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Dearest Clare,
As I write this, I am sitting at my desk in the back bedroom looking out at your studio across the backyard full of blue evening snow, everything is smooth and crusty with ice, and it is very still. It's one of those winter evenings when the coldness of every single thing seems to slow down time, like the narrow center of an hourglass which time itself flows through, but slowly, slowly. I had a sudden urge, tonight, here in the house by myself to write you a letter. I suddenly wanted to leave something, for after. I think that time is short, now. I feel as though all my reserves, of energy, of pleasure, of duration, are thin, small. I don't feel capable of continuing very much longer. I know you know.
If you are reading this, I am probably dead. But you know: you know that if I could have stayed, if I could have gone on, that I would have seized every second: whatever it was, this death, you know that it came and took me, like a child carried away by goblins (妖精).
Clare, I want to tell you, again, I love you. But I hate to think of you waiting. I know that you have been waiting for me all your life, always uncertain of how long this patch of waiting would be. Ten minutes, ten days.A month. What an uncertain husband I have been, Clare, like a sailor. Please, Cl
are. When I am dead, stop waiting and be free. Of me—put me deep inside you and then go out in the world and live. Love the world and yourself in it, move through it as though the world is your natural element.
After my mom died she ate my father up completely. She would have hated it. Every minute of his life since then has been marked by her absence, every action has lacked dimension because she is not there to measure against. And when I was young I didn't understand, but now, I know, how absence can be present.
If I had to live on without you I know I could not do it. But I hope, I have this vision of you walking, with your shining hair in the sun. I have not seen this with my eyes, but only with my imagination, that makes pictures, that always wanted to paint you, shining; but I hope that this vision will be true, anyway.
Clare, there is one last thing, and I have hesitated to tell you, because I'm afraid that telling might cause it to not happen and also because I have just been going on about not waiting and this might cause you to wait longer than you have ever waited before. But I will tell you in case you need something, after.
Last summer, I was sitting in Kendrick’s waiting room when I suddenly found myself in a dark hallway in a house I don’t know. At the end of the hall I could see a rim of light around a door, and so I went very slowly and very quietly to the door and looked in. The room was white, and lit with morning sun. At the window, with her back to me, sat a woman, wearing a coral-colored cardigan sweater, with long white hair all down her back. She had a cup of tea beside her, on a table. I must have made some little noise, or she sensed me behind her...she turned and saw me, and I saw her, and it was you, Clare, this was you as an old woman, in the future. It was sweet, Clare, it was sweet beyond telling. I won’t tell you any more, so you can imagine it. We will see each other again, Clare. Until then, live, fully, present in the world, which is so beautiful.
It’s dark, now, and I am very tired. I love you, always. Time is nothing.
Henry
1.Why did Henry mention the snow and ice in the first Paragraph?
A. To indicate the death is approaching.
B. To illustrate that he has an easy mind.
C. To express how urgent he was to write the letter.
D. To show the weather conditions when he wrote the letter.
2.From Paragraph 4 we can know that ________.
A. his mother died soon after Henry was born
B. the living shouldn’t miss the dead too much
C. his mother had a narrow affection for his father
D. his father lived in the shadow of his mother’s absence
3.By describing what he found in Kendrick’s waiting room, Henry intended to tell Clare that ________.
A. he hoped she would wait for him forever
B. his health was worsening step by step
C. she should stop waiting and be free to live
D. she would be more beautiful when she was old
4.Which of the following can best describe Henry?
A. Considerate. B. Generous. D. Explicit. D. Rigid.
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My dearest daughter, as I looked across at you sitting on the sofa watching The X Factor, I noticed that you are no longer a child, and that having just celebrated your 14th birthday, you are now a young woman starting a journey into becoming an adult woman. As I looked at you, I remembered myself at 14, and the vastly different places we are beginning this journey from.
Your identity as a mixed-race young woman, with an English father and a Pakistani mother, has already influenced how you place yourself in this world. As yet, you are unaware of the personal struggles that I took at the age of 25 to marry. How it felt when my mother refused to come to my wedding. The sharp criticisms of the Asian community that such marriages do not work out and always end in divorce. The confidence I had to grow, as we chose to live in a multicultural community, as I refused to be shamed into living in the leafier white suburbs.
Then, at the age of 30, I became your mum with all the joys and struggles this brought, as I refused the Asian traditions for a new baby's arrival. From your birth, your life could not have been more different from mine. I was brought up on a council estate, within a tight-knit extended Muslim family, through which poverty, racism and neglect were woven. I was never given the freedoms or the opportunity to experience new things. Now, as I hear you play your piano. I am grateful that you have these opportunities.
So many doors were closed to me as a young person, and as I fought for small steps of freedom, I soon learned that it was better to do what I wanted without the knowledge of my parents, and so deceit and deception(欺骗) became woven into my life too. The pressures to obey, to be a "good Muslim" girl and keep the family honour, were choking. Behind closed doors at home, the neglect and abuse took place. It was hidden, I felt the shame, lived with the fear and suffered alongside my sister and two younger brothers. Oh, the power we thought our parents had over us! I was convinced that one day my father would indeed beat us so hard that leaving us for dead, he would, as his threats said he would, bury us in the large back garden, and tell the school he had taken us back to Pakistan for good. My sister and I longed for a different blue sky to live under.
