1 . Life has a way of shaping us. Life can make you doubt or question your purpose.    1    . I have seen this in my own life.

Poetry prepared me for my purpose. I did not see this initially, so I tried taking a different direction.    2    . I finally left behind my failures and fully launched into my destiny.

In my journey towards purpose, poetry became my safety net. Poetry was my outlet from bullying by peers, which gave me low self-esteem.    3    . For every important moment in my life, I wrote poetry. During tough times, I wrote poetry. I connect with poetry on a deep level.

However, writing poetry lacks financial stability.    4    . In America, I was an assistant teacher for kindergarten. When living in China, my job was an English teacher. The work I did was similar. I inspired children, giving them my love, my time and my heart. Still, poetry brought me joy.    5    .

Where you are is preparing you for your purpose. Your purpose is waiting for you!

A．I pursued teaching instead

B．I started writing poems at age 5

C．My original plan never worked out

D．The only person standing in your way is you

E．It showed me how to make sense of the world

F．Poetry is my voice to be seen, heard and known

G．However, when you live out your purpose, you are unstoppable

2 . Jules Verne was a Frenchman who was born in 1828 and died in 1905. He read a great many scientific books and wrote a number of exciting books about the things which he thought that scientists and inventors would one day be able to do. Years later, many of the things really happened. At that time, however, his stories seemed like fairy tales.

Jules Verne’s most famous book is 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.（A league is an old word meaning a distance of about three miles《海底二万里》）. In those days submarines（潜艇） had not been invented but he described an underwater ship very like a modern one.

Many of the things Jules wrote about in his books more than a hundred years ago to look into the future, however, were almost the same as we see today. In his book From the Earth to the Moon he wrote at the age of about forty, three men and a dog made a journey around the moon in a hollow ship fired from a gun. After going around the moon, they returned to the earth and splashed down into the sea not far from where the first real moon traveler landed in July, 1969.

1. Jules wrote a lot of exciting books partly because he ________.

A．liked reading on science	B．liked reading fairy tales
C．was a great inventor	D．was a famous scientist

2. Some of what Jules described in his books ________.

A．is almost the same as what happened years later

B．is quite different from what happened years later

C．never comes true

D．seems impossible to the people today

3. Many of the things really happened ________.

A．as soon as Jules’ books were published

B．some years after his books were published

C．at that time

D．when Jules was in his forties

4. The thing Jules described in his book From the Earth to the Moon is ________.

A．as large as the spaceship today

B．similar to the spaceship today

C．a gun used to send up a ship

D．an underwater ship

5. What does the underlined word “splashed” in the last paragraph mean?

A．walked

B．slept

C．fell

D．spent

3 . 语法填空

Reading a book and watching a film are two very different experiences, but it’s normal to have high     1     (expect) when a film of a favourite book is made. Most audiences and critics have been pessimistic or even disappointed by a film of a book they love.

A key question is obviously how close to the     2     (origin) the film is. Another problem area is the cast. Finding actors     3     (accept) to film audiences can mean the difference between success and failure. Some books are just too difficult to be adapted     4     technical reasons. Technology has had a huge impact on the film industry. It is the book writer     5     is in the best position     6     (do) film adaptations. In fact, sometimes authors are     7     (involve) in the process eagerly and may even be the screenwriter. They may be too close to the material and find     8     difficult to adapt to a new form. Sometimes writers have been very     9     (satisfy) with the film versions of their work. Anyway, it is always a bad idea to watch a film of a book you love.

    10     the challenges, there have been some highly successful films made from popular books.

4 . Not all brilliant reads are behind the paywall, some classics are much more accessible—click and download.

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

It is a truth universally acknowledged that Pride and Prejudice is a really, really good book. A little bit rigid, a little bit repressed, a little bit tender, and painfully class conscious, it’s the full English romance package. Now more than 200 years old, the novel has been retold time and again, finding new audiences each time. Still, there’s no substitute for the original.

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

From the Cheshire Cat to Tweedledum and Tweedledee, Alice’s adventures are as strange and wonderful today as they were 150 years ago. Complete with Arthur Rackham’s wonderful illustrations there’s still nothing quite like it. Everyone should go down the rabbit hole at least once.

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

Perhaps no book does a better job of condensing Charles Dickens’ brilliance than his 1859 novel A Tale of Two Cities. Taking place in London and Paris against the background of the French Revolution, the story has inspired countless projects since—even Christopher Nolan’s Batman films. And the best thing? If you like it, all Dickens’ other books are ready and waiting to be read too.

