1 . Despite demonstrating a love of the written word, many readers tend to devote most of their time to consuming books in one or two specific genres (体裁). Of course, you want to read books that bring you joy, but it’s well worth adding some variety to your reading list.
You can improve your vocabulary.
When you read a wide variety of books, it’s not uncommon to come across unfamiliar words and phrases. Sometimes you can get enough con text from the sentence to understand the meaning; other times you’ll need to consult a dictionary for clarification.
You can discover a new favorite genre.
You undoubtedly have a favorite genre or two now, but what if you’re missing out on others because you’re not adding any variety to your reading list?
When you add a wide selection of titles to your reading list, you can start to see people, places, and historical events in a new perspective. For example, reading a nonfiction book about a group of people in another country can have a greater understanding of cultures unlike your own.
You can get inspiration from surprising places.
It’s amazing how expanding your reading list can provide you with inspiration when you need it most. Of course, some genres are meant to provide encouragement, motivation, and support, such as self-help books and Memoirs (回忆录).
| A．You can know many new people. |
| B．You can develop a broader outlook. |
| C．There are many benefits of reading different genres. |
| D．Having a comprehensive vocabulary serves you well. |
| E．Others, however, aren’t designed specifically to inspire readers. |
| F．Either way, you’re able to store the definition in your mind for later use. |
| G．Sure, you’ll likely find that not every genre is your cup of tea-and that’s okay. |
| A．The man needs to finish the book. |
| B．The book is boring. |
| C．The man should check with his professor. |
3 . It’s said that you can tell a lot about a person by looking at what’s on their bookshelves. What do my bookshelves say about me? Well, I’d always thought of myself as a cultured person, but my bookshelves told a rather different story.
So, in October 2011, I registered my blog, ayearofreadingtheworld.com, and posted a short appeal online. I explained how narrow my reading had been and asked anyone who cared to suggest what I read from other parts of the planet. I had no idea whether anyone would be interested, but within a few hours, people started to get in touch.
Books came from surprising sources. My Panamanian read, for example, came through a conversation I had with the Panama Canal on Twitter, which advised I try the work of the Panamanian author Juan David Morgan. I found Morgan’s website and sent him a message, asking if any of his Spanish-language novels had been translated into English. And he said nothing had been published, but he did have an unpublished translation of his novel “The Golden Horse”, and he emailed it to me.
Morgan was by no means the only wordsmith to share his work with me in this way. From Sweden to Palau, writers and translators sent me self-published books and unpublished manuscripts (手稿) of books that hadn’t been picked up by Anglophone publishers or that were no longer available, giving me privileged glimpses (初步的感受) of some remarkable imaginary worlds.
The books I read that year have opened my eyes to many things. That can be an uncomfortable experience, particularly when I’m reading a book from a culture that may have quite different values to my own. But it can also be really enlightening. Wrestling with unfamiliar ideas can help clarify my own thinking and show up blind spots in the way I might have been looking at the world.
When I looked back at much of the English-language literature I’d grown up with, I began to see how narrow a lot of it was, compared to the richness that the world has to offer. Little by little, that long list of countries that I’d started the year with changed from a rather dry, academic register of place names into living, breathing entities.
1. Why did the author create the blog “A Year of Reading the World”?| A．To learn from others’ bookshelves. |
| B．To broaden her cultural horizons. |
| C．To get recommendations from readers. |
| D．To find out the literary works she lacked. |
| A．They presented a challenge to the author. |
| B．They blocked the author’s reading journey. |
| C．They offered unique access to literary worlds. |
| D．They inspired confidence in the author’s project. |
| A．Provide her with unfamiliar topics. |
| B．Make her absorbed in other cultures. |
| C．Show fields she needs to learn more about. |
| D．Reveal areas she lacks insight in her worldview. |
| A．Exploring the Global Literary Landscape |
| B．The Challenge of Reading the World |
| C．Uncovering Stories from Every Country |
| D．The Impact of Culture on the Worldview |
4 . Four new books to read
The books that are included in this list can meet your reading needs at any time of year.
Nobody Will Tell You This but Me
Bess Kalb
In this book, the author shares the advice her beloved grandmother Bobby left her. Bobby was a powerful woman who should never be underestimated, and she was very knowledgeable about the family’s traditions and secrets. The book proves that family bonds can endure through generations and beyond death.
We Came Here to Shine
Susie Orman Schnall
We Came Here to Shine focuses on the strong female friendship between an aspiring journalist and an unlucky actress at the 1939 New York World’s Fair. Leaning on each other, these two ambitious women struggled against adversity (困境) at a time when women had little say.
A Star Is Bored
Byron Lane
Favored by television star Jonathan Van Ness, this novel is partly based on the author’s experiences as the former personal assistant to Carrie Fisher, a legendary American actress. The book follows Charlie Besson, the new assistant to the Hollywood icon, Kathi Kannon. Their three-year journey together is an unforgettable adventure that is funny, heartbreaking, and hopeful.
