I was in my third year of teaching creative writing at a high school in New York, when one of my students, 15-year-old Mikey, gave me a note from his mother. It explained his absence from class the day before.
I had seen Mikey himself writing the note at his desk. Most parental-excuse notes I received were penned by my students. If I were to deal with them, I’d be busy 24 hours a day.
The forged excuse notes made a large pile, with writing that ranged from imaginative to crazy. The writers of those notes didn’t realize that honest excuse notes were usually dull: “Peter was late because the alarm clock didn’t go off.”
Isn’t it remarkable, I thought, how the students complained and said it was hard putting 200 words together on any subject? But when they produced excuse notes, they were brilliant.
So one day I typed out a dozen excuse notes and gave them to my classes. I said, “They’re supposed to be written by parents, but actually they are not. True, Mikey?” The students looked at me nervously.
“Now, this will be the first class to study the art of the excuse note --- the first class, ever, to practice writing them. You’re so lucky to have a teacher like me who has taken your best writing and turned it into a subject worthy of study. ”
Everyone smiled as I went on, “You used your imaginations. So try more now. Today I’d like you to write ‘An Excuse Note from Adam to God’ or ‘An Excuse Note from Eve to God’.” Heads went down. Pens raced across paper. For the first time ever I saw students so careful in their writing that they had to be asked to go to lunch by their friends.
The next day everyone had excuse notes. Heated discussions followed. The headmaster entered the classroom and walked up and down, looking at papers, and then said, “I’d like you to see me in my office.”
When I stepped into his office, he came to shake my hand and said, “I just want to tell you that that lesson, that task, whatever the hell you were doing, was great. Those kids were writing on the college level. Thank you. ”
小題1:What did the author do with the students found dishonest?
A．He reported them to the headmaster.B．He lectured them hard on honesty.
C．He had them take notes before lunch.D．He helped improve their writing skills.
小題2:The author found that compared with the true excuse notes, the produced ones by the students were usually__________.
A．less impressiveB．more imaginativeC．worse writtenD．less convincing
小題3:The author had the students practice writing excuse notes so that the students could learn_________.
A．the importance of being honestB．how to write excuse notes skillfully
C．the pleasure of creative writingD．how to be creative in writing
小題4:The underlined word “forged” in the second paragraph means “______”.
A．formerB．copiedC．falseD．honest
小題5:What did the headmaster think of the author’s way of teaching?
A．Effective. B．DifficultC．Misleading.D．Reasonable

小題1:D
小題2:B
小題3:D
小題4:C
小題5:A

試題分析：本文敘述了作者讓不能來上學的學生寫請假條交給他，結(jié)果作者收到了大多數(shù)號稱父母寫的條子都是學生自己寫的。這些請假條的作者們不知誠實的請假條大多枯燥無味。作者決定讀一讀所有這些原本只瞥了一眼的請假條。有的是真正由學生母親寫的，偽造的更多，有一大堆，有些極富想象力，有些則愚不可及。當偽造請假條時，他們個個都是寫作高手。 這一現(xiàn)象不值得我們注意嗎？于是作者就教學生如何寫請假條，一節(jié)課過后效果很好得到了校長的贊賞。
小題1:細節(jié)理解題。根據(jù)the first class, ever, to practice writing them. You’re so lucky to have a teacher like me who has taken your best writing and turned it into a subject worthy of study，他教學生如何寫，故選D.
小題2:細節(jié)理解題。根據(jù)with writing that ranged from imaginative to crazy. 故選 B
小題3:細節(jié)理解題.根據(jù)You used your imaginations. I was in my third year of teaching creative writing at a high school in New York.教學生創(chuàng)造性的寫作，故選D
小題4:詞義猜測題。根據(jù)The writers of those notes didn’t realize that honest excuse notes were usually dull家長寫的和孩子寫的是不一樣的，故選C
小題5:細節(jié)理解題。根據(jù)I just want to tell you that that lesson, that task, whatever the hell you were doing, was great. Those kids were writing on the college level. Thank you.根據(jù)校長的評價可以看出， 故選A
點評：詞義猜測題旨在考查學生根據(jù)上下文對生詞做出理解判斷的能力。近幾年來，閱讀理解中的詞義猜測題呈上升趨勢。在閱讀過程中根據(jù)選材、背景、及上下文等線索推測出生詞詞義是真實語言活動中的重要技巧。這一能力可以說是體現(xiàn)閱讀理解能力的一項重要指標。
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