1 . The Hardest Novel I’ve Ever Read
For the last three months, I have glared at its fat heavy form on my floor with a vague sense of personal failure. I have opened Ulysses twice, determined to finish it, and managed to get all the way to page 46. I have read so little both times that I have never bothered using a bookmark.
Why do I get stuck?
There are a few other “worthy” works of literature I have yet to read, including Infinite Jest and War and Peace.
The English writer Virginia Woolf thought Ulysses was nonsense as she complained in her diaries about the pressure to finish reading it. By contrast, Vladimir Nabokov, the author who wrote Lolita expressed deep love for it.
Some people love Ulysses, so where am I getting wrong? My ultimate hope is that the struggle will be worth the effort and I can proceed victorious onto page 800 or so, on my third fourth, eighteenth try. Something tells me I will get there in the end.
| A．I’m not entirely sure myself |
| B．A lot of them are weighty tomes (巨著), but I like big books |
| C．It seems that reading Ulysses is a big different experience for everyone. |
| D．Even when staring at pages without absorbing a word, I thought nice thoughts about it |
| E．They, however, only cause me a slight sense of shame that I have not read or enjoyed them |
| F．I have been amused and charmed by the first two or three chapters, and then puzzled and bored. |
Cheerleader Try-outs
I’ve always wanted to be a cheerleader. Yesterday, I tried out for the team. It was hard. First, we had to dance. The teacher showed us how to move, and then we tried. Second, we practised singing a song about the school basketball team. Finally, some girls had to lift their partners. The other girls jumped and cheered. I think I did well, but the other girls were better. I’m not sure if I’ll make the team or not.
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At eleven years old during my summer holiday, my main concern was money. I wanted to buy the new must-have thing my classmates had. I already had a “job” as a sales representative with a kids-based sales company, and I sold wrapping paper and greeting cards with the best of them. On my bedroom floor, I arranged the bills and change from my purse to see what I had. I wished it would multiply before my eyes, but of course it didn't. I went to my mom. "Mom, I need more money,” I said, leaning against the kitchen counter while she cooked dinner.” What else can kids do for a job around here?” Mom responded with a smile, “Okay, let me ask around.”
The next day, she had an answer “Your grandmother will pay you to help her deliver lunch each day to the elderly.” Yes! I pumped my fist into the air. I couldn't wait to start my new job on Monday after school dismissed for the summer.
When my grandmother picked me up, I thanked her for the job and started asking the job. “It's simple. We pick up a large container full of hot meals in a nearby town and then we go on our delivery route,” she answered.
We arrived at the pick-up kitchen and got dozens of little shiny silver boxes with white lids that were hot. After our load was arranged in the backseat, my grandmother drove us to our first stop: a small white house. I took a meal and a small box of milk from the back and walked beside my grandmother to the front gate. She opened it and nodded to me to go in. I walked along the cracked walkway. Tall grass tickled (使发痒) my ankles.
Did someone really live here? I couldn't imagine that. The house didn't look nice, but I kept going. In front of the door leading to the enclosed front doorway, I paused, and my grandmother called out, “Mrs. Hershel, we've brought you some lunch.”
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。
The reply in a low voice came from my left, “Come on in.”
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On the road home, my grandmother said,” For some of them, we're the only person they see and a kind word and a smile go a long way.”
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My name is Franklin G. Takata, but everyone around here calls me “Find-It Frankie.”
Let me tell you something: you don’t get a nickname like that overnight. I’ve been finding things since before I can remember. Mom said it all began when I started teething as a baby.
And when I turned five, I got a partner, my dog Munchy. For my fifth birthday, my parents let me pick him out at the animal shelter. When we opened his cage, the first thing he did was dig into my pocket and find the candy I had been saving for later. I guess you could say I saw a bit of my younger self in him.
Anyway, Munchy and I were playing in the yard one Thursday afternoon when Mom approached us with the case in question. Her diamond ring was missing, and she wanted us to find it. If I had known how tricky the case would be, I might have hesitated. But I said then, “There’s nothing we can’t find, guaranteed!”
I asked Mom the first question I always ask when something goes missing: “Where do you last remember seeing it?”
“ I was m the kitchen baking cookies," Mom answered. “I took off my ring and placed on the small shelf above the counter. But then your aunt called, and when I came back from talking to her, the ring was gone!”
"Hmm. Well, it couldn’t have disappeared all by itself I said. "Munchy, let’s go take a closer look.” Munchy led the way to the kitchen. There was no sign of the ring on the shelf or the counter, but tiny paw prints in the spilled flour told me who might have seen it last.
“The cat! I exclaimed. “See those prints? Mr. Jingles must have been playing with the ring and knocked it onto the floor!” On my hands and knees, I searched all over the floor for the ring. No luck.
