Passage Nine(Holmes’ Knowledge)

His ignorance was as remarkable as his knowledge. Of contemporary literature, philosophy and politics he appeared to know next to nothing. Upon my quoting Thomas Carlyle, he inquired in the naivest way who he might be and what he had done. My surprise reached a climax, however, when I found incidentally that he was ignorant of the Copernican Theory and of the composition of the Solar system.

  “You appear to be astonished, ” Holmes said, smiling at my expression. “Now that I do know it I shall do my best to forget it. You see, I consider that a man’s brain originally is like a little empty attic, and you have to stock it with such furniture as you choose: A fool takes in all the lumber of every sort that he comes across, so that the knowledge which might be useful to him gets crowded out, or at best jumbled up with a lot of other things, so that he has difficulty in laying his hand upon it. It is a mistake to think that the little room has elastic walls and can distend to any extent. Depend upon it, there comes a time when for every addition of knowledge you forget something that you know before. It is of the highest importance, therefore, not to have useless facts elbowing out the useful ones.”

  “But the Solar System! ” I protested.

  “What the deuce is it to me?” he interrupted impatiently.

  One morning, I picked up a magazine from the table and attempted to while away the time with it, while my companion munched silently at his toast. One of the articles had a pencil mark at the heading, and I naturally began to run my eye through it.

  Its somewhat ambitious title was “The Book of Life, ” and it attempted to show how much an observant man might learn by an accurate and systematic examination of all that came in his way. It struck me as being a remarkable mixture of shrewdness and of absurdity. The reasoning was close and intense, but the deduction appeared to me to be far-fetched and exaggerated. The writer claimed by a momentary expression, a twitch of a muscle or a glance of an eye, to fathom a man’s inmost thought. Deceit, according to him, was impossibility in the case of one trained to observation and analysis. His conclusions were as infallible as so many propositions of Euclid. So startling would his results appear to the uninitiated that until they learned the processes by which he had arrived at them they might well consider him as a necromancer.

  “From a drop of water, ”said the writer, “a logician could infer the possibility of an Atlantic. So all life is a great chain, the nature of which is known whenever we are shown a single link of it. Like all other arts, the science of Deduction and Analysis is one which can be acquired by long and patient study, nor is life long enough to allow any mortal to attain the highest possible perfection in it. ”

  This smartly written piece of theory I could not accept until a succession of evidences justified it.

1.What is the author’s attitude toward Holmes?

[A]Praising.        B.Critical.            [C]Ironical.             [D]Distaste.

2.What way did the author take to stick out Holmes’ uniqueness?

[A]By deduction.       B.By explanation.         [C]By contrast.          [D]By analysis.

3.What was the Holmes’ idea about knowledge-learning?

[A]Learning what every body learned.

B.Learning what was useful to you.

[C]Learning whatever you came across.

[D]Learning what was different to you.

4.What did the article mentioned in the passage talk about?

[A]One may master the way of reasoning through observation.

B.One may become rather critical through observation and analysis.

[C]One may become rather sharp through observation and analysis.

[D]One may become practical through observation and analysis.


