Robert Burns, the son of a hard-working and intelligent farmer, was the oldest of seven children. Although always hard pressed financially, their father encouraged his sons with their education. As a result, Burns not only read the Scottish poetry of Ramsay and the collections by Hailes and Herd, but also the works of Pope, Locke, and Shakespeare.
By 1781, Burns had tried his hand at several agricultural jobs without success. Although he had begun writing, and his poems were spread widely in manuscript (手稿), none were published until 1786, when Burns published Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect (1786), which was an immediate success. Later Burns brought out a second edition of his poems at Edinburgh in 1787, and for two winters he was socially active in the Scottish city. In 1788 he retired to a farm at Ellis land. By 1791 Burns had failed as a farmer, and he moved to Dumfries, where he held a position as a tax collector. He died of illness at 37.
Burns’s art is at its best in songs such as My Heart’s in the Highlands. Some of his songs, such as Auld Lang Syne and Comin’ thro’ the Rye, are among the most familiar and best-loved songs in the English language. But his talent was not limited to songs; two descriptive pieces, Tam o’ Shanter and The Jolly Beggars, are among his masterpieces.
Burns had a fine sense of humor, which was reflected in his satirical (讽刺的), descriptive, and playful poems. His great popularity with the Scots lay in his ability to describe the life of his fellow rural Scots. His use of dialect brought an energetic, much-needed freshness into English poetry.
【小题1】 What can we learn from the first paragraph?

A．Burn had a wealthy childhood.

B．Burns was best loved by his parents.

C．Burns’s father cared more about his kids’ education.

D．Burns wanted to be a poet when he grew up.

【小题2】Robert was not officially accepted by readers until______.

A．1781

B．1786

C．1787

D．1791

【小题3】 Robert made his best achievement in art by writing _______.

A．songs

B．poems

C．stories

D．humors

【小题4】 What was Robert’s biggest contribution to English poetry?

A．His satirical style.	B．His descriptiveness.
C．His fine sense of humor.	D．His use of Scottish dialect.

【小题5】 We can conclude from the passage that Robert _______.

A．majored in agriculture when he was a student

B．earned a lot of money by publishing his poems

C．was a failure in managing farms but a success in art

D．showed much interest in collecting tax before he died

Robert Burns, the son of a hard-working and intelligent farmer, was the oldest of seven children. Although always hard pressed financially, their father encouraged his sons with their education. As a result, Burns not only read the Scottish poetry of Ramsay and the collections by Hailes and Herd, but also the works of Pope, Locke, and Shakespeare.

By 1781, Burns had tried his hand at several agricultural jobs without success. Although he had begun writing, and his poems were spread widely in manuscript (手稿), none were published until 1786, when Burns published Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect (1786), which was an immediate success. Later Burns brought out a second edition of his poems at Edinburgh in 1787, and for two winters he was socially active in the Scottish city. In 1788 he retired to a farm at Ellis land. By 1791 Burns had failed as a farmer, and he moved to Dumfries, where he held a position as a tax collector. He died of illness at 37.

Burns’s art is at its best in songs such as My Heart’s in the Highlands. Some of his songs, such as Auld Lang Syne and Comin’ thro’ the Rye, are among the most familiar and best-loved songs in the English language. But his talent was not limited to songs; two descriptive pieces, Tam o’ Shanter and The Jolly Beggars, are among his masterpieces.

Burns had a fine sense of humor, which was reflected in his satirical (讽刺的), descriptive, and playful poems. His great popularity with the Scots lay in his ability to describe the life of his fellow rural Scots. His use of dialect brought an energetic, much-needed freshness into English poetry.

1. What can we learn from the first paragraph?

A．Burn had a wealthy childhood.

B．Burns was best loved by his parents.

C．Burns’s father cared more about his kids’ education.

D．Burns wanted to be a poet when he grew up.

2.Robert was not officially accepted by readers until______.

A．1781             B．1786             C．1787             D．1791

3. Robert made his best achievement in art by writing _______.

A．songs            B．poems            C．stories            D．humors

4. What was Robert’s biggest contribution to English poetry?

A．His satirical style.                        B．His descriptiveness.

C．His fine sense of humor.                  D．His use of Scottish dialect.

5. We can conclude from the passage that Robert _______.

A．majored in agriculture when he was a student

B．earned a lot of money by publishing his poems

C．was a failure in managing farms but a success in art

D．showed much interest in collecting tax before he died

 

短文填空 （共5小题；每小题1分，满分5分）

By the time he was 14, Mozart had    1.    many pieces for the harpsichord, piano and violin, as well as for orchestras. While he was still a    2.   , Mozart was already a big star and   3.     Europe giving concerts. Haydn met Mozart in 1781 and was very   4.    with him. “He is the greatest composer the world has known,” he said. The two were friends until Mozart’s    5.    in 1791.

