Returning to a book you've read many times can feel like drinks with an old friend There's a welcome familiarity-but also sometimes a slight suspicion that time has changed you both, and thus the relationship. But books don't change, people do. And that's what makes the act of rereading so rich and transformative.
The beauty of rereading lies in the idea that our bond with the work is based on our present mental register. It's true. the older I get, the more I feel time has wings. But with reading, it's about the present. It's about the now and what one contributes to the now, because reading is a give and take between author and reader. Each has to pull their own weight.
There are three books 1 reread annually. The first, which I take to reading every spring, is Ernest Hemingway's A Moveable Feast. Published in 1964,it's his classic memoir of 1920s Paris. The language is almost intoxicating(令人陶醉的)，an aging writer looking back on an ambitious yet simpler time. Another is Annie Dillard's Holy the Firm ,her poetic 1975 ramble(随笔)about everything and nothing. The third book is Julio Cortázar's Save Twilight: Selected Poems ,because poetry. And because Cortázar.
While I tend to buy a lot of books, these three were given to me as gifts, which might add to the meaning I attach to them. But I imagine that, while money is indeed wonderful and necessary ,rereading an author's work is the highest currency a reader can pay them. The best books are the ones that open further as time passes. But remember, it's you that has to grow and read and reread in order to better understand your friends.
Vincent van Gogh was born on March 30, 1853, in a small village in southern Holland. As a child, he was serious and sensitive. He loved to draw, and his work showed talent, but no one encouraged him to become an artist. Instead, his father thought he should take a job—something like a carpenter. As a young adult, he wandered from job to job with little success and very little money, becoming more depressed with each failure. In March 1880, however, just before his 27th birthday, something changed inside van Gogh. He realized he was meant to be a painter, and he began to study art in Brussels, receiving money from his brother Theo, which helped him to live.
In 1886, van Gogh moved to Paris, hoping to learn more about color techniques being used by Impressionist artists there. Instead of grays and browns, his work began to use blue and red, and then yellow and orange. Soon he began to see life differently: Go slow. Stop thinking. Look around. You'll see something beautiful if you open yourself. These were the principles that guide his art. With his innovative (创新的) use of colors, van Gogh wanted to show his viewers how to better appreciate a flower, the night sky, or a person's face.
Today, people around the world immediately recognize Starry Nights and Sunflowers—both painted in bold, intense（浓重的） colors—as the work of Vincent van Gogh. Probably no other artist, at any time in any culture, has achieved such popularity. His Portrait （肖像画）of Dr. Gachet sold in 1990 reached more than $80 million, breaking the world record for art pieces. Many of his other works have also sold for millions. Of course, people are buying great art when they purchase his paintings. But they are also buying a piece of his story, which like his work, will live on forever.
Next time you're in a public place, take a look around you, and count how many people are using their phones. I can tell you now that it is probably more than half, whether you're on public transport, in a cafe or simply standing on an escalator.
I'm not saying that I am not an example of this, but it always amazes me how people can spend so much time on their phones without actually talking to anyone in particular. It seems that they rely on their phones too much.
For example, I recently visited London and travelled on the tube while I was there. Apart from the people asleep, almost everybody else was on their phones, and because of the nature of the tube, it is difficult not to see exactly what they are all doing. Of course, being underground is difficult for you to get any signal, which rules out texting or using the Internet, but there is still plenty you can use your phones for. People were absorbed in playing games, reading articles and listening to music, and I am sure that as soon as they emerged from the train station, they would start texting or calling or checking their emails.
Recently, my smartphone broke and had to be sent off to the warehouse for repair for a week or so. In the meantime, I had to use a really old, basic phone just to keep me in touch with my family and friends. All I could do on this phone was send text messages, make calls and play one game. And I loved it. I loved being free from the Internet, and I really didn't mind not having constant updates about what my friends were doing or what the latest celebrity story was. It allowed me to spend more time taking in my surroundings.
However, I knew that as soon as I got my smartphone back, I would be one of those people once again. But I made up my mind to discipline myself.
Ways to Avoid Catching a Cold This Season
Till now, COVID-19 has been with us for nearly two years. Although getting sick seems unavoidable as winter approaches, there are actually lots of things you can do to reduce your chances of ending up with catching a cold.
Wash your hands the right way.
The number one way to stay free of germs, according to doctors, is becoming a continuous hand-washer. It is important to wash hands often with soap and water, especially before eating or preparing food and after caring for a sick person. You have to wash your hands properly to really get rid of germs that can make you sick. According to the CDC, wet your hands and lather up, clean all over your hands including the backs and in between your fingers for 20 seconds, rinse, and dry well.
Stop touching your face.
