题目内容
After Christmas, I took a job in the clothes department at Graham’s for the first fortnight of the January sale. I can’t say that I enjoyed it, but it was an experience I’ll never forget.
I could never understand why there were so many things in the sales. Now I know the secret! Firstly, there is the special winter stock and the stock that people buy all the year round. Some of these things are slightly reduced. Secondly, there are the summer clothes they couldn’t sell last year; these are heavily reduced to clear them. Thirdly, there are cheap clothes bought in especially for the sales; these are put out at high prices ten days before the sale begins and then are reduced by 60% in the sale. Lastly, they buy in “seconds” for the sale and they are sold very cheaply.
When I arrived half an hour before opening on the first day of the sale, there was already a queue around three sides of the building.
When the big moment arrived to open the doors, the security guards, looking less confident than usual, came up to them, keys in hand. The moment they had unlocked the doors, they hid behind the doors for protection as the noisy crowd charged in. I couldn’t believe my eyes; this wasn’t shopping. It was a battlefield! One poor lady couldn’t keep her feet and was knocked over by people pushing from behind.
Clothes were flying in all directions as people searched for the sizes, colors and styles they wanted. Quarrels broke out. Mothers were using their small children to crawl through people’s legs and get hold of things they couldn’t get near themselves.
Within minutes I had half a dozen people pushing clothes under my nose, each wanting to be the first served. Where had the famous English queue gone? The whole day continued like that, but I kept my temper! I was taking money hand over fist and began to realize why, twice a year, Graham’s were happy to turn their expensive store into a battlefield like this.
In the sale fever, people were spending money like water without thinking if they needed what they were buying. As long as it was a bargain, it was OK.
You won’t believe this, but as soon as I got home, I crashed out for four hours. Then I had dinner and went back to bed, fearing the sound of the alarm which would tell me to get ready for the second day of the sale.
69. What kind of clothes is likely to be sold only a little cheaper according to the passage?
A. Last summer’s clothes. B. Clothes not in perfect condition.
C. Clothes bought in specially for the sales. D. Clothes for winter.
70. Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?
A. The customers gave up the queuing as soon as the sale began.
B. The customers kept their temper while looking for clothes they wanted.
C. Small children were not helpful to their mothers in the sale.
D. The security guards of the clothes department were as confident as usual.
69---70 DD
【解析】略
Doris Lessing was born in 1919 in Persia, moving as a child with her family to southern Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, where she stayed in school only to the age of 14.
A year after moving to London, she published her first novel in 1950. The Grass is Singing examines unbridgeable racial conflict(冲突) in colonial Africa through the eyes of a white farmer’s wife and her black servant.
Her literary breakthrough came in 1962 with publication of The Golden Notebook, seen by many, though not necessarily Lessing, as a pioneering work of modern feminism(女权运动). A separated study of the mind of the main character, Amma Wulf, the novel explores her thoughts about Africa, politics and relationships with men and sex.
Lessing’s themes changed to psychology in her works from the 1960s, and by the 1970s the was extremely interested in the Islamic mystic tradition of Sufism(苏菲教派). Her turn toward science fiction with the Canopus series in the early 1980s was not warmly received by traditionalist critics, but she has continued to win new readers and numerous literary awards, including the David Cohen British Literary Prize and the Companion of Honour from the Royal Society of Literature, both in 2001.
Following the announcement, the Horace Engdahl told VOA why he was personally so pleased with Lessing’s selection.
“She is one of the truly great writers-of novels, short stories, fiction and non-fiction,” Engdahl said. “She is one of the few writers who have had the courage to uphold the principle of equality between the male and female experience, and she has given the impulse(冲动) to numbers of other women writers. And she is really the mother of a school that is one of the most important in our contemporary literature.”
At 87, Doris Lessing is the oldest Nobel Literature winner sine the first prizes were awarded in 1901.
【小题1】What would be the best title for this passage?
A.Doris Lessing writes The Golden Notebook |
B.Doris Lessing is a pioneer of modern feminism |
C.Doris Lessing wins the Nobel Prize for Literature |
D.Doris Lessing is concerned about Africa |
A.there are only two characters in The Grass is Singing |
B.The Golden Notebook is regarded as Lessing’s masterpiece by herself |
C.life in Africa in her early age lays a solid foundation for her writing |
D.Doris Lessing is strongly against traditional culture in Africa |
A.Lessing began to believe in Christ in the 1970s |
B.Lessing’s science fiction won readers |
C.Lessing had won two literary medals for her writings |
D.Lessing changed her themes to meet the needs of traditional critics |
A.she has rich experience in living in Africa |
B.she is a head master of an important school |
C.she encourages women writers to struggle against men |
D.she makes great contributions to equal rights for women |