In a Station of the Metro

The apparition of these faces in the crowd;

Petals on a wet, black bough.

This is the only Ezra Pound poem that many people will read in their lives. Why? One obvious reason is that it’s just two lines long. The poem, which can be understood as “A man sees a bunch of faces in the subway and thinks they look like flowers on a tree branch,” is an exercise in shortness. Pound wrote it after having a spiritual experience in a Paris metro (subway) station.

In 1916, the US poet originally thought he could best describe his vision in a painting. Unfortunately, he wasn’t a painter. So he wrote a thirty-line poem, which he didn’t like. He dropped the long version in the waste bin. Six months later, he wrote a shorter poem, but didn’t like that one either. Finally, a full year after the experience, he had been reading short Japanese poems called haikus, and he figured he would try this style. The result, which was published in 1913, is one of the most famous and influential works in modern poetry.

This poem is one of the monuments (纪念物) of the 20th-century artistic movement known as “Imagism”. Basically, Pound and his friends thought that images (意象) weren’t just decoration: they were the highest form of speech. By finding the right image, the poet can express the true, spiritual reality of a thing, which is more important than using a bunch of adjectives to describe its physical appearance. Thus, “In a Station of the Metro” is a poem that consists of one image expressed with absolute (绝对的) exactness and nothing else.

To the imagists, the best way to describe an experience is not to use more and more words; the best way is to find exactly the right words. Have you ever told a beloved one that “words can’t express” how much you love them? Well, Pound would say that you’re just being lazy. In his view, words can express anything, even if it takes an entire year to find the right ones.

21. In the short poem, Ezra Pound         . 

A. tells us one of his painful experiences              

B. compares the passengers’ faces to flowers

C. describes a man walking among the crowd      

D. shows a wet, black tree branch in a metro station

22. According to the text, “In a Station of the Metro” was         . 

A. based on one of Pound’s paintings                          B. first discovered in a waste bin

C. influenced by haikus                                                D. completed in 1916

23. Pound and his friends         .

A. stressed the importance of using adjectives            

B. were good at describing abstract images 

C. decorated their poems with pictures                 

D. used images to express their ideas 

Some 30,000 years ago, artists who lived in caves in Europe painted pictures of the animals around them: panthers, hyenas, rhinos, cave lions, mammoths and other creatures which have been extinct for a long time. The paintings were highly realistic. Some even showed movement.

The artwork, more than a thousand drawings, is considered the oldest group of human cave drawings which have ever been discovered. They were preserved because the cave was sealed---closed off--for more or less 23,000 years.

Fast forward to December 18, 1994, a group of French cave scientists were exploring caves in southern France. Jean Marie Chauvet, who led the group then, describes the process of discovering the cave paintings. “At that time I was in the front, Eliette just walked behind me, Christian behind. Eliette said she saw two marks made with red ochre and she said, ‘They came here.’ And at this very moment everything began. The drawings and everything linked to the parietal art(壁画). That is where it is started.”

Cave art expert Jean Clotttes reviewed the paintings. “I was amazed at the number of paintings there were and paintings of their quality and particularly in front of the panel of the horses.”

Scientific analysis confirmed the prehistoric date of the artwork. Studies showed the drawings were created tens of thousands of years ago, before human history was written. The United Nations’ cultural agency UNESCO lists the cave as a World Heritage Site. They say that the drawings form a remarkable expression of early human artistic creation of grand excellence and variety.

The Chauvet Cave has been named after the explorer who first entered it. However, its environment and drawings are too fragile to be visited by human beings. So the cave is closed, and only people there for scientific purposes can go inside and see the artwork.

However, French authorities asked experts to create an exact copy of the cave, called Pont d’Arc Cavern. The copy, which we also called replica, cost more than 59 million dollars to build. It opened at the end of April in France.

Pascal Terrasse is the president of the cavern. He says everyone will be able to experience the thrill of looking at drawings made by the first humans in Europe. He says the place is magic because it is done so well. Authorities say they think as many as 400,000 people will be allowed to visit Pont d’Arc Cavern every year.

24. According to Jean Clottes’ words in Paragraph 4, the paintings in the cave were _______.

A. abstract                B. superior                    C. creative           D. inspiring

25. Which of the follow statements is TRUE about the Chauvet Cave?

A. It was closed off for more than 30,000 years.

B. It is thought to be the origin of modern parietal art.

C. The environment and artwork there are very easy to damage.

D. The majority of drawings there are about the extinct animals.

26. The purpose of creating Pont d’Arc Cavern is to _______.

A. show admiration for the earliest artists in Europe

B. arouse visitors’ awareness of protecting ancient art

C. offer visitors chances to view the wonderful artwork

D. collect money for the perseverance of the Chauvet Cave

Green is an important color in nature. It is the color of grass and the leaves on trees. It is also the color of most growing plants.

