2. Which one of the following statements is TRUE of the bill signed by the governor?

[A] The bill could better safeguard the law-abiding citizen.

[B] The bill will encourage people to use guns more frequently.

[C] The bill will make the gun laws of Texas more lax.

[D] The bill will ensure the duty to retreat.

3. Towards the new gun law of Texas, the law-enforcement officials' attitude can be said to be _____.

[A] supportive

[B] opposing

[C] indifferent

[D] unclear

4. The idea conveyed by Oliver Wendell Holmes' statement is _____.

[A] that people will naturally resist when feeling threatened

[B] that people will need to protect themselves when facing crisis

[C] that people naturally feel threatened even there is no real danger

[D] that people will retreat when finding the danger

5. Which one of the following is TRUE of Texas' law?

[A] Texas is the 16th state to pass the duty to retreat through the legislature.

[B] Texas' new law won broad support from gun owners.

[C] Florida's law goes too far away when compared with the new law of Texas.

[D] The new law was passed quite smoothly.





文章剖析


这篇文章讲述了得克萨斯州的一项新的枪支法律。第一段由一条新闻引出了对得州枪支问题的讨论；第二段讲述得州枪支的拥有情况；第三段至第五段讲述得州出台的一项新的枪支法律使得该州的枪支法更为宽松；第六段讲述虽然之前有过许多枪杀惨案，但是得州仍然支持持有枪支合法。





词汇注释


conversant adj. 熟悉的

discretion n. 行动的自由

hysterical adj. 异常兴奋的

stickler n. 坚持己见的人





难句突破


① On Tuesday afternoon, as news about the Virginia Tech murders filtered out, the staff of a hamburger restaurant in downtown Austin gathered in front of a television suspended over the bar.

主体句式：..., the staff... gathered in front of...

结构分析：这是一个复合句，as引导的时间状语从句作句子的状语；后面的suspended... 是television的定语。

句子译文：星期二下午，关于弗吉尼亚科技学院杀人案的消息传开后，奥斯汀市中心一家汉堡包餐厅的员工聚集在吧台上方的电视机前。

② There is widespread sympathy for the idea that, as Oliver Wendell Holmes put it in 1921, “Detached reflection cannot be demanded in the presence of an uplifted knife.”

主体句式：There is widespread sympathy for the idea...

结构分析：这是一个复合句，that引导的部分是宾语the idea的同位语；as引导插入成分用来修饰后面引号中的句子。

句子译文：公众普遍认同Oliver Wendell Holmes于1921年提出的建议：“面对已经举起的刀时，不能要求人们没有任何反应。”





题目分析


1. The waiter speculated that the murderer must have had an accomplice because _____.

[A] the murderer was too young to commit such a serious murder by himself

[B] the murderer need an aid to reload bullets for him

[C] the murderer need someone to carry the weapon for him

[D] the murderer was instigated by some behind the curtain

1. 侍者推测凶手一定有同谋，因为 _____。

[A] 凶手太年轻了，不可能单独一个人犯下这么严重的罪行

[B] 凶手需要助手给自己装子弹

[B] 凶手需要有人为自己拿武器

[C] 凶手受到幕后人的指使

答案：B　难度系数：☆☆☆☆

分析：推理题。从这位侍者所说的话可以推断出来，他说这种手枪只能装下一定数量的子弹，凶手中间得停下来装弹，否则不可能一下子杀死这么多人。因为凶手需要有人为他装子弹，所以侍者才这样说。选项B符合题意。

2. Which one of the following statements is TRUE of the bill signed by the governor?

[A] The bill could better safeguard the law-abiding citizen.

[B] The bill will encourage people to use guns more frequently.

[C] The bill will make the gun laws of Texas more lax.

[D] The bill will ensure the duty to retreat.

2. 关于州长签署的议案，下列哪个陈述是正确的？

[A] 议案可以更好地保护遵纪守法的公民。

[B] 议案会鼓励人们更频繁地使用枪支。

[C] 议案使得得州的枪支法律更为宽松。

[D] 议案保证了退却义务。

答案：C　难度系数：☆☆☆

分析：推理题。文章第三段提到，该州长签署的议案去除了辨别是否有逃跑企图的需要，也就是说不管对方是否想要逃跑，公民都可以开枪。该法律赋予了公民更为宽松的使用枪支自由，但没有倡导退却义务。因此，选项B和D是不正确的，选项C是正确的陈述。选项A，该法律不一定能更好地保护公民，因为可能会使冲突升级，反而不利于公民的安全。

