Spain’s Literary Genius
Four centuries ago, the author of one of the greatest comedic characters in world literature took his last breath. Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616), the author of Don Quixote, is to the Spanish what Shakespeare is to the English and Dante is to Italians — a national literary icon.
Cervantes’ book is still appreciated today, hundreds of years after its publication, because it’s a wonderfully truthful comedy. Don Quixote, like human beings generally, has great difficulty distinguishing reality from imagination. Readers may laugh at his strange behavior, but we laugh, we laugh with recognition.
The book records the adventures of Alonso Quijano, an older Spanish gentleman who loves romance novels. In truth, he reads far too many romances, and they have affected his mind. Quijano is so mixed up that he decides that he must become a knight himself. Imagine a comic book fan who decides to dress up as a superhero to fight crime, and I’ll get the picture.
Setting the scene
Alonso Quijano reinvents himself as “Don Quixote de La Mancha”, an aristocratic (贵族的) name that suits his ambition of being a knight. Next, since every knight needs a horse, he finds himself an old one named Rocinante. But Rocinante is not exactly cut out for lite as a knight’s horse. He’s tired from years of farm work. He’s unlikely to be of much help in any fight against an enemy.
The heroes in the romances Quijano reads all had a lady to love. They were highborn, like the knights themselves. Quijano chooses Aldonze Lorenzo, a farmer’s daughter, to be his beloved. She becomes “Dulcinea del Toboso”, or “the sweet woman of Toboso”. How does Aldonza feel about Quijano’s attentions? She doesn’t feel much at all, actually. Aldonza is yet another byproduct of Quijano’s imagination, like so many things.
Finding a sidekick
Now comes Cervantes’ second great creation: Sancho Panza. Once servant in Qiujano’s house, Panza is promoted to the role of squire (随从), because every self-respecting knight needs a squire. Panza has a sensible head on his shoulders, and he is a foil (衬托) to his foolish master.
The pair faces many adventures, but none are as heroic as a knight’s should be. We laugh, rather than cry, as we read. Quijano tries to act on behalf of justice, but he doesn’t often succeed.
Cervantes’ novel inspired a word that sums up Qiujano’s romantic nature: “quixotic”. In English we use the word to describe someone who is idealistic but foolish in pursuit of his ideals. It is a mark of Cervantes’ genius that he was able to identify this trait and personify it using such a great comedic character. We should appreciate him for it on this significant occasion.
1.On what occasion did the author write this review?
A.The 400th anniversary of the publication of Don Quixote.
B.An Italian Poet, Dante’s 800th birth anniversary.
C.An English genius, William Shakespeare’s 400th death anniversary.
D.Miguel de Cervantes’ 400th anniversary of his death.
2.Which role is Alonso Quijano most likely to identify with?
A.Miguel de Cervantes. B.Don Quixote de La Mancha.
C.Dulcinea del Toboso. D.Sancho Panza.
3.What can be inferred from the passage?
A.Don Quixote’s failure to distinguish reality from imagination amuses the readers.
B.Quijano manages to bring justice to the world by means of force.
C.Quijano is a Spanish aristocrat with great ambition.
D.Reading romance novel will make people behave in a foolish way.
4.According to the author, readers admire Cervantes and his masterpiece because ________
A.Cervantes is equal to Shakespeare and Dante as a national literary icon
B.Quijano’s adventure is romantic and heroic
C.Cervantes’ has a genius for personifying Quijano’s quixotic nature in a truthful comedy
D.Quijano’s vivid imagination has brought other minor characters to life.
