A English Literature七选五阅读练习

A English Literature: why should we study it? When we read the rich variety of novels, poems, and plays which constitute English literature, we are reading works which have lasted for generations, or centuries, and they have lasted because they are good. These works sat something worth saying. Literature is part of the cultural heritage which is freely available to everyone, and which can enrich our lives in all kinds of ways. They can convey thought, richness of emotion, and insight into character. 1 . They deepen our understanding of our history, our society, and our own lives. 2 It can take us in our imaginations back to the roots of our culture and increase our understanding of our modern world. Literature can also enrich our experience in other ways too. Good words of literature are not museum pieces, preserved and studied only for historical interest. They last because they remain fresh as well as showing the times when they were written. Each reader reading each work is a new event and the works speak to us now telling us truths about human life. We can gain a lot from literature in many ways. 3 Such moments can help validate （证实）our personal experience at a depth which is rarely reached by everyday life. 4 Well, we don’t need to, but when we visit a co untry for the first time it can help to have books by people who have been there before by our side. When we start to read literature, particularly older works, we have to make an effort to accommodate （适应）to the writer’s use of language and to appreciate the ideas he is offering. Critics can help fill our out understanding by telling which a work was written or about the personal circumstances of the author while he was writing it. We are not going to enjoy every literary work. 5 Good literature lasts forever. A. B. C. So why do we need to study English literature, instead of just reading it? Literature can give us some information of much earlier ages. And our feeling for nature can be deepened when a landscape calls to mind images form some famous writers. D. They take us beyond our limited experience of life to show us the lives of other people at other times. E. Making the effort to shape our own thoughts into an essay is also an experience. F. There may be times when we find reading a critic is more interesting than reading the actual work. G. However, the most rewarding experiences can come in those moments when we feel that author has communicated something

personally to us. Key:B Leonard Bernstein Leonard Bernstein was a major force in the twentieth century music. 1 More than any American conductor before him, Bernstein expanded the audience of classical music while maintaining a deep artistic integrity（完整）. Bernstein was born in Lawrence, Massachusetts in 1918. His parents were first generation Jewish immigrants from Russia. Though he began learning the piano at the age of ten, his family hoped he would follow a more practical route and sent him to the Boston Latin School. 2 His interest was in becoming a concert pianist, but upon graduating he began to seriously study orchestration （管弦乐编曲）at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. More important than any of the formal training, however, were the summers he spent in Tanglewood, Massachusetts, studying with the great conductor Serge Koussevitzky. In 1942, Koussevitzky invited Bernstein to be the assistant conductor at Tanglewood. 3 One of whom was Arthur Rodzinzki, who appointed him assistant conductor of the New York Philharmonic. Asked to fill in for a guest conductor, Bernstein (then only twenty-five) conducted a difficult and energetic performance with only an evening’s preparation. Impressing all who came, Bernstein found himself on the cover of The New York Times. He spent much of the 1950s conducing, teaching, and becoming involved in composing for non-classical genres 流派）Of his （ . many popular efforts of the time, On the Waterfront,(1954) Candide(1956), and West Side Story(1957) are the best known. 4 In 1957, Bernstein returned to the New York Philharmonic, where he was to make his greatest contribution to the music world. The musical genius that had make him a success on Broadway and in the classical concert halls of the world, found

its true home at Lincoln Center. For the nest eleven seasons, Bernstein would renew the American classical music in a way no other director had done. 5 While he toured throughout the world, visiting seventeen different countries, he also concentrated on creating performances for the average American. For both children and adults, he created shows which were both entertaining and educating. A. B. C. D. For On the Waterfront he received an Academy Award. After graduation, he attended Harvard University, where he majored in music. It was at the New York Philharmonic that Bernstein got his big break. His dramatic style caught the heart of America, bringing classical music to thousands of people from different backgrounds. E. Within two years he was named the director of the New York City Symphony. F. Though he was very young for a conductor, his style and emotionally charged performances caught the attention of others in the classical music community G. Taking advantage of the recent technological advance of

