Misery and setbacks are not always as terrible as one imagines. Hard times can offer new ways of looking at life that would otherwise never be known. And, if you are a writer, this can be the source of much of your success.
Popular British author, Charles Dickens' （1812-1870）family could hardly make ends meet. They could only afford to send one of their six children to school. Dickens was not that child. His parents chose to send a daughter, who had a talent for music, to an academy. Then at the age of 12, Dickens' life took another turn for the worse.
His father, a clerk, was placed in prison for unpaid debts. And, being the oldest male left at home, Dickens took up work at a factory. His horrible experience there became the fuel for his future writing. His father was freed three months later and inherited a small amount of money. Dickens was then sent to school.
From 1836 to 1837, he wrote a monthly series of stories. Thus the Pickwick Papers, came into being, which brought fame to the 23-year-old man.
Throughout his career, Dickens covers various situations in his novels. He wrote about the miserable lives of the poor in Oliver Twist, the French Revolution in Tale of Two Cities, and social reform in Hard Times. He also wrote David Copperfield, a book thought to be modeled on his own life.
“I do not write bitterly or angrily: for I know all these things have worked together to make me what I am,” he once said. His difficult childhood did indeed shape the person he became, as well as his writing career. There are shades of young Dickens in many of his most beloved characters, including David Copperfield and Oliver Twist.
Like the author, all these characters come from poor beginnings and are able to rise above their setbacks and achieve success. “Minds, like bodies, will often fall into an ill-conditioned state from too much comfort,” he once wrote. On June 9th, 1870, aged 58, Dickens died, leaving one unfinished work．The words on his tombstone read: “He was a sympathizer to the poor, the suffering and the oppressed, and by his death, one of England's greatest writers is lost to the world.”The book that first called public attention to Dickens was ______.
| A．the Pickwick Papers | B．Oliver Twist |
| C．Tale of Two Cities | D．David Copperfield |
The phrase “shades of” in bold means “_____”.
| A．various shapes of | B．situations of |
| C．different experiences of | D．reminders of |
How did Dickens see his childhood?
| A．He felt grateful for it． |
| B．He felt it a pity that things weren’t in his favor． |
| C．He loved writing about it． |
| D．He chose to forget the bitterness about it． |
From the story, we can see Dickens’ attitude towards an easy life is ______．
| A．to enjoy it | B．to hate it |
| C．not to abandon yourself to it | D．to work hard for it |
I had an experience some years ago, which taught me something about the ways in which people make a bad situation worse by blaming themselves. One January, I had to hold two funerals on successive days for two elderly women in my community. Both had died “full of years”, as the Bible would say. Their homes happened to be near each other, so I paid condolence(吊唁) calls on the two families on the same afternoon.
At the first home, the son of the deceased（亡故的）woman said to me, “If only I sent my mother to Florida and gotten her out of this cold and snow, she would be alive today. It’s my fault that she died. ”At the second home, the son of the other deceased woman said, “If only I hadn’t insisted on my mother’s going to Florida, she would be alive today. That long airplane ride, the sudden change of climate, was more than she could take. It’s my fault that she’s dead.”
You see that any time there is a death, the survivors will feel guilty. Because the course of action they took turned out bad, they believe that the opposite course keeping Mother at home, putting off the operation would have turned out better. After all, how could it have turned out any worse?
There seem to be two elements involved in our willingness to feel guilty. The first is our pressing need to believe that the world makes sense, that there is a cause for every effect and a reason for everything that happens. That leads us to find patterns and connections both where they really exist and where they exist only in our minds.
The second element is the view that we are the cause of what happens, especially the bad things that happen. It seems to be a short step from believing that every event has a cause to believing that every disaster is our fault. The roots of this feeling may lie in our childhood.
A baby comes to think that the world exists to meet his needs, and that he makes everything happen in it. He wakes up in the morning and summons the rest of the world to his tasks. He cries, and someone comes to attend to him. When he is hungry, people feed him, and when he is wet, people change him. Very often, we do not completely outgrow that childish view that our wishes cause things to happen.The author had to conduct the two women’s funerals probably because____.
| A．he was minister of the local church | B．he wanted to comfort the two families |
| C．he was an official from the community | D．he had great pity for the deceased |
People feel guilty for the death of their loved ones because ____.
| A．they couldn’t find a better way to express their sorrow. |
| B．they had neglected the natural course of events |
| C．they believed that they were responsible |
| D．they didn’t know things often turn in the opposite direction |
According to the passage, the underlined part in paragraph 4 probably means that _____
| A．everything in the world is predetermined |
| B．there’s an explanation for everything in the world |
| C．the world can be interpreted in different ways |
| D．we have to be sensible in order to understand the world |
What’s the idea of the message?
| A．Life and death is an unsolved mystery |
| B．Never feel guilty all the time because not every disaster is our fault |
| C．Every story should have a happy ending |
| D．In general, the survivors will feel guilty about the people who passed away |
Yesterday the police were joined by more than 20 volunteers in the continuing search for the two missing teenagers, Vicky Gray and Tom Hunter, and their guide, Gavin Jones. The police said that they had disappeared during an adventure tour of Cape York Peninsula.
