I receive many letters from children and can’t answer them all – there wouldn’t be enough time in a day. I’ll try to answer some of the questions that are commonly asked.

Where did I get the idea for Stuart Little and for Charlotte’s Web? Well, many years ago, I went to bed one night in a railway sleeping car, and during the night I dreamed about a tiny boy who acted rather like a mouse. That’s how the story of Stuart Little got started.

As for Charlotte’s Web, I like animals and my farm is very pleasant place to be – at all hours. One day, when I was on my way to feed the pig, I began feeling sorry for the pig because, like most pigs, he was going to die. This made me sad. So I started thinking of ways to save his life. Three years after I started writing it, it was published. (I am not a fast worker, as you can see.)

Sometimes I’m asked when I started to write, and what made me want to write. I started early – as soon as I could spell. Children often find pleasure through trying to set their thoughts down on paper, either in words or in pictures. I was not good at drawing, so I used words instead. As I grew older, I found that writing could be a way of earning a living.

Well, here is the answer to the last question. No, they are imaginary (虚构的) tales. In real life, a family doesn’t have a child who looks like a mouse and a spider doesn’t write words in her web. Although my stories are imaginary, I like to think that there is some truth in them, too – truth about the way people and animals feel, think and act.

1.E.B. White wrote this passage to ______.

A. introduce his new books

B. introduce two funny stories

C. explain why he enjoys writing

D. answer some readers’ questions

2.We can know from the passage that E.B. White is a writer who ______.

A. writes very fast

B. works on a friends’ farm

C. mainly writes stories for adults

D. writes imaginary tales for children

3.What inspired E.B. White to write Charlotte’s Web?

A. That he wanted children to love animals.

B. That he was deeply impressed by a clever pig.

C. That he wanted to use his own way to save a pig.

D. That he wanted to save the animals on a farm.

4. E.B. White started to write because he wanted to ______.

A. improve his spelling

B. express his thoughts

C. show his sadness

D. make a good living

5.What is probably the last question?

A．Are your stories true?

B．What is the truth in your stories?

C．Will you write more imaginary tales?

D．Do you know a child looking like a mouse?

 

Emanuel’s father liked to declare he’d spent ages by the sea, breathing seawater. Now, away from the sea, in the hospital, his body just looked like a beached fish. His condition went from bad to worse. The doctor came from saying, “He’ll be home in a day,” “He’ll be home in a week,” to “He will be home in a month.”
When Emanuel was a teenager, if he ever seemed bored with the pier(码头), his father would shout, “What ? This isn’t good enough for you?” And later, when he suggested Emanuel take a job at the pier after high school, the boy almost laughed, and his father again said, “What? This isn’t good enough for you?” And before Emanuel went to war, when he talked of marrying Maggie and becoming an engineer, his father said, “What? This isn’t good enough for you?”
And now, here he was, Emanuel helped out at the pier, working evenings after his taxi job, doing his father’s labor.
Parents rarely let go of their children, so children let go of them. They move on. They move away. It is not until much later that children understand: their stories and all their accomplishments sit on top of the stories of their mothers and fathers.
One night his father, lying in hospital, was practically too weak to speak. Others comforted him. “Your old man will pull through. He’s the toughest man we’ve ever seen.”
When the news came that his father had died, Emanuel felt heart-broken.
In the following weeks, Emanuel’s mother lived in a confused state. She spoke to her husband as if he were still there .She yelled at him to turn down the radio. She cooked enough food for two .One night, when Emanuel offered to help with the dishes, she said. “Your father will put them away.” Emanuel put a hand on her shoulder. “Ma,” he said softly, “Dad’s gone.”
“Gone where?” murmured Mum.
【小题1】Which of the following shows the right order of the story?
a．Emanuel’s father fell ill.         
b．Emanuel helped out at pier.
c．Emanuel went to the war.
d．Emanuel wished to be an engineer.
e.  Emanuel’s mother lived in a confused state

A．bacde

B．dcabe

C．bceda

D．decba

【小题2】In Paragraph 4, the writer inplies that       . 

A．Children can never understand how much their parents have devoted to them

B．Children wouldn’t have achieved so much without their parents’ support

C．Children often feel regretful because they leave their parents

D．Children like moving away from their parents

【小题3】The underlined phrase “pull through” can probably be replaced by ________

A．wake up

B．give up

C．pick up

D．get up

【小题4】The last paragraph mainly tells us that      . 

A．Emanuel’s mother was at a loss at her husband’s death.

B．Emanuel often helped his mother to wash the dishes.

C．Emanuel lived with his mother and often comforted her.

D．Emanuel’s mother doesn’t like to listen to the radio.

