Disease, poverty, hate, love—Charles Dickens’ stories opened his readers eyes to the most important themes of his age. Two hundred years on, his stories still speak volumes across the world, proving that Dickens’ legacy(遗产) was far greater than just “great literature”
February 7 marks the 200th anniversary of the writer’s birthday. To mark this date, BBC writer Alex Hudson listed six things Dickens gave the modern world. Let’s take a look at two of them.
A white Christmas
Dickens is described as “the man who invented Christmas”—not the religious festival, but the cultural aspects that we associate with the festive season today. In the early 19th century, Christmas was barely worth mentioning, according to critic and writer Leigh Hunt. The committee which ran the Conservative Party even held ordinary business meetings on Christmas Day – unthinkable in the West nowadays, when everyone but the most necessary workers takes at least three days off.
Many people believe that Dickens’ popular descriptions of the festive period became a blueprint for generations to come. In his classic novel, A Christmas Carol, he not only put forward the idea of snow at Christmas, but also painted a picture of glowing warmth –“ home enjoyments, affections and hopes”.
In his biography of Dickens, Peter Ackroyd wrote: “ Dickens can be said to have almost single-handedly created the modern idea of Christmas.”
“Dickensian” poverty
Dickens was one of the first to take an honest look at the underclass and the poor of Victorian (the period during British Queen Victoria’s reign from 1837 to 1901) London.
He helped popularize the term “red tape” to describe situations where people in power use needless amounts of bureaucracy（官僚作风） in a way that particularly hurts the weaker and poorer members of society.
“Dickensian” has now become a powerful word for describing an unacceptable level of poverty. In 2009, when the president of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers in the UK wanted to talk about deprivation in some areas of Britain, she did not use words like “terrible” or “horrific”, but rather described it as “life mirroring the times of Dickens”.
【小题1】What is the main idea of the article?
| A．An introduction to Charles Dickens’ classic novels. |
| B．Charles dickens’ impact on the world. |
| C．Charles Dickens’ amazing characters. |
| D．Why Charles Dickens is popular across the world. |
| A．Because he created the religious festival. |
| B．Because many of his novels have something to do with Christmas. |
| C．Because one of his novels helped to shape Christmas celebrations. |
| D．Because he was the first man to have proposed celebrating Christmas. |
| A．rules or procedures that are required to accomplish a task |
| B．a situation in which poor members of society are hurt. |
| C．conflict between people in power and weaker people |
| D．pointlessly time-consuming official procedures |
科目：高中英语 来源：2011届福建厦门外国语学校高三考前最后一考英语卷 题型：填空题
To a child’s ear, “mother” is magic in any language.
I firmly believe that e in the world loves his mother
So ________ I. My mother is an ordi
nary math teacher. She
always works h , devoted to her job heart and soul.
In fact, she isn’t ________ good health. She has been suffering
from heart disease for many years. Weak t she is,
she never stops _____________(工作) or gives up hope. I still
remember the day when my mother r a card of
______________(祝贺) on her achievements from her director.
The card r “ Thank you for your excellent work. Happy Teachers’ Day to you!” At that moment, I was so moved
that tears came to my eyes. I am p of my mother.
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科目：高中英语 来源：2013-2014学年山东临沂一中高二9月月考英语卷（解析版） 题型：单词拼写
根据首字母或汉语注释写出单词的正确形式，并将完整答案填写到答题卷中的相应位置。
1.The debate did not come to a (结论)until midnight.
2.During the trip, the _________ (导游)sang us several songs.
3.The river has been p by the waste water from the factory.
4.Yesterday we fought with our old enemies and d_________ them.
5.The new government’s _________（挑战）are the economy and education.
6.This advertisement is aimed to a_________ the attention of housewives.
7.We have _________（安排）a convenient time and place for the meeting.
8.He has told me his plans and he’s made a good _________ on me.
9.Who was the ________(先前的)owner of the old house?
10.To our d_________, Tom recovered from the heart disease.
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科目：高中英语 来源：2012-2013学年江苏省高三第二次限时作业英语试卷（解析版） 题型：阅读理解
Common sense would tell us that physically active children may be more likely to become active and healthy adults.
In the United States, elementary and middle schools are advised to give students two and a half hours of physical activity a week. That is what the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Heart Association recommend. They say high schools should provide about four hours of physical activity each week.
Yet many schools across the country have reduced their physical education programs. Just this week, a study reported that lifeexpectancy has fallen or is no longer increasing in some parts of the United States. The situation is worst among poor people in the southern states, and especially women. Public health researchers say it is largely the result of increases in fatness, smoking and high blood pressure. They also blame differences in health services around the country.
