1 . Directions: After reading the passage below, fill in the blanks to make the passage coherent and grammatically correct. For the blanks with a given word, fill in each blank with the proper form of the given word; for the other blanks, use one word that best fits each blank.

Charles Dickens

It has been 150 years since Charles Dickens died, 184 years since his first work was released to the public and 156 years since his last completed book came out. In all of this time, these novels have never been out of print. Dickens may have left us, but his work remains timeless,     1     (fascinate) the majority of those who open their pages.

Most people have read, watched or at least heard of Dickens’ stories, but what makes him and his work so popular? Since he began novel writing in his 20s, Dickens constantly produced quality classics. Year after year his awaiting fans were not left     2     (disappoint) as their minds were fed with complex tales of romance, crime, hope and despair.

In the Victorian era he lived in, much of the work Dickens produced     3     (model) on the literature before him. He was one of the first writers of the time     4     (portray) honest examples of working-class people, giving many something to relate to. He focused on unfolding the good and bad qualities of characters which allowed his readers to follow their journeys and understand     5     they may have acted in the unusual or shocking ways that they did.

Any Dickens fans will know the diverse and outrageous (耸人听闻的) characters coming to life between the pages.     6     was special about this novelist’s ability in imagining these characters’ stories is that it comes from his own life’s path.     7     a young boy left to take care of himself in a workhouse to the wealthy figure he became through his writing successes, he knew what it was like to see in different lights. This deep understanding of his characters gave his fictional stories the strong element of believability     8     is needed in a good novel.

Over a century and a half later, Dickens’ themes can be relevant to today’s world problems. His words and imagery have been transformed further into the media of modern film, television and even musical adaptations.     9     set in a time unfamiliar to readers today, his work still enables everyone to relate to the love, hardship and sense of family that pours from the narratives. It is this aspect     10     has carried Charles Dickens into the 21st century.

2 .

	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

3 . 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.

4 . "My Best Teacher Ever" Contest（竞赛）

Essay（文章）Topic

Who was/is your best teacher ever? What makes him or her the best?

Contestant

The contest is open to all students.

Word: not more than 300

Essays will be judged on the following criteria（标准）by Readers editorial staff（工作人员）:

•originally, creativity﹣﹣﹣40 percent

•clarity of presentation﹣﹣﹣40 percent

•grammar, punctuation, spelling﹣﹣﹣20 percent

Contest Deadline （最后期限）

Entries must be postmarked on or before April 26,2020,or mailed by EST on that date. Email your entry with attached essay and entry information to web﹣contest@readers.com or mail your entry with attached entry form to this address:

Readers Publishing My Best Teacher Ever Contest

Attn: Anne Flounders 44 South Broadway, 18th Floor White Plains, NY 10601

Prizes

Winning students will win a $50 gift card and may have their essays published on readers. com. Winning essays will be announced on May 7, 2020, on readers. com and winners will be told directly.

1. Essays will be judged on the following criteria EXCEPT________.

A．punctuation

B．creativity

C．presentation

D．handwriting

2. According to the text, your essay________.

A．should have a total of 300 words at least	B．can't have any mistakes in grammar
C．should be mailed on or before April 26, 2020	D．will be judged by some best teachers

3. If you become a winner, you________.

A．will be given $50 in cash	B．may have your essay published online
C．will be told of your success online	D．can have the Readers magazine for free

5 . Gold Fame Citrus

by Claire Vaye Watkins（$ 5.99）

With the flight of its characters through a landscape destroyed by climate crisis, this novel does not indicate much hopefulness for the future. Within it is a series of situations and consequences made more severe in a future California short of water. Across the desert. we follow Watkins' characters through a place so transformed that it needs its own field guide of animals newly adapted for strange survival.

The Ministry for the Future

by Kim Stanley Robinson（$ 18.1）

The Ministry for the Future is a masterpiece of the imagination, using fictional eyewitness accounts to tell the story of how climate will affect us all. Its setting is not a deserted world, but a future that is almost upon us. This extraordinary novel from the visionary science fiction writer will change the way you think about the climate crisis.

