It was about midday. I’d left work early in the morning to cash a cheque. I walked along to the bank, and found that there weren’t too many people about ten or eleven customers in there, which was pretty unusual for those central city banks.
I waited until it was my turn and just went up to the desk and started to talk to the bank clerk. He had a really strange expression on his face -- just sort of blank stare at least I thought he was looking at me and then I realized he was staring over my shoulder.
I began to turn round to see what he was looking at. At the same moment the outside bank guard came flying through the door and lay face down on the floor and following him through the door were three frightening masked men. They were carrying guns; at least I think the one in front was carrying a gun. Whether or not they said anything at that point I can’t remember to this day, or whether people just automatically put their hands up I’ve just no idea.
For a few moments there was just total silence, suddenly broken by the telephone ringing and I remember thinking and wondering who was on the other end of the telephone. Nobody went to answer the telephone, so this thing just kept on ringing and ringing. Then two of the masked men went to the counter, jumped over it and got the cashiers and the bank clerks to start filling the bags with cash. While the two were getting the money, the one at the door who was covering us with the gun was a bit frightened. He started swearing at them, and telling them to hurry up, to get a move on. They jumped back over the counter. One of them slipped as he landed on the floor and fell over and the other two swore at him again. They left through the door. Warning us, “Don’t move, stay like that with your hands up for ten minutes.” And then they just disappeared. Again back to total silence. People put their hands down, I put my hands down but I just stayed exactly where I was.
【小题1】What does the writer mean by saying “…a pretty unusual number for those central banks” in the first paragraph?

EI've been writing for most of my life. The book Writing Without Teachers introduced me to one difference and one practice that have greatly helped my writing processes. The difference is between the creative mind and the critical mind. While you need to use both of the creative mind and the critical (批判) mind to reach a finished result，they cannot work in parallel (平行，并行) no matter how much we might like to think so.
　Trying to criticize writing on the fly is possibly the single greatest trouble with writing that most of us meet. If you are listening to a 5th grade English teacher correcting your grammar while you are trying to capture a fleeting（稍纵即逝的）thought, the thought will die. If you catch the fleeting thought and simply share it with the world in raw form, no one is likely to understand. You must learn to create first and then criticize if you want to make writing the tool for thinking as it is.
　The practice that can help you overcome your learned bad habits of trying to edit as you write is what Elbow calls“free writing”. In free writing, the goal is to get words down on paper non-stop，usually for 15-20 minutes. No stopping, no going back, no criticizing. The aim is to get the words flowing. As the words begin to flow，the ideas will come from the shadows and let themselves be captured on your notepad or your screen.
　Now you have raw materials that you can begin to work with using the critical mind that you’ve persuaded to sit on the side and watch quietly. Most likely，you will believe that this will take more time than you actually have and you will end up staring blankly at the pages as the deadline draws near.
　Instead of staring at a blank start and filling it with words no matter how bad they could be，stop halfway through your available time and rework your raw writing into something closer to the finished product. Move back and forth until you run out of time and the final result will most likely be far better than your current practices.
1. When the author says the creative mind and the critical mind“cannot work in parallel”in the writing process，he means _______.
A. no one can be both creative and critical              
B. they can’t be regarded as equally important
C. they are in constant conflict with each other 
D. one cannot use them at the same time
2. What usually prevents people from writing on is _______.
A. putting their ideas in raw form            B. attempting to edit as they’re writing
C. ignoring grammatical problems           D. trying to capture their fleeting thoughts
3. What is the chief purpose of the first stage of writing？
A. To organize one’s thoughts logically.    B. To choose an appropriate topic.
C. To get one’s ideas down quickly.          D. To collect many more raw materials.
4. In what way does the critical mind help the writer in the writing process？
A. It refines(improves) his writing into a better shape. 
B. It helps him to come up with new ideas.
C. It saves the writing time available to him.
D. It allows him to sit on the side and observe.

When women sit together to watch a movie on TV, they usually talk simultaneously（同时的）about a variety of subjects, including children, men, careers and what’ s happening in their lives. When groups of men and women watch a movie together, the men usually end up telling the women to shut up. Men can either talk or watch the screen -- they can’ t do both -- and they don’ t understand that women can. Besides, women consider that the point of all getting together is to have a good time and develop relationships -- not just to sit there like couch potatoes staring at the screen.
During the ad breaks, a man often asks a woman to explain the plot and tell him where the relationship between the characters is going. He is unable, unlike women, to read the subtle body language signals that reveal how the characters are feeling emotionally. Since women originally spent their days with the other women and children in the group,  they developed the ability to communicate successfully in order to maintain relationships. For a woman, speech continues to have such a clear purpose: to build relationships and make friends. For men, to talk is to relate the facts.
Men see the telephone as a communication tool for sending facts and information to other people, but a woman sees it as a means of bonding. A woman can spend two weeks on vacation with her girlfriend and, when she returns home, telephone the same girlfriend and talk for another two hours.
There is no convincing evidence that social conditioning, the fact that girls’ mothers talked them more, is the reason why girls talk more than boys. Psychiatrist Dr Michael Lewis, author Social Behaviour and Language Acquisition, conducted experiments that found mothers talked to and looked at, baby girls more often than baby boys. Scientific evidence shows parents respond the brain bias of their children. Since a girl’ s brain is better organized to send and receive speech, we therefore talk to them more. Consequently, mothers who try to talk to their sons are usually pointed to receive only short grunts in reply.
【小题1】While watching TV with others, women usually talk a lot because they       

