题型：任务型阅读 题类：常考题 难易度：困难
江苏省扬州市扬州中学2018-2019学年高二上学期英语期中考试试卷
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When a thought has found words
Poetry is the forgotten child of literature. Few people read it for pleasure and modern poets are looked upon as odd creatures from a strange universe. In Western high schools, poetry is seldom taught because it is considered old-fashioned and not relevant to the needs of today's students.
In China, however, poetry is still an important part of the curriculum and, with recent changes announced by the Ministry of Education, the number of poems students will have to memorize and recite is being increased from fourteen to seventy-two. Now, before you gasp in horror, let's think about the reasons why studying so many poems, especially ancient poems, is important.
First of all, poetry is an essential part of traditional Chinese culture. It is a pathway to understanding your history and your society. It is also the key to understanding the thoughts and emotions that are common to everyone but which we may be unable to express—the joy of Li Bai dancing with the moon, for example. Everyone has feelings of joy, love, loneliness, sadness and even anger, and a good poem can put those emotions into words and bring us self-understanding.
Poems can also express beauty. In a few short lines, even something commonplace can become beautiful. Here is a poem called "Fog" by Carl Sandberg: The fog comes / on silent haunches (弓腰蹲着) / and then moves on. Yes, fog does move smoothly, silently and mysteriously like a cat, and Sandberg captures that feeling and image, and makes it beautiful.
Of course, to really appreciate poetry, it has to be really aloud. After all, a poem is really just a song without music. Most ancient poetry, especially Western poetry, was actually spoken before it was written. Take Homer's Iliad (伊利亚德), the story of the Trojan War (特洛伊战争), for example. That epic saga (史诗般的故事) of Helen's kidnapping and the war that followed was apparently told for hundreds of years in palaces, taverns (客栈) and on street corners before Homer wrote it down and was given credit for it.
The American poet Robert Frost said, "Poetry is when an emotion has found its thought and the thought has found words." And poems are very concise—there is not a wasted word. You are lucky that you now have seventy-two poems to learn!
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Passage outline |
Detailed information |
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Awkward situation |
Poetry is thought to be from the life of people and poets beyond the understanding of ordinary people. |
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China's recent |
the number of poems for school students to memorize and recite |
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behind |
Poetry is a reflection of Chinese culture. Learning poems help with the of history and society. Poems enable people to express thoughts and feelings which would otherwise be to express. Poetry conveys the beauty that in common things. Poems use as words as possible. |
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A tip on |
Poetry is to read out. Poems are songs without music; Many ancient poems first appeared in form. |
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Conclusion |
Chinese students should feel lucky to have seventy two poems to learn! |
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