英語四級仔細閱讀練習附答案詳解

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　　As regards social conventions, we must say a word about the well-known English class system. 『This is an embarrassing subject for English people, and one they tend to be ashamed of, though during the present century class-consciousness has grown less and less, and the class system less rigid.』① But it still exists below the surface. Broadly speaking, it means there are two classes, the “middle class” and the “working class”. ***We shall ignore for a moment the old “upper class”, including the hereditary aristocracy, since it is extremely small in numbers; but some of its members have the right to sit in the House of Lords, and some newspapers take a surprising interest in their private life.*** The middle class consists chiefly of well-to-do businessmen and professional people of all kinds. The working class consists chiefly of manual and unskilled workers.

　　The most obvious difference between them is in their accent. Middle-class people use slightly varying kinds of “received pronunciation” which is the kind of English spoken by BBC announcers and taught to overseas pupils. Typical working-class people speak in many different local accents which are generally felt to be rather ugly and uneducated. One of the biggest barriers of social equality in England is the two-class education system. To have been to a so-called “public school” immediately marks you out as one of the middle class. The middle classes tend to live a more formal life than working-class people, and are usually more cultured. Their midday meal is “lunch” and they have a rather formal evening meal called “dinner”, whereas the working man’s dinner, if his working hours permit, is at midday, and his smaller, late-evening meal is called supper.

　　As we have said, however, the class system is much less rigid than it was, and for a long time it has been government policy to reduce class distinctions. 『Working-class students very commonly receive a university education and enter the professions, and working-class incomes have grown so much recently that the distinctions between the two classes are becoming less and less clear. 』②However, regardless of one’s social status, certain standards of politeness are expected of everybody, and a well-bred person is polite to everyone he meets, and treats a labourer with the same respect he gives an important businessman. Servility inspires both embarrassment and dislike. Even the word “sir”, except in school and in certain occupations ***e.g. commerce, the army etc.*** sounds too servile to be commonly used.

　　1.The middle class mainly refers to people .

　　A. who were born as aristocrat

　　B. who have the right to sit in the House of Lords

　　C. who speak in many different local accents

　　D. who are prosperous businessmen or who work in some professions

　　2. The most obvious difference between the working class and the middle class in English is their .

　　A. dress B. work 　C. accent D. meal

　　3. Why isn’t the word “sir” commonly used in Britain?

　　A. Because it sounds too servile and is likely to cause embarrassment. B. Because it can only be used in some certain occupations.

　　C. Because it is an impolite word.

　　D. Because it shows that the speaker is not a well-bred person.

　　4. The “upper class” in England today .

　　A. are extremely small in number so that media pays no attention to them

　　B. still uses old words like “Sir” in their everyday life

　　C. includes the hereditary aristocracy

　　D. refers only to the royal family

　　5. Which of the following is not true about the English class system?

　　A. It is an embarrassing subject for English people.

　　B. Working-class students cannot receive a university education.

　　C. The class system is much less rigid than it was.

　　D. The class system still exists below the surface.


 

