1、第4节记叙文题组训练一1话题:人物介绍难度:建议用时:7分钟Charles Dickens is probably the best-known and,to many people,the greatest English novelist of the 19th century.As a moralist,satirist,and social reformer,Dickens crafted complex plots and striking characters that capture the panorama of English society.Dickens was born
2、 in Portsmouth,on Englands southern coast.His father was a clerk in the British navy pay officea respectable position,but with little social status.His paternal grandparents,a steward and a housekeeper possessed even less status,having been servants,and Dickens later concealed their background.Dicke
3、ns mother supposedly came from a more respectable family.Yet two years before Dickens birth,his mothers father was caught stealing and fled to Europe,never to return.The familys increasing poverty forced Dickens out of school at age 12 to work in Warrens Blacking Warehouse,a shoe-polish factory,wher
4、e the other working boys mocked him as “the young gentleman”.His father was then imprisoned for debt.The humiliations(耻辱) of his fathers imprisonment and his labor in the blacking factory formed Dickens greatest wound and became his deepest secret.He could not confide them even to his wife,although
5、they provide the unacknowledged foundation of his fiction.Soon after his fathers release from prison,Dickens got a better job as an errand boy in law offices.He taught himself shorthand to get an even better job later as a court stenographer and as a reporter in Parliament.At the same time,Dickens,w
6、ho had a reporters eye for transcribing(转录) the life around him especially anything comic or odd,submitted short sketches(短篇作品) to obscure magazines.The first published sketch,A Dinner at Poplar Walk brought tears to Dickens eyes when he discovered it in the pages of The Monthly Magazine.From then o
7、n his sketches,which appeared under the pen name “Boz” in The Evening Chronicle,earned him a modest reputation.Soon after Sketches by Boz appeared,a publishing firm approached Dickens to write a story in monthly installments,as a backdrop for a series of woodcuts by the then-famous artist Robert Sey
8、mour,who had originated the idea for the story.With characteristic confidence,Dickens successfully insisted that Seymours pictures illustrate his own story instead.After the first installment,Dickens wrote to the artist and asked him to correct a drawing which,Dickens felt,was not faithful enough to
9、 his prose.Seymour made the change,went into his backyard,and expressed his displeasure by committing suicide.Dickens and his publishers simply pressed on with a new artist.The comic novel,The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club,appeared serially in 1836 and 1837,and was first published in book f
10、orm in 1837.The runaway success of The Pickwick Papers,as it is generally known today,secured Dickens fame.There were Pickwick coats and Pickwick cigars,and the plump,spectacled hero,Samuel Pickwick,became a national figure.After Pickwick,Dickens plunged into a bleaker world.In Oliver Twist,he trace
11、s an orphans progress from the workhouse to the criminal slums(贫民区) of London.Nicholas Nickleby,his next novel,combines the darkness of Oliver Twist with the sunlight of Pickwick.The popularity of these novels consolidated Dickens as a nationally and internationally celebrated man of letters.语篇解读本文是
12、一篇记叙文。描述了狄更斯的家庭背景、成长经历和主要作品等。1.Dickens family background had the following effects on him EXCEPT that .A.he formed an odd personalityB.it cast a shadow on his heartC.he had to drop out of schoolD.it had his dignity threatened答案A解析细节理解题。A项文中没有提到,但B、C、D三项涉及的内容在文中第二段中都提及了。2.Which of the following works
13、 secured Dickens reputation?A.A Dinner at Poplar Walk.B.Oliver Twist.C.The Pickwick Papers.D.Nicholas Nickleby.答案C解析细节理解题。根据第六段第一句“The runaway success of The Pickwick Papers,as it is generally known today,secured Dickens fame.”可知,匹克威克列传的巨大成功为狄更斯赢得了声誉。3.From the passage we can infer that .A.Dickens i
14、nsistence against Seymours will might have led to the artist killing himselfB.it was the combination of Oliver Twist and Pickwick that made Dickens world-famousC.Dickens reflected the situation of English society in the 18th century with his literatureD.Dickens sketches in The Monthly Magazine attra
15、cted the attention of a publishing firm答案A解析推理判断题。根据第五段倒数第三、四句“.Dickens wrote to the artist and asked him to correct.and expressed his displeasure by committing suicide.”可知A项正确。根据文章最后一段可知,是狄更斯的三部小说让他享誉世界,故B项错误;C项中应反映的是19世纪的英国社会,故排除;D项中应是Sketches by Boz吸引了出版商,故排除。4.What does the passage mainly talk a
