【推荐1】A few years ago, my younger sister and I were the first to board our flight for Norfolk, Virginia. Just as we were about to board the plane, a mechanic came out of the aircraft and blocked the door with his arms. He turned to the flight attendant and hurriedly stated, “We got problems!”

I thought to myself, “Why did I have to be the one to hear that? Why couldn’t I have been at the back of the line? I didn’t need to know that!” Very soon we were back in the terminal, waiting, and then finally back on the plane. I waited for the pilot to give an explanation. Pilots take courses to ease passengers’ mind, right? They know what to say to calm nerves.

Unfortunately, I didn’t think this pilot took that course. Soon his voice thundered throughout the plane. “Sorry for the delay, ladies and gentlemen. We had no power on the plane. We have a generator on the ground right now, and we’re going to jump—start the engine. Once we get them going, we’ll get up in the air and head to Norfolk, and see what happens.”

See what happens? We were going to get up in the air, and see what happens? Couldn’t we have another plan, one that’s been worked out just a little better?

At this point, all I could do was to laugh nervously. One woman started yelling, “Oh no! We’re going to crash!” There were sighs of desperation and anxiety spreading throughout the cabin. Finally, we got up in the air thirty minutes later, and what happened? Nothing—other than thrust(推力) and lift. We arrived in Norfolk, and no sooner had the wheels touched the ground than a round of applause burst out, as everyone throughout the airplane breathed a sigh of relief at the same time.

Although, I did sincerely like to have a plan better than “see what happens” worked out when flying—it really isn’t such a bad life strategy. Success will never be guaranteed. The best thing you can do is just get up in the air, and see what happens. Sometimes adjustments would be made in the air, or shall we say, in the middle of the process.

1. The purpose of the text is to _______.

A．introduce a frightening flight experience

B．prove that taking a plane is dangerous

C．show a way of making plans

D．tell readers a life strategy

2. What event was beyond the author’s expectation?

A．The mechanic explained the problems to the passengers.

B．The pilot said nothing to calm the passengers.

C．The passengers arrived in Norfolk safely.

D．The flight was delayed for half an hour.

3. Having known the problems, many passengers _______.

A．complained about the mechanic’s carelessness

B．stood up and started yelling

C．waited calmly for the problems to be solved

D．felt hopeless and anxious

4. Which opinion would the author most probably hold?

A．To ensure success, don’t get started before you’ve got everything ready

B．To avoid repeating failure, give yourself all the reasons why you can’t.

C．To set up a business, don’t wait until you have everything you need.

D．To achieve success, try to prepare for the worst.

【推荐2】Mark Twain left school when he was twelve. He had little school education. In spite of this, he became the most famous writer of his time. He made millions of dollars by writing. His real name was Samuel Langhorne Clemens, but he is better known all over the world as Mark Twain, his pen name.

Mark Twain was born in 1835 and he was not a healthy baby. In fact, he was not expected to live through the first winter. But with his mother’s tender care, he managed to survive. As a boy, he caused much trouble for his parents. He used to play jokes on all of his friends and neighbours. He didn’t like to go to school, and he constantly ran away from home. He always went in the direction of the nearby Mississippi River. He was nearly drowned nine times.

After his father’s death in 1847, Mark Twain began to work for a printer, who only provided him with food and clothing. Then, he worked as a printer, a river-boat pilot and later joined the army. But shortly after that he became a miner. During this period, he started to write short stories. Afterwards he became a full-time writer.

In 1870, Mark Twain got married. In the years that followed he wrote many books including Tom Sawyer in 1876, and Huckleberry Finn in 1884, which made him famous, and brought him a great fortune.

Unfortunately, Mark Twain got into debts in bad investments (投资) and he had to write large numbers of stories to pay these debts. In 1904, his wife died, and then three of their children passed away.

At the age of 70, his hair was completely white. He bought many white suits and neckties. He wore nothing but white from head to foot until his death on April 21, 1910.

1. Mark Twain left school at 12 to________.

A．work as a miner

B．write stories

C．join the army

D．make a living

2. Which of the following about Mark Twain is NOT true?

A．He was not a healthy boy.	B．He caused much trouble for his parents.
C．He gained lots of money by writing.	D．He had a happy childhood but a sad later life.

3. ________brought him fame and lots of money.

A．His works	B．His investments
C．His printing	D．His family

4. The best title of this passage is________.

A．Mark Twain’s Works	B．Mark Twain’s Life
C．Mark Twain’s Fame	D．Mark Twain’s Success

【推荐1】Make the Best of a Bad Situation

Since Covid-19 spreads all over the world, many people have to stay indoors and work from home. For most of us, it greatly challenges our lives and brings boredom. But for a few people, working at home brings more creativity. Here are three famous historical figures who let their creativity flow during past pandemics(大流行病).

Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-1375)

When a plague(瘟疫) hit Florence in 1348, Italian writer Giovanni Boccaccio lost his father and stepmother. In order to survive, he left the city and hid in the countryside. Inspired by the experience, Boccaccio wrote The Decameron(《十日谈》), a collection of short novels containing stories told by a group of friends, while he was quarantined(隔离) inside a house during the plague.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616)

In the early 17th century, a plague hit London, UK. When the number of deaths grew, the government postponed(延期) many celebrations and closed all the theaters. This meant that the entertainment industry at the time was paralyzed(瘫痪) for much of 1606. As an actor and dramatist, Shakespeare had to stop working in the theaters. But he didn’t waste a minute of his time. Instead, he used the time productively and wrote some of his most famous plays. Before the year was over, Shakespeare completed three plays—King Lear, Macbeth and Antony and Cleopatra.

Isaac Newton (1642-1727)

In 1665, when English mathematician Isaac Newton was in his early 20s, one of the last major outbreaks of the plague hit the UK, and many classes were canceled. Newton, as a student, went back home to continue his studies.