Frankenstein; Or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley

Although Mary Shelley’s central message of people being destroyed by the monsters they create has been largely ignored in the years since publication, the tale itself continues to be very popular indeed, and with good reason. The book’s masterful combination of horror, romanticism, and science fiction makes it as attractive today as it would have been in 1818. Just the thing for nighttime reading.

1. What can you read about in Pride and Prejudice?

A．Cute animals.	B．French Revolution.
C．Scientific discoveries.	D．Class consciousness

2. Which book best suits people who like to read at midnight?

A．Frankenstein.

B．A Tale of Two Cities.

C．Pride and Prejudice.

D．Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

3. What do the four novels have in common?

A．They are romantic novels.

B．They can be read for free.

C．They were created in the early 1900s.

D．They were ignored when first published.

5 . Keeping children occupied has been a challenge for many of us of late but books can certainly help. Whether purchased as e-books or ordered online for delivery, the following titles are among the Times’ team’s favourites.

Kia Kaha – Together, standing strong

Irish rugby players may boast of being ‘together, standing strong’, but only Kiwis know how to kia kaha!

Best suited to little ones aged three to seven years of age, this book is a rousing celebration of all the many

cultures that call Aotearoa home.

And, thanks to its accompanying CD (which can be downloaded instead), they can learn a heart-warming song in both Maori and English.

June Pitman-Hayes, Ngaere Roberts (Maori lyrics) & Minky Stapleton (illustrator): Kia Kaha – Together, standing strong | Scholastic

Showtym Adventures 7 – Jackamo the Supreme Champion

After her multi-champion pony suffers a devastating injury, Vicki must turn to a beautiful, although inexperienced, mount to compete.

Although she is sure Jackamo has the X factor, has she actually bet everything on the wrong horse?

The latest addition to Kelly Wilson’s popular series, this book is a tale of tenacity and overcoming the odds through dedication and hard work.

Kelly Wilson: Showtym Adventures 7 – Jackamo the Supreme Champion | Puffin

Cece Loves Science – Push and Pull

The ‘force’ is strong with Cece! Designed to make science more accessible to young minds, this book sees Cece and her friend Isaac team up to discover the opposing forces of push and pull can be used to help Cece’s dog, Einstein.

Fostering a love of learning, this series might just help a few older ones – to whom science class is a distant memory – discover how the universe works too!

Shelli R Johannes, Kimberly Derting & Vashti Harrison: Cece Loves Science – Push and Pull | HarperCollins

Diary of a Wimpy Kid – Wrecking Ball

One of the most well-known characters in modern children’s literature – Greg Heffley, aka the Wimpy Kid – is up to his old tricks once again.

When the Heffleys receive an unexpected inheritance, major home improvements become their focus. How will this affect Greg? There’s only one way to find out!

Jeff Kinney: Diary of a Wimpy Kid – Wrecking Ball | Puffin

1. Which book is suitable for kids to learn cultures?

A．Kia Kaha – Together, standing strong

B．Showtym Adventures 7 – Jackamo the Supreme Champion

C．Cece Loves Science – Push and Pull

D．Diary of a Wimpy Kid – Wrecking Ball

2. What does Cece Loves Science – Push and Pull focus on ?

A．Old tricks	B．Maori lyrics
C．Adventures	D．scientific knowledge.

3. Which author sing highly of hard working?

A．Jeff Kinney

B．Shelli R Johannes, Kimberly Derting & Vashti Harrison

C．June Pitman-Hayes, Ngaere Roberts (Maori lyrics) & Minky Stapleton (illustrator)

D．Kelly Wilson

6 . 听下面一段较长对话，回答以下小题。
1. What is the man’s new book based on?

A．His daily life in South Africa.

B．A news reporter’s experiences.

C．Some big events in South Africa.

2. Why did the man write the book?

A．To share his volunteer experience.

B．To tell people about South Africa.

C．To show his plan after graduation.

7 . From the ancient Chinese stories, to the stories in the medieval cathedrals（中世纪的教堂）in the west, it is perfectly clear that there is strong pleasure and meaning to gain from stories told through images or pictures. People are lucky enough to have had books with both pictures and words when they were children.    1    .