16、bout?A.Dickens great contributions.B.Dickens famous works.C.Dickens family background.D.Dickens life experiences.答案D解析主旨大意题。文章介绍了查尔斯狄更斯的家庭背景、成长经历和主要作品等,因此A、B、C三项均是以偏概全,而D项囊括了全文内容。2话题:走路、乘车的好处难度:建议用时:6分钟When a website suggested that we not use a car for a week,I decided to have a try.During the last
17、couple years,Ive got used to taking the bus.The first two days was pretty easy.I took the bus to my summer school class,walked to the shop afterwards,and then took a bus home.The bus rides never took more than 20 minutes and since I started the challenge on a weekday,the buses ran often and I didnt
18、have to wait at stops very long.But by the third day,I started to miss being able to go anywhere in a car.On the fourth day,after getting ready for school,I looked at the clock and I was already 20 minutes late.I knew that if I took the bus Id arrive almost an hour late.Since the class is only two h
19、ours long,I asked my mom to drive me.I felt guilty about riding in a car,but it felt good to be in the passengers seat again.From the fifth day on it wasnt too bad.Some friends offered to drive me to go out a few times,and I had to refuse their offer and walk to closer places with them instead.They
20、thought I was crazy to go without using a car for a week.However,after a week,I realized that there are a lot of benefits of walking or taking the bus.Walking is healthier for my body and the world,and I dont mind taking the bus because I get to meet really interesting people.My favorite was a man w
21、ho said he was on a journey across America,and asked me about school and what my favorite subject is.Also,the bus is a good place for me to be creative.Ive written a lot of poems on the bus.Im not surprised J.K.Rowling wrote Harry Potter on the train.On the last day of the challenge,I felt like I co
22、uld finally return from my travel.Strangely,the first day of my renewed car freedom wasnt as exciting as I imagined.Once the chances arose,choosing a car over a greener travel became less attractive.Why sit in the lonely passengers seat when I could choose any free seat I wanted on a bus?Besides,wal
23、king or taking the bus can help our environment.Since there are so many benefits of walking or taking the bus,why not walk or take the bus more?语篇解读本文是一篇记叙文。作者接受了一周不乘坐小汽车的挑战,在这个过程中,他发现了走路和乘坐公共汽车的好处。5.Why did the author use the car on the fourth day?A.Because he had got tired of taking a bus.B.Becaus
24、e there werent many buses that day.C.Because he really missed the passengers seat.D.Because he didnt want to be late for his class.答案D解析细节理解题。根据第二段的内容可知,作者选择乘坐小汽车是不想上课迟到,故选D。6.What is Paragraph 4 mainly about?A.The benefits of walking or taking a bus.B.The poems the author wrote on the bus.C.The act
25、ivities the author often did on the bus.D.The interesting people the author met on the bus.答案A解析段落大意题。第四段第一句“However,after a week,I realized that there are a lot of benefits of walking or taking the bus.”为这一段的主旨句,主要是讲走路和乘坐公共汽车的好处,故选A。7.We can infer that now the author .A.has decided never to use his
26、 familys car againB.is afraid of going somewhere far by busC.doesnt like listening to the car radio when he is in the carD.is more willing to get around on foot or by bus答案D解析推理判断题。根据末段末句“Since there are so many benefits of walking or taking the bus,why not walk or take the bus more?”可推断作者现在比以前更愿意走路
27、或乘坐公共汽车了。故选D。3话题:梵高简介难度:建议用时:7分钟In the spring of 1878,Vincent van Gogh turned 25.As he looked back over his short life,the Dutchman found little to celebrate among the endeavors of his faltering career.By conventional,middle-class standards,he was a failure.After a couple of dead-end teaching jobs i
28、n England,as well as a short,forgettable spell working in a bookshop in Dordrecht,he moved to Amsterdam to become a minister of religion,following in his fathers footsteps.At the end of 1878,he set off for the depressed coal mining district of the Borinage to the west of the city of Mons in Belgium,
29、determined to establish himself as a preacher for the working class.There,he lived in a humble hut,gave away much of his money,and changed his smart clothes into the practical work-wear of the Borins.Unfortunately,he was not a gifted speaker,so his meetings were sparsely attended.His inability to co
30、nnect with the local coal miners was compounded by a practical linguistic difficulty:he couldnt make head or tail of their quick-fire regional dialect known as “Walloon French” while they were mystified by his own attempts at French,which to their ears sounded overly formal.In July 1879,only half a
