Question

【题目】One of my summertime reading pleasures has been reading C.S. Lewis’s The Screwtape Letters for the first time. The Screwtape Letters is written in a satirical style while it is fictional in format. The story takes the form of a series of letters from a senior devil Screwtape to his nephew Wormwood.

As a new generation of property student begins the school year, I thought it would be useful to pass on this comment on the most property adjective, the possessive “my.” In this excerpt（摘录）, a devil named Screwtape is continuing to tutor his nephew on how best to direct and control humans toward “our Father below”:

We teach them not to notice the different senses of the possessive pronoun（物主代词）—the finely graded differences that run from “my boots” through “my dog”, “my servant”, “my wife”, “my father”, “my master” and “my country”, to “my God”. They can be taught to reduce all these senses to that of “my boots,” the “my” of ownership.

Even in the nursery, a child can be taught to mean by “my Teddy-bear” not the old imagined recipient（接受者）of affection to whom it stands in a special relation (for that is what the Enemy will teach them to mean if we are not careful) but “the bear I can pull to pieces if I like.” And on the other hand, we have taught men to say “My God” in a sense not really very different from “My boots”, meaning “The God on whom I have a claim for my distinguished services and whom I make use of the pulpit—the God I have done a corner in.” And all the time the joke is that the word “Mine” in its fully possessive sense cannot be expressed by a human being about anything. In the long run either Our Father or the Enemy will say “Mine” of each thing that exists, and especially of each man. They will find out in the end, never fear, to whom their time, their souls, and their bodies really belong—certainly not to them, whatever happens.

These “finely graded differences” are often lost in legal conceptions of both real and intellectual property.

【1】When the author read The Screwtape Letters, he felt ______ .

A. pleased B. dissatisfied

C. puzzled D. scared

【2】What does the underlined word in the second paragraph mean?

A. scold or blame B. attend or care

C. teach or train D. ask or beg

【3】Which of the following statements is TRUE?

A. In some degree, “my dog” is equal to “my servant”.

B. The expression “my God” means God belongs to me.

C. Screwtape is a kind of tape with a screw on it.

D. The different senses of the possessive pronoun are often lost in legal conceptions.

Answer 1

【答案】

【1】A

【2】C

【3】D

【解析】本文是一篇说明文，主要介绍《魔鬼家书》里的物主代词形式。

【1】细节理解题。根据文中的"One of my summertime reading pleasures has been reading C.S. Lewis’s The Screwtape Letters for the first time."可知，作者读这本书时感觉很愉悦。故选A。

【2】词义猜测题。A. scold or blame责骂或责备；B. attend or care参加或关心； C. teach or train教授或训练；D. ask or beg要求或请求。根据文中的"a devil named Screwtape is continuing to tutor his nephew on how best to direct and control humans toward “our Father below”"可知，恶魔教给他的外甥…。故选C。

【3】推理判断题。根据文中的"These “finely graded differences” are often lost in legal conceptions of both real and intellectual property."可知，D项是这句话的同义转述。故选D。