Alex Elman runs a big business—something hard to imagine after she lost her sight in her twenties. But Elman says that losing her sight helped her focus on finding success.
Elman’s father planted a hillside vineyard(葡萄园) in western Massachusetts in 1981. It’s where Elman spent the darkest period of her life. When she was 27 years old, she went blind as a result of diabetes(糖尿病) 17 years ago. She recalled, “I hid in my home. I hid in the place, to me, that was the safest place in the world.”
However, she found a new way forward.
Elman is the founder of Alex Elman Wines, a growing competitor of organic wines from all around the world: Chianti from Italy, Torrontes from Argentina.
Elman isn’t solitary in her work. Instead, she has a good assistant, a guide dog named Hanley. Hanley is something of a professional wine taster and travels to all of the wine factories that Elman runs, from South America to Europe.
At first, Elman wouldn’t accept a guide dog. Now it’s hard to imagine her life, or her business, without him. She said, "When someone tells me something is organic and I don’t really believe it because I taste something funny on it, I’ll put it in front of his face and if he likes the wine, he’ll actually go in and sniff it. If it’s not right, he’ll turn his head away. That’s how we know whether the soil is actually organic.”
Elman believes the loss of her sight was a gift from God. She said, “It allowed me to pay attention to what I thought was important. Therefore, adapt to a situation, and you’ll be all right. Because you can’t change it anyway, right?”
1.How old was Elman when she began suffering from diabetes?
A. About 10 years old. B. About 17 years old.
C. About 27 years old. D. About 37 years old.
2.What does the underlined word “solitary” probably mean?
A. Fortunate. B. Alone.
C. Skilled. D. Active.
3.What does Hanley do when he dislikes the wine in front of his face?
A. He will shake his head. B. He will make faces at Alex Elman.
C. He will turn away and go home. D. He will refuse to go in and sniff it.
4.Which of the following is TRUE about Alex Elman?
A. She is something of a professional wine taster.
B. She found herself a guide dog soon after she went blind.
C. She takes a positive attitude towards her loss of sight.
D. She always regards her home as the safest place in the world.
What’s the most important thing in a piece of writing? Is it the story, the characters, the description, or the style? Obviously, you can’t choose only one. A great work succeeds in combining all of them in a great mix, producing a wonderful work.
In most cases, you’re better at one writing element over the rest, and working on your strengths will work to your advantage. Building characters, however, is important to your writing. It’s not to be ignored no matter what your case is. So, how do you achieve that?
Make Them Real
This is probably one of the most common pieces of writing advice: make your characters believable. What does it really mean? It means that your characters need to be there for a reason, not just for pushing the story forward. He/She has a real life, with his/her own fears and dreams, and you have to show this. Your characters don’t need to be typical to be believable. The unusual ones are even more interesting, but it’s your job to make your readers relate to them.
Understand Human Psychology
To build great characters, you’ll need to understand people’s psychology: what are they thinking about, what are they feeling and experiencing, and why are they doing what they are doing? Get behind the obvious. Be in the backstage with them. Sit them in a chair and let them talk away. If you truly listen, you will learn.
Be your character
When you immerse (使沉浸) yourself in your writing, you get lost in that world and you start living in it. This is when the magic happens and you become your character. By putting yourself in your character’s shoes, you allow yourself to experience what you’re writing about first-hand. The more it feels real to you, the more the readers will feel the same, too.
1.According to the author, what makes a great work?
A. Being skilled at description. B. Having some unusual characters.
C. Using some special writing styles. D. Combining related things in a great way.
2.According to Paragraph 4, a good writer should be good at ________.
A. knowing others’ minds B. writing down the obvious points
C. thinking differently from others D. starting conversations with others
3.To build a great character, you should ________.
