In a recent class I was asked “What is a short story?” My first answer was that it was something that could be read in one sitting and brought an illumination（啟示）to the reader, sudden and golden like sunlight cracking(破裂, 砸開) through a heavy cloud. I went on to say that in my opinion a “real” short story was closer to poetry than to a novel.
Here are some definitions of the short story. My favorite is Benet's: “something that can be read in an hour and remembered for a lifetime”. One writer said, “The theme of a novel won't fit into the framework of a short story; It's like trying to squeeze a large painting done on a wall into the frame of a miniature （微型畫）。 And as in a miniature painting, the details need to be sharp. ”
The short story is an example of one aspect of human nature. Often a character undergoes some event, something that offers him or her change. This is why it’s said that short stories usually “say something ”， often a small something, but sometimes delivered with such accuracy that the effect is strongly felt, even a life-moment for some readers, something similar to a religious experience or to witnessing a never-to-be-repeated scene in nature.
Ok, let’s form a definition here: A short story is an account, rarely over 10, 000 words or below 500 words-more commonly 1, 500 to 5, 000 words-a single-sitting read, but with enough time and weight to move the reader. It is narrow and focused to produce an effect through the story, most commonly through events affecting some change in an individual.
Writer Isabelle Allende once wrote: “Novels are, for me, adding up details, just work, work, work, then you're done. Short stories are more difficult-they have to be perfect, complete in themselves. ”
小題1:The writer of the passage is probably a ______.
A．poetB．painterC．teacherD．student
小題2:What should the ideal short story be in length?
A．a(chǎn)t most 10, 000 wordsB．below 500 wordsC．over 5, 000wordsD．a(chǎn)round 2, 000 words
小題3:The underlined word “undergoes ” in the third paragraph probably means “________ ”。
A．experiences B．discoversC．discussesD．a(chǎn)ppreciates
小題4:What’s the difference between novels and short stories?
A．Novels are too long for us to read.
B．Short stories are too short for us to read.
C．Short stories have more details than novels.
D．Short stories are more perfect and difficult than novels.
小題5:What would be the best title for the passage?
A．How Do You Write a Short Story?B．What Exactly Is a Short Story?
C．Is a Short Story Similar to Poetry?D．Are Short Stories Perfect and Complete?

小題1:C
小題1:D
小題1:A
小題1:D
小題1:B
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科目：高中英語 來源：不詳 題型：閱讀理解

The Internet has got into all the fields of our life. We can study and work on it. We can find a job on it. We can communicate on it. We can treat friends on it. We can buy and sell on it. We can do almost everything on the Internet, and almost anywhere, anytime.
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Considering（考慮到...） the above mentioned, you must pay attention to the safety when using the Internet. First, when you need Internet service, you should always look through those big legal(合法的) websites. Second, if the service requires important personal information, you should think twice before you type it in. Third, store your own important card key(電子鑰匙) and don’t tell others easily.
小題1:According to the passage, we shouldn’t ______by using the Internet.
A．learn EnglishB．give our friends’ information to others
C．chat with friendsD．look for jobs
小題2:The underlined word “it” refers to ______.
A．the telephone numberB．the name C．the information D．the bank account
小題3:Which of the following ways is correct to protect our information on the Internet?
a. Surf the safe Web       .    b. Think over and over before typing it in.
c. Don’t chat with friends on line  d. Don’t use your key easily. 
A．a(chǎn),b,c. B．b,c,d.C．a(chǎn),b,d. D．a(chǎn),c,d.
小題4:What can we learn from the passage?
A．Don’t believe others if you don’t know them.
B．Remember never use the ID card on the Internet.
C．Never use the Internet in the future.
D．From now on, we must pay attention to the safety of the information on line.

