Question

I had an experience once which taught me something about the ways people made a bad situation worse by blaming themselves. One January, I officiated(主持) at two funerals for two elderly women. Both died a natural death. At the first home, the son of the deceased(已故) woman said, “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 said, “If only I had not insisted her going to Florida, she would be alive today. That long airplane ride was more than she could take. It is my fault.”

When things don’t turn out as we would like them to, we tend to assume that had we done things differently, the story would have had a happier ending. 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, for example, keeping mother at home, would have turned out better. After all, how could it have turned out any worse?

There seem to be elements involved in our readiness to feel guilty. The first lies in our belief that the world makes sense——there is a reason for everything that happens.   

The second is the thought that we are the cause of what happens, especially the bad things that happen. 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 calls the rest of the world to its 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 do not completely abandon that childish thought that our wishes cause things to happen.

1. What is true about the two deceased elderly women?

   A. They died from accidents.       

B. They both died of old age.    

   C. They died due to lack of care by family members.

D. They weren’t accustomed to the change in life.

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

   A. they cannot find a better way to express their sorrow

   B. they don’t know that natural course of events

C. they believe that it is their fault  

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

3.People have believed since early childhood that.

A.everybody is at their command

B.life and death is an unsolved mystery

C.every story should have a happy ending

D.their wishes are the cause of everything that happens

4. What is the main idea of this passage?

A.Two sons blamed themselves for their mother's death.

B.Things don't always go well as we expect.

C.Two factors account for guilty sense.

D. Baby's wishes lead everything to happen.

 

Answer 1

1.B

2.C

3.D

4.C

【解析】本文介紹了人們經常把一些不好的事情發(fā)生的原因歸結在自己身上，并分析這樣的想法的兩個原因：第一個是這個世界的每一件事情的發(fā)生都是有道理的；第二就是童年的經歷讓我們認為自己就是一切事情發(fā)生的根源。

1.B

【試題解析】推理題。根據第一段2,3行One January, I officiated(主持) at two funerals for two elderly women. Both died a natural death.可知這兩位老人都是自然死亡的，也就是說她們都是年紀很大了以后自然去世的。故B正確。

2.2】C

【試題解析】細節(jié)題。根據第一段最后3行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“If only I had not insisted her going to Florida, she would be alive today. That long airplane ride was more than she could take. It is my fault.”可知這兩位兒子都認為母親的去世是因為自己的過失導致的。故C正確。

3.3】D

【試題解析】推理題。根據第4段1,2行The second is the thought that we are the cause of what happens, especially the bad things that happen. The roots of this feeling may lie in our childhood.

可知他們都認為自己是不好的事情發(fā)生的原因，而這樣的想法的根源在我們的童年。我們童年的很多行為導致我們認為自己是事情發(fā)生的原因。在本段接下來進行了詳細的解釋。故D正確。

4.4】C

【試題解析】主旨大意題。本文介紹了人們經常把一些不好的事情發(fā)生的原因歸結在自己身上，并分析這樣的想法的兩個原因：第一個是這個世界的每一件事情的發(fā)生都是有道理的；第二就是童年的經歷讓我們認為自己就是一切事情發(fā)生的根源。故C正確。

【長難句解析】

I had an experience once which taught me something about the ways people made a bad situation worse by blaming themselves.

【翻譯】我曾經有過一次經歷，這次經歷告訴我一些人們責備自己讓情況更糟糕的方式。

【分析】本句中有一個定語從句which taught me something about the ways people made a bad situation worse by blaming themselves. 關系代詞which指代先行詞在句中做主語。其中有一個特殊結構the ways people made a bad situation worse by blaming themselves，當前面的名詞是the way，后面的句子結構又很完整的時候，可以使用“that/in which/不填”來連接。