A. write according to true events B. pretend you’re the character
C. talk to others about your character D. forget about your fears and dreams
假如你是李华, 你校成立了一个英语俱乐部, 由外教Mr. Smith担任负责人，现在他就俱乐部的活动内容征求成员的意见和建议。请给他写一封信，提出三点建议并说明理由。
注意: 词数100左右。
Dear Mr. Smith,
____________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
Yours,
Li Hua
假定英语课上老师要求同桌之间交换修改作文，请你修改你同桌写的以下作文。文中共有10处语言错误，每句中最多有两处。每处错误仅涉及一个单词的增加、删除或修改。
增加：在缺词处加一个漏字符号（
），并在其下面写出该加的词。
删除：把多余的词用斜线（
）划掉。
修改：在错的词下划一横线，并在该词下面写出修改后的词。
注意：1.每处错误及其修改均仅限一词；
2.只允许修改 10处，多者（从第 11处起）不计分。
Last year, a girl got herself stick in the sewer (下水道) and almost lost his life. Thanks the police, she was rescued in time. This accident were caused by the girl’s carelessness while walking. She fixed so much attention on her mobile phone that she didn’t notice the sewer in the front of her was without a cover.
It sounds kind of ridiculous, but it’s truly and common in our daily life. Mobile life has distracted (分散) people’s attentions from face-to-face communication. It seems what they can’t live without a mobile phone. Whether waiting for the bus or meet with friends, they will make sure that their mobile phone is at hand.
Don’t let mobile phones control your life, and you may lose yourself someday.
Chuck Wall teaches management and human relations at Bakersfield College. He walked into class one day and told his students that their homework was to perform a simple and random act of kindness. Not 1. (understand) the homework, the students didn’t know what to do. Chuck didn’t answer their questions. 2., he encouraged his students to work it out by themselves.
One week later, the students entered the classroom and began sharing their stories 3. (excited). One reported on helping a poor dog 4. (abandon) by its owner. Another student told others about giving blankets away to the homeless. Gradually, more and more students developed the habit of doing such kind acts, from 5. they benefited a lot.
Since then, similar kind acts 6. (perform) in schools around the world. Many schools organize a. Random Acts of Kindness Week, around November 13th, 7. (celebrate) World Kindness Day. Some schools use each day of Random Acts of Kindness Week to perform a 8. (differ) kind act, such 9. making a new friend, helping someone, doing community service or raising money for a charity. In this way, students learn to consider other people and think about how small actions can make the world a 10. (good) place.
George Springer helped his team Houston Astros win the World Series in 2017. He was awarded the Most Valuable Player, ______ his struggle is mostly hidden. His ______ is not in trying to hit a fastball, but in ______ it. He stutters(口吃).
Growing up in Connecticut, Springer was the kid who would ______ raise his hand in school, the kid ______ every time he opened his mouth.
“I was the guy who didn’t talk,’’ he said. “I would ______ speaking at all costs.’’
He was often ______. Sometimes he was bullied(欺侮). The phone was suffering to him. ______were worse. If he wanted a dish that he knew would be tough to say, he would ______. If he was with his family, his sister Nicole would ______ for him.
He remembers a couple of attempts at speech therapy(治疗), but he said he was ______ with encouraging parents, an ability to ______ himself in sports, and a small group of friends who ______.
“If therapy works for you, ______. But for me, I also developed my own ______ to handle it,’’ he said. “Besides, when I was around all my friends, it didn’t really seem to ______ them. If I did it, they would ______ until I was done, then finish the conversation.’’
To help other kids ______ the same issue, Springer frequently appeared in interviews and even agreed to wear a microphone ______ during the 2017 All-Star Game. He then added “I can’t let anything in life I can’t ______ slow me down or stop me from being who I want to be.’’ These 22 words proved it.
1.A. so B. yet C. and D. since
2.A. strength B. fault C. goal D. difficulty
3.A. talking about B. dealing with C. thinking about D. playing with
4.A. even B. sometimes C. often D. never
5.A. in delight B. in fear C. in relief D. in trouble
6.A. forbid B. prefer C. regret D. avoid
7.A. deserted B. scared C. teased D. attacked
8.A. Classes B. Restaurants C. Foods D. Debates
9.A. gesture B. weep C. signal D. beg
10.A. take B. pay C. order D. cook
11.A. blessed B. getting along C. provided D. fed up
12.A. refresh B. relax C. enjoy D. express
13.A. cared B. forgave C. understood D. approved
14.A. interesting B. great C. unique D. strange
15.A. ways B. interest C. habits D. taste
16.A. amaze B. hurt C. aid D. bother
17.A. laugh B. press C. wait D. panic
18.A. raising B. facing C. confusing D. settling
19.A. on field B. in school C. at home D. on stage
20.A. grasp B. possess C. control D. defend
