科目:高中英语 来源:江苏省宿迁市2010届高三下学期第二次模拟考试试题(英语) 题型:阅读理解
The Girl Who Fell From the Sky
From its opening lines – “ ‘You my lucky piece,’ Grandma says.... Her hand is wrapped around mine” – Heidi W. Durrow pulls us into her first novel, a moving story encircling us as firmly as that protective grandmotherly grip.
When we meet Rachel Morse, the daughter of an African-American GI and a Danish woman, she is just moving into the Portland, Oregon., home of her strong-minded paternal grandmother and her warm, classy Aunt Loretta. We soon learn that Rachel has survived a fall from a nine-story apartment building in which her mother, brother, and baby sister all died. Three months earlier, Rachel’s mother had left her alcoholic husband in Germany, following her “orange-haired” lover to Chicago. But Nella hadn’t been prepared for boyfriend’s drinking and racism, or for the looks and questions she gets as the mother of three brown children.
Rachel’s “new-girl feeling” in her grandmother’s home goes beyond her recent tragedy. Having grown up with a Scandinavian mother in the more colorblind society of an overseas Army base, this is her first time in a mostly black community. Her light-brown skin, “fuzzy” hair, and blue eyes raise questions about her racial identity that are entirely new and puzzling to her.
Starting sixth grade in her new school, Rachel notes, “There are fifteen black people in the class and seven white people. And there’s me. There’s another girl who sits in the back. Her name is Carmen LaGuardia, and she has hair like mine, my same color skin, and she counts as black. I don’t understand how, but she seems to know.” Several years later, in high school, her status remains uncertain. “They call me an Oreo. I don’t want to be white. Sometimes I want to go back to being what I was. I want to be nothing.”
Winner of the Bellwether Prize, created by Barbara Kingsolver to celebrate fiction that addresses issues of social injustice, “The Girl Who Fell From the Sky” comes at a time when bi-racial and multicultural identity – so markedly represented by President Obama – is especially topical.
But set in the 1980s and focusing on one unusually sympathetic girl overcoming family tragedy and feeling her way through racial tensions, Durrow’s novel surpasses topicality.
Like Rachel, Durrow is the light-brown-skinned, blue-eyed daughter of a Danish mother and an African-American father enlisted in the Air Force. With degrees from Stanford, Columbia Journalism School, and Yale Law School, it’s no wonder she gives her heroine discipline and brains.
Rachel’s life, however, is clearly not Durrow’s. No, there’s alcohol and drug addiction; deaths by fire, trauma, and infection. There are mothers who lose their children, and a saintly drug counselor who loses his beloved girl-friend. Through it all, what makes Durrow’s novel soar is her masterful sense of voice, her assured, delicate handling of complex racial issues – and her heart.
After hearing the blues music for the first time, Rachel feels what her mother called hyggeligt – “something like comfort and home and love all rolled into one.” She wonders what might have happened if her mother had known about such soulful music, “that sometimes there’s a way to take the sadness and turn it into a beautiful song.”
This, of course, is precisely what Durrow has done in this powerful book: taken sadness and turned it into a beautiful song.
60. What should be the direct cause of Rachel coming to Portland, Oregon?
A. Her mother left her alcoholic father.
B. A deadly tragedy happened to her family.
C. Her grandmother wants her to come and stay with her.
D. There was too much racism where she used to live with her mother.
61. Durrow’s life is different from Rachel’s in that _____________.
A. Durrow has to struggle through her life, depending on herself.
B. Durrow is troubled in her life by racism, living in a poor neighborhood.
C. Durrow has come through life much easier, with a better family background.
D. There’s alcohol and drug addiction in Durrow’s suffering-laden neighborhood.
62. Why does the writer of the book review mention President Obama in this writing?
A. To show the progress in America’s black community.
B. To highlight the racial harmony in the United States.
C. To indicate Obama’s influence in helping Durrow win the Bellwether Prize.
D. To remind readers of the background when the novel was written and won the Bellwether Prize.
63. The blues music Rachel hears is, deep at the bottom of her heart, most suggestive of ______.
A. bravery B. hope C. sadness D. beauty
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科目:高中英语 来源:2010年高考英语试题分类汇编——人物传记类阅读理解 题型:阅读理解
阅读下列短文,从每题所给的四个选项(A、B、C和D)中,选出最佳选项,并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
F . Scott Fitzgerald, born on September 24,1896, an American novelist, w as once a student of St.Paul Academy, the Newman School and attended Princeton. University for a short while. In 1917 he joined the army and was posted in Alabama, where he met his future wife Zelda Sayre. Then he had to make some money to impress her.
His life with her was full of great happiness, as he wrote in his diary :“ My own happiness in the past often approached such joy that I could share it even with the person dearest to me but had to walk it away in quiet streets and take down parts of it in my diary.”
This side of paradise, his first novel, was published in 1920. encouraged by its success, Fitzgerald began to devote more time to his writing. Then he continued with the novel the Beautiful and Damned (1922), a collection of short stories Thales of the Jazz Age (1922), and a play The Vegetable (1923). But his greatest success was The Great Gatsby, published in 1925,which quick brought him praise from the literary world. Yet it failed to give him the needed financial security. Then, in 1926, he published another collection lf short stories All the Sad Young Men.
However, Fitzgerald’s problems with his wife Zelda affected his writing. During the 1920s he tried to reorder his life, but failed. By 1930, his wife had her first breakdown and went to a Swiss clinic. During this period he completed novels Tender Is the Night in 1934 and The love of the last Tycoon in 1940. while his wife was in hospital in the United States, he got totally addicted to alcohol. Sheila Graham, his dear friend, helped him fight his alcoholism.
