Technology today has stolen away our voices and robbed our children of memories. I’ve been keeping count of how often people sing around the house these days. The fact is, they don’t.
My earliest memories are of my mother crooning lullabies(催眠曲) in a gentle low voice as she rocked each infant in turn. She said she “didn’t have a singing voice,” but her low, wavering alto will always mean comfort to me. Every time I have sat through the night with a feverish body or held a pre – schooler through a nightmare, the melodies returned, words appearing and disappearing like fragments of a dream but held together by the hum (低声吟唱)of love.
Today, young mothers are routinely presented with lullaby tapes at the baby shower. When baby cries, the idea goes, they will be able to switch on the high-tech audio system and the little one will drift off with the voices of strangers in his ears, perfectly on pitch. If I had my way, new parents would learn the songs themselves, throw out their stereos, and give their child the gift of their own sleepy voices through the midnight hours.
These days, when we go on a trip, my daughters take along tiny personal stereos and headphones. They are lost in their private worlds, and I can’t help wishing that at least here, in the car my girls would be forced to listen to their mother’s voice again, sure I’m out－of－tune songs that they might then pass down to another generation. Those sophisticated earphones have robbed them of something I think every kid should carry from childhood car trips into adulthood.
I drove away from that party humming, and all the way home the good old songs kept tumbling out. Damm it (该死), I thought, why did I ever stop singing in the car and start turning on the radio ? Why don’t I sing anymore while I’m doing the dishes? I’m going to pull those stereo wires right out of the wall when I get home. We’re going to sing grace before meals, sing carols around the piano, sing in the shower instead of switching on that waterproof radio that stole away our voices and our souls.
1.The author hates today’s technology because .
A．driving a car requires high concentration
B．children are learning pop songs from tapes
C．children have lost touch with good old songs
D．high – tech systems do not record the voices of aged people
2.The underlined sentence “the little one will drift off” in Paragraph 3 means that “ ”.
A．the play of the high – tech system is of little use
B．the high – tech system will play on and on
C．the low voice will delight the baby
D．the baby will slowly go to sleep
3.To the author, the voices of strangers .
A．are not familiar to the baby
B．lack the motherly love the baby needs
C．work better to stop the baby’s cry
D．surely sound more pleasant
4.What the author wishes to make her girls do is to .
A．help memorize the words while she is singing
B．take off their well – designed earphones
C．listen and learn the old songs from her
D．remember their childhood car trips
Last spring, members of Alaska’s Troop 34, based in Fairbanks, trudged (跋涉) out into the snowy wilderness to take part in their state’s Take a Kid Trapping program. In many parts of the state, beavers （海狸）are pests and need to be controlled.
The 10－to－12－year－old girls found out where beavers lived, set traps, and skinned the two animals they caught. The girls hope to catch ten more beavers so that the entire troop can make mittens and hats with the fur. They also want to cook beaver meat.
Troop leaders and members say the Scouts are doing a good deed by helping control the state’s beaver population. But animal－rights activists say trapping is cruel. They want the Girl Scouts to stop in their tracks.
Beavers aren’t only causing a problem in Alaska. Residents in Sampson County, N.C. , have turned to a local committee to help them battle the growing beaver population there.
County landowners are frustrated after the county spent more than $ 50,000 in eight years trying to reduce the beaver population through a government program. The joint state and federal program included paying money to trappers for every beaver carcass they trapped.
Many local residents say that the program didn’t work because there were too few trappers. That’s why the county set up its own committee to investigate other ways to control the area’s beaver population.
The county will rely on its own beaver－trapping program. It has hired a trapper to set traps in various areas. The county will pay $10 for every beaver carcass.
Why do many people say that beavers are a nuisance? For beavers to survive, they need lots of water. Water provides the large rodent （啮齿动物）with a place to hide from meat – eating animals. Beavers also store food underwater for the winter. When there’s not enough water in a particular area, beavers get busy building dams.
Beaver dams can cause major flooding and damage to the surrounding countryside as the animals cut down trees to use in their construction projects. Beavers build canals to transport heavy objects.
1.What is Alaska’s Troop 34?
A．A team of the Boy Scouts. B．An army.
C．A team of the Girl Scouts. D．A sports team.
2.Why does the troop hope to catch ten more beavers?
A．To fulfill their task.
B．To sell them for money.
C．To get enough fur.
D．To exchange them for mittens and hats.
3.Which of the following statements is true?
A．Sampson County has to find a new way to control the beaver population there.
B．The government program in Sampson County has proved to be a success.
C．The local government has controlled the number of beavers in the County.
D．More and more trappers now start to set traps in Sampson County.
4.Local residents hate beavers because they can ___________.
A．cause damage to dams
B．block up canals with heavy objects.
C．do great harm to construction projects.
D．badly damage the environment and cause floods.
Want to improve your writing skills? New Writing South is directing the way!
·Towner Writer Squad (班组）for kids aged 13-17
Led by comedy and TV writer, Marian Kilpatrick, Towner Writer Squad will meet once a month at the contemporary art museum for 11 months, starting 12 October, 2014.
The FREE squad sessions will include introductions to a wide range of writing styles, from poetry to play writing and lyrics (抒情诗）to flash fiction, to support the development of young writers.
Application & Selection
If you would like to apply to be part of the Towner Writer Squad, please send a sample piece of your writing (about 500 words), responding to the title‘LUNCH,’with your name, age, address and e-mail address to: debo@newwritingsouth.com.
Once all applications are in, you will be invited to an open selection event on 17 September，4-5pm, at the gallery of Towner. This will be an informal opportunity to meet the Squad Leader, Squad Associate and other young people.
