1 . Reading is not just an important professional skill.     1     Like any skill worth mastering, a reading habit requires time and dedication to develop. It is, however, a lifelong source of enjoyment and entertainment and an affordable hobby for anyone who wants to pick up a book.

Improve your reading skills.

In order to build your reading habit and enjoy your reading to the fullest, begin practicing good reading skills. For example: read for content, look up unfamiliar words, learn to appreciate context and become familiar with literary devices. Reading for learning and enjoyment is never a quick run.     2    

Find ways to connect reading to your everyday life.

    3     You can join book clubs. These usually meet weekly or bi-monthly and are a good way of motivating you to read and also meeting people who are also committed to good reading habits. Book clubs also give you chances to talk about what you read and the benefit of talking to multiple intelligent and interested readers.

    4    

A basketball player can’t practice if she doesn’t have her ball and sneakers ready. Reading is the same as any other skill. Try to get subscriptions. Trade or special interest magazines are a good way of keeping current reading material nearby.     5     Barnes and Noble, as well as Amazon, have e-Readers and a substantial selection of digital books for sale or loan. Libraries often offer free e-book loans, too.

A．Set daily or weekly goals.

B．Keep reading materials handy.

C．Also, you can consider to be an e-Reader.

D．Instead, take your time, nurture your skills at your own pace.

E．Set aside regular time to enjoy your spot and always bring along your current reading.

F．It is easier to grow your reading skills if you make reading a part of your daily schedule.

G．It is also a way to enjoy informative and inspiring works that enrich our life experiences.

2 . 阅读下面材料，根据其内容和所给段落开头语续写两段，使之构成一篇完整的短文。

A picture book stood quietly on the shelf of a children’s bookstore, waiting for young readers to read it.

One day, a little girl came. She sat down on the ground and read the picture book with interest. Then she put it back on the shelf, took out her pocket and said to the book, “I love you so much, but I can’t afford you. My father is working out of the town, and my mother is ill now. You see, my pocket is empty. I have no money.”

The next day, the little girl came again. She read the picture book again, and wrote a note, reading: “I want to read you once more, but I can’t come tomorrow because I will go to the hospital to take care of my mother. Can you fly over to my house like a bird? The note has my home address on it.” She put the note into the book, and left the bookstore.

How the picture book wanted to fly into the arms of the little girl! Books needed readers who liked them most, just like the little girl needed her mother. But it was not a bird. It could not fly, and its hardcover could not flap like wings. The picture book could do nothing but huddle (蜷缩) in the middle of the books, waiting for the girl to come again.

One day, there was a big boy who loved reading. He put all the books he liked into his shopping basket, including the picture book. His mother paid the bill for all the books without saying anything.

The big boy had his own bookshelf in his room, with all kinds of books ranked neatly on it. He began to read one book after another that he had bought. When he got to the picture book, he found the note. He was so surprised that he gave it to his mother. His mother read it and was deeply touched, knowing that there was a little girl who loved the picture book but could not afford it. They resolved to deliver the picture book to the address that the little girl had written on the note.

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:
The next day, the deliveryman returned the picture book, saying the girl could not be reached.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Paragraph 2:
Until one day, the big boy heard a woman and a girl talking in the house.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

3 . Reading Art: Art for Book Lovers is a celebration of an everyday object — the book, represented here in almost three hundred artworks from museums around the world. The image of the reader appears throughout history, in art made long before books as we now know them came into being. In artists’ representations of books and reading, we see moments of shared humanity that go beyond culture and time.

In this “book of books,” artworks are selected and arranged in a way that emphasizes these connections between different eras and cultures. We see scenes of children learning to read at home or at school, with the book as a focus for relations between the generations. Adults are portrayed (描绘) alone in many settings and poses —absorbed in a volume, deep in thought or lost in a moment of leisure. These scenes may have been painted hundreds of years ago, but they record moments we can all relate to.

Books themselves may be used symbolically in paintings to demonstrate the intellect (才智), wealth or faith of the subject. Before the wide use of the printing press, books were treasured objects and could be works of art in their own right. More recently, as books have become inexpensive or even throwaway, artists have used them as the raw material for artworks — transforming covers, pages or even complete volumes into paintings and sculptures.

