A talk between a child and a man tells us different thoughts. The man
2 . Late one night this spring, Justin Snider was riding the No. 2 in Manhattan when the train stopped. After about 15 minutes — with little information about the delay and no cell service — everyone in the car was getting restless. Suddenly, an inspiration struck. “I asked neighboring passengers if they wanted to hear some Shakespeare, and no one objected,” Mr. Snider said.
He had memorized Hamlet’s “To be or not to be” speech more than 15 years earlier to pass the time on a cross-country bike trip.
“I was definitely nervous because I’d never performed publicly before,” he said. Although his tired audience neglected to clap when he finished — they did applaud when the train started to move again — Mr. Snider was pleased that he didn’t forget a line.
Since ancient times, humans have memorized and recited poetry. Before the invention of writing, the only way to process a poem was to memorize it. Yet poetry memorization has become an outdated practice that many teachers and parents — not to mention students — consider too boring, mindless and just simply difficult for the modern classroom. Besides, who needs to memorize poetry when our smartphones can instantly call up nearly any published poem in the universe?
In fact, the value of learning literature by heart — particularly poetry — has only grown. All of us struggle with reducing attention spans and a public sphere (领域) that is becoming a literary wasteland, without complex language or expressions of empathy beyond one’s own online chat bubble (聊天气泡).
Rimbaud once wrote :“The lindens smell good in the good June evenings! At times the air is so scented that we close our eyes.” “He wrote that poem when he was young, and he was talking about love. I related to him,” said Ms. Huggins, the winner of the national Poetry Out Loud contest, who recited Rimbaud’s Novel. “Reciting a poem will greatly help you express what you’re trying to say.”
It’s time for us to show we care about words again to rebuild our connection to human civilization so much broader than social media feeds.
1. Why did Justin Snider offer to recite Shakespeare?| A．To show off his good memory. |
| B．To kill time on a delayed train. |
| C．To inspire passengers to learn poems. |
| D．To practice making a speech in public. |
| A．Reciting poems isn’t a trend any more. |
| B．Modern students need poetry memorization. |
| C．Owning a poem is to store it in our smart phones. |
| D．The appearance of writing promotes poetry reciting. |
| A．It can be a highly expressive act. |
| B．It is a matter of hard working practice. |
| C．It is a way to show empathy for others. |
| D．It can connect you with human civilization. |
| A．Objective. | B．Unclear. |
| C．Casual. | D．Supportive. |
3 . Food poems, like love poems, have the potential to be vague and sad. The New York Times’ description of a book of food poetry refers to Winston Churchill’s supposed declaration, “Take away this pudding. It has no theme.” This, of course, is a sad comment on food. Yes, eating can be mere gluttony at times — we’ve all had late-night chocolate or thoroughly enjoyed McDonald’s breakfast hash browns. In fact, writers like Daniel Orozco paint poetic pictures of sorts of foods, the thrill and shame of junk food.
Food poetry can be unbelievably described, inspiring feelings of pleasure and homesickness in the same way as eating does. It can also be straightforward or playful — just like food itself. Shell Silverstein’s Italian Food starts off with “Oh, how I love Italian food/I eat it all the time/Not just cause how good it tastes/But cause how good it rhymes,” and continues in rhyming couplets for the remainder of the poem.
Other food poems — certainly the best ones — have layers of complexity that are slowly revealed like eating a perfectly assembled sandwich or drinking skillfully mixed drink. Henrick Ibsen’s Tea — A Comparison From Love’s Comedy begins with a pleasant garden gathering but quickly delves into the scenery and politics of Eastern nations, from which the tea was imported. Still other food poems are simple collections of the poet’s most beloved meal, like Carlos Williams’ loyalty to caviar, For Viola: De Gustibus. He writes, “Beloved you are/Caviar of Caviar/Of all I love you best/O my Japanese bird nest/” Similarly, Jonathan Swift declares his love for mutton in the emotional cooking poem: How I Shall Dine.
Kevin Young, the editor of The Hungry Ear, a collection of food poetry published last year, explains poets’ love for food, “One of the things I think poets enjoy about a great meal is that it goes away... that you make a terrific meal for friends and family, and if you succeed, it’s gone.”
1. What can be inferred from the first paragraph?| A．Winston Churchill doesn’t like puddings. | B．Food poems and love poems are the same. |
| C．Eating is a bad subject in terms of poetry. | D．Many people like junk food despite its harm. |
| A．To suggest that Shell Silverstein is the best poet. |
| B．To prove that food poems have some complexity. |
| C．To show that food poetry can be straightforward or playful. |
| D．To show how Shell Silverstein likes Italian food. |
| A．slowly reveals some complexity | B．introduces where tea was imported |
| C．was referred to as the best food poem | D．talks about a pleasant garden gathering |
| A．Henrick Ibsen. | B．Carlos Williams. |
| C．Kevin Young. | D．Shell Silverstein. |
4 . Florence Nightingale
Florence Nightingale was born in Florence, Italy, while her wealthy English parents were travelling in Europe. As a child, she travelled to many places with her family and learned how to speak several languages.
