A Book Review — The Snake-Stone by Berlie Doherty
The setting: Urban England (the cities), but also rural England (the countryside) including remote English villages.
The theme: The main theme is a teenage search of self-discovery, in this case the search for a mother from whom the hero was separated at an early age. Its other concerns are love, getting on with others, being persistent and courageous and trying to deal with doubts, troubles and worries. As the book moves to a close, James' swimming coach says to him: "You are not like a kid obeying instructions any more. You are diving like a young man who knows where he is going."
The characters: James is the hero of the story. He is a championship diver, and has a comfortable life with his foster parents (養(yǎng)父母). Yet he also has the qualities to take him on a long journey to find his birth mother. The other characters in The Snake-Stone, James' parents, his diving instructor, best friend, the villagers, people he meets on his journey, are pictured realistically.
The turning point: The turning point in the story comes while James' foster parents are away in London, and he wonders about the identity of his birth mother. The only clue he has is a fossil, "the snake stone" which she left behind along with a note on which she had written: "Take good care of Sammie. It was written on a torn envelope with parts of an address still there.
The journey: Instead of going to London, James decides to find his birth mother. With help from his geography teacher, James sets out for the remote country village where his mother might be found. James has painful, challenging, but also humorous and happy travels. The mother he finally meets, Anne, has a minor yet powerful voice in the novel. He comes to understand why she left him at a stranger's door fifteen years before. Although the meeting is not long, it leaves him with a feeling of completeness. As a journey of self-discovery The Snake-Stone also provides its readers with a happy ending. Its hero says, on returning to his foster parents, "I was home."
【小題1】What is the main theme of the novel?
| A．Life with foster parents. | B．Life in the world of diving. |
| C．A journey of self-discovery. | D．A travel around the country. |
| A．James is a successful diver. | B．James is a hopeful swimmer. |
| C．James is an outgoing young man. | D．James is an independent young man. |
| A．a stone with an address on it | B．a clue left by the birth mother |
| C．a gift from the swimming coach | D．a fossil left by the foster parents |
| A．The story has a sad ending. |
| B．The story takes place in the city of London. |
| C．The characters are vividly described. |
| D．The turning point comes after the hero meets his birth mother. |
【小題1】C
【小題2】D
【小題3】B
【小題4】C
解析試題分析：本文主要介紹了《蛇石》這本書的作者以及其中的主人公及精彩的故事情節(jié)。
【小題1】根據The theme: The main theme is a teenage search of self-discovery, in this case the search for a mother from whom the hero was separated at an early age.故選C。
【小題2】 根據As the book moves to a close, James' swimming coach says to him: "You are not like a kid obeying instructions any more. You are diving like a young man who knows where he is going."可知這句話暗示James是一個獨立的年輕人，故選D。
【小題3】根據The only clue he has is a fossil, "the snake stone" which she left behind along with a note on which she had written: "Take good care of Sammie. It was written on a torn envelope with parts of an address still there.可知答案為B。
【小題4】通過閱讀整篇文章，可以看出書中生動形象的描述了James這個人物形象，可知答案為 C。
考點：廣告布告類短文閱讀理解
點評：先閱讀問題，然后帶著問題，再讀全文，找出答題所需要的依據，完成閱讀。這篇文章非常容易，根據問題找到相關問題的段落或句子，便可選出答案。
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小學生10分鐘應用題系列答案科目：高中英語 來源：2010年寧夏青銅峽市高級中學高二下學期期末考試英語卷 題型：閱讀理解
"Mark Twain" was the name used by Samuel Langhorne Clemens (1835-1910) when he wrote books. His father was a lawyer, but a poor one, who lived at Florida, Missouri. The family was so poor that Samuel did not receive much teaching. He had to learn all that he could from the people whom he met. His father died when he was very young, and then there was even less money than before.
Many of the men in this part of America worked in the ships on the great River Mississippi, and he did this himself at one time (1857).
Where did he find the name "Mark Twain"? It came from the great river itself. It was part of one of the cries used by men who worked in the ships. When a man called "By the mark twain!" he meant that the river was "two marks deep" there, that is to say, six feet deep ( "Twain" is an old form of the work "Two".) Samuel Clemens often heard these words when he was young, and he used them as a penname all his life.
During his work on the Mississippi he met travelers of all kinds, and this helped him a great deal when he started to write. But the number of travelers became smaller when war started in America in 1861. Many of the great ships on the river stopped work. Samuel left then and went to Nevada with his brother, who was at that time Governor of Nevada. There, near the town of Carson, Samuel became a gold miner, but he never made much money at the time. He soon saw that life in the gold mines was not for him. He also tried writing for the newspapers in Nevada, and this seemed more hopeful. He found that he could write.
He went to Europe in 1867 and visited France and Italy. In 1870 he married Olivia Langdon, and two years later he was spending nearly all his time writing. Among his books is his own story (1908).
