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(已故的)woman said to me, “ If only I had 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 believe 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 its 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.

1. What is said about the two deceased elderly women?

A. They lived out a natural life.

B. They died of exhaustion after the long plane ride.

C. They weren’t used to the change in weather.

D. They died due to lack of care by family members.

2. The author had to conduct the two women’s funerals probably because ______.

A. he wanted to comfort the two families

B. he was an official from the community

C. he had great pity for the deceased

D. he was minister of the local church

3. People feel guilty for the deaths of their loved ones because _____.

A. they couldn’t find a better way to express their sorrow

B. they believe that they were responsible

C. they had neglected the natural course of events

D. they didn’t know things often turn in the opposite direction

4. According to the passage, the underlined part in paragraph 4 probably means that_____.

A. everything in the world is predetermined

B. the world can be explained in different ways

C. there is an explanation for everything in the world

D. we have to be sensible in order to understand the world

5. What’s the idea of the passage?

A. Life and death is an unsolved mystery.

B. Every story should have a happy ending.

C. Never feel guilty all the time because not every disaster is our fault.

D. In general, the survivors will feel guilty about the people who passed away.

 

It is true that good writers rewrite and rewrite and then rewrite some more.But in order to work up the desire to rewrite，it is important to learn to like what you write at the early stage.

I am surprised at the number of famous writers I know who say that they so dislike reading their own writing later that they even hate to look over the publishers' opinions.One reason we may dislike reading our own work is that we're often disappointed that the rich ideas in our minds seem very thin and plain when first written down.Jerry Fodor and Steven Pinker suggest that this fact may be a result of how our minds work.

Different from popular belief，we do not usually think in the words and sentences of ordinary language but in symbols for ideas (known as‘mentalese’)，and writing our ideas down is an act of translation from that symbolic language.But while mentalese contains our thoughts in the form of a complex tapestry (织锦)，writing can only be composed one thread at a time.Therefore it should not be surprising that our first attempt at expressing ideas should look so simple.It is only by repeatedly rewriting that we produce new threads and connect them to get closer to the ideas formed in our minds.

When people write as if some strict critics (批评家) are looking over their shoulder，they are so worried about what this critic might say that they get stuck before they even start.Peter Elbow makes an excellent suggestion to deal with this problem.When writing we should have two different minds.At the first stage，we should see every idea，as well as the words we use to express it，as wonderful and worth putting down.It is only during rewrites that we should examine what we excitedly wrote in the first stage and check for weaknesses.

68．What do we learn from the text about those famous writers?

A．They often regret writing poor works.

B．Some of them write surprisingly much.

C．Many of them hate reading their own works.

D．They are happy to review the publishers' opinions.

69．What do people generally believe about the way human minds work?

A．People think in words and sentences.

B．Human ideas are translated into symbols.

C．People think by connecting threads of ideas.

D．Human thoughts are expressed through pictures.

70．What can we conclude from the text?

A．Most people believe we think in symbols.

B．Loving our own writing is scientifically reasonable.

C．The writers and critics can never reach an agreement.

D．Thinking and writing are different stages of mind at work.

   

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(已故的)woman said to me, “ If only I had 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 are 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 believe 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 its 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.
【小题1】What is said about the two diseased elderly women?

A．They lived out a natural life

B．They died of exhaustion after the long plane ride

C．They weren’t used to the change in weather.

D．They died due to lack of care by family members.

【小题2】The author had to conduct the two women’s funerals probably because ______.

A．he wanted to comfort the two families

B．he was an official from the community

C．he had great pity for the deceased

D．he was minister of the local church

【小题3】People feel guilty for the deaths of their loved ones because _____.

A．they couldn’t find a better way to express their sorrow

B．they believe that they were responsible

C．they had neglected the natural course of events

D．they didn’t know things often turn in the opposite direction

【小题4】According to the passage, the underlined part in paragraph 4 probably means that_____.

