1 . In a normal year, Dayna Reber, a business analyst for a technology consulting firm in Camp Hill, Penn., would finish reading around three books. Thanks to the way Covid-19 has completely changed her daily routine, however, Ms. Reber, 30—who now works from home and rarely socializes offline—has polished off 46 volumes so far in 2020. And that count doesn’t include the bedtime stories she reads to her 4-year-old.
For Ms. Reber and others, lockdown has brought back a passion for reading, both as beneficial time-filler when stuck at home and as a trusty escape. “When the coronavirus hit, I just felt a need to get away from TV and screens.”
If binge (放纵地) reading hasn’t fully replaced binge-watching Netflix shows quite yet, the trend is certainly making strides. In August 2020, year-over-year sales of print books in the U.S. were up 13%, according to NPD BookScan, which tracks book sales across the U.S. Publishers also report a notable increase in purchases of e-books, as well as all books about politics or related to civil rights, racism and diversity.
Independent booksellers, as well as publishers and authors, deserve considerable credit for fueling the page-turning trend. In March, Octavia Books introduced free shipping or delivery within New Orleans on orders of $25 or more. The bookstore also hosts author events via Zoom. And in Illinois, Page 1 Books established a subscription service, where customers fill out an online profile, noting their literary tastes, and then receive a package each month, a mix of hardcovers and paperbacks.
Jamie Miller, 34, a book blogger and “book-stagrammer” who lives in Harleysville, Penn, has long been a committed reader, but she says the hobby has meant far more importance this year. She now schedules a block of time every morning to read, typically a love or vivid novel. “Everything became so chaotic around me that it was just like what can I control?” said Ms. Miller. “My brain just wants something guaranteed to be a happy ending.”
1. What was a cause of Reber’s achievement in book reading?| A．Work requirement. | B．Pandemic lockdown. |
| C．Parenting experience. | D．Online recommendation. |
| A．On the way. | B．Keeping pace. |
| C．In great progress. | D．Drawing attention. |
| A．Opening new branches. | B．Offering sales promotions. |
| C．Mailing books for free. | D．Providing lending service. |
| A．Reasons behind a book reading hit. | B．Influence of lockdown on people. |
| C．Trend of video watching on Netflix. | D．Secret to offline bookstore success. |
2 . Long before I could read on my own, my mother often read to me from the book Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey. My mother’s voice changed my world. And many years after that, the read aloud made me a reader.
All these years later, I was in a classroom reading aloud a picture book to a small boy who was troubled by poverty and loneliness. In that moment, in the joy of the read aloud, this boy had an idea that started something big. He said. “Mrs Allyn, let’s make sure everyone knows how good this feels. Let’s have a holiday for the read aloud.”
That led to my creation of World Read Aloud Day six years ago to honor this young boy’s wish for everyone to be able to have a read aloud every day. Since then, World Read Aloud Day has become a worldwide event reaching over one million people in more than 65 countries around the world, a number that is growing every day.
In the 21st century, the message that every child should have the right to read is urgent. There are 57 million children who are not in school and hundreds of millions more who are in school but are not learning. By age four, children from low-income families read far less than those in high-income families.
And yet, the good news is this: A six-year study of children’s reading habits found that reading aloud to kids every day will put them a year ahead of kids who are not read aloud to daily, no matter what kind of family kids are from.
The message is powerfully clear: Reading al oud to children can close the word gap. Children who grow up as readers become better citizens, and every child should have that right to read. So let’s just pay attention to the right to read until all children can do it. And yes, in this way, we can, we will, change the world together.
1. World Read Aloud Day was set up in order to ________.| A．show the use of read aloud | B．sell more story books |
| C．show respect for a boy’s great wish | D．celebrate a worldwide event |
| A．Poor children don’t read enough. | B．Children have no chance to read. |
| C．Children cannot read messages. | D．Poor children don’t like learning. |
| A．Study children’s reading habits early. | B．Read aloud to kids until they can read. |
| C．Show children how to be better citizens. | D．Give kids the task to change the world. |
| A．By listing numbers. | B．By giving examples. |
| C．By presenting research results. | D．By giving reasons. |
3 . Independence is something that can be difficult to achieve. But don’t worry because here we have four books that can help you. If you don’t buy less than three of them, you’ll be given a 20% discount!
The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey
Taking care of your finance is hard. Dave Ramsey, a famous businessman, is here to take you on the whole process of planning your finance, and show the myths of cash advance and debt consolidation (债务重整), to make sure your finance is healthy.
Price: $14.00
Grace’s Guide by Grace Helbig
Grace Helbig shared her tips on becoming a grown-up. The book is full of personal stories of Helbig, her struggles and the lessons she learnt from failing many times. This book is your on-the-go fun read with pictures and drawings of Helbig, and worksheets (工作记录表) to practice.