This was the second day of the search and the police were now very worried about the safety of the three missing people.
The police said that the search had covered a wide area, but the rainforest was thick and their work was made harder by the recent rain. Later on Chief Inspector Roger Fleet said, “The travelers had a radio with them. If they had been in trouble, they would have called us.”
The three travelers left Cooktown very early on Saturday morning in a Toyota car. They took a small dirt road that runs down to the Daintree River, a dangerous river full of crocodiles (鳄鱼). Chief Inspector Roger Fleet said the tourists wouldn’t have got into trouble if they had stayed on the main road.
A photo of Vicky and Tom was found by a policeman under the “Be Careful about crocodiles” sign near the river. Why was the photo left behind? This is just one of the unanswered questions. Other questions are: Why was the photo left behind? Why was the Toyota parked and locked at the edge of the rainforest? The police said that the travelers had left a map of the area behind. Why? Why had someone drawn a cross on the point (地点) where the car is? Is this a sign? What does it mean? If anyone can give information or has seen these three young people, contact the local police in Cooktown.This article is probably taken from ___________
| A．a newspaper | B．a magazine | C．a storybook | D．a guidebook |
Which of the following things wasn’t found by the police?
| A．A touring map. | B．A photo of the travelers. |
| C．The travelers’ radio. | D．The travelers’ car |
All the following are unanswered questions except_____________.
| A．why they left a photo behind | B．why they came to this area |
| C．why their Toyota was parked in the place | D．why a cross was drawn on the map |
The article asks people to _____________.
| A．join the police in searching for the missing people |
| B．tell the police about the travelers’ ages and their appearance |
| C．learn the lesson and stop taking adventure tours |
| D．provide information about the missing people |
One of the most widely accepted, commonly repeated assumptions (假设) in our culture is that if you exercise, you will lose weight. I exercise all the time, but I still have gut fat that hangs over my belt when I sit. Why isn’t all the exercise getting rid of it?
It’s a question many of us could ask. More than 45 million Americans now belong to a health club, up from 23 million in 1993. We spend some $19 billion a year on gym memberships. Of course, some people join and never go. Still, as one major study — the Minnesota Heart Survey — found, more of us at least say we exercise regularly.
And yet obesity (肥胖) figures have risen sharply in the same period: a third of Americans are obese, and another third count as overweight by the Federal Government’s definition. Yes, it’s entirely possible that those of us who regularly go to the gym would weigh even more if we exercised less. But like many other people, I get hungry after I exercise, so I often eat more on the days I work out than on the days I don’t. Could exercise actually be keeping me from losing weight?
The popular belief that exercise is essential for weight control is actually fairly new. As recently as the 1960s, doctors routinely advised against too much exercise, particularly for older adults who could injure themselves. Today doctors encourage even their oldest patients to exercise, which is sound advice for many reasons: People who regularly exercise are at significantly lower risk for all manner of diseases — those of the heart in particular. They less often develop cancer and many other illnesses. But the past few years of obesity research show that the role of exercise in weight loss has been wildly over-evaluated.
“In general, for weight loss, exercise is pretty useless,” says Eric Ravussin, exercise researcher at Louisiana State University. Many recent studies have found that exercise isn’t as important in helping people lose weight as you hear so regularly in gym advertisements or on shows like The Biggest Loser — or, for that matter, from magazines like this one.
The basic problem is that while it’s true that exercise burns calories and that you must burn calories to lose weight, exercise has another effect: it can make one hungry. That causes us to eat more, which in turn can negate (使无效) the weight-loss benefits we just gained. Exercise, in other words, isn’t necessarily helping us lose weight. It may even be making it harder. From the passage we learn that ____.
| A．some Americans join a health club but never go there |
| B．the number of overweight people has doubled since 1993 |
| C．more than 45 million Americans now go to the gym regularly |
| D．Americans waste too much money each year on sports |
According to the passage, exercise ____.