He is now always known as Mark Twain, and many people do not even know that his family name was Clemens. He traveled in America and in England, and went to Oxford in 1907. He was one of the great American writers of the time, and could make his readers laugh – a thing which few writers can do. He died in 1910.
【小題1】"Mark Twain" was _________.
| A．a famous American writer | B．name of a book |
| C．a great river in America | D．a large ship |
| A．his father died too early |
| B．the family was very poor |
| C．he disliked school very much |
| D．he could learn what he liked from the people he met |
| A．His poor childhood | B．The Mississippi river |
| C．All kinds of travelers he met | D．His brother |
| A．Samuel loved writing from his early age |
| B．Samuel did not love writing at the beginning |
| C．his writings to the newspaper were successful |
| D．his brother encouraged him to write more |
| A．write a lot for his readers |
| B．make a lot of money for his family |
| C．cause his readers to laugh |
| D．travel everywhere he wanted |
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In 1901, H. G. Wells, an English writer, wrote a book describing a trip to the moon. When the explorers (探險者) landed on the moon, they discovered that the moon was full of underground cities. They expressed their surprise to the “moon people” they met. In turn, the “moon people” expressed their surprise. “Why?” they asked, “are you traveling to outer space when you don’t even use your inner space?”
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【小題1】The explorers in H. G. Wells’ story were surprised to find that the “moon people” .
| A．knew so much about the earth |
| B．understood their language |
| C．lived in so many underground cities |
| D．were ahead of them in space technology |
| A．Discovering the moon’s inner space. |
| B．Using the earth’s inner space. |
| C．Meeting the “moon people” again. |
| D．Traveling to outer space. |
| A．Offices, shopping areas, power stations. |
| B．Tunnels, car parks, shopping areas. |
| C．Gardens, car parks, power stations. |
| D．Tunnels, gardens, offices. |
| A．Alice Cities—cities of the future |
| B．Space travel with H. G. Wells |
| C．Enjoy living underground |
| D．Building down, not up |
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Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis was one of the most private women in the world, yet when she went to work as an editor in the last two decades of her life, she revealed (展現) herself as she did nowhere else.
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Jacqueline may have been hired for her name and for her social relations, but she soon proved her worth. Her choices, suggestions and widespread social relations were of benefit both to the publishing firms and to Jacqueline herself. In the books she selected for publication, she built on a lifetime of spending time by herself as a reader and left a record of the growth of her mind. Her books are the autobiography she never wrote. Her role as First Lady, in the end, was overshadowed by her performance as an editor. However, few knew that she had achieved so much.
【小題1】We can learn from the passage that Jacqueline________.
| A．became fond of reading after working as an editor |
| B．gained a lot from her career as an editor |
| C．promoted（促進） her books through social relations |
| D．was in charge of publishing 100 books |
| A．Jacqueline's ended up as an editor rather than as First Lady |
| B．Jacqueline's life as First Lady was more colorful than as an editor |
| C．Jacqueline's role as First Lady was more brilliant than as an editor |
| D．Jacqueline was more successful as an editor than as First Lady |
| A．Jacqueline's two marriages lasted more than 20 years |
| B．Jacqueline's own publishing firm was set up eventually |
| C．Jacqueline's achievements were widely known |
| D．Jacqueline's views and beliefs were reflected（反映） in the books she edited |
| A．a brief account（敘述） of Jacqueline's career as an editor in her last 20 years |
| B．a brief description of Jacqueline's lifelong experiences |
| C．an introduction of Jacqueline's life both as First Lady and as editor |
| D．an analysis of Jacqueline's social relations in publishing |
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【小題1】The author considers that a fairy story is more effective when it is ____.
| A．repeated without any change | B．treated as a joke |
| C．made some changes by the parent | D．set in the present |
| A．in a realistic setting | B．heard for the first time |
| C．repeated too often | D．told in a different way |
| A．makes them less fearful |
| B．develops their power of memory |
| C．makes them believe there is nothing to be afraid of |
| D．encourages them not to have strange beliefs |
| A．fairy stories are still being made up |
| B．there is some misunderstanding about fairy tales |
| C．people try to modernize old fairy stories |
| D．there is more concern for children's fears nowadays |
| A．they are full of imagination |
| B．they just make up the stories which are far from the truth |
| C．they are not interesting |
| D．they make teachers of history difficult to teach |
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| A．OECD in Figures 2006-2007． |
| B．OECD Economic Outlook． |
| C．Human Capital． |
| D．Climate Change in the European Alps． |
| A．an Austrian interesting place most attractive in summer seasons |
| B．an European mountain belonging to three countries |
| C．a stadium for skiing lovers from five European countries |
| D．an European mountain famous for its winter skiing |
| A．60 | B．15 | C．55 | D．80 |
| A．written in English |
| B．concerned about OECD countries |
| C．involved with education and economy |
| D．published by the same print |
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