1 . J.K. Rowling frequently shows there is magic every day. Her Harry Potter series has helped people through times of stress and depression and she is always there to deliver wise words of encouragement.
She is one celebrity who is very active on Twitter. So when a single dad named Matt Burke sent her a message thanking her for the series, she noticed. Her series had helped strengthen his relationship with his 9-year-old daughter Bailey.
He included a link to his article titled Being a Broke Parent. He explained how he hadn’t found a level of financial stability that allowed him to pay bills on time and take his daughter on more activities and events. The family also doesn’t have the Internet or TV, which means there’s no “digital babysitter”, and he has to rely on his own creative ways to bond with his daughter. Since he received the series, the main thing that has occupied them these days is reading books together.
Burke admits that he thought he was “too cool” for the books when they first came out and he was in his twenties, but he’s loving reading them now. “We switch off chapter by chapter reading them out loud,” Burke explains. “This not only allows her to get more used to reading aloud in front of someone, but it gets me directly involved in something she loves, and it gives me the chance to be very dramatic when I read my chapters and bring myself into the characters in the book, which has proven to be a ton of fun.”
After hearing Burke’s story, Rowling said how honored she was when Harry Potter was a part of his family’s life and offered Burke more signed books. Besides, people are also offering to send Burke more books as gifts. For Burke, this experience, far more than gifts, will be what he treasures.
1. Why did Burke thank J.K. Rowling according to the text?| A．She guided him how to write a good story. |
| B．She encouraged him when he was in trouble. |
| C．Her books helped him through times of confusion. |
| D．Her books helped him improve his bond with his daughter. |
| A．He has found it interesting to read the series. |
| B．He was too old to understand the series better. |
| C．He has chosen a better way of reading the series. |
| D．He hopes to play a role in the drama in the future. |
| A．Unique. | B．Normal. | C．Precious. | D．Funny. |
| A．J.K. Rowling chooses to help improve kids’ health. |
| B．J.K. Rowling gives a magical gift to a single father. |
| C．J.K. Rowling has a deep influence on others’ growth. |
| D．Burke comes to know J.K. Rowling through her series. |
David Grant
David Grant has become a familiar face to millions of fans of Animal Hospital. Here Dr. Grant tells us the very best of his personal stories about the animals he has treated, including familiar patients such as the dogs Snowy and Duchess, the delightful cat Marigold Serendipity Diamond. He also takes the reader behind the scenes at Harmsworth Memorial Animal Hospital as he describes his day, from ordinary medical check-ups to surgery (外科手术). Tales From Animal Hospital will delight all fans of the program and anyone who has a lively interest in their pet, whether it be cat, dog or snake!
£14.99 Hardhack 272pp Simon Schuster
ISBN 0751304417
Isaac Newton: The Last Sorcerer
Michael White
From the author of Stephen Hawking: A Life in Science, comes this colorful description of the life of the world’s first modern scientist. Interesting yet based on fact, Michael White’s learned yet readable new book offers a true picture of Newton completely different from what people commonly know about him. Newton is shown as a gifted scientist with very human weaknesses who stood at the point in history where magic (魔术) ended and science began.
£19.99 Hardback 320pp Fourth Estate
ISBN 1857024168
Fermat’s Last Theorem
Simon Singh
In 1963 a schoolboy called Andrew Wiles reading in his school library came across the world’s greatest mathematical problem: Fermat’s Last Theorem (定理). First put forward by the French mathematician Pierre de Fermat in the seventeenth century, the theorem had baffled and beaten the finest mathematical minds, including a French woman scientist who made a major advance in working out the problem, and who had to dress like a man in order to be able to study at the Ecole Polytechnique. Through unbelievable determination Andrew Wiles finally worked out the problem in 1995. An unusual story of human effort over three centuries, Fermat’s Last Theorem will delight specialists and general readers alike.