MIND YOUR BODY
Your life — Live it well SUNDAY 1 APRIL 2016 Time: 3:00 pm-5:00 pm Is your daily life being affected by knee pain? Can’t perform simple tasks? Can’t enjoy outdoor life? Pain when walking? DON’T LET PAIN RULE YOUR LIFE! PUBLIC FORUM (论坛) Find out how to deal with knee and joint pain in this public forum conducted by a team of 5 doctors from Glen-eagles Hospital. Participants will receive a free book on orthopaedics (整形外科) worth $20 and refreshments. Gleneagles Hospital, 6A Napior Road. Level 3. Lecture Hall 3. To register, call or SMS 98712244 Free for the first 50 registered participants $5 to be charged for the subsequent 50 participants. | Fackbook: HEALTH Any health related problems? You can log on to Fans of Mind Your Body Facebook page to see the various health issues being discussed. Fans for Mind Your body in Facebook stand to win a prize if they contribute the best idea on a discussion topic of the week. They have to first “Like” the Mind Your Body Facebook page to post comments on it. Selected comments will be published. Fans will discuss what type of food and drink diabetics should consume to keep their blood sugar to an even keel. Please refer to the website for more details: www.facebookcom/ MindYourbody Prize sponsored by Singapore General Hospital |
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1.The total capacity for the public forum on knee and joint pain is _________ people.
A.5 B.20
C.50 D.100
2.Mr Li, a marathon runner, has an irreparable slip disc (椎间盘突出). Which hospital should he go to if he does not want to undergo any operation?
A.Mt Elizabeth Hospital. B.Glen-eagles Hospital.
C.Changi General Hospital. D.Singapore General Hospital.
3.Which of the following statements is TRUE?
A.Any Singaporean can attend Dr Tan’s talk free-of-charge.
B.Participants of public forum can get a book $20 cheaper.
C.People “like” the Mind Your Body Facebook page can win a prize.
D.People can book the Bone Density Scan on Feb 4th a special price.
A scientist working at her lab bench and a six-month-old baby playing with his food might seem to have little in common. After all, the scientist is engaged in serious research to uncover the very nature of the physical world, and the baby is, well, just playing…right? Perhaps, but some developmental psychologist have argued that this “play” is more like a scientific investigation than one might think.
Take a closer look at the baby playing at the table. Each time the bowl of rice is pushed over the table edge, it falls in the ground — and, in the process, it brings out important evidence about how physical objects interact; bowls of rice do not float in mid-sit, but require support to remain stable. It is likely that babies are not born knowing the basic fact of the universe; nor are they ever clearly taught it. Instead, babies may form an understanding of object support through repeated experiments and then build on this knowledge to learn even more about how objects interact. Though their ranges and tools differ, the baby’s investigation and the scientist’s experiment appear to share the same aim (to learn about the natural world, overall approach (gathering direct evidence from the world), and logic (are my observations what I expected?).
Some psychologists suggest that young children learn about more — than just the physical world in this way that they investigate human psychology and the rules of language using similar means. For example, it may only be through repeated experiments, evidence gathering, and finally overturning a theory, that a baby will come to accept the idea that other people can have different views and desires from what he or she has. For example, unlike the child, Mommy actually doesn’t like Dove chocolate.
Viewing childhood development as a scientific investigation throws on how children learn, but it also offers an inspiring look at science and scientists. Why do young children and scientists seems to be so much alike? Psychologists have suggested that science as an effort — the desire to explore, explain, and understand our world — is simply something that comes from our babyhood. Perhaps evolution provided human babies with curiosity and a natural drive to explain their worlds, and adult scientists simply make use of the same drive that served them as children. The same cognitive systems that make young children feel good about figuring something out may have been adopted by adult scientists. As some psychologists put it, “It is not that children are little scientists but that scientists are big children.”
1.We learn from Paragraph 2 that _______.
A.scientists and babies seem to observe the world differently
B.scientists and babies often interact with each other
C.babies are born with the knowledge of object support
D.babies seem to collect evidence just as scientists do
2.Children may learn the rules of language by _______.
A.exploring the physical world B.investigating human psychology
C.repeating their own experiments D.observing their parents’ behaviors
3.What is the main idea of the last paragraph?
A.The world may be more clearly explained through children’s play.