“Munchy，you’re up! Go find Mr. Jingles.” Munchy’s ears popped up. He never passed up an opportunity to annoy the cat.
注意：
1. 所续写短文的词数应为150左右；
2. 至少使用5个短文中标有下划线的关键词语
3. 续写部分分为两段，每段的开头语已为你写好；
4. 续写完成后，请用下划线标出你所使用的关键词语。
Munchy immediately located the cat asleep on the sofa.
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Unhappily, I took a bite of the cookie but stopped when I felt something hard.
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Lorena parted the curtain in her living room and looked out onto the wet street. She was relieved the sunlight appeared. If it didn't stop raining it would ruin her day. Her mother had promised to drive her to Fashion Fair if it were sunny. Lorena was eager to go there because she had to replace a Nike jacket.
Earlier that Wednesday afternoon, Eddie, the most popular seventh-grader, had given Lorena his jacket and asked her to keep an eye as he would play basketball in a hurry. Lorena was quite happy to be of help.
During her last class, the biology teacher made them cut apart dead frogs. For fear of getting blood on Eddie's jacket, Lorena folded it and placed it on a chair. Then she took the knife and cut the skin quickly. She felt sick opening the frog's belly.
When the bell rang Lorena hurried out because the bus she caught for home left ten minutes after school. She raced to board the bus and found a seat. After a few minutes the driver started the engine and drove away when Lorena looked out of the window and saw Eddie. "The jacket!" she screamed. She shot from her seat and ran up to the driver. "You've got to stop! I forgot Eddie's jacket!" "Who's Eddie? " the driver said angrily. "Sit down."
All that evening she was upset and blamed her biology teacher for her problem. If he hadn't made them dissect(解剖) frogs, ,she wouldn't have been so absent-minded. The next day Lorena rushed from the bus to the biology room. The jacket was not there!
"How can I ever tell Eddie?" she closed her eyes. She spent most of her break and lunch period in the rest room, brushing her hair and worrying. On Friday she stayed home to avoid Eddie. She told her mother she wanted to go shopping to buy her a gift for her birthday, which was the next week. Actually, she wanted to buy a Nike jacket with her life savings at Fashion Fair.
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Mom drove Lorena to Fashion Fair and left, asking her not to waste money.
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Paragraph 2 :
Lorena was about to leave when she saw Eddie in his Nike jacket.
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My mom impressed a motto upon me when I was growing up: never hold a grudge (怨恨). Unlike most teenagers who go through a period of rebellion (叛逆), I was obedient (顺从) and determined to never hold onto anger or a grudge.
Mom and I never had a screaming match, and even though she had been an overprotective mother, I had plenty of reasons to be upset with her.
One Friday, I brought home a senior ring booklet within my English homework. My heart was set on a small ring with a royal blue stone. It was very popular among my class. “Mom, I know money is tight, but I really want it.”
My mother looked at the ring of my dreams circled with a red marker. It cost 35 dollars. She cut me off. “There is no extra money for a class ring.”
I offered to earn the money by ironing or doing odd jobs for neighbors.
“Don’t you dare to approach neighbors! You’ll put the ring aside, anyway. You don’t need a class ring.”
“But, Mom, I want one. I’ll be the only student in my senior class without one. Please?”
My begging fell on deaf ears. She turned away and went to her bedroom; her mind was made up. Mine was filled with anger, but I tried my best to control it because of the motto: never hold a grudge. I lay on my bed, trying to read a book, but I couldn’t see the words through my tears.
The weekend before the money was due, I attempted one more time to persuade her. I waved my hand and pretended I was showing off my pretty senior ring.
“There is no extra money! I said ‘no’!” she told me.
I felt very angry and almost had a big quarrel with her. Grudges crowded in on me unconsciously.
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One night, my dad arrived home late as usual and with him came the turning point.
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As my mom said, it was indeed a waste of money.
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At the end of the class, Mr. Smith announced our assignment for the next Monday was to talk about someone we were grateful to instead of a book report. Upon hearing it, I couldn't help complaining to Mareya that I was so nervous about having to talk in front of the whole class.
"You've been in at least three plays," Mareya pointed out. "If you don't get stage fright in front of those big audiences, why are you bothered by a few kids in our class?"
It was true, but in a play you were part of a group. I shook my head. Plus, there were so many people I was grateful to. There was no way I could possibly pick just one. Plus, even if I picked one, I'd have no idea what to say. Plus, even if I figured out what to say, I was a million-percent positive I'd mess up if I tried to say it out loud! I'd be standing there with everyone staring at me, waiting for words to come out of my mouth. "Oh, my goodness!" I pulled my sweatshirt hood (兜帽) over my face, put my hands over my ears and said, "I don't want to talk about it!"
