第10练 阅读理解＋任务型阅读＋书面表达
Ⅰ.阅读理解
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体裁：记叙文 话题：日常生活 词数：610 时间：8′
I no longer run for the mail the way I used to.I remember, before the email age, the sense of heightened expectation as the hour of mail delivery approached, wondering what slim, handwritten treasures would appear in my box.I once received a letter from a longlost friend and was filled with such joy that I ran the mail carrier down and shook his hand, as if he had done a heroic deed in conveying the letter to me.
Once a day.Six days a week.That was the rhythm.Through snow, rain, heat, and darkness of night.I first learned to love the mail as a young boy.The first thing I ever received that was personally addressed to me was from my friend Duane.We had been the fastest of 9yearold friends.Then he moved away, to Massachusetts.The parting was difficult, but boys didn't cry.
Within the week, however, there was a letter in my mailbox.It was from Duane, and it read, “I'm OK, but I miss you.” That first conveyance to me of a written word from a great distance had all the import of the first Morse code message：“What hath God wrought.” It was at that moment that I became a letter writer, quickly discovering that the more letters I wrote, the more I received.
I wrote letters through elementary school, high school, college, and beyond.It got to the point where I could comfortably expect to receive a letter a day.The daily mail delivery was, for me, like a beacon (灯塔) at sea—something toward which my thoughts began to move upon waking.What quickened my blood，of course, was the element of surprise: From whom would the letter be today? And what would the news be？
