Misery and setbacks are not always as terrible as one imagines. Hard times can offer new ways of looking at life that would otherwise never be known. And, if you are a writer, this can be the source of much of your success.
Popular British author, Charles Dickens' (1812-1870)family could hardly make ends meet. They could only afford to send one of their six children to school. Dickens was not that child. His parents chose to send a daughter, who had a talent for music, to an academy. Then at the age of 12, Dickens' life took another turn for the worse.
His father, a clerk, was placed in prison for unpaid debts. And, being the oldest male left at home, Dickens took up work at a factory. His horrible experience there became the fuel for his future writing. His father was freed three months later and inherited a small amount of money. Dickens was then sent to school.
From 1836 to 1837, he wrote a monthly series of stories. Thus the Pickwick Papers, came into being, which brought fame to the 23-year-old man.
Throughout his career, Dickens covers various situations in his novels. He wrote about the miserable lives of the poor in Oliver Twist, the French Revolution in Tale of Two Cities, and social reform in Hard Times. He also wrote David Copperfield, a book thought to be modeled on his own life.
“I do not write bitterly or angrily: for I know all these things have worked together to make me what I am,” he once said. His difficult childhood did indeed shape the person he became, as well as his writing career. There are shades of young Dickens in many of his most beloved characters, including David Copperfield and Oliver Twist.
Like the author, all these characters come from poor beginnings and are able to rise above their setbacks and achieve success. “Minds, like bodies, will often fall into an ill-conditioned state from too much comfort,” he once wrote. On June 9th, 1870, aged 58, Dickens died, leaving one unfinished work.The words on his tombstone read: “He was a sympathizer to the poor, the suffering and the oppressed, and by his death, one of England's greatest writers is lost to the world.”
【小题1】The book that first called public attention to Dickens was ______.
A.the Pickwick Papers | B.Oliver Twist |
C.Tale of Two Cities | D.David Copperfield |
A.various shapes of | B.situations of |
C.different experiences of | D.reminders of |
A.He felt grateful for it. |
B.He felt it a pity that things weren’t in his favor. |
C.He loved writing about it. |
D.He chose to forget the bitterness about it. |
A.to enjoy it | B.to hate it |
C.not to abandon yourself to it | D.to work hard for it |
科目:高中英语 来源: 题型:阅读理解
Misery and setbacks are not always as terrible as one imagines. Hard times can offer new ways of looking at life that would otherwise never be known. And, if you are a writer, this can be the source of much of your success.
Popular British author, Charles Dickens' (1812-1870)family could hardly make ends meet. They could only afford to send one of their six children to school. Dickens was not that child. His parents chose to send a daughter, who had a talent for music, to an academy. Then at the age of 12, Dickens' life took another turn for the worse.
His father, a clerk, was placed in prison for unpaid debts. And, being the oldest male left at home, Dickens took up work at a factory. His horrible experience there became the fuel for his future writing. His father was freed three months later and inherited a small amount of money. Dickens was then sent to school.
From 1836 to 1837, he wrote a monthly series of stories. Thus the Pickwick Papers, came into being, which brought fame to the 23-year-old man.
Throughout his career, Dickens covers various situations in his novels. He wrote about the miserable lives of the poor in Oliver Twist, the French Revolution in Tale of Two Cities, and social reform in Hard Times. He also wrote David Copperfield, a book thought to be modeled on his own life.
“I do not write bitterly or angrily: for I know all these things have worked together to make me what I am,” he once said. His difficult childhood did indeed shape the person he became, as well as his writing career. There are shades of young Dickens in many of his most beloved characters, including David Copperfield and Oliver Twist.
Like the author, all these characters come from poor beginnings and are able to rise above their setbacks and achieve success. “Minds, like bodies, will often fall into an ill-conditioned state from too much comfort,” he once wrote. On June 9th, 1870, aged 58, Dickens died, leaving one unfinished work.The words on his tombstone read: “He was a sympathizer to the poor, the suffering and the oppressed, and by his death, one of England's greatest writers is lost to the world.”
The book that first called public attention to Dickens was ______.
A.the Pickwick Papers B.Oliver Twist
C.Tale of Two Cities D.David Copperfield
The phrase “shades of” in bold means “_____”.
A.various shapes of B.situations of
C.different experiences of D.reminders of
How did Dickens see his childhood?
A.He felt grateful for it.
B.He felt it a pity that things weren’t in his favor.
C.He loved writing about it.
D.He chose to forget the bitterness about it.
From the story, we can see Dickens’ attitude towards an easy life is ______.
A.to enjoy it B.to hate it
C.not to abandon yourself to it D.to work hard for it
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科目:高中英语 来源:2013届江西省南昌十九中高三第四次(12月)月考英语试卷(带解析) 题型:单选题
It is nice to see millions who had nothing but a record of misery and hungry ______ to improve their life and living conditions.
