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Text 1 Everyone chases success, but not all of US want to be famous. South African writer John Maxwell Coetzee is well-known for keeping himself to himself. When the 63-year-old was named the 2003 Nobel Prize winner for literature earlier this month, reporters were warned that they would find him "particularly difficult to catch". Coetzee lives in Australia but spends part of the year teaching at the University of Chicago. He seemed shocked by the news that he won the US$1.3 million prize. "I wasn’t even aware they were due to make the announcement," he said. His love of privacy led to doubts as to whether Coetzee will attend the prize-giving in Stockholm, Sweden, on December 10. But despite being described as difficult to track down the critics agree that his writing is easy to get to know. Born in Cape Town South Africa to all English-speaking family, Coetzee made his breakthrough in 1980 with the novel Waiting for the Barbarians. He took his place among the world’s leading writers with two Booker prize victories, Britain’s highest honor for novels. He first won in 1983 for the Life and Times of Michael K, and his second title came in 1999 for Disgrace. A major theme in his work is South Africa’s former apartheid (种族隔离) system, which divided whites from blacks. Dealing with the problems of violence, crime and racial division that still exist in the country, his books have enabled ordinary people to understand apartheid from within. "I have always been more interested in the past than the future." he said in a rare interview. "The past casts its shadow over the present. I hope I have made one or two people think twice about whether they want to forget the past completely." In fact this purity in his writing seems to be mirrored in his personal life. Coetzee is avegetarian, a cyclist rather than a motorist and doesn’t drink alcohol. But what he has contributed to literature, culture and the people of South Africa is far greater than the things he has given up. "In looking at weakness and failure in life," the Nobel Prize judging panel said, "Coetzee’s work expresses the divine spark in man." What’s the author’s attitude towards John Maxwell coetzee

A. Critical.
B. Positive.
C. Skeptical.
D. Not clear.

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Text 2 Many a young person tells me he wants to be a writer. I always encourage such people, but I also explain that there’s a big difference between "being a writer" and writing. In most cases these individuals are dreaming of wealth and fame, not the long hours alone at a typewriter. "You’ve got to want to write," I say to them, "not want to be a writer." The reality is that writing is a lonely, private and poor-paying affair. For every writer kissed by fortune there are thousands more whose longing is never rewarded. When I left a 20-year career in the US Coast Guard to become a freelance writer (自由撰稿人), I had no prospects at all. What I did have was a friend who found me my room in a New York apartment building. It didn’t even matter that it was cold and had no bathroom. I immediately bought a used manual typewriter and felt like a genuine writer. After a year or so, however, I still hadn’t gotten a break and began to doubt myself. It was so hard to sell a story that barely made enough to eat. But I knew I wanted to write. I had dreamed about it for years. I wasn’t going to be one of those people who die wondering, "What if" I would keep putting my dream to the test—even though it meant living with uncertainty and fear of failure. This is the Shadowland of hope, and anyone with a dream must learn to live there. "Shadowland" in the last sentence refers to______.

A. the bright future that one is looking forward to
B. the wonderland one often dreams about
C. the state of uncertainty before one’s final goal is reached
D. a world that exists only in one’s imagination

Text 1 Everyone chases success, but not all of US want to be famous. South African writer John Maxwell Coetzee is well-known for keeping himself to himself. When the 63-year-old was named the 2003 Nobel Prize winner for literature earlier this month, reporters were warned that they would find him "particularly difficult to catch". Coetzee lives in Australia but spends part of the year teaching at the University of Chicago. He seemed shocked by the news that he won the US$1.3 million prize. "I wasn’t even aware they were due to make the announcement," he said. His love of privacy led to doubts as to whether Coetzee will attend the prize-giving in Stockholm, Sweden, on December 10. But despite being described as difficult to track down the critics agree that his writing is easy to get to know. Born in Cape Town South Africa to all English-speaking family, Coetzee made his breakthrough in 1980 with the novel Waiting for the Barbarians. He took his place among the world’s leading writers with two Booker prize victories, Britain’s highest honor for novels. He first won in 1983 for the Life and Times of Michael K, and his second title came in 1999 for Disgrace. A major theme in his work is South Africa’s former apartheid (种族隔离) system, which divided whites from blacks. Dealing with the problems of violence, crime and racial division that still exist in the country, his books have enabled ordinary people to understand apartheid from within. "I have always been more interested in the past than the future." he said in a rare interview. "The past casts its shadow over the present. I hope I have made one or two people think twice about whether they want to forget the past completely." In fact this purity in his writing seems to be mirrored in his personal life. Coetzee is avegetarian, a cyclist rather than a motorist and doesn’t drink alcohol. But what he has contributed to literature, culture and the people of South Africa is far greater than the things he has given up. "In looking at weakness and failure in life," the Nobel Prize judging panel said, "Coetzee’s work expresses the divine spark in man." According to the passage, which of the following information is______right