£12.99 Hardback 384pp Fourth Estate
ISBN 1857025210
1. What is Animal Hospital?
| A．A news story. | B．A popular book. | C．A research report. | D．A TV programme. |
| A．an old-time magician |
| B．a great but not perfect man |
| C．a person who lived a colorful and meaningful life |
| D．a person who did not look the same as in many pictures |
| A．To encourage people to raise questions. | B．To cause difficulty in understanding. |
| C．To provide a person with an explanation. | D．To limit people’s imagination. |
| A．Simon Singh | B．Pierre de Fermat | C．Andrew Wiles | D．a French woman scientist |
| A．To make the books easier to read. | B．To show the importance of science. |
| C．To introduce new authors. | D．To sell the books. |
3 . I turned 8 years old the day I skipped school for the first time. It was easily done: Both my parents left for work before my school bus arrived on weekdays, so when it showed up at my house on that cold winter morning, I simply did not get on. The perfect crime!
And what did I do with myself on that glorious stolen day, with no adult in charge and no limits on my activities? Did I get high? Hit the mall for a shoplifting extravaganza (狂欢)?
Nope. I built a warm fire in the wood stove, prepared a bowl of popcorn, grabbed a blanket, and read. I was trilled and transported by a book — it was Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises — and I just needed to be alone with it for a little while. I ached to know what would happen to Jake Barnes and Lady Brett Ashley and Robert Cohn. I couldn’t bear the thought of siting in a classroom taking another exam when I could be traveling through Spain in the 1920s with a bunch of expatriates (异乡客).
I spent that day lost in words. Time fell away, as the room around me turned to mist, and my role — as a daughter, sister, teenager, and student — in the world no longer had any meaning. I had accidentally come across the key to perfect happiness: I had become completely absorbed by something I loved.
Looking back on it now, I can see that some subtle things were happening to my mind and to my life while I was in that state of absorption. Hemingway’s language was quietly braiding itself into my imagination. I was downloading information about how to create simple and elegant sentences, a good and solid plot. In other words, I was learning how to write. Without realizing it, I was hot on the trail of my own fate. Writing now absorbs me the way reading once did and happiness is their generous side effect.
1. Why did the author skip school on that day?| A．Because she’s fascinated by a novel. | B．Because it’s a biting cold winter morning. |
| C．Because her parents left home early. | D．Because she’s anxious to take the exam. |
| A．Reading a fiction by the fire. | B．Travelling with a bunch of expatriates. |
| C．Being occupied by one’s passion. | D．Breaking the rules and regulations. |
| A．Mending. | B．Destroying. | C．Entering. | D．Blocking. |
| A．The author was tired of his roles in the real-life. |
| B．Becoming a writer is the author’s childhood dream. |
| C．The author skipped school when he was 8 years old. |
| D．Writing has a horrible effect on the author’s life now. |
(1)你对阅读的看法；
(2)你的阅读习惯；
(3)阅读对你的影响。
注意：(1)词数不少于100(开头和结尾已给出，但不计入总词数)；
(2)可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
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5 . Programs from the Pierson Library Dinoman Visits Today: The Shelburne Town Gym will be filled by huge dinosaurs at 1:00 pm. Learn about these animals that once walked on the earth during a visit by Dinoman on Thursday, July 5.
Book Discussion: The book group for men meets at La Villa at 7:30 pm on July 5 to discuss Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan. Join Andrew Everett for reading and discussing the book as well as enjoying cookies and drinks.
Family Free Help: Volunteer John Kelley is in the library on Wednesday afternoons. Have John help you learn how to find out your family trees using the library.
Summer Study Programme: Kids need to keep a reading record to keep track of the number of pages read through August 16 at 8:00 pm. The student with the highest page count will take home a $50 gift card for the Flying Pig Bookstore.
Musical Story Time: Get ready for a guitar concert at 10:30 am on July 7. Music teacher Sue Rule leads a morning of music and stories with the guitar concert. For ages 3 and up. Guitars are provided.
Special Programmes: Some special programmes include Field Days at 1: 00 pm on August 12and the Teddy Bear Picnic at 10: 30 am on August 14. The library is also preparing for its move to the Shelburne Field House on Athletic Drive on August 16 ahead of the library rebuilding project. The library will be closed during the move.
