阅读试题

It happened to me recently. I was telling someone how much I had enjoyed reading Barack Obama's Dreams From My Father and how it had changed my views of our President. A friend I was talking to agreed with me that it was, in his words, "a brilliantly (精彩地) written book". However, he then went on to talk about Mr. Obama in a way which suggested he had no idea of his background at all. I sensed that I was talking to a book liar.

And it seems that my friend is not the only one. Approximately two thirds of people have lied about reading a book which they haven't. In the World Book Day's "Report on Guilty Secrets", Dreams From My Father is at number 9. The report lists ten books, and various authors, which people have lied about reading, and as I'm not one to lie too often (I'd hate to be caught out), I'll admit here and now that I haven't read the entire top ten. But I am pleased to say that, unlike 42 percent of people, I have read the book at number one, George Orwell's 1984. I think it's really brilliant.

The World Book Day report also has some other interesting information in it. It says that many people lie about having read Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, Fyodor Dostoevsky (I haven't read him, but haven't lied about it either) and Herman Melville.

Asked why they lied, the most common reason was to "impress" someone they were speaking to. This could be tricky if the conversation became more in–depth!

But when asked which authors they actually enjoy, people named J. K. Rowling, John Grisham, Sophie Kinsella (ah, the big sellers, in other words). Forty-two percent of people asked admitted they turned to the back of the book to read the end before finishing the story (I'll come clean: I do this and am astonished that 58 percent said they had never done so).

阅读试题

64. How did the author find his friend a book liar?

A. By judging his manner of speaking. 　

B. By looking into his background.

C. By mentioning a famous name. 　　　

D. By discussing the book itself.

65. Which of the following is a "guilty secret" according to the World Book Day report?

A. Charles Dickens is very low on the top-ten list.

B. 42% of people pretended to have read 1984.

C. The author admitted having read 9 books.

D. Dreams From My Father is hardly read.

66. By lying about reading, a person hopes to 　　 .

A. control the conversation 　

B. appear knowledgeable

C. learn about the book 　　　

D. make more friends

67. What is the author's attitude to 58% of readers?

A. Favorable.

B. Uncaring 　

C. Doubtful 　

D. Friendly

参考译文

这是最近的事。我告诉别人我是多么喜欢读巴拉克•奥巴马的《我父亲的梦想》这本书，以及它是如何改变我对我们的总统的看法的。同我谈论的一个朋友也同意我的观点，用他的话说“这是一本写的很精彩的书”。然而，之后他接着以这种一点儿也不了解奥巴马的背景的方式来谈论奥巴马。我觉得我是在和一个书骗子交谈。

似乎我的朋友并不是唯一的一个。大约有三分之二的人曾撒谎说他们读过某本他们从未读过的书。在世界读书日“有罪的秘密报告”中，《我父亲的梦想》排在第九位。该报告列举了人们曾经谎报阅读过的十本书以及各种各样的作者，但我不是一个经常说谎的人(我讨厌被发现)，我承认现在我没有完整的读过前十本书。但我很高兴地说，与42%的人不同的是，我读过排名第一的乔治·奥威尔的《1984》这本书。我认为这本书写得非常出色。

世界读书日的报告上也有一些其他有趣的信息。据说很多人撒谎曾拜读过简·奥斯丁，查尔斯.狄更斯，陀思妥耶夫斯基(我没有读过他的书，但我也没有撒谎)和赫尔曼·麦尔维尔。

要问他们为什么撒谎，最常见的理由就是要“打动”与他们说话的人。谈话是否能够变得更加深入，这可能是个非常棘手的问题!

但当问及他们最喜欢读哪个作者时，人们都说J.K罗琳，约翰·葛里逊或是索菲•金塞拉(换句话说，就是畅销书)。被问的人中有百分之四十二的人承认他们是从书后面开始读的，在读完故事之前就已经读了结局(我坦白:我也这样做过，并且我惊讶地发现58%的人说他们从来没有这样做过)。

答案解析

64. D 考查细节理解。根据第一段的倒数第二句可知，作者与朋友进一步交流对奥巴马所写的书的看法。根据朋友所说的话，作者断定他根本没有读过这本书。

65.B 考查细节理解。根据第二段的倒数第二句并结合上文"The report lists ten books, and various authors, which people have lied about reading"可知,42%的人撒谎说读过《1984》这本书。

66. B 考查推理判断。根据文章箕第四段的第一句可知，撒谎说读过某本书的人是为了给别人留下深刻的印象，由此可推知B项正确。

67. C 考查态度推断。根据文章第五段的"am astonished that 58 percent said they had never done so"可知作者对58%的人说的话感到吃惊，即他对这些话的真实性表示怀疑。