第十三届外研社杯全国中小学生英语技能大赛我最爱阅读高中组.docx

1、第十三届外研社杯全国中小学生英语技能大赛我最爱阅读高中组1. About a month passed when one morning in March, Mrs. Bunting heard noises outside her bedroom window. “Wake up! Wake up!” she whispered to her sleeping husband, the Reverend, “Someones in the house!” He got up, took a poker from the fireplace and crept out into the hal

2、lway. He heard the sound of sneezing downstairs. The Reverend and Mrs. Bunting slowly made their way down the stairs. They heard the sound of paper rustling in the study. They came to the door and peered in. What should have been a dark room was now lit by a candle. In the light, they could see that

3、 one of the drawers had been opened, but there was no sign of a burglar in the room. Suddenly, there was a sound. Clink！Clink!2. As soon as Turandot arrived, the guards started beating my father. Liu cried out, “Please do not hurt him. He is only an old man. Only I can tell you what you want to know

4、.” I tried to run to Liu to stop her from speaking but some guards stopped me. Turandot ordered, “Take her and torture her until she tells you his name.”“I will never tell you,” Liu screamed. “I will die before I tell you his name.” I was so stunned by Lius devotion to my father and myself, and even

5、 Turandot asked her, “Why do you care so much about him? Why are you so willing to sacrifice yourself for this man?” Liu answered, “Love gives me courage. Your heart is made of ice but it will be warmed by the love he can give.” 3. So I lived all alone, without anyone I could really talk to, until I

6、 had to make a crash landing in the Sahara Desert six years ago. Something in my planes engine had broken. Since I had neither a mechanic nor passengers in the plane with me, I was preparing to undertake the difficult repair job by myself. For me it was a matter of life or death: I had only enough d

7、rinking water for eight days. The first night, then, I went to sleep on the sand a thousand miles from any inhabited country. I was more isolated than a man shipwrecked on a raft in the middle of the ocean. So you can imagine my surprise when I was awakened at daybreak by a funny little voice saying

8、, “Please draw me a sheep”4. “No, not ill,” said Valjean. “I am dying. But to die is nothing. Not to live is terrible.” Valjeans breathing became difficult. He pointed to a nearby table. “Cosette, I want you to have those silver candle-sticks. The person who gave them to me is watching us now. I hop

9、e he is pleased. Now, Cosette, the time has come for me to tell you about your mother. Her name was Fantine. You mustnt forget it. She loved you very much and suffered greatly. Her great sorrow was as much as your great happiness is now. God balances things that way. I will leave you now, but rememb

10、er to always love each other. Love is the only thing that matters in life.” 5. Johnsy got pneumonia, and it made her very ill. She lay, hardly moving, on her iron-framed bed, looking through the small window at the brick wall of the building next door.One morning, the busy doctor invited Sue into th

11、e hallway. His eyes were sad under his bushy gray eyebrows. “She has one chance in ten,” he said, as he looked at his clinical thermometer. “And that chance depends on her will to live. Sometimes when people give up trying to live, it doesnt matter what medicines I give. Your friend has decided, for

12、 some reason that she is not going to get well.”6. This gentleman was not a wealthy man, but rather a hidalgo. A hidalgo was a landowner who was richer than a peasant, but poorer than a nobleman. His name was Senor Quixano.Senor Quixano lived modestly with his house-keeper and his young niece. He wa

13、s a tall, thin man in his fifties. He was a strong and healthy man, who went hunting every morning.However, he started to read adventure stories all the time. His best friends, the local priest and the village barber, were worried. Their friend suddenly began spending night and day in his chair, rea

14、ding adventure books through crazed, bloodshot eyes.Soon he started thinking these stories were true. Finally he went completely crazy.7. Without really knowing what he was doing, Fernand sat down on the grass and drank the wine. “So your lovely cousin Mercedes has decided, has she? said Danglars. “

15、Shes going to marry Edmond Dantes, is she?” “Yes, and I cant stop it!” cried Fernand angrily.“But you can if you want to. My friend,” said Danglars. “Let me show you what to do. Just write a short letter to Monsieur Villefort, the crown prosecutor. In the letter you say that Dantes is an enemy of ou

16、r King, because hes visited the wicked Napoleon on the island of Elba, and even carries a letter from him. You see? Its easy!”“But if I do that, Edmond will die!” “Who knows? Perhaps hell go to prison. But what does it matter? Youll have the lovely Mercedes!” And to himself, Danglars was thinking, “