1. What can visitors do in Dinoman Visits Today?| A．Watch animals on the earth. | B．Find out their family trees. |
| C．Learn about dinosaurs. | D．Visit a writer named Jennifer Egan. |
| A．They include a guitar concert. | B．They will take place in August. |
| C．They include a course on buildings. | D．They will take place after the library rebuilding project. |
| A．Family Tree Help and Musical Story Time. |
| B．Dinoman Visits Today and Book Discussion. |
| C．Book Discussion and Summer Study Programme. |
| D．Summer Study Programme and Musical Story Time. |
6 . Do you know that a fast reader can get the ideas better than a slow reader can? Of course, you save time by reading fast, but this is not the main reason for fast reading. The main reason is that you understand better what you are reading when you read fast.
As your eyes move along the line of print, they make fixations (固定) or pauses. It is important that you see several words at a fixation. It is also important that your eyes leave a group of words quickly and move on to another group. The number of letters or words that you see at a fixation is called your eye span. Pay more attention to improving your rate of reading. With practice you can learn to read faster than you usually read.
The way in which you read always depends on what you are reading and for what purpose. You should know the different ways of reading so that you can apply whatever method that is necessary. Here are four ways of reading:
(1) Skimming is an important kind of reading. This method can be used when you wish to review something that you have forgotten. You can skim to get the main points.
(2) Rapid first reading and then rereading certain parts carefully is important. You may use this type of reading to study a science lesson or a history lesson.
(3) You need to do careful reading and rereading sometimes. This type of reading is necessary for making an intensive (精深的) study of your school subjects, solving maths problems or reading directions.
(4) Rapid reading is used when reading stories for enjoyment. You may also do rapid reading when reviewing material that you already know well.
1. The main reason for reading fast is that you can ______ what you are fast reading.| A．get the ideas | B．save time | C．understand better | D．learn well |
| A．the method that you like | B．your reading material |
| C．your reading purpose | D．both B and C |
| A．reading very fast | B．looking carefully |
| C．reading only the main points | D．reading some parts of the material |
| A．when you read a story for enjoyment |
| B．when you go over a lesson that you have already known well |
| C．when you read the directions before using a camera which is expensive |
| D．when you wish to find a lost place that you have read |
7 . Reading can be a social activity. Think of the people who belong to book groups. They choose books to read and then meet to discuss them. Now, the website Book Crossing.com turns the page on the traditional idea of a book group.
Members go on the site and register (登记) the books they own and would like to share. Book Crossing provides an identification number (识别码) to stick inside the book. Then the person leaves it in a public place, hoping that the book will have an adventure, traveling far and wide with each new reader who finds it.
Bruce Pederson, the managing director of Book Crossing, says, “The two things that change your life are the people you meet and books you read. Book Crossing combines both.”
Members leave books on park benches and buses, in train stations and coffee shops. Whoever finds their book will go to the site and record where they found it.
People who find a book can also leave a journal entry describing what they thought of it. E— mails are then sent to the BookCrossers to keep them updated about where their books have been found. Bruce Pederson says the idea is for people not to be selfish by keeping a book to gather dust on a shelf at home.
Book Crossing is part of a trend (趋势) among people who want to get back to the “real” and not the virtual (虚拟).The site now has more than one million members in more than one hundred thirty—five countries.
1. Why does the author mention book groups in the first paragraph?| A．To explain what they are. | B．To introduce Book Crossing. |
| C．To stress the importance of reading. | D．To encourage readers to share their ideas. |
| A．An adventure. | B．A public place. |
| C．The book. | D．The identification number. |
| A．Keep it safe in his bookcase. | B．Mail it back to its owner. |
| C．Meet other readers to discuss it. | D．Pass it on to another reader. |
| A．Online Reading: A Virtual Tour | B．Electronic Books: A New Trend |
| C．A Book Group Brings Tradition Back | D．A Website Links People through Books |
8 . Teaching Poetry
No poem should ever be discussed or “analyzed”, until it has been read aloud by someone, teachers or students. Better still, perhaps, is the practice of reading it twice, once at the beginning of the discussion and once at the end, so the sound of the poem is the last thing one hears of it.
All discussions of poetry are, in fact, preparations for reading it aloud, and the reading of the poem is, finally, the most telling “interpretation” of it, suggesting tone rhythm, and meaning all at once. Hearing a poet read the work in his or her own voice, on records or on film, is obviously a special reward. But even those aids to teaching can not replace the student and teacher reading it or, best of all, reciting it.