第二节完型填空(共20小题;每小题1.5分,满分30分)
阅读下面短文,掌握其大意,然后从36—55各题所给的四个选项(A、B、C和D)中,选出最佳选项
In a class I teach for adults, I recently did the “unpardonable.” I gave the class homework!
The assignment (任务) was to “go to someone you love   36   the next week and tell them you love them. It   37  to be someone you have never   38   those words to before or at least haven’t shared those words with for a long time.” That doesn’t   39   like a very tough assignment,   40   you stop to realize that most of the men  were over 35 and were   41  in the generation of men that were taught that expressing emotions is not “macho (男子汉气概的).” Showing feelings or crying (heaven forbid!) was just not done   42  this was a very threatening assignment for some.
At the   43   of our next class, I asked if someone wanted to   44   what happened when they told someone they loved them. I fully expected one of the   45   to volunteer, as was usually the   46 , but on this evening one of the men raised his hand. He appeared quite moved and a bit   47  . As he unfolded out of his chair, he began by saying, “Dennis. I was quite   48   with you last week when you gave us the assignment. I didn’t feel that I had   49  to say those words to and   50 , who were you to tell me to do something that personal? But as I began driving home my conscience (良知) started talking to me. It was telling me that I   51   exactly who I needed to say I love you to. You see, five years ago, my father and I had a heated   52   and really never resolved it since that one. We   53  seeing each other unless we absolutely had to at Christmas or other family gatherings. But   54   then, we hardly spoke to each other. So last. Tuesday   55  I got home, I had convinced myself. I was going to tell my father I loved him.”
36.A.after  B.before      C.for    D.within
37.A.has to       B.ought to    C.had better D.can
38.A.told   B.said   C.talked       D.spoken
39.A.look  B.hear  C.listen D.sound
40.A.when B.until  C.that   D.unless
41.A.born  B.grown      C.raised       D.risen
42.A.And  B.But   C.So     D.For
43.A.beginning B.end   C.middle      D.stating
44.A.announce  B.share C.answer      D.ask
45.A.men  B.adults       C.students    D.women
46.A.case  B.thing C.story D.experience
47.A.afraid       B.shaken      C.terrible     D.worried
48.A.happy       B.pleased     C.angry       D.satisfied
49.A.everybody       B.nobody     C.someone   D.anyone
50.A.else   B.except      C.beside       D.besides
51.A.thought    B.considered       C.knew D.guessed
52.A.disagreement    B.encouragement C.disappointment D.discouragement
53.A.imagined  B.risked       C.avoided    D.escaped
54.A.still   B.even  C.just   D.only
55.A.by the time      B.at the time       C.for the time      D.during the time


Passage Nine(Holmes’ Knowledge)
His ignorance was as remarkable as his knowledge. Of contemporary literature, philosophy and politics he appeared to know next to nothing. Upon my quoting Thomas Carlyle, he inquired in the naivest way who he might be and what he had done. My surprise reached a climax, however, when I found incidentally that he was ignorant of the Copernican Theory and of the composition of the Solar system.
“You appear to be astonished, ” Holmes said, smiling at my expression. “Now that I do know it I shall do my best to forget it. You see, I consider that a man’s brain originally is like a little empty attic, and you have to stock it with such furniture as you choose: A fool takes in all the lumber of every sort that he comes across, so that the knowledge which might be useful to him gets crowded out, or at best jumbled up with a lot of other things, so that he has difficulty in laying his hand upon it. It is a mistake to think that the little room has elastic walls and can distend to any extent. Depend upon it, there comes a time when for every addition of knowledge you forget something that you know before. It is of the highest importance, therefore, not to have useless facts elbowing out the useful ones.”
“But the Solar System! ” I protested.
“What the deuce is it to me?” he interrupted impatiently.
One morning, I picked up a magazine from the table and attempted to while away the time with it, while my companion munched silently at his toast. One of the articles had a pencil mark at the heading, and I naturally began to run my eye through it.
Its somewhat ambitious title was “The Book of Life, ” and it attempted to show how much an observant man might learn by an accurate and systematic examination of all that came in his way. It struck me as being a remarkable mixture of shrewdness and of absurdity. The reasoning was close and intense, but the deduction appeared to me to be far-fetched and exaggerated. The writer claimed by a momentary expression, a twitch of a muscle or a glance of an eye, to fathom a man’s inmost thought. Deceit, according to him, was impossibility in the case of one trained to observation and analysis. His conclusions were as infallible as so many propositions of Euclid. So startling would his results appear to the uninitiated that until they learned the processes by which he had arrived at them they might well consider him as a necromancer.
“From a drop of water, ”said the writer, “a logician could infer the possibility of an Atlantic. So all life is a great chain, the nature of which is known whenever we are shown a single link of it. Like all other arts, the science of Deduction and Analysis is one which can be acquired by long and patient study, nor is life long enough to allow any mortal to attain the highest possible perfection in it. ”
This smartly written piece of theory I could not accept until a succession of evidences justified it.
1.What is the author’s attitude toward Holmes?
[A]Praising.        B.Critical.            [C]Ironical.             [D]Distaste.
2.What way did the author take to stick out Holmes’ uniqueness?
[A]By deduction.       B.By explanation.         [C]By contrast.          [D]By analysis.
3.What was the Holmes’ idea about knowledge-learning?
[A]Learning what every body learned.
B.Learning what was useful to you.
[C]Learning whatever you came across.
[D]Learning what was different to you.
4.What did the article mentioned in the passage talk about?
[A]One may master the way of reasoning through observation.
B.One may become rather critical through observation and analysis.
[C]One may become rather sharp through observation and analysis.
[D]One may become practical through observation and analysis.