Continued developments in communication technologies were once believed to make the printed page outdated. From a 21st-century point of view, the printed book is certainly ancient, but it remains as interactive as any battery-powered e-reader. To serve its function, a book must be activated by a user: the cover opened, the pages parted, the contents reviewed, perhaps notes written down or words underlined. And in contrast to our increasingly networked lives where the information we consume is monitored and tracked, a printed book still offers the chance of a wholly private, “off-line” activity.

1. Where is the text most probably taken from?

A．An introduction to a book.	B．An essay on the art of writing.
C．A guidebook to a museum.	D．A review of modern paintings.

2. What are the selected artworks about?

A．Wealth and intellect.	B．Home and school.
C．Books and reading.	D．Work and leisure.

3. What do the underlined words “relate to” in paragraph 2 mean?

A．Understand.	B．Paint.
C．Seize.	D．Transform.

4. What does the author want to say by mentioning the e-reader?

A．The printed book is not totally out of date.

B．Technology has changed the way we read.

C．Our lives in the 21st century are networked.

D．People now rarely have the patience to read.

4 . I grew up on a university campus in eastern Nigeria.I was a(n) _________reader, and what I read were British and American children’s books.I began to write when I was seven.I wrote exactly the kinds of stories I was reading: All my _________ were white and blue-eyed. They played in the snow. They ate apples, and they talked a lot about the _________，how lovely it was that the sun had _________.

What this demonstrates is how _________we can be influenced by what we read, particularly as children. Because all I had read were foreign books, I had become _________ that books had to have _________ in them and had to be about things with which I could not personally identify.

Things _________ when I discovered African books. There weren’t many of them available, and they weren’t quite as easy to _________ as the foreign books.

But __________ writers like Chinua Achebe and Camara Laye I went through a mental __________in my view of literature.I __________ that people like me, girls with skin the color of chocolate,could also __________ in literature. I started to write about things I recognized. What the __________ of African writers did for me was this: It saved me from having a __________ story of what books are.

1.

A．early

B．aimless

C．careful

D．poor

2.

A．instructors

B．neighbors

C．friends

D．characters

3.

A．snow

B．fruits

C．cuisine

D．weather

4.

A．disappeared

B．set

C．come out

D．gone down

5.

A．briefly

B．regularly

C．scarcely

D．easily

6.

A．convinced

B．puzzled

C．concerned

D．satisfied

7.

A．heroes

B．foreigners

C．Africans

D．children

8.

A．remained

B．changed

C．worsened

D．worked

9.

A．read

B．understand

C．find

D．keep

10.

A．in spite of

B．on behalf of

C．because of

D．instead of

11.

A．confusion

B．shift

C．block

D．activity

12.

A．realized

B．suspected

C．claimed

D．forgot

13.

A．take

B．exist

C．believe

D．major

14.

A．discovery

B．popularity

C．imagination

D．analysis

15.

A．classic

B．remarkable

C．whole

D．single

7 .

Penguin’s Who Was? series tells the incredible stories of trailblazers (开拓者), legends, innovators, and creators. The following are frequently asked questions:

How many Who Was? titles are there?

About 250 Who Was? titles have been published since the series first began 20 years ago. And with the addition of the What Was? and Where Is? series, readers now have more than 300 amazing books about influential people, world-famous landmarks, and interesting historical events.

How do you choose the subjects for the Who Was? titles?

The subjects for the Who Was? series are often decided quite far in advance. People who are the first at something, or the best at what they do, or who have made major contributions in their field—and sometimes all three—make the best subjects.

What was the first Who Was? book?

The first four Who Was? books—Who Was Sacagawea?, Who Was Ben Franklin?, Who Was Albert Einstein?, and Who Was Annie Oakley2—were actually published on the same day. So when February 18 rolls around, be sure to wish these books a Happy Birthday!

Does the same person illustrate every cover?

Just about every Who Was? cover (except two)is illustrated by Nancy Harrison, who has been working on the series since the very first book.

How long does it take to complete one book?

It can take years! And sometimes the books are finished much more quickly. From the time an author is contracted to write the manuscript, through editing, copy editing, design and illustration, to publication, it takes—on average—eighteen to twenty-four months.

1. How many Who Was? books are published every year on average?

A．About 10.

B．About 12.

C．About 15.

D．About 17.

2. What is Nancy Harrison good at doing?

A．Writing books.

