I lost my phone when I was on holiday four months ago. With no phone to use on my way back to Milan, I decided to buy a book at the airport before boarding the plane. There was a discount on Stephen Hawking’s Brief Answers to the Big Questions, and while not necessarily an easy read for the non-reader I was at the time, it touched on some of the subjects I m most passionate(感兴趣的) about so I decided it was worth the £5.99. I paid for it. To my great surprise, I read the whole book on that two-hour return flight — and so my love for reading began. I was confused. Before then, I used to buy books fairly often, hoping I’d read them, knowing months would go by and I wouldn’t even open them. So I wondered. What was different this time? After carefully analysing the situation, I came up with an explanation.
Now I realise, most books on my reading list as a child came from one of three places: suggested books, school books, and “to read before you die” books. As a kid, I didn’t have much experience when it came to books or reading. So when I decided to pick up a book, I thought these were the ones I should read and I believed I would surely enjoy them. Then I ended up thinking of myself as someone that simply didn’t like reading.
It is obvious, in hindsight(在事后看来), that I actually really enjoyed reading. The few times I got to skim through a book that felt right, I would devour (如饥似渴地读) the whole thing in a matter of hours.
Many people approach reading in the wrong way, so they finally end up disliking it the way I did. Keep on reading books you don’t like, and you’ll eventually convince yourself it is reading you don’t like. So just make sure, you are reading books that touch on subjects you are actually passionate(热爱) about — don’t be scared to create your unique bookshelf.
1. What surprised the author?| A．He lost his phone. | B．The book was very cheap. |
| C．The book was easy to read. | D．He finished reading the book. |
| A．Explore ways to create a reading list. |
| B．Introduce his particular taste in books. |
| C．Explain why he used to be a non-reader. |
| D．Analyze how children’s books are classified. |
| A．Those that attract their interest. |
| B．Those that enrich their knowledge. |
| C．Those that are popular among readers. |
| D．Those that are written by best-selling authors. |
| A．Learning from a great book | B．How I fell in love with reading |
| C．Creating a successful study tour | D．How I developed a reading habit |
相似题推荐
【推荐1】Amazon Charts
The Top Five Most Sold & Most Read Books of the Week
No. 1 It — Now a major film BY STEPHEN KING
Stephen King’s terrifying, classic # 1 New York Times bestseller, “a landmark in American literature (Chicago Sun-Times)”— about seven adults who return to their hometown to fight a nightmare they had first been troubled with as teenagers…an evil without a-name: it.
Readers of Stephen King know that Derry, Maine, is a place with a deep, dark hold on the author. It reappears in many of his books, including Bag of Bones, Hearts in Atlantis and 11/22/63. But it all starts with It.
No. 2 A Column of Fire — # 1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER BY KENFOLLETT
In 1558, the ancient stones of Kingsbridge Cathedral looked down on a city split by religious conflict. As power in England shifted dangerously between Catholics and Protestants, royalty and commoners clashed, testing friendship, loyalty and love…
No. 3 A Game of Thrones — NOW THE ACCLAIMED HBO SERIES GAME OF THRONES BY GEORGE R. R. MARTIN
From a master of contemporary fantasy comes the first novel of a landmark series unlike any you’ve ever read before. With A Game of Thrones, George R. R. Martin has launched a genuine masterpiece, bringing together the best the genre has to offer. Mystery, intrigue, romance and adventure fill the pages of this magnificent saga, the first volume in an epic series sure to delight fantasy fans everywhere.
No. 4 The Cuban Affair — INSTANT # 1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER BY NELSON DEMILLE
Brilliantly written with his signature humor and real experience from his research trip to Cuba… Nelson DeMille is a true master of genre.
No. 5 Sleeping Beauties BY OWEN KING, STEPHEN KING
In this spectacular father/son collaboration, Stephen King and Owen King tell the “highest of high-stakes stories: What might happen if women disappeared from the world of men?”
In a future so real and near that it might be now, something happens when women go to sleep. And while they sleep, they go to another place, a better place, where harmony prevails and conflict is rare…
1. According to the article, which book is co-authored?| A．It | B．A Game of Thrones |
| C．The Cuban Affair | D．Sleeping Beauties |
| A．It and A Game of Thrones | B．Origin and The Cuban Affair |
| C．A Game of Thrones and Origin | D．Sleeping Beauties and A Column of Fire |
| A．The Cuban Affairs is a novel written with a serious tone. |
| B．The story in A Column of Fire is set in a modern European country. |
| C．It describes a frightening story set in Derry, a location familiar to readers of Stephen King. |
| D．The author of A Game of Thrones has also written other books, including Bags of Bones. |
Puffin Books, the publisher of UK writer Roald Dahl’s classic children’s books like Matila and The Witches, came under fire in February due to their choice to edit out hundreds of offensive or outdated words such as “fat” and “ugly” in the late author’s stories.
