You ask me what is poverty? Listen to me. Here I am, dirty, smelly and with no "proper" underwear on and with the stench of my rotting teeth near you. I will tell you. Listen to me, listen without pity. I cannot use your pity. Listen with understanding. Put yourself in my dirty, worn out, ill-fitting shoes, and hear me.
Poverty is getting up every morning from a dirt and illness - stained mattress. The sheets have long since been used for diapers. Poverty is living in a smell that never leaves. This is a smell of urine, sour milk, and spoiling food sometimes joined with the strong smell of long - cooked onions. It is the smell of the outdoor privy(厕所). It is the smell of young children who cannot walk the long dark way in the night. It is the smell of the mattresses where years of "accidents" have happened. It is the smell of the milk which has gone sour because the refrigerator long has not worked, and it costs money to get it fixed. It is the smell of rotting garbage. I could bury it, but where is the shovel? Shovels cost money.
Poverty is being tired. I have always been tired. They told me at the hospital when the last baby came that I had chronic anemia caused from poor diet, a bad case of worms, and that I need a corrective operation. I listened politely--the poor are always polite. The poor always listen. They don’t say there is no money for iron pills or better food, or warm medicine. The idea of an operation is frightening and costs so much that, if I have dared, I would have laughed.
Poverty is looking into a black future. Your children won’t play with my boys. They will turn to other boys who steal to get what they want. I can already see them behind the bars of their prison instead of behind the bars of my poverty. Or they will turn to the freedom of alcohol or drugs, and find themselves enslaved. And my daughter? At best, there is for her a life like mine.
Poverty is an acid that drips on pride until all pride is worn away. Poverty is a chisel(凿子)that chips on honor until honor is worn away. Some of you say that you would do something in my situation, and maybe you would, for the first week or the first month, but for year after year after year?
I have come out of my despair to tell you this. Remember I did not come from another place or another time. Others like me are all around you. Look at us with an angry heart, anger that will help you help me. Anger that will let you tell of me. The poor are always silent. Can you be silent, too?
32. The primary emotion conveyed by the speaker in this passage is:
A. jealousy B. discouragement C. terror D. hopelessness
33. It can be safely concluded from the passage that the speaker thinks ______.
A. the rich people are to blame for her poverty
B. her sons must choose between a life of crime and a life of poverty
C. poverty means more than lack of money
D. nobody can help her out of poverty
34. By saying “the poor always listen” and “the poor are always silent”, the speaker is implying that poor people________.
A. feel threatened by authority
B. cannot express themselves properly
C. suffer from helplessness
D. don’t want to offend other people
35. The main intention of the speaker in this passage is to ________.
A. convey information about poverty to the audience
B. arouse the audience’s action on poverty
C. define poverty for the audience
D. describe real difference between the rich and the poor
DCCB
A. Profits enlarging B. Technology developing C. Education investing D. Benefits transferring E. Dominance disappearing F. A nation rising |
The following is an imaginary diary entry written by US president. This diary is part of Global Trends 2025, which was written by the US National Intelligence Council
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The
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The
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Global wealth and economic power will shift from West to East.
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The transition from old fuels to new will be slow, as will the development of new technologies that present feasible alternatives to fossil fuels or help eliminate food and water problems. All current technologies are inadequate, and new ones will probably not be commercially possible by 2025