3. Towards the new gun law of Texas, the law-enforcement officials' attitude can be said to be _____.

[A] supportive

[B] opposing

[C] indifferent

[D] unclear

3. 对于得克萨斯州新的枪支法令，法律执行官员的态度可以说是 _____。

[A] 支持的

[B] 反对的

[C] 不关心的

[D] 不明确的

答案：B　难度系数：☆

分析：细节题。文章第四段提到了执法人员对该法律的看法，他们认为退却义务可以救命，因为可以防止人们的冲突升级。而新法律没有确保这种退却义务。而且第四段一开头就说该法案受到许多批评，接着就是执法人员的看法，这是说明批评的一个例子。因此，他们的态度是反对的，选项B为正确答案。

4. The idea conveyed by Oliver Wendell Holmes' statement is _____.

[A] that people will naturally resist when feeling threatened

[B] that people will need to protect themselves when facing crisis

[C] that people naturally feel threatened even there is no real danger

[D] that people will retreat when finding the danger

4. Oliver Wendell Holmes的话表达的意思是 _____。

[A] 人们感到威胁时会自然地起来抵抗

[B] 人们会在面临危机的时候需要保护自己

[C] 即使没有危险，人们也会感到受到了威胁

[D] 人们发现危险时会撤退

答案：A　难度系数：☆☆☆

分析：推理题。Oliver Wendell Holmes所说的话为：“面对已经举起的刀时，不能要求人们没有任何反应。”结合上下文，上文谈的是这项法律是没有必要存在的，提到这句话是为了反对法律允许人们不管是否有逃跑的企图都可以开枪。这句话引申到枪支上，也就是说人们看到枪支时不会无动于衷，一般会发生抵抗，这样会造成更大的冲突。因此，选项A最为符合题意。

5. Which one of the following is TRUE of Texas' law?

[A] Texas is the 16th state to pass the duty to retreat through the legislature.

[B] Texas' new law won broad support from gun owners.

[C] Florida's law goes too far away when compared with the new law of Texas.

[D] The new law was passed quite smoothly.

5. 关于得州的法律，下列哪个陈述是正确的？

[A] 得州是第16个经过立法机构通过退却义务的州。

[B] 得州的新法律得到了枪支拥有者们的广泛支持。

[C] 相比得州的新法律，佛罗里达州的法律走得太远了。

[D] 新法律顺利通过。

答案：D　难度系数：☆☆☆

分析：细节题。选项A，得州是第16个通过允许公民不用辨别是否有逃跑的企图就可以开枪的法律的州，不是通过退却义务的州。选项B，文章中提到“得克萨斯州的人们支持拥有枪支合法”，不仅仅是枪支的拥有者们才支持，因此该选项的说法过于狭隘。选项C，佛罗里达州的法律比得州的更为宽松。选项D，第五段提到“该议案还是获得了广泛的支持才最终通过立法”，正是因为赢得了广泛的支持，该法律才得以通过，因此是正确陈述。





参考译文


星期二下午，关于弗吉尼亚科技学院杀人案的消息传开后，奥斯汀市中心一家汉堡包餐厅的员工聚集在吧台上方的电视机前。一个长着娃娃脸的侍者推测，如果这个开枪者真的用了一支9毫米口径的手枪，那么他肯定有一个同谋。他说，这种手枪只能装下一定数量的子弹，他中间得停下来续装子弹。

得克萨斯人可以对枪支如数家珍，这并不稀奇。得州居民不需要许可证就可以购买枪支，而拥有枪支也不需要登记。因此，警察也不确定该州到底有多少枪支，但数量应该相当可观。在2001年的“行为风险因素监察调查”中，36%的被调查者称他们家中至少有一支枪。

该州的枪支法律不是很严格，而且有越来越松的倾向。3月份，Rick Perry州长签署了一项议案，赋予了开枪的自由。以前，只有在“行动者为有理智的人且没有逃跑”的情况下，得克萨斯人开枪才是合法的。而将于9月份生效的新法律却去掉了辨别是否有逃跑企图的这种需要。新法律认为，守法公民有理由坚持他们的立场。这也将使得开枪者免于民事诉讼。

该法律受到了许多批评。法律执行官员称，退却义务可以救命，因为这能防止冲突升级。新法律似乎在保护那些易冲动开枪的人，他们在没有真正威胁的情况下却感觉到自己受到了威胁。该法律可能不是必需的。在该州并没有劫车的危险，陪审团也并未坚持要求退却义务。公众普遍认同Oliver Wendell Holmes于1921年提出的建议：“面对已经举起的刀时，不能要求人们没有任何反应。”

但是，该议案还是获得了广泛的支持才最终通过立法。在某种程度上，这表示了该州回归过去的趋向。得克萨斯州直到1973年才承认了退却义务，是美国第16个通过这种法律的州，此前佛罗里达州于2005年通过了该法律。现在佛罗里达州的法律更加离谱，认为任何窃贼都有杀人的企图。

得克萨斯州的人们支持拥有枪支合法，尽管该州曾多次经历过大规模的杀人事件。1966年，位于奥斯汀的得克萨斯大学的一名学生Charles Whitman从学校钟塔上向近50名行人开枪，导致16人死亡。1991年，George Hennard驾驶自己的卡车冲入Killeen镇的一家餐馆，杀死了23名顾客，最后自杀。而在本周前发生的是美国历史上最为恐怖的校园枪击案，也是最残酷的多人被杀枪击案。





TEXT TWO


Tracy Borman can tell a good story. Admittedly, her subject is a gift. But Henrietta Howard, mistress to George II, lived in the midst of a large cast of characters, many of them entangled in the complicated politics of 18th-century court life, and Ms. Borman handles them and their world with aplomb.

