Following Mo Yan's Nobel Prize , the usually silent Chinese literary circle got warmed up again. A Shanghai writer named Jin Yucheng surprised nearly everyone by making his novel full of Shanghai dialect.

Published in 2012, the 350,000-word Blossoms （Fan Hua） is a novel about the changes in Shanghai over 30 years, drawing clear images of the city through the stories of many common people. There is no main story like most novels, but every story in it could run independently. While putonghua is the standard choice for Chinese literature today, Jin's use of the Shanghai dialect appears both different and bold.

"I have seen too many novels that look similar to each other. Chinese literature is getting monotonous in both language and form. I want to be special with my own language, " Jin told the Global Times.

In the novel, Jin makes a breakthrough by mainly using dialogues to unfold various plots and represent typical characters on a daily basis. He also abandons the use of some punctuation like quotation marks （引号）, showing a return to the traditional Chinese huaben genre.

Since its publication, the book has been widely recommended on Sina Weibo with many netizens rating the novel high for its unique use of dialect and vivid description of life using plain speech.

Jin said that he got the idea of writing the novel while chatting in an online forum where people use the Shanghai dialect. The praise he received from the netizens encouraged him to continue writing the random stories.

"I'd like to see more writers to follow my lead. It will enrich our literature and make it diverse," he said.

【小题1】What can we know from the first two paragraphs?

A．The Chinese literary circle is never silent.

B．Mo Yan was surprised at Jin Yucheng's new novel.

C．The stories in the novel aren't linked to each other.

D．The novel represents the lifestyle in Shanghai in the 1930s.

【小题2】The underlined word " monotonous" in Paragraph 3 is closest in meaning to "   ".

A．lacking in variety

B．being short of expectations

C．wanting further improvement

D．requiring more consideration

【小题3】How does Jin Yucheng make a breakthrough in his novel Blossoms?

A．By inventing lots of typical characters.

B．By creating a vivid background.

C．By employing dialogues to develop plots and represent characters.

D．By using beautiful words in Shanghai dialect.

【小题4】What encouraged Jin Yucheng to continue writing in dialect?

A．The family's support.

B．The netizens’ praise.

C．The citizens comments.

D．Other writers encouragement.

Growing Pains 104

Act One
Mom, Dad and Mike are busy in the kitchen. Carol is writing something upstairs.
Maggie: Mike, would you get your sister, please？
Mike: Yeah. Fido, dinner.
Carol: I'll be right down. Tell Mom, I'm just gonna finish this paragraph.
Mike: Hey, Mom, Fido's gonna finish her paragraph.
Maggie: Thank you. I heard. And frankly, Mike, I don't think it's funny or proper for you to call your sister Fido.
Mike: You are right. It's a boy's name.
Jason: Is she still working on that article？She's taking the school paper very seriously.
Mike: Come on. This is one of the greatest papers in the world. It's nice and soft.
Maggie: Mike, this is very important to Carol. Try to stop your bad comments（评论）.
Act Two
All the family are siting at table.
Jason: You're working very hard, sweetheart.
Carol: Yeah, I just wanna get it right, you know, so it's like a best article they've ever got.
Mike: I don't think so. Mom says Mike can make three more comments on you during dinner.
Jason: Probably that was the last one. Right, Mike?
Mike: Why? Yes, Father.
Carol: Anyway, tomorrow is the moment of truth.
Tomorrow, Mr. Simmonds reads all the articles, and decides who gets the job.
Jason: Oh, no, no, not Simmonds.
Maggie: Why? Who's Simmonds?
Jason: That's the teacher who locked the kid in the closet for not finishing the homework.
Maggie: I don't think there's anything to worry about.
Just do the best you can. I'm sure he'll be impressed.
Carol: This is so exciting. Maybe I get the job. Maybe I don't. But I'll never find out unless I try my best and give it my all. Mom, do you think you can read my article tonight and tell me what you think?
Maggie: Well, I'll be happy to, honey.
Carol: You'll be honest?
Maggie: Very honest.
Carol: Well, I know. I am probably just worrying too much. But have you ever wanted something so much that you could feel it with your entire body?
【小题1】Fido is the other name of ________.

A．Maggie	B．Mike
C．Jason	D．Carol

【小题2】From the dialogue we can learn that Mike________.

A．makes no comments on his sister's paper

B．thinks highly of his sister's paper

C．is laughing at his sister

D．is praising his sister

【小题3】Why doesn't Jason like Simmonds?

A．Because Simmonds is not good at teaching.

B．Because Simmonds is hard on students.

C．Because Jason does not know the teacher.

D．Because Jason is not honest.

【小题4】Carol asks her mother to read her article to ________.

