Mark Twain has been called the inventor of the American novel. And he surely deserves additional praise: the man who popularized the clever literary attack on racism.

I say clever because anti-slavery fiction had been the important part of the literature in the years before the Civil War. H. B. Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin is only the most famous example. These early stories dealt directly with slavery. With minor exceptions, Twain planted his attacks on slavery and prejudice into tales that were on the surface about something else entirely. He drew his readers into the argument by drawing them into the story.

Again and again, in the postwar years, Twain seemed forced to deal with the challenge of race. Consider the most controversial, at least today, of Twain’s novels, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Only a few books have been kicked off the shelves as often as Huckleberry Finn, Twain’s most widely read tale. Once upon a time, people hated the book because it struck them as rude. Twain himself wrote that those who banned the book considered the novel “trash and suitable only for the slums (贫民窟).” More recently the book has been attacked because of the character Jim, the escaped slave, and many occurences of the word nigger. (The term Nigger Jim, for which the novel is often severely criticized, never appears in it.)

But the attacks were and are silly—and miss the point. The novel is strongly anti-slavery. Jim’s search through the slave states for the family from whom he has been forcibly parted is heroic. As J. Chadwick has pointed out, the character of Jim was a first in American fiction—a recognition that the slave had two personalities, “the voice of survival within a white slave culture and the voice of the individual: Jim, the father and the man.”

There is much more. Twain’s mystery novel Pudd’nhead Wilson stood as a challenge to the racial beliefs of even many of the liberals of his day. Written at a time when the accepted wisdom held Negroes to be inferior (低等的) to whites, especially in intelligence, Twain’s tale centered in part around two babies switched at birth. A slave gave birth to her master’s baby and, for fear that the child should be sold South, switched him for the master’s baby by his wife. The slave’s lightskinned child was taken to be white and grew up with both the attitudes and the education of the slave-holding class. The master’s wife’s baby was taken for black and grew up with the attitudes and intonations of the slave.

The point was difficult to miss: nurture (养育), not nature, was the key to social status. The features of the black man that provided the stuff of prejudice—manner of speech, for example— were, to Twain, indicative of nothing other than the conditioning that slavery forced on its victims.

Twain’s racial tone was not perfect. One is left uneasy, for example, by the lengthy passage in his autobiography (自传) about how much he loved what were called “nigger shows” in his youth—mostly with white men performing in black-face—and his delight in getting his mother to laugh at them. Yet there is no reason to think Twain saw the shows as representing reality. His frequent attacks on slavery and prejudice suggest his keen awareness that they did not.

Was Twain a racist? Asking the question in the 21st century is as wise as asking the same of Lincoln. If we read the words and attitudes of the past through the “wisdom” of the considered moral judgments of the present, we will find nothing but error. Lincoln, who believed the black man the inferior of the white, fought and won a war to free him. And Twain, raised in a slave state, briefly a soldier, and inventor of Jim, may have done more to anger the nation over racial injustice and awaken its collective conscience than any other novelist in the past century.

1. How do Twain’s novels on slavery differ from Stowe’s?

A.Twain was more willing to deal with racism.

B.Twain’s attack on racism was much less open.

C.Twain’s themes seemed to agree with plots.

D.Twain was openly concerned with racism.

2.Recent criticism of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn arose partly from its ______.

A.target readers at the bottom

B.anti-slavery attitude

C.rather impolite language

D.frequent use of “nigger”

3.What best proves Twain’s anti-slavery stand according to the author?

A.Jim’s search for his family was described in detail.

B.The slave’s voice was first heard in American novels.

C.Jim grew up into a man and a father in the white culture.

D.Twain suspected that the slaves were less intelligent.

4.The story of two babies switched mainly indicates that ______.

A.slaves were forced to give up their babies to their masters

B.slaves’ babies could pick up slave-holders’ way of speaking

C.blacks’ social position was shaped by how they were brought up

D.blacks were born with certain features of prejudice

5.What does the underlined word “they” in Paragraph 7 refer to?

A.The attacks.                            B.Slavery and prejudice.

C.White men.                            D.The shows.

6.What does the author mainly argue for?

A.Twain had done more than his contemporary writers to attack racism.

B.Twain was an admirable figure comparable to Abraham Lincoln.

C.Twain’s works had been banned on unreasonable grounds.

D.Twain’s works should be read from a historical point of view.

 

When a rather dirty, poorly dressed person kneels at your feet and puts out his hands to beg _36____a few coins, do you hurry on, not ___37___ what to do, or do you feel sad and hurriedly ___38___ some money? What should our attitude__39__ beggars be? There can be no question that the world is full of terribly sad stories. It ___40___ be terrible to have no idea where our next meal is going to come from. It seems ___41___ not to give some money to beggars.

__42____, most of the world’s great religions order us to be open-hearted and ___43__what we have with those less lucky than ourselves. But has the world changed? Maybe what was morally right in the old days, ___44___ one knew exactly who in the village had suffered misfortune and needed help, is no longer the best idea. Quite a few people will not give to beggars. Let us look at their ___45__.

First, some believe that many city beggars dress up ___46___ to look pitiable and actually make a good ___47___ from begging. Giving to beggars only encourages this sort of evil(恶行). __48___, there is the worry that the money you give will be spent on beer, wine or drugs. Thirdly, there is the opinion__49____there is no real excuse for begging. One might be poor, but that is no reason for losing one’s sense of ___50___ and self-dependence.

Related to this is the opinion that the problem should be handled by the government __51____ordinary people. Some people think beggars should go to the local government department and __52____ help.