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科目：高中英語 來源：不詳 題型：完形填空

We should show respect to everybody, especially our elders because they are ahead of us — in age, in wisdom and maturity, in experience and education．Our  21  have done a lot for us, directly or indirectly and most of us  22   everything to their kindness and love．
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It is   28  that you do not agree with the belief of your elders, but this is nothing new．All younger generations have always  29  with their elders and it is these differences that bring changes in human   30  ．However much you disagree with them, give them credit for their   31．
With changing times and  32  influences, youngsters no longer know what is interpreted as disrespect to elders．Youngsters should 33  express their views and if there are arguments, they should not   34  their voices．
If there is no space on sofas or chairs, children will immediately   35  their places, and sit on the carpet．In buses and trains, youngsters are   36  to give up their places to older people．This is not a  37  of who has more rights．It is simply that those who are younger have the strength to bear  38_, or tolerate unpleasantness, so it is natural to show consideration to those who are older and perhaps at a   39   disadvantage．
When you do simple things as a mark of respect, elders become  40  that youngsters care for them, and they respond with affection and kindness．
小題1:
A．youngstersB．elders C．parentsD．juniors
小題2:
A．devoteB．oweC．payD．contribute
小題3:
A．showB．explainC．exhibitD．point
小題4:
A．greetingB．receivingC．declaringD．showing
小題5:
A．expressingB．describingC．sendingD．suggesting
小題6:
A．HoweverB．ThereforeC．BesidesD．Though
小題7:
A．experiencing with B．going throughC．suffering fromD．worrying out
小題8:
A．maybeB．likelyC．possibleD．probably
小題9:
A．quarreledB．dealtC．livedD．disagreed
小題10:
A．community B．organizationC．societyD．public
小題11:
A．experienceB．realityC．emotionD．information
小題12:
A．culturalB．specialC．environmentalD．position
小題13:
A．quietlyB．slightlyC．silentlyD．coldly
小題14:
A．riseB．raiseC．supportD．force
小題15:
A．give awayB．get rid ofC．give upD．send out
小題16:
A．expectedB．forced C．needed D．reminded
小題17:
A．doubtB．questionC．wonderD．challenge
小題18:
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小題19:
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科目：高中英語 來源：不詳 題型：閱讀理解

Playing with toy blocks (積木) may lead to improved language development in young children, a new study reported.
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After six months, language scores among half of the 175 children aged 1-1/2 to 2-1/2 who were sent plastic blocks were 15 percent higher than a matched group that did not receive the free blocks, according to the study by researchers at the University of Washington in Seattle.
Parents were given ideas about how to help their children play with the blocks, then were told to keep diaries of their children’s activities over four days. Finally, all the parents filled out questionnaires that judged their children’s vocabulary, grammar, and other language abilities. Study author Dimitri Christakis said unstructured play with blocks motivated children’s thinking, memory and physical skills at a time when a child’s brain is growing rapidly. “They are the foundation of thought and language,” he wrote of the skills learned from building blocks. “Older children begin to make up stories for these objects .”
Such play may also take the place of less helpful activities such as watching TV, he said, adding parents ought to have doubts about some toy-makers’ words. “An increasing number of media-based products are making ungrounded (無根據(jù)的) claims that they can make children smarter, more literate, and more musical,” Christakis said.
小題1:What can we learn from the second paragraph?
A．Parents should allow their children to play as long as they want.
B．The brains of kids develop very quickly before they are two years old.
C．Playing blocks can help children do well in sports at school.
D．Activities, like imaginative play, may delay the development of the brain.
小題2:According to the study, about ________ children’s language scores were 15 percent higher than those of children who didn’t play with blocks.
A．87B．55C．23D．157
小題3:Building blocks helps kids gain language skills because _________.
A．young children always talk to themselves while building blocks
B．their parents can teach them when they are playing with blocks
C．their parents are given ideas on how to develop their brains
D．it can help them improve thinking, memory and physical skills
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B．encourage parents to let their babies play with blocks
C．improve parents’ knowledge of raising children
D．encourage makers of blocks to develop more toys
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科目：高中英語 來源：不詳 題型：閱讀理解