A.having the chances | B.have the chance |
C.to have the chance | D.had the chance |
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科目:高中英语 来源:2012-2013学年上海市高三月考英语卷(解析版) 题型:阅读理解
Some nations think they must have more and more babies, more and more people, if they are to remain strong and free.
Actually, this is not so. Very often in history, small nations have conquered large ones. It’s not so much the size of the army as its organization and the technical level of its weapons. Thus, Greece took over Persia in the 300s B.C., Great Britain took over India in the 1700s, even though Persia and India had far bigger population than Greece and Great Britain.
If a nation wishes to avoid being dominated by its neighbors, its best chance is to raise its standard of living and its level of technology.This can be done best by not allowing its population to grow to such a point that it is sunk in misery and poverty. In fact, the worst way in which a nation can try to avoid being dominated by its neighbor is to increase its population to the point of misery and poverty.
If every nation tries to compete with its neighbors by raising its population, then the whole world will be sunk in misery and poverty. The nations will become weak in a disaster that will leave nothing behind that is worth dominating. No one will have gained anything. Everyone will have lost everything.
Once all this is understood, and people generally agree that population growth must not be allowed to continue, they must also come to understand how that growth can be stopped. Population grows because more people are being born than are dying. There are two ways, then, in which the growth can be stopped. You can increase the number of people who die until it matches the number of people who are being born. Or else you can decrease the number of people who are born until it matches the number of people who are dying.
The first method—increasing the death rate—is the usual way in which population is controlled in all species of living things other than ourselves, but we don’t want that, for disaster lies that way. The intelligent way is to reduce the birth rate. But how can the birth rate be reduced?
1. In paragraph 3, the word “This” refers to ______.
A.avoidance of poverty B.improvement of life and technology
C.growth of population D.enhancement of living standard and competition
2. It can be inferred from the passage that if a country had fewer people, ______.
A.it could still remain strong B.it would be defeated by a strong neighbour
C.its standard of living could be high D.its people would live misery
3. What might the author be further discussing after the passage?
A.Needs to balance population. B.Problems involved in birth control.
C.Methods of decreasing population. D.Opposition from some nations.
4. The passage mainly focuses on ______.
A.why we must control population B.where we can find a solution
C.how to stop population growth D.how to become a strong nation
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科目:高中英语 来源:2012-2013学年上海市高三月考英语卷(解析版) 题型:单项填空
It is nice to see millions who had nothing but a record of misery and hungry ______ to improve their life and living conditions.
A.having the chances B.have the chance
C.to have the chance D.had the chance
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科目:高中英语 来源:2010-2011学年新疆乌鲁木齐第一中学高三上学期第一次月考英语卷 题型:阅读理解
Greeks play a special game at Easter and it’s good fun! The rules of the game are as follows: 1.Everyone picks out a hard-boiled Waster Egg.2.Each player finds a partner.One person will be a “holder”, and the other will be a “tapper”.Holders should hold the egg with either the pointy end or the round end facing up.Tappers should hold the egg with that same end facing down.Tapping must be done pointy-end-to-pointy-end or round-end-to-round-end.3.With one good tap, the tapper tries to crack the holder’s egg.One player will end up with a cracked egg.4.Each player finds another partner and repeats steps 2 and 3.(After one end of the egg is cracked, players may continue to play using the uncracked end).5.A player loses when both ends of his egg have been cracked.The winner is the person who still has an uncracked egg.6.Enjoy eating the eggs!
Dye your Easter eggs.With an adult’s help, dye hard-boiled eggs red using food coloring or egg dye.For a nice sheen, use a paper towel to rub some oil on each egg.But don’t use too much oil---you wouldn’t want your egg to slide out of your hand when you play the egg-cracking game!
Why dye eggs red? Eggs represent new life and the red dye symbolizes the pain and suffering in the past.
Why crack eggs? Some say that the cracking of the eggs symbolizes a wish to break away from human misery and enter the new life.
1.A player has to drop out of the game when _____.
A.the pointy end of his egg is cracked |
B.the round end of his egg is cracked |
C.his egg slides out of the hand |
D.his egg is cracked at both ends |
2.Why is oil rubbed on the egg?
A.To give the egg a shiny appearance |
B.To make the game more difficult to play |
C.To protect the hand of the player |
D.To symbolize the wealth of the Greeks |
3.Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
A.The holders hold the eggs with the pointy end facing up in most cases |
B.If one end of the player’s egg is cracked, he will eat the egg |
C.The player in the game must dye his egg red independently |
D.It’s said that the broken eggs represent the wish to lead a new life |
4.Which of the following is the best title for the passage?
A.The suffering of the Greeks |
B.The Easter holidays |
C.Celebrate Greek Easter |
D.A special game |
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