The story was so touching that I could hardly ______ my tears.A.hold onB.hold upC.hold on
The story was so touching that I could hardly ______ my tears.
A.hold on
B.hold up
C.hold on to
D.hold back
The story was so touching that I could hardly ______ my tears.
A.hold on
B.hold up
C.hold on to
D.hold back
People in the small village have never heard of ______before.
A.so a shocking story
B.a so shocking story
C.so shocking a story
D.a such shocking story
" Once upon a time there was a certain King who feared famine. So he ordered his men to build an enormous storehouse, which he filled with corn. Then, when it was up, made water-proof and fire-proof, the King felt happy. But one day he noticed a small hole in the roof and as he looked at it, a locust came out with a grain of corn. A minute later, another locust came out with another grain of corn. Then a third locust with another grain of corn. Then a fourth locust, flying at great speed, pushed through the hole and came out with two grains of corn. Then a fifth locust came and. . . "
"Stop, " shouted the Prince. "I can't, " answered the young man. "I must go on until I tell you what happened to each grain of the corn. " "But that will go on forever. " The Prince protested. "Exactly, " the young man replied, and he smiled as he turned towards the Prince's beautiful young daughter.
The Prince always felt regretted about story because______.
A.he had too much wealth
B.there was a terrible famine
C.all stories have ends
D.there was no story-teller
The episode recounted in the passage took place ______.
A.just prior to the outbreak of the Second World War
B.bofore Britain entered the Second World War
C.before the United States entered the Second World War
D.while the United States was in the Second World War
【C12】______ we choose the right kind of books, reading gives the 【C13】______ kind of pleasure. Some books we read simply for pleasure and 【C14】______ -- for example, good novels. And novels and books of imagination must have their 【C15】______ in everyone's reading. When we are tired, or the brain is weary with 【C16】______ study, it is a recreation to 【C17】______ ourselves in some absorbing story written by a 【C18】______ hand.
But to read nothing but books of fiction is like eating nothing but cakes and sweetmeats. 【C19】______ we need plain, wholesome food for the body, so we must have serious reading for the 【C20】______ . And here we can choose according to our taste.
【C1】
A.custom
B.tradition
C.habit
D.convention
(1)
A.abundant
B.informal
C.necessary
D.limited
An Organization that Supports the Arts
Aside from perpetuating itself, the sole purpose of the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters is to "foster, assist and sustain an interest" in literature, music, and art. This it does by enthusiastically handing out money. Annual cash awards are given to deserving artists in various categories of creativity: architecture, musical composition, theater, novels, serious poetry, light verse, painting, sculpture. One award subsidizes a promising American writer' s visit to Rome. There is even an award for a very good work of fiction that failed commercially--once won by the young John Updike for The Poorhouse Fair and, more recently, by Alice Walker for In Love and Trouble.
The awards and prizes are total about 750,000 a year, but most of them range in size from 5,000 to 12,500, a welcome sum to many young practitioners whose work may not bring in that much money in a year. One of the advantages of the awards is that many go to the struggling artists, rather than to those who are already successful. Members of the Academy and Institute are not eligible for any cash prizes. Another advantage is that, unlike the National Endowment for the Arts or similar institutions throughout the world, there is no government money involved.
Awards are made by committee. Each of the three departments----Literature (120 members), Art (83), Music (47)-----has a committee dealing with its own field. Committee membership rotates every year, so that new voices and opinions are constantly heard. The most financially rewarding of all the Academy - Institute awards are the Mildred and Harold Strauss Livings. Harold Strauss, a devoted editor at Alfred A. Knopf, the New York publishing house, and Mildred Strauss, his wife, were wealthy and childless. They left the Academy -Institute a unique bequest: for five consecutive years, two distinguished (and financially needy) writers would receive enough money so they could devote themselves entirely to "prose literature" (no plays, no poetry, and no paying job that might distract). In 1983, the first Strauss Livings of 35,000 a year went to short -story writer Raymond Carver and novelist- essayist Cynthia Ozick. By 1988, the fund had grown enough so that two winners, novelists Diane Johnson and Robert Stone, each got 50,000 a year for five years.
Which of the following can be inferred about Alice Walker' s book In love and Trouble?
A.It sold more copies than The Poorhouse Fair.
B.It described the author' s visit to Rome.
C.It was a commercial success.
D.It was published after The Poorhouse Fair.
听力原文: I had just gone to bed after a very hard day when the phone rang. It was an eccentric farmer. I had never met him before although I had often heard people talk about him. He sounded quite nervous and he had been talking for a minute or so before I understood anything. Even then all I could make out was that someone called Milly had had a very bad accident. I hadn't the slightest idea who she was but I obviously had to go.
It had been snowing heavily that day and I didn't know the way. I had been driving for at least an hour when I finally found his place. He was standing there, waiting for me. It seemed Milly had died. "She meant more to me than anyone even my own wife!" he said. I could see that he had been crying. I thought something terrible had taken place, a possible scandal. I was even more shocked when he told me he had put her in the barn. "I wouldn't leave her out in the cold!" he said.
Milly had clearly been a secret lover of his. I was about to tell him he could not expect me to cover anything up when he opened the barn door. He lifted his candle and I saw a dark figure on the ground. "She was such a good cow! I wouldn't let anyone but a doctor touch her!" he said, and burst into tears again.
