Gwendolyn Brooks wrote hundreds of poems during her lifetime. She was known around the world for using poetry to increase understanding about black culture in America.

During the 1940s and 1950s, Gwendolyn Brooks used her poems to describe conditions among the poor, racial inequality and drug use in the black community. She also wrote poems about the struggles of black women. But her skill was more than her ability to write about struggling black people. She combined traditional European poetry styles with the African American experience.

Gwendolyn Brooks once said that she wrote about what she saw and heard in the street. She said she found most of her material looking out of the window of her second-floor apartment house in Chicago, Illinois. In her early poetry, Gwendolyn Brooks wrote about the South Side of Chicago, where many black people live. In her poems, the South Side is called Bronzeville. It was “A Street in Bronzeville” that gained the attention of literary experts in 1945. Critics praised her poetic skill and her powerful descriptions about the black experience during the time. The Bronzeville poems were her first published collection.

In 1950, Gwendolyn Brooks became the first African-American to win the Pulitzer Prize for Literature. She won the prize for her second book of poems called “Annie Allen.” “Annie Allen” is a collection of poetry about the life of a Bronzeville girl as a daughter, a wife and mother. She experiences loneliness, loss, death and being poor.

Mizz Brooks said that winning the prize changed her life. Her next work was a novel written in 1953 called “Maud Martha”. “Maud Martha” received little notice when it first was published. But now it is considered an important work by some critics. Its main ideas about the difficult life of many women are popular among female writers today.

40. Gwendolyn Brooks became world-famous because      .
A. she was an expert at the language of poetry
B. she introduced black culture with poems
C. she fought for black rights by writing poems
D. her writing reflects the true life of black women

41. Which of the following can we learn from the passage?
A. Gwendolyn Brooks’ poems focus on black people in Africa.
B. Winning the Pulitzer Prize was important for Brooks’ career.
C. Gwendolyn Brooks herself used to suffer a lot from drugs.
D. Gwendolyn Brooks’ early poetry showed a strong Asian style.

42. How did Gwendolyn Brooks get ideas for most of her writing?
A. By observing life.       B. By having talks.         C. By reading widely.    D. By traveling.

43. We can infer that the book “Annie Allen” mainly deals with “      ”.
A. married life                B. drug use                   C. adventure                 D. emotion

Small talk is an essential part of our daily life, and is an essential skill to make you more popular as well to make other people happy. However it can be a big challenge. Here are some tips to improve small talk skills. Of course, making effective small talk means lots of practice, but keeping these tips in mind should improve overall conversational skills.

Stay away from religious/ strong political beliefs

While you may firmly believe in something, beginning conversations and making small talk about your own personal beliefs may abruptly end the conversation. Keep it light, and don’t try to convince the other person that you have the “correct” information about a higher being, political system or other belief system.

Use the Internet to gain the specific vocabulary

If you have a business meeting, or are meeting people who share a common interest, take advantage of the Internet to learn the specific vocabulary. Almost all business and interest groups have glossaries(詞匯表) on the Internet.

Find common interests

Once you have a subject that interests both of you, keep to it! You can do this in a number of ways: talking about travel, talking about the school or friend you have in common, talking about the difference between your culture and the new culture(just be careful to make comparisons and not judgments) and so on.

Listen

This is very important. Listening carefully will help you understand and encourage those speaking to you. You might be nervous, but letting others state their opinion will improve the quality of the discussion and give you some time to think of an answer!

36. When you make small talk, you should NOT “       ”.
A. keep to the subject that interests both of you    
B. avoid some topics about personal beliefs
C. use special vocabulary from the Internet
D. try to make others agree with your own opinion

37. The underlined word “abruptly” in the second paragraph can be replaced by “       ”.
A. steadily               B. happily              C. suddenly           D. expectedly

38. According to the passage, listening carefully is very important because       .
A. it will make conversations go smoothly           
B. it can help us find more common interests
C. it will help others feel relaxed
D. we may avoid unpleasant topics by doing so

39. What is the passage mainly about?
A. Small talk, a very important part in our daily life.
B. Making effective small talk through a lot of practice.
C. The importance of common interests during small talk.
D. Some tips on improving overall conversation skills.