17、This will stop Dantes becoming captain of the Pharaon!” 8. “Theres a young lady to see you,” she informed us. “Miss Mary Morstan.” “Mary Morstan,” Holmes repeated. “I dont recognize the name. Please ask her to come in, Mrs. Hudson.” He turned to me. “Dont go, Doctor. Please stay and listen to the la

18、dys story.” I was happy to do as he said. When Miss Morstan came into the room, she seemed calm, but it was clear that she didnt want to waste any time. She was a young woman, small, with fair hair. Her clothes showed good taste, but they werent expensive. She had a pleasant face and beautiful blue

19、eyes. She looked serious and intelligent, but not, I thought, rich. Holmes invited her to sit down and, as she took her seat, for the first time she seemed worried. Mrs. Hudson left us, and our visitor began her story. “Mr. Holmes,” she said, “I find myself in a very strange situation. I dont unders

20、tand it at all.”9. Most people know that the climate of the Earth is always changing. In the past it had changed because of natural causes. Recently, however, the changes are caused by what humans are doing. Scientists say that future changes, as far ahead as 80 years, are also the result of human f

21、actors. The greenhouse effect is very important when we talk about climate change as it is about the gases which keep the Earth warm. It is the extra pollution which humans have caused that is regarded as the biggest problem. An Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was set up in 1988 to

22、look at climatic change and its impact. The newest report predicts global temperature will rise by the end of the century, of between 1.4 and 5.8. Although the issue of the changing climate is very complex and some changes are uncertain, temperature rises are expected to affect countries throughout

23、the world and will affect other things like the amount of rain that will fall and the level of the sea.10. Ive been learning English for the last five years and one of the things that has helped me to improve is reading. I love reading and often read during my free time. First, I started reading eas

24、y things in English, like recipes for cooking and short stories that are written especially for language learners. Then I moved onto longer stories and newspaper articles. At first I found reading difficult because of the variety of vocabulary and the grammar, but this soon became easier and I found

25、 that I could understand more and more of what I was reading. I didnt worry if I didnt know all the words, as I could still understand the main ideas. Reading has helped improve my English in many ways. Im not only a better and quicker reader, but my spelling, writing, punctuation, grammar and vocab

26、ulary are all much better. I think Ive improved faster than some of my friends who have been learning at the same time as me. So, I would say that everyone who wants to learn a language quickly should read. 11. But little by little, the piles of gold coins in his cottage grew higher. The harder he w

27、orked, the less he spent on himself. He counted the coins into piles of ten, and wanted to see them grow into a square, and then into a larger square. He was delighted with every new coin, but it made him want another. His gold became a habit, a delight, a reason for living, almost a religion. He be

28、gan to think the coins were his friends, who made the cottage less lonely for him. But it was only at night, when he had finished his work, that he spent time with them. He kept them in two bags, under the floorboards near the loom.12. Ive got a letter from Father! cried Mrs. March. It was a letter

29、to cheer them up, and the special message for the girls came at the end: Give them all my love and a kiss. I think of them every day. I know they will be loving children to you, and that when I come back, I will be prouder than ever of my little women. A tear dropped off the end of Jos nose. Amy hid

30、 her face on her mothers shoulder. “Im selfish,” she cried, “but Ill try to be better.” “We all will!” cried Meg. “I think too much about the way I look, and hate to work, but I wont anymore.” “And Ill try to be a little woman,” said Jo, “and not be rough and wild.” Beth said nothing, but she began

31、to work hard at a blue army glove she was making. So the four girls decided that they would all try very hard to be good. They would never be cross, or lazy, or selfish-and they would all help each other.13. The poor, brave captain! His clothes looked very old and worn, but he seemed as bright as ev

32、er, unless he was asked about his elder daughters health. “Shes in great pain,” he replied, “though we do what we can.”Miss Matty told me that, in fact, he and his younger daughter had done everything possible to make the patient comfortable, whatever the cost. “And Miss Jessies a wonderful nurse. My dear, if you saw her as I have, youd never laugh again at her childish pink ribbons.”I felt ashamed and spoke to Miss Jessie with twice as much respect next time we met. She looked exhausted, but she pushed back the tears in her pretty eyes. “What a good town Cranford is!” she s