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课后阅读训练 六
Unit 2 Period 2
Ⅰ. 阅读理解
A
Reading poems is not exactly an everyday activity for most people. In fact, many people never read a poem once they get out of high school.
It is worth reminding ourselves that this has not always been the case in America. In the nineteenth century, a usual American activity was to sit around the fireside in the evening and read poems aloud. It is true that there was no television at the time, nor movie theaters, nor World Wide Web, to provide diversions. However, poems were a source of pleasure, of self-education, of connection to other people or to the world beyond one’s own community. Reading them was a social act as well as an individual one, and perhaps even more social than individual. Writing poems to share with friends and relations was, like reading poems by the fireside, another way in which poetry has a place in everyday life.
How did things change? Why are most Americans no longer comfortable with poetry, and why do most people today think that a poem has nothing to tell them and that they can do well without poems?
There are, I believe, three culprits(肇事者): poets, teachers, and we
ourselves. Of these, the least important is the third: the world surrounding the poem has betrayed us more than we have betrayed the poem. Early in the twentieth century, poetry in English headed into directions unfavorable to the reading of poetry. Readers decided that poems were not for the fireside or the easy chair at night, that they belonged where other difficult-to-read things belonged.
Poets failed the reader, so did teachers. They want their students to know something about the skills of a poem. They want their students to see that poems mean something. Yet what usually occurs when teachers push these concerns on their high school students is that young people decide poems are unpleasant crossword puzzles.
【语篇概述】本文主要讨论了诗歌由过去的受人欢迎到现在受到冷落的原因。
1. Reading poems is thought to be a social act in the nineteenth century because__________. A. it built a link among people B. it helped unite a community C. it was a source of self-education D. it was a source of pleasure
【解析】选A。细节理解题。根据第二段最后两句可知, 在十九世纪读诗是一种社交行为, 因为人们读诗写诗都是和朋友以及与自己有关的人分享, 也就是说读诗在人们之间建立起一种联系。
2. The underlined word “diversions” in Paragraph 2 most probably
means“__________”. A. concentration C. amusements
B. change D. stories
【解析】选C。词义猜测题。由第二段可知, 在19世纪, 没有电视机、电影院和宽带网, 然而诗歌是快乐的源泉, 因此可以推断, 电视机、电影院和宽带网提供的是娱乐。
3. According to the passage, what is the main cause of the great gap between readers and poetry?
A. Students are becoming less interested in poetry. B. Students are poorly educated in high school. C. TV and the Internet are more attractive than poetry. D. Poems have become difficult to understand.
【解析】选D。细节理解题。根据倒数第二段最后一句可知, 读者与诗歌之间产生了鸿沟, 主要是因为诗歌很难读懂。 4. In the last paragraph, the writer questions__________. A. the difficulty in studying poems B. the way poems are taught in school C. students’ wrong ideas about poetry D. the techniques used in writing poems
【解析】选B。推理判断题。根据最后一段的首句可知, 除了诗歌自身令读者难以理解外, 教师也是一个因素。作者对教师在学校里教授诗歌的方式进行了质疑。
B
British Women Writers in different periods of time
The English Renaissance
The English Renaissance began in the later part of the fifteenth century and lasted until the 1660s. Among the most famous women writers of this period is Aphra Behn, who is seen as the first professional woman writer in English. She wrote a number of plays that dealt with topics such as racism and slavery. A good example is Oroonoko published in 1688. Aphra Behn’s works also include the plays The Amourous Prince, The Town Fop, The Dutch Lover and her only tragedy, Abdelazer.
The neoclassical period
Among the well-known women in British literature during the neoclassical period, from 1660 to the end of the eighteenth century, is Anne Finch. She wrote poetry and tried to express all that she saw and experienced. Two other women are recognized for their contribution to neoclassical British literature: Mary Astell and Lady Mary Wortley Montagu. Mary Astell was a philosopher and a feminist writer. She is best known now for her theories on the education of women.
The Romantic period
Jane Austen is one of the most famous women writers that worked during the Romantic period(1798—1832). Her works include several novels, most of which focus on marriage as a way for young women to secure social standing and economic security. Her most famous novels are Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility and Emma. Another famous woman writer from the English
Romanticism is Mary Shelley. She is the author of Frankenstein, History of a Six Weeks’ Tour and The Last Man.
The Victorian period
The Victorian period, between the 1830s and 1900, was the time when the Bronte sisters, George Eliot and Elizabeth Gaskell lived and wrote. Charlotte Bronte, Emily Bronte and Anne Bronte produced many British literary classics. Charlotte’s novels include Jane Eyre, Shirley, Villette and The Professor. Mary Anne Evans adopted the male pen name George Eliot as she wanted to set herself apart from the feminine genre of cookbooks and domestic moral tales. Her most famous novel is The Mill on the Floss published in 1860. 【语篇概述】本文介绍了几位不同时期的具有代表性的英国女作家。 5. According to the passage, Aphra Behn was famous for__________. A. novels C. plays
B. poetry D. cookbooks
【解析】选C。细节理解题。根据The English Renaissance中She wrote a number of plays that dealt with topics such as racism and slavery. 她写了很多诸如种族主义和奴隶制度话题的戏剧。可知她因为创作戏剧而闻名。 6. In which period can readers find books about racial discrimination written by momen?
A. In the English Renaissance. B. In the neoclassical period. C. In the Romantic period. D. In the Victorian period.