A．has long been believed to be good for older adults |
| B．is not properly advertised as an effective way to lose weight |
| C．was first recognized as an effective way to lose weight in the 1960s |
| D．is less effective in preventing heart disease than what doctors believe |
According to the writer, people might gain weight because ____.
| A．they have the habit of going to the gym regularly |
| B．they eat the same food when they do not exercise |
| C．they exercise less than required by doctors |
| D．they eat more after they exercise |
What may be the best title for this passage?
| A．Overweight Is Not Good for Your Health |
| B．Exercise Won’t Make You Thin |
| C．Gym Is Part of American Lifestyle |
| D．Obesity Is a Social Problem in America |
Hundreds of people lined up at Grand Central Terminal yesterday, but they
weren’t there to catch a train. They came to New York City’s famous railroad station to trade in old dollar bills for the new George Washington Presidential苊1 coin.
The gold-colored coin is the first in a new series by the U.S. Mint（造币厂）that honors former U.S. Presidents. The Mint will issue(发行) four Presidential苊1 coins a year through 2016. Like the popular 50 State Quarters program, which issues coins in the order in which each state joined the Union, Presidential苊1 coins will come out in the order in which each President served. The George Washington coin is the first to be released. John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison coins will come out later this year.
The Presidential 苊1 coins will be the same size and color as the Sacagawea Golden Dollar. However, there is an important difference. For the first time since the 1930s, there is an inscription（题字）on the edge of each coin. Each coin will show a different President on its face, or head side. It will also show the President’s name, the order in which he served and his years in office. The other side of the coin will show the Statue of Liberty and the inscriptions “United States of America” and “苊 1”.
There will be one Presidential苊1 coin for each President, except Grover Cleveland. He will have two! Cleveland is the only U.S. President to have served two nonconsecutive（不连续的）terms.
The last President scheduled to get a coin is Gerald Ford because a President must have been dead for two years before he can be on a coin. Why did people line up at the railway station?
| A．To book train tickets. | B．To exchange money. |
| C．To visit a coin show. | D．To visit the station itself. |
In which order will the Presidential苊1 coins come out?
| A．Each state joined the Union. | B．Each President was born. |
| C．Each President took office. | D．Each President died. |
It can be inferred from the passage that .
| A．there are no words on the Sacagawea Golden Dollar |
| B．the new coin can buy more than the old coin |
| C．the new coin takes on a white color |
| D．the Sacagawea Golden Dollar is bigger |
Why will Grover Cleveland have two coins?
| A．He served longer than any other President. |
| B．He is the most famous President in the U.S. |
| C．He is the only one who has served two terms. |
| D．He served two terms but not continuously. |
Which of the following could be the best title of the passage?
| A．Presidential苊1 coin issued. |
| B．Different ways to honor Presidents. |
| C．The differences between Presidential苊1 coin and other coins. |
| D．Collections of old dollar bills. |
A daughter’s duty? Adult daughters are often expected to caregiver for older parents. In 2007, Jorjan Sarich and her dad moved from California to Idaho. It was where he wanted to live his rest time.
“I left my occupation, I left my friends; he did the same thing,” said Sarich, who bought a house with her father, George Snyder, in the China Gardens neighborhood of Hailey after his health began to decline. Though a graduate student struggling to finish her dissertation（论文）, Sarich chose to be her dad’s full-time caregiver.
“It’s only now, several years later, that I’m realizing how much work it was. It’s the kind of exhaustion（疲惫）that sleep doesn’t cure,” she said.
About 6 million Americans provide care to elderly relatives or friends living outside of nursing homes. Laurel Kennedy, author of “The Daughter Trap” (Thomas Dunne Books, $25.95), says that women bear a disproportionate（不成比例的）share of the burden — about 70 percent of hands-on care giving such as bathing.
“I want to be clear: Women don’t hate this,” Kennedy said. “What they hate is that everyone just assumes they’ll do it.”
Kennedy is calling for a social revolution equal to the rise of affordable child care and day care: Employers should help working caregivers by offering accommodations. Men should step up more often. It’s unfair that women are always chosen to provide care for an elderly family member.
