Much of the American anxiety about old age is a flight from the reality of death. One of the striking qualities of the American character is the unwillingness to face either the fact or meaning of death, in the more somber tradition of American literature—from Hawthorne and Melville and Poe to Faulkner and Hemingway?—one finds a tragic depth that belies the surface thinness of the ordinary American death attitudes. By an effort of the imagination, the great writers faced problems which the culture in action is reluctant to face the fact of death, its mystery, and its place in the back-and-forth shuttling of the eternal recurrence. The unblinking confrontation of death in Greek times, the elaborate theological patterns woven around it in the Middle Ages, the ritual celebration of it in the rich, peasant cultures of Latin and Slavic Europe and in primitive cultures; these are difficult to find in American life.
Whether through fear of the emotional depths, or because of a drying up of the sluices of religious intensity, the American avoids dwelling on death or even coming to terms with it; he finds it morbid and recoils from it, surrounding it with word avoidance (Americans never die; they “pass away”) and various taboos of speech and practice. A “Funeral parlor” is decorated to look like a bank; everything in a funeral ceremony is done in hushed tones, as if it were something furtive, to be concealed from the world; there is so much emphasis on being dignified that the ceremony often loses its quality of dignity. In some of the primitive cultures, there is difficulty in understanding the causes of death; it seems puzzling and even unintelligible. Living is a scientific culture. Americans have already enough explanation of how it comes, yet they show little capacity to come to terms with the fact of death itself and with the grief that accompanies it. “We jubilate over birth and dance at weddings,” writes Margaret Mead, “but more and more hustle the dead off the scene without ceremony, without an opportunity for young and old to realize that death is as much a fact of life as is birth.” And, one may add, even in its hurry and brevity, the last stage of an American’s life—the last occasion of his relation to his society—is as standardized as the rest.
1. In the novels of Hawthorne and Melville, one will find ________.
2. The words “pass away” suggest the ________.
3. Unlike American society, some primitive cultures ________.
4. Margaret Mead suggests that ________.
5. The word “it” in line 2 of paragraph 2 refers to ________.
6. We can infer from the passage that in some primitive cultures, ________.
7. From the passage, we team that Americans ________.
问题1选项
A.ordinary American death attitudes
B.a willingness to accept death as a fact of life
C.a superficial attitude toward death
D.a morbid attitude to the death theme
问题2选项
A.religious overtones of death
B.indifference with which most Americans regard death
C.American reluctant to face the reality of death
D.average American belief in immortality
问题3选项
A.do not understand the causes of death
B.understand the causes of death
C.are unable to come to terms with death
D.have a morbid attitude toward death
问题4选项
A.we should sot rejoice at a birth
B.we should cry at a birth and rejoice at a funeral
C.a wedding should be solemn affair
D.we should accept both death mid marriage and birth as a fact of life
问题5选项
A.fear
B.religious integrity
C.dwelling on death
D.death
问题6选项
A.death is accepted happily
B.death has been treated as a mystery
C.death has been bestowed with rich cultural implications
D.mentioning of death is avoided in American culture
问题7选项
A.know scientifically how death comes about
B.treat death as a mystery
C.accept death squarely
D.know more about death than people in other countries
第1题:A
第2题:C
第3题:A
第4题:D
第5题:D
第6题:B
第7题:A
第1题:
【选项释义】
In the novels of Hawthorne and Melville, one will find _____. 在霍桑和梅尔维尔的小说中可以看出_____。
A. ordinary American death attitudes A. 普通美国人对待死亡的态度
