A Book Review—The Snake-Stone by Berlie Doherty
The setting: Urban England (the cities), but also rural England (the countryside) including remote English villages.
The theme: The main theme is a teenage search of self-discovery, in this case the search for a mother from whom the hero was separated at an early age. Its other concerns are love, getting on with others, being persistent and courageous and trying to deal with doubts, troubles and worries. As the book moves to a close, James’ swimming coach says to him: “You are not like a kid obeying instructions any more. You are diving like a young man who knows where he is going.”
The characters: James is the hero of the story. He is a championship diver, and has a comfortable life with his foster parents (养父母). Yet he also has the qualities to take him on a long journey to find his birth mother. The other characters in The Snake-Stone, James’ parents, his diving instructor, best friend, the villagers, people he meets on his journey, are pictured realistically.
The turning point: The turning point in the story comes while James’ foster parents are away in London, and he wonders about the identity of his birth mother. The only clue he has is a fossil, “the snake stone” which she left behind along with a note on which she had written: “Take good care of Sammie.” It was written on a torn envelope with parts of an address still there.
The journey: Instead of going to London, James decides to find his birth mother. With help from his geography teacher, James sets out for the remote country village where his mother might be found. James has painful, challenging, but also humorous and happy travels. The mother he finally meets, Anne, has a minor yet powerful voice in the novel. He comes to understand why she left him at a stranger’s door fifteen years before. Although the meeting is not long, it leaves him with a feeling of completeness. As a journey of self-discovery, The Snake-Stone also provides its readers with a happy ending. Its hero says, on returning to his foster parents, “I was home.”
1.What is the main theme of the novel?
A.Life with foster parents. B.Life in the world of diving.
C.A journey of self-discovery. D.A travel around the country.
2.What do the coach’s words in Paragraph 2 suggest?
A.James is a successful diver. B.James is an independent young man.
C.James is an outgoing young man. D.James is a hopeful swimmer.
3.The snake stone in the novel is .
A.a stone with an address on it B.a fossil left by the foster parents
C.a gift from the swimming coach D.a clue left by the birth mother
阅读下面材料，根据其内容和所给段落开头语续写两段，使之构成一篇完整的短文。 续写的词数应为150左右。
I sat at the breakfast table with my four-year-old son, Matthew, trying to ignore the ache in my stomach. “Mama, want to play?” “Not today, baby,” I shook my head. These days I could barely get out of bed. I was still recovering from a surgery. I hoped for strength and happiness. But the future seemed so hopeless.
Suddenly, Matthew jumped up from his spot on the kitchen floor. “Bird!” he shouted, rushing to our courtyard. Sure enough, there was a white dove seated in a rubber tree. It sat there for a few moments, and then flew away. Strange, I'd never seen one in our neighborhood before.
When I dragged myself to the kitchen the next morning, the dove was back. This time with a mate carrying twigs. “Look, Matthew,” I said, pointing to the tree. “They ’re going to make a nest.” The doves flew in and out of the courtyard all week, building on top of the rubber tree.
Matthew could hardly contain his excitement. Every morning, he'd run into the kitchen and take his spot by the sliding glass door, talking to the birds while they worked. His enthusiasm was influential. As much as I was grieving, I couldn't help but look forward to the doves' visits too.
Then it all went wrong. The courtyard was a safe enough spot for a nest, but the rubber tree's broad, thin leaves were far from stable. One night, a strong wind blew, throwing the doves' nest to the ground. I heard the twigs break apart.
I surveyed the damage. Nothing good ever lasts. I wouldn't blame the doves if they never came back. But they returned. And they paid no attention to the pile of sticks that had once been their nest.They started again from scratch. Again, though, the wind destroyed all their hard work. The next day, and the next, they renewed their efforts, as if nothing had happened.
Paragraph I:
I knew I had to do something.____________________________________________________
Paragraph II:
“It works! The birds are back!” Matthew announced.__________________________________
假设你是红星中学高三学生李华。请给你同班的美国留学生 Peter 写一封电子邮件， 邀请他周末到学校对面刚开业的文化中心去做义工，内容包括:
1. 目的和意义；
2. 时间、地点和内容；
3. 请求回复。注意:
1.词数 100 词左右；
2.可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
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A second lifetime
Although in 1947 we were still very new to the atomic age, we knew about mushroom clouds. A huge _______ spread across the library wall upstairs, sending teachers and students screaming down the hall.
_______ , our young science teacher quickly _______ us for a fire drill. We huddled(蜷缩) in little _______ on the school grounds and watched the _______ cloud darken the sky.
Rumors _______ every which way. One was that the Texas City Chemical plant had blown up; children whose parents worked there began to weep.
I _______ — that was where my father was working that day.
