题型：阅读理解 题类：常考题 难易度：普通
人教版（2019）高中英语必修第二册Unit 4 单元测试（2）
Cities usually have a good reason for being where they are, like a nearby port or river. People settle in these places because they are easy to get to and naturally suited to communications and trade. New York City, for example, is near a large harbour at the mouth of the Hudson River. Over 300 years its population grew gradually from 800 people to 8 million. But not all cities develop slowly over a long period of time. Boom towns grow from nothing almost overnight. In 1896, Dawson, Canada, was unmapped wilderness (荒野) . But gold was discovered there in 1897, and two years later, it was one of the largest cities in the West, with a population of 30,000.
Dawson did not have any of the natural conveniences of cities like London or Paris. People went there for gold. They travelled over snow-covered mountains and sailed hundreds of miles up icy rivers. The path to Dawson was covered with thirty feet of wet snow that could fall without warning. An avalanche (雪崩) once closed the path, killing 63 people. For many who made it to Dawson, however, the rewards were worth the difficult trip. Of the first 20,000 people who dug for gold, 4,000 got rich. About 100 of these stayed rich men for the rest of their lives.
But no matter how rich they were, Dawson was never comfortable. Necessities like food and wood were very expensive. But soon, the gold that Dawson depended on had all been found. The city was crowded with disappointed people with no interest in settling down, and when they heard there were new gold discoveries in Alaska, they left Dawson City as quickly as they had come. Today, people still come and go—to see where the Canadian gold rush happened. Tourism is now the chief industry of Dawson City—its present population is 762.
He was a poet known for the nostalgia he describes in his poems. Now, it's time: for us to express our nostalgia for this great writer.
On Dec 14, 2017, the famous Chinese poet Yu Guangzhong passed away in Taiwan. Born in 1928 in Nanjing, Jiangsu, Yu studied in Sichuan when he was young. At that time, he had showed great interest in Chinese poems and spent a lot of his free time trying writing poems himself. Then he managed to publish his first poem at the age of 20. A year later, Yu and his family moved to Taiwan. He lived and worked there until his death.
Nostalgia is Yu's masterpiece in which he expresses his homesickness for the Chinese mainland when he was in Taiwan.
Published in 1971, the poem remains highly popular among Chinese speakers worldwide. Even those who know little about literature are familiar with lines from the poem. The poem is included in Chinese high school textbooks.
Besides his achievements in poetry, Yu was also a successful essay writer, critic and translator. He once translated English poet Siegfried Sassoon's poem In Me, Past, Present, Future Meet into Chinese. It is regarded as an accurate and powerful translation, in which the most famous line is “心有猛虎, 细嗅蔷薇” for “In me the tiger sniffs the rose”.
Yu spent his whole life writing. “The reason why I stick to writing till today comes down to my passion for the Chinese language,” he once said in a 2015 interview. He then added that this passion was strengthened by his love for his mother and His motherland.
Now, let's appreciate the poem Nostalgia.
When I was young, But later on, Nostalgia was a tiny, tiny stamp. Nostalgia was a low, low grave. Me on this side, Me on this outside, Mother on the other side. And my mother was inside. When I grew up, And at present, Nostalgia was a narrow boat ticket. Nostalgia becomes a shallow strait. Me on this side, Me on this side, Bride on the other side. Mainland on the other side. |
试题篮