Though the 18th century is called the Age of Reason, it was anything but. Henrietta was born in 1689, a year after the balance of power in Britain shifted from monarch to Parliament. But this did nothing to shift the tyranny of men over women, and Henrietta's life was largely shaped by violent and unreasonable men. When she was eight, her father, the profligate and choleric squire of Blickling Hall in Norfolk, challenged a neighbour to a duel for impugning his valour. He was killed for his pains, leaving a wife, eight children and a pile of debts. Eight years later, perhaps hoping to help her now motherless siblings, Henrietta released her dowry money by marrying a cousin, Charles Howard, 14 years her senior.

It was a disaster. Charles turned out to be a compulsive gambler and wife-beater, and their lives descended into lodging-house flits and near-starvation. Then, aged 25, Henrietta made her own astonishing gamble. In 1714, when Queen Anne lay dying, she took herself and Charles off to Hanover, where George Louis, heir presumptive to the English throne, held court. There she joined throngs of other hopefuls, all jockeying for the notice either of George Louis, or his son, George Augustus, or his daughter-in-law, Caroline.

Henrietta's gamble paid off, though frying pans and fires come to mind. Her appointment as Woman of the Bedchamber to Princess Caroline meant long days of tedious and exacting ceremony, such as holding her mistress's wash basin on bended knee, a point that Caroline spitefully insisted on when Henrietta became her husband's mistress. Not that that was much comfort, either. The man was a boor, and dull with it. In any case, Henrietta never really supplanted Caroline. Being a royal mistress was, in this case, more a post than a romance. But it suited Henrietta in that it protected her from her husband—something the law denied her.

Henrietta was known for her discreet and even temper, but she must also have had sharp elbows. As Ms. Borman vividly shows, the court was a scandal-mongering, fickle place, driven by political factionalism and held at fever pitch by the royal family's own very public quarrels. This was the atmosphere Henrietta breathed. And yet she somehow managed to be liked. Even acid-tongued poet, Alexander Pope, described her as reasonable, good-humoured, witty and, above all, a friend.

Some of Ms. Borman's most engaging writing describes Henrietta's circle of friends—poets, writers and wits such as Lord Chesterfield and Horace Walpole—and the pleasure they all took in the design of her Palladian villa, Marble Hill at Twickenham. When her husband's death made it safe for her to retire, this was where she came: to entertain, to re-marry, to have a home. After a life of winging it, such hard-wrung domesticity feels almost heroic.

1. Tracy Borman is probably _____.

[A] a story teller

[B] a historian

[C] a novelist

[D] an autobiographer

2. According to the passage, 18th century is characterized by _____.

[A] the widespread notion of reason

[B] extensive violence among men

[C] irrationality underneath the overcoat of rationality

[D] the tyranny of men over women

3. The word “supplanted” (Line 5, Paragraph 4) most probably means _____.

[A] hated

[B] displaced

[C] threatened

[D] pleased

4. Henrietta chose to be a royal mistress because _____.

[A] she wanted to have a romance with the royal family member

[B] such a royal post helped her to climb up the social ladder

[C] she wanted to dodge her husband

[D] she could be exempt from Caroline's tedious ceremony

5. Henrietta must have had sharp elbows in order to _____.

[A] maintain good temper when serving the royal family

[B] survive the complicated disputes

[C] have herself accepted by all the people she met

[D] make friends with reasonable people





文章剖析


这篇文章介绍了Tracy Borman笔下的历史人物Henrietta Howard。第一段讲述Tracy Borman以非常沉静的方式描写了Henrietta的世界；第二段讲述Henrietta的身世及她的婚姻；第三段讲述悲惨的婚姻令Henrietta另寻出路；第四段和第五段讲述Henrietta的宫廷生活；第六段讲述Tracy写得最好的片断和Henrietta的最后结局。





词汇注释


aplomb n. 冷静，沉着

profligate n. 享乐者

choleric adj. 易怒的

impugn vt. 责难，驳斥

valour n. 英勇，勇猛

dowry n. 嫁妆

heir presumptive 假定继承人

jockey vt. 用手段图谋某个职位或利益

exacting adj. 严格的

spitefully adv. 怀恨地，恶意地

boor n. 粗野的人

monger vt. 传播，散布

fickle adj. 薄情的

factionalism n. 派性，党派之争





难句突破


① But Henrietta Howard, mistress to George II, lived in the midst of a large cast of characters, many of them entangled in the complicated politics of 18th-century court life, and Ms. Borman handles them and their world with aplomb.