We were dismissed to find our way home. I’d walked a quarter of my _______ when a car horn startled (使吓一跳) me to _______ . Uncle Barney pulled up alongside me. The instant I saw him, I knew my father was gone. Otherwise, Papa would have come for __________ himself.
Uncle Barney motioned(打手势) for me to get in. __________ with grief, I crawled into the __________ seat. I barely took notice of the man __________ there, and didn’t recognize Papa until he reached for me.
Tragedy would one day come to our __________ , as it inevitably comes to all, but on that day, it miraculously passed us by. Because he lost his keys on that April morning, as he __________ , my father lived for another 32 years---we were to have a second lifetime forever.
1.A.cloud B.shake C.noise D.crack
2.A.Pale-faced B.High-spirited C.Warm-hearted D.Bad-tempered
3.A.directed B.requested C.organized D.reminded
4.A.lines B.groups C.classes D.steps
5.A.spreading B.crowding C.rising D.darkening
6.A.floated B.flew C.wandered D.flooded
7.A.wept B.frustrated C.froze D.hurt
8.A.distance B.length C.trip D.road
9.A.sight B.halfway C.life D.attention
10.A.salary B.school C.me D.work
11.A.Annoyed B.Quiet C.Numb D.Disappointed
12.A.back B.front C.usual D.favorite
13.A.lying B.sitting C.smiling D.talking
14.A.family B.home C.life D.people
15.A.remembered B.explained C.described D.exposed
We live our lives in color from our earliest days. 1. We use it both as a badge (标记) of identity and a way of expressing our individuality through decoration. And we use different colors to send out very different messages.
People need a sense of group identity. 2. From his colorful traditional dress, other people in Peru know he comes from the Quechua community. We wear uniforms at school and work, and we dress in our favorite sports team colors to say the same thing: 3.
The Huli villager in the photo is getting ready for a local festival. He’s applying the traditional colors of red, black and white to his own personal face pattern. 4. These days people are starting to experiment with brightly colored paints as well as traditional colors. In fashion-conscious Europe, the “in” color changes every season. This autumn, for example, women are wearing shades of purple.
5. Packaging and labels in eye-catching colors stand out on the supermarket shelf. And companies always select the color of their brand very carefully ——a calm blue for a bank stands for trust, dark green says quality, or brown and green means eco-friendliness.
A.How time flies!
B.We belong to this group.
C.Look at the schoolboy in the photo.
D.Tricks are often played somewhere.
E.Color plays a big part in everything we do.
F.Face-painting is an important part of the celebrations.
G.Marketing experts understand the power of color very well.
A mind-reading chip that lets you control a computer by just thinking has been made public at a conference in China. Named Brain Talker, the chip could be used to control computers, smart phones and other devices, its creators say. It has been jointly developed by Tianjin University and China Electronics Corporation.
This kind of brain-computer interface (接口) is designed to let a person control a computer, a smartphone or other electronic devices using his/her brainwaves alone-without needing any forms of verbal orders, movements, or button pressing. Brain interfaces would not only allow for the faster operation of various technologies, but also be used to assist people with disabilities, for example by letting an individual drive an electric wheelchair just by thinking.
“Brain-computer interfaces hold a promising future,” said Dong Ming. "The Brain Talker chip advances brain-computer interface technology, allowing it to become more portable, wearable and accessible to the general public.
The brain decoding (解码) chip works by picking out minor neural (神经) electrical signals in the brain and rapidly translating them into a form that the computer can understand. “This brain-computer chip has the ability to identify minor neural electrical signals and decode their information efficiently, which can greatly enhance the speed and accuracy of brain-computer interfaces，” said Dr. Dong.
Recent technology advances have allowed researchers to develop the Brain Talker chip, so it is smaller and operates faster, more precisely and with greater efficiency than existing brain-computer interfaces. Although it is not clear exactly how the device will be worn, most brain-computer interface devices are worn on the outside of the body, rather than being fixed directly into the users’ brain. Cheng Longlong, a data scientist, said that the research team will attempt to improve the performance of the Brain Talker. One day brain-computer codec chips will contribute to medical treatment, education, self-discipline, security as well as games and entertainment.
1.Why do the creators develop the Brain Talker?
A.To improve the quality of a smartphone
B.To create more efficient electronic devices
C.To make the computer portable and accessible
D.To assist people to faster drive electronic devices
2.What does Dr Dong expect of the Brain Talker?
A.It has an uncertain future B.It can record people's brainwaves
C.It can be widely used by the public D.It will advance public entertainment
3.What is the fourth paragraph mainly about?
A.How the chip controls computer.
B.How the brain works with a computer.
C.How the brain processes information
D.How the chip picks out neural electrical signals.
4.What can be inferred from the last paragraph?
A.The chip will be worn inside the users’ body
B.It's too challenging to improve the Brain Talk
C.The performance of the Brain Talker is satisfying
D.Some patients will benefit from the Brain Talker
