Question

Ms Tan，you've referred to your new novel as your eighth book.

That's because it took me six or seven attempts at a second novel before I started and completed this one.

●Why do you think you had so many false starts?

I would say that my reasons were wrong：I was trying to prove that I wasn't just a mother?daughter storyteller，or I was trying to prove that I didn't just have to write about things that were strictly Chinese or Chinese?American.Those were never the right reasons for writing those early stories.And I could never come up with other，better reasons for continuing them.

●What kept you going on this book?

This book was different because it was based on my mother's real life.The reason for writing it became more personal and emotional.After The Joy Luck Club came out，my mother was always explaining to people that she wasn't any of the mothers in that book.And at one point she said to me，“Next book tells my true story.”And then she started telling me things I never knew before.She also told me many，many stories，because my mother doesn't generalize.The book really grew out of that.

●Have you ever visited China?

Yes.I've been there twice：about three years ago and then again last November，both times with my mother and my husband.

●Was it difficult to capture the Chinese?American dialect without sounding like a parody(拙劣的模仿)?

No，because it's the language I've heard all my life from my mother.She speaks English as it's direct translation from Chinese.But it's more than that：Her language also has more imagery than English.

●Can you think of an example?

Somebody might say to me，“Don't work so hard.You'll kill yourself.”My mother will say to me，“Why do you press all your brains out on this page for someone else？”So it's very vivid.That's the way she talks.

●Have many readers told you that the Chinese mother in your book reminded them of the typical Jewish(有癖好的)mother?

Many people have told me that.I think the mother?daughter relationship is very intense in both cases.Culturally there is an acceptance that mothers have the power to tell their children，especially their daughters，how to conduct their lives—not simply up until the time they are 18，but for the rest of their lives.However，when children grow up in a different culture from their parents'，they tend to keep more secrets from their parents.The children think，“They just wouldn't understand that I had to do this.”And that can really create a gap，and it can grow as the number of secrets grows.

 

1．Based on the questions in this interview，what do you think Ms Tan's profession is?

A．A journalist.　　　　　　 B．A storywriter.

C．An interviewer. 　　　 D．An interviewee.

2．What's TRUE about Tan's second book?

A．It's about her real life in America.

B．The name of the book is The Joy Luck Club.

C．It is the result of many times of careful thought.

D．It includes many works of her mother.

3．Which question is NOT answered in the interview?

A．How does she think of her mother's language?

B．How many books does she plan to write?

C．When did she visit China?

D．How is generation gap created?

4．The last paragraph mainly talks about ________.

A．how to keep secrets from parents

B．how to deal with the mother?daughter relationship

C．how to conduct the lives

D．how the generation gap comes about

 

 

Answer 1

1-4 BCBD

 

語篇解讀：這是一篇人物訪談紀實。通讀這篇訪談錄，我們可以了解華裔美國作家Ms Tan創作第二部作品的經歷。

1．推理判斷題。根據文中的“your new novel，a second novel”等關鍵詞及訪談內容可知，Ms Tan是一名小說家。C、D兩項有一定的干擾性，注意題干中問的是“profession(職業)”。

2．細節判斷題。根據文中的it took me six or seven attempts at a second novel before I started and completed this one可知，Tan在完成這部書的寫作之前曾經歷過六、七次嘗試，說明這本書是她經過多次深思熟慮的產物。

3．細節理解題。“她計劃寫幾本書？”這個問題在文中找不到答案，其他三項文中均有涉及。

4．段落主旨題。此段大意是：傳統地認為母親有教育孩子們一生如何生活的權力，而孩子們隨著年齡的增長，他們不愿將自己的秘密告訴父母，從而產生了代溝。因此本段主要闡述的是代溝是如何產生的。