備考英語(yǔ)四級(jí)--閱讀理解天天練二

　　As regards social conventions, we must say a word about the well-known English class system. 『This is an embarrassing subject for English people, and one they tend to be ashamed of, though during the present century class-consciousness has grown less and less, and the class system less rigid.』① But it still exists below the surface. Broadly speaking, it means there are two classes, the “middle class” and the “working class”. (We shall ignore for a moment the old “upper class”, including the hereditary aristocracy, since it is extremely small in numbers; but some of its members have the right to sit in the House of Lords, and some newspapers take a surprising interest in their private life.) The middle class consists chiefly of well-to-do businessmen and professional people of all kinds. The working class consists chiefly of manual and unskilled workers.

　　The most obvious difference between them is in their accent. Middle-class people use slightly varying kinds of “received pronunciation” which is the kind of English spoken by BBC announcers and taught to overseas pupils. Typical working-class people speak in many different local accents which are generally felt to be rather ugly and uneducated. One of the biggest barriers of social equality in England is the two-class education system. To have been to a so-called “public school” immediately marks you out as one of the middle class. The middle classes tend to live a more formal life than working-class people, and are usually more cultured. Their midday meal is “l(fā)unch” and they have a rather formal evening meal called “dinner”, whereas the working man’s dinner, if his working hours permit, is at midday, and his smaller, late-evening meal is called supper.

　　As we have said, however, the class system is much less rigid than it was, and for a long time it has been government policy to reduce class distinctions. 『Working-class students very commonly receive a university education and enter the professions, and working-class incomes have grown so much recently that the distinctions between the two classes are becoming less and less clear. 』②However, regardless of one’s social status, certain standards of politeness are expected of everybody, and a well-bred person is polite to everyone he meets, and treats a labourer with the same respect he gives an important businessman. Servility inspires both embarrassment and dislike. Even the word “sir”, except in school and in certain occupations (e.g. commerce, the army etc.) sounds too servile to be commonly used.

　　1. The middle class mainly refers to people .

　　A. who were born as aristocrat

　　B. who have the right to sit in the House of Lords

　　C. who speak in many different local accents

　　D. who are prosperous businessmen or who work in some professions

　　2. The most obvious difference between the working class and the middle class in English is their .

　　A. dressB. work

　　C. accentD. meal

　　3. Why isn’t the word “sir” commonly used in Britain?

　　A. Because it sounds too servile and is likely to cause embarrassment.

　　B. Because it can only be used in some certain occupations.

　　C. Because it is an impolite word.

　　D. Because it shows that the speaker is not a well-bred person.

　　4. The “upper class” in England today .

　　A. are extremely small in number so that media pays no attention to them

　　B. still uses old words like “Sir” in their everyday life

　　C. includes the hereditary aristocracy

　　D. refers only to the royal family

　　5. Which of the following is not true about the English class system?

　　A. It is an embarrassing subject for English people.

　　B. Working-class students cannot receive a university education.

　　C. The class system is much less rigid than it was.

　　D. The class system still exists below the surface.

　　Vocabulary

　　1. convention n. 習(xí)俗

　　2. embarrass v. 使困窘

　　3. rigid adj. 嚴(yán)格

　　4. hereditary adj. 世襲的

　　5. manual adj. 體力的

　　6. accent n. 口音

　　7. received pronunciation adj. (英語(yǔ)的)標(biāo)準(zhǔn)發(fā)音

　　8. well-bred adj. 有教養(yǎng)的

　　9. servility n. 卑屈

　　10. occupation n. 職業(yè)

　　長(zhǎng)難句解析

　�、佟窘馕觥窟@是一個(gè)復(fù)合句，主句由“and”引導(dǎo)的兩個(gè)并列句組成，“though”引導(dǎo)的讓步狀語(yǔ)從句，也是由兩個(gè)并列的句子組成。

　　【譯文】盡管本世紀(jì)等級(jí)意識(shí)越來(lái)越淡，等級(jí)制度也越來(lái)越不嚴(yán)格，但對(duì)于英國(guó)人來(lái)說(shuō)它仍是一個(gè)尷尬的話題，仍舊引以為恥。

　�、凇窘馕觥窟@是一個(gè)復(fù)合句，由“and”引導(dǎo)的兩個(gè)并列句組成，“so…that”作“grown”的狀語(yǔ)。

　　【譯文】勞工家庭中的孩子上大學(xué)成為非常平常的事情，此后他們也加入各種專業(yè)行當(dāng)。勞工階層的工資近來(lái)也快速增長(zhǎng)，使得兩個(gè)階層間的界線越來(lái)越模糊。

　　答案與詳解

　　【短文大意】本文主要講述英國(guó)等級(jí)意識(shí)雖然越來(lái)越淡，但在表層下，等級(jí)仍然存在。而“階層”的最大區(qū)別是他們的口音。

