Question

I had an experience some years ago, which taught me something about the ways in which people make a bad situation worse by themselves. One January, I had to hold two funerals on successive days for two elderly women in my community. Both had died “full of years”, as the Bible would say .Their homes happened to be near each other, so I paid condolence(吊唁)calls on the two families on the same afternoon.

At the first home, the son of the deceased woman said to me, ”If only I had sent my mother to Florida and gotten her out of this cold and snow, she would be alive today. It’s my fault that she died. ”At the second home, the son of the other deceased woman said, “If only I hadn’t insisted on my mother’s going to Florida, she would be alive today .That long airplane ride, the sudden change of climate ,was more than she could take．It’s my fault that she’s dead.”

You see that any time there is a death, the survivors will feel guilty. Because the course of action they took turned out bad, they believe that the opposite course------keeping mother at home, putting off the operation----would have turned out better. After all, how could it have turned out any worse?

There seem to be two elements involved in our willingness to feel guilty. The first is our pressing need to believe that the world makes sense, that there is a cause for every effect and a reason for everything that happens. That leads us to find patterns and connections both where they really exist and where they exist only in our minds.

The second element is the view that we are the cause of what happens, especially the bad things that happen. It seems to be a short step from believing that every event has a cause to believing that every disaster is our fault. The roots of this feeling may lie in our childhood.

A baby comes to think that the world exists to meet his needｓ,and that he makes everything happen in it. He wakes up in the morning and summons the rest of the world to his tasks. He cries, and someone comes to attend to him. When he is hungry, people feed him，and when he is wet, people change him. Very often, we don not completely outgrow that childish view that our wishes cause things to happen.

1.The author had to conduct the two women’s funerals probably because_______.

A．he was minister of the local church

B．he wanted to comfort the two families

C．he was an official of the community

D．he had great pity for the deceased

2.People feel guilty for the death of their loved ones because________.

A．they can’t find a better way of express their sorrow

B．they have neglected the natural course of events

C．they believe that they were the reason

D．the don’t know things often turn in the opposite direction

3.According to the main passage, the underlined part in Paragraph 4 probably means that________.

A．everything in the world is predetermined

B．there’s an explanation for everything in the world

C．the world can be interpreted in different ways

D．we have to be sensible in order to understand the world

4.What’s the main idea of the message?

A .Life and death is an unsolved mystery.

B. Never feel guilty all the time because not every disaster is our fault.

C Every story should have a happy ending.

D. In general, the survivors will feel guilty about the people who passed away.

 

Answer 1

【答案】

1.A

2.C

3.B

4.B

【解析】

試題分析：本文通過一個故事告訴我們不要總是責備自己，世界上的一切事情的發生都有自己的原因，很多情況下和我們沒有關系，也不必責備自己。

1.A 推理題。根據文章第一段One January, I had to hold two funerals on successive days for two elderly women in my community.可知作者要主持兩次葬禮，說明他是牧師，故A正確。

2.C 推理題。根據文章第二段開始和結束At the first home, the son of the deceased woman said to me, ”If only I had sent my mother to Florida and gotten her out of this cold and snow, she would be alive today. It’s my fault that she died. ”和.That long airplane ride, the sudden change of climate ,was more than she could take．It’s my fault that she’s dead.”可知他們都認為自己是導致事情發生的原因。故C正確。

3.B 推理題。根據本句The first is our pressing need to believe that the world makes sense, that there is a cause for every effect and a reason for everything that happens.可知在世界上發生的每一件事情都有自己的原因。故B正確。

4.B 主旨大意題。本文通過一個故事告訴我們不要總是責備自己，世界上的一切事情的發生都有自己的原因，很多情況下和我們沒有關系，也不必責備自己。故B正確。

考點：考察人生百態類短文閱讀

點評：本文通過一個故事告訴我們不要總是責備自己，世界上的一切事情的發生都有自己的原因，很多情況下和我們沒有關系，也不必責備自己。考察推測題較多，推斷題測試考生在閱讀基礎上的邏輯推理能力，要求考生根據文章所述事件的邏輯關系，對未說明的趨勢或結局作出合理的推斷；或根據作者所闡述的觀點理論，對文章未涉及的現象、事例給以解釋。考生首先要仔細閱讀短文，完整了解信息，準確把握作者觀點。