An old man in a faded yellow shirt sat in a windowless room on a raised concrete form. The only source of heat came from somewhere beneath the plastic mattress and the rough blanket the blank-faced police woman had handed him after taking his thumb prints. He heard voices and metallic clang as the cell door swung open.
At the front desk a tired looking policeman handed the old man back his belongings, his worn-out cap and the Seiko watch that had stopped working the day his beloved Evelyn left. The policeman dramatically held the blue plastic bag at an arm’s length to the old man who took it and made sure its contents were undamaged: the goat meat, palm oil, leaves and spices. He ignored the confused expression on the officer’s face and signed the document declaring he had been returned the possessions they had taken off him the night before.
No one spoke to him as he walked slowly towards the exit.
“Mr. Easy-nwa?” He stopped and prayed to the God who now took care of Evelyn to please take him far away from this unhappy place of expressionless faces, clipped accents and people who did not even attempt to pronounce his name right.
“Ezenwa,” He said and looked at a woman with tangerine lips, her name tag said Jessica Harlow, Social Services. “A bit far from home，she said as she drove fast and with confidence the way Evelyn used to. He wondered if she meant the 50 miles from Liverpool or the 50,000 miles from Enugu，a city in Nigeria. He did not bother replying as this woman had plenty to say about the weather, bad drivers, her daughter’s school play...
At last she drew up outside the block of flats where he lived.
“Got here in the end”，said she seriously, “Really Mr. Easy-nwa, if you keep getting lost, we will have to consider moving you into a home”.
“No need, I was not lost，he answered. He carefully rolled up the sleeves of the oversize bomber jacket he wore and turned on the tap to wash his hands, relieved the pipes were not frozen. In a clean pan he placed the chopped pieces of goat meat. The herbs and spices that had taken him three months to track down, the uziza seeds had taken him into the heart of Granby Market in Liverpool, his uchanwu leaves down a shady back alley in Manchester, and yesterday, among other food items, the finest goat meat from a Sierra Leonean Butcher in Birmingham. That had taken some time, so much he missed the last train and when the police found him shivering outside the locked up station, so cold he couldn’t answer loudly enough the pink-faced big copper who yelled in his face, “What’s your name sir?” spraying his face with spittle (吐沫）as he did so, leaving them with no choice but to search an exhausted, frozen old black man and finding him in possession of mysterious condiments (调味品）including a bag of dried bitter-leaf which could of course be mistaken for anything that resulted in him getting read his rights and charged with ...possession???
He lifted the lid of the bubbling soup, the room was filled with the rich and spicy scent of his culinary (烹饪的）effort. He served two bowls, taking the chipped one and placing the other opposite where Evelyn would have sat. He would tell her about his adventure, it was their anniversary and this was the perfect pepper soup to celebrate.
Ken Onyia, UK (Nigeria) Commonwealth Sport Short Story Prize
1.Why was Mr. Ezenwa taken to the prison for a night?
A. He was too weak to move.
B. He couldn’t find his way back home.
C. He then had nowhere else to go.
D. He was suspected of possessing drugs.
2.When Mr. Ezenwa was to leave the prison, •
A. his thumb print was taken immediately
B. the policeman was confused about what he had
C. a social worker was assigned to drive him back home
D. the policeman was so kind as not to damage his belongings
3.What did Mr. Ezenwa do for his wedding anniversary?
A. He collected all sorts of valuables as presents.
B. He cooked native food as a surprise for his wife.
C. He prepared a special Nigerian pepper soup carefully.
D. He travelled a lot, attempting to get his wife back.
4.What words can be used to describe Mr. Ezenwa?
A. Hopeless and pessimistic..
B. Mysterious and troublesome.
C. Affectionate and persistent.
D. Energetic and sympathetic.
5.What theme does the author want to express through the story?
A. Racial prejudice.
B. Hard life of the elderly.
C. Struggle for freedom.
D. Preservation of tradition.
For centuries, medical pioneers have refined a variety of methods and medicines to treat sickness, injury, and disability, enabling people to live longer and healthier lives.
“A salamander (a small lizard-like animal) can grow back its leg. Why can't a human do the same?” asked Peruvian-born surgeon Dr. Anthony Atala in a recent interview. The question, a reference to work aiming to grow new limbs for wounded soldiers, captures the inventive spirit of regenerative medicine. This innovative field seeks to provide patients with replacement body parts. These parts are not made of steel; they are the real things --- living cells, tissue, and even organs.