Sometimes, the word green means young, fresh and growing. Sometimes, it describes something that is not yet ripe（成熟）or finished. For example, a greenhorn is someone who has no experience, who is new to a situation. In the fifteenth century, a greenhorn was a young cow or ox whose horns (角) had not yet developed. A century or so later, a greenhorn was a soldier who had not yet any experience in battle. By the eighteenth century, a greenhorn had the meaning it has today - a person who is new in a job.

   Someone who has the ability to grow plants well is said to have a green thumb. The expression comes from the early nineteen hundreds. You might say that the woman next door has a green thumb if her garden continues to grow after your plants have died.

   Green is also the color used to describe the powerful emotion, jealousy（嫉妒）. The green-eyed monster is not a frightening creature from outer space. It is an expression used about four hundred years ago by British writer William Shakespeare in his play “Othello.” It describes the unpleasant feeling a person has when someone else has something he wants. A young man may suffer from the green-eyed monster if his girlfriend begins going out with someone else. Or, that green-eyed monster may affect your friend if you get a pay raise and she does not.

In most places in the world, a green light is a signal to move ahead. A green light on a traffic signal means your car can continue on. In everyday speech, a green light means approval（同意）to continue.

27. If you are a new comer to a company, you can be called ____________.

   A. A greenhorn                            B. A green thumb  

C. A green-eyed monster                   D. A green light

28. If a man may suffer from the green-eyed monster, it means he is ____________.

   A. honest          B. jealous               C. new                    D. experienced

29. When you see a green light while you are taking part in a speech competition, it means you ____________.

   A. are ignored         B. have fallen behind      C. can go away          D. get permission

30. According to the text, which word first came into use in the 1700s?

   A. greenhorn.          B. green thumb.                 C. green-eyed monster.  D. green.

Too many of us are waiting too long to live our best lives. We keep putting everything off until tomorrow. Then, before we know it, we find ourselves asking, "How did it get so late so soon?"

So we’d better make today the beginning of our new life. Take time to figure ourselves out. Take time to realize what we want and need. Take time to love, laugh, cry, and learn. _31_ Here are five things we should start doing today:

Accept ourselves. The secret to happiness and success is the acceptance of ourselves. We will never become who we want to be if we rely on everyone else to qualify us. _32_ So always go with ourselves, never against ourselves. Be who we were created to be and we will set the world on fire.

Make ourselves a priority. To tell the truth, there are only a few people in this world who will stay 100% true to us, so we should stay true to ourselves. Put our own needs into the list of things to do.

_33_ Don’t sit back and let things happen to us. Go out and make things happen. We are what we do, not what we say we’ll do. Stop saying "I wish" and start saying "I will". Turn our dreams into plans.

Do the work. We can’t underestimate(低估) a person who always works hard. Be that person. _34_ Always remember that the task ahead of us is never greater than the strength within us. Do what’s right, not what’s easy. Our dreams are worth it.

_35_ We can’t force things to happen; we can only drive ourselves trying crazily. There’s a time and place for everything. So don’t force what’s not yet supposed to fit into our life. When it’s meant to be, it will be. Work hard, and be patient.

A. Take positive action.

B. Enjoy every moment of life.

C. Life is shorter than it often seems.

D. Everyone has a different way of life.

E. Accept ourselves just the way we are.

F. Allow life to happen like it’s supposed to.

G. In life, we don’t get what we wish for; we get what we work for.

What we eat every day has a great effect on our health. Therefore, we should try our best to change our bad eating habits and have _56_  balanced diet. _ 57_  we all know, baked or fried food may be _58_ (taste), but eating too much of them will probably lead _59_ some illnesses. Moreover, some food costs us a great deal of money but it’s not healthy.

    Compared with people in the West, Chinese people used to _60_ (eat) more grains and vegetables, but _61_ (little) meat, which is a good eating habit. However, things are _62_   (real) different now. With our life becoming better and better, we are now eating a lot of food that is high in sugar and fat. We often eat out without _63_  (consider) the balance of our diet.

The food we choose _64_ (affect) our health, so we must keep in mind that the food we choose should give us various _65_ (benefit) in leading a healthy life.