B.Studying babies’ play may lead to a better understanding of science.
C.Children may have greater ability to figure out things than scientists
D.One’s drive for scientific research may become stronger as he grows.
4.What is the author’s tone when he discusses the connection between scientists’ research and babies’ play?
A.Imposing. B.Confused.
C.Confident. D.Objective.
This is Warsaw, where lunch is usually a slab of meat with a side order of sausage. But at Krowarzywa — which means “cow alive” and _______ the word warzywa, meaning vegetables — no animals were harmed in the making of food. The bestselling “vegan pastrami” is made of seitan, a wheat-based meat _______.
Warsaw has almost 50 vegan restaurants. That does not mean it has all that many vegans. Kassia, a 20-something professional in the queue, says she has no ethical _______ to eating meat. She comes to Krowarzywa because she likes the food. Kornel Kisala, the head chef, thinks that most of Krowarzywa’s clients eat meat, but it does not worry him. “Animals don’t _______ whether you eat a vegan burger because it is fashionable or because it is tasty.” According to the survey, 60% of people _______ say they plan to cut back on meat this year. Eating vegetarian and vegan meals now and then is one of the ways some choose to do so.
Two years ago Eric Schmidt, a Silicon Valley figure, called plant-based meat substitutes the world’s most important future technology, he foresaw them improving people’s health, reducing environmental degradation and making food more _______ for the poor. The founder of the first vegan society said in 1944 that “In time people will view with disgust the idea that men once fed on the products of animals’ bodies.” Ever since the number of people _______ his hope has been increasing. Perhaps their time is coming at last.
If so, it is a _______ coming. Meat consumption worldwide has been _______ consistently by almost 3% a year since 1960, mostly because people get richer. In the early 1970s the average Chinese person, __________, ate 14 kg (31lb) of meat a year. Now they eat 55 kg a year.
In America, Nielsen found in 2017 that 3% of the population called themselves vegans and 6% vegetarians(people who avoid meat, but eat eggs and/or dairy products). But more detailed research by Faunalytics puts the numbers at just 0.5% for vegans and 3. 4% for vegetarians. Fully a quarter of 25-to 34-year-olds in America claim to be either vegan or vegetarian, __________ studies by Faunalyties find the median age of American vegans to be 42. It seems that a fair amount of ambitious self-discipline, terminological inexactitude (术语的不准确) or simple hypocrisy (伪善) is at play.
Overall, though, it seems __________ to say that the number of people sometimes or regularly choosing to eat vegan food is growing much faster than the growth in people deeply __________ to a meat-free life. Patrice Bula, a vice president at Nestle, says that a __________ proportion of the people buying his company’s vegan meals are true vegetarians or vegans. People in this larger group are often called “flexible vegetarians”, who __________ back and forth between omnivorous (杂食的) and vegetable diets. The true vegan trend lies in casual, part time veganism.
1.A.involves B.gives C.contains D.form
2.A.ingredient B.source C.substitute D.recipe
3.A.obligation B.objection C.interest D.judgment
4.A.suffer B.claim C.offend D.care
5.A.represented B.supposed C.mentioned D.sampled
6.A.affordable B.healthy C.sufficient D.friendly
7.A.doubting B.approving C.sharing D.observing
8.A.slow B.quick C.great D.easy
9.A.decreasing B.rocketing C.plunging D.growing
10.A.on average B.for example C.generally speaking D.on the contrary
11.A.because B.while C.or D.if
12.A.tempting B.mature C.obvious D.safe
13.A.added B.applied C.commited D.reduce
14.A.proper B.considerable C.numerous D.small
15.A.shift B.exchange C.wonder D.hesitate
Firstborn children __________more readily with parental authority because, among other things, they are often put in charge of younger brothers or sisters.
A.identify B.recognize C.observe D.value
The transportation system has been __________in the years since Rio de Janeiro was no longer the capital of Brazil in 1960.
A.circulated B.involved C.neglected D.concerned
