In a recent class I was asked “What is a short story?” My first answer was that it was something that could be read in one sitting and brought an illumination（啟示）to the reader, sudden and golden like sunlight cracking(破裂, 砸開(kāi)) through a heavy cloud. I went on to say that in my opinion a “real” short story was closer to poetry than to a novel.
Here are some definitions of the short story. My favorite is Benet's: “something that can be read in an hour and remembered for a lifetime”. One writer said, “The theme of a novel won't fit into the framework of a short story; It's like trying to squeeze a large painting done on a wall into the frame of a miniature （微型畫(huà)）。 And as in a miniature painting, the details need to be sharp. ”
The short story is an example of one aspect of human nature. Often a character undergoes some event, something that offers him or her change. This is why it’s said that short stories usually “say something ”， often a small something, but sometimes delivered with such accuracy that the effect is strongly felt, even a life-moment for some readers, something similar to a religious experience or to witnessing a never-to-be-repeated scene in nature.
Ok, let’s form a definition here: A short story is an account, rarely over 10, 000 words or below 500 words-more commonly 1, 500 to 5, 000 words-a single-sitting read, but with enough time and weight to move the reader. It is narrow and focused to produce an effect through the story, most commonly through events affecting some change in an individual.
Writer Isabelle Allende once wrote: “Novels are, for me, adding up details, just work, work, work, then you're done. Short stories are more difficult-they have to be perfect, complete in themselves. ”

  1. 1.

    The writer of the passage is probably a ______.

    1. A.
      poet
    2. B.
      painter
    3. C.
      teacher
    4. D.
      student
  2. 2.

    What should the ideal short story be in length?

    1. A.
      at most 10, 000 words
    2. B.
      below 500 words
    3. C.
      over 5, 000words
    4. D.
      around 2, 000 words
  3. 3.

    The underlined word “undergoes ” in the third paragraph probably means “________ ”。

    1. A.
      experiences
    2. B.
      discovers
    3. C.
      discusses
    4. D.
      appreciates
  4. 4.

    What’s the difference between novels and short stories?

    1. A.
      Novels are too long for us to read.
    2. B.
      Short stories are too short for us to read.
    3. C.
      Short stories have more details than novels.
    4. D.
      Short stories are more perfect and difficult than novels.
  5. 5.

    What would be the best title for the passage?

    1. A.
      How Do You Write a Short Story?
    2. B.
      What Exactly Is a Short Story?
    3. C.
      Is a Short Story Similar to Poetry?
    4. D.
      Are Short Stories Perfect and Complete?
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科目：高中英語(yǔ) 來(lái)源：山東淄博市2010屆高三下學(xué)期第二次模擬考試英語(yǔ)試卷 題型：閱讀理解


