Question

Mark Twain is a name not usually connected with Broadway(百老匯), but now his play “Is He Dead” will receive its first public performance on November 29.

“Is He Dead” was written by Mark Twain in 1898 but was never performed. It was rediscovered in 2002 by Shelley Fisher Fishkin, an English professor and director of the American Studies Program at Stanford University. It was published the following year by the University of California Press.

The story is about a group of poor artists who fake the death of their friend in order to increase the value of his work.

“Is He Dead” is set in France in the 1840s and centers on the French painter Jean-Francois Millet. “Millet was probably the most popular European painter in the United States in Twain’s lifetime,” Fishkin said in a telephone interview. “Americans greatly admired him because he focused on the life of the common man and the common woman.”

According to Fishkin, “Is He Dead” is a satire(諷刺) about how value is created in the art world. Twain wrote the play when he was coming out of the hardest time of his life.

1.What’s “Is He Dead” about?

A．The death of a poor artist in the 1840s.

B．A trick played by a group of poor artists.

C．A story about the French painter Jean-Francois Millet.

D．An experience Mark Twain had gone through.

2.From the second paragraph we learn that ______.

A．the play was one of Mark Twain’s early works

B．no one knew the play until 2002

C．Fishkin is an expert on Mark Twain’s works

D．the play was published in 2002

3.According to Fishkin, Jean-Francois Millet was admired by Americans because ____.

A．he was a famous French painter at that time

B．he focused on the life of ordinary Americans

C．his works showed respect for ordinary people

D．Mark Twain agreed on his thoughts

4.We can infer from the passage that Mark Twain ______.

A．had experienced several difficult times for no money

B．was a good novelist but a bad playwright(劇作家)

C．was a writer who only cared about ordinary people’s life

D．was dissatisfied with some methods of creating the value of art work

 

Answer 1

【答案】

1.B

2.C

3.C

4.D

【解析】

試題分析：本文介紹了馬克吐溫的作品“Is He Dead”第一次在在舞臺(tái)上演繹的情況的說(shuō)明。

1.B 細(xì)節(jié)題。根據(jù)文章第三段第一行The story is about a group of poor artists who fake the death of their friend in order to increase the value of his work.可知B項(xiàng)內(nèi)容正確。

2.C 推理題。根據(jù)文章第2段It was rediscovered in 2002 by Shelley Fisher Fishkin, an English professor and director of the American Studies Program at Stanford University.可知Shelley Fisher Fishkin對(duì)于馬克吐溫的作品很有研究，能夠把沒(méi)有表演過(guò)的馬克吐溫的作品都重新找出來(lái)進(jìn)行演繹。故C正確。

3.C 細(xì)節(jié)題。根據(jù)文章倒數(shù)第三行“Americans greatly admired him because he focused on the life of the common man and the common woman.”可知他的作品里面講述的是普通人的生活。這是每個(gè)人喜歡他的原因，故C正確。

4.D 推斷題。根據(jù)文章最后一段According to Fishkin, “Is He Dead” is a satire(諷刺) about how value is created in the art world. Twain wrote the play when he was coming out of the hardest time of his life.可知馬克吐溫諷刺這種現(xiàn)象，說(shuō)明他對(duì)于這種現(xiàn)象不滿意。故D正確。

考點(diǎn)：考察文化類短文閱讀

點(diǎn)評(píng)：本文介紹了馬克吐溫的作品“Is He Dead”第一次在在舞臺(tái)上演繹的情況的說(shuō)明。試考生在閱讀基礎(chǔ)上的邏輯推理能力，要求考生根據(jù)文章所述事件的邏輯關(guān)系，對(duì)未說(shuō)明的趨勢(shì)或結(jié)局作出合理的推斷；或根據(jù)作者所闡述的觀點(diǎn)理論，對(duì)文章未涉及的現(xiàn)象、事例給以解釋。考生首先要仔細(xì)閱讀短文，完整了解信息，準(zhǔn)確把握作者觀點(diǎn)。