Fast Girls
Elise Hooper
The story in Fast Girls took place during the 1936 Berlin Olympics, where Betty Robinson, Louise Stokes, and Helen Stephens overcame difficult pasts to attain Olympic glory as the world’s fastest female athletes. Beyond the athletic journey, they also aimed to challenge the social standards of what females can achieve.
1. Who is the character in Bess Kalb’s book?| A．Bobby. | B．Susie Orman Schnall. | C．Carrie Fisher. | D．Betty Robinson. |
| A．A biography. | B．An industry report. |
| C．A real-life based novel. | D．A fictional adventure story. |
| A．We Came Here to Shine | B．Nobody Will Tell You This but Me |
| C．A Star Is Bored | D．Fast Girls |
5 . Jose Alberto Gutierrez’s life would never be the same again after finding a copy of Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy in the garbage 20 years ago. It happened while he was driving his garbage truck through wealthier neighborhoods at night and seeing deserted books. It sparked his desire to start rescuing books from the garbage. He took home between 50 and 60 books every morning after his nine-hour shift. Eventually, he turned his book collection into a community library.
Colombia’s capital city of Bogota has 13 million residents and 19 public libraries. However, these libraries tend to be far away from where rural and poorer communities live. The option of buying new books is non-existent for families struggling to make ends meet. Having access to a library of books and being taken away to another world while immersed in a book is a luxury for the kids who visit Gutierrez’s library.
Gutierrez grew up poor, and his family could not afford to educate him beyond primary school. Nevertheless, his mother was a keen reader and read stories to him every night. Her love for books left a deep impression on Gutierrez, who never let a lack of formal education stop him from reading classics by the likes of Victor Hugo, Mario Vargas Llosa and Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
Today, his community library, called “The Strength of Words”, occupies most of his home and is piled from floor to ceiling with fiction and non-fiction titles. Everything from school textbooks to story books can be found in his collection of more than 20,000 books!
The Strength of Words library opens every weekend. It is not just school-going children who are enjoying the benefits of The Strength of Words library. Adults are also welcome to expand their horizons and develop new skills to build a better life for themselves.
Despite having done so much for his community, Gutierrez is not yet content to call it a day. He continues to search through bins for reading material and has even travelled to book fairs in Mexico and Chile to sell his idea of building library from unwanted books.
1. What inspired Gutierrez to build the community library?| A．Famous novelists he liked very much. |
| B．The dilemma he faced on the night shift. |
| C．Abandoned books he came across at work. |
| D．The hobby he has taken up since childhood. |
| A．Gutierrez’s mother was a good reader. |
| B．Gutierrez was greatly influenced by his mother. |
| C．Gutierrez led a difficult life during his childhood. |
| D．Gutierrez had a disadvantage of poor education. |
| A．Responsible and ambitious. | B．Humble and thoughtful. |
| C．Committed and sensitive. | D．Creative and courageous. |
| A．A book holds a house of gold. |
| B．Constant dropping wears the stone. |
| C．Good things come to those who wait. |
| D．One man’s trash is another man’s treasure. |
6 . I grew up in libraries, or at least it feels that way. I was
Even when I was maybe four or five years old, I was
When I was older, I usually walked to the library by myself,
My parents valued books. They believed that you read a book for the
| A．handled | B．raised | C．passed | D．moved |
| A．blocks | B．areas | C．countries | D．fields |
| A．as soon as | B．as much as | C．as far as | D．as well as |
| A．limited | B．favorite | C．appointed | D．energetic |
| A．justice | B．pride | C．freedom | D．honesty |
| A．forbidden | B．tolerated | C．expected | D．allowed |
| A．presents | B．thoughts | C．finds | D．stories |
| A．wait | B．walk | C．wonder | D．wave |
| A．paying | B．earning | C．giving | D．carrying |
| A．small | B．weak | C．useful | D．delighted |
| A．follow | B．miss | C．cure | D．guard |
| A．note | B．hold | C．picture | D．invite |
| A．opinion | B．education | C．experiment | D．experience |
| A．candle | B．instrument | C．object | D．paper |
| A．vehicles | B．souvenirs | C．satisfaction | D．pleasure |
增加：在缺词处加一个漏字符号（∧），并在其下面写出该加的词。
删除：把多余的词用斜线（＼）划掉。
修改：在错的词下画一横线，并在该词下面写出修改后的词。
注意：1．每处错误及其修改均仅限一词。
2．只允许修改10处，多者（从第11处起）不计分。
Nowadays, there are a lot of films and TV plays that are adapted to popular novels or classical work. Some people think better to read the original, while others are against it.
I think reading the original is too much better than watching its film or TV version because I can experience more after reading the original. Just as a famous saying go, there are a thousand Hamlets in a thousand people’s eye. Different people have different feelings about the book or a certain role. But in the film or TV version, though we can get a main idea more direct, we may miss some wonderful, even important plots. And we are easily misled by the actors or actresses, so they act according to their understand of the book.
In a word, I think reading the original is much better than watching its film or TV version.