B
Laws that would have ensured pupils from five to 16 received a full financial education got lost in the ‘wash up’. An application is calling on the next government to bring it back.
At school the children are taught to add up and subtract（減法） but, extraordinarily, are not routinely shown how to open a bank account — let alone how to manage their finances in an increasingly complex and demanding world.
Today the parenting website Mumsnet and the consumer campaigner Martin Lewis have joined forces to launch an online application to make financial education a compulsory element of the school curriculum in England. Children from five to 16 should be taught about everything from pocket money to pensions, they say. And that was exactly the plan preserved in the Children, Schools and Families bill that was shelved by the government in the so-called “wash-up” earlier this month — the rush to legislation before parliament was dismissed. Consumer and parent groups believe financial education has always been one of the most frustrating omissions of the curriculum.
As the Personal Finance Education Group (Pfeg) points out, the good habits of young children do not last long. Over 75% of seven- to 11-year-olds are savers but by the time they get to 17, over half of them are in debt to family and friends. By this age, 26% see a credit card or overdraft（透支） as a way of extending their spending power. Pfeg predicts that these young people will “find it much harder to avoid the serious unexpected dangers that have befallen many of their parents' generation unless they receive good quality financial education while at school.”
The UK has been in the worst financial recession（衰退）for generations. It does seem odd that — unless parents step in — young people are left in the dark until they are cruelly introduced to the world of debt when they turn up at university. In a recent poll of over 8,000 people, 97% supported financial education in schools, while 3% said it was a job for parents.
61. The passage is mainly about _____________.
A. how to manage school lessons
B. how to deal with the financial crisis
C. teaching young people about money
D. teaching students how to study effectively
62. It can be inferred from the first two paragraphs that __________.
A. the author complains about the school education
B. pupils should not be taught to add up and subtract
C. students have been taught to manage their finances
D. laws on financial education have been effectively carried out
63. The website and the consumer campaigner joined to _________.
A. instruct the pupils to donate their pocket money
B. promote the connection of schools and families
C. ask the government to dismiss the parliament
D. appeal for the curriculum of financial education
64. According to Pfeg, ___________.
A. it is easy to keep good habits long
B. teenagers spend their money as planned
C. parents are willing to pay the debt for their kids
D. it will be in trouble if the teenagers are left alone
65. A poll is mentioned to ___________.
A. stress the necessity of the curriculum reform
B. show the seriousness of the financial recession
C. make the readers aware of burden of the parents
D. illustrate some people are strongly against the proposal

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科目：高中英語(yǔ) 來(lái)源：2011-2012年江西省新余一中高二第一次段考英語(yǔ)試卷 題型：閱讀理解

In a recent class I was asked “What is a short story?” My first answer was that it was something that could be read in one sitting and brought an illumination（啟示）to the reader, sudden and golden like sunlight cracking(破裂, 砸開(kāi)) through a heavy cloud. I went on to say that in my opinion a “real” short story was closer to poetry than to a novel.
Here are some definitions of the short story. My favorite is Benet's: “something that can be read in an hour and remembered for a lifetime”. One writer said, “The theme of a novel won't fit into the framework of a short story; It's like trying to squeeze a large painting done on a wall into the frame of a miniature （微型畫(huà)）。 And as in a miniature painting, the details need to be sharp. ”
The short story is an example of one aspect of human nature. Often a character undergoes some event, something that offers him or her change. This is why it’s said that short stories usually “say something ”， often a small something, but sometimes delivered with such accuracy that the effect is strongly felt, even a life-moment for some readers, something similar to a religious experience or to witnessing a never-to-be-repeated scene in nature.
Ok, let’s form a definition here: A short story is an account, rarely over 10, 000 words or below 500 words-more commonly 1, 500 to 5, 000 words-a single-sitting read, but with enough time and weight to move the reader. It is narrow and focused to produce an effect through the story, most commonly through events affecting some change in an individual.
Writer Isabelle Allende once wrote: “Novels are, for me, adding up details, just work, work, work, then you're done. Short stories are more difficult-they have to be perfect, complete in themselves. ”
【小題1】The writer of the passage is probably a ______.

A．poetB．painterC．teacherD．student
【小題2】What should the ideal short story be in length?
A．a(chǎn)t most 10, 000 wordsB．below 500 wordsC．over 5, 000wordsD．a(chǎn)round 2, 000 words
【小題3】The underlined word “undergoes ” in the third paragraph probably means “________ ”。
A．experiences B．discoversC．discussesD．a(chǎn)ppreciates
【小題4】What’s the difference between novels and short stories?
A．Novels are too long for us to read.
B．Short stories are too short for us to read.
C．Short stories have more details than novels.
D．Short stories are more perfect and difficult than novels.
【小題5】What would be the best title for the passage?
A．How Do You Write a Short Story?B．What Exactly Is a Short Story?
C．Is a Short Story Similar to Poetry?D．Are Short Stories Perfect and Complete?