Price: $7.00
The Oh She Glows Cookbook by Angela Liddon
Having suffered from eating disorder and living on diet, Angela Liddon promised to eat healthily forever. She threw out her fat-free butter spray (黄油喷雾) and low-calorie frozen dinners after learning how to properly cook. This book contains more than 100 recipes (食谱) covering breakfast, salads, soups, power snacks and the main dishes for a healthy meal at any time of the day. We all know that healthy eating is all part of being independent.
Price: $22.00
Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed
Life can be hard, especially when it comes to relationships with others. In the book, Strayed gives advice on love and life. She writes about different subjects: a son rejected by his parents, a mother who has lost her child. And the message hidden throughout all her advice is always that, if you want a good life, you have to create it.
Price: $8.00
1. How much will you save at least if you buy three of the listed books?| A．$5.80 | B．$5.20 | C．$8.50 | D．$8.80 |
| A．It is about how to grow up healthily. |
| B．It is mainly about how to work better. |
| C．It is based on its author’s life experiences. |
| D．It teaches readers to learn from others’ life stories. |
| A．Grace’s Guide. | B．Tiny Beautiful Things. |
| C．The Total Money Makeover. | D．The Oh She Glows Cookbook. |
4 . Family: Poems — by Mr. Keith Keenan
Kindle $0.00; Hardcover $12.50; Paperback $7.00.
The poet describes personal thoughts and feelings in a lyrical journey to understand and celebrate his family. “Family” looks at living honestly in places, not illusions. Figurative (形象的) language, a love of metaphor and sharp images all make the poems work.
Time to Heal — by Aleandra Vasiliu
Kindle $9.99; Hardcover $21.94; Paperback $12.64.
From the bestselling author comes an inspirational poetry book about love, healing, and growth. It is a reminder to strive to change for the better. Featuring more than 130 uplifting poems and black-and-white illustrations, it’s a great companion when you need to embrace self-love and personal transformation.
Seeds from a Birch Tree — by Clark Strand
Kindle $9.99; Hardcover $26.80; Paperback $16.95.
Seeds from a Birch Tree makes nature into a spiritual path. Its message was simple: Haiku teaches us to return to nature by following the seasons — seventeen syllables at a time. With its mix of poetry and memoir (回忆录), the book guides us to the joy hidden in plain sight, leading us to get into a good state of body and mind.
A Poem for Every Day — by Allie Esiri
Kindle $9.99; Hardcover $28.05; Audio CD $18.05.
This audio book is a collection of 366 poems which link to events on key dates—funny for April Fools’ Day, festive for Christmas. This is the perfect gift for poetry lovers of all ages. These poems are informative, peaceful, and energetic!
There are a large number of poetry collections on Amazon. More information, please click here.
1. How much will you pay if you are to buy a hardcover edition of a book on haiku?| A．$12.50. | B．$21.94. | C．$26.80. | D．$28.05. |
| A．Family: Poems features plain language. |
| B．Time to Heal features colorful illustrations. |
| C．Seeds from a Birch Tree focuses on human nature. |
| D．A Poem for Every Day focuses on festive celebrations. |
| A．A marketing website. | B．A literature magazine. |
| C．A book review. | D．A news report. |
5 . One Saturday last November, I stepped into my local library. I was about to read a book when I heard an elderly man speak to a lady. “This library will soon become a cafe. Everyone is reading with electronic devices,” he said. Hearing this, I wanted to shout, “I still read library books!” But my words stuck in my throat and I found teenagers around me were talking to friends or staring at their phones.
Reading online feels robotic to me. It’s like I stare at a screen and click “next” for the following page to appear until the very end of the e-book, and at the end of all of that, I just think, “That’s it?” But when I read a printed book, it’s like I’m holding on to the characters. I can imagine the plot better, as I can picture the scenes of each moment in my head with more accuracy and imagination.
Besides, some online books miss components that are in the printed novels. For instance, the physical copy of a fantasy novel I have read contains a map, but the e-book version does not. That is an injustice to e-book users; after reading and understanding the map, the story made a lot more sense for me, in terms of the setting and plot.
And personally, physically turning to the next page is better than clicking “next”. When reading online, I sometimes worry that I click “next” too quickly. It feels more like a race; I want to finish it because the pages just keep making that “flipping” sound and I wonder how long the book really is.
Some printed books have a special smell that makes the novel feel special to me. It’s hard to describe but I’m sure I’m not the only one that thinks so. I know I cannot convince every teen to switch from the digital book to the printed one, but maybe my writing about the difference will at least get some of them to think about it.
