THE BRONTE FAMILY

Yorkshire, England was the setting for two great novels (小說) of the 19th century. These were Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre and Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights. The youngest sister, Anne, was also a gifted novelist, and her books have the same extraordinary quality as her sisters’.

Their father was Patrick Bronte, born in Ireland. He moved with his wife, Maria Bronte, and their six small children to Haworth in Yorkshire in 1820. Soon after, Mrs. Bronte and the two eldest children died, leaving the father to care of the remaining three girls and a boy.

Charlotte was born in 1816. Emily was born in 1818 and Anne in 1820. Their brother Branwell was born in 1817. Left to themselves, the children wrote and told stories and walked over the hills. They grew up largely self-educated. Branwell showed a great interest in drawing. The girls were determined to earn money for his art education. They took positions as teachers or taught children in their homes.

As children they had all written many stories. Charlotte, as a young girl, alone wrote 22 books, each with 60 to 100 pages of small handwriting. Therefore, they turned to writing for income. By 1847, Charlotte had written The Professor; Emily, Wuthering Heights; and Anne, Agnes Grey. After much difficulty Anne and Emily found a publisher(出版商), but there was no interest shown in Charlotte’s book. (It was not published until 1859.) However, one publisher expressed an interest in seeing more of her works. Jane Eyre was already started, and she hurriedly finished it. It was accepted at once; thus each of the sisters had a book published in 1847.

Jane Eyre was immediately successful; the other two, however, did not do so well. People did not like Wuthering Heights. They said it was too wild, too animal-like. But gradually it came to be considered one of the finest novels in the English language. Emily lived only a short while after the publication of the book, and Anne died in 1849.

Charlotte published Shirley in 1849, and Villette in 1853. In 1854 she married Arthur Bell Nicholls. But only a year later, she died of tuberculosis(肺結核) as her sisters had.

We know from the text that      .

A. Jane Eyre was published in 1847    

B. Charlotte Bronte wrote 22 books in all

C. the Bronte sisters received good education     

D. Patrick Bronte helped his daughters with their writing

The underlined words “the other two” in the 5 th paragraph refer to      .

       A. Shirley and Villette   B. The Professor and Agnes Grey

       C. Agnes Grey and Wutheriing Heights   D. The Professor and wuthering Heights

What do we know about the Bronte sisters from the text?

       A. Their novels interested few publishers.

       B. None of them had more than two books published.

       C. None of them lived longer than 40 years old.

       D. Emily was the least successful of the three.

THE BRONTE FAMILY

Yorkshire, England was the setting for two great novels (小說) of the 19th century. These were Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre and Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights. The youngest sister, Anne, was also a gifted novelist, and her books have the same extraordinary quality as her sisters’.

Their father was Patrick Bronte, born in Ireland. He moved with his wife, Maria Bronte, and their six small children to Haworth in Yorkshire in 1820. Soon after, Mrs. Bronte and the two eldest children died, leaving the father to care of the remaining three girls and a boy.

Charlotte was born in 1816. Emily was born in 1818 and Anne in 1820. Their brother Branwell was born in 1817. Left to themselves, the children wrote and told stories and walked over the hills. They grew up largely self-educated. Branwell showed a great interest in drawing. The girls were determined to earn money for his art education. They took positions as teachers or taught children in their homes.

As children they had all written many stories. Charlotte, as a young girl, alone wrote 22 books, each with 60 to 100 pages of small handwriting. Therefore, they turned to writing for income. By 1847, Charlotte had written The Professor; Emily, Wuthering Heights; and Anne, Agnes Grey. After much difficulty Anne and Emily found a publisher(出版商), but there was no interest shown in Charlotte’s book. (It was not published until 1859.) However, one publisher expressed an interest in seeing more of her works. Jane Eyre was already started, and she hurriedly finished it. It was accepted at once; thus each of the sisters had a book published in 1847.

Jane Eyre was immediately successful; the other two, however, did not do so well. People did not like Wuthering Heights. They said it was too wild, too animal-like. But gradually it came to be considered one of the finest novels in the English language. Emily lived only a short while after the publication of the book, and Anne died in 1849.

Charlotte published Shirley in 1849, and Villette in 1853. In 1854 she married Arthur Bell Nicholls. But only a year later, she died of tuberculosis(肺結核) as her sisters had.

1.We know from the text that      .

2.The underlined words “the other two” in the 5 th paragraph refer to      .

3. What do we know about the Bronte sisters from the text?

閱讀下面的短文，然后按照要求寫一篇150詞左右的英語短文。

In one way of thinking, failure is a part of life. In another way, failure may be a way towards success. The “spider story’’ often told, Robert Bruce, leader of the Scots in the 13 th century, was hiding in a cave from the English. He watched a spider spinning a web. The spider tried to reach across a rough place in the rock. He tried six times without success. On the seventh time he made it and went to spin his web. Bruce is said to have taken heart and to have gone on to defeat the English. Edison, the inventor of the light bulb, made hundreds of models that failed before he found the right way to make one. Abraham Lincoln, the famous American president, lost elections more times than he won them! He never gave up in the face of failure but kept trying and was eventually elected to Congress and then the presidency.