Although the publisher defended the changes, saying that they were meant to allow DahI’s books to continue to be enjoyed by all today, many were still angered by the move. Notable figures like writer Salman Rushdie called the changes “absurd censorship (荒谬的审查)” while UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said that “it’s important that works of literature and works of fiction are preserved”, noted Sky News.
DahI’s books and other children’s literature have a unique problem compared to literature for adults when it comes to preservation vs adaptation. Children can be vulnerable to influences which can shape the way they grow up and understand the world. According to The Conversation, “children’s literature implicitly(潜移默化地) shapes the minds of child readers by presenting particular social and culture values as normal and natural .[AKA] ‘socialization’.”
Personally, I believe in the intelligence of children to navigate and explore the world around them. It is the job of teachers, parents and other adult guardians to help children understand that books are products of their times and that authors – even the best among them – are ultimately human beings with their own flaws(缺点).
After all, just as Suzanne Nossel, CEO of PEN America, a nonprofit organization that protects writers and freedom of expression, wrote on her Twitter, “If we start down the path of trying to correct for perceived slights(自以为的鄙视) instead of allowing readers to receive and react to books as written, we risk distorting the work of great authors and clouding the essential lens that literature offers on society.”
With this kind of understanding in mind, we can empower children with the tools for critical thinking and improve their ability to judge and sort out the contexts of what they learn and are exposed to. This is a skill needed now more than ever in an era of “fake news” and the rapid spread of fakes.
1. Why did Puffin Books decide to edit Roald Dahl’s books?2. What is the unique problem with children’s literature, according to the text?
3. What does the underlined word “distorting” most probably mean?
4. What does the author believe is important when raising children?
【推荐3】The habit of reading is one of the greatest resources of mankind, and we enjoy reading books that belong to us much more than the ones that are borrowed.
A borrowed book is like a guest in the house and should be treated with care and considerate formality. You must see that it keeps no dirty or destroyed pages. You cannot mark it and you cannot use it as you like.
However, your own books belong to you. Books are for use, not for show. You should own no book that you are afraid to mark up, or afraid to place on the table, wide open and face down. Private ownership also encourages meaningful marking.
One should have one's own bookshelves, which should not have doors, glass windows or keys.
| A．Books are the ladder of human progress. |
| B．Marking instructive passages in books is a good habit. |
| C．And then, you really ought to return a borrowed book someday. |
| D．They should be free and accessible to the hand as well as to the eyes. |
| E．Out devotion to reading has never made us a person who lives alone. |
| F．There is no doubt that in these books you see these great men at their best. |
| G．You can do your ultimate best to entertain yourself as an audience or an actor. |
【推荐1】A few years ago, a friend sent me a restaurant gift card for Christmas, and I picked a pretty, sunny Sunday afternoon to use it. It felt good taking my two grown sons and daughter to a nice sit-down restaurant instead of the fast food places we usually ate at. The meal was delicious, and we all had a good time just being together. The gift card covered almost all of the check. I reached into my wallet to get enough cash to cover the rest. I saw two bills (钞票) in the front of it. The first would cover the rest of the check. The second would cover the check and give the waitress a nice tip. I reached down to pick out the first one.
At that moment, my mind flashed back to 30 years ago. I was working as a busboy (餐厅勤杂工) in a restaurant much like the one we were in. It was long hours of hard work for low pay. I went home just barely making enough to feed my young family. I also remembered how more than once I saw the waitresses counting their small tips while worrying about how they were going to pay the rent and buy their kids the things they needed. I remembered the pain in their eyes and saw the sadness in their faces at the end of the day.
I blinked (眨眼睛) and was back in the present again, with my fingers touching the smaller bill in my wallet. I smiled, pushed it back down and picked out the larger bill. I folded it around the gift card and covered both of them with the check. As we all got up from the table, I handed them to the hard-working waitress. “You keep the change,” I said with a smile and a happy heart.
We are all one family in this world. We live together, rejoice (高兴) together and suffer together. Do your best to be kind. Do your best to be a good person and replace the suffering with joy.