television, Bernstein presented classical music to a wider audience. Keys: C UNESCO world heritage sites in danger of global warming Some world heritage sites are in danger. The List of World Heritage in Danger is designed to inform the international community of the condition and to encourage correct action. 1 Another one is climate change. The Great Barrier Reef and the Tower of London are among the UNESCO world heritage sites that will be threatened by climate change in this century, according to a publication by the UN agency. Human-caused global warming will produce droughts and floods across the resulting in floods and rising sea levels as well as extreme weather events over the 21st century. “The international community now widely agrees that climate change will be one of the major challenges of the 21st century,” says the Director-General of UNESCO, Matsuura. 2 The melting of glaciers around the world is affecting the appearance of world heritage sites. Since the mid-1970s, the average air temperature has risen in the Himalayan region, almost twice as fast as the global average warming. 3 The continued melting will eventually affect the availability of life-giving water for drinking, food production, and balance of ecosystem. The report examines the effects of climate change on the marine world heritage sites. Seventy percent of the world’s deep sea corals are affected by changing conditi ons related to rising temperatures. Australia’s Great Barrier Reef was listed as a World Heritage Site in 1981. In it, corals turn white and may die due to rising sea temperatures. 4 Warming in the Great Barrier Reef areas would be in the range of 2 to 5℃by 2100. Widespread death of corals will become more frequent on the Australian coast in the coming decades. 5 The Tower of London is near enough to the Thames River to suffer flooding. Founded in the fifth century and spread over 118 small islands, Venice is threatened by the sea level rise that is projected to result from climate change. If nothing is done, Venice could be flooded one day. A. Rising sea levels and flooding due to climate change could have an effect on both the buildings of historic cities and settlements, according to the report. B. Matsuura calls for an approach to issues of environmental protection and sustainable development. C. As the largest coral reef ecosystem in the world, the Great Barrier Reef contains 400 species of corals, 1,500 species of fish an several thousand species of other creatures. D. Armed conflict and war, earthquakes and other natural disasters, pollution, and unchecked tourist development pose major problems to world heritage sites. E. The publication of the UNESCO report follows a 2005 decision by the World Heritage Committee to start studying the impact of climate change on world heritage sites. F. In March 2006, 50 experts on the subject met at UNESCO and in July 2006 they presented the World Heritage Committee with suggestions for management of climate change. G. Rapid melting of glaciers is already increasing the frequency of floods downstream. Keys:

D Salt Secret When you look at your food, some ingredients are easy to see. But your meals are also

filled with ingredients you can’t see. Salt is a perfect example of an ingredient that you might not notice, even when you eat a lot of it. But it’s the salt we can’t see that concerns scientists most. For decades, doctors have warned patients that too much salt can be bad for their hearts. Still, most people continue to eat way too much salt. 1 Often, you can’t even taste that the salt is there. Heart trouble has long been considered a grown-up problem, and parents haven’t worried too much about the salt their kids ea t. 2 After all, it tends to become more common as people reach middle age and older. But doctors say it’s never too early to start thinking about your heart---or about salts. Salt is made up of two elements: sodium and chlorine. The chlorine part of salt i sn’t so important. It’s the sodium that can bring trouble. 3 But the amount of sodium we actually need is really tiny: about 500 mg. or less than a quarter teaspoon of salt. Kids aged 9 to 13 should eat no more than 1,500 to 2,200 mg of sodium a day. But the average American eats about twice the recommended daily amount. This worries doctors because too much sodium can cause the body to produce more blood. 4 This leads to a rise in blood pressure ---a measurement of how stressed out the heart is. High blood pressure often leads to heart disease. About ninety percent of adult Americans develop heart disease in their lifetimes and it’s a big problem. Salt isn’t the only cause of heart disease. Eating lots of junk food, weighing too much and exercising too little also contribute to high blood pressure. But a large number of studies suggest that salt is a major player. And in a 2007 study, scientists turned up the first direct link between salt and heart disease. 5 Blood pressure has been going up over the past decade in children and teenagers in the United States and many European countries. A. B. And you might be surprised to learn just how much those hidden items affect your health.] That’s because more than 75 percent of the salt we eat is hidden in restaurant meals or the salt food. C. They found that cutting down on salt now can lower a person’s risk of heart disease 10 to 15 years in the future. D. To pump the extra blood, the heart has to work extra hard. E. We need a small amount of sodium to keep our muscles working and our nerves sending messages throughout the body.

F. Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States and can lead to heart attacks.

G. Like most kids, you probably don’t spend much time worrying about heart disease. Keys:

E Animals all across Antarctica The animals are a really unique part of Antarctica. The ice fish is interesting because it has antifreeze which keeps its body from freezing. There is another fish called cold.

1 The fish stay in Antarctica in summer and spring and migrate in autumn and winter. These fish migrate to almost all of the oceans, but some fish just go farther away from Antarctica. There are so many extraordinary whales in Antarctica.

2 They have a heart the size of a car. A lot of people think the killer whale is really gentle, but it does get aggressive under water. The sperm whale, a huge whale, has also been in a famous movie, Moby Dick. The humpback whale is very easy to find in the Pacific Ocean because of the warmth of the water. In summer sometimes it comes down to Antarctica and stays on the west side most of the time.

3 They all go to Antarctica because of the food source. They also all migrate to different oceans. No whale stays in Antarctica can because of its 2-

4 inches of thick blubber. They stay by shore and live close to packs of ice. 4 The seals of Antarctica can eat 10 pounds a day but they can hardly even taste it because they don’t have any taste buds. Since the seals eat so much, the male can weigh up to 250 pounds. Penguins are remarkable creatures. The most common penguin in Antarctica is the king penguin. Unlike most animals, when a penguin lays an egg, the male puts the egg on its feet to keep it off the ice. The female hunts for food, while the male is taking care of the egg.

5 Early penguin viewers who saw penguins swimming in the ocean wondered if they were a bird or a fish. They found out it was a bird because it has feathers and lives on land. A. The whales of Antarctica have a lot of things in common. B. There are many different types of fish in Antarctica which you can find very interesting. C. It

also has antifreeze in its body which keeps it from freezing during the Antarctic winters.

D. Even though they live in water, they still can’t stay under water for their whole life time, so they come up out of water every 2 minutes.

E. Once the baby penguin has been hatched, its mother has to feed it until it is old enough to feed itself.

F. The blue whale is the biggest animal on the earth and could be as big as the biggest dinosaur.

G. They include fish, whales, sharks, seals, and penguins and there are 17 different kinds of penguins in Antarctica. Keys:

F Ancient Rome was one of the world’s most powerful empires more than 2,000 years ago. The Romans’ ideas about roads, laws, government and buildings still influence us today. Italy is shaped like a boot. The Colosseum (罗马圆形大剧场) in Rome was built during the time of the Rome Empire, in the first century A.D. 71 It is a popular tourist attraction today. Italy is well-known for its designers, who create cars, handbags, clothes, shoes and other items that are in demand for their style and fine workmanship. Today, the economy of Italy is stronger than in the past. 72 Today, manufacturing（手工业）and tourism are the main sources of income. There are some big companies, but Italy has many smaller companies, too. 73 The southern part does not offer as many manufacturing jobs, so it is not as prosperous (兴旺的). Italy is a member of the European Union, a group of counters that join together for better trade. The currency, or money, they use is called “Euro”. Food and eating good meals are important to Italians. 74 Popular foods include pasta, risotto, minestrone and pizza. McDonald’s is also popul ar there. Many families still eat their main meal in the middle of the day. 75 Families spend a lot of time together. A. The family is very important to the Italian way of life. B. The country used to depend on agriculture. C. Mountains cover about three-fourths of the country. D. It could seat about 5,000 people, who went to see fights between animals and people. E. While there are some supermarkets, many people shop at small, neighborhood markets. F. Italy has several inlands off the coast. G. The northern part of the country is the main manufacturing centre. Keys:

A DBGAF

B DBFAG

C DBGCA

D BGEDC

E CFADE

F DBGEA