　　1. D細(xì)節(jié)題。意為“那些比較富裕的生意人或有一定的職業(yè)的人”。見第一段的倒數(shù)第二句：中產(chǎn)階級(jí)主要包括富裕的生意人和有一定的職業(yè)的人。所以正確答案應(yīng)該是 D。

　　2. C細(xì)節(jié)題。意為“口音”。見第二段的第一句：他們之間最明顯的區(qū)別是他們的口音。所以正確答案應(yīng)該是 C。

　　3. Ａ推斷題。意為“因?yàn)樗�聽起�?lái)太過(guò)謙卑，很可能會(huì)引起尷尬”。見文章的最后兩句：謙卑會(huì)引起尷尬和不悅。甚至像“先生”這樣的詞，除了在特定的職業(yè)中（如商業(yè)、軍隊(duì)）外，也不太常用，因?yàn)樗�聽起�?lái)太過(guò)謙卑。所以正確答案應(yīng)該是 A。

　　4. C細(xì)節(jié)題。A選項(xiàng)前半是對(duì)的。上流社會(huì)人數(shù)很少，后半是錯(cuò)的，媒體還在關(guān)注他們，注意一定要看清楚再選。B選項(xiàng)相關(guān)內(nèi)容在文末。D沒有提到。B在第一段中間出現(xiàn)，是正確答案。

　　5. B細(xì)節(jié)題。意為“來(lái)自工人階級(jí)家庭的學(xué)生不能接受大學(xué)教育”。見第三段第二句的前半句：來(lái)自工人階級(jí)家庭的學(xué)生接受大學(xué)教育并且某種職業(yè)的情況已十分普遍。所以選項(xiàng) B的答案與文章不相符，是正確答案。

　　Passage 4  建議用時(shí)：6分鐘  From:  To:

　　There are people in Italy who can’t stand soccer. Not all Canadians love hockey. A similar situation exists in America, where there are those individuals you may be one of them who yawn or even frown when somebody mentions baseball. 『Baseball to them means boring hours watching grown men in funny tight outfits standing around in a field staring away while very little of anything happens.』① They tell you it’s a game better suited to the 19th century, slow, quiet, gentlemanly. These are the same people you may be one of them who love football because there’s the sport that glorifies “the hit”.

　　By contrast, baseball seems abstract, cool, silent, still.

　　On TV the game is fractured into a dozen perspectives, replays, close�瞮ps. The geometry of the game, however, is essential to understanding it. You will contemplate the game from one point as a painter does his subject; you may, of course, project yourself into the game. It is in this projection that the game affords so much space and time for involvement. The TV won’t do it for you.

　　Take, for example, the third baseman. You sit behind the third base dugout and you watch him watching home plate. His legs are apart, knees flexed. His arms hang loose. He does a lot of this. The skeptic still cannot think of any other sports so still, so passive. 『But watch what happens every time the pitcher throws: the third baseman goes up on his toes, flexes his arms or bring the glove to a point in front of him, takes a step right or left, backward or forward, perhaps he glances across the field to check his first baseman’s position.』② Suppose the pitch is a ball. “Nothing happened,” you say. “I could have had my eyes closed.”

　　The skeptic and the innocent must play the game. And this involvement in the stands is no more intellectual than listening to music is. Watch the third baseman. Smooth the dirt in front of you with one foot; smooth the pocket in your glove; watch the eyes of the batter, the speed of the bat, the sound of horsehide on wood. If football is a symphony of movement and theatre, baseball is chamber music, a spacious interlocking of notes, chores and responses.

　　1. The passage is mainly concerned with .

　　A. the different tastes of people for sports

　　B. the different characteristics of sports

　　C. the attraction of football

　　D. the attraction of baseball

　　2. Those who don’t like baseball may complain that .

　　A. it is only to the taste of the old

　　B. it involves fewer players than football

　　C. it is not exciting enough

　　D. it is pretentious and looks funny

　　3. The author admits that .

　　A. baseball is too peaceful for the young

　　B. baseball may seem boring when watched on TV

　　C. football is more attracting than baseball

　　D. baseball is more interesting than football

　　4. By stating “I could have had my eyes closed. ” the author means (4th paragraph last sentence):

　　A. The third baseman would rather sleep than play the game.

　　B. Even if the third baseman closed his eyes a moment ago, it could make no different to the result.

　　C. The third baseman is so good at baseball that he could finish the game with eyes closed all the time and do his work well.