He devoted himself to his studies. The young mathematician produced some of his best works during his year in quarantine, writing the papers that would later become early calculus(微积分学), and developing his theories on physics in his bedroom. While working, an apple dropped from the apple tree outside his window and hit him or the head, which may inspired his theory of gravity.

1. What did Boccaccio do during the plague?

A．He left Italy and hid away

B．He stayed indoors and read books.

C．He finished the great work: The Decameron.

D．He told his friends many interesting stories.

2. How did the plague affect Shakespeare?

A．He closed all the theaters in London.	B．He got more free time to write plays.
C．He began to show interest in acting.	D．He wrote the play Romeo and Juliet.

3. What can we learn about Issac Newton in quarantine?

A．He had to stop his study on math.	B．He focused on physics study at school.
C．He got an idea for the theory of gravity.	D．He worked on a farm to plant apple trees.

【推荐2】Little Women is the best-known work of author Louisa May Alcott. Published after the end of the Civil War, the book is about the lives of the author and her sisters. Although it was her most successful work, it was not her first.

Alcott began writing at the age of 20, when she published her poem “Sunlight”. Throughout her early career, she wrote many poems and short stories for magazines. At the age of 22, she began to write fairy tales, romantic thrillers, and other novels, mostly to earn money. At a time when few opportunities were open to women, Alcott supported women’s right to work. With her small income, she had long provided for her family.

When the Civil War broke out, Alcott, at the age of 30, joined the war effort to fight against slavery. She had originally wished to serve as a soldier. However, women were not allowed in battle at that time. As a result, she became a Civil War nurse. Alcott’s work as a nurse served as a milestone (里程碑) in her writing career.

In December of 1862, she left New England to work in the Union Hotel Hospital in Washington, DC. There were few supplies, and doctors performed operations without painkillers. The conditions for patients and doctors were terrible. Within a few weeks, Alcott herself became so ill that she nearly died. She returned home and recovered slowly over a period of months.

As soon as her health improved, Alcott started a new project. The letters she had sent home became the basis of a newspaper series about her experience as a Civil War nurse. She wrote about her tasks, the wounded soldiers she looked after, and the difficulties they faced. The series, Hospital Sketches, was a success, which received praise from readers and critics (批评) at the same time. Although her best-known work was yet to come, the success of Hospital Sketches marked the achievement of her dream to become a popular author.

1. In her early 20s, Alcott wrote mostly to ________.

A．make money to support her family

B．fight against slavery

C．remember her experiences in the war

D．set up a milestone in her career

2. Why was Alcott’s experience as a nurse important to her writing?

A．Because she saved many wounded soldiers.

B．Because she almost lost her life in the hospital.

C．Because she won the right to fight against slavery.

D．Because she got many materials for her later book.

3. What can we know about Alcott from the last two paragraphs?

A．Her hospital was well equipped.	B．She didn’t return to the hospital after recovery.
C．She wrote letters for a newspaper.	D．No one thought badly of her Hospital Sketches.

【推荐3】“A good book for children should simply be a good book in its own right,”says Mollie Hunter. Born and brought up near Edinburgh, Mollie has devoted her talents to writing primarily for young people. She firmly believes that there is and should always be a wider audience for any good book whatever its main market is. In Mollie’s opinion it is necessary to make full use of language and she enjoys telling a story, which is what every writer should be doing, “If you aren’t telling a story, you’re a very dead writer indeed.”she says. With the chief function of a writer being to entertain, Mollie is indeed an entertainer. “I have this great love of not only the meaning of language but of the music of language,” she says. “This love goes back to early childhood. I’ve told stories all my life. I had a school teacher who used to ask us what we would like to be when we grew up and, because my family always had dogs, and I was very good at handling them. I said I wanted to work with dogs, and the teacher always said ‘Nonsense, Mollie; dear, you’ll be a writer.’ So finally I thought that this woman must have something, since she was a good teacher and I decided when I was nine that I would be a writer.”
This childhood intention is described in her novel, A Sound of Chariots, which although written in the third person is clearly autobiographical (自传体的) and gives a picture both of Mollie’s ambition and her struggle towards its achievement. Thoughts of her childhood inevitably(不可避免的) brought thoughts of the time when her home was still a village with buttercup meadows and strawberry fields—sadly now covered with modern houses. “I was once taken back to see it and I felt that somebody had lain dirty hands all over my childhood. I’ll never go back,” she said. “Never.” “When I set one of my books in Scotland,” she said, “I can recall my romantic feelings as a child playing in those fields, or watching the village blacksmith at work. And that’s important, because children now know so much so early that romance can’t exist for them, as it did for us.”
1. What does Mollie Hunter feel about the nature of a good book?

A．It should not aim at a narrow audience.

B．It should be attractive to young readers.

C．It should be based on original ideas.

D．It should not include too much conversation.

2. In Mollie Hunter’s opinion, which of the following is one sign of poor writer?

A．Being poor in life experience

B．Being short of writing skill.

C．The weakness of description

D．The absence of a story.

3. What do we learn about Mollie Hunter as a young child？

A．She didn’t expect to become a writer.

B．She didn’t enjoy writing stories.

C．She didn’t have any particular ambition.

D．She didn’t respect her teacher’s view.

4. In comparison with children of earlier years, Mollie feels that children now are _____.

A．more intelligent

B．better informed

C．less eager to learn

D．less interested in reality

5. What’s the writer’s purpose in this text?

A．To share her enjoyment of Mollie Hunter’s book.

B．To introduce Mollie Hunter’s work to a wider audience.

C．To provide information for Mollie Hunter’s existing readers.

D．To describe Mollie Hunter’s most successful books.