A
Every September, as summer ends and the first day of school approaches, I spend a lot of time thinking about darkness.
Perhaps other teachers would say the same, jokingly. But 1 teach a high school course on trauma （创伤）literature, and my students belong to a generation described as the most spoiled （宠坏的）,stressed and easily hurt in history. So the question of darkness is often on my mind.
In 2016, Collins Dictionary included “snowflake generation" among its Words of the Year, describing young adults of the 2010s as a group "less resilient （适应的）and more likely to feel upset than previous generations?"
But after twelve years of teaching this course, which covers some of the most emotionally difficult texts in contemporary literature — narratives （讲述）of war, slavery and so on — I'm pretty sure the comment on my young students is wrong. In particular, I don't buy the narrative that this generation lacks the resilience necessary for difficult literature. For years. I've watched my students circle tirelessly around some difficult questions that puzzle us. Instead of
hiding from that world, they try to change it in a way that will allow them to control it successfully.
This is why every September; I ask my students to read the most difficult books I can find. 1 don't do this to hurt them. Literature is practice. And I want my students, through these difficult books, to practice living. I want them to practice recognizing historical gaps and to bridge them.
"But this too is true: stories can save us," writes Tim O'Brien in The Things They Carried. I believe and stick to that idea, year after year, on the first day of school. Not because these stories will save my students. But because I'm hoping my students will grow up and save the rest of us.
21. What are the young adults of the 2010s like according to the Collins Dictionary?
A. Unsocial and anxious. B. Stressed but strong-willed.
C. Sensitive and greedy. D. Enthusiastic but self-centered.
22. What does the underlined word "buy" in Paragraph 4 probably mean?
A. Pay. B. Believe. C. Obtain. D. Suspect.
23. Why does the author disagree with what the young adults are called?
A. The author has no knowledge of the young adults.
B. What the author wants is to help the young adults hide.
C. The author doesn't know the meaning of “snowflake generation".
D. The author knows a lot about the young adults from teaching them
24. What is the purpose of this text?
A. To comment on the new generation again. B. To recommend some trauma literature.
C. To introduce some teaching experiences. D. To seek some advice from the public.
