Question

It is a wonderful morning, as I write this: hot, but without being too hot. Outside my window, I can see the sunniest sky of the year reflected in a huge natural expand of water. It is the kind of sun that makes you well aware of summer's temporary nature a reminder that if I am ever to go around to book this year's holiday, time is running out.

It is now close to four years since I last took a holiday. This is because I have come to the conclusion, over the course of my adult life, that I am not very good at it. You might say this sounds like saying you are not very good at drinking tea or listening to music. What could possibly be difficult about the natural act of putting your working life on hold for a couple of weeks and going somewhere to do nothing?

So what is my problem? On the surface, I'm probably a bit of homebody. And I just find the pressure of being on holiday too severe: it always feels like having a gun held to my head and being forced to have fun. Somehow, packing a carefully itemized （详细列举的 ）list of possessions and meeting a scheduled flight has none of the excitement of suddenly deciding to take a day off and driving somewhere for the fun of it.

Thankfully, I am not alone. This summer, most of my friends have decided not to have a break. And a recent survey highlighted the downside（负面）of holidays, with the results showing that nearly two thirds of people found that the calming effects of a holiday wore off within 24 hours, as stress levels returned to normal. And this year's the Idler magazine published its book, Awful Holidays. Here you will find a list of the five most

ecologically-damaging vacations it's possible to take, along with 50 horrible holidays experiences voted for on the idler website. Over the last decade, The Idler has become well known for promoting the idea of an easy, lazy life. The leisure（休闲）industry might seem an unlikely target of its criticism, but Dan Kienan, the book’s editor, says that he was flooded with entries from readers for his list of awful holidays.

1.According to the first paragraph we can know that the writer .

A. has a strong desire to book a holiday

B. wishes that the weather would change

C. finds it is too late to enjoy the sunshine

D. realizes it's time to decide whether to go on a holiday

2.The reason why the writer dislikes going on holidays is that .

A. it usually costs too much money

B. he is tired of making preparations too much for holidays

C. it is far less enjoyable than breaks planned in advance

D. he feels embarrassed when other people are having fun but he isn't

3.We can learn from the survey that .

A. most people pretend to enjoy their holiday

B. all people fail to relax while they are on holiday

C. a lot of people feel that the benefits of going on holidays are limited

D. many people have made the same decision as the writer and most of his friends

4.The writer takes the book of Awful Holidays as an example to .

A. damage the reputation of the magazine

B. prove the idea of living an easy, lazy life to be wrong

C. indicate that his dislike of holidays is widely shared

D. focus entirely on bad personal experiences of holidays

 

Answer 1

1.D

2.B

3.C

4.C

【解析】

试题分析：作者将近四年没有旅行了，他厌烦了旅行前繁琐的准备工作，旅行返回后压力也随之返回了，旅行的效果非常短暂。现在，有很多像作者一样的人，他们宁愿选择一次说走就走的短途观光，也不会去计划一次较长时间的旅行。

1.a reminder that if I am ever to go around to book this year's holiday, time is running out.”可知，阳光明媚的夏日时光让作者意识到是否要出去旅行，根据“if”可知，作者还没决定要去旅行，故选D。

2.packing a carefully itemized （详细列举的 ）list of possessions and meeting a scheduled flight has none of the excitement...”可知，作者厌烦了旅行前的各项准备工作，故选B。

3.the calming effects of a holiday wore off within 24 hours, as stress levels returned to normal”可知，旅行带来的放松过于短暂，效果有限，故选C。

4.Here you will find a list of the five most ecologically-damaging vacations...The leisure（休闲）industry might seem an unlikely target of its criticism”可知，不光作者一人，还有很多人表达了对旅行的反感，故选C。

考点：生活类短文阅读