I was 16 years old the day I skipped school for the first time. It was easily done: Both my parents left for work before my school bus arrived, so when it showed up at my house on that cold winter morning, I simply did not get on. The perfect crime!
And what did I do with myself on that glorious stolen day, with no adult in charge and no limits on my activities? Did I get high? Hit the mall for shopping?
Nope. I built a warm fire in the wood stove, prepared a bowl of popcorn, grabbed a blanket, and read. I was thrilled and transported by a book — it was Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises—and I just needed to be alone with it for a little while. I ached to know what would happen to Jake Barnes and Lady Brett Ashley and Robert Cohn. I couldn’t bear the thought of sitting in a classroom taking another biology exam when I could be traveling through Spain in the 1920s with a bunch of expatriates (异乡客).
I spent that day lost in words. Time fell away, as the room around me turned to mist, and my role — as a daughter, sister, teenager, and student — in the world no longer had any meaning. I had accidentally come across the key to perfect happiness: I had become completely absorbed in something I loved.
Looking back on it now, I can see that some subtle things were happening to my mind and to my life while I was in that state of absorption. Hemingway’s language was quietly braiding itself into my imagination. I was downloading information about how to create simple and elegant sentences, a good and solid plot. In other words, I was learning how to write. Without realizing it, I was on the trail of my own fate. Writing now absorbs me the way reading once did and happiness is their generous side effect.
Why did the author skip school on that day?A.Because her parents left home early. |
B.Because she was attracted by a novel. |
C.Because she planned to go shopping. |
D.Because she missed the school bus. |
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【推荐1】I have a special place in my heart for libraries. I have for as long as I can remember. I was always an enthusiastic reader, sometimes reading up to three books a day as a child. Stories were like air to me and while other kids played ball or went to parties, I lived out adventures through the books I checked out from the library.
My first job was working at the Ukiah Library when I was 16 years old .It was a dream job and I did everything from shelving books to reading to the children for story time.
As I grew older and became a mother, the library took on a new place and an added meaning in my life. I had several children and books were our main source(来源) of entertainment. It was a big deal for us to load up and go to the local library, where my kids could pick out books to read or books they wanted me to read to them.
I always read ,using different voices ,as though I were acting out the stories with my voice and they loved it !It was a special time to bond with my children and it filled them with the wonderment of books .
Now, I see my children taking their children to the library and I love that the excitement of going to the library lives on form generation to generation.
As a novelist, I’ve found a new relationship with libraries. I encourage readers to go to their local library when they can’t afford to purchase a book. I see libraries as a safe haven(避风港) for readers and writers, a bridge that helps put together a reader with a book. Libraries, in their own way, help fight book piracy(盗版行为) and 1 think all writers should support libraries in a significant way when they can. Encourage readers to use the library. Share library announcements on your social media. Frequent them and talk about them when you can.
What does the author call on other writers to do?A.Sponsor book fairs. |
B.Write for social media. |
C.Support libraries. |
D.Purchase her novels. |
【推荐2】Returning to a book you’ve read many times can feel like drinks with an old friend. There’s a welcome familiarity - but also sometimes a slight suspicion that time has changed you both, and thus the relationship. But books don’t change, people do. And that’s what makes the act of rereading so rich and transformative.
The beauty of rereading lies in the idea that our bond with the work is based on our present mental register. It’s true, the older I get, the more I feel time has wings. But with reading, it’s all about the present. It’s about the now and what one contributes to the now, because reading is a give and take between author and reader. Each has to pull their own weight.
There are three books I reread annually. The first, which I take to reading every spring is Emest Hemningway’s A Moveable Feast. Published in 1964, it’s his classic memoir of 1920s Paris. The language is almost intoxicating (令人陶醉的),an aging writer looking back on an ambitious yet simpler time. Another is Annie Dillard’s Holy the Firm, her poetic 1975 ramble (随笔) about everything and nothing. The third book is Julio Cortazar’s Save Twilight: Selected Poems, because poetry. And because Cortazar.
While I tend to buy a lot of books, these three were given to me as gifs, which might add to the meaning I attach to them. But I imagine that, while money is indeed wonderful and necessary, rereading an author’s work is the highest currency a reader can pay them. The best books are the ones that open further as time passes. But remember, it’s you that has to grow and read and reread in order to better understand your friends.
