2007.12阅读第一篇
　　Passage One
　　Questions 57 to 61 are based on the following passage.
　　In this age of Internet chat, videogames and reality television, there is no shortage of mindless activities to keep a child occupied. Yet, despite the competition, my 8-year-old daughter Rebecca wants to spend her leisure time writing short stories. She wants to enter one of her stories into a writing contest, a competition she won last year.
　　As a writer I know about winning contests, and about losing them. I know what it is like to work hard on a story only to receive a rejection slip from the publisher. I also know the pressure of trying to live up to a reputation created by previous victories. What if she doesn’t win the contest again? That’s the strange thing about being a parent. So many of our own past scars and dashed hopes can surface.
　　A revelation (启示) came last week when I asked her, “Don’t you want to win again?” “No,” she replied, “I just want to tell the story of an angel going to first grade.”
　　I had just spent weeks correcting her stories as she spontaneously (自发地) told them. Telling myself that I was merely an experienced writer guiding the young writer across the hall, I offered suggestions for characters, conflicts and endings for her tales. The story about a fearful angel starting first grade was quickly “guided” by me into the tale of a little girl with a wild imagination taking her first music lesson. I had turned her contest into my contest without even realizing it.
　　Staying back and giving kids space to grow is not as easy as it looks. Because I know very little about farm animals who use tools or angels who go to first grade, I had to accept the fact that I was co-opting (借用) my daughter’s experience.
　　While stepping back was difficult for me, it was certainly a good first step that I will quickly follow with more steps, putting myself far enough a way to give her room but close enough to help if asked. All the while I will be reminding myself that children need room to experiment, grow and find their own voices.
　　注意：此部分试题请在答题卡2上作答。
　　57. What do we learn from the first paragraph?
　　A) A lot of distractions compete for children’s time nowadays.
　　B) Children do find lots of fun in many mindless activities.
　　C) Rebecca is much too occupied to enjoy her leisure time.
　　D) Rebecca draws on a lot of online materials for her writing.
　　58. What did the author say about her own writing experience?
　　A) She was constantly under pressure of writing more.
　　B) Most of her stories had been rejected by publishers.
　　C) She did not quite live up to her reputation as a writer.
　　D) Her way to success was full of pains and frustrations.
　　59. Why did Rebecca want to enter this year’s writing contest?
　　A) She had won a prize in the previous contest.
　　B) She wanted to share her stories with readers.
　　C) She was sure of winning with her mother’s help.
　　D) She believed she possessed real talent for writing.
　　60. The author took great pains to refine her daughter’s stories because ________.
　　A) she wanted to help Rebecca realize her dreams of becoming a writer
　　B) she was afraid Rebecca’s imagination might run wild while writing
　　C) she did not want to disappoint Rebecca who needed her help so much
　　D) she believed she had the knowledge and experience to offer guidance
　　61. What’s the author’s advice for parents?
　　A) Children should be given every chance to voice their opinions.
　　B) Parents should keep an eye on the activities their kids engage in.
　　C) Children should be allowed freedom to grow through experience.
　　D) A writing career, though attractive, is not for every child to pursue.
　　这篇文章讲述了一个作家母亲指导女儿写作的故事，通过作者的亲身经历向人们揭示出当今社会的子女教育问题。这种个人化风格较强的文章在以学术性、科技类、说明性文章为主要材料来源的四级阅读题中还是比较少见的;但文章的中心思想还是借作者的个人故事向人们揭示社会问题，具有较强的实用性。
　　全文一共六个自然段，第一段交待了女儿忙于参加写作比赛的事实;第二段作者回顾了自身写作历程的艰辛，引出要为女儿修改作文的动机;第三、四、五段详细讲述了作者修改女儿作文的过程，作者最终的失败使其对子女教育问题有所领悟;最后一段，作者具体说明了父母应该如何帮助子女成长的观点。
　　这篇文章个人写作风格明显，语言平易，因而词汇量不大，句子结构也较简单，理解起来并不存在太大的问题，较少见到明显的疑难部分。

　　57. What do we learn from the first paragraph?
　　A) A lot of distractions compete for children’s time nowadays.