So what? First, always think about your failure. What caused it? Were conditions right? Were you in top from yourself? What can you change so things will go right next time?

Second, is the goal you’re trying to reach the right one? Try to do some thinking about what your real goals may be. Think about this question. “If I do succeed this time, where will it get me?’’ This may help you prevent failure in things you shouldn’t be doing anyway.

The third thing to bear in mind about failure is that it’s part of life. Learn to “live with yourself” even though you may have failed. Remember, “You can’t win them all.”

【寫作內容】

1、概括短文的內容要點，該部分字數大約30詞左右；

2、以“Is Failure a Bad Thing”為題寫一篇文章，包含以下內容要點，該部分的字數大約120詞左右。

⑴失敗是生活中的常事

⑵人們對失敗所持的不同態度

⑶你對失敗的認識

【寫作要求】

1、可以使用實例或其他論述方法支持你的觀點，也可以參照閱讀材料的內容，但不要抄襲閱讀材料中的句子

2、作文中不能出現真實姓名和學校名稱。

閱讀下面的短文，然后按照要求寫一篇150詞左右的英語短文。
In one way of thinking, failure is a part of life. In another way, failure may be a way towards success. The “spider story’’ often told, Robert Bruce, leader of the Scots in the 13 th century, was hiding in a cave from the English. He watched a spider spinning a web. The spider tried to reach across a rough place in the rock. He tried six times without success. On the seventh time he made it and went to spin his web. Bruce is said to have taken heart and to have gone on to defeat the English. Edison, the inventor of the light bulb, made hundreds of models that failed before he found the right way to make one. Abraham Lincoln, the famous American president, lost elections more times than he won them! He never gave up in the face of failure but kept trying and was eventually elected to Congress and then the presidency.
So what? First, always think about your failure. What caused it? Were conditions right? Were you in top from yourself? What can you change so things will go right next time?
Second, is the goal you’re trying to reach the right one? Try to do some thinking about what your real goals may be. Think about this question. “If I do succeed this time, where will it get me?’’ This may help you prevent failure in things you shouldn’t be doing anyway.
The third thing to bear in mind about failure is that it’s part of life. Learn to “live with yourself” even though you may have failed. Remember, “You can’t win them all.”
【寫作內容】
1、概括短文的內容要點，該部分字數大約30詞左右；
2、以“Is Failure a Bad Thing”為題寫一篇文章，包含以下內容要點，該部分的字數大約120詞左右。
⑴失敗是生活中的常事
⑵人們對失敗所持的不同態度
⑶你對失敗的認識
【寫作要求】
1、可以使用實例或其他論述方法支持你的觀點，也可以參照閱讀材料的內容，但不要抄襲閱讀材料中的句子
2、作文中不能出現真實姓名和學校名稱。
                                                                      
                                                                      
                                                                      
                                                                      
                                                                      
                                                                  

A team from Krakow, in Poland, used functional magnetic resonance imaging （機能性核共振成像）（FMRI）to assess brain activity when 40 volunteers were shown various images．Men showed activity in areas which dealt with what action they should take in order to avoid or face up to danger．But the study found more activity in the emotional centers of women's brains．The researchers, from another university, carried out scans on 21 men and 19 women．Brain activity was monitored while the volunteers were shown images of objects and images from ordinary life designed to remind different emotional states．

The images were displayed in two runs．For the first run, only negative pictures were shown．For the second run, only positive pictures were shown．

While viewing the negative images, women showed stronger and broader activity in the left thalamus（神經床）．This is an area which passes sense information to the pain and pleasure centres of the brain．Men showed more activity in an area of the brain called the left insula（腦島）, which plays a key role in controlling natural functions, including breath, heart rate and digestion．Generally, activity in this area tells the body to either run away from danger, or meet it head on - the so-called "fight or flight response"．

While viewing positive images, women showed stronger activity in an area of the brain associated with memory．With men, the stronger activity was recorded in an area associated with visual processing．Dr Urbanik believes these differences suggest women may analyze positive stimuli（刺激）in a broader social context and associate positive images with a particular memory．

For instance, viewing a picture of a smiling child might remind memories of a woman's own child at this age．On the contrary, male responses tend to be less emotional．

1．The research shows that men response differently to__________compared with women．

A．different images    B．ordinary life 

C．different activities        D．medical scan

2．According to the passage, when faced with danger, ____________．

A．women react more slowly than men       B．women usually try to avoid it 

C．men usually have no reaction         D．men react to it more directly

3．What is discussed in the 4 th paragraph?         ．

A．Men and women’s different memories   B．The different responses to the children

C．Different reactions to positive stimuli    D．Negative results of the visual processing

3．The passage mainly develops______．

A．by inferring                   B．by comparing  

C．by listing examples       D．by giving explanations