The clearing of my parents' home has made me think about the importance, even centrality of books to the house's life and soul. The house, and our lives in it, would not have been the same without books. The force of the statement comes home to me as I see what happens when shelves are emptied. The rooms suddenly look uncomfortably bare.
I always rather took it for granted that books furnished a room. The only rooms in our house without books were the dining-room and the bathrooms. Otherwise there were books everywhere: in all the bedrooms, in the drawing-room and in the piano room which became my parents' comfortable winter study.
I couldn't help feeling that books were rather like people: some more formal and boring, others more entertaining; some simply for show, others with unpromising outsides but rich interiors. They had more, in fact, than furnish a room, and they were companions who will offer insights, good advice.
Now the books are being contributed (not all, to be sure, but very many), and I fear for their future, almost as if they were refugees(难民). “Habent sua fata libelli”, goes as the old Latin saying, originally written by Retentions; it meant that the fate and future of books were determined by the capability of the reader. But the meaning of the phrase has been misunderstood by time and is now associated with the physical fate of particular books, how they have passed from owner to owner. This is how Walter Benjamin read the saying when he wrote his essay “Unpacking My Library”, which analyses the extraordinarily close relationship between a collector and his or her books.
As I deal with the books –many are going to charity (慈善) shops and I hope they will find good homes–I can’t help wondering if my generation is the last that will oversee such a process. Books are disappearing, as more and more are bought in electronic form and exist only as bytes of information on E–books or other devices. Does this matter? Could books become more spiritual, as they lose their physicality?
1. When clearing the room, the author__________.| A．realized the influence of books on his past life |
| B．thought of the statement his parents once made |
| C．felt upset to leave his parents' books behind |
| D．found some empty shelves left by his parents |
| A．pages | B．notes |
| C．covers | D．contents |
| A．it's important to pass books from owner to owner |
| B．the meaning of books is misunderstood by time |
| C．the future of books depends on readers' capability |
| D．the fate of books is related to their collectors |
| A．the author is attached to physical form of books |
| B．the author's books are bound to find good homes |
| C．e-books have taken the place of traditional ones |
| D．the author's parents used every room of theirs as a study |
相似题推荐
【推荐1】In George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion,the storyline centers around three main characters:Eliza Doolittle,Professor Henry Higgins,and Colonel Pickering.Eliza Doolittle is a flower girl who is under the instruction of Professor Higgins and Colonel Pickering to learn proper grammar and phonetics.Eliza can be characterized as a very sensitive（敏感的）and emotional person.She seeks to be treated like a duchess by men.Her personality clashes（冲突）with the personality of Professor Higgins in an extreme way.Professor Higgins is an arrogant（傲慢的）,work-obsessed expert in phonetics who views Eliza simply as an experiment.He is a bachelor who has never found a place for women in his life due to his obsession（痴迷）with language.Colonel Pickering is a gentleman from India who is also an expert in language.He is gentler than Higgins and treats Eliza with respect while maintaining a professional interest in her.These three characters make up the main action of the play as Eliza learns speech of the upper class from them.She manages to pass herself off as a Hungarian princess at a formal party.This achievement makes Eliza give credence to the efforts of Higgins and Pickering.After experiencing life in the upper class,Eliza settles for a lower-class life with a man who loves her for who she is and wants to marry her.After some small and unimportant disputes,Eliza and Higgins remain friends later.Other memorable characters include Mrs Higgins who maintains an authoritative（权威的）figure over her grown son and Mr Doolittle who rises from a dustman to a respected speaker in the community.
I think that this is a good book because it shows that happiness can be achieved without wealth and fame,I highly recommend it due to its emphasis on grammatical and phonetic correctness.