1. Why does the author like rereading?A.It evaluates the writer-reader relationship. |
B.It’s a window to a whole new world. |
C.It’s a substitute for drinking with a friend. |
D.It extends the understanding of oneself. |
A.It’s a brief account of a trip. |
B.It’s about Hemingway’s life as a young man. |
C.It’s a record of a historic event. |
D.It’s about Hemingway’s friends in Paris. |
A.He loves poetry. |
B.He’s an editor. |
C.He’s very ambitious. |
D.He teaches reading. |
【推荐3】In an effort to keep a little poetry in my life long after National Poetry Month passed, I decide to read at least one poem a day after scanning the newspaper over breakfast. Thanks to the free online poetry-in-your-inbox services, it’s been an easy resolution(解决办法)to keep.
Poem-a-Day was started during National Poetry Month in 2016, and it focuses on new and previously unpublished poems by contemporary poets on weekdays and classic poems on weekends.
Ted Kooser offers a similar service through his American Life in Poetry Series, though it’s a weekly, rather than a daily. Kooser briefly introduces each week’s poem, offering a little bit of information about the selection, the writer, and books where readers can turn to if they want more work from the featured poet.
Reading at least one poem a day has been like an intellectual vitamin, giving me a small dose(剂量)of literature even on busy days when I can’t get to the novels and non-fiction on my desk beside the bed. Another benefit has been connecting with a lot of talented poets I wouldn’t otherwise know about. Poetry being what it is, even the best talents in the style can work in relative obscurity(朦胧). Maybe the biggest benefit of reading a poem every morning has been the chance to see the familiar in new ways.
Last April, I wondered if I could remind myself to read a poem each morning. Now, deep in summer, I wonder if I could ever do without it.
The author intends to read a poem every morning by means of ________.A.scanning the newspaper over breakfast |
B.the free online poetry-in-your-inbox services |
C.starting Poem-a-Day during National Poetry Month |
D.focusing on new poems and contemporary poets on weekdays |
【推荐1】I’d love to have been a journalist. But I wasn’t
A.brave | B.serious | C.creative | D.humble |
A.listen to | B.refer to | C.put up with | D.come up with |
A.blindly | B.merely | C.immediately | D.hardly |
【推荐2】When “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” was first shown to the public last month, a group of excited animal activists gathered on Hollywood Boulevard. But they weren't there to throw red paint on furcoatwearing film stars. Instead, one activist, dressed in a fullbody monkey suit, had arrived with a sign praising the filmmakers: “Thanks for not using real apes (猿)!”
Why did the animal activists gather on Hollywood Boulevard?
A.To see famous film stars. |
B.To oppose wearing fur coats. |
C.To raise money for animal protection. |
D.To express thanks to some filmmakers. |
【推荐3】At first, she drove through Montana and then she made her first cross-country trip in 2016. After she retired in 2017, it became a full-time job all year round. Collins and her mobile bookstore have visited 30 states, stopping at festivals and events along the way. While the locations change, some things always stay the same. Collins loves meeting people and making connections. While she loves what she does, Collins doesn’t think she can keep doing it. In several years, she hopes to pass her traveling bookstore onto another bibliophile who shares the same interest and will keep it on the road.
What does the underlined word “bibliophile” in the last paragraph mean?A.A book lover. | B.A publisher. |
C.A famous writer. | D.An editor. |
【推荐1】You’ve heard that plastic is polluting the oceans — between 4.8 and 12.7 million tonnes enter ocean ecosystems every year. But does one plastic straw or cup really make a difference? Artist Benjamin Von Wong wants you to know that it does. He builds massive sculptures out of plastic garbage, forcing viewers to re-examine their relationship to single-use plastic products.
At the beginning of the year, the artist built a piece called “Strawpocalypse,” a pair of 10-foot-tall plastic waves, frozen mid-crash. Made of 168,000 plastic straws collected from several volunteer beach cleanups, the sculpture made its first appearance at the Estella Place shopping center in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
Just 9% of global plastic waste is recycled. Plastic straws are by no means the biggest source (来源) of plastic pollution, but they’ve recently come under fire because most people don’t need them to drink with and, because of their small size and weight, they cannot be recycled. Every straw that’s part of Von Wong’s artwork likely came from a drink that someone used for only a few minutes. Once the drink is gone, the straw will take centuries to disappear.