31、year after he had arrived in the region,he received another setback:the authorities terminated his trial religious appointment.Yet it was at this rock-bottom moment that van Gogh,now 26,started to draw.“I often feel homesick for the country of paintings,” he wrote to his brother Theo in the summer o
32、f 1880.He felt sympathy for the working-class miners.For the first time in his life,middle-class van Gogh was friends with poor,working-class people.The people were poor and illiterate,and their work was hard and dangerous.Yet for van Gogh,there was some kind of bigger truth in their simple way of l
33、ife.After he became an artist,he chose to find his subject matter there.Like artists that he admired,such as Jean-Francois Millet,he wanted to portray the life of working-class people,and he remained interesting in doing so certainly for the first half of his career.Really,it stayed important to him
34、 forever.In addition to this general concern for everyday reality and the rural poor,particular themes that van Gogh encountered in the Borinage would later feature prominently in his art.As he once put it in a letter,“It was in the Borinage that I began to work from nature for the first time.”Few w
35、orks from van Goghs Borinage period survived,because the artist burned most of them.As he revealed in a letter to a friend,he felt they were too clumsy or related to an uncertain time when he was still developing his own style and artistic voice.语篇解读文章讲述了梵高年轻时候的生活境遇。8.What happened to Vincent van Go
36、gh in 1878?A.He learned a lot from different jobs.B.He became the apprentice of his father.C.He was a member of the working class.D.He felt dissatisfied with his career.答案D解析推理判断题。文中第一段提到梵高在1878年经历了几次工作的更换,但结果都不好,所以答案选D。9.Why did van Gogh have difficulty communicating with the local miners?A.The min
37、ers didnt appreciate his dressing style.B.Their French wasnt agreeable in each others ears.C.His French pronunciation wasnt standard.D.He had trouble in making a speech.答案B解析细节理解题。根据第二段第三句可知,他无法与当地的煤矿工人建立联系,再加上一个实际的语言困难:他听不懂他们的方言“瓦隆法语”,而他们对他的法语感到困惑,因为在他们听来,他的法语听起来过于正式。故选B。10.What can we infer from t
38、he passage?A.Van Gogh interacted with working-class people all through his life even though he was born middle-class.B.Van Gogh and Jean-Francois Millet both found inspiration from the rural people in the Borinage.C.Van Goghs paintings in the Borinage mirrored the life of working-class people.D.Van
39、Gogh ruined many of his works in the Borinage because his artistic voice was unheard then.答案C解析推理判断题。根据第三段第四句“For the first time in his life,middle-class van Gogh was friends with poor,working-class people.”及最后一句“.It was in the Borinage that I began to work from nature for the first time.”判断A错。B选项中的
40、in the Borinage错。根据最后一段得知梵高烧掉自己的画是因为“he felt they were too clumsy or related to an uncertain time when he was still developing his own style and artistic voice”,故答案选C。题组训练二1话题:蝴蝶的启示难度:建议用时:6分钟Walking down a path through some woods in Georgia,I saw a small pool of water ahead on the path.I changed my
41、 direction to go around it on the part of the path that wasnt covered by water or mud.As I reached the pool,I was suddenly attacked!Yet I did nothing for the attack.It was so unpredictable and from somewhere totally unexpected.I was surprised as well as unhurt though I had been struck four or five t
42、imes.I backed up a foot and my attacker stopped attacking me.Had I been hurt,I wouldnt have found it amusing.And I was laughing.After all,I was being attacked by a butterfly!Having stopped,laughing,I took a step forward.My attacker rushed me again.He charged towards me at full speed,attempting to hu
43、rt me but in vain.For a second time,I took a step backwards while my attacker paused.I wasnt sure what to do.After all,its just not every day that one is attacked by a butterfly.I stepped back to look the situation over.My attacker moved back to land on the ground.Thats when I discovered why my atta
44、cker was charging at me only moments earlier.He had a mate and she was dying.Sitting close beside her,he opened and closed his wings as if to fan her.I could only admire the love and courage of that butterfly in his concern for his mate.He had taken it up on himself to attack me for his mates sake,e
45、ven though she was clearly dying and I was so large.He did so just to give her those extra few precious moments of life.His courage in attacking something thousands of times larger and heavier than himself just for his mates safety seemed admirable.I couldnt do anything other than reward him by walk
