最新大学英语四级考试精品阅读120篇-第9章
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Of course I hadn’t known。 『The Wenatchee fifth grade was bigger than my whole school which had been in North Dakota； and the idea of subdivisions within a grade had never occurred to me。』① The subdividing for the first marking period had been done before I came to the school； and l had never； in the six weeks I’d been there； talked to anyone long enough to find out about the A； B； and C classes。
I still could not understand why that had made such a difference to Barbara and her friends。 I didn’t yet know that it was shameful and dirty to be a transient laborer and ridiculous to be from North Dakota。 I thought living in a tent was more fun than living in a house。
I didn’t know that we were gypsies； really （how that thought would have excited me then！ ）； and that we were regarded with the suspicion felt by those who plant toward those who do not plant。 It didn’t occur to me that we were all looked upon as one more of the untrustworthy natural phenomena； drifting here and there like mists or winds； I didn’t know that I was the only child who had camped on the Baumann’s land ever to get out of the C class。 I didn’t know that school administrators and civic leaders held conferences to talk about the problem of transient laborers。
I only knew that for two happy days I walked to school with Barbara and her friends； played hopscotch and jumped rope with them at class intervals； and was even invited into the house for some ginger ale—a strange drink I had never tasted before。
1。The tone of this passage as a whole is。
A。 reflective B。 enthusiastic
C。 impersonal D。 defensive
2。The narrator had most probably been placed in the C class because 。
A。 she was a poor reader
B。 she had come from a small school
C。 the marking system confused her
D。 all children of transient laborers were placed in the C class
3。The basic reason why the people in the community distrusted the transient workers was that the transient workers。
A。 tended to be lawbreakers B。 had little schooling
C。 were afraid of strangers D。 were temporary residents
4。 Which of the following is not characteristic of Gypsies？
A。 Wandering around the world。
B。 Make ginger ale in their house。
C。 Never plant something。
D。 Had been foreigners wherever they go。
5。Immediately after the narrator was moved to the A class； what was the attitude of Barbara and Barbara’s friends towards her？
A。 Dislike B。 Acceptance
C。 Apology D。 Jealousy
Vocabulary
1。envious adj。嫉妒的
2。giggling n。 傻笑
3。subdivision n。 细分
4。transient adj。短暂的
5。mist n。 薄雾
6。hopscotch n。 跳房子游戏
长难句解析
①【解析】and连接两个并列的句子。第一个分句中含有than引导的比较状语从句，注意主从句中时态的不同。occur to译为“想到，想起”。
【译文】Wenatchee 的五年级比我以前在Dakota北部的学校规模还要大，在一个年级内分班这是我以前从未想到过的。
答案与详解
【短文大意】在文章中作者回顾了她童年时从低级班升入高级班的往事及这件事给她带来的感受。
1。A主旨题。 reflective在此意为：回顾的。在这个问题中tone意为：语气、心情。纵观全文， 我们可以看出，叙述者是在回忆她童年时发生的一件事（第一、二、三、四段）及这件事 的发生所给她带来的感受（第四、五段）。 impersonal意为：不涉及个人情感的，客观的。 defensive意为：辩护的，申辩的。这里并非是作者因受到指责而为自己辩护，本文主要谈的是人与人之间的歧视给作者当时幼小心灵带来的困惑。
2。D细节题。在文章第五段第六句，本文叙述者告诉我们，在所有生活在Baumann这个地方 帐篷里的孩子中，她是迄今为止（ever）从 C班（低级班）升入 A班（高级班）唯一的一个孩子。而生活在那里的人无固定工作，被称作“无固定工作者”（transient laborer， 见本段第三句与第七句）。C意为：记分体制（或方法）使之困惑。
3。D推断题。文章第四、五段指出，当地的人（农民：those who plant）用怀疑的眼光（with the suspicion）来看待他们，因为，他们住帐篷，“没有固定职业，像吉普赛人（gypsies： 这里并非真指吉普赛人，而是指他们的生活方式像吉普赛人）一样游移不定，四海漂泊 （drifting here and there like mists or winds）。 A意为：很可能成为违法分子； B意为：受过很少教育。”
4。B推断题。吉普赛人住帐篷，没什么房子，因而也不会在房子里做ginger ale。另外三项都是他们的生活特色。
5。B推断题。答对题的关键是准确地理解这个题。这个题提问的焦点是：叙述者刚刚升入A班后（Immediately after…A class）， Barbara及其朋友对她是什么态度，而不是后来。仔细审视一下本题，我们就会得出这样一个结论：在叙述者介入A班后，Barbara等起初是一种态度，尔后，她们改变了这种态度。从原文第四段第三句我们了解到：叙述者与Barbara等在那个学校上学至少有六个星期了，只是不知道A、B、C班的分班基础。同时，在文章 最后一段，我们了解到：叙述者与Barbara等至少共度了两天的快乐时光，如，课间（at class intervals）一起玩，到她们家做客等。很明显，这两天说的是叙述者刚刚升入A班。
第一篇 人文篇Passage 15
Passage 15建议用时：7。5分钟From：To：
Aldous Huxley was a most unfortunate man。When he died in 1963 he must have expired in the confident belief that the event would be given wide coverage in the press the next day。After all；his career had not been without distinction。Where he made his big mistake was in dying on the same day that John F。Kennedy was assassinated。As a result Huxley got about three column inches at the bottom of page 27。