Despite the hard work it took on Sarich — interrupted sleep and the knowledge that his 2009 death was the end game, she would do it again. Since about half a century had gone by, she wasn’t the person he remembered, and he wasn’t the person she remembered either. Caring for her father changed how each saw the other. Why did Jorjan Sarich caregiver for her father?
| A．It was a very easy job. | B．She had no work to do. |
| C．It was the social practice. | D．She lived with her father. |
What can we infer from the book “The Daughter Trap”?
| A．Daughters don’t like care giving. |
| B．Daughters devote a lot to care giving. |
| C．Care giving is daughters’ duty. |
| D．Care giving should be sons’ duty. |
What does the underlined phrase “a social revolution” refer to?
| A．The child care revolution. | B．The reform in day care. |
| C．The social development. | D．The change in care giving. |
How many years did Jorjan Sarich work as her father’s full-time caregiver?
| A．Five years. | B．Only one year. | C．Four years. | D．Two years. |
In her care giving, Jorjan Sarich _____.
| A．got along well with her father | B．was a little tired of her father |
| C．changed her father in every way | D．felt it was unfair to do so |
When something goes wrong，it can be very satisfying to say，”Well, it’s so-and-so’s fault.” or “I know I’m late，but it’s not my fault；the car broke down.” It is probably not your fault，but once you form the habit of blaming somebody or something else for a bad situation，you are a loser. You have no power and could do nothing that helps change the situation. However, you can have great power over what happens to you if you stop focusing on whom to blame and start focusing on how to remedy the situation. This is the winner’s key to success.
Winners are great at overcoming problems. For example, if you were late because your car broke down, maybe you need to have your car examined more regularly. Or, you might start to carry along with you the useful phone numbers, so you could call for help when in need. For another example, if your colleague causes you problems on the job for lack of responsibility or ability, find ways of dealing with his irresponsibility or inability rather than simply blame the person. Ask to work with a different person, or don’t rely on the person. You should accept that the person is not reliable and find creative ways to work successfully regardless of how your colleague fails to do his job well.
This is what being a winner is all about—creatively using your skills and talents so that you are successful no matter what happens. Winners don’t have fewer problems in their lives; they have just as many difficult situations to face as anybody else. They are just better at seeing those problems as challenges and opportunities to develop their own talents. So, stop focusing on “whose fault it is.” Once you are confident about your power over bad situations, problems are just stepping stones for success.According to the passage, winners .
| A．deal with problems rather than blame others | B．meet with fewer difficulties in their lives |
| C．have responsible and able colleagues | D．blame themselves rather that others |
The underlined word remedy in Paragraph 1 is closest in meaning to .
| A．avoid | B．accept | C． improve |
D．consider |
When your colleague brings about a problem, you should .
| A．blame him for his lack of responsibility | B．find a better way to handle the problem |
| C．tell him to find the cause of the problem | D．ask a more able colleague for help |
When problems occur, winners take them as
| A．excuses for their failures | B．barriers to greater power |
| C．challenges to their colleagues | D．chances for self-development |
Which of the following is the best title for the passage?
| A．A Winner’s Problem. | B．A Winner’s Secret. |
| C．A Winner’s Opportunity. | D．A Winner’s Achievement. |
Doris Lessing was born in 1919 in Persia, moving as a child with her family to southern Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, where she stayed in school only to the age of 14.
A year after moving to London, she published her first novel in 1950. The Grass is Singing examines unbridgeable racial conflict in colonial Africa through the eyes of a white farmer's wife and her black servant.
Her literary breakthrough came in 1962 with publication of The Golden Notebook, seen by many, though not necessarily Lessing, as a pioneering work of modern feminism（女权运动）. A disjointed study of the mind of the main character, Anna Wulf, the novel explores her thoughts about Africa, politics, relationships with men and sex, and Jungian analysis and dream interpretation.
Lessing's themes changed to psychology in her works from the 1960s, and by the 1970s she was interested in the Islamic mystic tradition of Sufism（苏菲教派）. Her turn toward science fiction with the Canopus series in the early 1980s was not warmly received by traditional critics, but she has continued to be popular with new readers and numerous literary awards, including the David Cohen British Literary Prize and the Companion of Honour from the Royal Society of Literature, both in 2001.
Following the announcement, the Horace Engdahl told VOA why he was personally so pleased with Lessing's selection.
“She is one of the truly great writers -- of novels, short stories, fiction and non-fiction,” Engdahl said. “She is one of the few writers who have had the courage to uphold the principle of equality between the male and female experience, and she has given the impulse to numbers of other women writers. And she is really the mother of a school that is one of the most important in our contemporary literature.”