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科目：高中英語(yǔ) 來(lái)源：2010年江西省高安中學(xué)高二下學(xué)期期末考試英語(yǔ)卷 題型：閱讀理解

If you give something to someone for free, will that person value it and use it? Development experts have debated this question for decades. Some think the act of paying causes people to value something and use it more.
Selling necessary health treatments, others argue, may deny them to the people who need them the most.
Consider, for example, chemically treated bed nets, which kill mosquitoes anti protect people against malaria(瘧疾)while they are sleeping. William Easterly, an economist at New York University, believes this is one example of development having gone wrong. In a recent book, Professor Easterly suggests bed nets given free in Africa are often used for the wrong purpose. Yet, the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends bed nets be given out free and used by whole communities. The success of a large free bed net campaign in Kenya led the WHO to announce this recommendation
This debate will likely influence social programs in the developing world. Many non-governmental organizations support the creation of self-supporting programs in poor countries. Goods and services are sold for a price to help these programs survive.
According to Rachel Glenerster, who runs a research lab doing development and poverty studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, her several studies have proven that small price changes have a big influence on the number of people who use a product. A price change will reduce the total amount of use of the product as well, she says. She has also found no evidence that the very act of paying for something changes how people use it.
As for a particular product among special populations, some development experts argue that pricing is useful. When it comes to bed nets, Miss Glenerster says research shows no evidence of this. People are just as likely to use a bed net whether they paid for it or not.
【小題1】 The debate among experts focuses on      .

A．a(chǎn) special use of bed nets in Africa
B．the use of assistance-related products
C．the importance of social programs for the poor
D．a(chǎn) popular way to help the poor
【小題2】 According to some experts, certain health treatments       .
A．can only be sold to the richB．should be completely free
C．a(chǎn)re too expensiveD．a(chǎn)re not needed by the poor
【小題3】What can be inferred from Paragraph 2?
A．The WHO's advice may not be always practical.
B．Many Africans don't know the function of bed nets.
C．The case of Kenya is doubtful.
D．Bed nets given to Africans are poor in quality.
【小題4】 What may be the possible change in the social program according to the third paragraph?
A．Some of them may become financially independent.
B．Many of them will not be organized by the government.
C．Some of them will go to developed countries.
D．Most of them will be free of charge.

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科目：高中英語(yǔ) 來(lái)源：2014屆湖北省高二上學(xué)期期中考試英語(yǔ)試卷（解析版） 題型：閱讀理解

Deep in the Amazon forest, thousands of people still live in isolation from the rest of the world.

In a recent press release, the Brazilian government confirmed the existence of another isolated tribe of about 200 people living in the Vale do Javari reservation. The 200 people living in the Vale do Javari reservation. The reservation, located near the Peruvian border, is about the size of Portugal. At least another 14 isolated tribes, with a total population of about 2000, call the area home.

The newly observed group lives on four large straw-roofed buildings and grows corn, peanut and other crops.

Brazil’s National Indian Foundation (BNTF) first noticed the reservation in the forest using satellite maps, but it wasn’t until April that an airplane expedition was able to confirm the tribe’s existence. “The work of finding and protecting isolated groups is part of Brazilian public policy,” said the BNIF officer for Vale do Javari, Fabricio Amorim. “To confirm something like this takes years of hard work.”

BNIF estimates there are 68 isolated tribes living in the Amazon. The organization uses airplanes to avoid disturbing the tribes through personal contact, but that doesn’t mean others are so respectful of their right to privacy.

Illegal fishing, woodcutting and hunting bring people into the protected area. Oil exploration on the Peruvian side of the border is another threat. All kinds of criminals also invade the lands of the local groups, said Amorim. The outsiders can damage the land and influence the cultures of indigenous(土著的)peoples. They can also bring diseases which can wipe out the whole population that still lack even basic antibiotics(抗生素).

Brazil’s indigenous peoples won the legal right to their traditional lands in Brazil’s 1988 Constitution, which stated that all indigenous lands shall be divided and turned over to tribes within five years. Indigenous groups now control 11 percent of Brazil’s territory, including 22 percent of the Amazon.