“Yes, I'll be ready at nine in the morning. Goodbye, dear, and thanks again. ”It had not been an easy telephone call for Mrs. Robson to make．Her daughter had been very kind，of course，and had immediately agreed to pick her up and drive her to the station，but Mrs. Robson hated to admit that she needed help．Since her husband had died ten years before，she had prided herself on her independence．She had continued to live in their little house, alone．
On the evening, however，she was standing at her living-room window，staring out at the SOLD notice in the small front garden . Her feelings were mixed．Of course，she was sad at the thought of leaving the house，as it was full of many memories．But at the same time she was looking forward to spending her last years near the sea，back in the little seaside town where she had been born. With the money from the sale of the house，she had bought a little flat there. She turned from the living room window，and looked mindedly at the walls. There was a small fish tank，with two goldfish in it. When asked why，her husband used to say，“It’s nice to have something alive in the room．’’Since he had passed away，she had always kept some goldfish，had always had “something alive in the room”．
The next morning，as her train was pulling out of the station，Mrs. Robson called to her daughter．“Kate，you won’t forget to collect the goldfish，will you? The children will love them. It’s…”，
“I know.” Kate interrupted gently. “It s nice to have something alive in the room.”
53. According to the passage，we know that Mrs. Robson____
A. was tired of living alone
B. was not liked by her daughter
C. did not like asking people for help
D. did not want to be visited by her daughter
54. Mrs. Robson was going to         ．
A. be in hospital                B. 1ive with her daughter
C. travel abroad alone           D. move to her hometown
55. The feelings of Mrs. Robson on her last night in the house were         
A. sad and hopeful             B. regretful and excited
C. sad and regretful            D. excited and hopeful
56. From the last two paragraphs，we can know that Mrs. Robson        ．
A．enjoyed keeping pets at home
B．missed her husband very much
C．had the same hobby with her husband
D．was worried about her daughter’s bad memory

EI've been writing for most of my life. The book Writing Without Teachers introduced me to one difference and one practice that have greatly helped my writing processes. The difference is between the creative mind and the critical mind. While you need to use both of the creative mind and the critical (批判) mind to reach a finished result，they cannot work in parallel (平行，并行) no matter how much we might like to think so.

　Trying to criticize writing on the fly is possibly the single greatest trouble with writing that most of us meet. If you are listening to a 5th grade English teacher correcting your grammar while you are trying to capture a fleeting（稍纵即逝的）thought, the thought will die. If you catch the fleeting thought and simply share it with the world in raw form, no one is likely to understand. You must learn to create first and then criticize if you want to make writing the tool for thinking as it is.

　The practice that can help you overcome your learned bad habits of trying to edit as you write is what Elbow calls“free writing”. In free writing, the goal is to get words down on paper non-stop，usually for 15-20 minutes. No stopping, no going back, no criticizing. The aim is to get the words flowing. As the words begin to flow，the ideas will come from the shadows and let themselves be captured on your notepad or your screen.

　Now you have raw materials that you can begin to work with using the critical mind that you’ve persuaded to sit on the side and watch quietly. Most likely，you will believe that this will take more time than you actually have and you will end up staring blankly at the pages as the deadline draws near.

　Instead of staring at a blank start and filling it with words no matter how bad they could be，stop halfway through your available time and rework your raw writing into something closer to the finished product. Move back and forth until you run out of time and the final result will most likely be far better than your current practices.

1. When the author says the creative mind and the critical mind“cannot work in parallel”in the writing process，he means _______.

A. no one can be both creative and critical               

B. they can’t be regarded as equally important

C. they are in constant conflict with each other 

D. one cannot use them at the same time

2. What usually prevents people from writing on is _______.

A. putting their ideas in raw form             B. attempting to edit as they’re writing

C. ignoring grammatical problems            D. trying to capture their fleeting thoughts

3. What is the chief purpose of the first stage of writing？

A. To organize one’s thoughts logically.     B. To choose an appropriate topic.

C. To get one’s ideas down quickly.           D. To collect many more raw materials.

4. In what way does the critical mind help the writer in the writing process？

A. It refines(improves) his writing into a better shape. 

B. It helps him to come up with new ideas.

C. It saves the writing time available to him.

D. It allows him to sit on the side and observe.