46、ing on the more difficult side of the pool.He had truly earned those moments to be with her,undisturbed.Since then,Ive always tried to remember the courage of that butterfly whenever I see huge barriers facing me.语篇解读本文为记叙文,讲述作者途经一池塘,遇到一只蝴蝶,为了保护它的伴侣反复攻击作者,明知自不量力还是坚持,这使作者每当遇到困难就会想起这只蝴蝶的勇气。1.Why did t
47、he author change the direction while walking down a path through some woods?A.He wanted to take a shortcut.B.He tried to find where he wanted to go.C.He was attacked unpredictably.D.He was blocked by the path covered by water and mud.答案D解析细节理解题。根据第一段第一句“Walking down a path through some woods in Geor
48、gia,I saw a small pool of water ahead on the path.I changed my direction to go around it on the part of the path that wasnt covered by water or mud.”可知,作者原来走的那条小路有水和泥浆。2.Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?A.The author intended to catch the butterfly.B.The butterfly charged towar
49、ds the author for sake of his mate.C.The butterfly amused the author by attacking him without any injury.D.The butterfly was aggressive and sincere.答案B解析细节理解题。根据第二段最后两句和第三段的内容可知,蝴蝶攻击我是为了他的伴侣。3.What does the author learn from the passage?A.Every time he walks by the pool,he always thinks of the butte
50、rfly and his mate.B.He must learn attacking courage of the butterfly.C.The courage and love of the couple butterfly are admirable.D.When he is faced with difficulty,the courage of the butterfly occurs to him.答案D解析细节理解题。结合故事和最后一段可知,作者不管什么时候有困难一想起那只蝴蝶,就有战胜困难的勇气。2话题:成长经历难度:建议用时:7分钟A little boy almost t
51、hought of himself as the most unfortunate child in the world because poliomyelitis(小儿麻痹症) made his leg lame and his teeth uneven and protrudent.He seldom played with his classmates;and when the teacher asked him to answer questions,he always lowered his head without a word.One spring,the boys father
52、 asked for some saplings from the neighbor.He wanted to plant them in front of the house.He told his children to plant a sapling each person.The father said to the children,“Whose seedling grows best,I will buy him or her a favorite gift.”The boy also wanted to get his fathers gift.But seeing his br
53、others and sisters carrying water to water the trees happily,anyhow,he hit upon an idea:he hoped the tree he planted would die soon.So after watering it once or twice,he never attended to it.A few days later,when the little boy went to see his tree again,he was surprised to find it not only didnt wi
54、lt,but also grew some fresh leaves,and compared with the trees of his brothers and sisters,his appeared greener and more vital.His father kept his promise,bought the little boy his favorite gift and said to him:from the tree he planted,he would become an outstanding botanist when he grew up.Since th
55、en,the little boy slowly became optimistic.One day,the little boy lay on the bed but couldnt sleep.Looking at the bright moonlight outside the window,he suddenly recalled what the biology teacher once said,plants generally grow at night.Why not go to see the tree?When he came to the courtyard on tip
56、toe,he found his father was splashing something under his tree with a ladle(勺子).All of a sudden,he understood:his father had been secretly fertilizing his small tree!He returned to his room,tears running down his face without restraint.Decades passed.The little boy didnt become a botanist,but he was
57、 elected President of the United States.His name was Franklin Roosevelt.Love is the best nourishment of life;even if it is just one ladleful of clear water,it can make the tree of life thrive.Maybe that tree is inconspicuous;perhaps that the tree is so thin,and even some withered,but as long as ther
58、e is nourishment of love,it can flourish and even grow into towering trees.语篇解读本文介绍了富兰克林罗斯福的成长经历。富兰克林小时候曾因为小儿麻痹症而消极悲观,父亲发现后,让孩子们每人种一棵树以赢得礼物并为他栽种的树苗偷偷地施肥。4.Why did the father tell his children to plant a sapling each person?A.To make the children competitive.B.To make the boy confident and optimistic
59、.C.To make the boy interested in botany.D.To give the most outstanding child a gift.答案B解析推理判断题。由第五段最后一句“Since then,the little boy slowly became optimistic.”和下文的内容可知,父亲让孩子们种树实际上是为了让小男孩变得自信乐观。故选项B符合题意。5.From the underlined sentence in Paragraph 4,the author wants to convey that .A.the boy regarded him
60、self as the treeB.the boy had little confidence to win the giftC.the boy was jealous of his siblings healthD.the boy tended to suicide答案A解析推理判断题。从表面上看男孩希望自己栽的树苗早日死去,这只是因为他很悲观。但从文章最后两段可知,作者想要表达的是男孩把自己看成了那棵树。故选项A符合题意。6.Which of the following would be the best title for the passage?A.The Key to Success