Allowing indigenous groups the right homelands is not just a matter of human rights. The rest of the world can benefit from their knowledge. Mark Plotkin has spent years living with the people of the Amazon and learning from their traditional healers. In his lecture, he pointed out that many useful materials and knowledge, including numerous drugs, can be gained from listening to the indigenous groups of the Amazon. Besides this, they are also more effective at protecting the land, and less expensive, than hired rangers(護(hù)林人).

1.The underlined word in the first paragraph probably means “a state of            ”.

A．separation

B．interaction

C．satisfaction

D．excitement

2.From the passage we can learn that the tribes in the Amazon forest             .

A．only live on a reservation designated for them

B．prefer straw-roofed buildings to wooden ones

C．keep contact with the outside world through airplanes

D．have the legal right to the land they live on

3.Which of the following is TRUE according to Amorim?

A．Privacy violation is common among the Amazon tribes.

B．The laws dividing the lands of the tribes are far from enough.

C．Modern civilization endangers the tribes and their cultures.

D．It is hard to make public policy to protect primitive tribes.

4.The last paragraph is mainly about              .

A．the lost human rights of the indigenous peoples

B．the benefits of protecting the primitive tribes

C．the value of traditional healing

D．the indigenous peoples as guardians of the Amazon forest

 

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科目：高中英語(yǔ) 來(lái)源：2011-2012學(xué)年江蘇省南京市高三上學(xué)期期中考試熱身卷（英語(yǔ)） 題型：閱讀理解

Why do so many Americans distrust what they read in their newspapers? The American Society of Newspaper Editors is trying to answer this painful question. The organization is deep into a long self-analysis known as the journalism credibility project.

Sad to say, this project has turned out to be mostly low-level findings about factual errors and spelling and grammar mistakes, combined with lots of head-scratching puzzlement about what in the world those readers really want.

But the sources of distrust go way deeper. Most journalists learn to see the world through a set of standard patterns into which they plug each day's events. In other words, there is a conventional story line in the newsroom culture that provides a backbone and a ready-made narrative structure for otherwise confusing news.

There exists a social and cultural disconnect between journalists and their readers, which helps explain why the "standard patterns" of the newsroom seem alien to many readers. In a recent survey, questionnaires were sent to reporters in five middle-size cities around the country, plus one large metropolitan area. Then residents in these communities were phoned at random and asked the same questions.

Replies show that compared with other Americans, journalists are more likely to live in upscale neighborhoods, have maids, own Mercedes, and trade stocks, and they're less likely to go to church, do volunteer work, or put down roots in a community.

Reporters tend to be part of a broadly defined social and cultural elite, so their work tends to reflect the conventional values of this elite. The surprising distrust of the news media isn't rooted in inaccuracy or poor reportorial skills but in the daily clash of world views between reporters and their readers.

This is an explosive situation for any industry, particularly a declining one. Here is a troubled business that keeps hiring employees whose attitudes vastly annoy the customers. Then it sponsors lots of symposiums and a credibility project dedicated to wondering why customers are annoyed and fleeing in large numbers. But it never seems to get around to noticing the cultural and class biases that so many former buyers are complaining about. If it did, it would open up its diversity program, now focused narrowly on race and gender, and look for reporters who differ broadly by outlook, values, education, and class.

1.What is the passage mainly about?

A. needs of the readers all over the world   

B. causes of the public disappointment about newspapers

C. origins of the declining newspaper industry      

D. aims of a journalism credibility project

2.The results of the journalism credibility project turned out to be______.

A. quite trustworthy                     B. somewhat contradictory

C. very instructive                      D. rather superficial(膚淺的)

3.The basic problem of journalists as pointed out by the writer lies in their _________.

A. working attitude                     B. conventional lifestyle

C. world outlook                       D. educational background

 

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