To honor the best books for young adults and children, TIME has created this list of classics: Best Young-Adult and Children’s Books.
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
Sherman Alexie’s coming-of-age novel shows family and traditions through young Arnold Spirit, torn between his life in an Indian community and his largely white high school. The specifics are sharply drawn, but this novel, with its themes of self-discovery, speaks to young readers everywhere.
Harry Potter
What more can be said about J. K. Rowling’s unique series? How about this: seven years after the final book was published, readers young and old still go crazy at the slightest rumor of a new Potter story.
The Book Thief
For many young readers, Markus Zusak’s novel provides their first in-depth reflection of the Holocaust(大屠杀). Although terror surrounds Liesel, a young German girl, so too does evidence of friendship, love and charity — recovering lights in the darkness.
A Wrinkle in Time
Madeleine L’Engle’s super-realist adventure has provided generations of children with their first-ever exciting experiences, as Meg travels across the fifth dimension(维度) in search of her father. But the science fiction also has a message: Meg learns independence and bravery in the process.
Charlotte’s Web
Readers are still drawn to the simplicity and beauty of spider Charlotte’s devotion to her pig friend Wilbur. Though family farms may be less common than they were in 1952, E. B. White’s novel remains timeless for its lasting reflection on the power of friendship and of good writing.
Holes
Louis Sachar’s story of a family curse(诅咒), fancy sports shoes and poisonous lizards moves forward and backward through time, telling of how Stanley Yelnats IV ended up in a prison camp. It’s an introduction to a complex story, filled with fun, warmth and a truly memorable criminal.
Matilda
With apologies to the lovable Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, this may be Roald Dahl’s most inspiring book for young people. Poor Matilda feels troubled and ignored by her family — a sense that many preteens share. They don’t share her supernatural powers, but that’s the lasting appeal of this escapist fun.
The Outsiders
Published when author S. E. Hinton was just 18, this coming-of-age novel offers evidence that even the youngest writer can provide valuable wisdom. Her striking look at Ponyboy and gang life in the 1960s has continued to have a powerful effect for decades on readers of all kinds, whether they identify more with the Greasers or the Socs.
The Phantom Tollbooth
In a humorous, sharp fairy tale(童话故事) that shows language and mathematics through a story of adventure in the Kingdom of Wisdom, Jules Feiffer’s unusual drawings do as much as Norton Juster’s plain language combined with complex ideas to carry readers through Digitopolis and the Mountains of Ignorance.
The Giver
Lois Lowry’s tale of self-discovery in society has a memorable central character, Jonas, and an unforgettable message — that pain and harm have an important place in individual lives and in society, and to forget them is to lose what makes us human.
1.Which of the following shares the same theme with The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian?
A. A Wrinkle in Time B. The Giver
C. The Book Thief D. Harry Potter
2.According to the passage, The Phantom Tollbooth ______.
A. contains a lot of fancy pictures
B. talks only about maths problems
C. describes a journey in complex language
D. sets its background in the Kingdom of Freedom
3.It can be learned from the passage that ______.
A. Charlotte fell in love with Wilbur
B. Matilda was well cared for in her family
C. Stanley Yelnats IV got punished
D. S. E. Hinton was best at telling fairy tales
4.What is the main purpose of the passage?
A. To advertise for some booksellers.
B. To introduce some famous writers.
C. To admire some classics for kids and young adults.
D. To recommend some great works of TIME magazine.
While other countries debate whether to fix wind turbines(涡轮机) offshore or in distant areas, Denmark is building them right in its capital. Three windmills(风车) were recently introduced in a Copenhagen neighbourhood, and the city plans to add another 97.
“We’ve made a very ambitious commitment to make Copenhagen CO2-neutral by 2025,” Frank Jensen, the mayor, says. “But going green isn’t only a good thing. It’s a must.” The city’s carbon-neutral plan, passed two years ago, will make Copenhagen the world’s first zero-carbon capital.
With wind power making up 33% of Denmark’s energy supply, the country already features plenty of wind turbines. Indeed, among the first sights greeting airborne visitors during the landing at Copenhagen’s Kastrup airport is a chain of sea-based wind towers. By 2020, the windswept country plans to get 50% of its energy from wind power.
Now turbines are moving into the city and these ones will cost less than half the price of those sea-based. Having the energy production closer makes it cheaper, and land-based turbines are the cheapest possible source of energy available today. Fixing them also makes the locals more aware of their energy consumption.
Though considerably less attractive than it was in ancient times, the windmill is enjoying popularity in the 21st century. “Windmills are a symbol of the new and clean Copenhagen,” says resident Susanne Sayers. Meanwhile, fellow Copenhagen citizen Maria Andersen worries about the noise, explaining that she wouldn’t want a wind turbine in her neighbourhood. While Copenhagen citizens approve of the windmills, they’re less willing to live close to one. The answer, the city has decided, is to sell turbine shares.
