Text 2


Charles Reznikoff （1894～1976）worked relentlessly，never leaving New York but for a brief stay in Hollywood，of all places．He was admired by Pound and Kenneth Burke，and often published his own works; in the Depression era，he managed a treadle printing press in his basement．He wrote three sorts of poems: exceptionally short imagistic lyrics; longer pieces crafted and cobbled from other sources，often from the Judaic tradition; and book-length poems wrought from the testimony both of Holocaust trials and from the courtrooms of turn-of-the-century America．Two of these full-length volumes were indeed titled“Testimony,” as was an earlier prose work; it was a word that kept him close company．When asked late in life to define his poetry，it was not the word he chose.

“Objectivist,” he wrote，naming his longstanding group，and mimicking poetic style with a single prose sentence:“images clear but the meaning not stated but suggested by the objective details and the music of the verse; words pithy and plain; without the artifice of regular meters; themes，chiefly Jewish，American，urban.” If the sentence sounds hard-won，this is perhaps because it was．Four decades earlier，he wrote in a letter to friends，“There is a learned article about my verse in Poetry this month，from which I learn that I am an objectivist.” The learned fellow was Louis Zukofsky，brilliant eminence of the Objectivists，“with whom I disagree as to both form and content of verse，but to whom I am obliged for placing some of my things here and there.” So read Reznikoff's conclusion in 1931，with its fillip of polite resentment.

Movements and schools are arbitrary and immaterial things by which poetic history is told．This must have rankled Reznikoff，who spent his writing life tracing the material and the necessary.

Born a child of immigrants in Brooklyn in 1894，he was in journalism school at 16，took a law degree at 21．Though he was little interested in legal practice，the ideas would be near the heart of his writing．Ideal poetic language，he wrote，“is restricted almost to the testimony of a witness in a court of law.” If this suggests a congenital optimism about the law，it made for astonishingly care-filled poetry．Reznikoff is unsurpassed in conveying the sense that the world is worth getting right．Not the glorious or the damaged world，but the world that is everything that is the case．Reznikoff's faith in the facts of the case takes on an intensity no less social than spiritual，no greater when surveying the Old Testament than New York．This collection gathers all his poems （but for those already book-length）by the technique of compressing onto single pages as many as five or six at a time．This can lessen the force; each is a sort of American haiku，though no more impressionistic than a hand-operated printing press．One such，numbered 69 in the volume“Jerusalem the Golden,” runs in its length:“Among the heaps of brick and plaster lies a girder，still itself among the rubbish.” This exemplary couplet is sometimes taken to represent Reznikoff's poetry itself，immutable and certain amid the transitory.

6．By saying“it was a word that kept him close company”（Line 7，Paragraph 1），the author implies ______.

A) Charles Reznikoff always wrote works about testimony

B) Charles Reznikoff was always involved in the testimony affairs

C) Charles Reznikoff liked to write testimony

D) Charles Reznikoff is a busy lawyer

7．Reznikoff's attitude to the fact that he was grouped as objectivist is ______.

A) approval

B) indifference

C) opposition

D) suspicion

8．The word“rankled” （Line 2，Paragraph 3）probably means ______.

A) interested

B) angered

C) pleased

D) consoled

9．We can learn from the fourth paragraph that ______.

A) Reznikoff liked to learn law

B) Reznikoff was more interested in spiritual world than in social world

C) it is astonishing that Reznikoff wrote care-filled poetry

D) Reznikoff was greatly influenced by his legal experience in his poetry writing

10．By citing the poem in the last paragraph，the author intends to ______.

A) show that the force is lessoned in this way

B) show that the poem is not impressionistic

C) show that the poem is immutable

D) show that the poem is compressed





题目分析


6．A 语义题。原句是“Two of these full-length volumes were indeed titled ‘Testimony,' as was an earlier prose work; it was a word that kept him close company.”（长篇中的两篇题目就是‘证词’，早些的散文作品也是，这个词一直伴随他左右。）从这句话前面对他作品的介绍也可以看出，这些长篇诗歌是来源于一些证词的，这就是为什么他一直和证词有关的原因，也就是为什么这个词一直和他有关。答案A“查尔斯经常写一些和证词有关的作品”；B“查尔斯经常被卷入证词事件中”；C“查尔斯喜欢写证词”；D“查尔斯是个忙碌的律师”。四个答案中最符合题意的是A。