1. Eliza learns speech of the upper class because________.| A．she wants to do an experiment | B．she wants to marry a gentleman |
| C．she has to play a princess at a party | D．she wants to be treated respectfully |
| A．to use and speak English in the right ways |
| B．the right attitude towards life |
| C．the ways to deal with different people |
| D．the determination to succeed |
| A．Believe. | B．Change. | C．Fancy. | D．Obtain |
| A．a research paper | B．a teaching plan |
| C．a book report | D．a diary |
【推荐2】Like a tired marriage, the relationship between libraries and publishers has long been dull. E-books, however, are causing heartache. Libraries know they need digital services, but many publishers are too cautious about piracy and lost sales to co-operate. Among the big six publishers, only Random House and Harper Collins license e-books with most libraries.
Publishers are wise to be nervous. Owners of e-readers are exactly the customers they need: book-lovers with money. If these people switch to borrowing e-books instead of buying them, what then? Electronic borrowing is awfully convenient. Unlike printed books, which must be checked out and returned to a physical library miles away, book files can be downloaded at home. The files disappear from the device when they are due.
E-lending is not simple, however. There are various incompatible e-book formats, devices and licenses. Most libraries use a company called OverDrive, which secures rights from publishers and provides e-books and audio files in every format. Yet publishers and libraries are worried by OverDrive’s global market dominance, as the company can control fees and conditions. Publishers were annoyed when OverDrive cooperated with Amazon the world’s biggest online bookseller, last year. Owners of Amazon’s Kindle e-reader who want to borrow e-books from libraries are now redirected to Amazon’s website.
According to Pew, an opinion researcher, library users are a perfect market for Amazon. Late last year Amazon introduced is Kindle Owners’ Lending Library, which lets its best customers borrow free one of thousands of popular books each month. But a recent Pew survey found that more than half of Americans with library cards say they prefer to buy their e-books It also noted that e-books actually are available at most libraries, and that popular titles often involve long waiting lists, which may inspire people to buy.
So publishers keep adjusting their lending arrangements in search of the right balance. Random House raised its licensing price earlier this year, and Harper Collins limits libraries to lending its titles 26 times. The story of the library e-book is a nail-biter.
1. It can be inferred from Paragraph 1 that ______.| A．several big publishers have sold e-books to libraries |
| B．both libraries and publishers caution the e-book piracy |
| C．some publishers are hesitant to cooperate with libraries |
| D．libraries are eager to keep strong relationship with publishers |
| A．The risk of e-book piracy. |
| B．The possible decline of book sales. |
| C．No time limit for the downloaded book files. |
| D．The availability of the incompatible e-book formats. |
| A．Amazon is adopting measures to win more customers |
| B．OverDrive distributes e-books and audio files to publishers |
| C．over half of Americans are borrowing e-books from libraries |
| D．the fees of lending e-books are under the control of publishers |
by Helaia Fox
If you're looking for a moving story that explores themes of mental illness, grief (悲痛), and love, pick up a copy of How It Feels to Float and follow Biz as she comes of age. This moving novel will stay with you long after you finish reading it.
Two Can Keep a Secret
by Karen M. MeManus
Put on your crime-solving cap and get swept away in this thriller about a girl, a boy, and a string of unsolved murders. As threats and clues pile up, you’ll be burning the midnight oil trying to finish the book before dawn.
Forest of a Thousand Lanterns
by Julie C. Dao
The first book in the Rise of the Empress series takes the bones of a traditional fairy tale — a poor girl fated for power, an evil queen determined to stop her, love for someone who doesn't love back and magic — and gives them a richly imagined East Asian setting.
Dune
by Frank Herbert
If the Star Wars movies have made you fall in love with the space opera, eventually you're going to read Frank Herbert's most famous creation. The story of centuries-old political plotting — about warring factions (派系) battling over control of the extremely valuable planet Arrakis — is a classic and remains a wonderful introduction to the larger, more complex world of science fiction just beyond the Star Wars trilogies.
1. What is How It Feels to Float mainly about?| A．The murder of a teenage girl. |
| B．A girl's space adventures. |
| C．Challenges of growing up. |
| D．A poor girl with special powers. |
| A．A fairy tale. | B．A science-fiction story. |
| C．A love story. | D．A detective story. |
| A．How It Feels to Float | B．Two Can Keep a Secret |
| C．Forest of a thousand Lanterns | D．Dune |
