(唤起) an emotion, a visual image, a complex idea, or a simple truth. Language is the tool of my trade. And
I use them all-all the Englishes I grew up with.
Born into a Chinese family that had recently arrived in California, I"ve been giving more thought to the kind
of English my mother speaks. Like others, I have described it to people as "broken" English. But feel
embarrassed to say that. It has always bothered me that I can think of no way to describe it other than "broken",
as if it were damaged and needed to be fixed, as if it lacked a certain wholeness. I"ve heard other terms used,
"limited English," for example. But they seem just as bad, as if everything is limited, including people"s
perceptions (认识) of the limited English speaker.
I know this for a fact, because when I was growing up, my mother"s "limited" English limited my perception
of her. I was ashamed of her English. I believed that her English reflected the quality of what she had to say.
That is,because she expressed them imperfectly her thoughts were imperfect. And I had plenty of evidence to
support me: the fact that people in department stores, at banks, and at restaurants did not take her seriously,
did not give her good service, pretended not to understand her, or even acted as if they did not hear her.
I started writing fiction in 1985. And for reasons I won"t get into today, I began to write stories using all
the Englishes I grew up with: the English she used with me, which for lack of a better term might be described
as "broken", and what I imagine to be her translation of her Chinese, her internal (内在的) language, and for
that I sought to preserve the essence, but neither an English nor a Chinese structure: I wanted to catch what
language ability tests can never show; her intention, her feelings, the rhythms of her speech and the nature of
her thoughts.
B. she is fascinated by languages
C. she works as a translator
D. she is a writer by profession
B. amusing
C. imperfect
D. practical
B. The author"s mother was not respected sometimes.
C. The author" mother had positive influence on her.
D. Broken English always reflects imperfect thoughts.
B. in the old style
C. easy to translate
D. rich in meaning
B. The limitation of the author"s perception of her mother.
C. The author"s misunderstanding of "limited" English.
D. The author"s experiences of using broken English.
Last summer I was a volunteer at a shelter for the homeless, a place for homeless people to sleep at night. I
wasn"t working that summer and was 36 only two classes in summer school, so I had some 37 time.
Three nights a week, I 38 in the kitchen of the shelter along with four other volunteers. We planned and 39
for 45 people hot meals 40 vegetables, chicken, fish and fruit. The homeless people 41 this good food because
many of them usually didn"t eat well.
I 42 this volunteer work, making 43 with the four volunteers in the kitchen. One was a very nice elderly
housewife, one a movie actor, another a young teacher, and the other a college student, 44 me.
I talked to a lot of the homeless people at the shelter. Their life stories 45 me with sympathy (同情). Some of
them had 46 with alcohol (酒) or drugs while others only had bad 47. One woman worked for almost 30 years
for a small company, and 48 she lost her job. She looked for a 49 job, but couldn"t find one, for she was too 50 . She could do nothing but sell her furniture - sofas, chairs, and tables 51 she could pay for her food. The woman
52 on job hunting, but she 53 couldn"t find one. She had no money for her 54 and had to sleep in her car. Then
she had to sell her car. Alone, 55 , and homeless, she finally came to the shelter.