1. What do we know from the first paragraph?| A．The author's family had a hard life. | B．The gift card was enough to pay the check. |
| C．The author seldom ate together with his family. | D．The author valued the time he spent with his children. |
| A．describe struggles he faced in the past | B．complain about his job at the restaurant |
| C．explain why he chose the larger bill | D．show how hard waiters work |
| A．Moved. | B．Pleased. | C．Puzzled. | D．Concerned. |
| A．To tell people to be kind. | B．To remind us not to forget our hard days. |
| C．To stress the importance of tipping servers. | D．To show that we should thank friends and family. |
【推荐2】In ancient Egypt, the pharaoh(法老) treated the message runner like a prince when he arrived at the palace, if he brought good news.However, if the exhausted runner had the misfortune to bring the pharaoh unhappy news, his head was cut off.
Shades of that spirit spread over today's conversations.Once a friend and I packed up some peanut butter and sandwiches for an outing.As we walked light－heartedly out of the door, picnic basket in hand, a smiling neighbor looked up at the sky and said, “Oh boy, a bad day for a picnic.The weatherman says it's going to rain.”I wanted to strike him on the face with the peanut butter and sandwiches.Not for his stupid weather report, but for his smile.
Several months ago I was racing to catch a bus.As I breathlessly put my handful of cash across the Greyhound counter, the sales agent said with a broad smile, “Oh, that bus left five minutes ago.” Dreams_of_head－cutting!
It's not the news that makes someone angry.It's the unsympathetic attitude with which it's delivered(传递). Everyone must give bad news from time to time, and big winners do it with the proper attitude.A doctor advising his patient that she needs an operation does it in a caring way.A boss informing an employee he fails to get the job takes on a sympathetic tone.Big winners know, when delivering any bad news, they should share the feeling of the receiver.
Unfortunately, many people are not aware of this.When you're tired from a long flight, has a hotel clerk cheerfully said that your room isn't ready yet? When you had your heart set on the toasted beef, has your waiter merrily told you that he just served the last piece? It makes you as a traveler or diner want to land your fist right on their unsympathetic faces.
Had my neighbor told me of the upcoming rainstorm with sympathy, I would have appreciated his warning.Had the Greyhound salesclerk sympathetically informed me that my bus had already left, I probably would have said, “Oh, that's all right.I'll catch the next one.” Big winners, when they bear bad news, deliver bombs with the emotion the bombarded(被轰炸的) person is sure to have.
1. From “Dreams of head－cutting!” (Paragraph 3 ) , we learn that the writer______.| A．was reminded of the cruel pharaoh |
| B．was mad at the sales agent |
| C．wished that the sales agent would have bad dreams |
| D．dreamed of cutting the sales agent's head that night |
| A．The author really appreciated the neighbor's warning. |
| B．From the passage we know that it is the bad news that makes someone angry. |
| C．If the runner brought to the pharaoh unhappy news, he would be treated like a prince. |
| D．When we want to deliver any bad news, we should share the feeling of the receiver. |
| A．Receiving bad news requires great courage. |
| B．Helping others sincerely is the key to business success. |
| C．Delivering bad news with sympathy is important in communication. |
| D．Learning ancient traditions can be useful. |
| A．not helpful | B．not considerate |
| C．friendly | D．warmhearted |
【推荐3】I looked down, immediately closed my eyes and hung to the wall of rock with fear. Fifty feet below me, the brightly colored helmets of my team spread across the rocky floor. I looked behind me and my stomach rolled as I thought of the dangerous large rock.
Backpacking in Death Valley for a month exposed me to a number of new experiences. Out there I was pushed, challenged, and dared to be something bigger than myself. Death Valley removed all my barriers so I could reach out freely to find that deeper meaning I could be truly passionate about.
More than anything else, the unexpected aspects of the desert inspired me to appreciate the wonders of life. The first night out there, I was astonished by the brilliance of the stars. Out in the desert these extremely small winks of light were brighter and more wonderful than I had ever seen them before. After that, I started to notice small beauties: the rose, the patterns in the walls of Marble Canyon.
I saw the part I had played in this group. I looked back at myself, the stranger I had been merely days before, and became aware of how self-absorbed (自恋的) I was. I never truly saw the impact I had on my environment because of the constant flow of material goods. Camping with limited resources made evident that waste of water, space, and material goods ignores our responsibilities to our earth. Understanding that this planet is affected negatively or positively by the things we do convinced me to become involved in conservation efforts for the rest of my life. It is this passion for environmental sustainability (可持续性) that I brought back from Death Valley. In sharing what I saw, I hope to influence others to act to take care of our environment.