A. he became famous for the novel Waiting for the Barbarians
B. racial division still exists in South Africa
C. he won British highest honor for novels
D. he wanted to forget the past completely

Text 3 Disposing (处理) of waste has been a problem since humans started producing it. As more and more people choose to live close together in cities, the waste-disposal problem becomes increasingly difficult. During the eighteenth century, it was usual for several neighboring towns to get together to select a faraway spot as a dumpsite. Residents or trash haulers (垃圾托运者) would transport household rubbish, rotted wood, and old possessions to the site. Periodically (定期的) some of the trash was burned and the rest was buried. The unpleasant sights and smells caused no problem because nobody lived close by. Factories, mills, and other industrial sites also had waste to be disposed of. Those located on rivers often just dumped the unwanted remains into the water. Others built huge burners with chimneys to deal with the problem. Several facts make these choices unacceptable to modem society. The first problem is space. Dumps, which are now called landfills, are most needed in heavily populated areas. Such areas rarely have empty land suitable for this purpose. Property is either too expensive or too close to residential (住宅区的)neighborhoods Long-distance trash hauling has been a common practice, but once farm areas are refusing to accept rubbish from elsewhere, cheap land within trucking distance of major city areas is almost nonexistent. Awareness of pollution dangers has resulted in more strict rules of waste disposal. Pollution of rivers, ground water, land and air is a price people can no longer pay to get rid of waste. The amount of waste, however, continues to grow. Recycling efforts have become commonplace in recent years, and many towns require their people to take part. Even the most efficient recycling programs, however, can hope to deal with only about 50 percent of a city’s reusable waste. The most suitable title for this passage would be______.

A. Places for Disposing Waste
B. Waste Pollution Dangers
C. Ways of Getting Rid of Waste
D. Waste Disposal Problem

Bernal Well, there are a lot of different views on this, but I think it is probably wrong to imagine that there was some golden age in the past when everything was perfect. It all depends, of course, on what you measure and how you measure it. Some people might be surprised that there has not been an obvious and dramatic increase in the standard of education, given the vast amounts of money spent in this area by successive governments in recent years. Unfortunately, most improvements in education are intangible. Carlos Many people talk about how to improve education and a lot suggest raising the salaries of teachers and professors. Of course, this is very important to education. However, increasing the salary of teachers is just one way to improve education. It will not work without the cooperation of the other determinants, such as student’s interest in gaining knowledge and in reading. Even if the teachers are devoted, it won’t make any difference if the students are not willing to learn. Stevens Well, if you asked me, it’s all these modern methods that is the problem. In the old days you sat in rows at desks and you did as you were told. You knew what you had to do and you follow the way as the teachers instructed and you kept quiet. Nowadays, my god, the noise in most schools is deafening especially in primary schools. As far as I am concerned the children wander around—do whatever they would like to. The teacher just sits there or wanders around with them, talking to them. Informal teaching they call it. Discovery methods sounds more like a recipe for discovering disaster to me. Ingersoll The criticism that what students learn today is not adapted to present-day society is utterly wrong because education can never be seen only in terms of how useful the subjects are when students leave school. We ought to evaluate education in terms of how much the students enjoy those subjects and how much they mean to those students. Instead of being trained to be utilitarian, students should be encouraged to do things for their own sake, and study what they are interested in. Jessica I think it’s a great shame people don’t learn anything today. I mean, good heavens, when you think of all the millions of pounds the Government have spent on education—new schools, more teachers, new equipment. And yet still you find people who can’t read properly, can’t even write their names and don’t know what two and two is without a calculator. I think it’s downright disgraceful. Think of the time when we were young, we went to school to learn and did as the teachers told and respected our teachers. Nowadays we get long-haired kids who aren’t interested in anything. No wonder they don’t learn anything. Now match each of the persons to the appropriate statement. Note: there are two extra statements. Statements A. The modern methods of teaching should be responsible for the deafening noise in primary schools. B. It’s shameful of some people not to learn anything with provided conditions. C. We should evaluate education from the students’ aspect, how much they enjoy is what counts most. D. Raising salary of teachers and professors is the only way to improve education. E. Students’ own willingness to learn really matters in terms of education. F. There is no improvement in education. G. Most of the improvements in the standard of education are intangible.

A. Carlos

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