I have come to think, in fact, that time spent reading a poem aloud is much more important than “analyzing” it, if there isn’t time for both. I think one of our goals as teachers of English is to have students love poetry. Poetry is “a criticism of life”, and “a heightening（提升）of life”. It is “an approach to the truth of feeling”, and it “can save your life”. It also deserves a place in the teaching of language and literature more central than it presently occupies.
I am not saying that every English teacher must teach poetry. Those who don’t like it should not be forced to put that dislike on anyone else. But those who do teach poetry must keep in mind a few things about its essential (基本的) nature, about its sound as well as its sense, and they must make room in the classroom for hearing poetry as well as thinking about it.
1. To have a better understanding of a poem, one should______.| A．discuss it with others | B．analyze it by oneself |
| C．copy it down in a notebook | D．practise reading it aloud |
| A．Extending your life. | B．Saving your life. |
| C．Criticizing life. | D．Heightening life. |
| A．to understand life | B．to enjoy poetry | C．to become teachers | D．to become poets |
| A．More stress should be laid on the teaching of poetry. |
| B．Poetry is more important than any other subject. |
| C．One cannot enjoy life fully without an understanding of poetry. |
| D．Poetry is the foundation of all language and literature courses. |
| A．“build a booth” | B．“provide equipment” |
| C．“leave a certain amount of time” | D．“set aside enough space” |
9 . The British are the most voracious(如饥似渴的) newspaper readers in the world.
They read newspapers at breakfast; they walk to the bus reading a newspaper; they read a newspaper on bus, as they go to work; and on the way back home, after work, they are engaged in reading an evening newspaper.
There are many “morning papers”, both national and provincial. The most famous is The Times. Different from what many foreigners believe, this is not a government newspaper. The various newspapers usually have their own views of the Communist Morning Star. The Labor Party and the Trades Union Congress no longer have a daily newspaper to represent them.
Bold headlines and a variety of photographs are features of the British press. Some newspapers, such as the sober Daily Telegraph and The Times, use photographs sparingly(节省). The more “popular” newspapers, using the small or “tabloid”(小报) format, such as the Daily Express, the Mail, the Daily Mirror and the Sun, use pictures extensively and also run strip cartoons and humorous drawings, some of which present striking pictorial comment on politics.
Besides offering features common to newspapers all over the world, British newspapers specialize in pages devoted to criticism of the arts and a woman's page. One feature found in many foreign newspapers is missing in British papers: the serial(连载).
Nearly all papers pay special attention to the reporting of sports and athletics. The evening newspapers are often bought because the buyer wants to know the winner of a race, or to get good tip for a race that is still to be run. There is no censorship(审查) of the press in Britain (except in wartime), though of course all newspapers—like private persons—are responsible for what they publish, and can be sued for libel(为诽谤而被起诉), for publishing articles that go beyond the bounds of decency(正派), or for ignorance of court. (e.g. calling a man a murderer while he is still being tried. Such cases are not often)
1. Which of the following does NOT serve as an evidence(证据) that the British are the great newspaper readers?| A．They read newspapers at breakfast. | B．They read newspapers at work. |
| C．They read newspapers on bus. | D．They read newspapers on the way back home. |
| A．The Times is an organ (喉舌) of the government |
| B．The Times has its own views on politics |
| C．The Times is the most famous newspaper in the world |
| D．The Times pays too much attention to the reporting of political events |
| A．bold headlines | B．various kinds of photographs |
| C．striking pictorial comment on politics | D．both A and B |
| A．Englishmen always take every possible chance to read newspapers. |
| B．In Britain, newspapers must be carefully examined by the authorities(局) before their publication for fear that they present anything offensive. |
| C．Few British newspapers publish libelous articles. |
| D．The Times is one of the world-famous newspapers. |
1. 现状(看电视，上网时间更多)；
2. 列举一些阅读的好处(丰富知识，完善自我) ；
3. 建议每位同学每学期至少读 1~2 本好书。
注意：1. 词数 100 左右；
2. 可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯；
3. 开头已给，不计入词数。
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