61、B.Fathers Deep LoveC.The Best Nourishment of LifeD.A Towering Tree答案C解析标题归纳题。父亲表面上让孩子们每人种一棵树以赢得礼物,却一直在为小男孩栽种的树苗偷偷地施肥,实际上是为了让小男孩变得自信乐观,正是父亲的爱鼓舞了男孩,男孩最终成为美国总统。由此可知,爱是生命最好的养料,所以用The Best Nourishment of Life是贴切主题的。故选项C符合题意。3话题:求职难度:建议用时:8分钟A stay-at-home mom for 26 years,Atlanta-born KC just turned 50 a
62、nd seeks a job.“Im not just looking for something to do,” she says.“Putting four kids through college has left us in severe financial trouble.Getting a job is a must!”Growing up,all KC wanted to be was a mom.“Thatt all.Just a mom who stayed home with my children and created a good and comfortable ho
63、me for my family.” Shes not sure why that ambition was so strong for her.“My mom worked full-time,so it wasnt from watching her.Maybe because I wished she was at home with me,” KC says.Leaving her last job after two years for the birth of her first child,KC spent the next 26 years taking care of her
64、 home and family.The Duluth,GA,homemaker recognizes the difficulty of her current situation,though.“When you send out a resume that has a 26-year gap,you are lucky if you can even get an interview,let alone an offer.” Her educational limitations also present obstacles.“The fact that I didnt go to co
65、llege is killing me.At the time that I graduated from high school,it wasnt common for girls to go to college.”Thats why KCs advice to others is:“Get that college degree!I wouldnt change a thing about being a stay-at-home mom,so I would never advise against that,but do something,no matter how small,t
66、o keep your skills up to date.There are so many options to telecommute these days that it would be easy to do while being a full-time mom.” KC has herself looked into telecommuting,but has not found anything yet.“I have found tons of work-at-home jobs,but they want a check from me first.”KC would st
67、ill like to get a degree and has looked into doing so and discussed the prospect with her husband.“We feel that I need to get a job first,then go to school part-time.If I could find a decent-paying(薪资优厚的) part-time job,I would go back now,” she says.With a college degree seemingly unattainable at th
68、e moment,KC has worked to develop her skills so shell be ready for the workforce.“I have kept up with current technology;its not hard to with two Georgia Tech graduates in my house and two current Tech students!” she says.“I have recently taken a class on Excel and love to learn new software.”Curren
69、tly,KC seeks administrative assistant and receptionist jobs.“I have used all the Web-based job boards,”she says.“I have also used the local newspaper and have networked with friends who know of open positions.” She has also signed up with several placement agencies,but has received no response from
70、any of them.If she could do anything she wanted to,KC,an artist and seamstress(女裁缝师),would love to own her own company.“Even working for a company and helping to develop new craft products or patterns would be a dream,” she says.Creativity is a cornerstone(基石) of her life.“I would love to have a job
71、 using my creativity.I always have projects going on,” she says.“If I have a day where I cant be creative,I feel lost.”语篇解读KC为照顾家庭,甘愿默默付出26年。如今,孩子们长大成人,考上大学,于是她想重新找一份工作。但由于学历限制和长时间未参加工作,KC的觅职之路走得很艰辛。7.What is a possible reason for KC staying at home for 26 years?A.Her family encouraged her to do so.
72、B.Her family didnt experience financial trouble.C.She wished to give her children the love she didnt receive.D.She believed a woman should give up her job for her family.答案C解析细节理解题。根据第二段可知,KC小时候,妈妈做全职工作,没时间陪她,她有一种对妈妈陪伴的渴望。因此,当她自己成为母亲的时候,她想让自己的孩子感受到自己幼时缺失的母爱。故选C。8.What would KC do if she could live h
73、er life again?A.She wouldnt choose to be a full-time mom.B.She wouldnt choose a work-at-home job.C.She would find a part-time job with a good salary.D.She would get a college degree and not fall behind others.答案D解析细节理解题。根据第五段可知,KC认为,即使做全职妈妈,也应该接受大学教育,力图使自己跟上时代。故选D。9.What can we learn about KC accord
74、ing to the passage?A.She regretted spending too much time looking after her family.B.She benefited a lot from telecommuting while finding a job.C.She has devoted a great deal of effort to finding a job.D.She was 24 when she had her first baby and quit her first job.答案C解析推理判断题。通读全文可知,KC为找到工作,上了业余学校,利
75、用telecommuting及Web-based job boards,关注报纸,这都是她为找工作付出的努力。10.What does the last paragraph want to tell us?A.Creativity plays an important part in success.B.Owning ones own company is not easy.C.What KCs ideal job in her heart is.D.How KC works on her projects.答案C解析段落大意题。最后一段主要讲述了KC内心深处最渴望的工作状态,她希望做一份能发挥自己创造性的工作。