1. Why will the library be replaced by a cafe?| A．Few people head for it. | B．It lacks good management. |
| C．Few people read its books. | D．It holds little attraction for the youth. |
| A．They include additional contents. | B．They provide a strong connection to the characters. |
| C．They have a special pleasant smell. | D．They can improve readers’ imagination. |
| A．To inspire teenagers’ interest in reading. | B．To show advantages of printed books. |
| C．To reduce the impact of electronic devices. | D．To encourage teens to change the reading medium. |
6 . It’s no secret that reading good news feels a lot better than reading bad news. Like, would you rather bite into a lemon, or sip on a fresh glass of lemonade?
In fact, good news, known as solutions journalism, is becoming more popular, as publishers and news stations discover the benefits of sharing positive stories. Good Good Good is one of them.
“If it bleeds, it leads.” has long been a saying used in the media to describe how news stories about violence, death and destruction draw readers’ attention.
| A．Share good news with people around you. |
| B．It’s just that we don’t hear as much about them. |
| C．But the “bad news” has its place in the world. |
| D．It provides a more balanced view of the world. |
| E．And so, negative news stories are everywhere on news media. |
| F．Heartwarming stories make you cry and feel good. |
| G．The news media company is devoted to providing good news intentionally. |
7 . Shortly after its opening on the first day of Chinese New Year, The Wandering Earth began to gain momentum (展现强劲势头). In a little over a week, it made 2.8 billion yuan in the domestic market alone. The film’s popularity and success has come as a surprise to many reviewers especially since there hasn’t been that much success for Chinese-produced science fiction in the past. Many agree that this film will change the embarrassing situation and bring in a new age for Chinese science fiction.
As a genre (类型), Chinese science fiction has lagged behind general fiction in both the film and publishing industries. Even Liu Cixin’s (the author who wrote the short story on which The Wandering Earth is based) The Three Body Problem —which is currently quite popular — didn’t have many readers until it was translated into English and won the Hugo Award (雨果奖) in 2015. Personally, I haven’t read much of any genre written in Chinese, but I do notice that there aren’t many separate sections of the bookstore dedicated to science fiction. I cannot speak for everyone, but some people seem to have misunderstandings regarding the genre.
My parents were the type who tried to steer me in the direction of non-fiction and the classics. They believed that science fiction and fantasy were “unrealistic nonsense” and would “rot my brain.” Actually, great science fiction writers do their research. More often than not, one can learn a great deal about science and its possible development from reading science fiction. Sure, some of the concepts may be confusing or technical in nature, but that is also part of the appeal. Things like the internet, electric cars and tablet computers were first theorized (建立理论) in science fiction before they were invented. The author simply uses a combination of science and their imagination to create worlds different from the Earth of today, from which we can get bits and pieces that can be turned into a reality.
The world is changing. There may very well be a time when Earth is no longer able to sustain the entire population. We could be living on Mars or in giant spaceships; perhaps we will be forced to move Earth to a new solar system just like The Wandering Earth. Each of these scenarios has appeared in science fiction multiple times. If we are to be prepared for what is to come, we can look into modern science fiction for a window into the future.
1. According to the article, which of the following statements about The Wandering Earth is NOT true?| A．Critics did not expect too much of the film before its release. |
| B．It is the first time that Chinese science fiction has succeed in the film industry. |
| C．The film was adapted from a short story in Liu Cixin’s The Three Body Problem. |
| D．In the future we might be faced with similar crises to the one described in the movie. |
| A．has little interest in science fiction |
| B．has never read Chinese science fiction |
| C．was not allowed to read science fiction by his parents |
| D．has not been prepared for the future development of science and technology. |
| A．the practical significance of science fiction |
| B．real technologies inspired by science fiction |
| C．people’s misunderstandings about science fiction |
| D．imaginary worlds created by science fiction writers |
| A．strategies | B．proposals | C．ideas | D．pictures |
8 . If you want to understand China but can’t afford an expensive international flight, these four books can give you a complete overview of the country.
River Town
River Town: Two Years on the Yangize by Peter Hessler—This book is a journal of the author’s two years spent teaching English in a small town called Fuling, situated on the banks of the Yangtze River. Hessler writes about his experiences living in a foreign culture and observing the lives of the town’s residents. The book was published in 2001 and has won several awards, including the Kiriyama Prize.
Deng Xiaoping and the Transformation of China
It is a book that tells the story of China’s modernization. It was written by Ezra Vogel and published in 2011. The author describes how Deng Xiaoping’s policies led to significant changes in China’s economy and society. The book has received critical honors and won the Lionel Gelber Prize in 2012.
The Search for Modern China by Jonathan Spence
This book is a comprehensive history of China from the Ming dynasty to the present day. The author, a prominent scholar of Chinese history, provides a detailed analysis of the social, cultural, and political changes that have taken place in China over the past 500 years. The book was first put out in 1990 and has since been revised and updated several times. This book was the top bestseller for years.