It is hard to come to any final conclusion: there are various __53___and we must __54___ them differently. A few coins can save a life in some situations, and even if the money is wasted, that does not take away the moral goodness of the__55____.

1.                A.to             B.with           C.at   D.for

 

2.                A.knowing        B.expecting       C.demanding    D.settling

 

3.                A.put away        B.hand over       C.take in   D.get out

 

4.                A.at             B.in             C.over D.towards

 

5.                A.must           B.can            C.need D.might

 

6.                A.warm-hearted   B.generous       C.cruel D.considerate

 

7.                A.Strangely       B.Honestly        C.Certainly  D.Surprisingly

 

8.                A.give           B.donate         C.share D.contribute

 

9.                A.why           B.when          C.what D.how

 

10.               A.arguments      B.quarrels        C.sayings    D.talks

 

11.               A.on show        B.on purpose      C.for fun    D.by accident

 

12.               A.money         B.comfort        C.living D.decision

 

13.               A.Secondly       B.Surely          C.Possibly   D.Then

 

14.               A.what           B.whether        C.that  D.which

 

15.               A.goodness       B.pride          C.security   D.responsibility

 

16.               A.rather than      B.or rather       C.other than D.but also

 

17.               A.produce        B.receive         C.earn  D.offer

 

18.               A.cases          B.events         C.conditions D.states

 

19.               A.go with         B.communicate with C.deal with  D.meet with

 

20.               A.giver          B.receiver        C.villager    D.government

 

 

In my opinion, there is only one legitimate (合法的) handgun sport and that is aim practice. It is practiced at objects which are properly monitored and usually quite safe. Only certain handguns are true “sporting weapons”, seen as such by the sport’s lovers.

On the other hand, shooting at tin cans and other small objects in one’s backyard is not and should not be considered a serious sport. When uncontrolled, it can be a very dangerous practice.

Some opponents (反对者) of handgun control have stated that we are out to stop all hunting and that controlling the handgun would severely affect hunting. That is simply untrue. Handgun control would in no way limit the freedom of the true hunter. Few if any hunters consider the handgun an effective hunting weapon.

There are a few hunters who do hunt with handguns, but most states place restrictions (限制) on the type of guns that can be used in hunting, the reason is that killing of game should be done in as humane (人道的) a way as possible. Some small handguns are more likely to wound the animal rather than kill it at once. Only long guns, rifles and shotguns are effective arms of hunting.

People must understand that handguns and hunters are separate matters. Because most of the hunters use a rifle or shotgun, there is no reason why their search for game and sport should be affected by handgun control. Mixing the anti-hunting matter with the handgun matter confuses the killing of animals with killing of people.

1.In the writer’s opinion, people should use handguns only when           .

A. hunters shoot at animals         

B. they aim at a criminal

C. objects are under control  

D. objects are only small tin cans in the backyard

2.According to the writer, hunting is not affected by handgun control because          .

A. hunters can use knives rather than guns to hunt animals

B. state government encourages hunters to use other guns

C. nobody cares what weapons are used to kill animals

D. most hunters use rifles rather than handguns

3.This passage mainly talks about           .

A. the relation between hunting and handgun control

B. the importance of aim practice

C. how handgun control affects hunting

D. different types of guns used in hunting

 

B

When a rather dirty, poorly dressed person kneels at your feet and puts out his hands to beg for a few coins, do you hurry on, not knowing what to do, or do you feel sad and hurriedly hand over some money? What should our attitude to beggars be? There can be no question that the world is full of terribly sad stories. It must be terrible to have no idea where our next meal is going to come from. It seems cruel not to give some money to beggars.

Certainly, most of the world’s great religions (宗教) order us to be open-hearted and share what we have with those less fortunate than ourselves. But has the world changed? Maybe what was morally (道德方面) right in the old days, when one knew exactly who in the village had suffered misfortune and needed help, is no longer the best idea. Quite a few people will not give to beggars. Let us look at their arguments.

First, some believe that many city beggars dress up on purpose to look pitiable and actually make a good living from begging. Giving to beggars only encourages this sort of evil (恶行). Secondly, there is the worry that the money you give will be spent on beer, wine or drugs. Thirdly, there is the opinion that there is no real excuse for begging. One might be poor, but that is no reason for losing one’s sense of pride and self-dependence.

Related to this is the opinion that the problem should be dealt with by the government rather than ordinary people. Some people think beggars should go to the local government department and receive help.

It is hard to come to any final conclusion; there are various cases and we must deal with them differently. A few coins can save a life in some situations, and even if the money is wasted, that does not take away the moral goodness of the giver.

59. What is mainly discussed in the passage?

A. Moral deeds of people.         B. Religious activities of the church.

C. Moral goodness of the giver.     D. Arguments on giving to beggars.

60. What can we infer from the sentence “But has the world changed?” in the second paragraph?

A. People no longer know who suffers misfortune in the village.

B. Some people will not do what was morally right in the past .

C. We don’t meet with those who need help any more.

D. Now it is the government’s duty to help the beggars.

61. Which of the following is NOT mentioned in the passage?

A. Some people dress up to pretend to be beggars.

B. Some beggars want money to help their children go to school.

C. Some beggars use the money to buy drugs.

D. Some beggars have no excuse for begging.

62. In the last paragraph, the writer thinks that it is hard to come to any final conclusion, because______.

A. the cases can be so different

B. there are so many beggars

C. there is so much money wasted

D. there are so many different arguments

 

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