话题阅读（二）literature and art(A)A debate is spreading in Britain, from the far southern England to the northeast Scotland. The hunt is on to find a motto that sums up the nation in five words.However, there is a small problem. England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are not, in fact, one nation. Britain is a union, and finding a national motto that combines that union is an almost impossible task.What bright person dreamed up this hunt for a motto? British Prime Minister Gordon Brown started the debate: he suggested is as part of a public discussion to determine "the ideals and principles that combine us together as a nation".Newspapers couldn't wait to get the game started. So they asked website readers to submit their own opinions.Some of the best included "No motto please, we're British" and "Mathematically, we could still qualify", a reference to the England football team's recent surprising performances in the European championship qualifiers.The first of these won a Times Online poll. You may wonder what it really means. The suggestion is that British people don't like to make a fuss. They would rather not go to the trouble of having a motto.However, it also suggests that Britain is a place with an established historical and cultural heritage: "We don't need a motto to sum us up and we know who we are, and we have done quite well without one for over 2,000 years, thanks."The second shows British people' s ability to make fun of themselves. The England team's failure to qualify angered a lot of people, but that doesn't mean they can't make a joke about it.The press treated the motto ideas so unkindly that it was abandoned. Yet the debate it set off. While mainly lighthearted, also has a serious side. Britain is worried it is losing its cultural identity.A large number of people arrived in Britain after World War II • The immigrants have a different sense of identity.The question is: how can we redefine Britain to include these people, and make them feel included? This will have to involve serious changing the way communities work and the government operates. People will really have to feel like they can make a difference. Muttering a motto every now and again is not going to make that happen.W ord Bankmotto n. 格言make a fuss 烦恼poll n. 投票mutter v. 念叨A. how the UK hunts for a national mottoB. how the British people react to finding the national mottoC. how media promote the finding of the national mottoD. how a debate about finding a national motto failed10. By saying "No motto please, we're British", the website readers mean that .A. there should be some ideals and principles to tie them togetherB. they would rather not go to the trouble of having a mottoC. the England football team didn't give a surprising performance without the mottoD. the British motto is losing its cultural identity11. We can infer that the people who said "Mathematically, we could still qualify" are .A. seriousB. bitterC. pleasedD. humorous12. The writer seems to think that .A. the motto will help the immigrants to develop their sense of belongingB. the way communities work will make a difference to the mottoC. muttering a motto can't guarantee that people feel includedD. a motto can sum the UK up and help people know who they areBBDC(B)Palmistry, or the art of reading the lines on a person's hand, is thousands of years old. It probably began in ancient India.Most people expect a palmist to tell them about their future. They ask questions like:Shall I be rich and successful? Shall I be famous? Shall I have a long and happy life? They do not ask: Am I a nice person? Am I brave or shy? Am I clever? Am I careful and reliable at work?But this is really what palmistry is about.Of course, there are people who do not believe in palmistry. They call it pseudoscience. But there are other people who believe that palmistry can tell us a lot about a person's talents and personality. Using the lines and other marks on the hand, a palmist is often able to foretell something of a person's future, but only in very general terms. The first thing a professional palmist does is to study the whole hand, its size, shape and texture (Is it smooth or rough?) Next he looks at the fingers, their length and shape and their condition of the fingernails. Finally he will study the lines of the hand. It is these lines that most people want to look at and try to "read".'Clear, strong linesHand lines which are clear and strong indicate a person who is calm, good-tempered and generally contented with life. This sort of person will not get angry quickly and will be cautious about getting involved in anything out of the ordinary. At work, such a person will be careful and reliable.Small lineA lot of small lines on the hand indicate a person who is sensitive and excitable. These people are nervous, get angry quickly and get excited easily. They are often very talented, but sometimes find it difficult to settle in one job. They frequently have a number of different hobbies.The heart lineIf your heart line is strong, you are a warm and affectionate person. If it is weak, then you are probably rather cool. If you have a lot of small lines coming off the heart line, you will have plenty of romance in your life.The head lineIf your head line is strong and clear, you are intelligent and imaginative. You will probably get a good job. However, this does not necessarily mean you will be rich and successful, as other factors are involved, for example, the number of small lines and the line of fate.The life lineIf you have a long life line, you will live a long time. A shorter life line indicates a shorter life.The line of fateStudy this carefully. If it is strong and reaches as far as the middle finger, you will be successful.Word Bankpalmistry n. 手相术pseudoscience n. 