1. I start every summer with the best of intentions: to attack one big book from the past, a classic that I was supposed to have read when young and ambitious. Often the pairings of books and settings have been purely accidental: Moby Dick on a three-day cross-country train trip; The Magic Mountain in a New England beachside cottage with no locks on the doors, no telephones or televisions in the rooms, and little to do beyond row on the salt pond. Attempting The Man Without Qualities on a return to Hawaii, my native state, however, was less fruitful: I made it through one and a quarter volumes (册), then decided that I'd got the point and went swimming instead.
But this summer I find myself at a loss. I'm not quite interested in Balzac, say, or Tristram Shandy. There's always War and Peace, which I've covered some distance several times, only to get bogged down in the "War" part, set it aside for a while, and realise that I have to start over from the beginning again, having forgotten everyone's name and social rank. Ho
w appealing to simply fall back on a favourite—once more into The Waves or Justine, which feels almost like cheating, too exciting and too much fun to properly belong in serious literature.
And then there's Stendhal's 英语练习题The Red and the Black, which happens to be the name of my favourite cocktail (鸡尾酒) of the summer, created by Michael Cecconi at Savoy and Back Forty. It is easy to drink, and knocking back three or four seems like such a delightful idea. Cecconi's theory: "I take whatever's fresh at the green market and turn it into liquid." The result is a pure shot of afternoon in the park, making one feel cheerful and peaceful all at once, lying on uncut grass with eyes shut, sun beating through
1. What can we infer about the author from the first paragraph?
A.He enjoys reading when travelling.
B.He shows talents for literature.
C.He has a cottage in New England.
D.He admires a lot of great writers.
2.What do the underlined words "get bogged down" in Paragraph 2 mean?
A.Get confused.
B.Make no progress .
C.Be interrupted.
D.Be carried away.
3.Why does the author say reading his favourite books feels like cheating?
A.He finishes them quickly.
B.He has read them many times before.
C.He barely understands them.
D.He should read something serious.
4.What can be a suitable title for the text?
A.To Read or Not to Read
B.My Summer Holidays
C.The Books of Summer
D.It's Never Too Late to Read
2.I have completely forgotten the name of an old lady who was a customer on my paper route when I was a twelve-year-old boy in Marinette, Wisconsin back in 1954.
On a mindless Saturday afternoon, a friend and I were throwing rocks onto the roof of the old lady’s house in her backyard. The object of our play was to observe how the rocks changed to missiles as they rolled to the roofs’ edge and shot out into the yard like comets falling from the sky.
I found myself a perfectly smooth rock. The stone was too smooth, however, so it slipped from my hand as I let it go and headed straight for a small window on the old lady’s back porch. At the sound of fractured glass,we ran away very fast.
I was scared about getting caught that first night. However, a few days later, when I was sure that I hadn’t been discovered, I started to feel guilty for her misfortune.
I made up my mind that I would save my paper delivery money, and in three weeks I had the seven dollars that I calculated would cover the cost of her window. I put the money in an envelope with a note explaining that I was sorry for breaking her window.
I waited until it was dark, snuck up to the old lady’s house,and put the envelope through the letter slot in her door.
The next day,I handed the old lady her paper and was able to return the warm smile that I was receiving from her. She thanked me for the paper and said,“Here,I have something for you.” It was a bag of cookies. I thanked her and began to eat the cookies as I continued my route.
After several cookies, I felt an envelope and pulled it out of the bag. When I opened the envelope, I was astonished. Inside was the seven dollars and a short note that said, “I’m proud of you.”
1.The author and his friend threw stones onto the roof of the old lady’s house in order to _______.
A.amuse themselves B.help her repair it
C.ask her for some help D.wake her up
2.What part-time job did the author do at the age of 12?
A.Making cookies. B.Collecting stones.
C.Delivering newspaper D.Repairing windows.
3.When the author felt guilty about what he had done, he ______.
A.went to see the old lady and admitted his mistake bravely
B.just wrote a letter to apologize to the old lady
C.turned to his friend for some advice
D.decided to rely on his own efforts to make up for his mistake
4.Which of the following can best replace the phrase “snuck up to” in Paragraph 6?
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