Chinese Culture

Every Chinese language textbook starts out with the standard phrase for greeting people; but as an American, I always found myself   16   to speak freely when it came to seeing guests off at the door. Just a good-bye would not do, yet that was all I had ever learned from the
  17   books. So I would smile and nod, bowing like a Japanese and searching madly for words that would   18   over the visitors’ leaving and make them feel they would be   19   to come again. In my unease, I often hid behind the skirts of my Chinese husband’s kindness.

Then finally, listening to others, I began to pick up the phrases that   20   relationships and sent people off not only successfully but also skillfully.   21   for the Chinese includes a lot of necessary habitual practice. Although as a   22  , I’m not expected to learn the expressions of politeness and   23   at leaving-taking.

The Chinese feel they   24   see a guest off to the farther possible point－down the stairs to the street below or perhaps all the way to the   25   bus stop. I’ve sometimes waited half an hour or more for my husband to return from seeing a guest off,   26   he has gone to the bus stop and waited for the next bus to arrive.

That’s very well, but when I’m the guest being seen off, my protests are always   27  . My hostess or   28  , or both, insists on   29   me down the stairs and well on my way, with my repeating the “Don’t   30   to see me off at every landing.” If I try to go fast to   31   them from following, they simply run after me. Better to accept it.

Besides, that’s going against Chinese   32  , because rushing is to be avoided. What do you say when you   33   someone? Not “Farewell” or “Don’t rush”,   34   “Go slowly.” To the Chinese it means “Take care” or “Watch your   35  ” or some such caution, but translated literally it means “Go slowly”.

16. A. easy                   B. difficult                    C. unable               D. effective

17. A. useful                 B. terrible                     C. priceless            D. cheap

18. A. smooth               B. talk                          C. calm                 D. take

19. A. content               B. ready                     C. welcome           D. sad

20. A. damaged             B. broke                C. destroyed                 D. eased

21. A. Leaving              B. Dividing            C. Separating                D. Interviewing

22. A. wife                   B. guest                 C. hostess                    D. foreigner

23. A. protest                B. refuse               C. explain                     D. state

24. A. can                     B. will                  C. may                         D. must

25. A. farther                B. nearest                     C. easiest                      D. shortest

26. A. although              B. unless               C. if                             D. because

27. A. effective             B. unnecessary       C. useless                     D. troublesome

28. A. neighbour            B. host                  C. relative                     D. friend

29. A. leading                B. seeing               C. inviting                     D. pushing

30. A. trouble                B. have                  C. decide                      D. walk

31. A. protect                B. make                 C. discourage                D. dismiss

32. A. rule                    B. custom              C. design                      D. opinion

33. A. meet with            B. talk with            C. part with                  D. call on

34. A. and                     B. or                     C. but                          D. even

35. A. foot                    B. health                C. shoe                        D. step

 Nothing will stop their questions. They mean       to the bottom of this strange business.
A. to get                        B. getting                      C. to be getting      D. having gotten

 This photo brought my care-free childhood back to my mind       I would spend long summer evenings playing on the beach.
A. when                        B. where                      C. that                   D. which

 I’m not sure whether I’ll succeed in persuading her to join us.      , I’ll try my best to make it.
A. Besides                     B. Anyhow                   C. Generally           D. Therefore

—How did you do in the test?
—Not so well. I 　　 have done much better but I had a stomachache during the test.
A. need　　　　　　　　 B. could　　　　　　　 　　　 C. must　　　　　　　　　　　 D. needn’t

       around the Eiffel Tower, we were taken to visit the Louver which houses 35,000 works of art.
A. Having shown    B. Being shown             C. Having been shown   D. To be shown

       in the fast-paced, technology-obsessed 21^st century has left many people short on patience.
A. Living                B. Lives                        C. Having lived              D. Lived

 Does the idea of working for the big company       to you?
A. adapt                   B. appeal                      C. attach                      D. apply