Forty-two of the fifty American states offered some kind of public online learning this past school year．One state，Michigan，now requires all students to have an online learning experience before they finish high school．Even the idea of a school has changed since the rise ofthe Internet in the 1990s．
A new report from the Center for Evaluation and Education Policy at Indiana University says eighteen states have full-time virtual schools．There are no buildings．All classes are online．
Florida started the first statewide public virtual school in the United States in 1997．Today，the Florida Virtual School offers more man ninety courses．56,000 students were enrolled as of December．Almost sixty percent were female．The school's website says each student was enrolled in an average of two classes．
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So how good are virtual schools? Studies have shown mixed results, as a new report from Indiana University notes．For example, students at Florida Virtual School earned higher grades than those taking the same courses the traditional way．And they scored higher on a statewide
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Education experts say the mixed results suggest the need for more research to find the best ways to teach in virtual schools．A1so, they say schools of education need to train more teachers to work in both real and virtual classrooms．
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A．is set up after the rise of the Internet
B．uses textbooks as a main teaching resource
C．uses computer-based resources and has no teachers
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A．FloridaB．IndianaC．MichiganD．Colorado
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A．students in Indiana
B．students only around the USA
C．students across the world
D．only foreign students
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A．earning college credits
B．entering an American college
C．learning advanced science
D．passing the AP test
小題5:From the passage we learn that________．
A．the majority of virtual school students in Florida are male
B．a(chǎn)ll senior students m Michigan have an online learning experience
C．virtual schools are better than traditional schools
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科目：高中英語 來源：不詳 題型：閱讀理解

In order to know a foreign language thoroughly(完全地), four things are necessary. First, we must understand the language when we hear it spoken. Secondly, we must be able to speak it ourselves, correctly with confidence(自信) and without hesitation(猶豫). Thirdly, we must be able to write it. We must be able to make sentences that are correct in grammar.
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小題1: The most important things to learn a foreign language are_______.
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B．hearing, speaking, reading and writing
C．writing and understanding
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科目：高中英語 來源：不詳 題型：閱讀理解

Looking back on China’s road to outer space, people can easily find it has not been very smooth. In the past years, Chinese people have made hard and determined efforts to realize the dream their ancestors had for thousands of years.
After China’s first satellite into the Earth’s orbit in 1970 came four flights of unmanned Shenzhou missions(飛行) from 1999 to 2002. The country carried out its first one-piloted space flight in October, 2003, making China the third country in the world to have independent human spaceflight ability after the Soviet Union and the United States. Then came another breakthrough on October 12, 2005, when Shenzhou 6, China’s second human spaceflight, was launched, with a crew of two astronauts. What’s more, the landmark(里程碑)spacewalk done by Zhai Zhigang, one of the three boarding Shenzhou 7, launched on Sept. 25, 2008, leads the country further in its space exploration.
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With great expectations, people all over the world are looking forward to China’s greater space achievements.
小題1: According to the text, which of the following is TRUE?
A．China sent its first satellite into the Moon’s orbit in 1970.
B．China is the third country in Asia to make human spaceflight.
C．By now, altogether 5 astronauts have made successful spaceflight by Shenzhou spaceship.
D．The launching of Chang’e 1 became the third landmark in China’s space achievements.
小題2: Paragraph 2 mainly deals with information about China’s         .
A．landmark spacewalkB．manned Shenzhou missions
C．first circumlunar satelliteD．unmanned Shenzhou missions
小題3:We can infer from the text that         .
A．China’s road to outer spacehas not been very smooth for a long time
B．the lunar regolith is believed to be rich in a clean fuel called helium-3
C．China’s lunar exploration project was started in 2004 and completed in 2007
D．China’s scientists are researching into techniquesfor soft lunar landing
小題4:What can be the best title for the text?
A．Ancient Chinese’s DreamB．China’s Major Space Achievements
C．China’s Moon ExplorationD．The World’s Great Expectations
小題5:The auther’s attitude towards China’s space exploration is _________.
A．negativeB．positiveC．criticalD．indifferent