When Nightingale was 17, she told her family that she was going to help sick people. Her parents did not approve, but Nightingale was determined.
She travelled to hospitals all over Europe. She saw doctors working too hard. She saw patients die because they did not get enough care. Nightingale felt that women could be doing more to help doctors take care of sick people.
Nightingale knew that in order for nurses to do more, they needed special training in how to take care of sick people. Nightingale went to a hospital in Germany to study nursing. Then she returned to London and became the head of a group of women called Gentlewomen During Illness. These women cared for sick people in their homes.
In 1854, England was fighting a war with Russia.War reporters wrote about the terrible conditions in the hospitals that cared for the wounded. People demanded that something should be done about it. A leader of the government asked Florence Nightingale to take some nurses into the war hospitals. So, in November 1854, Nightingale finally got to work in a hospital. She took along 38 nurses whom she had trained herself.
At first, the doctors on the battlefields did not want Nightingale and her nurses in their hospitals. They did not believe that women could help. But in fact, the nurses did make a difference. They worked around the clock, tending the sick. Thanks to their hard work, many wounded soldiers survived.
After the war, Nightingale and her nurses were treated like heroes. Finally, in 1860, she started the Nightingale School for nurses. In time, thanks to Florence Nightingale, nursing became an important part of medicine.
1. Florence Nightingale was born into a rich________.| A．Italian family |
| B．Russian family |
| C．English family |
| D．German family |
| A．to work as a doctor |
| B．to care for sick people |
| C．to fight in the war with Russia |
| D．to travel to hospitals all over Europe |
| A．began to study nursing |
| B．got to work in a hospital |
| C．started to care for sick people in their homes |
| D．became the head of Gentlewomen During Illness |
| A．very helpful |
| B．quite generous |
| C．less than useful |
| D．as bad as the doctors had expected |
5 . Today, poetry and science are often considered to be mutually exclusive(互相排斥)career paths. But that wasn’t always the case. The mathematician Ada Lovelace and the physicist James Clerk Maxwell were both accomplished poets. The poet John Keats was a licensed surgeon. Combining the two practices fell out of favor in the 1800s. But translating research into lyrics, haiku, and other poetic forms is resurging(再现)among scientists as they look for alternative ways to inspire others with their findings.
“Poetry is a great tool for questioning the world,” says Sam Illingworth, a poet and a geoscientist who works at the University of Western Australia. Through workshops and a new science-poetry journal, called Consilience, Illingworth is helping scientists to translate their latest results into poems that can attract appreciation from those outside of their immediate scientific field.
Stephany Mazon, a scientist from the University of Helsinki in Finland, joined one of Illingworth’s workshops. In the workshop, she was grouped with other scientists and tasked with writing a haiku, a 17-syllable-long poem, which spotlighted water, a fluid that featured in all of the group members’ research projects. “It was a lot of fun, and surprisingly easy to write the poem,” Mazon says. She plans to continue writing. “We do a disservice(伤害)to ourselves to think that scientists can’t be artistic and that art can’t be used to communicate scientific ideas,” Mazon says.
That viewpoint is echoed by Illingworth, who thinks science communication initiatives are too often dominated by public lectures with their hands-off PowerPoint slides. “Actually, when science communication involves writing and sharing poems, it invites a two-way dialogue between experts and nonexperts,” he says. Scientist-poet Manjula Silva, an educator at Imperial College London, agrees. Poetry provides a way to translate complex scientific concepts into a language that everyone can understand, Silva says.
Scientists and poets are both trying to understand the world and communicate that understanding with others. The distinction between scientists and poets is less than people might think. We’re all just people with hopefully really interesting things to say and to share.
1. What is the purpose of mentioning the celebrities in paragraph 1?| A．To display they were talented. |
| B．To confirm they were out of favor. |
| C．To encourage different career paths. |
| D．To show poetry and science can be combined. |
| A．Promote a new science-poetry journal. |
| B．Inspire outsiders to pursue their careers in science. |
| C．Encourage science communication through poems. |
| D．Get scientists to exchange ideas about the latest research. |
| A．Conventional. | B．Effective. | C．Innovative. | D．Complex. |
| A．Scientists Take on Poetry |
| B．Scientists and Poets Think Alike |
| C．Poetry: A Great Tool to Question the World |
| D．Science Communication: A Two-way Dialogue |
6 . A poetry competition has been launched for pupils. It invites young people to reflect on the “many ways we are connected to the universe”. The competition is aimed at pupils aged 4-18.
Winners will receive a range of other prizes, including books and chocolate, plus continued development and coaching opportunities from the Poetry Society. The rules are as follows:
1. The competition is free to enter. Entries will be accepted from anywhere in the UK. Entries from outside the UK are not accepted. If you are aged 4-12, your parents will need to give permission for you to enter.
2. Your entry must be the original work of the creator. Your work is accepted on the basis that this will be its first appearance anywhere in the world.
