备考2024年高考英语（二轮）：热门阅读话题提前练 02 人物故事类

PRACTITIONERS

Jacqueline Felice de Almania (c. 1322) highlights the suspicion that women practicing medicine faced. Born to a Jewish family in Florence, she moved to Paris where she worked as a physician and performed surgery. In 1322 she was tried for practicing unlawfully. In spite of the court hearing testimonials (证明) of her ability as a doctor, she was banned from medicine.

Tan Yunxian (1461 - 1554) was a Chinese physician who learned her skills from her grandparents. Chinese women at the time could not serve apprenticeships (学徒期) with doctors. However, Tan passed the official exam. Tan treated women from all walks of life. In 1511, Tan wrote a book, Sayings of a Female Doctor, describing her life as a physician.

James Barry (c. 1789 - 1865) was born Margaret Bulkley in Ireland but, dressed as a man, she was accepted by Edinburgh University to study medicine. She qualified as a surgeon in 1813, then joined the British Army, serving overseas. Barry retired in 1859, having practiced her entire medical profession living and working as a man.

Rebecca Lee Crumpler (1831 - 1895) worked as a nurse for eight years before studying in medical college in Boston in 1860. Four years later, she was the first African American woman to receive a medical degree. She moved to Virginia in 1865, where she provided medical care to freed slaves.

Living in Iowa and trying to become a photographer specializing in landscape (风景) can be quite a challenge, mainly because the corn state lacks geographical variation.

Although landscapes in the Midwest tend to be quite similar, either farm fields or highways, sometimes I find distinctive character in the hills or lakes. To make some of my landscape shots, I have traveled up to four hours away to shoot within a 10-minute time frame. I tend to travel with a few of my friends to state parks or to the countryside to go on adventures and take photos along the way.

Being at the right place at the right time is decisive in any style of photography. I often leave early to seek the right destinations so I can set up early to avoid missing the moment I am attempting to photograph. I have missed plenty of beautiful sunsets/sunrises due to being on the spot only five minutes before the best moment.

One time my friends and I drove three hours to Devil's Lake, Wisconsin, to climb the purple quartz (石英) rock around the lake. After we found a crazy-looking road that hung over a bunch of rocks, we decided to photograph the scene at sunset. The position enabled us to look over the lake with the sunset in the background. We managed to leave this spot to climb higher because of the spare time until sunset. However, we did not mark the route (路线) so we ended up almost missing the sunset entirely. Once we found the place, it was stressful getting lights and cameras set up in the limited time. Still, looking back on the photos, they are some of my best shots though they could have been so much better if I would have been prepared and managed my time wisely.

Many footballers struggle when they leave the beautiful game for retirement in their mid-thirties, with stories that are sad or even terrible. However, in his new book Kicking On!, Tony Rickson reveals the footballers who have achieved success after retirement, whether it's by setting up charities, helping others cope, creating multi-million-pound businesses or going into media, politics or back into the football world.

Tony Adams, a former footballer, set up a charitable foundation more than 20 years ago called Sporting Chance and said it's one of his greatest achievements. He's wrong. Despite all the cups he won while captaining Arsenal during a highly successful 22-year career at his only club, and all the times he played for England, it is his greatest achievement. Not just one of them.

As Adams admits in his memorable book, Addicted, he suffered from alcoholism and drug abuse while still a professional footballer. Setting up Sporting Chance was his response, and ever since it's treated and supported sports professionals suffering from drink or drug problems. The charity's offer is: "We understand that it takes courage to ask for help, either during or following a career in sport, so when you're ready to reach out, we're ready for you."

Since retiring from playing in 2002, Adams, who has a statue in his honor outside the Arsenal ground, has managed and coached in several countries alongside his charity work. He told The Sun: "What happened in my life with alcohol makes me feel so sad but also grateful that I found a way out of it. I've had highs and lows, in and out of football, given up playing and gone into coaching and management. I've not had a drink through any of it. My self-esteem (自尊) has come back and I am all right."

The self-assessment as "all right" also applied to his 2022 appearance in TV's Strictly Come Dancing, when Adams showed an admirable ability to laugh at himself.

I became bald (秃头的) at two due to a condition. At school I was bullied (欺凌) for it. Sports became my escape, and I was fortunate to have born athletic ability. I would race home every day and shoot basketball for hours. I put all my time and energy into basketball to become the best player I could be. 

I had a great high-school career, breaking countless school records, and received a scholarship to play in college. It was a dream come true. However, I still rarely talked about my condition. I continued to wear my wig (假发) all the time, no matter the weather or what I was doing. 

In my senior year of college, I wanted to run the marathon. During that 26. 2-mile run, I felt strong, truly like Superwoman. I will never forget the feeling of crossing the finish line, and the way everyone celebrated me. I began running marathons all over the country. I loved the feeling I got from running and training. I looked forward to my runs in the morning when the rest of the world was still sleeping. This was my chance to reflect, dream big, and enjoy the sound of my feet on the pavement. The more I ran, the stronger and more confident I felt. I slowly started to talk about my condition to close friends. 

Then one day, on a hot training run, I threw off my wig while tears welled up in my eyes. For the first time, I felt strong, beautiful, and brave. Getting home that day, I looked at myself in the mirror and saw someone kind, caring and full of joy. Two weeks later, I ran my first marathon wigless and was celebrated and loved during that entire race weekend. I was surrounded by such positivity and support that I didn' t even think of my wigless head. Tears welled in my eyes as I crossed that finish line in San Diego. 

Norman Rockwell didn't create his celebrated images using only brush and paint. They often took shape first as scenes that Rockwell literally acted out, not only for his editors atthe Saturday Evening Post, but for his real-life models, too. "It was difficult," he once explained, "but I felt it was the best way to get across my meaning." And so he would enthusiastically play out his visions and ideas, a one-man show packed with just the right expressions, giving enough details of each character in the scene to inspire his models and more importantly, get his editors to buy his ideas.

Now, more than 30 years after his death, Rockwell is still acknowledged for skillfully documenting the best of 20th century American life with drawings of simple emotions inspired by everyday people. To create his detailed recollections of everyday American life, Rockwell worked much like a film director, not just acting out the scenes in his imagination, but looking for locations, casting everyday people from his town for particular parts.

The recognition he received strongly proves Rockwell's superior skills as a storyteller and is the subject of another kind of one-man show: the upcoming exhibition at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C., titledTelling Stories:Norman Rockwell from the Collections of George Lucas and Steven Spielberg. The exhibit, gathered together from the private collections of these two popular film directors, will feature rarely viewed pieces of Rockwell's artworks.

That concentration of information as well as emotion is something essential in Rockwell's art. Emotion certainly spoke to Steven Spielberg when he first saw one of his favorite Rockwell paintings,High Dive, the August 16, 1947 Post cover that describes a boy at the top of what must be a towering diving board. He crouches (蹲伏) high above a swimming pool, too afraid to either jump or climb back down. The painting hangs in Spielberg's office at Amblin Entertainment because it holds a great deal of meaning for the filmmaker.