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科目：高中英語 來源：不詳 題型：閱讀理解

The Internet will open up new vistas (前景), create the global village——you can make new friends all around the world. That, at least, is what it promised us. The difficulty is that it did not take the human mind into account. The reality is that we cannot keep relationships with more than a limited number of people. No matter how hard the Internet tries to put you in communication, its best efforts will be defeated by your mind.
The problem is twofold（雙重的）. First, there is a limit on the number of people we can hold in mind and have a meaningful relationship with. That number is about 150 and is set by the size of our brain. Second, the quality of your relationships depends on the amount of time you invest in then. We invest a lot in a small number of people and then distribute what’s left among as many others as we can. The problem is that if we invest little time in a person, our engagement with that person will decline until eventually it dies into “someone I once knew”.
This is not, of course, to say that the Internet doesn’t serve a socially valuable function. Of course it does. But the question is not that it allows you to increase the size of your social circle to include the rest of the world, but that you can keep your relationships with your existing friends going even though you have to move to the other side of the world.
In one sense, that’s a good thing. But it also has a disadvantage. If you continue to invest in your old friends even though you can no longer see them, then certainly you aren’t using your time to make new friends where you now live. And I suspect that probably isn’t the best use of your time. Meaningful relationships are about being able to communicate with each other, face to face. The Internet will slow down the rate with which relationships end, but it won’t stop that happening eventually.
小題1:The number of friends we can keep relationships with is decided by__________.
A．the InternetB．the time we haveC．the place we liveD．the mind
小題2:The underlined word “engagement” in the second paragraph probably means “__________”.
A．a(chǎn)ppointmentB．connectionC．interviewD．a(chǎn)greement
小題3:The author holds the view that___________.
A．the Internet helps to keep in touch with friends far away
B．the Internet determines the quality of social relationships
C．the Internet greatly increases the size of social circles
D．the Internet is of no value in social communication
小題4:What will the author encourage us to do?
A．To keep in touch with old friends when we have moved away.
B．To chat with friends often on the Internet.
C．To make more new friends face to face.
D．To stop using the Internet to make new friends.
小題5:What is the author’s attitude towards the use of the Internet to strengthen relationships?
A．He thinks it uselessB．He is hopeful of it.
C．He approves of it.D．He doubts it.

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科目：高中英語 來源：不詳 題型：閱讀理解

Along the rivet banks of the Amazon and the Orinoco there lives a bird that swims before it can fly, flies like a fat chicken，eats green 1eaves has the stomach of a cow and has claws(爪)on its wings when young. They build their homes about 4.6m above the river，an important feature(特征)for the safety of the young．It is called the hoatzin．
In appearance，the birds of both sexes look very much alike with brown on the back and cream and red on the underside．The head is small，with a large set of feathers on the top，bright
eyes, and blue skin．Its nearest relatives are the common birds cuckoos．Its most striking feature，though，is only found in the young．
Baby hoatzins have a claw on the 1eading edge of each wing and another at the end of each wing tip．Using these four claws, together with the beak(喙)，they can climb about in the bushes,
looking very much like primitive birds must have done．When the young hoatzins have 1earned to fly，they lose their claws．
During the drier months between December and  March hoatzins fly about the forest in groups of 20 to 30 birds，but in April，when the rainy season begins，they collect together in smaller living units of two to seven birds for producing purposes.
小題1:What is the text mainly about?
A．Hoatzins in dry and rainy seasons．
B．The relatives and enemies of hoatzins．
C．Primitive birds and hoatzins of the Amazon．
D．The appearance and living habits of hoatzins．
小題2:Young hoatzins are different from their parents in that——
A．they look like young cuckoos
B．they have claws on the wings
C．they eat a lot like a cow
D．they live on rivet banks
小題3:What can we infer about primitive birds from the text?
A．They had claws to help them climb．
B．They could fly long distances．
C．They had four wings like hoatzins．
D．They had a head with long feathers on the top
小題4:Why do hoatzins collect together in smaller groups when the rainy season comes?
A．To find more food．
B．To protect themselves better
C．To keep themselves warm．
D．To produce their young．

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