17.Olaf Stapledon wrote a book called First and Last Men,in which he looked millions of years ahead.He told of different men and of strange civilizations,broken up by long"dark ages"in between.In his view,what is called the present time is no more than a moment in human history and we are just the First Men.In 2,000 million years from now there will be the Eighteenth or Last Men.
However,most of our ideas about the future are really very short-sighted.Perhaps we can see some possibilities for the next fifty years.But the next hundred?The next thousand?The next million?That's much more difficult.
When men and women lived by hunting 50,000 years ago,how could they even begin to picture modern life?Yet to men of 50,000 years from now,we may seem as primitive in our ideas as the Stone-Age hunters do to us.Perhaps they will spend their days gollocking to make new spundels,or struggling with their ballalators through the cribe.These words,which I have just made up,have to stand for things and ideas that we simply can't think of.
So why bother even to try imagining life far in the future?Here are two reasons.First,unless we remember how short our own lives are compared with the whole human history,we are likely to think our own interests are much more important than they really are.If we make the earth a poor place to live because we are careless or greedy or quarrelsome,our grandchildren will not bother to think of excuses for us.
Second,by trying to escape from present interests and imagine life far in the future,we may arrive at quite fresh ideas that we can use ourselves.For example,if we imagine that in the future men may give up farming,we can think of trying it now.So set you imagination free when you think about the future.
28.A particular mention made of Stapledon's book in the opening paragraphB.
A.serves as a description of human history
B.serves an introduction to the discussion
C.shows a disagreement of view's
D.shows the popularity of the book
29.The text discusses men and women 50,000 years ago and 50,000 years from now in order to show thatD.
A.human history is extremely long
B.life has changed a great deal
C.it is useless to plan for the next 50years
D.it is difficult to tell what will happen in the future
30.Spundels and ballalators are used in the text to refer toC.
A.tools used in farming
B.ideas about modern life
C.unknown things in the future
D.hunting skills in the Stone Age
31.According to the writer of the text,imagining the future willA.
A.benefit the present and future generations
B.enable us to better understand human history
C.help us to improve farming technology
D.make life worth living.
分析 短文主題為50,000年僅是人類歷史長河的一瞬間.
解答 28.B,寫作意圖題,短文主題為50,000年僅是人類歷史長河的一瞬間,因此作者提及Stapledon的書的目的當然是為了說明并介紹這個主題.
29.D,寫作意圖題,根據句子However,most of our ideas about the future are really very short-sighted.Perhaps we can see some possibilities for the next fifty years50,000年前,50,000后,時間跨度如此之大,作者提及這個時間跨度當然是為了說明在如此長的時間跨度內世事難料,不可捉摸,故答案為D.
30.C,詞義猜測題,根據句子These words,which I have just made up,have to stand for things and ideas that we simply can't think of可知,既然世事如此之難料,任何新事物都有可能發(fā)生,所以作者為說明自己的觀點而使用的新詞匯當然是指未來的新事物,故答案為C.
31.A,推理判斷題,根據句子by trying to escape from present interests and imagine life far in the future,we may arrive at quite fresh ideas that we can use ourselves可知,想像未來有助于回避短視行為,因此,充分想象未來對滿足現在和未來人的需要都有好處,故答案為A.
點評 解答任務型閱讀理解題,首先對原文材料迅速瀏覽,掌握全文的主旨大意.因為閱讀理解題一般沒有標題,所以,速讀全文,抓住中心主旨很有必要,在速讀的過程中,應盡可能多地捕獲信息材料.其次,細讀題材,各個擊破.掌握全文的大意之后,細細閱讀每篇材料后的問題,弄清每題要求后,帶著問題,再回到原文中去尋找、捕獲有關信息.最后,要善于抓住每段的主題句,閱讀時,要有較強的針對性.對于捕獲到的信息,要做認真分析,仔細推敲,理解透徹,只有這樣,針對題目要求,才能做到穩(wěn)、準.