As kids,my friends and I spent a lot of time out in the woods,"The woods" was our part-time address, destination,purpose,and excuse.If I went to a friend's house and found him not at home,his mother might say, "Oh,he's out in the woods,"with a tone of airy acceptance.It's similar to the tone people sometimes use nowadays to tell me that someone I'm looking for is on the golf course or at the gym,or even "away from his desk."For us ten-year-olds,"being out in the woods" was just an excuse to do whatever we feel like for a while.
We sometimes told ourselves that what we were doing in the woods was exploring.Exploring was a more popular idea back then than it is today.History seemed to be mostly about explorers.Our explorations,though,seemed to have less system than the historic kind: something usually came up along the way.Say we stayed in the woods, throwing rocks,shooting frogs,picking blackberries,digging in what we were briefly persuaded was an Italian burial mound.
Often we got "lost" and had to climb a tree to find out where we were.If you read a story in which someone does that successfully,be skeptical: the topmost branches are usually too skinny to hold weight,and we could never climb high enough to see anything except other trees.There were four or five trees that we visited regularly—tall beeches,easy to climb and comfortable to sit in.
It was in a tree,too,that our days of fooling around in the woods came to an end.By then some of us had reached seventh grade and had begun the rough ride of adolescence.In March,the month when we usually took to the woods again after winter,two friends and I set out to go exploring.We climbed a tree,and all of a sudden it occurred to all three of us at the same time that we really were rather big to be up in a tree.Soon there would be the spring dances on Friday evenings in the high school cafeteria.
1. The author and his fiends were often out in the woods to .| A．spend their free time |
| B．play gold and other sports |
| C．avoid doing their schoolwork |
| D．keep away from their parents |
| A．The activities in the woods were well planned. |
| B．Human history is not the result of exploration. |
| C．Exploration should be a systematic activity. |
| D．The author explored in the woods aimlessly. |
| A．Happy but short. | B．Lonely but memorable. |
| C．Boring and meaningless. | D．Long and unforgettable. |
相似题推荐
【推荐1】If you need a reason to treat yourself to a short break this autumn, one of the latest exhibitions is sure to inspire you. The exhibitions follow a path of time and subject with your tastes.
Kunsthistorisches-Vienna
2 November 2022-13 January 2023
To mark the 450th anniversary of one of the greatest painters. Vienne will host the world’s first exhibition for Bruegel this autumn.
Three nights’ price from £795, saving £208 at the Grand Hotel in November and December
◆Includes entrance to the Kunsthistorisches Museum
Mauritshuis-The Hague
11 November 2022-6 January 2023
Peaking in the 18th century, British landowners enthusiastically collected Dutch paintings to display in their country houses. This unique exhibition brings together some of the finest masterpieces of the Dutch Golden Age.
Three nights’ price from £876, staying at the Des Indes Hotel
◆Includes entrance to the Mauritshuis Museum
Doge’s Palace-Venice
31 September 2022-6 January 2023
Celebrating 500 years since the birth of the Venetian painter Jacopo Tintoretto, the Doge’s Palace has brought together 50 paintings from New York, London, Paris, Madrid, Vienna and Berlin here, still visible on the wall of the main hall.
Three nights’ price from £859, staying at the American Dinesen Hotel
◆Includes water taxi transfers and entrance to the Doge’s Palace.
Uffizi Gallery-Florence
December 2022-20 January 2023
To mark the 500th anniversary of Leonardo’s death, his Codex Leicester ,containing sketches(素描)and notes on water and the environment, has been loaned from the personal collection of Bill Gates.
