Ms Tan，you've referred to your new novel as your eighth book.

That's because it took me six or seven attempts at a second novel before I started and completed this one.

●Why do you think you had so many false starts?

I would say that my reasons were wrong：I was trying to prove that I wasn't just a mother-daughter storyteller，or I was trying to prove that I didn't just have to write about things that were strictly Chinese or Chinese-American.Those were never the right reasons for writing those early stories.And I could never come up with other，better reasons for continuing them.

●What kept you going on this book?

This book was different because it was based on my mother's real life.The reason for writing it became more personal and emotional.After The Joy Luck Club came out，my mother was always explaining to people that she wasn't any of the mothers in that book.And at one point she said to me，“Next book tells my true story.”And then she started telling me things I never knew before.She also told me many，many stories，because my mother doesn't generalize.The book really grew out of that.

●Have you ever visited China?

Yes.I've been there twice：about three years ago and then again last November，both times with my mother and my husband.

●Was it difficult to capture the Chinese-American dialect without sounding like a parody(拙劣的模仿)?

No，because it's the language I've heard all my life from my mother.She speaks English as it's direct translation from Chinese.But it's more than that：Her language also has more imagery than English.

●Can you think of an example?

Somebody might say to me，“Don't work so hard.You'll kill yourself.”My mother will say to me，“Why do you press all your brains out on this page for someone else？”So it's very vivid.That's the way she talks.

●Have many readers told you that the Chinese mother in your book reminded them of the typical Jewish(有癖好的)mother?

Many people have told me that.I think the mother-daughter relationship is very intense in both cases.Culturally there is an acceptance that mothers have the power to tell their children，especially their daughters，how to conduct their lives—not simply up until the time they are 18，but for the rest of their lives.However，when children grow up in a different culture from their parents'，they tend to keep more secrets from their parents.The children think，“They just wouldn't understand that I had to do this.”And that can really create a gap，and it can grow as the number of secrets grows.

1．Based on the questions in this interview，what do you think Ms Tan's profession is?

A．A journalist.　　　　　　     B．A storywriter.

C．An interviewer.                    D．An interviewee.

2．What's TRUE about Tan's second book?

A．It's about her real life in America.

B．The name of the book is The Joy Luck Club.

C．It is the result of many times of careful thought.

D．It includes many works of her mother.

3．Which question is NOT answered in the interview?

A．How does she think of her mother's language?

B．How many books does she plan to write?

C．When did she visit China?

D．How is generation gap created?

4．The last paragraph mainly talks about ________.

A．how to keep secrets from parents

B．how to deal with the mother-daughter relationship

C．how to conduct the lives

D．how the generation gap comes about

Angelina Jolie says she has a really wonderful time with her partner Brad Pitt, who is an American actor and film producer — and that's why they're still together!  

Jolie __16__ six children with the actor. She was __17__ by America's Parade magazine if their children are the __18__ she and Brad stay together.

“The children certainly tie us together, but a relationship won't __19__ if it's only about the kids,” Jolie replied. “You also must be really interested in each other and have a really, really wonderful, __20__ time together. We do. Brad and I __21__ being together. We enjoy it. We need it, and we __22__ find that special time. We keep connected. We talk about it. It's very __23__ to our family. If Brad and I are strong and happy, then our kids have happy __24__ and that's the best thing we can give them. Brad knows me completely,  __25__ as I am, every part of me. He loves me. The kids love me. Hopefully I'm giving my children the __26__ that they are deeply loved and deeply safe. At the same time we are hopefully __27__ their individuality (个性) as they get to know who they are, and not getting in the way of that. That's why they are six very strong individuals.”

The Oscar­winning star showed __28__ of helping her children develop their individuality is __29__ them to develop their own identities (自我认同感), __30__ she admitted that she can't __31__  the recent controversy (争论) with Brad when she agreed that her daughter Shiloh could cut her hair short and  __32__  like a boy. For example, she usually wears a jacket instead of a skirt.

Angelina added to __33__, “She wants her hair cut like a boy and she wants to be __34__ John for a while. Some kids wear caps and want to be Superman and she wants to be like her __35__.”

16．A. finds　　          B．teaches                 C．raises                    D．hires

17．A. written            B．reported                       C．stopped                 D．asked

18．A. reason             B．intention               C．purpose                 D．result

19．A. break                B．hold                     C．lose                      D．happen

20．A. boring             B．disappointing  C．exciting                 D．surprising

21．A. love                 B．avoid                     C．hate                      D．consider

22．A. never               B．seldom                  C．always                  D．sometimes

23．A. easy                       B．different                C．far                        D．important

24．A. parents            B．classmates             C．relatives                D．neighbors

25．A. mostly             B．only                      C．exactly                  D．simply

26．A. knowledge       B．sense                    C．sight                     D．view

27．A. changing          B．forming                 C．encouraging           D．destroying

28．A. little          B．none                     C．all                        D．part

29．A. forcing            B．allowing                C．warning                       D．refusing

30．A. and                 B．though                  C．because                 D．but

31．A. remember         B．explain                  C．realize                   D．understand

32．A. walk                 B．dress                     C．eat                        D．think

33．A. doctors            B．players                  C．readers                  D．reporters

34．A. mistaken          B．called                     C．recognized           D．made

35．A. brothers           B．sisters                    C．uncles                 D．aunts

—Is there any possibility        you could pick me up at the airport?
—No problem.

Rather than ____ on a crowded bus, he always prefers _____ a bicycle.

--- That’s a lovely dress.
　　--- Do you think so? My aunt gave it to me for my birthday, but I don’t _____ the color.