Factory Girls: From Village to City in a Changing China
Written by Leslie T. Chang, this book, published in 2008, is reportage on the lives of young women who leave their rural homes to work in factories in China’s cities. Chang, a former New York Times journalist, interviewed hundreds of factory girls to provide insight into the social and economic changes in China.
1. What kind of book is River Town?| A．A science fiction. | B．A travel guide of Fuling. |
| C．A nonfiction. | D．A reference book. |
| A．It was published 500 years ago. | B．It was written by a history teacher. |
| C．It has remained the same since its first publication. | D．It was very popular. |
| A．River Town. |
| B．Deng Xiaoping and the Transformation of China. |
| C．The Search for Modern China. |
| D．Factory Girls: From Village to City in a Changing China. |
9 . On a recent visit to her family home in Atlanta, Stella came across some papers from her tenth- grade English class. Looking at her essays and the notes, Stella was struck by how the work she did in that class informed her work now as an editor. Her teacher, Mr. Newman, always encouraged his students to dig deeper. Stella learned that the best way to understand literature is by asking, “What is this work trying to accomplish?” Now, when she sits down to edit a manuscript (手稿) that’s one of two guiding questions Stella asks herself, followed by, “How can I help the author fully realize that vision?”
Those questions were at the top of Stella’s mind when Freewater by Amina landed on her desk. As Stella made editorial suggestions, she was mindful of the balancing act involved in writing about a topic as painful as slavery and doing so through the eyes of a child. Stella kept a kid reader in mind-someone who might have learned only a part of this history. Stella and Amina went back and forth in phone calls, e-mails, editorial letters, and notes directly in the manuscript, until they agreed that Freewater was exactly where it needed to be.
The novel hit bookshelves on February 1, 2022, and nearly a year later was awarded the John Newbery Medal. Amina became only the third Black woman to be awarded that medal in the award’s one-hundred-and-one-year history, and Stella became the first Black editor to edit a Newbery-winning book.
Stella’s strategic approach to editing, personal warmth, and keen editorial insight have won her universal admiration from authors and colleagues, who also enjoy her sense of humor and infectious laugh. She is a powerful advocate for all the authors in her orbit, which recently came to include her mother, Wanda M. Morris, whose novel All Her Little Secrets has been widely acclaimed and even optioned for TV.
1. What’s Stella’s tenth-grade English teacher like?| A．Humorous. | B．Determined. | C．Inspiring. | D．Cautious. |
| A．The novelty of the manuscript. |
| B．The writer’s purpose of writing. |
| C．The writer’s understanding of literature. |
| D．The practical significance of the work. |
| A．Why Amina created Freewater. | B．Who Freewater is intended for. |
| C．What message Freewater conveys. | D．How Stella helped improve Freewater. |
| A．Applied. | B．Adapted. | C．Praised. | D．Shared. |
10 . For those looking to fry up something new this winter, these are the cookbooks to have in your kitchen bookshelf.
1. Made in Bangladesh, by Dina Begum
£28, Hardie Grant
The second cookbook from food writer Dina Begum is a love letter to Bangladcsh. Alongside the selection of tempting recipes are detailed ingredient notes, explanations of distinctive spice mixtures and advice on traditional preparation and serving, all accompanied by vivid photography of busy street-sellers, grass-covered landscapes and market produce.
2. Manju’s Cookbook, by Manju Patel
£22, Ryland Peters & Small
At the age of 80, Gujarat-born Manju Patel was given a restaurant in Brighton by her sons. Six years later, she remains an important part of the business — named Manju’s — but has also found the time to write this cookbook, which showcases dishes including mattar paneer（奶豆腐）and Gujarati dal.
3. Ester, by Mat Lindsay
£30, Murdoch Books
Australian restauranteur Mat Lindsay’s new book isn’t for the green-hand home cook. Ester is a celebration of modern Aussie cuisine, focusing on fire and perfect technique. Recipes include flame-grilled bone marrow with sesame-seed sambal, and sourdough ice cream.
4. Maydan, by Rose Previte
£30, Abrams
This new cookbook from Washington, DC-based chef Rose Previte is inspired by her Lebanese roots and travels in the Middle East. You can surely be inspired if you enjoy Lebanese dishes.
1. Which of the following book is the cheapest?| A．Ester. | B．Manju’s Cookbook. |
| C．Maydan. | D．Made in Bangladesh. |
| A．Rose Previte. | B．Mat Lindsay. |
| C．Manju Patel. | D．Dina Begum. |
| A．To ask readers to learn to cook. |
| B．To make comments on the four books. |
| C．To recommend new cookbooks to readers. |
| D．To make comparisons between the books. |