　　Vocabulary

　　1. convention n. 習俗 　　2. embarrass v. 使困窘

　　rigid adj. 嚴格 　　 4. hereditary adj. 世襲的

　　manual adj. 體力的 　　 6. accent n. 口音

　　received pronunciation adj. ***英語的***標準發音

　　well-bred adj. 有教養的 9. servility n. 卑屈

　　10. occupation n. 職業

　　長難句解析

　　①【解析】這是一個複合句，主句由“and”引導的兩個並列句組成，“though”引導的讓步狀語從句，也是由兩個並列的句子組成。

　　【譯文】儘管本世紀等級意識越來越淡，等級制度也越來越不嚴格，但對於英國人來說它仍是一個尷尬的話題，仍舊引以為恥。

　　②【解析】這是一個複合句，由“and”引導的兩個並列句組成，“so…that”作“grown”的狀語。

　　【譯文】勞工家庭中的孩子上大學成為非常平常的事情，此後他們也加入各種專業行當。勞工階層的工資近來也快速增長，使得兩個階層間的界線越來越模糊。

　　答案與詳解

　　【短文大意】本文主要講述英國等級意識雖然越來越淡，但在表層下，等級仍然存在。而“階層”的最大區別是他們的口音。

　　1. D細節題。意為“那些比較富裕的生意人或有一定的職業的人”。見第一段的倒數第二句：中產階級主要包括富裕的生意人和有一定的職業的人。所以正確答案應該是 D。

　　2. C細節題。意為“口音”。見第二段的第一句：他們之間最明顯的區別是他們的口音。所以正確答案應該是 C。

　　3. A推斷題。意為“因為它聽起來太過謙卑，很可能會引起尷尬”。見文章的最後兩句：謙卑會引起尷尬和不悅。甚至像“先生”這樣的詞，除了在特定的職業中***如商業、軍隊***外，也不太常用，因為它聽起來太過謙卑。所以正確答案應該是 A。

　　4. C細節題。A選項前半是對的。上流社會人數很少，後半是錯的，媒體還在關注他們，注意一定要看清楚再選。B選項相關內容在文末。D沒有提到。B在第一段中間出現，是正確答案。

　　5. B細節題。意為“來自工人階級家庭的學生不能接受大學教育”。見第三段第二句的前半句：來自工人階級家庭的學生接受大學教育並且某種職業的情況已十分普遍。所以選項 B的答案與文章不相符，是正確答案。



 

　　There are people in Italy who can’t stand soccer. Not all Canadians love hockey. A similar situation exists in America, where there are those individuals you may be one of them who yawn or even frown when somebody mentions baseball. 『Baseball to them means boring hours watching grown men in funny tight outfits standing around in a field staring away while very little of anything happens.』① They tell you it’s a game better suited to the 19th century, slow, quiet, gentlemanly. These are the same people you may be one of them who love football because there’s the sport that glorifies “the hit”.

　　By contrast, baseball seems abstract, cool, silent, still.

　　On TV the game is fractured into a dozen perspectives, replays, close?ups. The geometry of the game, however, is essential to understanding it. You will contemplate the game from one point as a painter does his subject; you may, of course, project yourself into the game. It is in this projection that the game affords so much space and time for involvement. The TV won’t do it for you.

　　Take, for example, the third baseman. You sit behind the third base dugout and you watch him watching home plate. His legs are apart, knees flexed. His arms hang loose. He does a lot of this. The skeptic still cannot think of any other sports so still, so passive. 『But watch what happens every time the pitcher throws: the third baseman goes up on his toes, flexes his arms or bring the glove to a point in front of him, takes a step right or left, backward or forward, perhaps he glances across the field to check his first baseman’s position.』② Suppose the pitch is a ball. “Nothing happened,” you say. “I could have had my eyes closed.”

　　The skeptic and the innocent must play the game. And this involvement in the stands is no more intellectual than listening to music is. Watch the third baseman. Smooth the dirt in front of you with one foot; smooth the pocket in your glove; watch the eyes of the batter, the speed of the bat, the sound of horsehide on wood. If football is a symphony of movement and theatre, baseball is chamber music, a spacious interlocking of notes, chores and responses.

　　1. The passage is mainly concerned with .

　　A. the different tastes of people for sports

　　B. the different characteristics of sports

　　C. the attraction of football

　　D. the attraction of baseball

　　2. Those who don’t like baseball may complain that .

　　A. it is only to the taste of the old

　　B. it involves fewer players than football

　　C. it is not exciting enough

　　D. it is pretentious and looks funny

　　The author admits that .

　　A. baseball is too peaceful for the young

　　B. baseball may seem boring when watched on TV

　　C. football is more attracting than baseball

　　D. baseball is more interesting than football

　　4. By stating “I could have had my eyes closed. ” the author means ***4th paragraph last sentence***: 　 A. The third baseman would rather sleep than play the game.

　　B. Even if the third baseman closed his eyes a moment ago, it could make no different to the result. 　 C. The third baseman is so good at baseball that he could finish the game with eyes closed all the time and do his work well.