  A train sped up through the countryside at 60 mph as a“traveller”relaxes with his newspaper. But this is no businessman taking it easy—the driver of the passenger express(快车)is doing the reading.
  A Sunday Express reader caught this Virgin employee on film as the train sped through Derbyshire on its way to Plymouth from Newcastle.
  Virgin,which has come under repeated criticism over their rail service, yesterday fired the driver after being shown the photograph. A spokesman said an inquiry(调查)was under way to make sure exactly what he was doing and why he appeared to have taken his eyes off the track ahead.
  The picture comes in the week that the public inquiry into the Southall rail disaster, which claimed seven lives, heard that the driver at the centre of that case had earlier been spotted with his feet on the control button of his cab.
  Larry Harrison,who worked for Great Western Trains,drove through two warning signals before crashing at 60 mph into a waiting train.
  The reader who took this picture was standing on a bridge outside Chesterfield early one summer’s evening. He said,“I only realized what I’d got when I had the pictures developed. I couldn’t believe it.”
  “As far as I could see,there was no one else in the cab with the drive,unless they were hiding, The person with the paper open was certainly sitting in the driver’s normal seat.”
  The photographer works on the railways and does not want to be named,but he added,“I’ve seen many drivers with their feet on the control panel but I’ve never seen them reading papers like this. There is an automatic warning system and driver’s safety device which reminds him when he passes yellow and red signals. But you should never take your eyes off the track and rely only on sounds because you could have unexpected objects on the line or suddenly have speed limits given.”
63.Who is the“traveller”mentioned in the first paragraph?
A.A train driver.       B.A businessman.
C.A passenger.         D.A newspaper reader.
64.The train ______________when the picture was taken.
A.was driving to Plymouth
B.was ready for a picture
C.had seven people on it
D.crashed into another train
65.Who took the picture of the driver of the passenger express?
A.A professional photographer.
B.A newspaper reporter.
C.Another train driver.
D.A member of the railway staff.
66.According to what we have read,we may find this passage most probably______________.
A.at a train station
B.from a news report
C.from a driver’s safety guide
D.from the police inquiry

Talk about a real-life hero! Ten-year-old Larry Champagne from St. Louis,Missouri, hit the brake (刹车) on a runaway school bus. He saved himself and 20 other kids on board from disaster.
It all happened in one terrible accident. On the way to school, the bus driver, Ernestine Blackman, suddenly fell ill. Seeing the car was running away, the other kids started to scream, but Larry ran to the front and stopped the bus.
“At first I thought, ‘We’re going to die,’” says Larry, “but after I pressed the brake, I felt safe.”
Larry’s speedy reaction made news all over the country. He appeared on TV shows as a hero. The bus company gave Larry a big gift. His school hung a medal of honor around his neck.
“My grandmother always tells me to do what’s right,” says Larry. He thanked his brother, Jerrick, 9, who “helped me get the bus driver up” during the emergency(紧急情况). How did he know how to stop the bus? Larry is something of a mechanic(机械师). He helps his grandfather work on his old truck. “He gets his hands dirty,” says his grandfather. One thing is for certain: Larry knows where to find the brakes.
【小题1】What did Larry do to save the runaway bus?

A.He parked it for the sleeping bus driver.
B.He helped all the kids climb out through the windows.
C.He dialed 911.
D.he pressed the brake.
【小题2】When did Larry finally feel safe?
A.When the kids finally stopped screaming.
B.When the police officers arrived.
C.Once he pressed the brake, and the bus stopped.
D.When the bus driver started driving again.
【小题3】 Larry got the following as praise for his hero action Except _______.
A.appearing on TV shows
B.a scholarship from his school
C.a big gift from the bus company
D.a medal of honor
【小题4】 Larry thanked his brother Jerrick for __________.
A.helping him get the bus driver up
B.helping him work on his old truck
C.teaching him how to find the brake
D.teaching him how to stop the bus
【小题5】The underlined sentence“Larry is something of a mechanic” tells us that ____.
A.Larry’s job is a mechanic
B.Larry knows something about machines
C.Larry is a robot
D.Larry knows nothing about machines

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