7．C 情感态度题。Reznikoff对待他被归为客观主义流派的态度可以追溯文章中谈到客观主义部分，文章第二段提到他被看作是客观主义流派，对此他的态度可以从他的话语中看出，“The learned fellow was Louis Zukofsky，brilliant eminence of the Objectivists，‘with whom I disagree as to both form and content of verse，but to whom I am obliged for placing some of my things here and there.'”从disagree一词中就可以看出他对这种评价持反对态度，后面提到“So read Reznikoff's conclusion in 1931，with its fillip of polite resentment．”从resentment也可以得出这个结论，因此答案该选C。

8．B 语义题。该词所在原句是“This must have rankled Reznikoff，who spent his writing life tracing the material and the necessary.”（这一定______Reznikoff，他的写作生涯主要就是描述物质的和必然的东西。）这句话还需要结合上下文来看，上文提到运动和流派是讲述诗歌历史的随意、非物质的东西，而上一段提到Reznikoff对于被归为客观主义流派表示不满，可以得出他对此持否定态度，因此A（使感兴趣）、B（激怒）、C（使高兴）、D（安慰）中，B最符合逻辑。

9．D 推理题。第四段主要讲述了Reznikoff青年学习法律，以及他诗歌创作中法律的作用。下面逐一分析答案：A“Reznikoff喜欢学习法律”，从第四段“he was little interested in legal practice”可以看出他对此并不热衷，该选项不符合原文；B“Reznikoff更加喜欢精神世界”，从第四段“Reznikoff's faith in the facts of the case takes on an intensity no less social than spiritual...”可以看出，他对社会方面的热衷不比精神世界差，因此该选项不符合原文；C“Reznikoff能写出充满关切的诗歌使人惊讶”，文章提到“If this suggests a congenital optimism about the law，it made for astonishingly care-filled poetry.”（如果这暗示着对法律天生的乐观的话，这种天赋正是由于写出了令人惊讶的充满关切诗歌而有的。）虽然提到“令人惊讶”，但不是说他可以写出诗歌令人惊讶，因此也不符合原文；D“Reznikoff的诗歌写作很大程度上受其法律经验的影响”，其实整个段落讲述了他虽然年青时代不热衷法律，但是在其写作中处处有法律的影响，因此D是符合原文的答案。

10．D 细节题。文章最后一段刚开始讲的是：诗集将五六首诗压缩在一页上，这样会削弱诗歌的力度。尽管不是每首诗都会给人留下深刻印象，但每首诗都是一种美国式俳句。这之后又提到“One such，numbered 69 in the volume ‘Jerusalem the Golden,' runs in its length”，因此可以看出，列出这首诗还是为了说明压缩诗很短，因此答案为D。





Text 3


William Shakespeare described old age as“second childishness”—sans teeth，sans eyes，sans taste．In the case of taste he may，musically speaking，have been even more perceptive than he realized．A paper in Neurology by Giovanni Frisoni and his colleagues at the National Centre for Research and Care of Alzheimer's Disease in Brescia，Italy，shows that one form of senile dementia can affect musical desires in ways that suggest a regression，if not to infancy，then at least to a patient's teens.

Frontotemporal dementia is caused，as its name suggests，by damage to the front and sides of the brain．These regions are concerned with speech，and with such“higher” functions as abstract thinking and judgment．Frontotemporal damage therefore produces different symptoms from the loss of memory associated with Alzheimer's disease，a more familiar dementia that affects the hippocampus and amygdala in the middle of the brain．Frontotemporal dementia is also rarer than Alzheimer’s．In the past five years the centre in Brescia has treated some 1,500 Alzheimer's patients; it has seen only 46 with frontotemporal dementia.

Two of those patients interested Dr Frisoni．One was a 68-year-old lawyer，the other a 73-year-old housewife．Both had undamaged memories，but displayed the sorts of defect associated with frontotemporal dementia—a diagnosis that was confirmed by brain scanning.