At 87, Doris Lessing is the oldest Nobel Literature winner since the first prizes were awarded in 1901. What would be the best title of the passage?
| A．Doris Lessing’s Great Writings. |
| B．Doris Lessing’s Concern about Africa. |
| C．A Great Writer of Novel and a Pioneer of Modern Feminism. |
| D．A Nobel Prize Winner for Literature. |
It can be inferred from the passage that _______.
| A．there are only two characters in The Grass is Singing |
| B．The Golden Notebook is regarded as Lessing’s masterpiece by herself |
| C．life in Africa in her early age lays solid foundation for her writing |
| D．Doris Lessing is strongly against traditional culture in Africa |
According to the fourth paragraph, _______.
| A．Lessing began to believe in Christ in the 1970s |
| B．Lessing’s science fiction won readers |
| C．Lessing had won two literary medals for her writings |
| D．Lessing changed her themes to meet the needs of traditional critics |
The underlined word “impulse” in the 6th passage is closest in meaning to _______.
| A．pressure | B．inspiration | C．energy | D．desire |
If you look up the word “create” in the dictionary , you will find it means “to bring into being, to cause something each of us does daily to exist”．
We are creative whenever we look at or think about something in a new way. First, this includes an awareness of our surroundings．It means using all of our senses to become aware of our world．This may be as simple as being aware of color and texture（质地）, as well as taste, when we plan a meal．Above all, it is the ability to notice things that others might miss．
A second part of creativity is an ability to see relationships among things．There is nothing new under the sun. The creativity is remaking or recombining（重组） the old in new ways. For example, we might do this by finding a more effective way to study or a better way to arrange our furniture, or we might make a new combination of camera lenses and filters to create an unusual photograph．
A third part of creativity is the courage and drive to make use of our new ideas, to ask for them to achieve some new results．To think up a new idea is one thing; to put the idea to work is another．
These three parts of creativity are included in all the great works of geniuses, but they are also included in many of our day-to-day activities．(257 words)Which of the following activities is NOT a creative one according to the passage?
| A．To prepare for a meal． |
| B．To arrange the furniture in a special way． |
| C．To buy some books from a bookstore． |
| D．To “write” a letter with the computer． |
“There is nothing new under the sun” really implies that _________．
| A．a new thing can only be created at the basis of earlier things |
| B．a new thing is only a tale |
| C．we can seldom create new things |
| D．we can hardly see really new things in the world |
What is the relationship between a new thought and its being put into practice?
| A．It’s more difficult to create a new thought than to put it into practice． |
| B．To find a new thought will clearly lead to the production of a new thing． |
| C．A man with an excellent ability of practice can easily become an inventor． |
| D．One may come up with a new thought, but may not put it into practice． |
The best title for this passage is__________．
| A．How to Develop One’s Creativity |
| B．What Is Creativity |
| C．The Importance of Creativity |
| D．Creativity, a Not Faraway Thing |
Daniel stays home on workdays. He starts his personal computer in order to connect with the office which is about three hundred miles away in another city. After work, he puts on his headphones, watches a movie on his home video recorder, or plays baseball on the computer. On many days, Daniel doesn’t talk to any other human beings, and he doesn’t see any people except the ones on television. Daniel is imaginary, but his lifestyle is very possible. The inventions of modern technology seem to be cutting us off from contact with our fellow human beings.
The world of business is one area in which technology is separating us. Experts say, for example, that many people will soon be able to work at home. With access to a large central computer, employees such as office clerks, insurance agents, and accountants could do their jobs at display terminals (终端) in their own homes. They would never have to actually see the people they’re dealing with. In addition, the way employees are paid will change. Workers’ salaries will be automatically paid into their bank accounts, making paper checks unnecessary. No workers will stand in line to receive their pay or cash their checks. Personal banking will change, too. Customers will deal with machines to put in or take out money from their accounts. Many companies and consumers have already changed the way they sell or buy products. E-commerce, or business done on the Internet, is becoming more and more popular. This, therefore, makes it possible for people to do shopping without going out of their homes.
Another area that technology is changing is entertainment. Music, for example, was once a group experience. People listened to music at concert halls o
r in small social gatherings. For many people now, however, music is an individual experience. Walking along the street or sitting in their living-rooms, they wear headphones to build a wall of music around them. Movie entertainment is changing as well. Movies used to be social events. Now, fewer people are going
out to see a movie. Many more are choosing to wait for a film to appear on television or are borrowing videotapes to watch at home. Instead of laughing with others, viewers watch movies in their own living-rooms.After work, Daniel likes to ______.
| A．listen to music at the concert hall | B．watch a movie in his living-room |
| C．chat with his friends on the net | D．play baseball with his workmates |
The underlined sentence “Daniel is imaginary, but his lifestyle is very possible” means ______.
