1 . I absolutely could have gone my entire life without ever reading Moby-Dick, but unfortunately, I have read it. Twice. I’ve had to read it twice.
I can trace it as far back as middle school — the teachers’ strong desire to push classic literature on students as much as possible. And it makes sense, in some ways. There are benefits to being well read —a larger vocabulary, mental stimulation, concentration and understanding of literary references in the world. But at the same time, being well read doesn’t necessarily mean only reading classics for the sake of reading classics.
This isn’t to say that these classic novels serve no purpose in curriculum (课程) or in the literary world — classics are, in many ways, vital to a well-rounded education in literature. But so are pieces of contemporary (当代的) literature and books from centuries ago that haven’t been recognized classics. So yes, there’s room for classic novels. But right now, there’s too much room for classic novels.
There are also many modern sayings that come from classics — like “Big brother is watching,” from George Orwell’s 1984, “Tomorrow is another day,” from Margaret Mitchell’s Gone With the Wind and “Hey Boo,” which originally comes from To Kill a Mockingbird. It’s worth something to be well versed in texts that have made an impact on the construct of modern day language. But at the same time, when classic novels are put on syllabi (教学大纲) or inserted into high school curriculum, novels should be selected with care —not just selected because it’s “what everyone in the field reads” —which yes, has been said to me before.
And as far as contemporary literature goes, there seems to be an opinion that it doesn’t offer as much wisdom and has less value and, therefore, we can’t learn as much from it. I’ve found this to be most untrue. After all, we tend to learn best from things that we can connect to, and contemporary literature is often the most relatable. And though it hasn’t had the time to become a classic, the structure and syntax (句法) holds its own. It’s different from classic work, but it’s not less valuable.
So let’s take a step back from the classics. We think that they’re pushing us forward, when, really, they might be standing in our way.
1. Why did the author read Moby-Dick twice?| A．To stimulate her mind. | B．To enlarge her vocabulary. |
| C．To meet her teacher’s requirement. | D．To better understand literary references. |
| A．To prove classics are worth reading. |
| B．To show some classics are out of date. |
| C．To compare classics with contemporary literature. |
| D．To advise schools to include more classics in curriculum. |
| A．They should not be taken lightly. | B．They are not as valuable as classics. |
| C．They are more important than classics. | D．They will surely become classics soon. |
| A．Avoid them entirely. | B．Treat them seriously. |
| C．Promote them at high school. | D．Reconsider their significance. |
2 . When I was 19 years old, I decided to pursue my passion for writing as a career. At the time, I knew that it was a
The truth is, from the moment I chose writing as my major, I was
Then I asked myself why I write. For a while, I did not have a good enough
Why do I write? Because it is what I have to
Every person
| A．secure | B．risky | C．correct | D．wise |
| A．foolish | B．tense | C．joyous | D．confident |
| A．hardly | B．constantly | C．rarely | D．greedily |
| A．shake off | B．cut off | C．take off | D．kick off |
| A．therefore | B．thus | C．however | D．while |
| A．solution | B．plan | C．answer | D．belief |
| A．significant | B．sufficient | C．sharp | D．sensitive |
| A．disappointment | B．fear | C．honor | D．peace |
| A．pushing back | B．pushing through | C．putting aside | D．putting forward |
| A．give | B．pursue | C．earn | D．perform |
| A．entertain | B．please | C．convince | D．reach |
| A．defended | B．cured | C．shaped | D．surrounded |
| A．possesses | B．negates | C．lacks | D．expresses |
| A．differs | B．satisfies | C．comes | D．matters |
| A．Return | B．Tend | C．Appeal | D．Apply |
“Life is for living”, according to the well-used expression: What we choose to do is up to us. That may not be
Bucket lists have been called “the greatest
Creating a bucket list certainly
Every year in China, a day is set aside to honour, and show respect for, the elders and senior citizens in the entire nation. As China has more than 297 million people
In the early 1980s, the Chinese government declared that the Chongyang Festival would be the day on which
However, respect for the elders should be kept in mind firmly and showing
Apparently, respect for the elders is the
Walking and Using a Phone is Bad for Your Health
Spend time on any crowded sidewalk and you’ll see heads bent over and eyes cast downward. One recent study of college students found that a quarter of people crossing intersections
When you walk and use a phone at the same time, you automatically adjust
Looking down at a smartphone while walking can also increase the amount of force
It’s now widely accepted that walking in natural spaces is good for your mental health. It appears that
Most of us understand that walking and using a phone can be risky. Some cities, like Honolulu,
If you’re distracted by a phone, you’re definitely putting
When I lived in Portland, Oregon, I taught English as a Second Language at a local community college. I had adult students in my class from Vietnam, Mexico, Russia and many other countries. Although they came from many lands, fighting for a better life, they had one thing in common: a desperate yearning(渴望) to learn English well.