The reason why germs on your hands are so dangerous is that, sometimes, your hands will often touch your face. Therefore, learn to say no to face-touching. "It is natural for all of us to touch our faces frequently throughout the day, whether we are rubbing our eyes, have an itch, eating, or moving our hair," Dr. Zipkin says, "As a physician, it has taken me years to train my hands to avoid touching my face while I'm at work. "
You got a tissue and only blew your nose a little, and there's so much tissue left. You're trying to save trees, right? Unluckily for the environment, it's best not to leave your dirty tissues lying around, even if you think you can reuse them later. Throw them away! To be more environmentally friendly, you can turn to bamboo tissues, as bamboo is fast-growing and more sustainable.
A. Save your tissues.
B. Don't reuse tissues.
C. It is also important to avoid doing a quick wash.
D. Getting a cold in these sensitive days is quite annoying.
E. It is said that washing hands can get rid of most of the germs.
F. Perhaps they can make others in your home or school sick.
G. In winter, cold temperatures can cause runny noses, which can increase the chance that you touch your face.
The last time Jack Hanson took an airplane, he was a junior at the University of Vermont. To return from a term abroad in Copenhagen, he flew from Denmark, 1 in Iceland, and landed in New York.
But the next term, one of his professors asked students to 2 their individual energy usage. And when Mr. Hanson did the 3, he realized that just one leg of that international flight 4 more energy, and more greenhouse gas emissions, than all the other things that year 5 — the driving and heating and lighting and eating and everything else.
He was 6. "I just couldn't 7 it," he says. "It really is an extreme. It's an extreme amount of energy, an extreme amount of 8___. "
So Mr. Hanson decided to stop 9. Since then, he has traveled by train and bike and car, and has even written a song about the 10 of getting home to Chicago on an overnight bus. But he has not been on an airplane.
And he has never found travel more 11, he says. He knows that some people find this hard to 12, including many friends and family members. They decide Mr. Hanson's approach is 13.
Go more 14, and travel begins to return to what it once was: a slow change of one place to another, a sense of space, an unwinding of time.
"Once you've tasted this way of 15, you understand what it's all about," he says.
I'm not sure is more frightened, me or the female gorilla(大猩猩）that suddenly appears out of nowhere. I'm walking on a path in the forest in the Central African Republic. Unexpectedly, I'm face-to-face with the gorilla, who begins screaming at top of her lungs. That makes her baby scream, and then a 400-pound male appears. He screams the (loud)of all. The noise shakes the trees as the male beats his chest and charges toward me. I quickly lower myself, ducking my head to avoid (look) directly into his eyes so he doesn't feel(challenge).
My name is Mireya Mayor. I'm a (science)who studies animals such as apes and monkeys. I was searching these three western lowland gorillas I'd been observing. No one had seen them for hours, and my colleagues and I were worried.
When the gorillas and I frightened each other, I was just glad to find (they) alive. True to a gorilla's unaggressive nature, the huge animal (mean)me no real harm. He was just saying: "I'm king of this forest, and here is your reminder!" Once his message was delivered, he allowed me (stay)and watch.
It was the first week of Mia's middle school. The bell's ringing brought her out of her daydreaming. She nervously gathered her books, preparing to head for another classroom for the next new class. Mia followed the other kids and rushed into the hallway (走廊). Others walked in groups, chatted, and laughed, using the break (课间休息) to socialize (社交). Mia, instead, walked alone along the wall of the hallway, with her head down. She was a shy girl, afraid to speak in front of other kids, and didn't think others would like her.
Mia finally sat in Mr. Johnson's Language Arts class nervously. "Welcome to Language Arts," said Mr. Johnson. He told jokes as he talked about English. Mia forgot to daydream and laughed along with the rest of the class. "We'll have some fun with language," he said. "Just wait and see. " Fun was far beyond what Mia desired. She just wanted to be like other kids—running with friends in the hallway, laughing and joking between classes. Reminded that she was not pretty, she felt hopeless and disappointed.
"Take out a piece of paper," the teacher continued, when pointing at words on the blackboard. "Write for the next thirty minutes on this topic. " Mia began writing crazily as idea after idea fought for recognition in her head. The final result was a short story about a beautiful beach house. As she wrote, she could smell the salty air, hear the crashing waves and feel the pull of the sand beneath her feet. For just a moment, she forgot where she was. She was lost in the story. "OK, pass your papers forward," said the teacher. "Let's see what we have. " For the rest of the class time, the teacher read each individual work aloud. Mia originally thought it would be embarrassing. However, she was gradually attracted by the excitement in the teacher's voice. "He's actually enjoying this," she thought.
When the class would be soon over, there were still fifteen students' papers not read, including Mia's paper. Then, Mr. Johnson announced his decision, asking these students to read their work themselves in front of the class next class.
注意：1. 续写的第一段词数应为80左右；2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
|
Paragraph 1: A week later, the bell rang and the Language Arts class began again. Paragraph 2: After Mia finished her reading, the clapping (鼓掌) from her classmates continued for a long time. |