Three nights’ price from £723, saving £136 at the Deli Orafi Hotel in December
◆Includes entrance to the Uffizi Gallery
1. Which of the following exhibitions is available in October?| A．Doge’s Palace-Venice. | B．Uffizi Gallery-Florence. |
| C．Kunsthistorisches-Vienna. | D．Mauritshuis-The Hague. |
| A．The prices include local flights and the services. |
| B．The price includes entrance fee to the exhibition. |
| C．The hotels arrange to offer help for a private tour. |
| D．Booking expert local guides is a must for travelers. |
| A．By popularity. | B．By importance. |
| C．By cause and effect. | D．By time and subject. |
【推荐2】By the middle of the second day I know I'm in trouble. In front of me the land stretches up and away towards a distant hill, and into the space, between that hill and me, is crowded one of the most vivid concentrations of color I have ever seen. It starts with the trees. The wet season is the only a few weeks off and almost as if they can smell the coming rains, they have put out their leaves. They are no ordinary green and the dry grasses beneath them are shining with golds, browns, and reds. I want to recreate this scene with watercolors. Although I can make a try at it with words, trying to paint it in my sketch book is another matter altogether. I've already made one attempt: a series of lines in orange and red, with bluish trees placed across them, which now lies face down in the grass beside me.
I've put it there because the last thing I want right now is for someone else to come along and look at it. A young man called Royale walks up the hill. Royale is a sculptor, and, with several other local men, produces pieces of work in the local stone. Recently, and quite suddenly, this work, and that of several other local co-operatives, has acquired an international reputation. I certainly don't want a man capable of such things looking at my own awful painting. So I put my foot, as casually as I can, on the finished one beside me and we resume the conversation started earlier in the day.
I want to talk to Royale about his life here. He, however, is only interested in what I am up to. To begin with, it seems that he considers me a fellow artist, and for a moment I find myself staring into the depths of embarrassment. But when he asks me, "what is painting like?" I realize that this professional artist has never painted anything in his life before. He just wants to go with my colors.
When I signed up for this holiday, I was hoping for an experience like the one I had had four years earlier in Wales. That was my first painting holiday, and I love it. Two things made it great. First was the teacher, a man called Robin, who showed me that what is important about drawing and painting is not the finished article but the process of completing it. The second element of that week was the place. I grew up in places like that, and I connected with it immediately. But it was stupid of me to think that I could reproduce the experience down here, deep in the Southern Hemisphere. Zimbabwe is not a part of me, nor I of it. Trying to draw it for the first time, from a standing start, is like trying to start a conversation in Swahili.
1. What problem does the writer have at the beginning of her holiday?| A．The weather is not good enough for painting. |
| B．She's brought the wrong materials with her. |
| C．There are no animals that she can paint. |
| D．She can't reproduce the exact color. |
| A．she thought it would disappoint Royale. | B．she believed Royale painted better |
| C．it wasn't good enough to sell | D．it was only a quick sketch |
| A．What I might do. | B．What I am painting. |
| C．What I will give him. | D．What I can teach him. |
| A．The landscape was more familiar to her. |
| B．Her technique had improved much faster. |
| C．She preferred the teacher she had had then. |
| D．She had been able to complete a number of paintings. |
【推荐3】Benefits of Solitude(独处)
Learning about yourself
When you’re in any sort of social setting,you aren’t strictly yourself. You’re instead whoever you are in that context. For example, if you are a mother spending time with your children, you’re a parent in that situation. If you’re hanging out with coworkers, you’re a fellow employee. When you’re by yourself, you’re just you. This gives you an opportunity to learn how the various social contexts of your life shape your behavior and self perception(察觉).
Helping with self-regulation
It’s worth noting that spending time alone doesn’t have to have a harmful impact on your social life.
Some of the greatest benefits of solitude are practical in nature. For instance, researchers have often found that, all other factors(因素)being equal, people who spend time alone are often more likely to develop certain strong talents than their peers. These talents can include playing an instrument, painting, cooking, or doing anything else that requires practice. It’s easy to understand why this is the case.
| A．Developing skills |
| B．Spending time on interests |
| C．That can help you make life changes |
| D．When you’re socializing with\others later on |
| E．While people shouldn’t spend all their time with others |
| F．Although some skills are easier to develop with help from others |
| G．On the contrary, it can actually improve your social interactions over time |