B．Selling books.

C．Producing ideas.

D．Drawing pictures.

3. What do we learn about Penguin’s Who Was? series?

A．It is intended for adult readers.	B．It is better received than other series.
C．It focuses on people with achievements.	D．Its subjects are usually decided by readers.

8 .

HITTING THE BOOKS IN CHINA AND THE WORLD
Reading is a good way to nourish(滋养) people mentally. Recently, Shanghai Library released a report about it. Let’s check out some findings.	Reading time per week in different countries India:        10 hours and 42 minutes Thailand:        9 hours and 24 minutes China:        8 hours Philippines:        7 hours and 36 minutes France:        6 hours and 54 minutes
	Digital reading has become a trend in China ·In 2022, digital readers nationwide reached 506 million, an increase of 2.43 percent compared to 2021. ·An average of 11.58 e-books and 7.08 audiobooks were read per person in China in 2022. ·By 2022, the market for digital reading in China made 41.57 billion yuan, an increase of 18.23 percent compared to 2021.
As technology develops, people primarily read through three methods:	Digital readers in China ·Most of the digital readers are from East China and South China. ·Most of these readers are aged between 26 and 45. ·Males account for 54.3 percent and females 45.7 percent.
A total of 477 million Chinese people were willing to pay for digital reading in 2022.

1. How long do Indians spend reading in a day?

A．Less than 70 minutes.	B．About 80 minutes.
C．About 100 minutes.	D．More than 90 minutes.

2. How many Chinese people were willing to spend money on digital reading in 2022?

A．477 million.

B．415.7 million.

C．494 million.

D．506 million.

3. Who is most likely to be a digital reader in China?

A．A male clerk aged 35.	B．A high school student.
C．A female retired engineer.	D．A female professor aged 50.

10 . Bookstores, like wines, have different notes, different flavors, each one distinct. There are the musty, quirky ones with random piles and dusty rows, usually with both used and new books. There are the small indie stores charming and cozy. Then there’s the big-box with long, straight rows, bright and dustless, usually boasting a cafe and a kids section you can get lost in.

My adoration for bookstores is, without a doubt, partly nostalgic(怀旧的). I came of age in the late 1990s, when Amazon was mostly known as a river in South America, phones were not smart and bookstores were dotted around cities.

When my husband and I were dating, our go-to date was to get coffee and walk around bookstores together. It was the best. Wed move slowly, meandering through the religion section, the memoirs, fiction, poetry, history. I’d pick up a title I’d heard about and sit in the aisle reading a chapter. I’d find one I’d never heard of and scan the back cover. We’d sip our coffee and read each other interesting paragraphs from books we found.

I fell for bookstores and for my husband at the same time. So when stores began closing down all over America, we were both sorrowful. What were we supposed to do with a night out now?

In a recent very informal and unscientific poll (调查) of my friends, I found that many of us love and miss physical bookstores. Friends described the feeling of discovery and exploration, the calming serenity of being surrounded by words and ideas. My wise friend Greg said,“Bookstores are like the best parties; You may discover a new friend or join an unexpected conversation with a simple turn of your head.”

I dream of an America with streets full of independent bookstores whose inventories (库存清单) contradict one another. But right now I’m rooting for any brick-and-mortar (实体的) book store, really. Any place that reminds us that the material world is beautiful and worth spending time in. Any place where we can learn how to exist together in communities chock-full of words and ideas. Any place where we may discover something unpredictable and new. And if there’s coffee nearby, even better.

1. What do the underlined words in Paragraph 2 suggest about the late 1990s?

A．Physical bookstores were popular.

B．The information age finally dawned.

C．Smart phones were common in cities.

D．The Amazon River remained unpolluted.

2. What do we know about the author?

A．She was picky about her books.

B．She favored books she hadn’t heard of.

C．She spent most of her time in bookstores.

D．She enjoyed drinking coffee while reading.

3. What do the author’s friends think of physical bookstores?

A．They are easily out-of-date.

B．They are a source of inspiration.

C．They are attractive to partygoers.

D．They are intended for conversations.

4. Why did the author write this article?

A．To share her affection for bookstores.

B．To introduce different types of bookstores.

C．To criticize the lack of public enthusiasm for reading.

D．To explore the reasons for the disappearance of bookstores.