3. Poems must be written in English or Welsh, but you can include phrases in your mother tongue or another language. Poems must not be longer than 20 lines. You are free to write in any style or form.
4. You may enter either online via website or by post to the Poetry Society, 22 Betterton Street, London. All online entries must be received by 23:59 GMT on 19 December 2022. All poems entered by post must be post-dated on or before 19 December 2022.
If you would like to enter online, please continue through the online system on this website. Email AboutUspoetrysociety.org if you have problems with your submission.
1. What is the theme of the competition?| A．Reflection on the environment. |
| B．Connection to the universe. |
| C．Young people’s passion for poetry. |
| D．National celebration of creativity. |
| A．4-12. |
| B．4-18. |
| C．Over 18. |
| D．Below 4. |
| A．Enter their original works. |
| B．Pay for their entries. |
| C．Send their poems by email. |
| D．Ask their parents for permission. |
7 . From a young age, Barbara Binns’s passions were reading and doing research. With her latest book, Unlawful Orders, a biography, she captures American history.
Unlawful Orders tells the story of James Williams (1919-2016), a doctor who served with the Tuskegee Airmen, the first Black military pilots, during World War II. While at the Freeman Airfield base in Iowa, he stood up to racial unfair practices through peaceful protest, which pushed the government to make some changes in the US army.
Binns lives in Chicago, Illinois, where she grew up and where most of her stories took place. In 2008, she wrote several books for young readers. She found her current book’s subject while researching James’s mother, Clara Williams, for another project. James had also lived in Chicago, in a neighborhood not far from where Binns grew up, but she hadn’t heard about him. “I found myself wondering if I ever walked past him on the street and didn’t realize I was in the presence of greatness,” Binns told The Week Junior. She said she would have loved to have him as a role model during her childhood.
That’s one reason why she wrote Unlawful Orders, she said — for children who need a hero, someone who looks ordinary but did extraordinary things through quiet but persistent actions.
1. What can be known about James Williams?| A．He once served as an American pilot. |
| B．He fought for equal rights for the black people. |
| C．He lived in the same neighborhood with Binns. |
| D．He got the support from American government. |
| A．Put aside. | B．Settled for. |
| C．Objected to. | D．Referred to. |
| A．How Binns chose the subject for Unlawful Orders. |
| B．How Binos got to know James Williams. |
| C．Why Binns gave up researching Clara Williams. |
| D．Why Binns chose Chicago to be the setting for her books. |
| A．To motivate herself to become a hero. | B．To be in memory of James Williams. |
| C．To inspire the children. | D．To record American history. |
8 . The Canadian Authors Association (CAA) is a non-profit national arts service organization with a local presence devoted to promoting a flourishing community of writers across Canada. The association offers professional development opportunities to writers of all levels in all genres, with the aim of helping writers develop skills in both the craft and business of writing, and providing access to a Canada-wide network of writers, and publishing industry professionals. Over the century, some 25,000 writers have been members, including Roberts W. Service Bliss Carman and. E.J. Pratt.
In follow-up to the 101st anniversary of the Canadian Authors Association, the National Capital Region Branch invites all writers to take part in the 36th Annual National Capital Writing Contest.
The 36th Annual National Capital Writing Contest
Deadline: March 21, 2023 at 1:59 pm.
Short Story: maximum 2,500 words, unpublished, in English.
Poetry: maximum 60 lines including the title and blank lines, unpublished, in English.
Awards: Awards Night will take place on Wednesday, June 14, 2023, with cash awards for 1st, 2nd and 3rd placements ($300, $200, $100) and three honorable mentions for each category. Entry Fees: Poetry: $5 per single poem; Short Story: $15 per single story.
The contest is open to all Canadian citizens or landed immigrants living in Canada. Names or other identifiers must not appear anywhere in the story or poem as entries will be blind judged. The judges’ decisions are final. No entries will be returned. For multiple entries, each must be accompanied by its entry fee and separate cover.
1. What do we know about the CAA?| A．It is inconveniently located. |
| B．It runs on a commercial basis. |
| C．It suits people who have reached an advanced level. |
| D．It provides writers across Canada with the chances of career development. |
| A．Writing poems of 25 lines in all. |
| B．Sending works on June 14, 2023. |
| C．Requesting entries to be returned. |
| D．Arranging the publication of short stories in February. |
| A．$35. | B．$40. | C．$45. | D．$50. |
It was Mid-Autumn Festival. 79-year-old Bill Porter
“To me, the beauty about ancient Chinese poems is
Currently, Porter is translating more poems by Tao Yuanming, and his translation work Poems of the Masters
A great many young Chinese audiences have taken to
The four-episode documentary took three years
The third episode
“If Du Fu is the greatest poet in China, then Li Bai is the most talented poet in the history of Chinese poetry,” Jiang Yufang,
Much of Li’s life
“Many people who like Li Bai’s poetry actually like the spirit he conveyed—the spirit of never giving up and
