Every immigrant leads a double life. Every immigrant has a double identity and a double vision, being suspended between an old and a new home, an old and new self. The very notion of a new home, of course, is in a sense as impossible as the notion of new parents. Parents are who they are; home is what it is.
Yet home, like parentage, must be legitimized(合理) through love; otherwise, it is only a fact of geography or biology. Most immigrants to America found their love of their old homes betrayed: they did not really abandon their countries; their countries abandoned them. In America, they found the possibility of a new love, the chance to nurture new selves.
Not uniformly, not without exceptions. Every generation has its Know-Nothing movement. Its understandable fear and hatred of alien invasion is as true today as it always was, but in spite of all this, the American attitude remains unique. Throughout history, exile has been a disaster; America turned it into a triumph and placed its immigrants in the center of a national epic.
The epic is possible because America is an idea as much as it is a country. America has nothing to do with loyalty to a dynasty and very little to do with loyalty to particular place, but everything to do with loyalty to a set of principles. To immigrants, those principles are especially real because so often they were absent or violated in their native lands. It was no accident in the ’60 and ‘70s, when alienation was in flower, that it often seemed to be “native” Americans who felt alienated, while aliens or the children of aliens upheld the native values. The immigrant’s double vision results in a special, somewhat skewed perspective on America that can mislead but that can also find revelation in the things that to native Americans are obvious. Psychiatrist Robert Coles speaks of those “who straddle worlds and make of that very experience a new world.”
“Home is where you are happy.” Sentimental, perhaps, and certainly not conventionally patriotic, but is appropriate for a country that wrote the pursuit of happiness into its founding document. That continues for the immigrant in America, and it never stops, but it comes to rest at a certain moment. The moment is hard to pin down, but it occurs perhaps when the immigrant’s double life and double vision joint together toward a single state of mind. When the old life, the old home fade into a certain unreality: places one merely visits, in fact or in the mind, practicing the tourism of memory. It occurs when the immigrant learns his ultimate lesson: above all countries, America, if loved, returns love.
1. How can we understand the underlined sentence in Para1?| A．Home is irreplaceable just like parents. |
| B．Parents have nothing to do with home. |
| C．New home can somewhat represent parents. |
| D．Parents and home are essentially different. |
| A．Immigrants have posed fear and hatred on America. |
| B．Immigrants have been a disaster to America’s development. |
| C．Immigrants have played an important role in America’s history. |
| D．Immigrants have endured more sufferings than those in other countries. |
| A．Traditional patriotism | B．The pursuit of happiness. |
| C．Immigrants’ double life and vision | D．Returned love from America |
相似题推荐
【推荐1】Getting a snow day off from school was a rare occurrence when I was a boy. A couple of inches on the roads wouldn’t do it. It really took an overwhelming winter storm to cancel school for everyone.
I can still remember those few special snow days that I got growing up. First, I would wait for the announcement to come over the radio. Having a snow day meant that I could watch all of Captain Kangaroo instead of leaving part way through to stand in the bitter cold outside and wait for the bus. I would go outside and play in the thick, wet, heavy snow. When I got too cold and wet, I would go inside, sit in my cozy chair by the wood stove and reread my favorite old books with my dog curling up on my chilly toes. In the afternoon I would sneak into the kitchen and see what Mom and Nana were cooking for dinner.
After dinner I would sit next to Mom on the couch, under a blanket, eating popcorn, and watching TV until bedtime. Then I would pull my sheet, blanket, and quilt up to my chin while my dog curled up on the bed by my feet. I would think back on the day with happiness before falling into a deep, peaceful sleep.
I think all of us should take a few snow days off in our lives, if not in our activities, then at least in our hearts. We should make time for the important things. Stop and see the beauty all around us, playing, reading, eating, laughing, and singing. Be thankful for this precious life and all the joys in it. We need to make time for loving instead of just making a living. May all your days feel like a Snow Day then, be they Winter, Spring, Summer, or Fall.
1. What made the author delighted according to the text?| A．Encountering rare occurrences. | B．Getting a snow day off. |
| C．Staying at home. | D．Delivering announcements. |
| A．He played with snow in the yard. | B．He watched cartoons all day long. |
| C．He tried cooking in the company of friends. | D．He reviewed the happy moments of the day. |
| A．Positive. | B．Determined. | C．Lazy. | D．Naughty. |
| A．My Winter Holidays | B．The Approach of Winter |
| C．The Significance of Family | D．The Value of Appreciating Life |
【推荐2】This summer’s surprise hit at movie theaters across China was the re-telling of the ancient myth (神话) of Nezha. The animated film has taken in over four billion yuan at the box office and become one of the country’s most successful films ever. It proved that China could produce animation films comparable to those produced in Hollywood and Japan.