Hours later, I looked back at the steep rock I had covered. It was this kind of natural beauty, that first inspired me. I feel a greater bond with them now that they have arisen as the basis of my lifelong goal.
1. We can replace the underlined word “passionate” in the second paragraph with “ “.| A．considerate | B．enthusiastic | C．optimistic | D．curious |
| A．Stressed. | B．Grateful. | C．Regretful. | D．Confused. |
| A．To offer to build a harmonious society. |
| B．To overcome all difficulties with great determination. |
| C．To develop a strong sense of responsibility for his behavior. |
| D．To devote the rest of his life to protecting the environment. |
| A．frightened him a lot | B．made him braver and cleverer |
| C．let him learn to enjoy desert | D．helped him learn much |
【推荐1】I spent my most influential 10 months of my life as a junior.
During the summer vacation I decided to be a volunteer at an Easter Seals camp where people with special needs required assistance because of disabilities and improved their ability to do things on their own.
I often watched dozens of abandoned animals starve on the streets. I felt sad for homeless dogs and wanted to help them all. Over the course of ten months，I provided about 50 wandering animals with food，water，and even medical care with money fro m my pocket and found homes for 20 -30 dogs!
As the new school year began，our department had a renovation（翻新）. I offered to help clean up all the unwanted books. Instead of recycling hundreds of those books，I convinced the department that the books could serve a higher purpose which in the end benefited the schools in Arizona.
| A．The dogs were lucky to survive |
| B．I had to cope with social conflicts as well |
| C．The disabled people were hard to help |
| D．It was the most tiring job I'd ever experienced |
| E．The 10-month experience in Arizona transformed me greatly |
| F．I learned a simple act contributed to a big influence on the poor animals |
| G．I left my comfortable and familiar home to have an unusual adventure in Arizona |
【推荐2】Mr. King lived with six hundred wild animals on the Greek Island of Kyklos. Ever since he left school,he had traveled all over the world collecting animals for his own zoo. He hoped to collect two examples of every kind of animal on his island. But he was afraid that people would find him someday.
He wrote books about his travels and about his animals that he collected. The money from the books helped to pay for all the food those animals ate.
One day,when Mr. King was out looking for drinking water,he found oil. He needed money for his travels and for his zoo, and a little oil would buy enough water for what he needed all his life, but he knew that if he told anyone else about it, it would be the end of his zoo and his life's work. So he decided not to tell anyone else about what he had found, because oil and water couldn't mix.
1. Mr. King traveled all over the world for collecting ____________.| A．oil | B．water |
| C．animals | D．money |
| A．he hadn't got enough money for them | B．that would be the end of his zoo |
| C．he hadn’t got enough water and oil | D．they would buy his animals |
| A．tell people about his story | B．tell people how to find oil |
| C．get enough money for his animals | D．make money for his travels |
【推荐3】It was the most important thing in my family — my piano recital (钢琴演奏会) tonight. My grandparents were coming by plane to hear me play. Even my busy Aunt Dianne, who is on TV every night reading the news, was coming.
But one thing was for sure. I would never win an award for my piano playing. And that’s just because the more I practiced, the more nervous I got. So there I was, on the stage, in my beautiful dress, and I sat down at the piano. But when I started to play, I hit a wrong note. I told myself to start over. But then I hit the wrong note again. It was as if I hadn’t practiced at all.
Finally the disaster was over. I ran off the stage. I couldn’t understand why audience were clapping. But they were. My mom and dad had flowers for me and we were all supposed to go out for a nice dinner, but I couldn’t. I just wanted to go home and cry and never go anywhere again. After we went back home, Aunt Dianne just came in and sat down on the side of my bed.
“It was my first night on the air,” she said. “I had never been on television before and I made a mistake. I mispronounced my name and the name of the news show. And you know what? No one even noticed but me. Just like tonight, no one noticed — just you.” Aunt Dianne was right. I think we are harder on ourselves than anyone else is. Maybe I will leave my room. And maybe I’ll play the piano again.
1. From the passage we can know Aunt Dianne ________.| A．worked as a news broadcaster on TV | B．worked as an actress |
| C．played the piano very well | D．hosted the piano recital |
| A．Things always go as well as people expect. |
| B．Don’t be too hard on yourself. |
| C．No one cares about what others have done. |
| D．Never rely on others. |
| A．A lesson from Piano Recital Disaster |
| B．A wonderful Piano recital performance |
| C．Support from my Family |
| D．Encouragement from the audience |