　　D. The consequent was too bad he could not bear to see it.

　　5. We can safely conclude that the author .

　　A. likes footballB. hates football

　　C. hates baseballD. likes baseball

　　Vocabulary

　　1. dugout n.　棒球場(chǎng)邊供球員休息的地方

　　2. pitcher n.　投手

　　3. symphony n.　交響樂

　　4. chamber n.　室內(nèi)

　　5. contemplate vt.沉思，注視

　　長(zhǎng)難句解析

　�、佟窘馕觥看司涞闹鞲墒恰癇aseball…means…watching…”，其中“in funny tight outfits”用來(lái)修飾“grown men”,“standing…”和“staring”用來(lái)做“grown men”的定語(yǔ)。

　　【譯文】對(duì)于他們來(lái)說(shuō)，棒球就是在無(wú)聊的幾個(gè)小時(shí)中幾個(gè)身著緊身衣的大人佇立在場(chǎng)地周圍沒事可做地東張西望。

　�、凇窘馕觥窟@是一個(gè)復(fù)合句，“goes up…”，“flexes…”“takes…”，“glances…”做“the third baseman”的并列謂語(yǔ)。

　　【譯文】但每當(dāng)投球手?jǐn)S出球的那一瞬間，你再看吧，三壘運(yùn)動(dòng)員腳尖點(diǎn)地，屈臂或把接球手套直指前方，左右移動(dòng)步伐，或前或后，或許他還要越過(guò)場(chǎng)地盯著一壘球手的動(dòng)作。

　　答案與詳解

　　【短文大意】本文主要講述壘球的特征及欣賞。

　　1. D主旨題。文章第一段簡(jiǎn)述了人們對(duì)壘球所持的偏見——認(rèn)為它毫無(wú)活力、從容和緩，不像橄欖球那樣高潮迭起、令人激動(dòng)。文章的第二、三、四、五段探討了壘球的根本特征及欣賞角度，文章的最后一句話用一個(gè)比喻概括了壘球的魅力：“如果橄欖球是一曲交響樂的話，那么，壘球中所表現(xiàn)出來(lái)的運(yùn)動(dòng)恰似一曲優(yōu)美的室內(nèi)樂。”可見，本文主要探討的是壘球的特點(diǎn)及其欣賞。 A不對(duì)，第一段也確實(shí)提到了不同觀眾對(duì)不同運(yùn)動(dòng)形式的偏好，但這只是用以引出對(duì)壘球的特征及欣賞的討論。

　　2. C細(xì)節(jié)題。文章第一段指出：許多人不喜歡壘球，一提起壘球這些人就打哈欠甚至皺眉頭。對(duì)他們來(lái)說(shuō)，看壘球意味著眼巴巴地觀望著身著運(yùn)動(dòng)裝(outfit)的人呆立在球場(chǎng)上，東瞧瞧西望望，很少有什么(激動(dòng)人心的)事發(fā)生——沒意思透了。他們認(rèn)為這樣的運(yùn)動(dòng)更適合上個(gè)世紀(jì)的人的口味，不像橄欖球那樣充滿活力。 A意為：“它只適合老年人的口味。”注意：原文說(shuō)的是適合上個(gè)世紀(jì)的人的口味，二者意味不一樣。 D意為：“它矯揉造作、滑稽可笑。”這與說(shuō)它gentlemanly(具有紳士風(fēng)度，矜持，即：沒有沖撞或拼搶)不一樣。

　　3. B推斷題。第三段指出，在電視上，壘球運(yùn)動(dòng)被切換成不同角度的畫面，而且不斷地使用重放、特寫等電視制作技術(shù)，這破壞了該運(yùn)動(dòng)的整體運(yùn)動(dòng)感，使觀眾無(wú)法將自己投入(project)到運(yùn)動(dòng)中去，以體會(huì)到這種寓動(dòng)于靜的運(yùn)動(dòng)之美。電視做不到這一點(diǎn)(The TV won’t do it for you)，因此，電視上的壘球比賽看上去(seems)孤孤單單、冷冷清清、沉沉靜靜、慢慢騰騰。C、D不對(duì)，作者僅指出了不同運(yùn)動(dòng)有不同運(yùn)動(dòng)的特征，并未說(shuō)哪種運(yùn)動(dòng)優(yōu)于哪種。參閱文章最后一句。

　　4. B推斷題。第四段整個(gè)都在描述壘球場(chǎng)上的一個(gè)場(chǎng)景：拿三壘的運(yùn)動(dòng)員假設(shè)對(duì)方全投出好球，作好了一切準(zhǔn)備，但是對(duì)方投出的并不是好球。所以在那時(shí)候他的準(zhǔn)備做不做都不會(huì)影響比賽結(jié)果。他說(shuō)本來(lái)可以閉上眼睛，意思就是B項(xiàng)所寫的。A、C、D都不符合作者的意圖。這道題需要完整地了解第四段內(nèi)容才能作好選擇。

　　5. D推斷題。在本文中，作者主要探討了壘球的特征及欣賞，作者著重指出的是：只有根據(jù)壘球的特征來(lái)欣賞它，才能體會(huì)到它的魅力。在他看來(lái)，觀察到壘球比賽中運(yùn)動(dòng)員的各種動(dòng)作、壘球位之間的關(guān)系等是欣賞它的關(guān)鍵(第三段第二句)。只有從整體來(lái)把握它，才能看到每一個(gè)小的動(dòng)作、每一個(gè)眼神乃至于“靜止”的意義，也只有這樣，才能全身心地投入比賽中，欣賞到它的魅力�？梢�，作者對(duì)壘球有很深的理解而且非常喜愛壘球。主要參考第三、四、五段。