Each share represents 1,000 kW hours/year, with the profit tax-free. With a typical Copenhagen household consuming 3,500 kW hours/year, a family buying four shares effectively owns its own renewable energy supply. To date, 500 residents have bought 2,500 shares. Involving the local population was a smart move. “There are a lot of things you can do close to people if it’s not too big and if there’s a model where locals feel involved and get to share in the profit. Knowing that you, or your neighbours, own a technology creates a very different atmosphere than if a multinational owned it,” says Vad Mathiesen.
Going green? Yes. Accepted by the population? Yes. Going with centuries-old city architecture? Hardly.
Certainly, the three turbines don’t exactly blight the 18th-century city centre, as they are in a neighbourhood 3 km away. According to the mayor’s office, none of the remaining 97 turbines will rise in architecturally sensitive areas. But Sascha Haselmayer, CEO of city creation group Citymart, warns, “With Denmark being a world-leading producer of windmills, there is a risk that the answer to every energy question is windmills.”
“We’ve destroyed mountains and lakes in order to support our lifestyle,” notes Irena Bauman, an architect and professor at Sheffield University. “Wind turbines are a sign that we’re learning to live with nature. I hope we’ll have them all over the world,” she says. “They may be unpleasant to some, but better-looking ones will come. It’s just that we don’t have time to wait for them!”
1.Denmark has decided to build windmills in its capital mainly to ______.
A. make windmills its cultural symbol
B. advocate an environmentally-friendly lifestyle
C. take advantage of its limited wind power
D. greet tourists coming to Copenhagen by plane
2.How has the city of Copenhagen persuaded its people to accept the windmills around their homes?
A. By promising them that all their income is free of tax.
B. By designing less noisy windmills to ease their worries.
C. By convincing them that land-based turbines are much cheaper.
D. By offering them the chance to get the profit the windmills bring.
3.The underlined word “blight” (Paragraph 8) is closest in meaning to ______.
A. spoil B. improve C. pollute D. occupy
4.Sascha Haselmayer’s attitude to building windmills can best be described as ______.
A. disapproving B. unconcerned C. cautious D. enthusiastic
5.Which of the following words would Irena Bauman most probably agree with?
A. “It benefits us more to fit wind turbines in cities than in mountain areas or by lakes.”
B. “We should sell more wind turbines to other countries to make us one of the richest.”
C. “We should devote more time to developing the wind turbines that go with the city.”
D. “It’s not what wind turbines look like but how we live that really matters at present.”
When you are five years old, your mother is your everything. She is your , friend, and nurse; the only person you rely on with your hopes, dreams, and wishes. But for me, this was not the case.
My mother suffered from problems that would keep her in bed for days, leaving me to care for her and look after myself. This situation me to grow up much faster. While I knew my mother was sick, I felt deep down that we could it and everything would be okay. , in 1997 everything went terribly wrong, and my life changed forever.
Adoption is a word to a five-year-old, but when I realized that my own mother had signed me over to , I felt it was the worst betrayal(背叛). I suffered from shock, anger, and confusion as I attempted to adjust to my new family. No longer could I anyone since the person I had loved more than all else had abandoned me. Hearing people tell me that she did it in my best interest, I felt even more . I could not forgive her and always how she could reject me like an old sofa.
However, the more I got older, the more I began to understand how our situation had been. We had been on boxes of noodles, and at one point we lived in our car. I was once passed from drug-addicted cousins to mentally unstable neighbors as my mother to try and save me from what our lives were becoming each day passed.
Only recently have I begun to understand my mother gave me to strangers. she really did save me. She loved me more than anything, so she wanted me to have a in life, one she could no longer offer me. I now know my life has been a special only because she was selfless enough to give me up.
1.A. hostess B. competitor C. provider D. candidate
2.A. mainly B. completely C. gradually D. occasionally
3.A. moral B. physical C. social D. legal
4.A. forced B. inspired C. allowed D. convinced
5.A. stick to B. escape from C. decide on D. get through
6.A. Otherwise B. Meanwhile C. However D. Therefore
7.A. familiar B. negative C. simple D. foreign
8.A. strangers B. cousins C. friends D. neighbors
9.A. understand B. support C. trust D. praise
10.A. worried B. innocent C. scared D. bitter
11.A. imagined B. wondered C. remembered D. questioned
12.A. ridiculous B. urgent C. desperate D. complex
13.A. focusing B. working C. acting D. surviving
14.A. also B. even C. still D. yet
15.A. fought B. learnt C. hesitated D. tended
16.A. till B. before C. as D. once
17.A. how B. why C. that D. what
18.A. In the long run B. Time and again C. For quite a while D. All at once
19.A. challenge B. goal C. reward D. chance
20.A. gift B. fact C. test D. deal
— Aren’t you interested in the new flat?
— ______. It is noisy near the sports center.
A. Not especially B. No wonder
C. Not a little D. No doubt
According to the data from Robb’s studies, men produce slightly ______ speech. But no sex difference in the reading task was found.
A. clearest B. clear C. clearly D. clearer
Love means you care about the ______ of a person, that is, you hope he or she can lead a happy life.
A. authority B. belief C. preference D. welfare
