考研英语阅读理解B型题(二) 英语, 考研, 阅读

幽幽草

Directions:　　In the following article, some sentences have been removed. For Questions 1-5, choose the most suitable one from the list A—G to fit into each of the numbered blank. There are two extra choices, which do not fit in any of the gaps.
　　One morning, a few years ago, Harvard President Neil Rudenstine overslept. 1）Only after a three-month sabbatical — during which he read essayist Lewis Thomas, listened to Ravel and walked with his wife on a Caribbean beach— was he able to return to his post. That week, his picture was on the cover of Newsweek magazine beside the banner headline “Exhausted!”
　　In the relentless busyness of modern life, we have lost the rhythm between action and rest. I speak with people in business and education, doctors and day-care workers, shopkeepers and social workers, parents and teachers, nurses and lawyers, students and therapists, community activist and cooks. Remarkably, there is a universal refrain: "I am so busy". The more our life speeds up, the more we feel weary, overwhelmed and lost.
　　2) Instead, the whole experience of being alive begins to melt into one enormous obligation. It becomes the standard greeting everywhere: "I am so busy".
　　We say this to one another with no small degree of pride. The busier we are, the more important we seem to ourselves and, we imagine, to others. To be unavailable to our friends and family, to be unable to find time for the sunset (or even to know that the sun has set at all), to whiz through our obligations without time for a single mindful breath — this has become the model of a successful life.
　　Because we do not rest, we lose our way. We lose the nourishment that gives us succor. We miss the quiet that gives us wisdom. Poisoned by the hypnotic belief that good things come only through tireless effort, we never truly rest.
　　This is not the world we dreamed of when we were young. How did we get so terribly rushed in a world saturated with work and responsibility, yet somehow bereft of joy and delight?
　　We have forgotten the Sabbath.
　　3）It is time to be nourished and refreshed as we let our work, our chores and our important projects lie fallow, trusting that there are larger forces at work taking care of the world when we are at rest.
　　If certain plant species do not lie dormant during winter, the plant begins to die off. 4）
　　So "Remember the Sabbath" is more than simply a lifestyle suggestion. It is a commandment, an ethical precept as serious as prohibitions against killing, stealing and lying.
　　Sabbath is more than the absence of work. Many of us, in our desperate drive to be successful and care for our many responsibilities, feel terrible guilt when we take time to rest. But the Sabbath has proven its wisdom over the ages. Many of us still recall when not long ago, shops and offices where closed on Sundays. Those quiet Sunday afternoons are embedded in our cultural memory.
　　Much of modern life is specifically designed to seduce our attention away from rest. When we are in the world with our eyes wide open, the seductions are insatiable.5）For those of us with children, there are endless soccer practices, baseball games, homework, laundry, housecleaning, errands. Every responsibility, every stimulus competes for our attention: Buy me .Do me. Watch me. Try me. Drink me. It is as if we have inadvertently stumbled into some horrific wonderland.
　　[A]Rest is not just a psychological convenience; it is a biological necessity.
　　[B]After years of non-stop toil in an atmosphere that rewarded frantic overwork, Rudenstine collapsed.
　　[C]Hundreds of channels of cable and satellite television; phones with multiple lines and call-waiting. begging us to talk to more than one person at a time; mail, e-mail and overnight mail, fax machines; billboards; magazines; newspapers; radio.
　　[D]Sometimes you can have a rest on Sundays. But your heart and soul is no longer quiet.
　　[E]Sabbath is the time that consecrated to enjoy and celebrate what is beautiful and good — time to light candles, sing songs, worship, tell stories, bless our children and loved ones, give thanks, share meals, nap, walk and even make love.
　　[F]Once upon a time. Sabbath is our heaven. We often walk in the green parks with friends or have a picnic lunch with the family. Listening to the birds on the tree makes me feel peaceful. But whatever happened to Sunday now?
　　[G]Today our life and work rarely feel light, pleasant or healing.
　　答案及详解
　　1.B。通读全文，不难掌握大意，作者试图回答一个人人都困惑的问题“我们的休息日，我们舒适的，轻松的生活哪里去了”。本文用哈佛大学校长的例子作引，空白处下首的句子意为“在三个月休假后，他才能重新工作”说明空白处的句子依然谈论的是校长当时疲惫的状况，因此选项B符合要求。
　　2.G。第三段段首空出，而下句用一个Instead连接说明上下文是转折关系，而同时我们结合第二段来分析，第二段主要说明现在的人，不管职业、年龄、身份，都整日处于奔波劳碌中，所以起到承上启下作用的选项G是最佳选择。
　　3.E。上文是单句段“我们已经将礼拜日尘封脑后了”，而下文则提出“家务事和重要规划暂且搁在一边，让我们好好享受”承接前文，后面顺理成章的回忆了礼拜日快乐的时光，最后振臂高呼“让我们好好享受吧”可见，空白处是关于对以往快乐礼拜日的重现，所以，运用了一系列排比句子的选项E很贴切，有极强的感染力。
　　4.A。 此处答案较为简单，从上下文看都有很明显的暗示，而选项A“休息不仅是心理上的舒适也是生理上的必需”，不但能够前后呼应，而且浑然一体，逻辑十分严密。
　　5.C。 从上文“我们的欲望是无穷无尽的”下面列举了一系列的娱乐方式，如电视、电话、邮件、传真等等，意在渲染强烈的感情色彩，以证明“无穷无尽”的论点，所以选项C为正确答案。
　　中心思想
　　本文引用哈佛大学的校长的例子展开全文，指出现在人们的生活越来越乏味，工作越来越忙，时间越来越不够用，总是处于疲于奔命的状态，原本轻松，愉快的休息日早已销声匿迹了，面对越来越快的生活节奏，越来越多的娱乐活动，我们反而再也找不到往昔的欢乐，逐渐地在物欲横流的叫嚣声中迷失了自我。