Regenerative medicine is still mostly experimental, with clinical applications limited to procedures such as growing sheets of skin on burns and wounds. One of its most significant advances took place in 1999，when a research group at North Carolina’s Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine conducted a successful organ replacement with a laboratory-grown bladder. Since then, the team, led by Dr. Atala, has continued to generate a variety of other tissues and organs 一 from kidneys to ears.
The field of regenerative medicine builds on work conducted in the early twentieth century with the first successful transplants of donated human soft tissue and bone. However, donor organs are not always the best option. First of all, they are in short supply, and many people die while waiting for an available organ; in the United States alone, more than 100,000 people are waiting for organ transplants. Secondly, a patient’s body may ultimately reject the transplanted donor organ. An advantage of regenerative medicine is that the tissues are grown from a patient’s own cells and will not be rejected by the body’s immune system.
Today, several labs are working to create bioartificial body parts. Scientists at Columbia and Yale Universities have grown a jawbone and a lung. At the University of Minnesota, Doris Taylor has created a beating bioartificial rat heart. Dr. Atala’s medical team has reported long-term success with bioengineered bladders implanted into young patients with spina bifida (a birth defect that involves the incomplete development of the spinal cord). And at the University of Michigan, H. David Humes has created an artificial kidney.
So far, the kidney procedure has only been used successfully with sheep, but there is hope that one day similar kidney will be implantable in a human patient. The continuing research of scientists such as these may eventually make donor organs unnecessary and, as a result, significantly increase individuals'chances of survival.
1. In the latest field of regenerative medicine, what are replacement parts made of?
A. Cells, tissues and organs of one’s own.
B. Rejected cells, tissues and organs.
C. Donated cells, tissues and organs.
D. Cells, tissues and organs made of steel.
2.What have scientists experimented successfully on for a bioartificial kidney?
A. Patients. B. Rats. C. Soldiers. D. Sheep.
3.Why is generative medicine considered innovative?
A. It will strengthen the human body’s immune system.
B. It will provide patients with replacement soft tissues.
C. It will make patients live longer with bioartificial organs.
D. It will shorten the time patients waiting for a donated organ.
4.What is the writer’s attitude towards regenerative medicine?
A. Doubtful. B. Reserved. C. Positive. D. Negative.
The other morning on the subway I sat next to an attractive young blonde woman who was reading something on her iPad. She was very well-dressed, carrying a Prada bag with tastefully applied make-up indeed, she had an unmistakable air of wealth, material success and even authority. I suspected she worked as a highly-paid Wall Street lawyer or stockbroker or something of that sort. So, I was curious to see what she was so focused on. The Wall Street Journal perhaps? The Economist?
Quite the contrary; rather, she was concentrating on a romance novel. Then I realized that I have known many women who love romance novels—smart, attractive, successful, “liberated,” modern females who nonetheless find some kind of deep satisfaction and thrill from those hyper-romantic, artificial and extremely unrealistic tales of handsome, manly heroes falling in love with virginal women, enduring a series of adventures, then no doubt having a happy ending.
These romance stories are to literature what hot dogs are to fine food. Yet, the genre(体裁) remains enormously popular. Consider some of these surprising statistics from the good folks at the Romance Writers of America (RWA):
*More than 9,000 romance titles were released last year, with sales of about $1.44 billion (more than triple the taxes produced by classic literary fiction).
*More than 90 percent of the market are women (okay, that’s not at all surprising).
* Readers are typically women between the ages 30 and 54 who are themselves involved in a romantic relationship (betraying the stereotype that only lonely women long for these tales of love and adventure).
*Almost 40 percent of romance book consumers have an annual income of between $50,000 and $99,900 (placing them firmly in the middle class).
I had thought that romance novels accounted for a very small share of the literary market, so I was quite surprised that this part has such enormous popularity. But I must wonder why so many women—forty years after the women’s liberation movement—continue to enjoy themselves in the fanciful tales?
I’m not sure if it represents a kind of “rejection” of the women’s liberation movement, but clearly something is missing in the lives of contemporary ladies. A romance author named Donna Hatch who focuses on the Regency period (early 19th century Britain) explained the appeal of such books this way: “Regency men were civilized and treated women with courtesy. When a lady entered the room, gentlemen stood, doffed their hats, offered an arm, bowed, and a hundred other little things I wish men still did today. But they were also very athletic; they hunted, raced, boxed, rode horses. They were manly. Strong. Noble. Honorable. And that is why I love them!”