About two years after he was first diagnosed the lawyer，once a classical music lover who referred to pop music as“mere noise”，started listening to the Italian pop band“883”．As his command of language and his emotional attachments to friends and family deteriorated，he continued to listen to the band at full volume for many hours a day．The housewife had not even had the lawyer's love of classical music，having never enjoyed music of any sort in the past．But about a year after her diagnosis she became very interested in the songs that her 11-year-old granddaughter was listening to.

This kind of change in musical taste was not seen in any of the Alzheimer's patients，and thus appears to be specific to those with frontotemporal dementia．And other studies have remarked on how frontotemporal-dementia patients sometimes gain new talents．Five sufferers who developed artistic abilities are known．And in another lapse of musical taste，one woman with the disease suddenly started composing and singing country and western songs.

Dr Frisoni speculates that the illness is causing people to develop a new attitude towards novel experiences．Previous studies of novelty-seeking behavior suggest that it is managed by the brain's right frontal lobe．A predominance of the right over the left frontal lobe，caused by damage to the latter，might thus lead to a quest for new experience．Alternatively，the damage may have affected some specific neural circuit that is needed to appreciate certain kinds of music．Whether that is a gain or a loss is a different matter．As Dr Frisoni puts it in his article，“de gustibus non disputandum est.” Or，in plainer words，there is no accounting for taste.

11．Shakespeare described old age as“second childishness”（Line 1，Paragraph 1），for they have the same ______.

A) favorite

B) memory

C) experience

D) sense

12．Which one is NOT a symptom of Frontotemporal dementia?

A) The loss of memory.

B) The loss of judgment.

C) The loss of abstract thinking.

D) The loss of speech.

13．From the two patients mentioned in the passage，it can be concluded that ______.

A) their command of language has deteriorated

B) their emotional attachments to friends and family are being lost

C) the Frontotemporal dementia can bring new gifts

D) Frontotemporal dementia can cause patients to change their musical tastes

14．The“novel” in the last paragraph means ______.

A) historical

B) special

C) story-like

D) strange

15．From the passage，it can be inferred that ______.

A) the damage of the left frontal lobe may affect some specific neural circuit

B) the lawyer patient has the left frontal lobe damaged

C) the damage of the left frontal lobe decreased the appreciation certain kinds of music

D) every patient has the same taste





题目分析


11．D 细节题。文章第一句“莎士比亚把老年人比作人生第二个幼年期”，紧接着后面“sans teeth，sans eyes，sans taste”是补充说明，sans不知道是什么意思，但可以推断老人和婴儿在牙齿、眼睛、味觉方面的特点，即在这些方面都不敏感（sans 是法语，意思是“没有”），那么A （爱好）、B（记忆）、C（经历）、D（感觉）中，符合原文的应该是D，因为牙齿、眼睛、味觉都和感官有关。

12．A 细节题。文章第二段提到脑周损伤痴呆，顾名思义，脑周受到破坏后会影响语言表达能力、抽象思维能力和判断能力，因此答案中只有A“丧失记忆”是文章没有提到的。

13．D 推理题。文章第五段中提到“这种音乐品味的变化在Alzheimer's病人中是看不到的。它好像是脑周痴呆病人特有的症状。” 而且文中提到的这两个人都是在爱好的音乐类型上发生了变化，所以答案A（驾驭语言的能力衰退）、B（对朋友和家人的感情疏远）、C（脑周痴呆可能会引发出新的兴趣和天分）、D（痴呆可使病人在音乐品味上发生变化）中，D最为适合。虽然第五段也提到了这种病可以让人产生新的天分，但这是其他的研究所发现的。

14．D 语义题。最后一段Frisoni论述到疾病使人对新鲜事物产生兴趣“A predominance of the right over the left frontal lobe，caused by damage to the latter，might thus lead to a quest for new experience.”A（历史的）、B（特别的）、C（特殊的，故事般的）、D（新奇的，稀奇的），这四个答案中，D最为符合。

