’s depressing. But it’s also exciting, because I can do something about it.”

Three years later, after moving to London and joining the U.K.’s booming rare-book trade, Devers opened the red doors of her new bookstore, the Second Shelf. Located in a quiet courtyard off the busy streets of London’s Soho, the store almost exclusively stocks rare books by women (alongside a handful of male-authored books about women). The focus is modern fiction: Elizabeth Bowen novels, romances by Rosamunde Pilcher, poetry by Ntozake Shange.

Devers’ skill for finding overlooked jewels was polished during a childhood of Visits to yard sales in towns across the U.S., a result of her family’s following her father’s Air Force job. Some of her most sought-after recent finds were works by Miriam Tlali, the first black woman to publish a novel in South Africa. Devers hit on her 1975 debut in a charity store and quickly sourced and sold 15 more Tlali books.

In collecting these works, the Second Shelf is correcting a historical imbalance that has allowed women’s literary achievements to be eclipsed. Bookdealers have tended to be men; much of the trade’s early material was collected by “country gentlemen who ran estates and amassed libraries of books to show their wealth and intelligence,” Devers says. She argues that they’ve been like their peers in other male-led creative industries — including television, film and the news media — in that “they focus on themselves.”

That past contributes to a plain absence of women’s work among the books considered to be valuable cultural objects. In January, the Second Shelf went viral (走红) on Twitter after Devers pointed out that only nine books by women appeared in a list, produced by a trade website, of the 500 biggest sales at auction in the books-and-paper field last year. Even among more recently published works, a 2018 study found, titles by women are on average priced 45% lower than books by men.

In recent years, calls have gone out to read only books by women for a year and for universities to expand their curriculums. The observance of Women’s History Month in the U.S. has also made March a time for publishers to suggest fitting reading lists. Devers’ shop is the physical site of that movement challenging the current situation. “We’ve been taught to find value in something really narrow,” she says. “It’s time to explore something different.”

1. The first paragraph tells the readers _________.

A．why Devers named her shop the Second Shelf

B．how Devers was exposed to rare book trade

C．what motivated Devers to open the Second Shelf

D．where Devers first came across women’s literary works

2. The underlined word “eclipse” in the fourth paragraph means_________.

A．fully exposed

B．partially concealed

C．seriously treated

D．roughly explained

3. Which may explain the absence of the great literary works by women?

A．The trade used to be dominated by men.

B．Women writers’ ideas conflict with the bookdealers’.

C．Males tend to be productive in the creative industry.

D．The majority of male readers don’t read modern fiction.

4. What can be inferred from the passage?

A．In recent years, university curriculums have emphasized books by women.

B．Women’s History Month has pushed women writers to be more productive.

C．More physical bookstores like Devers’ are needed to change the situation.

D．The Second Shelf is helping turn a page for women in literature.

【推荐2】O. Henry was a pen name used by an American writer of short stories. His real name was William Sydney Porter. He was born in North Carolina in 1862. As a young boy he lived an exciting life. He did not go to school for very long, but he managed to teach himself everything he needed to know. When he was about 20 years old, O. Henry went to Texas, where he tried different jobs. He first worked on a newspaper, and then had a job in a bank. When some money went missing from the bank, O. Henry was believed to have stolen it. Because of that, he was sent to prison. During the three years in prison, he learned to write short stories. After he got out of prison, he went to New York and continued writing. He wrote mostly about New York and the life of the poor there. People liked his stories, because simple though the tales were, they would finish with a sudden change at the end, to the readers' surprise.
1. People enjoyed reading O. Henry's stories because_____

A．they had surprise endings.

B．they were easy to understand.

C．they showed his love for the poor.

D．they were about New York City.

2. O. Henry went to prison because_____

A．people thought he had stolen money from the newspaper.

B．he broke the law by not using his own name.

C．he wanted to write stories about prisoners.

D．people thought he had taken money that was not his.

3. What do we know about O. Henry before he began writing?

A．He was well-educated.

B．He was not serious about his work.

C．He was devoted to the poor.

D．He was very good at learning.

4. Where did O. Henry get most materials(素材) for his short stories?

A．His life inside the prison.

B．The newspaper articles he wrote.

C．The city and people of New York.

D．His exciting early life as a boy.

【推荐3】Reuel Tolkien (1892－1973), the British linguist, writer. He created a fantasy novel “The Lord of the Rings” the well­known trilogy (三部曲)．

Tolkien was born in Bloemfontein, South Africa. When he was 4 years old, his father died and his family moved back to England. Tolkien graduated from Oxford University when he was 23 years old, and participated in the First World War. During the war, Tolkien suffered from “trench fever” and stayed in the hospital until the end of World War Ⅰ. It was the days in the hospital that he began his writing career first.

After the war, Tolkien became a linguist. He was an editor of the “New English Dictionary” of 1918－1920. However, he was more researching into Anglo­Saxon language which makes his extensive contacts in Britain and the Nordic spread all over the folklore and mythology.

In 1937, Tolkien completed his first work “The Hobbit”. Although this was a fairy tale, it was also suitable for adults to read. Because of good sales, the publisher Allen & Unwin convinced Tolkien to write its sequel. This encouraged Tolkien to complete his most famous works the epic (史诗) trilogy “The Lord of the Rings”. The works of writing went on for almost a year with the support from his good friend Lewis.

At the beginning “The Lord of the Rings” was similar works for children, but after that writing style quickly became serious and dark. “The Lord of the Rings” was one of the most popular literary works in the 20th century in terms of sales and readers' evaluation. Tolkien's influence is important, for the success of “The Lord of the Rings” makes the fantasy novels of this literature genre (体裁) develop rapidly.

1. When did Tolkien take part in World War Ⅰ？

A．1896.	B．1915.
C．1916.	D．1937.

2. Which of the following statements is TRUE?

A．Tolkien's father died of “trench fever”.

B．Tolkien wrote the “New English Dictionary” himself.

C．“The Lord of the Rings” was finished about half a year.

D．Tolkien began his writing career in the hospital.

3. What is Tolkien's “The Lord of the Rings” considered to be?

A．The first works of Tolkien.

B．Always serious and dark.

C．Beneficial to the development of the fantasy novels.

D．The most popular literary works in the 20th century.