Many of the students worked in a factory for twelve hours throughout the night and hurriedly took a bus in the morning straight to our 8:00A. M. class. They attended my class on time whatever the weather. And they waited until after class to go home and sleep. Sometimes I would see them struggling to keep their eyes open in the beginning. However, their active participation in class drove away their physical tiredness as well as livened up the atmosphere. Some students even raised a bunch of questions by gesture after class. They were always there working hard, earnest and eager to learn.
Despite their lack of sleep and long hours at work, the level of attendance and attentiveness in class was always excellent. No one called in sick. No one was absent-minded. Some of the students had as many as three jobs and took the bus everywhere they went because they couldn’t afford cars.
To teach the course, I needed to use a lot of pictures and hand gestures, since I didn’t know all their respective languages. One of the things I taught was a simple dialogue called “Shopping for a New Coat”. They enjoyed standing up and acting out the gestures that accompanied the text of the story.
Sometimes I wondered if I was really teaching my students in the best way possible. But I gave my all to this class, and they gave their all to me. If nothing else, they would always remember what to say if they ever went “shopping for a new coat”. Soon, the language course came to an end.
注意：1. 续写词数应为150左右；
2.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
On the last day of class, they held a wonderful party that was filled with good food and laughter.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________I lifted from the box a beautiful, new, full-length coat.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________7 . People may typically think of memory as the recollection of the past. Memory enables people to learn from past experiences and apply that knowledge in present cases. It is an important part of our identity. So is culture, the way of life specific to a group of people.
Cultural memory is the constructed understanding of the past that is passed from one generation to the next through text, oral traditions, monuments and other symbols. Cultural memory is often amassed in objects, such as museums or historical monuments. To understand culture, humans access a mass of cultural symbols, such as books. Artifacts (历史文物) of the past provide insights into where we came from. Libraries and the Internet keep a seemingly boundless amount of data on what it means to be part of a culture. Cultural memory is the longest-lasting form of memory.
Like all forms of memory, cultural memory has important functions. For example, it makes the experiences a nation owns clear. It provides us with an understanding of the past and the values of the group to which we belong. Besides, it creates a form of shared identity and a means for communicating this identity to new members. The most powerful forms of cultural memory may involve memories of past disastrous experiences undergone by groups of victims. For example, in Russia, their role in World War II —in which tens of millions of Russians were killed — is still an important part of modern Russian identity. Because all groups have cultural memory, it can bring about a spirit of resistance or survival among threatened groups.
The main function of cultural memory is not to recall the past, whether it is good or bad. Rather, it is to use knowledge of past experiences to avoid making the same mistakes again and again. Aleida Assmann, a professor who has worked on memory theory since the 1960s, calls this “remembering forward”. Cultural memory enables people to adapt to their culture; it enables cultures to adapt to new circumstances by keeping traces (痕迹) of what worked in the past.
1. What is the function of the first paragraph?| A．Reporting a discovery of cultural memory. |
| B．Leading to the concept of cultural memory. |
| C．Introducing the importance of memory in identity. |
| D．Making a connection between memory and culture. |
| A．Stored. | B．Ignored. | C．Damaged. | D．Created. |
| A．the features of cultural memory | B．the formation of cultural memory |
| C．the role of big events in Russian identity | D．the impact of cultural memory on identity |
| A．Pass previous wisdom down. | B．Keep traces of history. |
| C．Get people to know about the past. | D．Remind people of their identity. |
8 . Childhood can bring a lot of awe (敬畏). Research also suggests that awe is important in promoting well-being beyond our individual lives — it can encourage our children to care for others.
A recent study by researchers Eftychia Stamkou, Keltner, and their colleagues invited children aged 8-13 to take part in an experiment. In the awe group, children were offered a short part of a movie that features a child transformed into a seal (海豹) and exploring the sea while in the joy group, children were offered a short part of another movie where friends were celebrating.
Researchers measured children’s kindness toward poor families by inviting children to support their food drive by spending as much time as they wanted in counting donated things, to make sure the poor got access to the donated food as quickly as possible. They also invited children to donate the reward they earned from taking part in the research (e.g., a snack or a museum ticket) to a poor family.
The results? Children who watched the awe-inspiring video spent more time counting food donations and donated their rewards to poor families more often compared to the children who watched the joy-inspiring video. These findings highlight that awe-inspiring art can motivate children to be sympathetic toward people who have been forcibly displaced (离开家园) from their countries of origin.