迷信13. Palmistry is a kind of .A. treatmentB. fortune-tellingC. medical examinationD. high technology14. Those who believe in palmistry think that palmistry can .A. make you richB. tell whether you will have a long or short lifeC. teach you how to get a high postD. tell you how to avoid accidents15. According to the passage, .A. hand lines which are clear and strong means you are a clever personB. the strong heart line means you are cold-heartedC. a warm person has strong head lineD. a reliable person has clear strong hand lines16. Which of the following statements is NOT true?A. A romantic person may have a lot of small lines coming our of heart line.B. Not everyone believes in palmistry.C. Not everyone has the line of fate.D. A successful person may have a long line of fate.BBDC(C)1.As I travel across China, I hope to learn as much as I can about the Chinese people, your history, and your dreams for the future and I hope to help the Chinese people understand more of America's history, the lessons the American people have drawn from it, and the dreams we hold for the 21st century.2.I believe both Chinese and Americans aspire to many of the same things—to provide for our families, to teach our children, to build our communities, to protect our Earth, to shape our own futures, and pass brighter possibilities on to our children.3.There may be those here and back in America who wonder whether closer ties and deeper friendship between America and China are good. Clearly, the answer is yes. We have a powerful ability to help each other grow. We can learn much from each other. And as two great nations, we have a special responsibility to the future of the world. The steps we take over the next week can lead to far greater strides for our people in the years ahead.4.Here in this city of your magnificent history, we must always remember that we, too, will be ancestors. Someday our children and their children will ask if we did all we could to build just societies and a more peaceful world. Let our monument be their judgment that we did that. Let our progress include all people, with all their differences, moving toward a common destiny.5.Let us give new meaning to the words written in the ancient Book of Rites, what you call the Li Shi: When the great way is followed, all under heaven will be equal. Word BankWord Bankbilateral a. 双边的strive v. 努力CBADF(D)I've been writing for most of my life. The book Writing Without Teachers introduced me to one distinction and one practice that has helped my writing processes tremendously. The distinction is between the creative mind and the critical mind. While you need to employ both to get to a finished result, they cannot work in parallel no matter how much we might like to think so.Trying to criticize writing on the fly is possibly the single greatest barrier to writing that most of us encounter. If you are listening to that 5th grade English teacher correct your grammar while you are trying to capture a fleeting thought, the thought will die. If you capture the fleeting thought and simply share it with the world in raw form, no one is likely to understand. You must learn to create first and then criticize if you want to make writing the tool for thinking that it is.The practice that can help you past your learned bad habits of trying to edit as you write is what Elbow calls "free writing". In free writing, the objective is to get words down on paper non-stop, usually for 15—20 minutes. No stopping, no going back, no criticizing. The goal is to get the words flowing. As the words begin to flow, the ideas will come from the shadows and let themselves be captured on your notepad or your screen.Now you have raw materials that you can begin to work with using the critical mind that you've persuaded to sit on the side and watch quietly. Most likely, you will believe that this will take more time than you actually have and you will end up staring blankly at the pages as the deadline draws near.Instead of staring at a blank start filling it with words no matter how bad. Halfway through your available time, stop and rework your raw writing into something closer to finished product. Move back and forth until you run out of time and the final result will most likely be far better than your current practices.W ord Bankfleeting adj. 稍纵即逝的criticize v. 批评1. When the author says the creative mind and the critical mind "cannot work in parallel"(Para. 1) in the writing process, he means .A.no one can be both creative and criticalB.they cannot be regarded as equally importantC.they are in constant conflict with each otherD.one cannot use them at the same timeA.putting their ideas in raw formB.attempting to edit as they writeC.ignoring grammatical soundnessD.trying to capture fleeting thoughts3. What is the chief objective of the first stage of writing?A.To organize one's thoughts logically.B.To choose an appropriate topic.C.To get one's ideas down.D.To collect raw materials.A.it overstresses the role of the creative mindB.it takes too much time to edit afterwardsC.it may bring about too much criticismD.it does not help them to think clearlyDBCB(E)I was only eight years old when the Second World War ended, but I can still remember something about the victory celebrations in the small town where I lived. We had not suffered much from the war there, though like most children of my age, I was used to seeing bombed houses in the streets and the enormous army lorries passing through. But both at home and at school I had become accustomed to the phrases "before the war" and "when the war's over". "Before the war," apparently, things had been better, though I was too young to understand why,except there had been no bombs then, and people had eaten things like ice cream and bananas, which I had only heard of. When the war was over, we would go back to London, but this meant very little to me. I did not remember what London was like.What I remember now about VE Day was the afternoon and the evening. It was a fine May day. I remember coming home about five o'clock. My father and mother came in about an hour later. After dinner I said I wanted to see the bonfire, so when it got dark my father took me to theend of the street. The bonfire was very high, and some people had collected some old clothes to dress the unmistakable figure with the moustache they had put on top of it. Just as we arrived, theyset light to it. The flames rose and soon covered the "guy". Everyone was cheering and shouting,and an old woman came out of her house with two chairs and threw them on the fire to keep thefire going. I stood beside my father until the fire started to go down, not knowing what to say. Hesaid nothing either. He had fought in the First World War and may have been remembering the endWord Bankbonfire n. 篝火apparently adv. 显而易见的1. Where did the narrator live before the Second World War?A. In a small town.B. In London.C. In Europe.D. In the countryside.2. The unmistakable figure with the moustache most probably represents__________________ .A.someone who died in the warB.someone who had wonC.an imaginary figureD.the most hated person in thewar—Hitler3. The narrator's father ______________.A.had fought in the Second World WarB.may have suffered much during the previous warC.helped build a bonfire on VE DayD.added something to the fire to keep it going too4. By saying " Let's hope that this time it really will be the last one", the father meant thatA.he hoped there would be no more wars in the worldB.he wished the Second World War had not happenedC.he hoped people would not build any more bonfiresD.he wished people would learn many lessons from the war BDBA。