IwasinmythirdyearofteachingcreativewritingatahighschoolinNewYorkwhenoneofmystudents15-year-oldMikeygavemeanotefromhismother.Itexplainedhisabsencefromclassthedaybefore.IhadseenMikeyhimselfwritingthen

Question

  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 forged 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. ”

(   ) 5. 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.

(   ) 6. The author had the students practice writing ex cuse notes so that the students could learn

   A. the importance of being honest

   B. how to write excuse notes skillfully

   C. the pleasure of creative writing

   D. how to be creative in writing

(   ) 7. The underlined word “forged” in the second para graph means "________"

   A. former   B. copied

   C. false   D. honest

(   ) 8. What did the headmaster think of the author’s way of teaching?

   A. Effective.

   B. Difficult.

   C. Misleading.

   D. Reasonable.

Answer 1

[文章大意]作者让不能来上学的学生写请假条交给他，结果作者收到了大多数号称父母写的请假条。这些伪造的假条有些极富想象力，有些则愚不可及。于是作者就通过教学生如何写请假条，给学生上了一节效果很好的课。

5. D细节理解题。根据第六段中的"…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 sub?ject worthy of study.”可知选D.

6. D细节理解题。根据第一段中的"I was in my third year of teaching creative writing at a high school in New York...”和第七段中的"You used your imaginations."可知，选D.

7. C

8. A细节理解题。根据最后一段中的"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."可知A项正确。