　　B) Children do find lots of fun in many mindless activities.
　　C) Rebecca is much too occupied to enjoy her leisure time.
　　D) Rebecca draws on a lot of online materials for her writing.
　　题目解析
　　题目问从第一段可以得知什么。第一段的大意如下：在这个网络聊天、视频游戏和电视真人秀的时代，供孩子们消遣的无聊活动当然也不会少。但我8岁的女儿丽贝卡却把空闲时间用来写短篇小说。她想要拿出一篇小说来参加一个写作大赛。在去年的上一届比赛中，她获得了优胜。
　　A，如今大量娱乐活动在为儿童竞争(即现在的儿童有充足的娱乐活动)。文章开篇的In this age of 词组与A中的nowadays在时间上相互呼应。there is no shortage of mindless activities to keep a child occupied中的 shortage是“少”的意思，但no shortage of并不仅指有一些，而是“较为丰富”，如there is no shortage of tall buildings here，这里的高楼可不少。从这一句可以看出，供孩子们消遣娱乐的活动确实很多，可以由此推出A的结论。
　　B， 孩子们确实在许多无聊活动中得到了乐趣。作者只是指出供孩子选择的娱乐活动很多，但没有指明孩子们是否从中得到了乐趣。从mindless(没头脑的, 不用脑子的)一词可以看出，作者对这些活动至少是持有怀疑态度的。另外，从文中可知作者的女儿对这些活动没有兴趣，当然也谈不上乐趣，可以作为一个反例。
　　C，丽贝卡太忙而不能享受空余时间。文中只说丽贝卡把空闲时间用来写小说，[考试[大]是不是真的太忙不能确定。另外写小说本身也许即是丽贝卡的享受空闲时间的方式，那样的话她也就是在完全地享受自己的空闲时间，C的叙述不对。
　　D，丽贝卡从网络上汲取了很多写作材料。这句话和文意相去甚远，只要理解了第一段的意思，相信排除该选项不会太难。
　　58. What did the author say about her own writing experience?
　　A) She was constantly under pressure of writing more.
　　B) Most of her stories had been rejected by publishers.
　　C) She did not quite live up to her reputation as a writer.
　　D) Her way to success was full of pains and frustrations.
　　题目问作者讲了自己的哪些写作经历。
　　作者介绍自己的写作经历是在文章的第二段前半部分。大意是：“作为一个作家，我享受过夺得竞赛优胜的喜悦，也品尝过失败的滋味。我知道辛辛苦苦写出来一个故事、结果却得到一张出版商的退稿信时的感受。我同样知道夺得优胜后再想保住这份荣誉的压力。”
　　A， 她经常处在要写作更多作品的压力之下。文中只说作者在卫冕比赛优胜时有压力，而不是写作新作品时，因此A的说法不对。
　　B， 她大部分小说都被出版商退稿了。文中说作者的稿件被退过，没有提到是否大部分都被退稿。从文章大体可以推断出作者是一个成功的作家，一个成功作家不可能大部分作品都被退稿。
　　C，作为作家，她对保住荣誉并不在意。从I also know the pressure of trying to live up to a reputation created by previous victories一句可以看出，作者为保住荣誉承受过很大压力，C的说法与文意恰好相反。
　　D，她的成功之路充满痛苦和挫折。根据第二段前半部分的叙述可知，作者品尝过失败，体验过小说被退稿的感受，承受过保住荣誉的压力，恰好可以由D的说法来概括。
　　59. Why did Rebecca want to enter this year’s writing contest?
　　A) She had won a prize in the previous contest.
　　B) She wanted to share her stories with readers.
　　C) She was sure of winning with her mother’s help.
　　D) She believed she possessed real talent for writing.
