Question

Ensley made me a poet.

When I was one, my parents and I moved into a tiny apartment off 20th Street. I wrote my first poem sitting in the corner of my bedroom, surrounded by toys. I was 7 or 8 and the poem was for my best friend who had moved away. I was angry with him for being willing to leave me, and when I get angry, I get mean. I figured his leaving would be easier to face, if I pushed him away first. But as soon as the moving truck pulled away, I realized how foolish I’d been.

So I wrote him a poem to apologize. The poem was terrible, of course, but with it, a lifelong love affair began --- not with the boy who moved away, but with the written word. As an adult, I’d write poems about playing kickball in the parking lot of those Ensley apartment blocks, and poems about trips to see the candy lady and to the corner store.

When people ask me where in Birmingham I grew up, I sometimes say “Everywhere”. We moved around a lot and the neighborhoods of Birmingham find their way into so much of what I write.

I had to leave Birmingham to learn how to tell true stories in prose (散文). After college in Alabama and graduate school in Berkeley, California, I moved to Kentucky to be a newspaper reporter. My skill at writing personal essays landed me my own column(专栏) and the chance to be included in a collection of essays published by Seal Press.

Then I came home.

In her book Writing Down the Bones, Natalie Goldberg writes, “It is very important to go home if you want your work to be whole...you must claim where you come from and look deep into it. Come to honor and embrace it, or at the least, accept it.”

Now in Birmingham, I get to share my story in local magazines and on my blog. And I build my story through every friendship formed in this city of steel, sweat, and sweet tea.

1.Ensley is the name of a_____________.

A.toy B.boy

C.place D.store

2.What does Para. 4 tell us about the author?

A.She enjoys traveling very much.

B.She prefers poetry to news reports.

C.She gave up writing poems after college.

D.She made some achievements in writing.

3.Why does the author mention Natalie Goldberg’s words?

A.To prove they had similar interests.

B.To show her love for Natalie Goldberg.

C.To explain why she returned to Birmingham.

D.To introduce Natalie Goldberg’s book to readers.

4.What is the text mainly about?

A.Writing changes my life.

B.Home is where your story is.

C.Moving around makes me a poet.

D.Childhood friendship is a source of writing.

Answer

1.C

2.D

3.C

4.B

【解析】

这是一篇记叙文。短文叙述了作者的写的诗歌都是关于自己的故乡或者自己的家人朋友等与自己有关的方面，因此引用Natalie Goldberg的话，“如果想你的作品完整，回家很重要……你必须申明你来自哪里，并深入研究它。尊重它，拥抱它，或者至少接受它”，来解释为什么作者要回伯明翰，她的故乡。

1.推理判断题。根据第二段As an adult, I’d write poems about playing kickball in the parking lot of those Ensley apartment blocks, and poems about trips to see the candy lady and to the corner store.可知，作为一个成年人，我会写诗，有的是关于在Ensley公寓楼街区的停车场踢球，有的是关于去看糖果小姐的旅行和街角的旅行等。由此可以推断出，Ensley是个地名。故选C。

2.主旨大意题。根据第四段My skill at writing personal essays landed me my own column(专栏) and the chance to be included in a collection of essays published by Seal Press.可知，我写个人文章的技巧使我有了自己的专栏，也让我有机会使文章被编入Seal Press出版的散文。由此可以看出，作者在写作上取得了一些成就。故选D。

3.推理判断题。根据倒数第二段“It is very important to go home if you want your work to be whole...you must claim where you come from and look deep into it. Come to honor and embrace it, or at the least, accept it.”可知，如果想你的作品完整，回家很重要……你必须申明你来自哪里，并深入研究它。尊重它，拥抱它，或者至少接受它。由此可以看出，作者提到Natalie Goldberg的话，是为了解释为什么作者要回伯明翰，她的故乡。故选C。

4.主旨大意题。根据文章标题Ensley made me a poet可知，Ensley使我成为诗人，而Ensley是作者的故乡；根据倒数第二段It is very important to go home if you want your work to be whole...可知，如果想你的作品完整，回家很重要……。因此文章在讲“家是你故事的所在”。故选B。