In the same way the death of Victor Farris has gone widely unnoticed because he foolishly shuffled off this mortal coil at the same time as Mr。Konstantin Chernenko。Now；as you all know；Victor Farris was the chap who invented the paper clip。The paper milk carton too。And paper clips and milk cartons will be in use long after everyone has forgotten the name of the comrade who came between Andropov and whatever this new bloke is called。
『The same goes for the inventor of the supermarket trolley who died in Switzerland a few months ago。』①Fell off his trolley；so to speak。『For all I know；he may be a household name in his own canton and they are putting up a statue of home wheeling his trolley；and are going to commemorate him on one of those ever…so…tasteful Swiss postage stamps we used to collect when we were younger and wiser；』②but I doubt if his name will be remembered outside the borders of his small country。Personally I forgot it within minutes of reading of his decease。
Not that it matters。Somehow it is hard to imagine things like paper clips and supermarket trolleys having had a named inventor。It’s like discovering that at a particular moment of history a particular person invented the spoon；or the chair； or socks。One assumes that these everyday objects just happened；or evolved through natural selection。
It isn’t necessarily so。I read only the other day that Richard Ⅱ invented the handkerchief。Almost everything else was invented either by Leonardo da Vinci（scissors；bicycles；helicopters；and probably spoons；socks and the Rubik cube as well）or by Benjamin Franklin（lightning…conductor；rocking…chair；bifocals）or else by Joseph Stalin（television）。
It’s quite possible that Leonardo or Benjamin Franklin or Stalin also invented the supermarket trolley。Certainly it has been invented more than once。Hardly was Herr Edelweiss（or whatever the Swiss chap was called）in his grave；than news came of the death of Sylvan N。Goodman at the age of 86。Sylvan also invented the supermarket trolley or；as the Los Angeles Times report calls it；the shopping cart。
Be that as it may；Herr Edelweiss or Sylvan Goodman；or both；did a grand job and made supermarket shopping far less hellish than it would otherwise be。The next step will be to get the trolleys out of the shops and into the streets。You could put an engine in the front and call it a car。Or give it big wheels and a canopy and call it a pram。The possibilities are endless。
1。It can be inferred from the passage that Herr Edelweiss。
A。was remembered by the people all over world
B。made a lot of money from his invention
C。was not very famous
D。was a business partner of Sylvan Goodman
2。The author writes this article in order to illustrate that。
A。the names of the people who invented the most useful things are usually forgotten
B。everyday objects are invented and evolve through natural selection
C。many everyday objects are invented more than once
D。many famous people have passed away without being noticed
3。Who probably invented spoons？
A。Leonardo da Vinci。 B。Benjamin Franklin。
C。Victor Farris。 D。A person unknown。
4。 By stating that Leonardo da Vinci invented helicopters； the author means 。
A。 he really did it
B。 he is a military scientist
C。 he painted in one of his masterpieces a helicopters
D。 people turn to ascribe inventions to him but they are wrong
5。What can be inferred about Aldous Huxley？
A。His death was not reported by the press。
B。He was a famous inventor。
C。He made a very big mistake in his late years。
D。He died on the same day as John F。Kenneddy。
Vocabulary
1。canopy n。 天篷
2。pram n。 婴儿车
长难句解析
①【解析】“the same goes”解析为同样的事情也发生，例：The same goes for our classmates。同样的事情也发生在我的同学身上。 who 引导的定语从句修饰inventor。
【译文】同样的事情也发生在超市手推车发明者的身上，他就在几个月以前死于瑞士。
②【解析】a household name 应译为“家喻户晓的名字”，2个“and”连接3个并列句。“for all I know”作插入语，译为“据我所知”。
【译文】据我所知，在他的家乡他的名字家喻户晓，人们甚至为纪念他的手推车为他造了塑像，还将他印在了我们曾经收集过的非常有意义的瑞士邮票上了。
答案与详解
【短文大意】正是由于发明家们的伟大作品，我们的生活才得以更加美好，但是，由于各种原因，他们的名字却并不为人们熟知。生活中有许多看似平常的东西其实都是发明家的杰作。
1。 C推断题。虽然文中第三段对他进行了详细的介绍，但是直到第六段才第一次出现Herr Edelweiss这个名字，根据上下文可以看出他是瑞士人，刚刚去世。因为他发明了supermarket trolley，在他的家乡人们以塑像和发行邮票的方式纪念他，但即便如此作者怀疑if his name will be remembered outside the borders of his small country，而作者自己也在几分钟后忘掉了他的名字。由此可以推断出Herr Edelweiss was not very famous。Edelweiss并不是Sylvan Goodman的商业伙伴，但他们都发明了超级市场的手推车。
2。 A主旨题。作者在文中提到了几位人们所不熟悉的发明家，如Victor Farris，Herr Edelweiss，和sylvan Goodman，他们发明了像paper clips，milk cartons，和supermarket trolleys等非常有用的日常物品，但是他们的名字常常不为人所知；人们更不曾记得是谁发明了scissors，bicycles，spoons。。。，因此文章的主旨是称赞那些默默无闻的发明家，A是最佳选项。
3。 D推断题。本题的关键是对文中第五段第三句的理解，不能按照字面意思理解成Leonardo da Vinci 发明了剪子、自行车、直升飞机、勺子、袜子和骰子，本�
