閱讀理解分析（A） 專項練習與答案精講 二

閱讀理解分析（A） 專項練習與答案精講 二

（二）A Tale of Scottish Rural Life

Lewis Grassic Gibbon's Sunset Song (1932) was voted "the best Scottish novel of all time" by Scotland's reading public in 2005. Once considered shocking for its frank description of aspects of the lives of Scotland's poor rural farmers, it has been adapted for stage, film, TV and radio in recent decades.

The novel is set on the fictional estate of Kin Addie, in the farming country of the Scottish northwest in the years up to and beyond World War Ⅰ. At its heart is the story of Chris, who is both part of the community and a little outside it.

Lewis Gibbon gives us the most detailed and intimate account of the life of his heroine (女主人公). We watch her grow through a childhood dominated by her cruel but hardworking father; experience tragedy (her mother's suicide and murder of her twin children); and learn about her feelings as she grows into a woman. We see her marry, lose her husband, then marry again. Chris has seemed so convincing a figure to some female readers that they cannot believe that she is the creation of a man.

But it would be misleading to suggest that this book is just about Chris. It is truly a novel of a place and its people. Its opening section tells of Kin Addie's long history, in a language that imitates the place's changing patterns of speech and writing.

The story itself is amazingly full of characters and incidents. It is told from Chris' point of view but also from that of the gossiping community, a community where everybody knows everybody else's business and nothing is ever forgotten.

Sunset Song has a social theme too. It is concerned with what Lewis Gibbon perceives as the destruction of traditional Scottish rural life first by modernization and then by World War Ⅰ. Gibbon tried hard to show how certain characters resist the war. Despite this, the war takes the young men away, a number of them to their deaths. In particular, it takes away Chris' husband, Evan Avondale. The war finally kills Evan, but not in the way his widow is told. In fact, the Germans aren't responsible for his death, but his own side. He is shot because he is said to have run away from a battle.

If the novel is about the end of one way of life, it also looks ahead. It is a "Sunset Song" but is concerned too with the new Kin Addie, indeed of the new European world. Lewis Gibbon went on to publish two other novels about the place that continue its story.

1. What is Sunset Song mainly about?

A. The First World War.

B. The beauty of the sunset.

C. The new European world.

D. The lives of rural Scottish farmers.

2. Which statement is NOT true of Chris?

A. She is the heroine of Sunset Song.

B. She had a miserable childhood.

C. She is the creation of a man.

D. She married only once.

3. What is the opening section of the novel mainly concerned with?

A. The climate of Kin Addie.

B. The history of Kin Addie.

C. The geography of Kin Addie.

D. The language spoken in Kin Addie.

4. Who killed Chris' husband, Evan?

A. His own troops.

B. The French army.

C. The Germans.

D. The Russian soldiers.

5. The word "sunset" in the title of this novel most probably means________.

A. the end of the heroine's life

B. the end of the story

C. the end of the traditional way of life

D. the end of the day

［高頻考點］

考點1：主旨題；

考點2：細節(jié)信息的查找；

考點3：采用排除法解決三正一誤題；

考點4：首先排除文中未提到的信息，提高正確率；

考點5：猜詞題。

［主旨大意］

劉易斯·格拉斯克·基邦的《日暮之歌》（1932年）在2005年被蘇格蘭讀書界投票選為“所有時代中的最佳小說”。這部作品曾因其對蘇格蘭鄉(xiāng)村貧民生活的全面、坦率地描寫而一度震驚讀者。

小說中的故事發(fā)生在第一次世界大戰(zhàn)前后，地點位于蘇格蘭西北農(nóng)業(yè)區(qū)一個名為“金萊迪”的虛擬莊園。小說的主線是克里斯。書中，劉易斯·基邦詳細地介紹了主人公的生活。此外，這也是一部描寫整個地區(qū)及其居民的作品。

《日暮之歌》也有一個社會化的主題。劉易斯·基邦把現(xiàn)代化進程以及隨后的一戰(zhàn)都看做是一股摧毀蘇格蘭傳統(tǒng)鄉(xiāng)村生活的力量?；罱吡φ宫F(xiàn)了小說中的一些人物是如何抵制戰(zhàn)爭的。它既是一首“日暮之歌”，也是一首關(guān)于“新金萊迪”（實則喻指整個“新歐洲”）的歌。

［長難句結(jié)構(gòu)解析］

1. At its heart is the story of Chris, who is both part of the community and a little outside it.

（1）畫線部分為倒裝句，正常語序為“The story of Chris is at its heart”。

（2）后接who引導的定語從句。

（3）參考譯文：小說的主線是克里斯，一個既屬于當?shù)厣鐓^(qū)而又不太合群的人。

2. Chris has seemed so convincing a figure to some female readers that they cannot believe that she is the creation of a man.