　　D. The consequent was too bad he could not bear to see it.

　　5. We can safely conclude that the author.

　　A. likes football B. hates football

　　C. hates baseball D. likes baseball


 

　　Vocabulary

　　1. dugout n.　棒球場邊供球員休息的地方

　　2. pitcher n.　投手 3. symphony n.　交響樂

　　4. chamber n.　室內 　　5. contemplate vt.沉思，注視

　　長難句解析

　　①【解析】此句的主幹是“Baseball…means…watching…”，其中“in funny tight outfits”用來修飾“grown men”,“standing…”和“staring”用來做“grown men”的定語。 【譯文】對於他們來說，棒球就是在無聊的幾個小時中幾個身著緊身衣的大人佇立在場地周圍沒事可做地東張西望。

　　②【解析】這是一個複合句，“goes up…”，“flexes…”“takes…”，“glances…”做“the third baseman”的並列謂語。 【譯文】但每當投球手擲出球的那一瞬間，你再看吧，三壘運動員腳尖點地，屈臂或把接球手套直指前方，左右移動步伐，或前或後，或許他還要越過場地盯著一壘球手的動作。

　　答案與詳解

　　【短文大意】本文主要講述壘球的特徵及欣賞。

　　1. D主旨題。文章第一段簡述了人們對壘球所持的偏見——認為它毫無活力、從容和緩，不像橄欖球那樣***禁止***迭起、令人激動。文章的第二、三、四、五段探討了壘球的根本特徵及欣賞角度，文章的最後一句話用一個比喻概括了壘球的魅力：“如果橄欖球是一曲交響樂的話，那麼，壘球中所表現出來的運動恰似一曲優美的室內樂。”可見，本文主要探討的是壘球的特點及其欣賞。 A不對，第一段也確實提到了不同觀眾對不同運動形式的偏好，但這只是用以引出對壘球的特徵及欣賞的討論。

　　2. C細節題。文章第一段指出：許多人不喜歡壘球，一提起壘球這些人就打哈欠甚至皺眉頭。對他們來說，看壘球意味著眼巴巴地觀望著身著運動裝***outfit***的人呆立在球場上，東瞧瞧西望望，很少有什麼***激動人心的***事發生——沒意思透了。他們認為這樣的運動更適合上個世紀的人的口味，不像橄欖球那樣充滿活力。 A意為：“它只適合老年人的口味。”注意：原文說的是適合上個世紀的人的口味，二者意味不一樣。 D意為：“它矯揉造作、滑稽可笑。”這與說它gentlemanly***具有紳士風度，矜持，即：沒有衝撞或拼搶***不一樣。

　　3. B推斷題。第三段指出，在電視上，壘球運動被切換成不同角度的畫面，而且不斷地使用重放、特寫等電視製作技術，這破壞了該運動的整體運動感，使觀眾無法將自己投入***project***到運動中去，以體會到這種寓動於靜的運動之美。電視做不到這一點***The TV won’t do it for you***，因此，電視上的壘球比賽看上去***seems***孤孤單單、冷冷清清、沉沉靜靜、慢慢騰騰。C、D不對，作者僅指出了不同運動有不同運動的特徵，並未說哪種運動優於哪種。參閱文章最後一句。

　　4. B推斷題。第四段整個都在描述壘球場上的一個場景：拿三壘的運動員假設對方全投出好球，作好了一切準備，但是對方投出的並不是好球。所以在那時候他的準備做不做都不會影響比賽結果。他說本來可以閉上眼睛，意思就是B項所寫的。A、C、D都不符合作者的意圖。這道題需要完整地瞭解第四段內容才能作好選擇。

　　5. D推斷題。在本文中，作者主要探討了壘球的特徵及欣賞，作者著重指出的是：只有根據壘球的特徵來欣賞它，才能體會到它的魅力。在他看來，觀察到壘球比賽中運動員的各種動作、壘球位之間的關係等是欣賞它的關鍵***第三段第二句***。只有從整體來把握它，才能看到每一個小的動作、每一個眼神乃至於“靜止”的意義，也只有這樣，才能全身心地投入比賽中，欣賞到它的魅力。可見，作者對壘球有很深的理解而且非常喜愛壘球。主要參考第三、四、五段。