Question

It happened to me recently. I was telling someone how much I had enjoyed reading Barack Obama’s Dreams From My Father and how it had changed my views of our President. A friend I was talking to agreed with me that it was ,in his words, “a brilliantly（精彩地）written book”. However, he then went on to talk about Mr Obama in a way which suggested he had no idea of his background at all. I sensed that I was talking to a book liar.

And it seems that my friend is not the only one. Approximately two thirds of people have lied about reading a book which they haven’t. In the World Book Day’s “Report on Guilty Secrets”, Dreams From My Father is at number 9. The report lists ten books, and various authors, which people have lied about reading, and as I’m not one to lie too often (I’d hate to be caught out ),I’ll admit here and now that I haven’t read the entire top ten . But I am pleased to say that, unlike 42 percent of people, I have read the book at number one, George Orwell’s 1984. I think it’s really brilliant.

The World Book Day report also has some other interesting information in it. It says that many people lie about having read Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, Fyodor Dostoevsky(I haven’t read him, but haven’t lied about it either )and Herman Melville.

Asked why they lied, the most common reason was to “impress” someone they were speaking to. This could be tricky if the conversation became more in –depth!

But when asked which authors they actually enjoy, people named J. k. Rowling, John Grisham, Sophie Kinsella (ah, the big sellers, in other words). Forty-two percent of people asked admitted they turned to the back of the book to read the end before finishing the story(I’ll come clean: I do this and am astonished that 58 percent said they had never done so).

1.How did the author find his friend a book liar?

A．By judging his manner of speaking.

B．By looking into his background.

C．By mentioning a famous name.

D．By discussing the book itself.

2.Which of the following is a “guilty secret” according to the World Book Day report?

A．Charles Dickens is very low on the top-ten list.

B．42% of people pretended to have read 1984.

C．The author admitted having read 9 books.

D．Dreams From My Father is hardly read.

3.By lying about reading, a person hopes to.

A．control the conversation

B．a(chǎn)ppear knowledgeable

C．learn about the book

D．make more friends

4.What is the author’s attitude to 58%of readers?

A．Favorable.

B．Uncaring

C．Doubtful

D．Friendly

 

Answer 1

【答案】

1.D

2.B

3.B

4.C

【解析】

【文章大意】本文是一篇記敘文。作者通過與朋友聊天引出本文的話題book liar，列舉了大家謊稱讀了實際未讀的書目，以及大家喜歡的一些作家，并闡述了人們?nèi)鲋e的最常見的理由。

1.根據(jù)文章第一段中的A friend I was talking to agreed with me that it was ,in his words, “a brilliantly（精彩地）written book”. However, he then went on to talk about Mr Obama in a way which suggested he had no idea of his background at all.（然后他繼續(xù)以一種能暗示出他對奧巴馬背景一無所知的方式繼續(xù)談?wù)揗r Obama），可知作者跟他的朋友深談有關(guān)奧巴馬的那本書時，發(fā)現(xiàn)朋友對奧巴馬背景一無所知，這暗示出朋友其實并沒有讀過這本書，他對奧巴馬的背景一點都不知曉。故選D。

2.本題的關(guān)鍵詞是guilty secret，定位第二三段。根據(jù)文章第二段中的But I am pleased to say that, unlike 42 percent of people, I have read the book at number one, George Orwell’s1984.（不像百分之四十二的人那樣，我很高興地說，我讀過排在第一位的George Orwell’s1984.）由此可知，作者讀過George Orwell’s1984這本書，而百分之四十二的人卻沒讀過。故選B。

3.根據(jù)文章第四段中的Asked why they lied, the most common reason was to impress someone they were speaking to.（當被問及為什么撒謊的時候，最普遍的理由是想給正在說話的人留下深刻的印象。）人們之所以選擇撒謊是想讓對方覺得自己知識淵博，從而給對方一個好的印象。因此B正確。

4.根據(jù)文章第五段的最后一句話And am astonished that 58 percent said they had never done so（我很驚訝58%的人說他們從來沒這么做過。）表明作者態(tài)度的詞是astonished。選項中與此詞意義相近的答案就是選項C了。