Alice Munro has won the 2013 Nobel Prize in Literature. The short story writer is the first-ever Canadian, and the 13th woman, to win the prize. She has been called “the master of the modern short story”.

Alice Munro was born on July 10, 1931, just outside Wingham, Ontario, which has appeared in her stories many times.

Munro said that she began to escape into books when she was only ten years old. After her mother was diagnosed(诊断)with a serious disease, she started to throw herself into the world of books to make herself feel better.

Munro was a late bloomer(大器晚成) as a writer. She produced her first collection when she was 37 and didn’t get known outside Canada until the 1970s.

In fact, Munro works with an easy-to-read writing style, which is often described to be “practically perfect”. Her story, The Bear Came Over the Mountain, was made into a movie called Away From Her.

The 83-year-old author is often compared to Chekhov, the 19th century Russian who is considered one of the greatest short story writers in history.

Munro lived for many years in the small town of Clinton, Opt, but she was so shy that many people in the town didn’t know who she was. Munro said she was trying to be more social and accept invitations and go out to see people.

1.Who is Alice Munro?

2.How old is Alice Munro?

3.Why did she escape into books?

4.Can readers find any information about Wingham in Munro’s stories?

5.What is the film Away From Her based on?

6.What kind of person do you think Alice Munro is? Tell us your impression of her in TWO to THREE sentences.

Jack was too heavy and didn’t have a girlfriend. He felt very sad and went to a doctor for help. The doctor told him to eat less and exercise often.
One day, Jack was sitting by the road with his dog. Then a policeman came over. Jack stood up and began to run down the road. The policeman saw that and ran after him at once. After a few minutes the policeman caught Jack.
“Where are you going?” said the policeman. “Why did you begin to run when you saw me?” “Oh, no,” said the young man, “I am just doing exercise . Because I am too heavy, the doctor told me that I must run every day.”
“Oh, I see,” said the policeman. “sorry. You run to help yourself to keep healthy. That’s so good!” Then he ran after Jack to help him.
【小题1】Jack wanted to          .
A. be good at running                B. makes friends with the policeman
C. help himself to lose weight(重量)
【小题2】At first the policeman found the young man          .
A. was sitting and playing near the river
B. was playing with his dog by the road
C. was sitting by the road with his dog
【小题3】Who ran faster?
A. Jack.               B. The policeman.               C. The dog.
【小题4】Which of the following is NOT TRUE?
A. The policeman thought Jack was a bad man.
B. The doctor told Jack to run after the policeman.
C. The policeman said sorry to Jack.
【小题5】At last, the policeman ran after Jack because he          .
A. wanted to help Jack to lose weight            B. wanted to be a good policeman
C. wanted to keep healthy as well

完形填空
When I was in Grade Three, I was chosen to the heroine in the school play.
For weeks my mother helped me  1  my lines(台词), But once on stage.  Every word disappeared   2  my head.  My teacher asked me to change   3 and be the narrator.
Although I didn’t tell my mother  4 had happened that day, she   5 my unhappiness and asked if I wanted to take a walk in the yard.
It was a lovely  6 day.  It was warm.  In the yard all the flowers came out.  We could see lots of dandelions dancing among the colorful flowers.  How beautiful they were! I watched my mother carelessly bend down by some flowers.  “I think I am going to   7 all the useless grass. ” She said.
“But I like dandelions,” I said, “All flowers are   8  — even dandelions”.
My mother looked at me   9 .  “Yes, every flower shines in its own way, doesn’t it?” she said.  I nodded.  “So that is  10  of people, too. ” She added.
She had guessed my   11 .  I started to cry and told her the truth.
“You will be a great narrator. ” She said.  Then she told me   12 I loved to read stories to her when I was in Grade 1.
Over the next few   13 I learned to take pride in the role.  The big day finally   14 .  A few minutes before the play, my teacher came over to me.  “Your mother asked me to give this to you,” she said, passing me a dandelion.  After the play, I took the flower home, laughing that I was perhaps   15 person who would keep such a common dandelion.

综合填空（每小题1分，共10分）

Long, long ago there was a bad king. All of his people h  1.   him.

One hot day he was taking a walk along a river when he decided to have a swim in it. He was a good s  2.   . But while he was in the river, he s  3. fell ill, and was nearly drowned(淹死). At that time two f  4. were working in the field n  5.They came over, jumped into the river, and he was s  6.   . They didn’t know who he was until they p  7.   him out of the water.

The king was happy. He said to the two farmers, “Ask for a  8.  , I’ll give it to you. I’m the r  9.   in the world. And today you have saved my life.”

One of them answered, “You can do one thing for us.” “What is it?” asked the king. He thought that they would ask for a lot of money.

“Don’t tell a  10.  that we have saved you.”

完形填空 (本大题共10小题，每小题1分，共10分)
There was once a blind girl who hated herself because she was blind. She 46. ________ everyone, except her boyfriend. He was always there for her. The blind girl said that if she could see the world, she would 47. ________ him.
One day, someone donated a pair of eyes to the blind girl. She could see 48. ________ , including her boyfriend. Her boyfriend asked her, “Now you can see the 49. ________ , will you marry me? ” The girl was surprised when she saw that her boyfriend was blind, too. She 50. ________ to marry him. Her boyfriend 51. ________ sadly, and later wrote a letter to the girl saying, “Just take care of my eyes, dear.”
This is how human changes when situations change. Only 52. ________ people remember what life was like before and the people who were always there even in the 53. ________ situations.
Hold every person close to your heart because you might wake up one day and 54. ________ that you have lost a diamond (钻石) while you were too busy collecting stones. You learn to love, not by finding a(n) 55. ________ person, but by learning to see an imperfect person perfectly.