Breathing Fire

by Jaim Lowe（$ 27）

The front lines of the fight against climate change are peopled with those society has forgotten. Up to 30 percent of the firefighters battling wildfires in California each year are prisoners performing backbreaking labor while earning a 40th of what a civilian makes. This book follows six female prisoner firefighters and their worried families, looking into the human cost of environmental crisis.

Something Under the Sun

by Alexandra Kleeman（$ 28）

In Alexandra Kleeman's new novel, a novelist new to Los Angeles teams up with a former child actor to investigate a conspiracy（阴谋）. But this is L. A. , where wildfires burn all year long and the rich store water while the poor suffer from the consequence of climate crisis. Human weakness is pushing the city toward a disaster.

1. Which category does Breathing Fire fall into?

A．Science fiction.

B．Play.

C．Non-fiction.

D．Biography.

2. What is Alexandra Kleeman?

A．A novelist.

B．An actor.

C．A firefighter.

D．A minister.

3. What do the listed books have in common?

A．They are on sale.	B．They show concern over climate.
C．They are intended for teenagers.	D．They are set in California.

6 . 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

7 . “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

8 . 阅读下面短文，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

The launch of an English translation of Confidence Comes from Effectiveness: A Foreigner's Wuhan Diary     1     (hold) last Friday. The book, first     2     (publish) in Arabic and then in Chinese, tells how the author Adham Sayed, a Lebanese exchange student in China,     3     (throw) himself into working with Chinese people during the city's lockdown last year.

In Sayed's view, China's putting the     4     (safe) and health of its people first is the reason for winning the battle. His foreign perspective,     5     (globe) vision and Western way of thinking make a consistent narration. He weaves in the concept of a community with a shared future for mankind and reveals China     6     a responsible country. It also shows the world how people in Hubei have made great sacrifices for China     7     (overcome) the pandemic.

This book,     8     original intention was to help people remember the history of the pandemic and to carry forward the spirit, is described as a record of     9     the author saw, heard and thought during the terrible moments of the crisis.     10     (it) English version will play a positive role in telling China's story to the world.

9 . 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.

10 . Sophia Gholz is an award-winning children's book author, music lover. and magic seeker. Sophia enjoys writing fiction with humor and heart. When writing nonfiction, she pulls on her love of science and her family background in ecology.

Her book, The Boy Who Grew a Forest, shares the true story of Jadav Payeng, a man in India who single- bandedly planted an entire forest over the course of his lifetime. When he was younger, Jadav Payeng was shocked by the destruction of his island home. So he took matters into his own bands and began planting one seed at a time. Jadav's forest is now over 1300 acres and provides a home to many animals, some endangered. Jadav is still planting today and his hard work has now been celebrated around the world.

To write this story, Sophia got to know more about Jadav Payeng and his forest through a documentary film called Forest Man. Influenced by her father, a forest ecologist and a scientist, she grew up learning about the importance of trees and the natural world. When she heard about a man on a m1ssion to reforest an entire island on his own, she was drawn to this story.

As for research, most of her research was done online. She read every news article that she could find about Jadav and listened to every interview. Then she reached out to several people who had met or interviewed Jadav as well, including the producer of his short documentary film.

She hopes that The Boy Who Grew a Forest lights a spark in everyone who reads it to go out and care for our beautiful planet. She'd love young readers to be inspired to plant or to learn more about animal habitats, biodiversity and science in general.

1. What is the second paragraph mainly about?

A．A story on how to plant trees.	B．Endangered animals in the forest.
C．Destruction of Jadav's island home.	D．A book introducing a tree- planting hero.

2. What do we know about Jadav Payeng ?

A．He has quit planting recently.	B．He is known to many people. .
C．He was an actor of Forest Man.	D．He planted trees with his family.

3. Which words can best describe Jadav Payeng?

A．Humorous and skilled.	B．Creative and outgoing.
C．Determined and diligent.	D．Controversia1 and helpful.

4. What's the purpose of writing The Boy Who Grew a Forest?

A．To encourage research on wildlife.	B．To describe a boy's farming experience.
C．To stress the importance of planting trees.	D．To advocate the action to protect the earth.