2011 年英語專業(yè)四級(jí)閱讀理解

Text A

We have a crisis on our hands. You mean global warming? The world economy? No, the decline?of reading. People are just not doing it anymore, especially the young. Who’s responsible?

Actually, it’s more like, what is responsible? The Internet, of course, and everything that comes?with it – Facebook, Twitter (微博). You can write your own list.

There’s been a warning about the imminent death of literate civilization for a long time. In the?20th century, fi rst it was the movies, then radio, then television that seemed to spell doom for the?written world. None did. Reading survived; in fact it not only survived, it has fl ourished. The world?is more literate than ever before – there are more and more readers, and more and more books.

The fact that we often get our reading material online today is not something we should?worry over. The electronic and digital revolution of the last two decades has arguably shown?the way forward for reading and for writing. Take the arrival of e-book readers as an example.

Devices like Kindle make reading more convenient and are a lot more environmentally friendly?than the traditional paper book.

As technology makes new ways of writing possible, new ways of reading are possible.?Interconnectivity allows for the possibility of a reading experience that was barely imaginable?before. Where traditional books had to make do with photographs and illustrations, an e-book can?provide readers with an unlimited number of links: to texts, pictures, and videos. In the future, the?way people write novels, history, and philosophy will resemble nothing seen in the past.

On the other hand, there is the danger of trivialization. One Twitter group is offering its?followers single-sentence-long “digests” of the great novels. War and Peace in a sentence? You?must be joking. We should fear the fragmentation of reading. There is the danger that the highspeed?connectivity of the Internet will reduce our attention span—that we will be incapable of?reading anything of length or which requires deep concentration.

In such a fast-changing world, in which reality seems to be remade each day, we need the?ability to focus and understand what is happening to us. This has always been the function of?literature and we should be careful not to let it disappear. Our society needs to be able to imagine?the possibility of someone utterly in tune with modern technology but able to make sense of a?dynamic, confusing world.

In the 15th century, Johannes Guttenberg’s invention of the printing press in Europe had a?huge impact on civilization. Once upon a time the physical book was a challenging thing. We?should remember this before we assume that technology is out to destroy traditional culture.

81. Which of the following paragraphs briefl y reviews the historical challenges for reading?
A. Paragraph One. B. Paragraph Two. C. Paragraph Three. D. Paragraph Four.

82. The following are all cited as advantages of e-books EXCEPT _____.
A. multimodal content B. environmental friendliness
C. convenience for readers D. imaginative design

83. Which of the following can best describe how the author feels toward single-sentence-long novels?
A. Ironic B. Worried.
C. Sarcastic. D. Doubtful.

84. According to the passage, people need knowledge of modern technology and _____ to
survive in the fast-changing society.
A. good judgment B. high sensitivity
C. good imagination D. the ability to focus

85. What is the main idea of the passage?
A. Technology pushes the way forward for reading and writing.
B. Interconnectivity is a feature of new reading experience.
C. Technology is an opportunity and a challenge for traditional reading.
D. Technology offers a greater variety of reading practice.

答案與解析：

81. B 。主旨類。問的是段落大意，答題時(shí)應(yīng)先看選項(xiàng)，只涉及前四段，故只關(guān)注這幾段。問題給出大意是有關(guān)“historical challenges for reading（歷史挑戰(zhàn)）”，第二段中“a long time”，“doom”，“survive”是解題關(guān)鍵詞。

82. D 。細(xì)節(jié)類。要注意題干中的EXCEPT，問的是不是電子書優(yōu)點(diǎn)的一項(xiàng)。答題時(shí)應(yīng)先尋找有關(guān)電子書的部分。第三段涉及了B、C兩個(gè)優(yōu)點(diǎn)，第四段介紹了A的優(yōu)點(diǎn)，排除A，B，C，故選D。

83. B 。態(tài)度類。抓住題干關(guān)鍵詞single-sentence-long novels，文中此處兩次出現(xiàn)“danger”和一次“fear”，表明作者擔(dān)憂的態(tài)度。

84. A 。細(xì)節(jié)類。需在原文中找到具體的信息出處，在倒數(shù)第二段，“make sense”是答題關(guān)鍵詞。

85. C 。主旨類。此處問全文大意，要確保不以偏概全，A、B、D都犯了這個(gè)錯(cuò)誤，所以選C。