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. ”
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.
2.The author found that compared with the true excuse
notes, the produced ones by the students were usually__________.
A．less
impressive B．more
imaginative C．worse written D．less
convincing
3.The author had the students practice writing excuse
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
4.The underlined word “forged” in the second
paragraph means “______”.
A．former B．copied C．false D．honest
5.What did the headmaster think of the author’s way of
teaching?
A．Effective. B．Difficult C．Misleading. D．Reasonable
about riding a bike in Wuhan.If you visit Wuhan，you’ll see many buses，cars and also bikes.It’s very cheap to use 
.If you take a bus，you often have to wait for half an hour or so.What’s 
，the buses move very 
and are quite crowded.I was—— used to go to the stadium by bus.I often arrived there late，feeling 
.Then a friend suggested I 
to the training classes by bike.I accepted his advice. 
a bus takes 30 minutes，while riding a bike takes 15 minutes.It is not out of date at all.Instead，I love riding to attend the classes 
in this way I feel 
better.