A．everything in the world is predetermined

B．the world can be interpreted in different ways

C．there is an explanation for everything in the world

D．we have to be sensible in order to understand the world

【小题5】What’s the idea of the passage?

A．Life and death is an unsolved mystery.

B．Every story should have a happy ending.

C．Never feel guilty all the time because not every disaster is our fault.

D．In general, the survivors will feel guilty about the people who passed away.

Some people have very good memories, and can  26  learn quite long poems by ___27__ . There are other people who can only __28__ things that they have said again and again.

   A __29__ memory is a great help in learning a language. __30__ learns his own language by remembering __31__ he hears when he is a small child. Some children __32__in their own country, and they seem to learn two languages ___33__ as easily as one. In school it is not so easy to learn __34__ foreign language because students have so __35 __time for it and they are busy with other lessons, too.

  A man’s mind is rather like a camera, but it takes photos not only __36__ what we see but also of what we feel, hear, smell and taste. When we take a real photo__37__a camera, there is much to do when the photo is finished and __38__to show to our friends. In the same way there is much work __39__ before we can keep a picture __40__ in our minds.

1.A. easy            B. easily             C. interesting             D. interestingly

2.A. heart            B. mind            C. memory                   D. attention

3.A. notice           B. recognize        C. remember            D. learn

4.A. good            B. poor            C. rich                 D. bad

5.A. Nobody        B. Somebody      C. Everybody            D. Anybody

6.A. that                   B. which         C. /                  D. what 

7.A .live                   B. don’t live      C. didn’t live          D. lived

8.A. almost         B. mostly          C. nearby              D. hardly

9.A. the            B. this             C. one               D. a

10.A. much        B. little            C. many               D. few

11.A. about         B. at               C. with                D. of

12.A. as           B. for              C. of                D. with

13.A. certain               B. ready               C. clear              D. sure

14.A. to be done    B. to be doing    C. having been done    D. being done

15.A. up          B. on              C. ever                           D. forever

 

阅读下面短文，掌握其大意，然后从第31至第40小题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。

A high school history teacher once told us, “If you make one close friend in school, you will be most fortunate. A true friend is someone who stays with you for life."   31  _ teaches that he was right. Good friendship is just not easily formed.

It is possible that we simply do not stay in one place long enough for true friendship to  32   . However, there can be no disagreement on the need for each of us to think carefully about the kind of friendship we want.

To most of us, friendships are considered very important, but we need to have clear in our minds the kinds of friendship we want. Are they to be close or   33    at arm's length? Do we want to   34      ourselves or do we want to walk on the surface? For some people, many friendships on the surface are quite enough—and that's all right. But at some point we need to make sure that our expectations are the same as our friends' expectations. The sharing of _  35    experience including our tears as well as our dark dreams is the surest way to deepen friendships. But it must be undertaken(进行) slowly and carried on only if there are sign of interest and action in return.

What are some of the _  36  _ of friendship? The greatest is the attraction to expect too much too soon. Deep relationships _  37  _ time. Another “major difficulty" is the selfishness to think one “possesses" the other, including his time and attention. Similarly, friendships     38   actions in return. In other words, you must give as much as you take. Finally there is a question of taking care of. Unless you spend _  39  _ time together, talking on the phone, writing letters, doing things together, friendships will die    40    .?

31. A. Knowledge       B. Teachers                C. Experience               D. Parents

32. A. design           B. intend           C. develop            D. appear

33. A. remained         B. left             C. kept                        D. stayed

34. A. own             B. owe            C. share                 D. spare? 

35. A. social            B. ordinary               C. good                        D. personal

36. A. difficulties        B. differences                  C. advantages                D. things

37. A. cost                      B. spend                          C. ask               D. take? 

38. A. require           B. request                     C. depend                     D. suggest

39. A. reasonable        B. comfortable                 C. less                          D. a lot?

40. A. for                              B. away                           C. out                          D. from