( )1. A. studying ( )2. A. full ( )3. A. helped ( )4. A. ordered ( )5. A. with ( )6. A. handled ( )7. A. wanted ( )8. A. decisions ( )9. A. as ( )10. A. struck ( )11. A. habits ( )12. A. luck ( )13. A. so ( )14. A. good ( )15. A. old ( )16. A. if ( )17. A. went ( )18. A. also ( )19. A. block ( )20. A. afraid | B. planning | C. holding C. extra C. appeared C. cooked C. by C. collected C. owned C. friends C. except C. seized C. difficulties C. experience C. then C. skilled C. sick C. so that C. came C. almost C. building C. shocked | D. taking D. long D. washed D. finished D. in D. relaxed D. enjoyed D. changes D. besides D. provided D. problems D. loss D. thus D. new D. dull D. in case D. worked D. even D. flat D. mad | ||||||||||||||
阅读理解。 | |||||||||||||||||
We have two daughters: Kristen is seven years old and Kelly is four. Last Sunday evening, we invited some people home for dinner. I dressed them nicely for the party, and told them that their job was to join Mommy in answering the door when the bell rang. Mommy would introduce them to the guests, and then they would take the guests"coats upstairs and put them on the bed in the second bedroom. The guests arrived. I introduced my two daughters to each of them. The adults were nice and kind and said how lucky we were to have such good kids. Each of the guests made a particular fuss over Kelly, the younger one, admiring her dress, her hair and her smile. They said she was a remarkable girl to be carrying coats upstairs at her age. I thought to myself that we adults usually make a big "to do" over the younger one because she"s the one who seems more easily hurt. We do it with the best of intentions. But we seldom think of how it might affect the other child. I was a little worried that Kristen would feel she was being outshined. I was about to serve dinner when I realized that she had been missing for twenty minutes. I ran upstairs and found her in the bedroom, crying. I said, "What are you doing, my dear?" She turned to me with a sad expression and said,"Mommy, why don"t people like me the way they like my sister? Is it because I"m not pretty? Is that why they don"t say nice things about me as much?" I tried to explain to her, kissing and hugging her to make her feel better. Now, whenever I visit a friend"s home, I make it a point to speak to the elder child first. | |||||||||||||||||
1. What did the parents ask the sisters to do to welcome the guests? | |||||||||||||||||
A. To introduce themselves to the guests B. To put away the guests" coats in another upstairs room. C. To take off the guests" coats politely. D. To entertain the guests with candies. | |||||||||||||||||
2. The underlined expression" make a big "to do" over" (paragraph 4) means ______. | |||||||||||||||||
A. show much concern about B. have a special effect on C. list jobs to be done for D. do good things for | |||||||||||||||||
3. The guests praised Kelly for carrying coats upstairs because of her ______. | |||||||||||||||||
A. beautiful hair B. pretty clothes C. lovely smile D. young age | |||||||||||||||||
4. Kristen felt sad and cried because ______. | |||||||||||||||||
A. the guest gave her more coats to carry B. she didn"t look as pretty as Kelly C. the guests praised her sister more than her D. her mother didn"t introduce her to the guests | |||||||||||||||||
5. We can conclude from the passage that ______. | |||||||||||||||||
A. parents should pay more attention to the elder children B. the younger children are usually more easily hurt C. people usually like the younger children more D. adults should treat children equally | |||||||||||||||||
完形填空。 | |||||||||||||||||
I believe in miracles (奇迹) because I"ve seen so many of them. One day, a patient was referred to me who was one hundred and two years old. " There"s a 1 in my upper jaw," she said. "I told my own dentist it" s nothing, but he 2 I come to see you." Her eighty-year-old son accompanied her. He would 3 to add something,but she stopped him. She wanted to tell everything herself. I found a large cancer that spread over most of the 4 of her mouth. A careful examination later 5 that it was a particularly bad sort of cancer. During her next appointment, I explained to her the 6 of the problem. She clasped my hand in hers and said," I know you"re worried about me, but I"m just 7 " I thought otherwise. After considerable 8 on my part, and kindness on her part because she wanted to 9 me, she agreed to have me refer her to a cancer surgeon. She saw him, but as I expected, 10 treatment. About six months later she returned to my office, still energetic and 11 . " How are you?" I asked. " I"m just fine, honey," she responded 12 high spirits."When can I get started on fixing my dentures (假牙)?" Surprised to see her at all, I answered 13 ," Let me take a look in your mouth and we"ll see about it." " I couldn"t believe my eyes. The cancer that had 14 nearly the entire roof of her mouth was gone-only one small area of redness 15 . I had read of such things happening,but had 16 seen them with my own eyes. That was my first miracle. Since then I"ve seen many others, because they keep getting 17 to see. In fact, miracles are daily events for me now. And people are all miracles, 18 through them we have a chance to know ourselves and to 19 the miracles of one another. Since my first miracle, I"ve come to understand that the time and place for a miracle is 20 we choose to find it. | |||||||||||||||||
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