When I was a little girl, my father loved to play catch (抛接球游戏) with me. I wasn’t very good, but he would encourage me. He was always telling me “keep your eye on the ball” as I would not be able to catch even the easiest of throws.
As I got older, we didn’t play catch as much. If I had a problem, I would go to my father to ask for his advice. He would try to joke with me and say “keep your eye on the ball”. We would both laugh because usually that advice did not apply to(适用于) the problem, but he would try to make me smile.
My father became ill in 1995 when I was 23. As he suffered from a stroke (中风), he could not speak. There weren’t any more conversations. He could only mouth words, which were sometimes hard to understand. After a while, I seemed to be pretty good at reading his lips (嘴唇), even better than the nurses who were caring for him.
During our last conversation, I was telling him about a problem I was having with my then boyfriend. Once again, I could read his lips： “Keep your eye on the ball.” We both smiled.
That was the last time I saw my father before he passed away.
Since then, when I get into a stressful situation I tell myself “keep your eye on the ball”.
1.At first, by saying “keep your eye on the ball”, the writer’s father _____.
A. tells her to be careful while playing catch
B. wants to teach her a life lesson
C. wants her to work harder in every way
D. laughs at her when she misses the ball
2.When the writer asked for advice from her father, he usually _____.
A. tried to solve the problem for her
B. didn’t care about her problem
C. joked with her and made her smile
D. told her to solve the problem alone
3.When in trouble, the writer tells herself “keep your eye on the ball” to _____.
A. encourage herself to face the difficulty
B. remember the old days with her father
C. help herself forget her troubles
D. remember how to play catch
4.The underlined word “pretty” means _________.
A. beautiful B. quite C. carefully D. always
5.Which of the following can describe the writer’s father?
A. Serious. B. Cheerful(令人愉快的). C. Honest. D. Careless.
How do you win a Nobel Prize for writing? Here’s the secret from a previous winner： make it short, keep it real, and work hard.
Canadian author Alice Munro, 82, was awarded the 2013 Nobel Prize in literature. She is known for her short stories about personal relationships of ordinary people, usually women.
Munro was born into a farming family in Ontario. The family was very poor. Munro did a lot of physical work as a young girl. She decided to be a writer at the age of 12. Now Munro turns her hard childhood into great writing ideas. The story Dear Life, for example, opens with a description of the neighborhood in which Munro grew up. Also, she talks about her poor relationship with her mother in many of her stories, such as Lives of Girls and Women and Friend of My Youth.
Since she published her first book in 1968, Munro has won many awards, with the Nobel Prize as her biggest honor. But Munro doesn’t see herself as a talented(有天赋的) writer.
“I’m the opposite of a writer with a quick gift. I don’t grasp it very easily at all, the ‘it’ being whatever I’m trying to do,” she said.
Do you dream of becoming an author while sadly admitting you are not that talented? Munro has a tip for you： use notebooks and write a lot.
“I have lots of notebooks that contain(包含) this writing,” she said. But it helps her sort out (整理) her mind. “Stories would just be working in my head for so long that when I started to write I was deep into them.”
1.As a Nobel prize winner, Alice Munro is famous for _________.
A. having a rich childhood
B. writing short stories
C. having good relationship with her family
D. only writing about women in her stories
2.In the story Dear Life, Alice Munro _________.
A. described her poor relationship with her mom
B. wrote about her poor family
C. described the neighborhood where she grew up
D. talked about physical work she did in her childhood
3.Alice Munro published her first book when she was_________.
A. 37 B. 12 C. 30 D. 82
4.From the passage we can learn that Alice Munro is _________.
A. talented B. easy-going(随和的)
C. confident D. hard-working
5. According to Alice Munro, those who want to be a writer should _____.
A. have talent in writing
B. write stories as long as possible
C. make up the story with imagination
D. write as much as possible
完形填空，从每题所给选项中选出可以填入空白处的最佳选项。
Ever since I was a child, my mouth has caused me trouble. I'm not a bad person； I have a _______ time learning when to keep my mouth closed.
My mom has told me again and again, "Robert, your constant bad words are hurting me. If you _______ to be this rude, you will get into big trouble."
It's been a problem at school several times too when teachers have told me something I didn't want to hear. I used to feel it was my duty(职责) to _______ myself.
One day in English class I began working on my homework until I heard a classmate_______ behind me. It was Nathaniel, who liked doing that as usual.
At first, I said very _______ , "Nathaniel, would you please be quiet?"
However, Nathaniel continued talking to himself. I quickly _______ "Nathaniel, shut up(闭嘴)!"
For the next five minutes, we threw hurtful(伤感情的) words back and forth at each other.
"At least I don't have an ugly lazy eye like you!" I shouted.
I knew this would make him _______ . It would hurt his feelings and shut him up.
What I said filled him with anger. He tried to _______ over my seat and catch me as he shouted, "That's it! That's it!"
_______ at his reaction(反应), I sat back in my seat. I had never seen Nathaniel act like this before.
Later on, we were taken to the principal's office. There, Mr. Black, our English teacher, told us to _______ the matter. It wasn't until then that I finally found that _______ I hurt someone physically(身体上), the wounds eventually heal(愈合). But when I hurt them with my _______ , sometimes the pain (痛苦) never goes away.
At the end of the discussion, I said _______ to Nathaniel.
When I went back to my room, I spent some time praying(祈祷). I began to _______ how often what I said hurt others. But I believe that as I keep praying and asking God to help me, he'll tell me when to keep my_______ closed.
1.A. busy B. hard C. happy D. fantastic
2.A. decide B. like C. continue D. try
3.A. support B. separate C. smell D. spend
4.A. singing B. reading C. beating D. talking
5.A. clearly B. nicely C. carelessly D. angrily
6.A. repeated B. expressed C. replied D. shouted
7.A. nervous B. afraid C. sad D. bored
8.A. fall B. look C. hand D. reach
9.A. Angry B. Surprised C. Nervous D. Happy
10.A. discuss B. solve C. explain D. report
11.A. while B. after C. when D. where
12.A. words B. action C. ideas D. experience
13.A. goodbye B. thanks C. sorry D. okay
14.A. talk about B. hear about C. complain about D. think about
15.A. eyes B. mouth C. windows D. door
—Let’s go and listen to Mr. Black’s speech on Western culture, shall we?
— ________ . It’s getting to the end.
A. Why not? B. That’s all right
C. I’m afraid not. D. Never mind.
Bob used to _______ a difficult person to get along with. But recently he has got used to_______ with others in a friendly way.
A. be, work B. be , working
C. being ,work D. being, working
A lot of things ________ in Oxfam shops, _________ books.
A. sell； including B. are sold； including
C. sell； include D. are sold； include
