The postwar American housing style. largely reflected the Americans'______.A．prosperity and growthB．efficiency and practicalityC．restraint and confidenceD．pride and faithfulness

American students and Americans ___________ have the idea that weekends are the time for socializing.

A.in general
B.in public
C.in fact
D.in all

Many Native Americans were killed during the ______ of the American West by Europeans in the 19th century.

A.shelter
B.construction
C.settlement
D.basement

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第一篇



The Beginning of American Literature



America has always been a land of beginnings.After Europeans"discovered"America in the fifteenth

century,the mysterious New World became for many people a genuine hope of a new life,an escape from

poverty and persecution,a chance to start again.We can say that,as a nation,America begins with that

hope.When,however,does American literature begin?

American literature begins with Amnerican experiences.Long before the first colonists arrived,before

Christopher Columbus，before the Northmen who"found"America about the year 1000,Native Americans

lived here. Each trilbe's literature was tightly woven into the fabric of daiiy life and reflected the unmistakably

American experience of lining with the land。Anoiher kind of experience,one filled with fear and excite-

ment,found its expression in the reports that Columbus and other explorers sent home in Spain,French and

English.In addition,the journals of the people who lived and died in the New England wilderness tell

unforgettable tales of hard and sometimes heartbreaking experiences of those early years.

Experience,then,is the key to early American literature.The New World provided a great variety of

experiences,and these experiences deniauded a wide variety of expressions by an even wider variety of early

American writers.These wnters included John Smith,who spent only two-and-a-half year on the American

continent.They included Jonathlan Edwards and William Byrd,who thought of themselves as British sub-

jects,never suspecting a revolution that would create a United States of America with a literature of its own.

American Indians,explorers,Puritan ministers,frontier wives,plantation owners一they are all the creators

of the first American literature.

What can we learn from the literature of the tribes of the native Americans?
A:About the everyday life of the native Americans.
B:About the arrival of Columbus.
C:About the experience of the first European settlers.
D:About the experience of those who died in the New England wilderness.

共用题干
The Beginning of American Literature America has always been a land of beginnings.After Europeans"discovered"America in the fifteenth century,the mysterious New World became for many people a genuine hope of a new life,an escape from poverty and persecution,a chance to start again.We can say that,as a nation,America begins with that hope.When,however,does American literature begin?
American literature begins with American experiences.Long before the first colonists arrived,before Christopher Columbus,before the Northmen who"found"America about the year 1000,native Americans lived here.Each tribe's literature was tightly woven into the fabric of daily life and reflected the unmistakably American experience of linking with the land.Another kind of experience,one filled with fear and excitement,found its expression in the reports that Columbus and other explorers sent home in Spain, French and English.In addition,the journals of the people who lived and died in the New England wilder- ness tell unforgettable tales of hard and sometimes heartbreaking experiences of those early years. Experience,then, is the key to early American literature.
The New World provided a great variety of experiences,and these experiences demanded a wide variety of expressions by an even wider variety of early American writers.These writers included John Smith,who spent only two-and-a-half year on the American continent.
They included Jonathan Edwards and William Byrd,who thought of themselves as British subjects,never suspecting a revolution that would create a United States of America with a literature of its own.American Indians,explorers,Puritan ministers,frontier wives,plantation owners-they are all the creators of the first American literature.

When did American literature begin?
A:Before the American natives lived there.
B:When Columbus and other explorers sent reports back home.
C:When the Northmen found America in about 1000.
D:Long before the year 1000.

Why do American restaurants serve large portions?

A Because Americans associate quantity with value.
B Because Americans have big bellies.
C Because Americans are good eaters.
D Because Americans are greedy.

Text 3 We tend to think of the decades immediately following World War II as a time of prosperity and growth,with soldiers returning home by the millions,going off to college on the G.I.Bill and lining up at the marriage bureaus.But when it came to their houses,it was a time of common sense and a belief that less could truly be more.During the Depression and the war,Americans had learned to live with less,and that restraint,in combination with the postwar confidence in the future,made small,efficient housing positively stylish.Economic condition was only a stimulus for the trend toward efficient living.The phrase“less is more”was actually first popularized by a German,the architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe,who like other people associated with the Bauhaus,a school of design,emigrated to the United States before World War II and took up posts at American architecture schools.These designers came to exert enormous influence on the course of American architecture,but none more so than Mies.Mies's signature phrase means that less decoration,properly organized,has more impact than a lot.Elegance,he believed,did not derive from abundance.Like other modern architects,he employed metal,glass and laminated woodmaterials that we take for granted today but that in the 1940s symbolized the future.Mies's sophisticated presentation masked the fact that the spaces he designed were small and efficient,rather than big and often empty.The apartments in the elegant towers Mies built on Chicago's Lake Shore Drive,for example,were smaller—twobedroom units under 1，000 square feet—than those in their older neighbors along the city's Gold Coast.But they were popular because of their airy glass walls,the views they afforded and the elegance of the buildings'details and proportions,the architectural equivalent of the abstract art so popular at the time.The trend toward“less”was not entirely foreign.In the 1930s Frank Lloyd Wright started building more modest and efficient houses—usually around 1，200 square feet—than the spreading twostory ones he had designed in the 1890s and the early 20th century.The“Case Study Houses”commissioned from talented modern architects by California Arts&Architecture magazine between 1945 and 1962 were yet another homegrown influence on the“less is more”trend.Aesthetic effect came from the landscape,new materials and forthright detailing.In his Case Study House,Ralph Rapson may have mispredicted just how the mechanical revolution would impact everyday life—few American families acquired helicopters,though most eventually got clothes dryers—but his belief that selfsufficiency was both desirable and inevitable was widely shared.
The postwar American housing style largely reflected the Americans_____