The film, directed by Yang Yu, was a massive undertaking from start to finish. He spent two years writing the script (剧本) and three more years making a film which required the efforts of 1,600 animators. But for Yang it was a labor of love and a way, as he said, he could prove to himself that he could change his fate and inspire others to change their fate as well.
“I used to suffer from a lot of prejudice after changing my career,” said Yang, who had studied pharmacology (药理学) at university and was “fated” to be a pharmacist. “Since then I have thought about making an animated film to encourage young people to persist in their dreams.”
Over the years, I have come across a few students who were labelled as “devils.” Some misbehaved simply because they were not mature enough. Others were disruptive (引起混乱的) and uncooperative when they were in a bad mood. They usually had family problems in the form of overly critical mothers or fathers that were too strict. For those students, a great deal of compassion and understanding was required to let them know they were not “fated” to be bad. As they grew up, they would have the power to change their circumstance.
If you have seen Nezha, you know what a terrific, entertaining film it is. But the film also imparts (传授) an important lesson: We should not judge ourselves or others too harshly(严厉地), so as not to allow those negative judgments to control our fate.
1. According to the article, what’s the similarity between Yang Yu and the Nezha in his new film?| A．They were both born into wealthy families. |
| B．They both rose to fame at an early age. |
| C．They both make every effort to realize their dreams. |
| D．They both take control of their own fate. |
| A．Chinese people used to have a prejudice against homegrown animated films |
| B．Yang Yu was inspired to make the film Nezha because he dropped out of college |
| C．Nezha develops a close relationship with Ao Bing in the new film |
| D．the author is a little critical of parents who were too strict with their children |
| A．show prejudice against the Dragon King |
| B．criticize those who play practical jokes on others |
| C．label a person and treat them differently |
| D．punish a person who is labeled as a “devil” |
| A．a travel magazine | B．an ad booklet |
| C．a blog | D．a fiction novel |
【推荐3】Do you know the proverb “no pain, no gain”? It gives the impression that we ought to be suffering while we study. It seems that the only way to know if we’ re putting in enough work is how much hardship we bear. We are totally taken up with study, shutting ourselves away for a big exam. Is that necessarily true?
When we haven’t taken the time to come up with another idea, we just shut ourselves in a room with a book. It’s no surprise that we find revision boring and difficult. Just as children learn from playing, we can learn from doing, or at least from study techniques that interest us, rather than make us switch off. Shutting ourselves away can make us learn to hate studying, leading to a situation where, instead of being able to concentrate on our work, we are troubled by how unfair it is that we must study. This can be part of a vicious cycle (恶性循环) that traps us into ineffective revision, or poor progress fueling further annoyance.
Thankfully, working in the company of other people really helps fight against that. We just need to learn how to deal with distractions(使人分心的事). It’s not necessary to avoid all company, just lazy company. They constantly try to keep others in conversation, while studying in the same room with someone who is ironing or working out is perfectly possible. Of course, it’s also a good idea to avoid the company of people involved in activities where you would rather be playing than studying. Working while sitting next to someone playing video games is most likely to end with a new high score of games rather than productive revision.
If being around others means working in a noisy environment, a pair of headphones and some background music can block out noises. They also act as a psychological barrier, so that people think twice before interrupting you. Besides, we should know friends and family can lessen feelings of isolation. And connecting with other people makes us happy, so it’s important not to give that up and to make sure that we take the time to socialize.
1. What is the author’s purpose of writing the text?| A．To introduce effective studying means. |
| B．To encourage us to work as hard as possible. |
| C．To remind us to balance activities and study. |
| D．To discuss the importance of family company. |
| A．Good ideas are needed in terms of progress. |
| B．Ways that interest us can lead to effective revision. |
| C．Shutting ourselves away can help concentrate on work. |
| D．With study techniques, revision is interesting and easy for certain. |
| A．One should learn from certain activities that interest him. |
| B．Playing video games is helpful for effective study. |
| C．One shouldn’t study with the company of a video game player. |
| D．The more time one spends in playing games, the higher test scores one will get. |
| A．Give up others company at once. |
| B．Think twice before taking any action. |
| C．Give indication of not wanting to be interrupted. |
| D．Force yourself to be accustomed to the environment. |