In 2006, a study found that only four percent of primary schools provided daily physical education all year for all grades. This was true of eight percent of middle schools and two percent of high schools. The study also found that twenty-two percent of all schools did not require students to take any P.E.
Charlene Burgeson , a health expert says one problem for P.E. teachers is that schools are under pressure to put more time into academic subjects. Also, parents may agree that children need exercise in school. Yet many parents today still have bad memories of being chosen last for teams because teachers favored the good athletes in class.
But experts say P.E. classes have changed. They say the goal has moved away from competition and toward personal performance, as a way to build a lifetime of activity. These days, teachers often lead activities like weight training and yoga.
Some parents like the idea of avoiding competitive sports in P.E. class. Yet others surely dislike that idea. In the end, schools may find themselves in a no-win situation.
1.The underlined word “expectancy” in Paragraph 3 probably means “ ”
A．quality B．length C．exception D．depth
2.According to the passage which of the following may not lead to poor health?
A．Fatness. B．Smoking C．High blood pressure. D．Health service
3.What can be inferred after you read this passage?
A．Physical activities are becoming more and more popular in American schools.
B．All the schools provided daily physical education all year for all students.
C．Parents think children need physical education for their bad memories.
D．Students spent less time on physical education for academic pressure.
4.What is the main idea about this passage?
A．P.E. is the most important subject for all students.
B．P.E has changed its goal for some reasons in America.
C．It introduces us the present situation of P.E in American schools and its cause.
D．P.E can help students improve their academic subjects.
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科目：高中英语 来源：2014届江苏省高二上学期期中考试英语试卷（解析版） 题型：阅读理解
Common sense would tell us that physically active children may be more likely to become active and healthy adults.
In the United States, elementary and middle schools are advised to give students two and a half hours of physical activity a week. That is what the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Heart Association recommend. They say high schools should provide about four hours of physical activity each week.
Yet many schools across the country have reduced their physical education programs. Just this week, a study reported that life expectancy has fallen or is no longer increasing in some parts of the United States. The situation is worst among poor people in the southern states, and especially women. Public health researchers say it is largely the result of increases in fatness, smoking and high blood pressure. They also blame differences in health services around the country.
In 2006, a study found that only four percent of primary schools provided daily physical education all year for all grades. This was true of eight percent of middle schools and two percent of high schools. The study also found that twenty-two percent of all schools did not require students to take any P.E.
Charlene Burgeson , a health expert says one problem for P.E. teachers is that schools are under pressure to put more time into academic subjects. Also, parents may agree that children need exercise in school. Yet many parents today still have bad memories of being chosen last for teams because teachers favored the good athletes in class.
But experts say P.E. classes have changed. They say the goal has moved away from competition and toward personal performance, as a way to build a lifetime of activity. These days, teachers often lead activities like weight training and yoga.
Some parents like the idea of avoiding competitive sports in P.E. class. Yet others surely dislike that idea. In the end, schools may find themselves in a no-win situation.
1. The underlined word “expectancy” in Paragraph 3 probably means “ ”
|
A．quality |
B．length |
C．exception |
D．depth |
2.According to the passage which of the following may not lead to poor health?
|
A．Fatness. |
B．Smoking |
|
C．High blood pressure. |
D．Health service |
3. What can be inferred after you read this passage?
|
A．Physical activities are becoming more and more popular in American schools. |
|
B．All the schools provided daily physical education all year for all students. |
|
C．Parents think children need physical education for their bad memories. |
|
D．Students spent less time on physical education for academic pressure. |
4. What is the main idea about this passage?
|
A．P.E. is the most important subject for all students. |
|
B．P.E has changed its goal for some reasons in America. |
|
C．It introduces us the present situation of P.E in American schools and its cause. |
|
D．P.E can help students improve their academic subjects. |
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科目：高中英语 来源：2014届福建省晋江市高一下学期期末考试英语试卷（解析版） 题型：单词拼写
单词拼写（每空1分，共10题，满分10分）
1.I wonder if it is_______________（方便）for you to help me with my problem?
2.We are now better _________（意识）of the environmental effect on what we buy.
3.I would___________（感激）it if you would turn the music down..
4.He stood there ,b___________ with the shopkeeper.
5.Which driver was to b___________ for the accident? .
6.His father e___________500 workers on the farm.
7.The boy p____________ to be sleeping when his mother came in.
8.He takes a positive _____________（态度）to this disease.
9.May I e___________ seats with you?.
10.It is the __________（风俗）in that country for women to marry young.
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