| A．Daniel is a person full of imagination and he can make his life colorful. |
| B．Daniel is not a real person but the lifestyle of his kind does exist. |
| C．Daniel is only an ordinary person but he has his own way of living. |
| D．Daniel is a model who makes full use of modern technology in life. |
What will the writer most probably discuss after the last paragraph?
| A．Games and sports | B．Personal banking |
| C．Music and films | D．International business |
What is the main idea of the passage?
| A．We may no longer need to communicate with other human beings. |
| B．Modern technology seems to be separating human beings. |
| C．We may no longer need to work in the office. |
| D．Modern technology makes it possible for us to work and entertain ourselves at home. |
Time magazine named Russian President Vladimir Putin its "Person of the Year" for 2007 on Wednesday, saying he had returned his country from chaos（混乱）to "the table of world power" though at a cost of democratic principles.
He doesn't care about civil liberties; he doesn't care about free speech; he cares about stability. But Putin, 55, is enormously popular in Russia, presiding over a resurgent economy based on income from oil and natural gas. On the other hand, stability is what Russia needed and that's why Russians adore（爱戴）him.
Time magazine said on its Web site that Putin, the son of a factory worker had led Russia with persistence, a sharp vision and a sense that he showed the spirit of "Mother Russia".
The selection came days after Putin announced a plan to hold onto power after his term ends next year. Putin said on Monday that if his close ally(盟友），Dmitry Medvedev, won the presidency, he would serve as Medvedev’s prime minister. "Putin has put his country back on the map. And he intends to redraw it himself,"Time said. "He will continue to lead his country as its prime minister and attempt to transform it into a new kind of nation, beholden to neither East nor West."
Time said the person of the year distinction, which it has awarded since 1927, is not an endorsement（支持）or a popularity prize but a recognition of the individuals and forces that shape the world. "At significant cost of, the principles and ideas that free nations prize, (Putin) has performed an extraordinary feat of leadership in placing stability on a nation that has rarely known it and brought Russia back to the table of world power. For that reason, Vladimir Putin is Time's 2007 Person of the Year," the magazine said.
Time had earlier selected four other Kremlin leaders for the distinction: Stalin, who was chosen twice, Nikita Khrushchev, Yuri Andropov and Mikhail Gorbachev.What does the underlined word "feat" in Para 5 probably mean?
| A．Style. | B．Level. | C．Standard. | D．Achievement. |
What's the major reason why Putin becomes popular in Russia?
| A．His successful economy policy |
| B．His outstanding ability of politics |
| C．His great contributions to Russian economy and social stability. |
| D．His wisdom of changing the world. |
What may be the best title of the passage?
| A．Putin－Time magazine’s person of the year 2007 |
| B．Putin－a world power leader |
| C．Putin－a beloved Russian president |
| D．Putin－an honorable Russian president |
What can we inter from the passage?
| A．Russia, including the former Soviet Union, has been one of the major countries named person of the Year so far. |
| B．Only an individual can be named Person of the Year nowadays. |
| C．Putin played an important role in Russian social and economic troubles. |
| D．Medvedev will certainly be elected Russian President on March 3. |
Jeffery Deaver looks more like a brainy villain （反派人物） in a James Bond movie than a "00" agent in Her Majesty's secret service．Best known for his thrillers starring criminalist （刑事专家） Lincoln Rhyme, Jeffery Deaver has a new mission: Bring Bond into the 21st century in a new 007 novel．
The yet-to-be-named book is cryptically （隐秘地） referred to as "Project X" by Ian Fleming Publications Ltd．, which owns the rights to Fleming's work．Most of the details surrounding Project X, to be published in May, are being kept under wraps, but under gentle coaxing （用好话劝诱） Deaver begins to spill his guts．"The novel," he says, "is set in the present day, in 2011．Bond is a young agent for the British secret service．He's 29 or 30 years old, and he's an Afghan war vet．" That in itself is big news．After all, if Bond were aging in real time — he first appeared on the screen in 1953 — the now doddering （老态龙钟的） 007 would be nearly 90．
But first up: a new stand-alone Deaver novel, Edge （Simon & Schuster, $26．99）, to be published Tuesday．It's about a federal agent who risks his life to protect a Washington police detective from a man hired to extract information from him using any means at his disposal （任由个人支配的）．
Sipping coffee while seated on a leather chair in a sitting room decorated with portraits of his dogs and show ribbons, the mild-mannered author who writes about murderers and serial killers talks about his career and the solid fan base that has allowed him to pursue writing full time since 1990．"I may not sell as many books as John Grisham（although he has sold a cool 20 million）, but I have a very loyal fan base," says Deaver, 60, who wrote some of his novels while working as a Wall Street lawyer．Deaver's initiation into the Bond family — more than 100 million 007 novels have sold worldwide — could significantly raise his profile （知名度）．
Other novelists have written Bond novels since Ian Fleming's death in 1964 — including Kingsley Amis, John Gardner and, most recently, Sebastian Faulks — but they all took place in the original era．Deaver is taking a new approach．"There's no more Cold War to fight," says Deaver, so his new Bond, of the Fleming estate, will fight "post-9/11 evil．" "I want to stay true to the original James Bond, who many people don't know much about," he says, referring to the secret agent Fleming portrayed in 14 novels, and not the movie Bond．"People know Daniel Craig, they know Pierce Brosnan, they know Roger Moore and Sean Connery, all of whom brought a great deal to the stories of 007．But the original Bond was a very dark, edgy （另类的） character．"Which of the following is NOT true about Jeffery Deaver?