But one thing about really good friends who knew you really well was that they didn't always do exactly what you asked them to. Mareya could be pretty pushy talking of being helpful. She scribbled (潦草地写) something on a piece of paper, lifted my hood, and smiled. She'd drawn a funny elephant with the word BREATHE coming out of its trunk.
"This is Franky, the 'everything's going to be all right' elephant." Mareya giggled. She held the picture up to her ear and asked, "What's that you say, Franky? You think my friend Arizona should come over to my house this weekend so we can work on our talks together?"
注意:
1. 所续写短文的词数应为 150 左右;
2. 应使用 5 个以上短文中标有下划线的关键词语;
3. 续写部分分为两段, 每段的开头语已为你写好;
4. 续写完成后，请用下划线标出你所使用的关键词语。
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And that was exactly what happened.
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Paragraph 2:
On Monday morning, however, I decided to talk about Mareya.
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8 . On the day the tornado hit, there was no indication severe weather was on its way—the sky was blue and the sun had been out. The first warning my husband, Jimmy and I got came around 9 p.m., from some scrolling text on the TV Jimmy was watching.
No sooner had we found coverage of the tornado than it was on top of us. I didn’t know how or if we would make it down the steps. It felt as if there were no floor underneath me as the wind lifted me off my feet. I gripped the banister(楼梯扶手) and tried to move forward, but this intense pressure held me in place. In those seconds of practical stillness, I could hear everything around me rattling.
We got close to the staircase landing only to hear the loud ripping（撕裂） sound of our garage door coming off. The back wall of the house followed suit and tore off into the darkness outside.
By the time I reached the closet, the tornado had been over us for about a minute. Jimmy pushed me down to the closet floor, but he couldn’t get inside himself because of the wind. I held Jimmy’s arm tightly as the tornado sucked the door open—we never did get it fully shut—and tried to bring Jimmy with it. My knees and head were full of glass, but in that moment, I felt no pain. If I had let go, Jimmy would have flown right out the back of the house and into the bay.
“Hold on! Hold on!” he yelled. But there was nothing in this closet to hold on to. All of a sudden, Jimmy lifted off his feet like people in tornadoes do in the movies. I thought he was gone. And then everything stopped. He landed on his feet. In those first quiet moments, I couldn’t believe it was over. Jimmy said he’d go outside to check. “No,” I said. “Don’t leave me. Don’t leave me.”
1. What does the underlined word coverage mean?| A．damage | B．reports |
| C．arrival | D．delay |
| A．Because she was too eager to help her husband to feel it. |
| B．Because she was frozen in amazement. |
| C．Because she was held entirely by the power of tornado. |
| D．Because she was frightened by the damage caused by the disaster. |
| A．scared, surprised but calm | B．surprised, terrified but determined |
| C．astonished, confused and moved | D．amazed, determined and grateful |
One summer afternoon, when I was about eight years of age, I was looking at a beautiful rainbow that, bending from the sky, seemed to be losing itself in a thick wood about a quarter of a mile distant.
“Do you know, Gracie,” said my brother, who was just recovering from a severe illness, weak and tired, “that if you should go to the end of the rainbow, you would find there precious treasures?”
“Is it truly so?” I asked.
“Truly so,” answered my brother, with a smile but a very serious face.
Now, I was a simple-hearted child who believed everything that was told to me; so, without another word, I rushed out toward the wood. My brother called after me as loudly as he was able to, but I did not take any notice of him.
I cared nothing for the wet grass, on and on I ran. I was so sure that I knew just where that rainbow ended. But when I reached the cedars (雪松林), the end of the rainbow was not there!
Abruptly I saw it shining down among the trees a little farther off; so on and on I struggled, through the thick bushes, till I came within the sound of a stream. I reached the bank of the stream, and I could see it a little way off on the other side. I crossed the stream on a fallen tree, and still ran on, though my muscles were aching and my knees shaking.
Suddenly I met in my way a large porcupine (豪猪). I ran away from him as fast as my tired feet would carry me. In my flight and hurry I forgot to keep my eye on the rainbow, and when, at last, I remembered and looked for it, it was nowhere in sight!
When I saw that it was indeed gone, I burst into tears, for I had lost all my treasures, and had nothing but muddy feet and a wet and torn dress. So I set out for home.
注意：
1. 所续写短文的词数应为 150 左右；
2. 续写部分分为两段，每段的开头语已为你写好。
Paragraph 1:
But I soon found that my troubles had only begun.
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Paragraph 2:
At last I heard my own name called.
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某英文网站正在开展以“适应变化”为主题的征文活动，假如你是李华. 请用英语写一篇短文投稿，谈谈你生活中的一个变化，你是如何应对这个变 化的，以及有什么收获。短文词数80左右。
There are many changes in a person's life.
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