15．B 推理题。文章最后一段解释了为什么病人会对一些新奇的经验有新的态度。“Previous studies of novelty-seeking behavior suggest that it is managed by the brain's right frontal lobe．A predominance of the right over the left frontal lobe，caused by damage to the latter，might thus lead to a quest for new experience．Alternatively，the damage may have affected some specific neural circuit that is needed to appreciate certain kinds of music.”“研究表明，大脑的右前体控制人追求稀奇事务的行为。一旦左前体受损，右前脑体作用突出，随即引发人对新事物的兴趣。或者说，这种损伤会影响用来欣赏某种音乐的特殊神经电路。” A“左半脑体受损影响一些特殊神经电路”，根据文章，这种损伤能导致两种结果，不一定会影响神经电路；B“那位律师病人的左前脑体受损了”，律师对音乐的喜好发生了变化，这证明是左前脑体受损了；C“左半脑体受损能减少对音乐的喜好”，文中仅提到会影响，至于是增加还是减少对音乐的喜好就不一定了；D“每个病人有同样的品位”，从文章最后一句可以看出，每个人的品位是不同的。





Text 4


Compared with the glamorous thrill of the presidential primary，state elections in New Hampshire do not grip the voter—all those unfamiliar names，way down at the end of the ballot．That，at least，is the current explanation of how Tom Alciere managed to get elected to the state legislature last November．After an uneventful campaign of hand-shaking and sign-waving，this Republican from Nashua，who had lost several previous bids for office，won a seat by 55 votes．Whereupon his constituents learned that he was an advocate of killing policemen.

Mr．Alciere had not tried to conceal this．He posted vigorous notes on Internet discussion boards; one，in October，declared that“nobody will ever be safe until the last cop is dead.” He often joined in radio talk shows，sometimes describing himself as“Angry Tom”．But in his election campaign Mr．Alciere was much mistier: he promised only to fight for individual freedom．He later said that he did not bring up his opinions about the police because nobody asked.

This has prompted some soul-searching among journalists，and others，who failed to spot Angry Tom behind Candidate Tom．Mr．Alciere blames the voters．In one Internet message，he called his constituents“a bunch of fat，stupid，ugly old ladies that watch soap operas，play bingo，read tabloids and don’t know the metric system.” These people，be it noted，are part of the New Hampshire electorate that is so often admired for its maverick charm，wielding much power in the choice of America's presidents through its first-in-the-nation primary.

The point is that New Hampshire pays attention to presidential races，but considers its own state law makers pretty unimportant．As Ken Gidge，a radio talk show host，puts it，quite possibly“a dog-catcher in a particular community has more power.” New Hampshire's legislature has 400 members who face re-election every two years and earn an annual salary of $100．The legislature is a“dinosaur with a tiny little brain”，a symbol of New Hampshire's disdain for government，says Arnie Arnesen，a political science professor at Franklin Pierce College．She claims that，in the past，some of its members have been found to have mental problems．No doubt others held opinions as pungent as Mr．Alciere’s; but they did not have an Internet on which to publicize them.

At first，Mr．Alciere refused to leave his seat，insisting he was“not a nut”．Then he said that he would step down，if 11 law makers pledged to bring his pet bills to a roll-call vote．He wants to legalize drugs，ban involuntary commitments to mental institutions，and replace state schools with online education．On January 10th，a compromise was reached: another freshman Republican agreed to submit eight of his proposals，and Mr．Alciere resigned．Some think he should have been kept around—to remind voters that they sometimes get what they deserve.

16．Tom Alciere could have been elected to the state legislature because ______.

A) people were familiar with his name for his several attendance campaigns

B) he was a charming person and gave thrills to his people

C) he approved of killing policemen

D) he was always the last one on the ballot list

17．In the election campaign，Mr．Alciere ______.

A) declared that all the cops should be killed

B) showed his anger on radio talk shows

C) didn’t answer the questions about the police issue

D) only played tricks with his constituents

18．Which of the following statements is NOT true?

A) Some New Hampshire electorate has a little prestige in government.

B) Journalists didn’t pay enough attention to Alciere's hatred to police.

C) Tom blamed his voters just to draw people's attention.

D) The“stupid，fat，ugly old ladies” are a little popular in society.

19．The legislature is a“dinosaur with a tiny little brain（Lines 4～5，Paragraph 4）”，which implies ______.

A) New Hampshire pays too much attention to presidential races

B) some of the legislature members have mental problems

C) some people want to be as pungent as Mr．Alciere

D) there is indifference of the people on its own state governing

20．Mr．Alciere at last ______.

A) refused to leave his seat

B) would never pay his pet bills

C) resigned with some compromises accepted by the legislature