In a piece from 2018, Von Wong wanted to illustrate (说明) a specific statistic: Every 60 seconds, a truckload’s worth of plastic enters the ocean. For this work, titled “Truckload of Plastic,” Von Wong and a group of volunteers collected more than 10,000 pieces of plastic, which were then tied together to look like they’d been dumped (倾倒) from a truck all at once.
Von Wong hopes that his work will also help pressure big companies to reduce their plastic footprint.
What effect would “Truckload of Plastic” have on viewers?A.Calming. |
B.Disturbing. |
C.Refreshing. |
D.Challenging. |
【推荐2】The green, natural forest absorbs carbon dioxide from the air through photo- synthesis (光合作用). There is another way of dealing with the climate crisis. That is setting up fields of dark-colored solar panels (太阳能电池板), also known as “solar forests”, which replace power stations that use fossil fuels such as coal and gas to make electricity, thus mitigating harmful emissions (排放) of greenhouse gases.
But since they are both relatively dark, they absorb a lot of solar radiation. Some of the energy is used for photosynthesis in natural forests or to produce electricity in “solar forests”, but most returns to the atmosphere, heating it up. Then what would be the more effective land use option in terms of the climate crisis: planting a forest, or building solar panels? This issue has long been debated by decision-makers around the world. Now, we may have an answer, thanks to a new study.
First, the researchers compared the impact of a forest on the climate crisis in a dry area to that of a solar farm in a similar environment. The researchers found that the albedo effect (反射效应) of both of these “forests” was similar, but that the absorption or prevention of carbon emissions was very different. It turns out that it takes 2.5 years for the heat emitted by solar farms to be balanced by the carbon emissions that are avoided, thanks to the energy they produce. In the case of a natural forest of similar size, it would take more than 100 years of photosynthesis to balance its heating effect.
The researchers also studied how the heating-cooling relationship changed in other climates and found that in more humid environments, the heating effect of planting large numbers of trees is smaller. And the break-even point is reached within 15 to 18 years.
“In dry places, building solar forests seems far more effective in addressing the climate crisis. Meanwhile, forests absorb about a third of annual carbon emissions and play a vital role in the global rain cycle, in maintaining biodiversity and in many other environmental and social contexts. Preventing them from being cut down and planting more trees in humid areas are of great significance,” explains one of the researchers in the study.
What did the researchers find in the study conducted in the dry environment?A.The natural forest exhibits a stronger albedo effect. |
B.The solar forest can generate more energy in dry areas. |
C.The solar forest is superior in balancing the heating effect. |
D.The natural forest is more effective in solving the climate crisis. |
【推荐3】OPENINGS AND PREVIEWS
Animals Out of PaperYolo! Productions and the Great Griffon present the play by Rajiv Joseph, in which an origami (折纸术) artist invites a teenage talent and his teacher into her studio. Merri Milwe directs. In previews. Opens Feb. 12. (West Park Presbyterian Church, 165 W. 86th St. 212-868-4444.)
The AudienceHelen Mirren stars in the play by Peter Morgan, about Queen Elizabeth II of the UK and her private meetings with twelve Prime Ministers in the course of sixty years. Stephen Daldry directs. Also starring Dylan Baker and Judith Ivey. Previews begin Feb. 14. (Schoenfeld, 236 W. 45th St. 212-239-6200.)
HamiltonLin-Manuel Miranda wrote this musical about Alexander Hamilton, in which the birth of America is presented as an immigrant story. Thomas Kail directs. In previews. Opens Feb. 17. (Public, 425 Lafayette St. 212-967-7555.)
On the Twentieth CenturyKristin Chenoweth and Peter Gallagher star in the musical comedy by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, about a Broadway producer who tries to win a movie star’s love during a cross-country train journey. Scott Ellis directs, for Roundabout Theatre Company. Previews begin Feb. 12. (American Airlines Theatre, 227 W. 42nd St. 212-719-1300.)
Which play will you go to if you are interested in American history?A.Animals Out of Paper. |
B.The Audience. |
C.Hamilton. |
D.On the Twentieth Century. |