As a daughter of immigrant parents, I carried their hopes of a better education for their children--my own veins(血管) pulsing with the hard- work ethic(道德) and need to be grateful for the opportunity of a free education. And it was education that provided me with the strength to find my own blue sky. I fought to leave home to go to university at the age of 18, and never returned to live with my parents again.
Now as you explore your mixed-race heritage, which I hope we have supported you to do with visits to Pakistan and ensuring you go to multi-cultural schools, I want you to take the very best of all that is Asian with you as you become a woman.
I want you to know that although your journey has been vastly different. I am excited as I watch you standing on the threshold of becoming a woman for all the adventures and possibilities the future holds for you.
May you fly your blue sky with grace, confidence and hope as you find your place in this beautiful and crazy world.
Loving you now and always. Mommy
1.Mommy's mother refused to attend her wedding party because _________.
A. she struggled to break away from the family before it
B. her marriage was against the tradition of the community
C. she would leave the family to settle in the white suburbs
D. she refused the Asian tradition for a new baby’s arrival
2.What can be inferred from mommy's Muslim family life?
A. She was forced to drop out of school.
B. She behaved like a good Muslim girl.
C. She fought against her Muslim identity.
D. She suffered much abuse in the family.
3.From the fourth paragraph, we can see that Mommy was very _________.
A. determined B. realistic
C. ambitious D. tolerant
4.Mommy sends her daughter to multicultural schools to _________.
A. prepare the daughter for different adventures in future
B. ensure the daughter more opportunities to visit Pakistan
C. increase the daughter’s exposure to different cultures
D. encourage the daughter to grow up to be a better woman
5.We can learn from the passage that Mommy _________.
A. is regretful for giving her daughter the mixed-race identity
B. encourages her daughter to explore her origin and pursue her dream
C. won’t forgive her parents for the sufferings she had during childhood
D. criticizes the social traditions and prejudice in her community
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As I write this, I’m sitting on a bus back to Santiago in Chile where I am working 1. a writer. I’ve just spent the weekend in a city called La Serena north of Santiago. I was lucky enough to see the flowering desert, a natural scene that 2. (occur) around every five years here in the Atacama Desert.
3. (follow) a particularly large amount of rainfall earlier, a(n) 4.(vary) of flowers come into blossom. Bright purple flowers create 5. unbelievably beautiful scene at the base of the surrounding mountains.
6. (have) a look at this wonderful treasure of nature, we took a bus from La Serena to a nearby town and then rented a car to go to the desert. 7. we saw did not disappoint us, and as expected it was even more fascinating than the pictures we had seen online. The bloom was particularly 8. (impress) this year due to the strong presence of El Niño (a band of warm water in the Pacific Ocean that changes the temperatures and increases the rainfall in certain areas). The vast carpet of color 9. spread into the distance towards the green hills was 10.(simple) breathtaking and deserved a large amount of photos! A real reminder of the beauty our planet can provide.
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I am decorating my office now. I _______ comfortably in my office at this time tomorrow.
A．am sitting B．was sitting C．sit D．will be sitting
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It’s 3 o’clock and you’ve been hard at work. As you sit at your desk, a strong desire for chocolate overcomes you. You try to busy yourself to make it go away. But it doesn’t. Here is another situation. Perhaps you are not feeling well. The only thing you want to eat is a big bowl of chicken soup, like your mum used to make when you were sick as a child. Food cravings are a strong desire for a specific type of food. And they are normal.
Scientists at the website How Stuff Works compare hunger and cravings (渴望) this way. Hunger is a fairly simple connection between the stomach and the brain. They even call it simply “stomach hunger”. When our stomachs burn up all of the food we have eaten, a hormone (激素) sends a message to one part of the brain for more food, which regulates our most basic body functions such as thirst, hunger and sleep. The brain then produces a chemical to start the appetite and you eat. Hunger is a function of survival.
A craving is more complex. It activates brain areas related to emotion, memory and reward. These are the same areas of the brain activated during drug-craving studies. Because of this, some scientists call food cravings “mind hunger”. People often crave foods that are high in fat and sugar. Foods that are high in fat or high in sugar produce chemicals in the brain. These chemicals give us feelings of pleasure.
In a 2016 study, researchers at Cambridge University found that dieting or restricted eating generally increases the possibility of food cravings. So, the more you deny yourself a food that you want, the more you may crave it. However, fasting (禁食) is a bit different. They found that eating no food at all for a short period of time lessened food cravings.
So, the next time you crave something very specific, know that your brain may be more to blame than your stomach.
1.Which of the following statements is NOT true when “stomach hunger” appears?
A.The part of brain which regulates some functions of our body works.
B.A chemical is produced by the stomach to start the appetite.
C.All the food we have eaten has been exhausted.
D.A hormone delivers a message to the brain for food.
2.What do we learn about food cravings?
