No matter how long your life is, you will, at best, be able to read only a few books of all that have been written, and the few you do read should include the best. It is to be expected that the selections will change with the times. Yet there is a surprising uniformity (一致) in the lists which represent the best choices of any period.
What are the signs by which we may recognize a great book? The four I will mention may not be all there are, but they are the ones I’ve found most useful in explaining my choices over the years.
Great books are probably the most widely read. They are not best sellers for a year or two. They are enduring best sellers. GONE WITH THE WIND has had relatively few readers compared to the plays of Shakespeare or DONQUIXOTE. It would be reasonable to estimate that Homer Iliad has been read by at least 25,000,000 people in the last 3000 years.
Great books are popular, not pedantic(賣弄學問的). They are not written by specialists about specialties for specialists. Whether they are philosophy or science, or history or poetry, they treat of human, not academic problems. They are written for men, not professors. To read a textbook for advanced students, you have to read an elementary textbook first. But the great books can be considered elementary in the sense that they treat the elements of any subject matter. They are not related to one another as a series of textbooks, graded in difficulty or in the technicality of the problems with which they deal.
Great books are always contemporary, the most readable and instructive.
Great books deal with the persistently unsolved problems of human life. There are genuine mysteries in the world that mark the limits of human knowing and thinking. Great minds acknowledge mysteries honestly. Wisdom is fortified (加強), not destroyed, by understanding its limitations.
小題1:Which is NOT the standard in the following when evaluating a great book?
A.Although not a best seller for a year or two, it must be the most widely read.
B.A great book can be read without any effort.
C.Great books are never out of date.
D.Great books will not disappoint you if you try to read them well.
小題2:According to the author, GONE WITH THE WIND is ______.
A.a(chǎn) best seller
B.disgusted by readers who like Shakespeare
C.read more often than Don Quixote
D.a(chǎn) great book
小題3:After reading the passage, we can infer that ______.
A.different periods have different lists of best books because there are many books for people to choose from
B.if you don’t read an elementary textbook, you may have difficulty in understanding an advanced one
C.Homer Iliad must be a best seller when it came out
D.great books often deal with unsolved problems of human life for the writers have confidence in settling them
小題4:The best title for this passage is ______.
A.Great Books in Your Life B.Great Books in Your Specialty
C.How to Find a Great Book?D.What Is a Great Book?

小題1:D
小題2:A
小題3:B
小題4:D

試題分析:本文是一篇關于名著的說明文。第一、二段指出人們一生要讀很多書,但名著卻很少,而且古典名著一直被大家公認,從而引出本文討論的話題:評定名著的標準是什么?文章接下來的部分就此進行了詳細分析和說明。
小題1:推理題。此處要注意下文的Yet,表一個轉折關系。下文說但是有一些作品可以作為任何時代的必讀書目。可判斷空白處表達的意思應是不同時代有不同的選讀書。B符合此意。其他不合題意。本句意思是:人們預料,隨著時代的變遷,選擇書籍的方向會有所改變。選D
小題2:觀點態(tài)度題。文中第四段主要說明名著的一個特點就是讀者多,不是一兩年的暢銷書,而《飄》不如莎士比亞戲劇或《堂吉珂德》的讀者多,說明讀者認為《飄》不是名著,只是一本暢銷書。所以,選A正確。
小題3:細節(jié)題:從第四段的句子:To read a textbook for advanced students, you have to read an elementary textbook first. 可知要想高級的書先要讀最初的版本,選B
小題4:標題題。A、B說的是在日常生活和專業(yè)領域的名著,文章根本沒有做這樣的分類;文中第三段就談到評定名著的四個標準,所以D正確。D
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