Question

阅读理解 　　People tend to be more impressed by evidence that seems to confirm some relationship．Thus many are convinced their dreams are prophetic(预言的)because a few have come true; they neglect or fail to notice the many that have not． 　　Consider also the belief that “the phone always rings when I’m in the shower”．If it does ring while you are in the shower, the event will stand out and be remembered．If it doesn’t ring, that nonevent probably won’t even register． 　　People want to see order, pattern and meaning in the world．Consider, for example, the common belief that things like personal misfortunes, plane crashes, and deaths “happen in threes”．Such beliefs stem from the tendency of people to allow the third event to define the time period．If three plane crashes occur in a month, then the period of time that counts as their “happening together” is one month; if three crashes occur in a year, the period of time is stretched．Flexible end points reinforce such beliefs． 　　We also tend to believe what we want to believe．A majority of people think they are more intelligent, more fair-minded and more skilled behind the wheel of an automobile than the average persons．Part of the reason we view ourselves so favorably is that we use criteria that works to our advantage．As economist Thomas Schelling explains, “Everybody ranks himself high in qualities he values：careful drivers give weight to care, skilled drivers give weight to skill, and those who are polite give weight to courtesy．This way everyone ranks high on his own scale．” 　　Perhaps the most important mental habit we can learn is to be cautious in drawing conclusions．The “evidence” of everyday life is sometimes misleading． (1) In the first paragraph the author states that _________． [　　] A． dreams cannot be said to be prophetic even though a few have come true B． dreams are prophetic because some of them did come true C． dreams may come true if clearly remembered D． dreams and reality are closely related (2) From Paragraph 3, we can learn that _________． [　　] A． personal misfortunes tend to happen every now and then B． personal misfortunes, plane crashes, and deaths usually happen together C． misfortunes tend to occur in a certain pattern D． misfortunes will never occur more than three times to a person in his lifetime (3) The underlined word “courtesy” in Paragraph 4 probably means _________． [　　] A． good manners B． appropriate speech C． friendly relations D． satisfactory service (4) What can be inferred from the passage? [　　] A． In a series of misfortunes the third one is usually the most serious． B． Happenings that go unnoticed deserve more attention． C． People tend to make use of evidence that supports their own beliefs． D． Believers of misfortunes happening in threes are cautious in interpreting events．

Answer 1

答案：1．A;2．C;3．A;4．B;
解析：

(1)	根据第一段Thus…一句可知，作者不赞同那些因为少数梦变成了现实就认为梦就具有预言性的人，指出这些人忽视了还有许多梦并未变成现实这个事实。所以A项正确。
(2)	根据第三段首句“People want to see order, pattern and meaning in the world．”和“the common belief that things like personal misfortunes, plane crashes, and deaths ‘happen in threes’．”可知人们普遍认为：世界上所发生的事情总具有一定的规律性。所以C项正确。
(3)	“courtesy”意思是“言谈举止谦恭有礼”。从句子“Everybody ranks himself…polite give weight to courtesy．”中得知courtesy和polite有关。
(4)	本题是一道推断题，根据第一、二段，作者推出人们常常因为几个梦变成现实而忽视许多梦并未变成现实这个事实。由此我们可以推断，作者认为那些没有被人们注意到的事情也应该引起人们的注意。所以B项符合题意。