 

Noah Webster, born on October 16, 1758 , is known for The American Dictionary of the English Language. He has been called the " Father of American Scholarship and Education. " His " Blue-Backed Speller" books were used to teach spelling and reading to five generations of American children. But how much .do you know about him beyond that?

   At the age of 16, Noah Webster began attending ,Yale College. Unfortunately, he spent his four years at Yale during the American Revolutionary War, and, because of food shortages, many of his college classes were held in Glastonbury, Connecticut. Later, he served in the army.

Having graduated from Yale in 1778, Webster wanted to continue his education in order to earn his law degree. He had to teach school in order to pay for his education. He set up many small schools that didn't survive, but he was a good teacher because instead of forcing his students to learn, like most teachers did, he rewarded them. He earned his law degree in 1781, but did not practice law until 1789. Once he started he found the law was not to his liking.

   Webster did not have much money. In 1793 , Alexander Hamilton lent him $ 1500 to move to New York City to edit a newspaper. In December, he founded New York ' s first daily newspaper, American Minerva, and edited it for four years. For decades, he published . textbooks, political essays, a report on some diseases, and newspaper articles for his party, He wrote so much that a modern list of his published works required 655 pages .Noah Webster died on May 28, 1843 and was buried in the Grove Street Cemetery.

1.What's the main idea of Paragraph l?

A.  Webster's famous dictionarie .

B. Webster's daily routines.

C.  Webster's main achievements.

D. Webster's college education.

2.Which of the following best describes Webster's life at Yale?

A. Tough.     B. Smooth.     C. Normal.     D. Tiring.

3.What did Noah want to be after graduation from Yale?

A. A teacher.     B. A lawyer.      C. A headmaster.    D. A scholar.

4.Why was Webster a good teacher?

A. Because he set up many small schools.

B. Because he graduated from Yale College,

C. Because he forced his students to learn.

D. Because he often rewarded his students.

5.What can we infer from Paragraph 4?

A. Webster was a most productive author.

B. Webster led a miserable life in New York City.

C. Webster's books added up to 655 pages.

D. Webster didn't write any polifical works.

 

The Mother Goose Stories, so well known to children all over the world, are commonly said to have been written by a little old woman for her grandchildren.  According to some people, she lived in Boston,  and her real name was Elizabeth Vergoose. Her son-in-law, a printer named Thomas Fleet, was supposed to have published the famous stories and poems for small children in 1719. However, no copy of this book has ever been found, and most scholars doubt the truth of this story—and doubt, moreover, whether Mother Goose was ever a real person. They point out that the name is a direct translation of the French “Mere I’Oye”. In 1695 the Frenchman Charles Perrault published the first book in which this name was used.  The collection contains eight tales, including “Sleeping Beauty”,  “Cinderella”,  and “Puss in Boots”. But Perrault did not originate these stories; they were already quite popular in his day, and he only collected them. In 1729 there appeared an English translation of Perrault’s collection, Robert Samber’s Histories or Tales of Past Times, Told by Mother Goose(London, 1729),  which introduced “Sleeping Beauty”,  “Little Red-hood”, “Puss in Boots”, “Cinderella” and other Perrault’s tales to English-speaking audiences. These were fairy tales(童话). John Newbery published a book of English rhymes，Mother Goose’s Melody, or Sonnets for the Cradle(London,  undated, 1765),  which switched the focus from fairy tales to nursery rhymes, and in English this was until recently the primary meaning for Mother Goose. A book of poems for children entitled Mother Goose’s Melody was published in England in 1781, and the name “Mother Goose” has been associated with children’s poetry ever since.

56. What is supposed to have happened in 1719?

A. Elizabeth Vergoose wrote the first Mother Goose Stories.

B. The Mother Goose Stories were translated into French.

C. Thomas Fleet published the Mother Goose Stories.

D. Charles Perrault published the first Mother Goose Stories.

57. Most scholars consider Mother Goose to be_______ .

A. a real person

B. a translation from French

C. a collection by Elizabeth Vergoose

D. a book written by a little old woman

58. When Perrault published the first book in 1695,_______.

A. no story of the book had been known to people

B. the stories in the book were created by Perrault

C. few people were interested in the stories of the book

D. stories like “Sleeping Beauty” and “Cinderella” were already very popular

59. The name used in the first book published in 1695 is supposed to have been_______ .

A. Mother Goose

B. Charles Perrault

C. Elizabeth Vergoose

D. Mere I’ Oye

60. When people talk about Mother Goose, they refer to_______ .

A. a printer of Boston

B. a kind of animal

C. children’s poetry

D. the French “Mere I’Oye”