After the world wars, the cheap books without pictures were everywhere and it made reading books illustrated with pictures for adults a very luxurious thing. Somehow, pictures had also come to seem childish or strange.    2    Just as the ever-increasing popularity of the graphic novel（连环画小说）suggests, works both words and pictures are regarded as classics.

    3    In fact the former develops from the latter. Early writing systems such as those in Egypt and China: things in the world were expressed in written form by drawing special pictures.       4    In some languages, the sound associated with an image are separated from its original meaning.

What is the use of a book without pictures? Very little, it turns out, particularly if we consider that pictures are buried within the very symbols used to write words. As for a picture book for adults, author Tokarczuk sweeps away all doubts. She adores the picture book.    5    This kind of story is able to get through to anyone – regardless of age, cultural differences or level of education. It’s hard to disagree.

A．Because it is hard to read books with pictures.

B．And yet readers love stories told through pictures.

C．However, words and pictures are not always connected.

D．Text and picture, after all, are not so far apart.

E．For her it is a powerful, old way of telling a story.

F．Adults are thought foolish to read such books.

G．They often remember the pictures as clearly as the words.

8 . “A novel, like a letter should be loose, cover much ground, run swiftly, take risk of morality and decay,” Saul Bellow once wrote. Like many novelists, in his spare time the author of The Adventures of Augie March was also an enthusiastic letter writer.

A selection of Bellow’s huge correspondence, reproduced in a recent issue of the New Yorker, provides a fascinating insight into the writer’s character. Witty, often brief and almost always entertaining, Bellow’s letters are a reminder of why writers’ letters often prove so popular with readers. At their best, literary letters have something for everyone: general readers get a glimpse of how authors write when freed from the expectation to produce a work of conventional literary worth, and scholars get enough scholarly writings.

All this is well and good—except for one small problem: nobody writes letters anymore, at least not the kind of intellectual, humorous letters that distinguish great correspondence. As we are so often told, we live in the digital age. Like the rest of us, authors now largely correspond with their agents, friends, and occasionally, fans through email, not “snail mail”.   

As literary vehicles, emails are severely lacking. Digital messages tend to alternate between the deathly dull and formal and the casually daring complete with BTW, LOLs and unclear text—speak with little middle ground. Letters can be revealing, friendly, humorous; emails, even at their best, tend to exhibit only one of these characteristics of good writing.

Future literary archivists (档案管理员) will need to be digital experts, hacking through hard drives and email accounts, mobile phones, in their attempts to fully document the lives and thoughts of their subjects. But who among us has all their email correspondence from the past five years, let alone a lifetime? Hardware is disposed (废弃) of and forgotten about; mobile phones are replaced every few years. The idea that we can construct a complete record of a writer has always been unrealistic, but technological advances have made it physically impossible, too. With so much material digitalized, and often wiped, writers will no longer leave behind boxes suffered with letters, ripe for investigation and possible publication.

Back in 1898, the New York Times named the long-dead Lord Byron the greatest letter writer in the English language, celebrating his letters’ humor, the force and spirit of their substance, the grace and purity of their style. Saul Bellow’s letters might not be remembered quite so fondly 70 years from now, but chances are that, by then, the entire genre of collected writers’ letters will have disappeared completely—leaving readers significantly poorer for their loss.

1. Authors’ letters are often popular with readers probably because ______.

A．well-known magazines like New Yorker choose to publish them

B．authors write them with a specific audience in mind

C．not only are they scholarly, but they are also funny

D．readers can gain an insight into how the classics are created

2. According to paragraphs 3 and 4, one advantage of email over traditional letters is that _____.

A．email exhibits characteristics of good writing

B．email reaches its receivers much faster

C．email is full of variation alternating between “formal” and “casual”

D．email conveys clear messages with little ambiguous middle ground

3. Why does the author mention future archivists work?

A．To illustrate that technological advances can contribute to greater literary loss.

B．To arouse readers’ interest in how digital property will be treated in the future.

C．To point out that it is impossible to document the life experience of a writer.

D．To warn that there will be no writers’ letters left for research.

4. Which of the following can be a suitable title for the text?

A．Exploring Literature through Letters.	B．Well-Written “Letters”: Saul Bellow Shows Us How
C．The Dying Art of Letter Writing	D．The Power of a Letter in the Digital Age

9 .