（1）such... that...與so... that...都可以用來引導結(jié)果狀語從句，意為“如此……以致……”。

such是形容詞，它所修飾的名詞可以是可數(shù)名詞，也可以是不可數(shù)名詞；名詞前面可以帶形容詞，也可以不帶。如果其后是單數(shù)可數(shù)名詞，前面需加不定冠詞a或an。因此，such... that...的句型結(jié)構(gòu)可分為以下三種：

①such＋a(n) (＋adj. )＋單數(shù)可數(shù)名詞＋that從句。

She is such a good teacher that all of us love and respect her.

她是一位很好的老師，我們都敬愛她。

Table tennis is such an interesting game that people all over the world play it.

乒乓球是一項很有趣的運動，以致全世界的人都參加這項運動。

②such (＋adj. )＋復數(shù)可數(shù)名詞＋that從句。

They are such interesting books that I want to read them once more.

這些書非常有趣，我想再讀一遍。

③such (＋adj. )＋不可數(shù)名詞＋that從句。

It was such bad weather that I had to stay at home.

天氣太壞，以致我不得不待在家里。

so是副詞，與形容詞或副詞連用，其結(jié)構(gòu)是：so＋adj. (adv. )＋that從句。

He ran so fast that I couldn't catch up with him.

他跑得那么快，我趕不上他。

I am so sleepy that I can hardly keep my eyes open.

我太困了，眼睛幾乎睜不開了。

（2）參考譯文：對于一些女性讀者來說，克里斯是一個那么真實的女人以至于讓人很難相信她出自于一個男性作家的手筆。

［答案解析］

1．D。［解析］主旨題。題干考查的是《日暮之歌》的大意。文章開篇在介紹《日暮之歌》的時候是這樣描述的：Once considered shocking for its frank description of aspects of the lives of Scotland's poor rural farmers...，由此可以看出，《日暮之歌》主要描寫蘇格蘭鄉(xiāng)村的貧民生活，D項符合此意。

2．D。［解析］三正一誤的細節(jié)考查題。選項A、B和C分別為：克里斯是《日暮之歌》的女主人公；克里斯童年悲慘；克里斯這個人物出自于男性的手筆。這些在原文中都有所提及。選項D：克里斯只結(jié)過一次婚。這與原文中“她結(jié)婚、失去丈夫，而后再婚”的內(nèi)容相悖，故答案為D。

3．B。［解析］細節(jié)考查題。題干考查的是小說的開篇講述了什么。第四段第三句話：Its opening section tells of Kin Addie's long history, in a language that imitates the place's changing patterns of speech and writing. 故事開篇就講述了金萊迪的悠久歷史，所用語言也在模仿該地區(qū)口語及書面語的變化模式。故答案為B。本題較為簡單，可直接找出答案。

4．A。［解析］細節(jié)考查題。第六段最后兩句話：In fact, the Germans aren't responsible for his death, but his own side. He is shot because he is said to have run away from a battle. 由此可得出正確結(jié)論，答案為A?？忌⒁獠灰艿礁蓴_項的影響，不要忽略相關(guān)句子之間的邏輯關(guān)系。

5．C。［解析］猜詞題。關(guān)于sunset的含義，要從本文最后一段入手：如果說，這部小說是關(guān)于一種生活方式的終結(jié)，那么它同時也在朝前看。它既是一首“日暮之歌”，也是一首關(guān)于“新金萊迪”（實則喻指整個“新歐洲”）的歌。繼它之后，劉易斯·基邦還出版了兩部小說，仍以這一地區(qū)為主題，延續(xù)了《日暮之歌》的故事。由此可見，sunset是對傳統(tǒng)生活方式的終結(jié)，故答案為C。