A.It means the stomach functions well.
B.It ensures a person survives hunger.
C.It shows food is linked to feelings.
D.It proves the brain decides your appetite.
3.What’s the likely result of dieting?
A.The increase of food desire. B.The decrease of chemicals.
C.The refusal of fat and sugar. D.The disappearance of appetite.
4.What is the best title of this passage?
A.Dieting: It Makes You Crave More
B.Fasting: It Lessens Food Cravings
C.Food Cravings: They are All in Your Brain
D.Hunger: It is a Function of Survival
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It’s 3 o’clock and you’ve been hard at work. As you sit at your desk, a strong desire (欲望) for chocolate overcomes you. You try to busy yourself to make it go away. But it doesn’t. Here is another situation. Perhaps you are not feeling well. The only thing you want to eat is a big bowl of chicken soup, like your mom used to make when you were sick as a child. Food cravings are a strong desire for a specific type of food. And they are normal.
Scientists at the website How Stuff Works compare hunger and cravings this way. Hunger is a fairly simple connection between the stomach and the brain. They even call it simply “stomach hunger.” When our stomachs burn up all of the food we have eaten, a hormone (荷尔蒙) sends a message to one part of the brain for more food, which controls our most basic body functions such as thirst, hunger and sleep. The brain then produces a chemical to start the appetite (食欲) and you eat. Hunger is a function of survival.
A craving is more complex. It activates (刺激) brain areas related to emotion, memory and reward. These are the same areas of the brain activated during drug-craving studies. Because of this, some scientists call food cravings “mind hunger.” People often crave foods that are high in fat and sugar. Foods that are high in fat or high in sugar produce chemicals in the brain. These chemicals give us feelings of pleasure.
In a 2007 study, researchers at Cambridge University found that “dieting or controlled eating generally increases the possibility of food craving.” So, the more you refuse yourself a food that you want, the more you may crave it. However, fasting is a bit different. They found that eating no food at all for a short period of time reduced food cravings.
So, the next time you crave something very special, know that it’s the fault of your brain, instead of your stomach.
1.The author describes two situations in the first paragraph to ________.
A.deepen the understanding of hunger B.report the discovery of craving study
C.introduce the topic of the whole passage D.remind readers of their own special food
2.What do we learn about food craving?
A.It shows food is connected with emotion. B.It makes sure that a person survives hunger.
C.It means the stomach functions well. D.It proves the brain decides your appetite.
3.What’s the likely result of dieting?
A.The drop of chemicals. B.The increase of food desire.
C.The refusal of fat and sugar. D.The disappearance of appetite.
4.In which part of a newspaper can you see this passage?
A.Education. B.Entertainment.
C.Science. D.Economy.
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My name is Kenn Nesbitt and I’m a poet. I started writing poems as a hobby in 1994. At the time, I never gave any thought to publishing them; I just wrote for my own amusement. But it was so much fun that I ended up writing a lot of poems, which led me to the idea of creating a website, and at last writing books. If you want to write poems, I have some advice for you.
My ideas mostly come from my imagination. That is, I like to sit and daydream, and see what kinds of crazy things I can think up. For kids, I suggest that whenever you think of an idea, you should write it down, even if you don’t have time write them to create a whole poem from your idea. I have notebooks full of ideas that I haven’t written poems about yet. So I can always look through my notebooks and find something fun to write about.
One way to make poems interesting is to write about things readers can understand: school, family, food, pets, games, sports, and so on. To make a poem funny, I often ask myself, “What kinds of funny things might happen at school, or over dinner? What funny things might your pets do?” and it’s OK to make things up, such as having a pet elephant, or a pet that plays video games. Use your imagination and see where it leads. But the best advice I can give kids is not to just write one poem, it might be a great one, or maybe not so good. But if you write ten poems, you’ll probably find that, even though they aren’t all perfect, a few of them are much better than the others.
1.Why did the author start writing poems at first?
A. To publish them. B. To entertain himself.
C. To contribute to a website. D. To kill time.
2.What’s the main idea of Paragraph 2?
A. How to write poems. B. How to think up crazy things.
C. How to get ideas for poems. D. How to become creative.
3.According to the author, what is the best advice he can give us?
A. Just write great poems. B. Write as many as possible.
C. Make poems as funny as possible. D. Try to make things up in your poems.
4.Where does the author come from?
A. America B. China C. Germany D. not mentioned
5.What’s the author’s purpose of writing the text?
A. To suggest some poems written by him.
B. To show writing poems isn’t that hard.
C. To tell readers how to write poems.
D. To explain how he writes poems.
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In the reading room, we found her at a desk, with her attention _____ on a book.
A.sitting; fixing B.seated; fixed
C.sit; fixing D.sitting; to be fixed
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In the reading-room, we found Winifred ____at a desk, with her attention _____on a novel．
A．sitting; fixing B．seating; fixed C．sitting; fixed D．seated; fixing
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In the reading-room, we found Winifred ____at a desk, with her attention _____on a novel．
A．sitting; fixing B．seating; fixed
C．sitting; fixed D．seated; fixing