As parents, we can also seek out everyday experiences of awe in our communities to share with our children, like wall paintings of the city scenery and folk art. Awe can be inspired by music, like the harmonious sounds of a wooden guitar and the beat of a drum. Awesome architecture, like symphony halls, museums, and even features like staircases, can be a way to experience awe with our children.
1. What does the research find?| A．Awe should be inspired early. | B．Awe helps kids be more generous. |
| C．Individual lives affect kids’ health. | D．Training awe gives kids excitement. |
| A．They watched different movies. | B．They commented on the videos. |
| C．They were asked some questions. | D．They donated money to poor families. |
| A．They learned this from a video. | B．They were motivated by the movie. |
| C．They liked to contribute to charity. | D．They were reminded by the homeless. |
| A．Give reasons for feeling awe. | B．List experiences of awe. |
| C．Show benefits of awe to kids. | D．Appeal for developing awe in kids. |
9 . ACL 500 Word Story Competition
We are pleased to announce the launch of the ACL 500 Word Story Competition. This time the theme is “Awakening”. We’re looking for our community to pen a story that quickly catches our attention and tells a great tale. You can submit (提交) an entry as an individual achievement or as a team effort — we want to read both kinds! Our judges will include a range of our experienced instructors, staff and local Essex Author Sarah Armstrong.
Sarah Armstrong is the author of three novels, most recently The Wolves of Leninsky Prospekt and The Starlings of Bucharest, the first and second in the Moscow Wolves series. She is also the author of A Summer of Spying, a book mainly about her own experience. Sarah teaches undergraduate and postgraduate creative writing with The Open University, and lives in Essex with her husband and four children.
Rules:◆ Your story can be a poem, an essay or any other kinds of writing.
◆ Entries will need to be in a Word format. PDF files are unacceptable.
◆ Please ensure your story is suitable for all to read.
◆ Use the given submission form to submit your details and story. The deadline for submissions is 12th April.
Benefits:
◆ Prizes include a book voucher (代金券), a short creative writing course, and your work published.
◆ Discover new and exciting skills at writing while exploring your creative writing and sharing inspirational moments with others. We have a fantastic range of Creative Writing courses for you to choose from.
1. What do we know about the competition?
| A．It’s organized in honor of Sarah Armstrong. |
| B．It looks for both individual and group works. |
| C．It aims to awaken an interest in writing. |
| D．It’s targeted at undergraduates and postgraduates. |
| A．They should be submitted as a Word file. | B．They must be poems or essays. |
| C．They must be based on personal experience. | D．They should be about life in Essex. |
| A．A voucher for a course. | B．An expert training class by Sarah. |
| C．A vast range of courses. | D．An improvement to writing skills. |
10 . I was standing in front of a stranger’s house, rescue box in hand, my head full of instructions to follow. It would be my first test as a volunteer wildlife rescuer. A call had come through that afternoon from a man: an unknown bird was attacked by other birds. He saved the victim. Could someone please help to transfer it?
I was anxious even at the door: would I be able to transfer it neatly into my rescue box? I entered the house, lifted a shoebox and saw a bird standing on thin legs, shaking. Hesitating for quite a while, I decided to transfer the whole shoebox into my rescue box.
Back home, I could see no obvious sign of injury, but it refused to eat the bird food I provided. I phoned a specialist. She told me this species hunts insects on the wing, so keeping it longer than overnight would make it starve. I released it and it flew high immediately. “What would be different for this delicate creature this time around?” I wondered. Nothing. But at least it would win its life again.
That was in 2009. My first rescue was a second chance for the bird as well as for me. Five months earlier, I’d received a cancer diagnosis. After the treatment, I recovered but was told I couldn’t take on my former work, which would worsen my physical condition. I was at the point where I didn’t know how to schedule my days. Then I heard about a wildlife rescue group that was seeking volunteers and holding a course. I’d been attracted by animals ever since I was a young girl but had always thought that I’d missed that boat. Then I found the boat again.
I did the course and acquired qualifications. All I had to do was wait for a rescue call. And it came: it was in a box waiting, just for me.
1. What can we learn about the author in her first wildlife rescue?| A．She forgot rescue instructions. | B．She experienced high pressure. |
| C．She lacked proper tools for rescue. | D．She was skilled in doing the rescue. |
| A．It would die from the injuries. | B．It would find the food it desired. |
| C．It would seek someone for adoption. | D．It would be too weak and get starved. |
| A．To try a new hobby. | B．To relieve her work stress. |
| C．To find life’s meaning again. | D．To cure her disease completely. |
| A．The Skills of Rescue | B．Wildlife Protection |
| C．Our Second Chance | D．Thoughts after Cancer |