B. a willingness to accept death as a fact of life B. 愿意接受死亡是生命的事实
C. a superficial attitude toward death C. 对死亡持肤浅态度
D. a morbid attitude to the death theme D. 对死亡的主题持病态态度
【考查点】事实细节题
【解题思路】根据题干关键词“Hawthorne and Melville”定位至第一段二三句，该段提到“from Hawthorne and Melville...— one finds a tragic depth that belies the surface thinness of the ordinary American death attitudes”，即“霍桑和梅尔维尔……在普通美国人对死亡的肤浅态度背后，隐藏着一种悲剧性的深度”。由此可以看出，在他们的小说里可以看到普通美国人对死亡的态度是肤浅的，因此A选项符合题意。
【干扰项排除】B选项“愿意接受死亡是生命的必然过程”，根据关键词定位至原文倒数第二句，可以看出这是Margaret Mead（玛格丽特•米德）的观点，并不是出自霍桑和梅尔维尔的小说，因此属于张冠李戴；
C选项“对死亡持肤浅态度”，本文中提到的是他们的小说中可以看出普通美国人对死亡的态度是肤浅的，并非作者自己对死亡持肤浅态度，因此此处属于偷换概念；
D选项“对死亡主题持病态态度”，原文第二段开头提到“he finds it morbid and reedits from it”，意为“他发现这本书很病态，于是对它进行了重新编辑”，根据文意可知，这是他人对这本书的态度，并非是小说中对死亡主题的态度，因此此处属于偷换概念。
第2题:
【选项释义】
The words “pass away” suggest the _____. “pass away”一词暗示了_____。
A. religious overtones of death A. 死亡的宗教意味
B. indifference with which most Americans regard death B. 大多数美国人对死亡的漠不关心
C. American reluctant to face the reality of death C. 美国人不愿面对死亡的现实
D. average American belief in immortality D. 一般美国人相信永生
【考查点】推理判断题
【解题思路】根据题干定位至第二段的一二句，该段提到“he finds it morbid and reedits from it, surrounding it with word avoidance and various taboos of speech and practice”，即“人们感觉这本书很病态，于是对它进行了重新编辑，并在其周围使用了回避词和各种各样的言论禁忌和实践”。由此可以可推断出，美国人不愿面对死亡，因此C选项符合题意。
【干扰项排除】其余各选项均不符合逻辑，无法体现出美国人不愿意面对死亡，均属于曲解原文。
第3题:
【选项释义】
Unlike American society, some primitive cultures _____. 与美国社会不同，一些原始文化_____。
A. do not understand the causes of death A. 不了解死因
B. understand the causes of death B. 了解死因
C. are unable to come to terms with death C. 无法接受死亡
D. have a morbid attitude toward death D. 对死亡持病态的态度
【考查点】事实细节题
【解题思路】根据题干关键词“the primitive culture”定位至第二段，该段提到“In some of the primitive cultures, there is difficulty in understanding the causes of death”，即“在一些原始文化中，人们很难理解死亡的原因”。由此可以看出，A选项与原文描述一致，符合题意。
【干扰项排除】
B选项“了解死因”，原文中提到在一些原始文化中，人们很难理解死亡的原因，因此该选项属于反向干扰；
C选项“无法接受死亡”，该选项在原文中无对应出处，属于无中生有；
D选项“对死亡持病态的态度”，原文中只是提到人们缺乏对死亡的了解，并不是指他们对死亡持病态的态度，因此该选项属于曲解原文。
第4题:
【选项释义】
Margaret Mead suggests that _____. 玛格丽特•米德认为_____。
A. we should sot rejoice at a birth A. 我们应该为一个人的出生而高兴
B. we should cry at a birth and rejoice at a funeral B. 我们应该在出生时哭，在葬礼上高兴
C. a wedding should be solemn affair C. 婚礼应该是庄严的事情
D. we should accept both death mid marriage and birth as a fact of life D. 我们应该接受在婚姻中死亡和出生都是生活的事实
【考查点】事实细节题
【解题思路】根据题干关键词“Margaret Mead”定位至第二段的倒数第二句，该段提到“death is as much a fact of life as is birth”，即“死亡和出生一样，都是生命的事实”。由此可以看出，他认为死亡和出生一样，都是生命的事实，因此D选项符合原文。
【干扰项排除】其他选项均在原文中并无对应出处，属于无中生有。
第5题:
【选项释义】
The word “it” in line 2 of paragraph 2 refers to _____. 第2段第2行中的“it”指的是_____。
A. fear A. 恐惧
B. religious integrity B. 宗教的完整性
C. dwelling on death C. 沉湎于死亡
D. death D. 死亡
【考查点】词汇推断题
【解题思路】根据原文“the American avoids dwelling on death or even coming to terms with it”，意为“美国人避免纠结于死亡，甚至避免与死亡妥协”，由此可判断出，这里的“it”指的是死亡。D选项符合逻辑。
【干扰项排除】其他选项均不符合原文逻辑，无法指代上文提到的“死亡”，属于曲解原文。
第6题:
【选项释义】
We can infer from the passage that in some primitive cultures, _____. 从文章中我们可以推断出，在一些原始文化中，_____。
A. death is accepted happily A. 死亡是被愉快地接受的
B. death has been treated as a mystery B. 死亡一直被视为一个谜
C. death has been bestowed with rich cultural implications C. 死亡被赋予了丰富的文化内涵
D. mentioning of death is avoided in American culture D. 死亡在美国文化中是被避免提及的
【考查点】推理判断题
【解题思路】根据原文第二段，该段提到“In some of the primitive cultures, there is difficulty in understanding the causes of death; it seems puzzling and even unintelligible”，即“在一些原始文化中，人们很难理解死亡的原因；死亡似乎令人费解，甚至难以理解”。由此可以看出，原始文化中，死亡一直被视为一个谜，因此B选项符合题意。
【干扰项排除】其他选项在原文中均无对应出处，属于无中生有。
第7题:
【选项释义】
From the passage, we team that Americans _____. 从文章中，我们知道美国人_____。
A. know scientifically how death comes about A. 科学地知道死亡是如何发生的
B. treat death as a mystery B. 把死亡当作一个谜
C. accept death squarely C. 接受死亡
D. know more about death than people in other countries D. 比其他国家的人更了解死亡
【考查点】事实细节题
【解题思路】根据原文第二段“Americans have already enough explanation of how it comes”，即“美国人对死亡的原因已经有了足够的了解”，可知A选项符合原文。
【干扰项排除】
B选项“把死亡当作一个谜”，原文中提到的是在原始文化中，人们把死亡当作一个迷，因此该选项属于张冠李戴；
C选项“接受死亡”，该选项在原文之中无对应出处，因此属于无中生有；
D选项“比其他国家的人更了解死亡”，该选项在原文之中无对应出处，因此属于无中生有。
