Question

 In Africa, listening is a guiding principle .It’s a principle that’ been lost in the constant chat of the Western world .From my own past experience , I noticed how much faster I had to answer a question during a TV interview .It is as if we have completely lost the ability to listen .We talk and talk , and we end up frightened by silence .

Everywhere, people on the African continent write and tell stories. Even the nomads(流浪者)who still live in the Kalahari Desert are said to tell one another stories on their daylong wanderings, during which they search for roots and animals to hunt.

A number of years ago I sat down on a stone bench outside the Teatro Avenida in Maputo, Mozambique, where I worked as an artistic consultant. It was a hot day, and we were taking a break, hoping that a cool gentle wind would move past. Two old African men were sitting on that bench, but there was room for me, too. In Africa people share more than just water. Even when it comes to shade, people are generous.

I heard the two men talking about a third old man who had recently died. One of them said, “I was visiting him at his home. He started to tell me an amazing story about something that had happened to him when he was young. But it was a long story. Night came, and I decided that I should come back the next day to hear the rest. But when I arrived, he was dead.”

The man fell silent. I decided not to leave that bench until I heard how the other man would respond to what he’d heard. Finally he, too, spoke. “That’s not a good way to die—before you’ve told the end of your story.”

What separates us from animals is the fact that we are storytelling creatures and we can listen to other people’s dreams, fears, joys, sorrows, desires and defeats—and they in turn can listen to ours.

Many people make the mistake of confusing information with knowledge. They are not the same thing. Knowledge involves the interpretation of information. Knowledge involves listening.

Many words will be written on the wind and the sand, or end up in store. But the storytelling will go on until the last human being stops listening. Then we can send the great record of human out into the endless universe.

Who knows? Maybe someone is out there, willing to listen…

1.From the very beginning of the passage, we can know Europeans ________.

A. actually lose the ability to listen

B. seldom chat constantly with each other

C. feel frightened when they are alone and silent

D. tend to talk more and listen less

2. It can be inferred from the passage that if you are in Africa, you will _______.

A. suffer hot weather and lack of water      

B. be certainly helped when in trouble

C. often hear the stories told by strangers    

D. have no choice but to listen during a talk

3.According to the last three paragraphs, we can know _________.

A. no one knows exactly why Africans are willing to listen

B. information is hard to understand without interpretation

C. listening makes the difference between information and knowledge

D. the existence of humans’ recordings totally depends on the way of storytelling

4.The passage mainly talks about __________.

A. the experience of the author         

B. the art of listening in Africa

C. the importance of storytelling        

D. the life styles of Africans

 

Answer 1

【答案】

 

1.D

2.C

3.C

4.B

【解析】

試題分析：人和動物的本質(zhì)區(qū)別就是我們能夠傾聽其他人的夢想、恐懼、快樂、憂傷、追求和成敗，反過來，其他人也會傾聽我們。在非洲，學會傾聽是一個人處世的基本品質(zhì)。在文中作者通過講述自己的經(jīng)歷介紹了非洲人的傾聽藝術(shù)。

1.D細節(jié)理解題。根據(jù)文章首段listening is a guiding principle .It’s a principle that’ been lost in the constant chat of the Western world . It is as if we have completely lost the ability to listen .We talk and talk可知傾聽這種行為準則似乎在西方世界消失了，人們往往聽的少而說的多，故答案選D。

2.C推理判斷題。文章第二段提到在非洲大陸上甚至連流浪者都會彼此講故事聽，再根據(jù)下文作者的經(jīng)歷可以判斷非洲人非常友好，不僅可以和陌生人分享水，也可以分享陰涼，當然也可以分享他們的故事，故答案選C。

3.C推理判斷題。作者在文章倒數(shù)第二段提出Many people make the mistake of confusing information with knowledge…Knowledge involves the interpretation of information. Knowledge involves listening，由此判斷信息不包含傾聽的藝術(shù)，而知識卻包含傾聽在內(nèi)，故答案選C。

4.B主旨大意題。文章開頭提出In Africa, listening is a guiding principle .然后作者通過講述自己的經(jīng)歷來證明了這一點，文章最后又通過But the storytelling will go on until the last human being stops listening.進一步深化主題，由此判斷文章中心是關(guān)于非洲人的傾聽藝術(shù)，答案選B。

考點：考查故事類短文閱讀。