主体句式：But Henrietta Howard, ... lived..., and Ms. Borman handles them and their world...

结构分析：这是一个并列句，前面分句中，mistress to...是主语的同位语，many of them...是characters的同位语。

句子译文：Henrietta Howard，这位乔治二世的情人，生活在一大群人物中间，他们许多人都和18世纪宫廷生活的复杂政治纠结在一起，但Borman女士却能沉静地描述这些人以及他们的世界。

② Her appointment as Woman of the Bedchamber to Princess Caroline meant long days of tedious and exacting ceremony, such as holding her mistress's wash basin on bended knee, a point that Caroline spitefully insisted on when Henrietta became her husband's mistress.

主体句式：Her appointment meant..., such as...

结构分析：这是一个复合句，a point...是前面on bended knee的同位语；在该同位语中，that引导的是定语从句，修饰point，该定语从句中有when引导的时间状语从句。

句子译文：她成为了Caroline公主的卧室女仆，这就意味着她每天都得应付那些单调、严格的礼节，比如必须屈膝端着洗脸盆到某一高度，这是Caroline在Henrietta成为她丈夫的情妇后恶意坚持的。





题目分析


1. Tracy Borman is probably _____.

[A] a story teller

[B] a historian

[C] a novelist

[D] an autobiographer

1. Tracy Borman可能是 _____。

[A] 讲故事的人

[B] 历史学家

[C] 小说家

[D] 自传作家

答案：C　难度系数：☆☆

分析：推理题。文章第一句说Tracy Borman是个讲故事的好手，由此可以推断出她不是历史学家；而后面提到她对人物的描写，可以推断出她是写小说的。此外，这部书不是关于她自己的，因此她也不是一个自传作家。选项A有一定的干扰性，文章最后一段说Berman女士在描写人物时笔触迷人，由此可以推断她是个作家而不仅是个讲故事的人。因此，正确答案为C。

2. According to the passage, 18th century is characterized by _____.

[A] the widespread notion of reason

[B] extensive violence among men

[C] irrationality underneath the overcoat of rationality

[D] the tyranny of men over women

2. 根据这篇文章，18世纪的特点是 _____。

[A] 广为传播的理念——理性

[B] 男人之间充满了暴力

[C] 在理性外衣下的非理性

[D] 男人对于女人的残酷控治

答案：C　难度系数：☆☆☆

分析：细节题。文章第二段一开头就提到Though the 18th century is called the Age of Reason, it was anything but. 即18世纪被称为理性时代，但事实却恰恰相反。那么可以看出，18世纪在理性的外衣下，其实质是非理性的。因此，选项C为正确答案。

3. The word “supplanted” (Line 5, Paragraph 4) most probably means _____.

[A] hated

[B] displaced

[C] threatened

[D] pleased

3. supplanted这个词（第四段第五行）最有可能的意思是 _____。

[A] 憎恨

[B] 代替

[C] 威胁

[D] 讨好

答案：B　难度系数：☆

分析：猜词题。根据上下文，Caroline刁难Henrietta，因为知道她是自己丈夫的情人；而后面写的是王室的情人只是个“职位”，而没有浪漫可言；由此可以推断，Henrietta和国王的儿子并没有什么感情。因此，选项B最为合适，即Henrietta从来没有真正地替代公主。

4. Henrietta chose to be a royal mistress because _____.

[A] she wanted to have a romance with the royal family member

[B] such a royal post helped her to climb up the social ladder

[C] she wanted to dodge her husband

[D] she could be exempt from Caroline's tedious cere-mony

4. Henrietta选择去做王室的情人，是因为 _____。

[A] 她想要和王室成员有一段浪漫史

[B] 这样的一个王室职位能够帮助她爬上社会高层

[C] 她想要躲避自己的丈夫

[D] 她想要使自己免于遵守Caroline那些枯燥的仪式

答案：C　难度系数：☆☆☆

分析：细节题。第四段末尾提到，王室情人这个职位很适合Henrietta，因为可以保护她免受丈夫的伤害；而文章最后又提到，在她丈夫死后，她就马上离开了王宫。因此可以看出，她选择这个职位是为了躲避自己的丈夫，因此选项C为正确答案。A显然是一个干扰选项，而选项B的错误在于，文章并没有提及她想爬到社会高层。选项D也是错误的，因为那不是她的主要目的，而且她也必须履行那些仪式。