D

As school fl,tats again，there’s SO much mole for an American parent to nag(唠叨)about，like

homework，bedtime and lost hours on the Intemet．But in the age of digital childhood，Jacky Long-well，45，of McLean，Virginia，often text—messages(发短信)what she OnCe told her children bymouth_"Be nice to your brother；walk the dog；remember your reading．

This is the world of the modem family，in which even reminding children to do something has

become electronic．

There  are changes in how parents nag and in what they nag about and in the frequency of their

nagging．

With technology，“you nag more，and you are a little bit more：precise with your nagging．’’said

Reginald  Black，46，of Woodbridge，Virginia．

For many young people，electronic nagging is part of the experience of growing up．Charles Flowers，17，131．$enior at St．John“College High School in Washington．says his mothel-reminds him about everything from laundry，being Oil time to baseball practice and mowing the lawn by text．

When she uses capitals he knows she is serious：GET HOME!

Some say technology has made nagging less annoying．

Jaeky Longwell thinks texts ale less emotional than spoken messages and less likely to be resisted by teenagers．

It’s not as painful for them to hear it by text．It becomes grouped with the friendly communication，”she said．“They can’t hear the nagging．”

She thinks a good way to do it is to mix friendliness with nagging．A parent Call always start by

saying hello．

Not all parents like the new electronic r,agging．Joyce Bouehard，51，a mother of four in Fairfax，Virginia，texts her 14一year—old son but says that for many  things — chores，homework— the

old—fashioned way works better．Nagging by text has risks，she notes：I always think，if you are texting them something and they are with their friends，they ale getting a big laugh out of it．’’

68．We can conclude from the first two paragraphs that————————．

A．American children often stay up late studying

B．Jacky Long'well had a happy aigital childhood

C．American parents pay too much attention to their children’s studies

D．American parents think a lot about their children’s characters

69．The example of Reginald Black is used to show readers————————．

A．that her nagging is thoughtful

B．how the amount and kind of nagging have changed with the arrival of the digital age

C．the kind of skills a parent needs to nag effectively

D．that she likes nagging her children very much

70．We can infer that—————————．

A．It’S better for parents to nag in a friendly,way

B．whether、nagging is e]ectronic or not，it is annoying

C．American parents generally don’t like to nag

D．American parents like to llse capital letters in messages

7 1．The main idea of the article is———————一．

A．the subjects American parents like to nag about

B．the reaSOliS American parents like to nag their children

C．that electronic nagging is becoming commoll in the U．S

D．how American parents began to nag their children by text messages

  

 Do you regularly get together to talk with your family about problems or the day’s events? _____1_____ Want to improve your family's communication skills? Try these simple steps to improve your family’s communication skills.

1. Create opportunities for talking.

Make time for talking by reducing the number of activities your family is involved in each week. And if you do find yourself in the car running from place to place, make a point to turn off the radio, the cell phones and the personal game players, and use that opportunity to catch up on the day’s activities.

2. Insist on family meals.

In addition to bringing everyone together for a wrap-up of the day’s activities, insisting on a few standing family meals creates ritual and routine that kids come to expect and look forward to. _____2_____

3. _____3_____

Spending time with each of your children lets them know that are not getting lost in the hubbub of a busy day or large family. Older teens might enjoy going out for a hamburger or a latte at their favorite coffee place. Younger children often enjoy going to the supermarket, especially when you let them select their favorite cereal or special dessert.

4. Remember the 80/20 rule.

When trying to improve any relationship, listening is far more important than talking. _____4_____ If you do verbally explode before your child is finished, apologize quickly and assure him or her that you’re now ready to listen.

5. Create family traditions.

_____5_____ Family members come to expect and appreciate these traditions, seeing them as opportunities to come together as a unit. If your family is short on traditions, there’s no reason you can’t start some now.

A. We should have an active attitude to our family life.

B. Lunches with aging parents keep those relationships healthy, as well.

C. Setting up a family movie night, attending religious services or visiting the same spot every year for summer vacation are all the examples.

D. When it comes to family communication, listen four times longer than you speak.

E. Go on individual dates with your children.

F. Use the family dinner table as an opportunity to share what’s going on in family members’ lives.

G. Conversation is the key to any strong relationship, especially for family communication.

 

根据短文内容，从短文后的选项中选出能填入空白处的最佳选项。选项中有两项为多余选项。

(66) When a person does a certain thing again, he is impelled(迫使) by some unseen force to do the same thing repeatedly; thus a habit is formed. Once a habit is formed, it is difficult, and sometimes impossible, to get rid of. (67)  Children often form bad habits, some of which remain with them as long as they live. Older persons also form bad habits as long as they live. Older persons also form bad habits, and sometimes become ruined by them.

(68) Many successful men say that much of their success has something to do with certain habits in early life, such as early rising, honesty and thoroughness.

Among the habits which children should not form are laziness, lying, stealing and so on. (69) Unfortunately older persons often form habits which ought to have been avoide．(70)

A．There are other habits which, when formed in early life, are of great help.

       B．Whether good or not habit are, they are easy to get rid of.

       C．We ought to keep from all these bad habits, and try to form such habits as will prove good for ourselves and others.

       D．Habits, whether good or bad, are gradually formed.

       E．It is very important for us to know why we should get used to good habbits.

       F．These are all easily formed habits.

       G．It is therefore very important that we should pay great attention to the formation of habits.