The Haunted America
Countries are like little homes; they house a nation, hold ideologies and provides shelter and comfort to its people in hopes that the occupants will nurture better ideas for themselves and further flourish humanity. Such are primary desires and goals of most countries on this small planet.
America is no exception. For decades, billions of people around the world slept at night on empty stomachs amidst dreadful circumstances, often dreaming of the freedoms and liberties of America, which they likened to a great land, a paradise and a final destination point.
The best and brightest of the world gravitated to the great USA in search of golden opportunities; in hordes they came, and en masse they settleD.America became the nation which acknowledged greatness and provided the driving force to allow the dreams of small, ordinary people to take form and flourish. Free from restrictions, allowing grand expressions with extraordinary liberties, that no other nation in the history of mankind has been able to match at such a grand scale.
But currently, it seems that this home of the American nation has started to resemble that old mansion, elegantly pristine （质朴的） but known to be haunted, sitting at the end of that dead-end street where ghosts, mysterious apparitions （幽灵）and unexplainable signs have emergeD.This planet, like an old street, is already full of such haunted houses, which at times seem abandoned, lifeless and unable to give or receive neighborly warmth; factors so critical for any country on the global scene.
Can this badly damaged image of America be fixed today and by whom and at what cost? What must it include — a new costume, a new mask or a new heart? These are very important underlying questions, but the biggest question remains — can an entire country be branded to the rest of the world in the same fashion as a breakfast cereal or laundry detergent?
The answer is a flat no. Only the branding-circus would come up with such a fake, superficial, logo-centric-slogan-happy attempt to rebuild a nation painted with banners and billboards. In reality, countries cannot be branded in such a simple process from the past, because nations are already branded over decades and centuries by their histories and cultural interactions and exportable identities.
1. America used to be thought of as___.
2. America is now likened to___.
3. The writer suggests that___.
4. According to the passage that ___ is NOT true.
5. The main rhetorical device of this passage is ___.
1.推理判断题。由题干可以定位到原文第二段“For decades, billions of people around the world slept at night on empty stomachs amidst dreadful circumstances, often dreaming of the freedoms and liberties of America, which they likened to a great land, a paradise and a final destination point.”中文翻译为：几十年来，世界上有数十亿人在可怕的环境中饿着肚子睡觉，经常梦想着美国的自由和自由，他们把美国比作一块伟大的土地，一个天堂和一个最终的目的地。以及第三段“Free from restrictions, allowing grand expressions with extraordinary liberties, that no other nation in the history of mankind has been able to match at such a grand scale.”中文翻译为：不受限制，允许以非凡的自由发表伟大的言论，在人类历史上没有任何其他国家能够在如此大的规模上匹敌。故判断出答案选D。
2.推理判断题。由题干可以定位到原文第四段 “But currently, it seems that this home of the American nation has started to resemble that old mansion, elegantly pristine but known to be haunted, sitting at the end of that dead-end street where ghosts, mysterious apparitions and unexplainable signs have emerged.”中文翻译为：但目前看来，这个美国国家的家园似乎开始像那座古老的宅邸，优雅质朴，但众所周知是闹鬼，坐落在那条死胡同的街道尽头，那里出现了鬼魂、神秘的幽灵和无法解释的迹象。可知，A项正确，译为“一所雅致朴素的房子”。
3.推理判断题。由题干可以定位到原文倒数第一段“In reality, countries cannot be branded in such a simple process from the past, because nations are already branded over decades and centuries by their histories and cultural interactions and exportable identities.”中文翻译为：实际上，国家不可能在如此简单的过去过程中就打上烙印，因为国家的历史和文化互动以及可出口的特性已经在几十年甚至几百年的时间里打上烙印。可知，C项正确，译为“历史为国家树立了品牌”。
4.细节事实题。由C选项“美国有许多鬼屋”可以定位到原文倒数第三段中“But currently, it seems that this home of the American nation has started to resemble that old mansion, elegantly pristine （质朴的） but known to be haunted, sitting at the end of that dead-end street where ghosts, mysterious apparitions （幽灵）and unexplainable signs have emerged.” 中文翻译为：但目前看来，这个美国民族的家园似乎开始像那座古旧的豪宅，优雅质朴，但众所周知是闹鬼，坐落在那条死胡同的尽头，那里有鬼魂、神秘的幽灵和无法解释的迹象。可知此处是一个比喻，故C选项不正确，符合题意。
5.推理判断题。A. simile and metaphor “明喻和暗喻”；B. parallelism “平行；类似，对应”；C. echo-question “反问”；D. description “说明”。本文主要用的是比喻，因此可以推测出A选项正确。
