SAT阅读练习题:Reading Comprehension Test 3
10 minutes - 7 questions
The passage is taken from a biography of Florence Nightingale who is mainly remembered for her heroic work as a nurse during the Crimean War.
The name of Florence Nightingale lives in the memory of the world by virtue of the heroic adventure of the Crimea. Had she died - as she nearly did - upon her return to England, her reputation would hardly have been different; her legend would 5 have come down to us almost as we know it today - that gentle vision of female virtue which first took shape before the adoring eyes of the sick soldiers at Scutari. Yet, as a matter of fact, she lived for more than half a century after the Crimean War; and during the greater part of that long period all the energy and all the 10 devotion of her extraordinary nature were working at their highest pitch. What she accomplished in those years of unknown sat labor could, indeed, hardly have been more glorious than her Crimean triumphs; but it was certainly more important. The true history was far stranger even than the myth. In Miss Nightingales 15 own eyes the adventure of the Crimea was a mere incident -scarcely more than a useful stepping-stone in her career. It was the fulcrum with which she hoped to move the world; but it was only the fulcrum. For more than a generation she was to sit in secret, working her lever: and her real life began at the very 20 moment when, in popular imagination, it had ended.
She arrived in England in a shattered state of health. The hardships and the ceaseless efforts of the last two years had undermined her nervous system; her heart was affected; she suffered constantly from fainting-fits and terrible attacks of utter 25 physical prostration. The doctors declared that one thing alone would save her - a complete and prolonged rest. But that was also the one thing with which she would have nothing to do. She had never been in the habit of resting; why should she begin now?
Now, when her opportunity had come at last; now, when the iron 30 was hot, and it was time to strike? No; she had work to do; and, come what might, she would do it. The doctors protested in vain;
in vain her family lamented and entreated, in vain her friends pointed out to her the madness of such a course. Madness? Mad -possessed - perhaps she was. A frenzy had seized upon her. As
35 she lay upon her sofa, gasping, she devoured blue-books, dictated letters, and, in the intervals of her palpitations, cracked jokes. For months at a stretch she never left her bed. But she would not rest.
At this rate, the doctors assured her, even if she did not die, she would become an invalid for life. She could not help that; there 40 was work to be done; and, as for rest, very likely she might rest ...
when she had done it.
Wherever she went, to London or in the country, in the hills of Derbyshire, or among the rhododendrons at Embley, she was haunted by a ghost. It was the specter of Scutari - the hideous 45 vision of the organization of a military hospital. She would lay that phantom, or she would perish. The whole system of the Army Medical Department, the education of the Medical Officer, the regulations of hospital procedure ... rest? How could she rest while these things were as they were, while, if the like necessity 50 were to arise again, the like results would follow? And, even in peace and at home, what was the sanitary condition of the Army?
The mortality in the barracks, was, she found, nearly double the mortality in civil life. You might as well take 1, 100 men every year out upon Salisbury Plain and shoot them, she said. After 55 inspecting the hospitals at Chatham, she smiled grimly. Yes, this is one more symptom of the system which, in the Crimea, put to death 16,000 men. Scutari had given her knowledge; and it had given her power too: her enormous reputation was at her back - an incalculable force. Other work, other duties, might lie before 60 her; but the most urgent, the most obvious, of all was to look to the health of the Army.
2015年考研英语作文预测及模板:乐观
英语专八写作范文:人们为什么去博物馆
2015考研英语作文预测题目及范文:选择职业
大学英语六级考试写作训练题七
2015考研英语作文预测题目及范文:传统的价值观
英语专八写作佳句分享3
英语专八考试写作题型分析与应试技巧
2015考研英语作文素材:点睛200句式(四)
2016考研:十招教你提升英文写作水平
2015考研英语作文热点话题预测之网络
2015考研英语作文预测题目及范文:不文明的行为
2015考研英语作文预测题目及范文:逆境的意义
2015考研英语作文素材:点睛200句式(二)
2015考研英语作文预测题目及范文:莫言获诺贝尔文学奖
2015考研英语作文预测题目及范文:私家车的利弊
2016考研英语作文:懂得基本规则,才能分值逆天
2015考研英语作文预测题目及范文:自信的意义
作文技高一筹,做2016考研英语的战狼!
2012年专四写作辅导:Campuslove
考研英语作文核心词汇素材
英语专八写作佳句分享2
专四范文:奢侈品与必需品
教你如何拿下写作部分
2012英语专四写作便条范文分类
2015考研英语作文冲刺:加分常用谚语100句
2016考研英语:让表达方式duang~起来
专四写作范文——Self-confidence
英语专八写作佳句分享1
专八模拟范文:在哪里学英语更好?
2016考研英语:写作出彩,积累亮点词汇
不限 |
英语教案 |
英语课件 |
英语试题 |
不限 |
不限 |
上册 |
下册 |
不限 |