Unit5 Reading and Thinking 综合素养提升练
一、阅读理解
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 19th 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 theatres, nor World Wide Web, to provide diversion. 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 factors: 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 20th century, poetry in English headed into directions unfavourable to the reading of poetry. Readers decided that poems were not for the fireside or the easy chair at night, and that they belonged where other difficult-to-read things belonged.
Poets failed the reader, and so did teachers. They want their students to know something about the skills of a poem, and 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.
1. What does the underlined word “diversion” most probably mean
A. Concentration.
B. Change.
C. Amusements.
D. Stories.
2. Reading poems is thought to be a social act in the 19th 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
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.
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
二、课文语法填空
The reasons why people write poetry are different and poets use many different forms of poetry to express 1. ________ (them).
Some of the first poems 2. ________ young child learns in English are nursery rhymes, which are usually the 3. ________ (tradition) poems or folk songs. They have a strong rhythm and a lot of repetition. Despite the fact that some of them may not make sense 4. ________ even seem contradictory, they are easy to learn and recite. Some simple poems are list poems. They have a flexible line length and repeated 5. ________ (phrase) which give both a pattern and a rhythm to the poem. Another simple form of poem is the cinquain, 6. ________ is made up of five lines. This kind of poem can convey a strong picture in just a few words. Haiku is a Japanese form of poetry that consists 7. ________ 17 syllables and 8. ________ (be) very popular with English writers. It is easy to write. English speakers like Tang poetry in particular. A lot of Tang poetry 9. ________ (translate) into English already. With so many different forms of poetry 10. ________ (choose) from, why not have a try and write poems of your own
参考答案
一、阅读理解
【语篇导读】在过去,人们经常读诗,然而现在,读诗的人越来越少文章针对这种现象探讨了原因。
l. C 【解析】词义猜测题。画线单词前的television, movie theatres, World Wide Web这些事物都是为人们提供娱乐的,由此可推断diversion与amusements同义,意为“娱乐活动”。故选C项。
2. A 【解析】细节理解题。根据第二段中的of connection to other people or to the world beyond one’s own community可知,诗歌是联系人与人以及人与外部世界的纽带,而这体现了它的社交属性。故选A项。
3. D 【解析】细节理解题。根据第四段中的Readers decided that poems were not for the fireside or the easy chair at night,and that they belonged where other difficult--to-read things belonged.可知,读者觉得诗歌不再适合坐在火炉边或安乐椅上舒服地读,它们现在更难以理解了。故选D项。
4. B 【解析】引推理判断题。根据最后一段可知,诗人让读者失望了,老师也一样。老师想让学生们知道一首诗所用到的技巧及其含义,然而这些要求使学生们觉得诗歌是令人讨厌的字谜。因此,作者质疑学校教授诗歌的方式。故选B项。
二、课文语法填空
1. themselves 【解析】此处表示诗人通过写诗表达自己的思想感情,express oneself意为“表达自己的思想感情”,故用反身代词themselves。
2. a【解析】此处表示小孩子最早学习的一些英文诗是童谣,表示泛指,故用不定冠词a。
3. traditional 【解析】引空处修饰名词poems,应用形容词形式,故填traditional。
4. and 【解析】由空后的even seem contradictory可知,空处前后为递进关系,故用连词and。
5. phrases 【解析】引phrase在此处意为“短语”,为可数名词,其前没有限定词,故用复数形式。
6. which 【解析】引分析句子结构可知,空处引导非限制性定语从句,修饰先行词the cinquain,且在定语从句中作主语,故用关系代词which。
7. of 【解析】引consist of意为“由…组成”,为固定搭配,故填of。
8. is 【解析】由句中的consists可知,此处应用一般现在时;该句的主语为Haiu,故谓语动词应用单数形式。
9. has been translated 【解析】句子的主语A lot of Tang poetry与动词translate之间为被动关系,应用被动语态;又根据句中的already可知,此处应用现在完成时的被动语态。
10. to choose 【解析】引此处表示有这么多不同种类的诗歌可供选择,表示动作尚未发生,故用动词不定式作宾语补足语。