The Basics: First of all, there is nothing basic about this movie. The closest thing to the description this film has is about a Texas family of five struggling to relate and exist together when they are all very different people. They deal with death, fear, growing up, and just making it through a day. However, the story itself is woven into other visuals that make it just a part of what director Terrence Malick is trying to say. If you want something basic, stay away from this movie entirely. But if you're stricken by movies that make you say. "Wait, huh?" then you should rush out to see it immediately with someone and plan to hold a summit afterward discussing what it means. A Method To His Madness? The loose, disjointed style of the story involved both the 1950s version of the O'Brien family as well as the present-day version of their oldest son Young Jack. There are no solid beginning-middle-ends in any scene; they play out more like a merory or a dream does in your head. Therefore, the audience is left with less of a definitive statement about what's going on, and more of an emotional connection to what they see on screen. We drift through scenes, getting a vague idea that Mr O'Brien is overbearing and Mrs O'Brien is very nurturing , and that the children are growing up with a strong sense of how to move around the imbalance between their parents. Now, throw in scenes of Sean Penn wandering around the high-tech modern city, looking like the rug has been pulled out from underneath his soul. Add in a dash of nature shots, including but not limited to magrna, the ocean, dinosaurs, and hillsides... What Does It All Mean? It is very clear that Malick wants us to have a sense of this family as a part of the entire universe. A child frightened at his father's touch is a microcosm of the dark expanse above our heads, and it exists alongside the tides, animals, and even God. It all depends on what you believe, which is why this movie is so interesting. The text suggests that the relationship between Mr O'Brien and his children is _ . A) harmonious B) tense C) enjoyable D) close
B
(Question)
"Linda, if beating yourself up were an Olympic sport, you'd win a gold medal!" Annabel, my close friend, stunned(...)me with that frank observation after I told her how I had mishandled a situation with a student in a third-grade class where I was substituting . "I should never have let him go to the boy's room without a pass! It was my fault he got into trouble with the hall monitor! I'm so stupid!" My friend burst out laughing, and then made her "Olympic" comment. After a brief period of reflection I had to admit that she was right. I did put myself down an awful lot. Why, just during the previous day I had called myself "a slob" for having some papers spread out on my desk, "ugly" when I left the house without makeup and "an idiot" when I left the house for an emergency substitute job without my emergency lesson plan. In a more reflective tone, Annabel said, "I once took a workshop at church where the woman in charge had us list all the mean things we say about ourselves." "How many did you have on your list?" I asked. "Fifteen," she confessed. "But then the teacher said, 'Now turn to the person next to you and say all the items on your list as if you were speaking to that person!' " My jaw dropped,"What did you do?" "Nothing. Nobody did. We all just sat there, until I said, 'I could never say these things to anyone else!' " "And our teacher replied, 'Well, if you can't say them to anyone else, then don't ever say them to yourself!' " My friend had a point. I would never insult a child of God---and I'm God's child, too! God, today let me be as kind to myself as I would be to another of Your children. What does the writer mean by the last sentence of the passage? A) She is ready to turn to God for help. B) She will be kind to all children. C) She won't insult herself as well as others. D) She is willing to be a child of God.
(Answer)
C
Question: STOCKHOLM, Oct.11 (Xinhua) -- Chinese writer Mo Yan has won the 2012 Nobel Prize in Literature, announced Peter Englund, Permanent Secretary of the Swedish Academy in Stockholm on Thursday. The Nobel Prize in Literature 2012 is awarded to Chinese writer Mo Yan "who with hallucinatory realism merges folk tales, history and the contemporary," said Englund at a press conference. Mo Yan, a pseudonym for Guan Moye, was born in 1955 and grew up in Gaomi in Shandong province in eastern China.His parents were farmers. As a 12-year-old during the Cultural Revolution he left school to work, first in agriculture, later in a factory.In 1976 he joined the People's Liberation Army and during this time began to study literature and write.His first short story was published in a literary journal in 1981. "In his writing, Mo Yan draws on his youthful experiences and on settings in the province of his birth.This is apparent in his novel Hong gaoliang jiazu (1987, in English Red Sorghum 1993)," said the academy in a statement of Mo's biography. The book consists of five stories that unfold and interweave in Gaomi in several turbulent decades in the 20th century, with depictions of bandit culture, the Japanese occupation and the harsh conditions endured by poor farm workers, according to the biography.Red Sorghum was successfully filmed in 1987, directed by famous Chinese director Zhang Yimou. Through a mixture of fantasy and reality, historical and social perspectives, Mo Yan has created a world reminiscent in its complexity of those in the writings of William Faulkner and Gabriel Garcia Marquez, at the same time finding a departure point in old Chinese literature and in oral tradition, the academy commented in the biographical statement. In addition to his novels, Mo Yan has published many short stories and essays on various topics.In spite of his social criticism, he is seen in his homeland as one of the foremost contemporary authors, the statement added. Dozens of his works have been translated into English, French and... Which of the following statements is true? A) Mo Yan started to write stories when he turned 20. B) The stories in "Red Sorghum" describes both country and city life. C) Mo Yan's works are widely read at home and abroad. D) Besides writing novels, Mo Yan produced a film.
Answer:
C