A.prosperity and growth
B.efficiency and practicality
C.restraint and confidence
D.pride and faithfulness

共用题干
The Beginning of American Literature America has always been a land of beginnings.After Europeans"discovered"America in the fifteenth century,the mysterious New World became for many people a genuine hope of a new life,an escape from poverty and persecution,a chance to start again.We can say that,as a nation,America begins with that hope.When,however,does American literature begin?
American literature begins with American experiences.Long before the first colonists arrived,before Christopher Columbus,before the Northmen who"found"America about the year 1000,native Americans lived here.Each tribe's literature was tightly woven into the fabric of daily life and reflected the unmistakably American experience of linking with the land.Another kind of experience,one filled with fear and excitement,found its expression in the reports that Columbus and other explorers sent home in Spain, French and English.In addition,the journals of the people who lived and died in the New England wilder- ness tell unforgettable tales of hard and sometimes heartbreaking experiences of those early years. Experience,then, is the key to early American literature.
The New World provided a great variety of experiences,and these experiences demanded a wide variety of expressions by an even wider variety of early American writers.These writers included John Smith,who spent only two-and-a-half year on the American continent.
They included Jonathan Edwards and William Byrd,who thought of themselves as British subjects,never suspecting a revolution that would create a United States of America with a literature of its own.American Indians,explorers,Puritan ministers,frontier wives,plantation owners-they are all the creators of the first American literature.

According to the last paragraph,which of the following statements is true about American literature?
A:Some British writers started American literature.
B:Early-day American literature is a reflection of the boring life then.
C:Some British writers had'doubts about the future of American literature.
D:Some British writers had great confidence in the future of American literature.

共用题干
The Beginning of American Literature America has always been a land of beginnings.After Europeans"discovered"America in the fifteenth century,the mysterious New World became for many people a genuine hope of a new life,an escape from poverty and persecution,a chance to start again.We can say that,as a nation,America begins with that hope.When,however,does American literature begin?
American literature begins with American experiences.Long before the first colonists arrived,before Christopher Columbus,before the Northmen who"found"America about the year 1000,native Americans lived here.Each tribe's literature was tightly woven into the fabric of daily life and reflected the unmistakably American experience of linking with the land.Another kind of experience,one filled with fear and excitement,found its expression in the reports that Columbus and other explorers sent home in Spain, French and English.In addition,the journals of the people who lived and died in the New England wilder- ness tell unforgettable tales of hard and sometimes heartbreaking experiences of those early years. Experience,then, is the key to early American literature.
The New World provided a great variety of experiences,and these experiences demanded a wide variety of expressions by an even wider variety of early American writers.These writers included John Smith,who spent only two-and-a-half year on the American continent.
They included Jonathan Edwards and William Byrd,who thought of themselves as British subjects,never suspecting a revolution that would create a United States of America with a literature of its own.American Indians,explorers,Puritan ministers,frontier wives,plantation owners-they are all the creators of the first American literature.

What can we learn from the literature of the tribes of the native Americans?
A:About the everyday life of the native Americans.
B:About the arrival of Columbus.
C:About the experience of the first European settlers.
D:About the experience of those who died in the New England wilderness.

共用题干
The Beginning of American Literature America has always been a land of beginnings.After Europeans"discovered"America in the fifteenth century,the mysterious New World became for many people a genuine hope of a new life,an escape from poverty and persecution,a chance to start again.We can say that,as a nation,America begins with that hope.When,however,does American literature begin?
American literature begins with American experiences.Long before the first colonists arrived,before Christopher Columbus,before the Northmen who"found"America about the year 1000,native Americans lived here.Each tribe's literature was tightly woven into the fabric of daily life and reflected the unmistakably American experience of linking with the land.Another kind of experience,one filled with fear and excitement,found its expression in the reports that Columbus and other explorers sent home in Spain, French and English.In addition,the journals of the people who lived and died in the New England wilder- ness tell unforgettable tales of hard and sometimes heartbreaking experiences of those early years. Experience,then, is the key to early American literature.
The New World provided a great variety of experiences,and these experiences demanded a wide variety of expressions by an even wider variety of early American writers.These writers included John Smith,who spent only two-and-a-half year on the American continent.
They included Jonathan Edwards and William Byrd,who thought of themselves as British subjects,never suspecting a revolution that would create a United States of America with a literature of its own.American Indians,explorers,Puritan ministers,frontier wives,plantation owners-they are all the creators of the first American literature.

The main purpose of the last paragraph is to tell the readers that______.
A:in the early days most American writers were from Great Britain
B:people with rich life experience became writers
C:there were many writers in the early days of American history
D:early-day experience provided the foundation for American literature