My favorite English teacher could draw humor out of the driest material. It wasn’t forced on us either. He took Samuel Johnson’s dictionary, Addison’s essays, and many other literary wonders from the eighteenth century and made them hilarious, even at eight o’clock in the morning. The thing that amazed me most was that the first time I read these works on my own, some of them seemed dead, but the second time, after his explanation, I couldn’t believe that I hadn’t seen the humor. The stories and poems and plays were suddenly filled with allusions(典故) and irony and hilarious moments. I learned more from him than from any other teacher.
My least favorite English teacher also made people laugh. Some students found him to be wonderfully funny. Many others did not. He assigned journals over a six-week period, to be written every day. At the end of the six weeks I had a notebook full of bits and pieces about my ideas, short stories, reactions to what we had read, and so on. Our teacher announced that we would be grading each other’s journals. Mine was passed to Joe, that class clown, who always behaved in a funny or silly way. He saw it fit to make a joke of and said, “This writing isn’t fit to line the bottom of a birdcage.” Our teacher laughed at that funny remark. It hurt me so much that the anger from it has driven my writing and teaching ever since.
So what makes the difference? Humor is one of the most powerful tools teachers or writers have. It can build up students and classes and make them excited about literature and writing, or it can tear them apart. It is true that humor is either productive or counter-productive and self-defeating.
1.The passage mainly discusses ________.
A. teaching B. literature C. humor D. knowledge
2.The underlined word “hilarious” in Paragraph 1 probably means ________.
A. funny B. tiring C. inspiring D. brilliant
3.The English teacher the writer disliked most ________.
A. was not able to make students laugh
B. hurt his student’s feelings
C. didn’t let his students do the grading
D. had no sense of humor
Like most people, I was brought up to look upon life as a process of getting. It was not until in my late thirties that I made this important : giving-away makes life so much more exciting. You needn’t worry if you money.
This is how I with giving-away. If an idea for improving the window display of a neighborhood store in my mind, I step in and make the to the storekeeper. If an accident takes place, the of which I think the local police could use, I him up and tell him about it, though I am not in here. I found a rule about this world is to give getting something back, though the often comes in an unexpected form.
One Sunday morning the local post office delivered an important special letter to my home, though it was to me at my office. I wrote the postmaster a note of . More than a year later I needed a post-office box for a new business I was . I was told at the window that there were boxes left, and that my name would have to go on a long list. As I was about to be , the postmaster appeared in the . “Wasn’t it you that wrote us that letter a year ago about delivering an __ delivery to your home?” I said it was. “Well, you certainly are going to have a box in this post office we make one specifically for you. You don’t know what a letter like that means to us. We usually get but complaints.”
1.A. difference B. research C. speech D. discovery
2.A. earn B. lack C. spend D. steal
3.A. experienced B. connected C. cooperated D. experimented
4.A. strikes B. flashes C. happens D. attempts
5.A. appeal B. request C. suggestion D. demand
6.A. story B. damage C. challenge D. material
7.A. call B. hold C. cheer D. pick
8.A. possession B. trouble C. place D. charge
9.A. plus B. without C. for D. before
10.A. process B. goal C. return D. concern
11.A. replied B. addressed C. driven D. brought
12.A. invitation B. apology C. complaint D. appreciation
13.A. discussing B. providing C. applying D. starting
14.A. enough B. extra C. no D. other
15.A. admitting B. relating C. buying D. waiting
16.A. positive B. shocked C. discouraged D. optimistic
17.A. doorway B. window C. home D. yard
18.A. unfamiliar B. unexpected C. unknown D. uncertain
19.A. in case B. now that C. even if D. rather
20.A. nothing B. something C. anything D. Everything
______ was most important to her, she told me, was her family.
A. This B. What C. As D. It
If the weather is fine, we’ll go. If ______, ______.
A. not; not B. no; no C. not; no D. no; not
－Why does the river smell terrible?
－Because large quantities of water______．
A. have been polluted B. is being polluted
C. has been polluted D. have polluted
When it comes to whether campus love should be______, there is no agreement among people.
A. applied B. refreshed C. sponsored D. advocated
