16.What are pillows really stuffed with?Not physically,but symbolically?The question occurred to me with the photos in the news and social media from the 50cities around the world that staged public celebrations for International Pillow Fight Day.Armed with nothing more than bring-our-own sacrificial cushions,strangers struck heavily each other in playful feather from Amsterdam to Atlanta,Warsaw to Washington DC.But why?Is there anything more to this delightful celebration?
As a cultural sign,the pillow is deceptively soft.Since at least the 16th Century,the humble pillow has been given unexpected meanings.The Chinese playwright Tang Xianzu who tells a famous story about a wise man who meets a depressed young scholar at an inn and offers him a magic pillow filled with the most vivid dreams of a seemingly more fulfilling life.When the young man awakens to discover that his happy 50-year dream has in fact come and gone in the short space of an afternoon's nap,our impression of the pillow's power shifts from wonder to terror.
Subsequent writers have likewise seized upon the pillow.When the 19th-Century English novelist Charlotte Bront? poetically observed"a ruffled(不平的) mind makes a restless pillow",she didn't just change the expected order of the adjectives and nouns,but instead she made it unclear the boundaries between mind and matter-the thing resting and the thing rested upon.
It's a trick perhaps Bront? learned from the Renaissance philosopher Montaigne,who once insisted that "ignorance is the softest pillow on which a man can rest his head".On Montaigne's thinking,intelligence and happiness confront each other forever in a pillow fight that only one can win.
With the words of Tang,Bront?,and Montaigne,we can perhaps more easily measure the attraction of the global pillow fight.Like a ritual of release,the annual international pillow fight amounts to a kind of cleansing,a brushing off of daily worries:an emptying of the world's collective mind.Rather than a launch-pad for weightless rest,the pillow is a symbol of heavy thought:an anchor that drags the world's soul down-one that must be lightened.
56.The example of Tang Xianzu is used to illustrate thatD.
A.pillows gives people satisfactory dreams
B.dreams are always wonderful while the real world is cruel
C.people's impression of pillows changes from wonder to terror
D.pillows symbolically conveys the meaning in contrast to their soft appearance
57.Which of the following is TRUE about Charlotte Bront? according to the passage?B
A.She wrote poems about pillows.
B.She regarded pillows as reflections of our minds.
C.She shared same viewpoint with Tang Xianzu on pillows.
D.She was likely influenced by the thoughts of Renaissance.
58.The underlined phrase in the 4th paragraph"ignorance is the softest pillow on which a man can rest his head"most probably meansB?
A.Pillows give us comforts.
B.Ignorant people can easily fall asleep.
C.Pillows make people more intelligent.
D.People can win happiness in the pillow fight.
59.According to the author,why is Pillow Fight Day so popular around the world?C
A.Because it is a ritual release.
B.Because it makes life delightful.
C.Because it comforts restless minds
D.Because it contains profound meaning of life.
分析 文章是一篇說明文.描述了一年一度的國際枕頭大戰(zhàn)等于一種凈化,一種日常煩惱的洗刷:清空世界的集體思想.
解答 56.D 細(xì)節(jié)理解題.根據(jù)文章內(nèi)容"When the young man awakens to discover that his happy 50-year dream has in fact come and gone in the short space of an afternoon's nap,our impression of the pillow's power shifts from wonder to terror."當(dāng)年輕人醒來發(fā)現(xiàn)他快樂的50年的夢想實際上在一個午后小睡的短暫空間里來了又去時,我們對枕頭的力量的印象從驚奇轉(zhuǎn)為恐怖.故選D.
57.B 細(xì)節(jié)理解題.根據(jù)文章內(nèi)容"On Montaigne's thinking,intelligence and happiness confront each other forever in a pillow fight that only one can win."在蒙田的思考中,智力和幸福永遠(yuǎn)在枕頭戰(zhàn)中互相對抗,只有一個人能贏,可知她認(rèn)為枕頭的反映我們的思想.結(jié)合選項故選B.
58.B 詞義猜測題.根據(jù)文章內(nèi)容""ignorance is the softest pillow on which a man can rest his head""無知是最柔軟的枕頭,一個人可以在上面休息.故劃線部分的含義指的是無知的人很容易入睡.與B選項更為接近.
59.C 細(xì)節(jié)理解題.根據(jù)文章內(nèi)容"Like a ritual of release,the annual international pillow fight amounts to a kind of cleansing,a brushing off of daily worries:an emptying of the world's collective mind."就像一個釋放的儀式,一年一度的國際枕頭大戰(zhàn)等于一種凈化,一種日常煩惱的洗刷:清空世界的集體思想,可知它能撫慰焦躁不安的心靈故選C.
點評 做這類題材閱讀理解時要求考生對文章通讀一遍,做題時結(jié)合原文和題目有針對性的找出相關(guān)語句進(jìn)行仔細(xì)分析,結(jié)合選項選出正確答案.推理判斷題也是要在抓住關(guān)鍵句子的基礎(chǔ)上合理的分析才能得出正確答案,切忌胡亂猜測,一定要做到有理有據(jù).