Mrs. Hatch may have expressed the secret desires and attitudes of untold millions of her peers—that is, in the early 21st century, have women grown tired of the burdens and expectations that the “freedoms” they have gained give them? Is this a rejection of modern feminism? Do women long for days of old when men were masculine gentlemen and women were feminine and protected as precious treasures and regarded as possessions?
Perhaps most women (even the ones who get lost in romance novels) do not want to go all the way back but it is obvious,______.
1.What is the function of the opening paragraph?
A. To summarize the whole passage. B. To prove the author’s argument.
C. To lead in the main topic of the passage. D. To raise problems that will be solved later.
2.What does the underlined sentence in the third paragraph imply?
A. Romance novels are satisfying and thrilling.
B. Romance novels are not of much “nutrition”.
C. Romance novels are as popular as hot dogs.
D. Romance novels are an essential part of contemporary life.
3.In the author’s opinion, what is missing in the lives of contemporary women?
A. Authority. B. Dignity. C. Liberty. D. Care.
4.Which sentence can be put in the blank in the last paragraph?
A. they prefer tales of innocent romance to classics
B. they are unhappy with how the world has turned out
C. true love described in romance novels does exist in reality
D. romance novels provide them with an access to society
Metropolitan North Georgia Water Planning District
2015 High School Video Contest
Here’s the Scoop on Pet Waste!
Submission Deadline March 27, 2015.
Eligibility | Judging |
Page 1 of 3 www.northgeorgiawater.org |
1.What does the underlined word “Eligibility” probably mean?
A.Age. B.Qualification.
C.Location. D.Grade.
2.When entering the contest, ________.
A.one must ask his or her teacher to sign the entry form
B.winners can earn at least $750 as a prize
C.one can invite friends from other schools to act in the video
D.participants had better add some humor and fun to the video
Why do young adult children become independent so much later than they did in 1970，when the average age of independent living was____? Why have reduced class sizes and increased per-pupil expenditures (花销）not____higher academic achievement levels? Why is the mental health of today’s kids so poor when____with that of children in the 1960s and before? Why do today’s____become defensive when told by teachers that their children have misbehaved in school?
The answer in two words: parental____Those two words best summarize the____between “old” child raising and new, post-1960s parenting. Then, the overall philosophy was that parents were not to be____involved with their kids. They were available____crisis, but they stood a (an)____distance from their kids and allowed them to experience the benefits of the trial-and-error process. It was the child’s____, back then, to keep his or her parents from getting involved. That was____children learned to be responsible and determined.
Today’s parents help their kids with almost everything. These are parents who are____when it comes to an understanding of their purpose in their kids’ lives. Their involvement leads them to personalize everything that happens to their kids;____, the defensiveness. But given that schools and mental health professionals have been pushing parent involvement for nearly four decades, the confusion and defensiveness are____.
University researchers analyzed three decades of data relating to parent participation in children’s academics. Their conclusions____what I’ve been saying since the 1980s: parental help with homework____a child’s academic achievement and is not reflected on standardized tests.
Parents who manage a child’s social life interfere with the____of good social skills. Parents who manage a child’s after-school activities grow kids who don’t know how to____their own free time. Parents who get involved in their kids,____with peers grow kids who don’t know how to avoid much less trouble.
These kids have anxieties and fears of all sorts and don’t want to leave their____And their parents, when the time comes, don’t know how to____being parents. You can imagine what will become of their fu ture.
1.A.counted on B.resulted in C.touched on D.taken in
2.A.associated B.linked C.compared D.matched
3.A.parents B.adolescents C.psychologists D.youths
4.A.assistance B.protection C.involvement D.preference
5.A.differences B.similarities C.choices D.relations
6.A.slightly B.passively C.highly D.fairly
7.A.in case of B.in spite of C.in view of D.in fear of
8.A.equal B.safe C.long D.short
9.A.fault B.turn C.job D.attitude
10.A.when B.how C.why D.what
11.A.confused B.disappointed C.amazed D.satisfied
12.A.however B.still C.yet D.thus
13.A.unreasonable B.changeable C.understandable D.avoidable
14.A.confirmed B.convinced C.realized D.reflected
15.A.decides B.lowers C.helps D.stimulates
16.A.appearance B.performance C.establishment D.development
17.A.value B.devote C.fill D.save
18.A.communication B.conflicts C.cooperation D.competitions
19.A.start B.ignore C.consider D.stop
20.A.home B.school C.career D.profession
—Do you know the newly appointed CEO?
--__________.
A. I’ll check it
B. Only that there is one
C. More often than not
D. It will come to me