　　题目问丽贝卡想要参加今年的写作比赛的原因。
　　A， 她在上一届比赛中获得了优胜。言下之意是她是为了卫冕而参加比赛，但文中的对话“Don’t you want to win again?” “No,”显示，丽贝卡对能否夺冠并不在意。因此A的说法站不住脚。
　　B， 她想和读者分享她的故事。文中有一句话——she replied, “I just want to tell the story of an angel going to first grade.”意思是她想告诉人们一个上小学一年级的天使的故事，也即想与人们(至少是读到它的人)分享这个故事，这与B的说法是一致的。
　　C，她自信在妈妈的帮助下可以获得优胜。这一点与文意不符。首先，从对A的分析可知，她并不在意是否获得优胜;其次，从文中大体可知她早已决定参加比赛，妈妈的帮助应该是后来的事情，那么在决定参加比赛时她就不一定考虑过妈妈的帮助。
　　D，她相信自己具备真正的写作才能。文章没有任何一处地方提及类似内容，也就无从判断是否如此，因此不能选D。

　　60. The author took great pains to refine her daughter’s stories because ________.
　　A) she wanted to help Rebecca realize her dreams of becoming a writer
　　B) she was afraid Rebecca’s imagination might run wild while writing
　　C) she did not want to disappoint Rebecca who needed her help so much
　　D) she believed she had the knowledge and experience to offer guidance
　　题目问作者花费了很多心力去修改女儿的故事，原因是什么。
　　文章讲述作者帮助女儿修改文章是在第四段，开头便说：I had just spent weeks correcting her stories as she spontaneously (自发地) told them，我用了几个星期帮她修改文章。之后则叙述了作者如何帮助女儿修改文章。四个选项的意思是：
　　A，她想帮助丽贝卡实现当作家的梦想。
　　B，她担心丽贝卡写作时的想象力过于狂野。
　　C，她不想在丽贝卡如此渴望帮助时使她失望。
　　D，她相信自己的知识和经验可以提供指导。
　　某权威机构提供的答案是A，但存在两个疑点，第一，文中并未指明丽贝卡有当作家的梦想，从文中可知她写作的目的只是要分享她的故事而已，甚至连写作比赛的优胜都不在意。文中虽有guiding the young writer across the hall这句，似乎作者是想把女儿培养成作家，但这只是作者为了说明自己当时的心情而打的比方而已。第二，即便有这样的梦想，也不可能仅仅通过修改一篇作文就能实现。因此A并不正确。
　　B所说的想象力过于丰富和C所说的女儿非常需要作者的帮助，这些在文中都没有交代过，可以说是生造出来的，可以排除。
　　第四段第二句说作者自认为是一个有经验的作家，之后写到女儿的作品被作者按自己的经验、想法改造成了另外一个故事，进而把比赛当成了自己的比赛。由此可见，作者当初之所以要主动指导女儿，是自信自己的知识和经验可以对女儿提供帮助，只是结果不尽如人意。D的叙述是正确的。
　　61. What’s the author’s advice for parents?
　　A) Children should be given every chance to voice their opinions.
　　B) Parents should keep an eye on the activities their kids engage in.
　　C) Children should be allowed freedom to grow through experience.
　　D) A writing career, though attractive, is not for every child to pursue.
　　题目问作者给了父母们哪些建议。给出建议是第四段的内容，这段的大意是：第一步，我不再干扰孩子，而后，给她空间的同时又能在需要时随时提供帮助。作者随时提醒自己，孩子需要尝试、成长以及表达自我的空间。
　　A， 孩子应被给予每一个表达自我的机会。原文说要给予孩子表达自我的空间，既然使用了“空间”一词，也就意味着不是所有的机会都可以交给孩子。而A暗含的意思是无论孩子想要表达什么，都不要有所限制，与文意并不相符。
　　B， 父母应该密切关注孩子们参与的活动。文中作者给出的建议是给孩子留有空间，又不离得太远，使得在他们需要帮助时可以随时提供帮助。而B中的keep an eye是始终密切关注的意思，与文意不符。
　　C，孩子应被给予通过经历实现成长的自由。第四段里的children need room to experiment是这句话的最好注解。
　　D，写作这个职业虽然吸引人，但并不是所有的孩子都适合去追求。作者的建议是关于子女教育问题的，并没有评价写作作为职业是否适合所有孩子的问题。