Question

US student Vanessa Tahay stands out from the other teenagers in her school. Her skin is dark, her accent is thick, and if you ask her, she will tell you these are the things she is proudest of. Tahay is a poet, and at 18 she was considered among the best in Los Angeles.

When she is on the stage, audiences often go silent. They also laugh, shout and cry. But this doesn’t come easily for someone who comes from a village that sits at the base of a huge mountain range in Central America. When she first appeared at school, she was teased by others for being short and different. She never spoke, so they called her “mouse”.

“How do I defend myself?” Tahay thought. “I don’t know how.”

“Keep going,” her mother would tell her. “At some point, you’ll learn.”

She spent hours after school and on weekends watching the same DVDs: English without Barriers.

Tahay’s elder brother, Elmer, persuaded her to go to the after-school poetry club. In the last six years, her English teacher Laurie Kurnick has turned Cleveland Charter High School’s poetry program into one of the most respected in the city. Her team draws from the likes of D.H. Laurence, Pat Mora and Kendrick Lamar to create poems about their own lives. The poems focus on many things —some funny, some painful.

The first time Tahay read the group’s poems, chills went up her spine (脊柱). “I wish I could write like that,” she thought. “I want to say something.”

She wrote her first poem about her first year in America. She called it Invisible. The day her turn came to recite in front of the team, she broke down crying. She cried for 15 minutes. “I had so much held in,” Tahay said. “I couldn’t even finish it.”

But she kept at it despite her less-than-perfect grammar, spelling and diction (措辞). Still, she wouldn’t tell her friends about her poetry because she worried they would make fun of her.

But with time, her poems changed her. “They gave me pride,” Tahay said. “They told me that I’m worth something.”

“She had this innocence,” Kurnick said. “This willingness to be genuine and show you things you don’t ever see.”

1.What did Tahay’s mother suggest she do when she was teased by others?

A. Fight with them bravely.

B. Report them to her teachers.

C. Ignore them and keep going.

D. Try hard to make friends with them.

2.What are the themes of Tahay and her team’s poems?

A. Their admiration for the great poets.

B. Their appreciation of natural beauty.

C. Their expectations of a better future.

D. Funny and painful stories about their lives.

3.How did Tahay probably feel when she first read the group’s poems?

A. She was cold.    B. She was excited.

C. She was nervous.    D. She was frightened.

4.How did Tahay benefit from writing poems?

A. She felt more confident about herself.

B. She won many national poetry competitions.

C. She became the first student poet in the city.

D. She improved her grammar and spelling greatly.

Answer

1.C

2.D

3.B

4.A

【解析】本文为记叙文。美国学生Vanessa Tahay在学校因其皮肤很黑，口音很浓而格外显眼。18岁时她成为洛杉矶一个最好的诗人之一。她的诗主要是关于生活中的乐趣和痛苦。写诗让她受益匪浅，让她更自信。

1.细节理解题。根据第二段最后两句和第三段的内容，当她在学校被人戏弄时，她妈妈说“Keep going,” her mother would tell her. “At some point, you’ll learn.” 可知，C项是她妈妈的建议。

2.推理判断题。根据第六段的内容Her team draws from the likes of D.H. Laurence, Pat Mora and Kendrick Lamar to create poems about their own lives. The poems focus on many things —some funny, some painful.（她的团队借鉴了D.H. Laurence、Pat Mora和Kendrick Lamar等人创作自己生活的诗篇。诗描写了许多东西如一些乐趣和痛苦。）可知，这些都是描写他们生活中的乐趣和痛苦的。分析选项可知D项正确。

3.推理判断题。根据第七段内容The first time Tahay read the group’s poems, chills went up her spine (脊柱). “I wish I could write like that,”可知，当她第一次讲到这些诗时，她觉得她的脊梁发冷。“我希望我也能那样写，”。根据第二句说她也想写出这样的诗，可知她是羡慕的。分析四个选项（A. She was cold.她很冷；B. She was excited.她很激动；C. She was nervous.很紧张；D. She was frightened.她很恐惧。），只有B项表达她羡慕的激动心情。故选B项。

4.细节理解题。根据倒数第二段的内容But with time, her poems changed her. “They gave me pride,” Tahay said.可知，写诗给了她自信和自豪感。分析选项可知A项符合题意。