Poet Du Fu (712—770) wrote this poem in springtime, when he caught by An Lushan’s rebel army (叛军) and locked up in Chang’an, the capital city at that time. The poem shows his love for his motherland and how he missed his family. The poet used imagery of flowers and birds to express his feelings, which is seen as classic. The spring flowers and birds were joyful,① ____▲____, in the eyes of the sad poet, they reminded him of the past and made him cry. Flowers came to life again in spring, however, the broken country could not be easily restored (恢复). This shows his care for his country and his people.

②The birds were singing freely, while the poet lost his freedom. He was alone without any relatives or friends. Thus the birds’ singing frightened him. This shows that he missed his family. His depressed (绝望的) feeling got even deeper in the next lines. As the war was going on, it was hard to receive letters from family members. The letters were as valuable as gold.

3 . A horse fair is an interesting place. There is always a lot to see. There are young horses from the country, little Welsh ponies, like Merrylegs, and many beautiful horses too. But there were also a lot of poor, thin horses, worn out from hard work. I was very sad to see them.

At the horse fair there was a man with a gentle voice and kind grey eyes. He offered twenty-three pounds for me, but they refused, and he walked away. Then a man with a very loud voice came. I was ▲ he was going to buy me, but he walked off. Then the grey-eyed man came back again and said: “I’ll give twenty-four for him.”

“Done,” said the salesman. “He’s a quality horse and if you want him for cab work, he’s a bargain.”

Half an hour later we set off for London, along country roads, until we came to that great city. There were streets to the right, and streets to the left. We went into one of the small streets, and then into a very narrow street, with small, old houses on one side, and stables on the other.

My new owner stopped at a house and whistled. The door opened, and a young woman, a little girl and boy, came out.

They all looked at me.

“Is he gentle, father?”

“Yes, Dolly, as gentle as a kitten (小猫); you can pat him.”

Dolly, the little girl, patted my shoulder without fear. It felt so good! They led me into a clean stable, with plenty of dry straw, and after a delicious meal I lay down to sleep, thinking “I’m going to be very happy here”.

——From Black Beauty

7 . Mom Knows Best

When I was a tiny baby crying all night, my mom sang to me and stayed by my side.

When I was tired and hungry, she gave me food and warm arms to sleep in.

When I was two running through the field, she made sure I was safe and kept me from danger.

When I fell and hurt myself, she gave me a hug and lifted me up.

When I was seven coughing badly, she said no ice-cream for me.

But I talked back loudly, “I should be allowed to eat some! Give it to me now!”

When I was nine watching scary movies, she said it’d give me awful dreams.

But I shouted back 2 , “I should be allowed to watch it! I am not a baby!”

When I was a teen going out with friends, she said, “Please be back by ten!”

But I talked back again, “I should not be told what to do! I’m seventeen now!”

Now I’m an adult, thinking back to those times.

I coughed for days after eating that ice-cream

And had scary dreams after watching that film.

I was late for school from staying out past ten.

I regret talking back, not listening to Mom.

Mom knows best, and for me she wanted only the best!

8 . It was a week before I saw Captain Nemo again. Every morning, I noticed fresh air coming into the rooms and I knew that the Nautilus had surfaced. I would go out and see the sunrise.

Then I received a note from Captain Nemo. He invited me and my friends to go hunting with him in the forests of Crespo Island. Ned was excited because he thought there he could find a chance to escape. When I saw Captain Nemo the next day, I asked him why he was so interested in Crespo Island. “I thought you preferred the sea to being on land.”

“I do,” replied the Captain. “But these forests are under the sea.” During breakfast, he explained that he had made diving suits that used special air tanks. These tanks would allow us to stay under the water for ten hours. He had also made lights that worked in electric batteries. When Ned realized that we were not going onto land for our hunting trip, he decided not to come at all.

Conseil and I put on our diving suits, and so did Captain Nemo and one of his men. We stepped into a room and closed the door. The room was filled with water, and another door opened. We must go through it, and we were in the sea floor. It was an amazing experience.

We were about ten metres under the water. The light from the sun reached us. Everything looked very colourful. We walked over the fine sand and enjoyed the colours of the shells, fish and seaweed. Conseil and I followed Captain Nemo and his man as they crossed a large grassy area. We were going deeper and deeper. Two hours later, we were a hundred metres under the water. The suits worked very well, and it was easy to walk and breathe.

At one hundred metres deep, we could still see quite well, and Captain Nemo stopped and pointed to some dark shapes. This was the forest. The “trees” in the forest were giant seaweed, and all their branches were vertical (垂直的). We could not stop looking at them. Fish swam around the branches like birds in a forest. Small shrubs (灌木) grew under the large seaweed trees. Some of them had flowers.

We walked through this forest for about an hour, and then we lay down to rest. I was not hungry, but I was very sleepy. We all slept, and when we woke up, we walked further.

(Adapted from Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea)

10 . Resting my head on Helen’s shoulder, I put my arms round her waist. She drew me to her, and we rested in silence. We had not sat long before another person came in. Some heavy clouds, swept from the sky by a rising wind, had left the moon bright; and her light, coming in through a window near, shone full both on us and on the coming person, Miss Temple.

“I came on purpose to find you. Jane Eyre,” said she. “I want you in my room, and as Helen Burns is with you, she may come too.” We followed Miss Temple to her apartment. It had a good fire, and looked cheerful. Miss Temple told Helen Burns to be seated in a low arm-chair on one side of the fire place, and herself asking another, she called me to her side.

“Is it all over?” she asked, looking down at my face. “Have you cried your sadness away?”

“I am afraid I never shall do that.”

“Why?”

“Because I have been wrongly accused (指责), and everybody will now think me a bad girl.”

“We shall think you what you prove yourself to be, my child. Continue to act as a good girl, and you will satisfy us.”

“Shall I, Miss Temple?”

“You will.” said Miss Temple, “You have been accused of lying when you were little. Tell us the truth, but add nothing and exaggerate (夸大) nothing.”

I made up my mind that I would be most modest and most correct. Having thought for a few minutes about where to start, I told her all the story of my sad childhood.