	Lord of the Flies An airplane evacuating schoolboys from Britain during World War II is shot down over a remote tropical area. Two boys, Ralph and Piggy find the other surviving boys and begin to organize the group. As time passes, rivalries are formed, rules are broken and civilized behavior has turned savage. Lord of the Flies is a classic study on human nature, adolescence, and competition by William Golding.
	The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Huck Finn, Tom Sawyer’s best friend, stakes out his own adventure in this classic coming-of-age tale. Tired of trying to be good and fearful of his drunken father, Huck Finn runs away and takes Jim, a man who has escaped enslavement, with him. Together they sail down the Mississippi River on a raft and experience dangerous as well as comical adventures along the way. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is an enduring classic.
	A Separate Peace A friendship forms between two boys attending a New England boarding school during World War IL. Gene, smart and socially awkward, draws the attention of Phineas, a handsome, athletic and outgoing boy. The two become friends, but war and rivalry lead to a tragic accident. John Knowles is the author of A Separate Peace, a classic story about friendship and adolescence.
	Of Mice and Men Best friends Lennie and George travel from farm to farm in California looking for work while trying to avoid trouble. Although both men are good workers and have dreams of owning their own farm, they never stay at one job long because of Lennie. Lennie is a simple-minded gentle giant who doesn’t know his own strength and often gets into trouble. When tragedy strike, George must make am awful decision that will alter the plans he and Lennie have made for their future. Of Mice and Men is a classic John Steinbeck story about migrant workers and the downtrodden surviving the Great Depression.

1. Which pair of books covers the subjects of adolescence and competition?

A．Of Mice and Men and Lord of the Flies

B．Lord of the Flies and A Separate Peace

C．The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Lord of the Flies

D．A Separate Peace and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

2. What often upsets George’s plan for the future?

A．George’s tendency to get into trouble.	B．Lennie’s dependence on George.
C．Lennie’s inability to manage his own strength.	D．George’s identity as a migrant worker.

3. Which of the four books includes the element of humor?

A．Lord of the Flies	B．A Separate Peace
C．Of Mice and Men	D．The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

10 . Pick up something you can’t put down

The Unequal Twins

Sylva Kanderal

www.xlibris.com

Hardback I Paperback I E-book

$28.99 I $16.99 II $3.99

What if the twins Ava and Zoe, who could hardly be distinguished from each other visually and who could not have been more different in character, had to go through a hell of envy, jealousy, and malice?

Where does that trail lead to? To a total loss of their connection, or are they finding the lost path to each other again?

Quotes from the Quiver

Dante P. Galiber, MD, FACC

www. authorhouse. com

Hardback I Paperback I E-book

$43.99 I $22.99 I $3.99

Inspired by time, space, and human interaction, this collection offers a series of original and thought-provoking ideas and quotations designed to uplift and enlighten.

Johnny Catching Fire

Aaron Allen

www. xlibris.com

Hardback I Paperback I E-book

$22.99 I $16.99 I $3.99

God gave Johnny the strength of Samson. Now, he must decide whether to use his power for good or to get even with those who bullied him.

Ting Ting, the Girl Who Saved China

Ryan O’connor

www. xlibris. com

Hardback I Paperback I E-book

$22.99 I $16.99 I $3.99

Ting Ting, the Girl Who Saved China provides insight into China’s biggest holiday, gives a sense of its culture, and shows that girls are just as strong and brave as boys are.

How to Help Yourself to Be Who You Want to Be

A Simple Guide for Those Who Are Ready to Take Charge and Redirect Their Lives

Pam Grewall

www. iuniverse. com

Hardback I Paperback I E-book

$23.99 I $13.99 I $3.99

This self-improvement book offers a simple manual to help one recognize their strengths and weaknesses and to understand how to make their own destiny.

1. If you are a fairy tales lover, you would prefer the works of________.

A．Pam Grewall

B．Ryan O’connor

C．Dante P. Galiber, MD, FACC

D．Aaron Allen

2. Which book would you recommend to someone interested in Chinese culture?

A．Johnny Catching Fire

B．How to Help Yourself to Be Who You Want to Be

C．Ting Ting, the Girl Who Saved China

D．The Unequal Twins

3. What can we learn from the information?

A．One can buy 3 books in hardback with $60.

B．The Unequal Twins will impress the readers with the true love between the twins.

C．Quotes from the Quiver is intended to improve readers’ social interaction skills.

D．How to Help Yourself to Be Who You Want to Be will be a good choice for those who are at a loss in their lives.