| A．Jeffery Deaver is a "00" agent in Her Majesty's secret service in a James Bond movie． |
| B．Jeffery Deaver was working as a lawyer while he wrote some novels about murderers and serial killers． |
| C．It is the loyal fan base that has allowed Jeffery Deaver to keep on writing since 1990． |
| D．Jeffery Deaver is best known for his thrillers rather than for 007 novels． |
Which statement best explains the meaning of “spill his guts” in Paragraph 2?
| A．Tell others what he knows about the yet-to-be-named 007 novel． |
| B．Tell others everything he knows about Ian Fleming Publications Ltd．． |
| C．Have the courage to talk about the 007 agent James Bond． |
| D．Have the determination to talk about "Project X"． |
Who was the author of 007 novels?
| A．Jeffery Deaver | B．Ian Fleming |
| C．John Grisham | D．Kingsley Amis |
What do you know about the new 007 novel from the passage?
| A．The book to be published in May is named "Project X" by Ian Fleming Publications Ltd．． |
| B．The book is about a federal agent risking his life to protect a Washington police detective． |
| C．The book features a young James Bond, an Afghan war vet working for the British secret service． |
| D．The book features a young James Bond who fights Cold War． |
I shall never forget the night, a few years ago, when Marion J. Douglas was a student in one of my adult-education classes. He told us how tragedy had struck at his home, not once, but twice. The first time he had lost his five-year-old daughter. He and his wife thought they couldn’t bear that first loss; but, as he said, “Ten months later, God gave us another little girl and she died in five days.”
This double bereavement was almost too much to bear. “I couldn’t take it,” this father told us. “I couldn’t sleep, eat, rest or relax. My nerves were entirely shaken and my confidence gone.” At last he went to the doctors: one recommended sleeping pills and another recommended a trip, but neither helped. He said, “My body felt as if it was surrounded in a vice(大钳子), and the jaws of the vice were being drawn tighter and tighter.” The tension of grief(悲伤) --- if you have ever been paralyzed(使瘫痪) by sorrow, you know what the meant.
“But thank God, I had one child left --- a four-year-old son. He gave me the solution to the problem. One afternoon as I sat around feeling sorry for myself, he asked, ‘Daddy, will you build a boat for me?’ I was in no mood to build a boat; in fact, I was in no mood to do anything. But my son is a persistent fellow! I had to give in. Building that toy boat took me about three hours. By the time it was finished, I realized that those three hours spent building that boat were first hours of mental relaxation and peace that I had had in months! I realized that it is difficult to worry while you are busy doing something that requires planning and thinking. In my case, building the boat had knocked worry out of the ring. So I determined to keep busy.”
“The following night, I made a list of jobs that ought to be done. Scores of items needed to be repaired. Amazingly, I had made a list of 242 items that needed attention. During the last two years I have completed most of them. I am so busy now that I have no time for worry.”
No time for worry! That is exactly what Winston Churchill said when he was working eighteen hours a day at the height of the war. When he was asked if he worried about his huge responsibilities, he said, “I am too busy. I have no time for worry.” The underlined word “bereavement” in the second paragraph refers to _________.
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Marion felt his body as if it was caught in a vice because _________.
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Marion made a list of over 200 items that needed to be repaired because _________.
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At the end of the passage, the author wrote about Winston Churchill in order to ________.