56. How many novels written by Fitzgerald are mentioned in the passage ?
A. 5 B. 6 C. 7 D. 8
57. Which of the following is the correct order to describe Fitzgerald’s life according to the passage?
a. He became addicted to drinking.
b. He studied at St.Paul Academy.
c. He published his first novel This Side of Paradise.
d. The Great Gatsby won high praise.
e. He failed to reorder his life.
f. He joined the army and met Zelda.
A.f-c-e-a-b-d B. b-e-a-f-c-d C. f-d-e-c-b-a D. b-f-c-d-e-a
58. We can infer from the passage that Fitzgerald .
A. had made some money when he met Zelda in Alabama.
B. was well educated and well off before he served in the army
C. would have completed more works if his wife hadn’t broken down
D. helped his friend get rid of drinking while his wife was in hospital
59. The passage is probably followed by a concluding paragraph about .
A. Zelda’s personal life
B. Zelda’s illness and treatment
C. Fitzgerald’s friendship with Graham
D. Fitzgerald’s contributions to the literary world
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科目:高中英语 来源:2011届重庆八中上学期高三第一次月考英语试题 题型:阅读理解
Nobody Benefits
NEW YORK—America has been experiencing the longest economic increase in its history.Incomes have risen, unemployment has fallen, and cities such as New York are bursting with new office buildings.
But just a short walk from Manhattan's skyscrapers, George Brown sits on the side-walk, cooking a lunch of rice and bits of fish over a can of cooking fuel.
Brown is homeless — one of the 2.3 million people in the US who end up on the street.
During the day, Brown collects aluminium cans and sells them for five cents a piece.At night, he sleeps on the street.w.w.w.k.s.5.u.c.o.m
"I have been on the street about eight or nine years, something like that," said the 62-year-old former construction worker.
Brown admits he's had problems with alcohol and has smoked cocaine.But he said he still wants a more stable housing arrangement.He could afford it just with the money he earns by collecting cans and small pieces of metal, if only truly low-income housing were available.
However, he sees no hope of finding affordable housing in New York.
With the strong economy and unemployment down, beautiful housing is being built to meet demand.
A US report shows rents in New York city rose more than 27 percent between 1984 and 1999, from US $549 to US $700 a month.
One of the side effects of the strong economy is that rents have been going up.
The majority of people who experience homelessness really just need some affordable housing help.
But few housing companies have been built for the poor.Many small apartments in the city now rent for US $1,500 a month or more.
Brown, the homeless New Yorker, said he has a daughter who lives in the city but he rarely sees her.She is angry about his drinking and won't allow it in her house.
Smiling, he said he also has seven grandchildren whom he'd like to see more often.
"All I've got to do is clean up my act," he said.
【小题1】What kind of life does George Brown lead?
A.Homeless and dangerous. |
B.Homeless and childish. |
C.Homeless and miserable (痛苦的). |
D.Homeless and sleepless. |
A.old Americans lead a hard life |
B.old Americans want to live alone |
C.American cities are crowded with poor people w.w.w.k.s.5.u.c.o.m |
D.bad habits play a role in some poor people's Life |
A.America is short of housing companies |
B.the poor can't benefit from the increasing economy |
C.poor people in America will become rich |
D.housing companies will build more houses for the poor |
A.Society. | B.Science. | C.Economy. | D.Business. |
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科目:高中英语 来源:2010-2011学年吉林省长春十一中高一下学期期末考试英语卷 题型:填空题
阅读下列每个句子,根据空白处的汉语提示,填入适当词汇。每空仅限一词。
【小题1】Now the government is paying more attention to _____ (农业).
【小题2】W out! There is a car coming!
【小题3】 felt so sleepy that I couldn’t stop _____ (打哈欠).
【小题4】 From her (面部)expression we can read her dissatisfaction.
【小题5】Customs officers examined all (行李) at the airport.
【小题6】 It’s an old t for Chinese to get together and eat dumplings on the eve of the Spring Festival.
【小题7】They didn’t fight, but stood there _____ (怒视) at each other.
【小题8】You should receive a reply w seven days.
【小题9】They are having a heated a over whether drinking is bad for health.
【小题10】 The lake (包围) by trees is a nice place to visit.
【小题11】After his wife died, the man often d his sadness in wine.
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科目:高中英语 来源:2014届新疆兵团农三师第一中学高二下学期第一次月考英语卷(解析版) 题型:单词拼写
语境填词, 注意动词形式。(每空1分,满分25分)
1.Everyone think it is _(荒谬的)to predict that the sun will not rise tomorrow.
2.They marked the ________(分界线)of the football fields several days before the game.
3.We all __________ (渴望)peace and happiness.
4.Flower arrangement ()is an__________ (高雅的)art.
5.The new law__________ (宣告)that this was illegal.
6.She__________ (陪伴)her friend to the concert last night.
7.The theatre has very good access for the _________________ (残疾人).
8.They have made an_________(紧急)request for international aid.
9.The foundation would like to launch programs for providing _____________ (援助) for poor areas in Africa.
10.The novel is an important form of _ ______.(文学)
11.One of her a ___________ is to become a doctor.
12.Remember not to e______ them by asking personal questions.
13.The girl gave a v_________description of the event.
14.Hotel a_________was scarce during the Olympic Games.
15.Did anyone w________the traffic accident?
16.Don’t a______yourself to drinking.
17.When you _____ ______ trouble and need help, please turn to me .
18.This machine is invented to ______ _____ the quality of the products.
19.I quickly_____ _____ the change in temperature.
20.She was _____ _____ _____ when hearing the sound of explosion(爆炸).
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