A．make an honest comment

B．learn what the activity for Mike

C．set a good example for Mike

D．make the teacher impressed

Cursive (手写体)is about to become extinct. Do we raise the red flag? To teach or not to teach cursive is the question that several state education departments are struggling with.
Before you read this write-up $ do a simple exercise. Pick a pen and paper and start writing in cursive. Yes，that fancy handwriting that you learned in grade school. You may not have forgotten the good times you had while writing loopy Ps and Gs as well as curly Ms and Ns. However，the chances are that you won't be able to write it as excellently as you used to. Some people are good at making the perfect loops and curls，while some are bad. I am still terrible at it.
Cursive is hardly used by kids anymore as even adults don 't write in this style，unless they are using it for their signature. Learning this handwriting was a usual practice in school for several dec­ades. However，in 2011, the Indiana Department of Education made it optional (可选择的)for schools to teach cursive writing to the students. In fact, there were 46 more states who have done the same. There are some who believe that it is high time for cursive to retire from school curriculum. After all，if we don ’ t leave the past behind，we cannot make way for new things. If you walk into any classroom，you would find children using keyboards to communicate in written form. On the other hand，fans of this cursive insist on its usefulness. They remind us that if we stop teaching and learn­ing cursive in schools，very soon most of our historical documents will become hard to us.
Where do we stand on this subject? Is it the right time to erase an almost forgotten handwriting and live in the keyboarding world? Or can we do both without compromising (妥协)on our school curriculum? Let me know your thoughts on this matter by leaving a comment in the section below.
【小题1】People use cursive when they

A．give their signature	B．are in Indiana
C．grow up as adults	D．are at school

【小题2】In Indiana school, children

A．must learn cursive

B．are interested in cursive

C．can choose to learn cursive

D．learn cursive everyday

【小题3】It can be inferred that the author

A．prefers to learn cursive

B．is a cursive teacher

C．welcomes people to show their opinions

D．is a very famous expert in education

【小题4】What would be the best title for the passage?

A．Is Cursive Writing Necessary?

B．Is Keyboarding World Good?

C．A Keyboarding World

D．Advantages of Cursive

Dear Editor(编辑),
I used to be a doctor in a children’s hospital. Sometimes I treated children who had been poisoned（中毒）by medicines for older family members. The children didn’t know the medicine was dangerous; they just knew it tasted sweet. Children easily opened the bottle that we now use in China.
Some days ago I talked about medicine with an American. He showed me a kind of plastic bottle. The design was very quite simple and I’m sure our Chinese factories could produce these bottles. The top of the bottle locks but can be opened by pressing down on it while turning. This is difficult for most young children to do, though grown-ups can open these bottles very easily.
I’m certain that the price of making such tops would be very low. As a doctor, I’d love to see this done. And most parents would be grateful.
Yours,
Li Hua
【小题1】The writer’s job in the hospital was mainly to________.

A．treat sick children	B．treat poisoned children
C．give medicine to people	D．give medicine to children

【小题2】The doctor seems to be ________.

A．happy about China’s hospital

B．angry with what has happened

C．anxious to solve the problem

D．pleased with his invention

【小题3】The doctor thinks that we should ________.

A．study the Americans

B．buy that kind of bottle

C．produce this kind of plastic bottle

D．turn to Americans for help

【小题4】The letter was written to the editor to ask for______.

A．money from the newspaper

B．the plastic bottles from the readers

C．medicine from the editor

D．support from the Chinese factories

Comfort is comforting, but it might narrow our experience at work — and beyond.
In our modern world, discomfort is considered a terrible thing. If not terrible, it’s at least a thing of the past. Dishwashers, washing machines, computers, remote controls—yes, they add convenience, but also a level of comfort our forefathers did not enjoy.
As pain of any kind discourages happiness, we tend to reason anything that prevents us to feel good must be bad. And that’s also particularly true for our careers. Success makes us feel great, not terrible. Such a view, however, is a matter of personal opinion. And it may blind us to hidden opportunities.
Artists throughout history have tried to experience suffering, instinctively(本能地) if not consciously(有意识地), to produce works that explore the darker hidden sides of the human condition. This was done, in part, because pain is a reality of life for everybody in some form at some time. Pain is something everybody can relate to. And pain makes a person very real. For such artists, to deny pain would be to block the creative thinking, which drives them to explore and express. In fact, Germans have a term(术语) for this, “Weltschmerz”, which means “suffering from the world.” Writers, from Lord Byron to Kurt Vonnegut, have used the term to describe the psychological pain along life’s roller-coaster journey. It was not to be avoided; it was to be understood and employed.
So I believe that discomfort is good for us. Or, put another way, it tells us that something needs to be attended to. It develops us by forcing us to view our circumstances(环境) through a wholly different view. Because we’re attracted by safety and security, we do our best to create pleasant comfort zones for ourselves and our loved ones through the cars we drive, the houses we live in, and the places we work. But by resisting discomfort, we deny ourselves an important opportunity: the chance to shake ourselves out of our predictable perspectives(视角) and allow ourselves to make knowledgeable observations that we could not possibly have made before. Discomfort gives us fresh eyes.
【小题1】Which of the following is NOT a reason why artists throughout history have been exploring sufferings?

A．Pain is a mirror that can reflect the life of everybody.

B．Pain is something that no one can escape from.

C．Pain can strengthen the feeling of existence of a person.

D．Pain can help them to avoid the creative thinking.

【小题2】The term “Weltschmerz” couldn’t be used to describe something like __________.

A．social inequality

B．great achievements

C．racial discrimination(歧视)

D．mass killings

【小题3】The author believes that by challenging discomfort, one may _________.

A．lose an important chance to make a big fortune

B．feel upset and fail to think calmly

C．control the situation properly when things go wrong

D．judge and think about the world in a new particular way

【小题4】By writing this passage, the author tries to __________.

A．explain why discomfort is good for us

B．criticize(批评) a world full of comfort

C．persuade people to lead a life full of discomfort

D．blame those who enjoy an easy life