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Bestsellers for last week
A Special Relationship
This novel is about a woman whose entire life is turned upside down in a very foreign place despite the fact that people there speak her language. Sally Good child is a 37-year-old American who, after nearly two decades as a highly independent journalist, finds herself pregnant and in London. She married an English foreign correspondent, Tony Thompson, whom she met while they were both on assignment in Cairo. From the beginning, Sally’s relationship with both Tony and London is an uneasy one: She finds her husband and his city to be far more foreign than imagined. But her adjustment problems soon turn into a nightmare(噩梦). She discovers that everything can be taken down and used against you, especially by a spouse (配偶) who now considers you an unfit mother and wants to prevent you from ever seeing your child again.
Born in 1955, Douglas Kennedy is the bestselling author of romances such as “The Big Picture”. He is also the author of several praised travel books.
White Hot
Sayre Lynch decided never to return to her hometown Destiny, after she changed her last name and finally escaped from the influence of her controlling father, Huff Hoyle, who owns the iron foundry that the town is built around.
But when Danny, her younger brother, is found dead with a shotgun in his mouth, Sayre unwillingly goes back for his funeral and is annoyed when her father’s handsome lawyer, Beck Merchant, tries to please her.
When the young officer investigating(调查) the case notes that some of the evidence points to murder rather than suicide(自杀), Sayre finds herself unable to leave Destiny. She’s annoyed by Beck’s constant presence, and she is not sure if 
he’s trying to help or throw her off the trail. Nor does she trust her father or her older brother, Chris, who is as prime suspect in Danny’s murder.
As she tries to figure out how the handsome, charming Beck fits into the picture, she finds herself deeply attracted to him.]
Sandra Brown is the author of 51 New York Times top-five bestsellers. She began her writing career in 1981 and has since published 65 novels.From the brief introduction of “A Special Relationship” we can imagine _____.
| A．Sally and Tony’s marriage is pleasant. | B．Sally and Tony may break up. |
| C．Sally and Tony often quarrel about their jobs. | D．Sally is hard to get on with. |
The story of Sally and Tony mainly happens in _____.
| A．America | B．London | C．Cairo | D．Cairo & London |
It can be learned from the passage that______.
| A．Chris killed Danny. | B．Lynch is Sayre’s real family name. |
| C．Huff Hoyle knows who killed Danny. | D．Sayre fell in love with Beck. |
In the introduction of White Hot, the underlined phrase suggests_____.
| A．Sayre thinks Beck has something to do with Danny’s death. |
| B．Sayre thinks Beck is the right person she wants to marry. |
| C．Sayre likes the handsome Beck in the picture. |
| D．Sayre doesn’t know whether Beck likes her. |
In a country that defines itself by ideals, not by shared blood, who should be allowed to come to work and live here? In the wake of the Sept．11 attacks these questions have never seemed more pressing．
On Dec．11, 2001, as part of the effort to increase homeland security, federal and local authorities in 14 states staged “Operation Safe Travel”---raids on airports to arrest employees with false identification．In Salt Lake City there were 69 arrests．But those captures were anything but terrorists, most of them illegal immigrants from Central or South America．Authorities said the undocumented workers’ illegal status made them open to blackmail（讹诈）by terrorists．
Many immigrants in Salt Lake City were angered by the arrests and said they felt as if they were being treated like disposable goods．Mayor Anderson said those feelings were justified to a certain extent．“We’re saying we want you to work in these places, we’re going to look the other way in terms of what our laws are, and then when it’s convenient for us, or when we can try to make a point in terms of national security, especially after Sept．11, then you’re disposable．They are whole families being uprooted for all of the wrong reasons,” Anderson said．
If Sept．11 had never happened, the airport workers would not have been arrested and could have gone on quietly living in America, probably indefinitely．Ana Castro, a manager at a Ben & Jerry’s ice cream shop at the airport had been working 10 years with the same false Social Security card when she was arrested in the December airport raid．Now she and her family are living under the threat of deportation（驱逐出境）．Castro’s case is currently waiting to be settled．While she awaits the outcome, the government has granted her permission to work here and she has returned to her job at Ben & Jerry’s．How did the immigrants in Salt Lake City feel about “Operation Safe Travel”?
| A．Guilty | B．Offended | C．Disappointed | D．Discouraged |
Undocumented workers became the target of “Operation Safe Travel” because ____．
| A．evidence was found that they were potential terrorists |
| B．most of them worked at airports under threat of terrorists |
| C．terrorists might take advantage of their illegal status |
| D．they were reportedly helping hide terrorists around the airport |
By saying “…we’re going to look the other way in terms of what our laws are”, Mayor Anderson means “______”．
| A．there are other ways of enforcing the law |
| B．we will examine the laws in a different way |
| C．we will turn a blind eye to your illegal status |
| D．the existing laws must not be ignored |
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