Two men, Alan and Henry, both seriously ill, shared a hospital room. Alan was allowed to sit up in his bed and his bed was next to the room’s only window. Henry had to spend all his time flat on his back.
The men talked for hours, of their wives, families, their homes and their jobs. And every afternoon when Alan, in the bed next to the window, could sit up, he would pass the time by describing to his roommate all the things he could see. Ducks and swans played on the water while children sailed their model boats. Lovers walked arm in arm among flowers. Trees and skyline could be seen in the distance. As he described all this, Henry, on the other side of the room, would close his eyes and imagine the scene.
One warm afternoon Alan described a parade (游行) passing by. Although Henry could not hear the band, he could see it in his mind. Unexpectedly, an alien thought entered his head: why should he have all the pleasure of seeing everything while I never got to see anything? It doesn’t seem fair. Henry felt ashamed at first. But as the days passed and he missed seeing more sights, his envy grew and soon let him down. He began to find himself unable to sleep. He should be by that window — and that thought now controlled his life.
Late one night, as he lay staring at the ceiling, Alan began to cough. He was choking. Henry watched in the dim room as the struggling man tried hard to reach for the button to call for help. Listening from across the room, he never moved, never pushed his own button which would have brought the nurse running. In less than five minutes, the coughing and choking stopped, along with the sound of breathing. Now, there was only silence — deathly silence.
As soon as it seemed appropriate, Henry asked if he could be moved next to the window. The nurse was happy to make the switch and after making sure he was comfortable, she left him alone. Slowly, painfully, he struggled to take his first look. Finally, he would have the joy of seeing it all himself. He looked out, but faced a blank wall.
1. Judging from the passage, the meaning of the underlined word “alien” in Paragraph 3 is ______.| A．new | B．fascinating | C．strange | D．disappointing |
| A．He died with choking. | B．He switched his bed with Henry. |
| C．He was moved to another room. | D．He was very sick. |
| A．to see more than Alan | B．to feel the joy of breathing fresh air |
| C．to feel the joy of seeing the outside world | D．to see the blank wall |
| A．Talkative and funny | B．Well-informed and humorous |
| C．Kind-hearted and imaginative | D．Cold-hearted and indifferent |
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【推荐1】The seeds of what we are meant to do may have been sown in our childhood. I grew up in Chennai, India in a home surrounded by books. I recall my mother telling me that when I was read to as a child, I knew exactly where one sentence ended and the next one began!
One book that had a significant impact on me as a child was called “31 Brothers and Sisters” that related the story of an African girl who goes on an elephant hunt, a traditionally male sport. What struck me was this girl was challenging traditional standards of behavior in a society that was not happy with women expressing independence — and the fact that this girl had black hair like me and was also dark-skinned.
I also had the opportunity to attend an unusual school that encouraged creative thinking. Here, I was encouraged by a few teachers who noticed my writing skills. However, English was actually my least favorite subject because we had to write on canned topics and there was no room for creativity.
I have written three books so far. My first book, “Climbing the Stairs” was inspired by my mother's experiences growing up as a teenager during the Second World War. The book deals with the struggles of a teenage girl at a time when women were treated as second-class citizens in society. My second book, “Island's End” is based on my own experiences as an oceanographer and working in the remote Andaman Islands, off the coast of India. “The Bridge Home” is a story of friendship among four street kids and loosely based on three kids I knew growing up. Each of the three books is inspired by my own experiences, what I have read and people around me.
My message to young writers is not to rush into writing or get too concerned with material rewards. In today's world, there's often too much of an emphasis on awards and honors, which no writer can control. Those are largely a matter of luck. Write for yourself and just enjoy the process.
1. What impressed the author in “31 Brothers and Sisters”?| A．The African girl's respect for her cousins. | B．The African girl's fight for independence. |
| C．The African girl's commitment to hunting. | D．The African girl's concern about her appearance. |
| A．Imaginary. | B．Fixed. | C．Typical. | D．Financial. |
| A．The plots of her books. | B．The settings of her books. |
| C．The characters in her books. | D．The inspiration for her books. |
| A．An autobiography. | B．A fiction. | C．A book review. | D．A leaflet. |
【推荐2】Once, a hunter lived in a village. He used to boast (吹牛) of his brave hunting trips to the villagers. The villagers respected him a lot. He mostly told everyone how he had fought a lion bare handed or of killing an elephant with a single bullet. He said that the tiny animals used to get frightened even at the sight of him.
One day, the hunter was passing through a forest. A woodcutter from the same village was busy cutting trees. The boastful hunter got close to him and said, “How are you? It’s a fine day, isn’t it?”
“Yes, Yes, indeed!” the woodcutter replied. “Well, can you tell me if you have seen some footprints of the lion nearby? It’s been months since I killed any.” The woodcutter knew that the hunter only boasted. So he said, “Yes, a lion is in a nearby den. Can I take you there?” But the frightened hunter said, “No…No…I only just wanted to see his footprints.” And so the boastful hunter ran away from the spot.
1. What did the hunter get by boasting? ______.| A．respect from the villagers | B．a big fortune | C．a good luck | D．money |
| A．skilled at hunting | B．shy | C．gentle | D．kind-hearted |
| A．Hunting lions | B．The weather | C．Killing an elephant | D．Looking at footprints |
| A．brave | B．rude | C．determined | D．not honest |
【推荐3】A few days ago my wife sent me out to buy something. When I came home, I handed her a paper bag and said, “Here are the apples you wanted.” She looked in the bag, and then she looked at me. “I told you,” she said slowly, “to buy some eggs.”
I felt worried about my absent-mindedness (心不在焉，健忘) , so I went to see a doctor. He was a very kind man. “I have seen many people like you. It’s nothing to worry about,” he said. “If you know you are absent-minded, you are all right. But if you do not know you’re absent-minded, you may be really in trouble.”
“Many famous people were absent-minded,” the doctor told me. “Thomas Edison was standing in line one day to pay his taxes. When he arrived at the window, he found that he had forgotten his own name. He had to ask the man who was behind him to tell him who he was.”
I felt much better and got up to leave. “Thank you, doctor,” I said. “How much do I have to pay you?”
“Ten dollars for the check-up ,” the doctor said.
“But doctor, I did not have a check-up!”
For a moment the doctor looked puzzled. Then he said, “Oh, yes, it was the patient before you who had a check-up. How absent-minded I am!”
1. It can be inferred (推断) from the first paragraph that when the author’s wife heard what her husband told her, she was ______.| A．excited | B．surprised |
| C．sad | D．proud |
| A．to make fun of Edison |
| B．because he liked telling stories |
| C．to show absent-mindedness is common among people |
| D．to make the author laugh |
| A．Only the author. | B．The author and the doctor. |
| C．The doctor alone. | D．The author's wife. |