Questions 33 to 35 are based on the passage you have just heard.
33. What do we know about Milly from the story?
34. What might the farmer wish the speaker to do?
35. What is probably the person who told the story?
(30)
A.She had met with an accident.
B.She had caused a scandal.
C.She was seriously ill.
D.She was hidden somewhere.
Clint was playing a game with a girl. I sat in the corner watching him. I didn't feel that I had whatever it took to get up and mix with others because of my self-esteem problem. Finally I got up the courage to order a drink for him. When he got it, he gave me the most dazzling smile. We spent the rest of the evening talking until I realized that it was almost morning. I figured that he was simply being nice to me because I had bought him a drink, but the very next day he called and told me that he could not stop thinking about me and that he wanted to meet my kids too.
(81) About 3 months later, my divorce was final and Clint sat my boys down and asked them if it was all right with them if he asked me to marry him because he could not imagine life without the three of us anymore. I was so touched that he went to my boys and asked for their approval because they were the "men of the house" at the ripe old ages of 2 and 4. They said yes and we have all been together ever since. Clint gave me and my boys a second chance at a wonderful life. (82) Not a day goes by that he doesn't tell we are the best thing that ever has happened to him and that he loves us.
The writer's first marriage was unsuccessful because______ .
A.her husband often woke her up at midnight
B.her husband kept criticizing her
C.she was unattractive
D.she had a self-esteem problem
The trees on the wood-edge were a darkish, brownish green in the full light, for it was the end of August. Beyond, the naked, copper-like shafts and limbs of the pine trees shone in the air. Nearer the rough grass, with its long, brownish stalks all agleam, was full of light. The fowls were round about—the ducks were still swimming on the pond under the pine trees. March looked at it all, saw it all, and did not see it. She heard Banford speaking to the fowls in the distance and she did not hear. What was she thinking about? Heaven knows. Her consciousness was, as it were, held back.
She lowered her eyes, and suddenly saw the fox. He was looking up at her. His chin was pressed down, and his eyes were looking up. They met her eyes. And he knew her. She was spellbound—she knew he knew her. So he looked into her eyes, and her soul failed her. He knew her, he was not daunted.
She straggled, confusedly she came to herself, and saw him making off, with slow leaps over some fallen boughs, slow, imprudent jumps. Then he glanced over his shoulder, and ran smoothly away. She saw his brush held smooth like a feather, she saw his white buttocks twinkle. And he was gone, softly, soft as the wind.
She put her gun to her shoulder, but even then pursed her mouth, knowing it was nonsense to pretend to fire. So she began to walk slowly after him, in the direction he had gone, slowly, pertinaciously. She expected to find him. In her heart she was determined to find him. What she would do when she saw him again she did not consider. But she was determined to find him. So she walked abstractedly about on the edge of the wood, with wide, vivid dark eyes, and a faint flush in her cheeks. She did net think. In strange mindlessness she walked hither and hither...
As soon as supper was over, she rose again to go out, without saying why.
She took her gun again and went to look for the fox. For he had lifted his eyes upon her, and his knowing look seemed to have entered her brain. She did not so much think of him: she was possessed by him. She saw his dark, shrewd, unabashed eye looking into her, knowing her. She felt him invisibly master her spirit. She knew the way he lowered his chin as he looked up, she knew his muzzle, the golden brown, and the grayish white. And again she saw him glance over his shoulder at her, half inviting, half contemptuous and cunning. So she went, with her great startled eyes glowing, her gun under her arm, along the wood edge. Meanwhile the night fell, and a great moon rose above the pine trees.
At the beginning of the story, the fox seems to be all EXCEPT______.
A.cunning
B.fierce
C.defiant
D.annoying
Haughom is far from alone. A host of new studies and plenty of anecdotal evidence show that stress in the workplace is skyrocketing. Whatever the cause, stress levels are at record highs. The statistics are startling. According to a new study by the federal government's Nation al Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, more than half the working people in the U.S. view job stress as a major problem in their lives. This year the European Community officially dubbed stress the second-biggest occupational-health problem facing the continent.
Ten years ago experts warned that stress was out of control, in part because of a shaky economy. What's notable about today's wave of stressed-out workers is that it rises all the way to the top. Lack of control is generally considered one of the biggest job stressors, so it used to be thought that middle managers carried the brunt: sandwiched between the top and the bottom, they end up with little authority. Powerful chief executive officers (CEOs) were seen as the least threatened by stress. But in today's tough economy, top executives don't have as much control as they used to. "Stress is just part of the job, fortunately or unfortunately, stress'is part of our character building," Lebenthal says. "But I think I don't need any more character building. What I need is a vacation."
But if you think that going on vacation is hard—and studies show that 85%of corporate executives don't use all the time off they're entitled to. Being able to handle stress is perhaps the most basic of job expectations. So among the corporate elite, succumbing to it is considered a shameful weakness. Stress has become the last affliction that people won't dare admit to. Most senior executives who are undergoing treatment for stress—and even many who aren't—refused to talk on the record about the topic."Nothing good can come out of having your name in a story like this," one CEO said through his therapist.
What is this passage mainly about?
A.Increasingly serious lack of work places.
B.The second biggest disease in the world.
C.The most serious problem people have to face.
D.Increasingly serious stress faced by working people.