You will also have a chance to get to know the fantastic gallery space and get a taste of what’s to come.
Deadline for applications: 8 September, 2014
For further information go to: facebook.com/towner or towner.org.uk or newwritingsouth.com
Any questions 一 feel free to send your e-mail to Towner Writer Squad Associate: whame@towner.gov.uk
﹡ ﹡ ﹡ ﹡ ﹡ ﹡ ﹡ ﹡ ﹡
·Beginner Writing Project for kids aged 10-13
Due to popular demand, a writing project will be started for eager beginners.
Start time: 6 September, 2014
Meet every other Saturday，2-4pm, at the Towner Study Centre.
Study and write at your own pace 一 you do not have to rush 一 as you have a year to go through the project. Practise under the guidance of some experienced writers and teachers who can help you with basic writing skills. Most importantly, build confidence and have fun while writing!
No previous experience or special background is required. Many others have been successful this way. If they can do it, why can’t you?
Fee: £179
For more information，go to newtowner.org.uk or generate.org.uk
1.Towner Writer Squad will be started _______.
A. to train comedy and TV writers
B. to explore the fantastic gallery space
C. to introduce a contemporary art museum
D. to promote the development of young writers
2.To join the Writer Squad，each applicant should first _______.
A. provide a piece of their writing
B. meet the Writer Squad Leader
C. offer their family information
D. complete an application form
3.Applications for the Writer Squad should be e-mailed no later than _______.
A. 6 September, 2014 B. 8 September, 2014
C. 17 September, 2014 D. 12 October, 2014
4.What is most important for the beginners?
A. Practising as much as possible.
B. Gaining confidence and having fun.
C. Studying and writing at their own pace.
D. Learning skills from writers and teachers.
When I told my father that I was moving to Des Moines, Iowa, he told me about the only time he had been there. It was in the 1930s, when he was an editor in the literary magazine of Southern Methodist University（SMU）in Dallas, Texas. He also worked as a professor at SMU, and there was a girl student in his class who suffered from a serious back disease. She couldn’t afford the operation because her family was poor.
Her mother ran a boarding house in Galveston, a seaside town near Houston, Texas. She was cleaning out the attic（阁楼）one day when she came across an old dusty manuscript（手稿）. On its top page were the words, “By O. Henry”. It was a nice story, and she sent it to her daughter at SMU, who showed it to my father. My father had never read the story before, but it sounded like O. Henry, and he knew that O. Henry had once lived in Houston. So it was possible that the famous author had gone to the beach and stayed in the Gainestown boardinghouse, and had written the story there and left the manuscript behind by accident. My father visited an O. Henry expert at Columbia University in New York, who authenticated the story as O. Henry’s.
My father then set out to sell it. Eventfully, he found himself in Des Moines, meeting with Gardner Cowles, a top editor at the Des Moines Register. Cowles loves the story and bought it on the spot. My father took the money to the girl. It was just enough for her to have the operation she so desperately needed.
My father never told me what the O. Henry story was about. But I doubt that it could have been better than his own story.
1.Who discovered the O. Henry’s manuscript?
A. The girl’s mother. B. The author’s father.
C. The girl. D. The author.
2.Which of the following might explain the fact that the manuscript was found in the attic?
A. O. Henry once worked in Houston.
B. O. Henry once stayed in Galveston.
C. O. Henry once moved to Des Moines.
D. O. Henry once taught at SMU.
3.The underlined word “authenticated” in Paragraph 2 probably means __________.
A. named B. treated C. proved D. Described
完成句子（根据汉语提示完成下面句子，每空一词）
1.看法就是人们相信是真实的但是未经证实的东西。
An opinion is ____________ _______________ ________________ is true but has not been proved.
2.希波墨涅斯在比赛期间把金苹果一个接一个地扔出去。
Hippomenes threw the golden apples __________ _____________ __________during the race.
3.然而，下一位普鲁士国王，腓特烈﹒威廉一世，这个琥珀屋的主人却决定不要它了。
However, the next king of Prussia, Frederick William I, __________ ___________ the amber room ____________, decided not to keep it.
4.你知道为什么英语在国际事务中起如此重要的作用吗？
Do you know why English __________ ____________ important a ___________ in the international business?
5.以其人之道还治其人之身。
__________ ___________ a man _________ he deals with you.
单句改错
下面每句都有一处语言错误，且错误只涉及一个单词的增加、删除和修改。
增加：在缺词处加一个漏字符号（∧），并在其下面写出该加的词。
删除：把多余的词用斜线（\）划掉。
修改：在错的词下划一横线，并在该词下面写出修改后的词。
注意：1. 每处错误及其修改均限一词,并按照上述要求修改，否则不予记分。
1.Later, Catherine II had the Amber Room moved to a palace outside St Petersburg which she spent her summers.
2.Over time my memory has developed so much that, like an elephant, I never forget anything I have told.
3.One of Feng Jicai’s biggest projects were to protect the oldest street in Tianjin.
4.Atlanta was a Greek princess. She was very beautiful and could run faster than any other man in Greece.
5.It is in the Summer Olympic Games which you have the running races, together with swimming, sailing and all the team sports.
6.Both the Winter and the Summer Olympics are held every four years in a regular basis.
7.Instead Feng Jicai goes out and does what he can himself. If others follow him, so much better.
8.There is no doubt that the boxes were then put on a train for Konigsburg, that was at that time a German city on the Baltic Sea.
9.I felt bad for the first time I talked to a group.
10.The sun rose highly in the sky and it got hotter and hotter.
