英语专四阅读模拟习题(从才华到艺术)

　　I have known very few writers, but those I have known, and whom I respected, confess at once that they have little idea where they are going when they first set pen to paper. They have a character, perhaps two; they are in that condition of eager discomfort which passes for inspiration; all admit radical changes of destination once the joumey has begun; one, to my certain knowledge, spent nine months on a novel about Kashmir, then reset the whole thing in the Scottish Highlands. I never heard of anyone making a skeleton, as we were taught at school. In the breaking and remaking, in the timing, interweaving, beginning afresh, the writer comes to discern things in his material which were not consciously in his mind when he began.

　　This organic process, often leading to moments of extraordinary self-discovery, is of an indescribable fascination. A blurred image appears, he adds a brushstroke and another, and it is gone; but something was there, and he will not rest till he has captured it. Sometimes the yeast within a writer outlives a book he has written. I have heard of writers who read nothing but their own books, like adolescents they stand before the mirror, and still cannot fathom the exact outline of the vision before them. For the same reason, writers talk interminably about their own books, winkling out hidden meanings, superimposing new ones, begging response from those around them.

　　Of course a writer doing this is misunderstood: he might as well try to explain a crime or a love affair. He is also. Incidentally, an unforgivable bore. This temptation to cover the distance between himself and the reader, to study his image in the sight of those who do not know him, can be his undoing: he has begun to write to please.

　　A young English writer made the pertinent observation a year or two back that the talent goes into the first draft, and the art into the drafts that follow. For this reason also the writer, like any other artist, has no resting place, no crowd or movement in which he may take comfort, no judgment from outside which can replace the judgment from within. A writer makes order out of the anarchy of his heart; he submits himself to a more ruthless discipline than any critic dreamed of, and when he flirts with fame, he is taking time off from living with himself, from the search for what his world contains at its inmost point.

　　1. The writers that the author is familiar with confess that they would

　　A. work out the ending of a novel in advance.

　　B. follow the writing methods learned at school.

　　C. remodel the main character in writing.

　　D. make changes to the stories they first construct.

　　2. According to the passage, the process of writing

　　A. depends on skillful planning.

　　B. is predictable and methodological.

　　C. depends on the writers experiences.

　　D. is disorderly and unsystematic.

　　3. The word undoing in the third paragraph probably suggests

　　A. success.

　　B. happiness.

　　C. failure.

　　D. sorrow.

　　4. According to the passage, the writer has no resting place because

　　A. he is not clear about what he will write at the beginning.

　　B. he should constantly edit his work to make it perfect.

　　C. he has to face a lot of responses given by readers.

　　D. he should add brushstrokes to the appearing blurred images.

　　5. Which of the following statements about writers is TRUE according to the last paragraph?

　　A. They have little ideas before they start writing.

　　B. Their talent goes into all their drafts.

　　C. It does harm to their writing when they flirt with fame.

　　D. They try to increase communication with readers.

　　【文章概要】

　　第l段指出作家在写作前后，作品的内容往往可能发生极大的变化。第2段承接上文指出这一有机写作过程，往往能引领作者到达自我发现的境界：并指出作家在写作完成后的种种表现。第3段指出作家如果企图通过他人的评论了解自己塑造的形象，就相当于为取悦他人而写作。第4段指出作家需不断创作和修改作品的真正原因及作家追逐名利的危害。

　　【答案解析】

　　1.细节判断题。根据familiar with，confess及各选项内容定位到第1段。第1段指出，这些作家在写作前后，作品的内容往往可能发生极大的变化，其中作者提到，有一位作家就将小说的背景从克什米尔搬到了苏格兰高地。由此可见，D的表述符合文意，为本题答案。文中指出，这些作家动笔之前不会有整篇的构思，也不会按学校所教的那样列出提纲，A、B可排除。文中只说作者开始写作时可能心中已经设定了一两个角色，并没有提到会否重新塑造或改变作品的主要角色，故C应排除。

　　2.细节推断题。第1段明确指出，作者熟悉的那些作家在写作过程中没有既定的思路，情节设置也往往根据需要或更深了解素材后才做出相应的变化和调整，这就表明，写作过程有点混乱，构思也不很系统化;此外，第2段提到。如果作家脑海中出现了朦胧的形象，他们会在此基础上做任意的改动。由此可见，D正确。根据文中介绍，写作过程并没有完整的构思，也无法预见，只是在写作过程中不断完善，可很快将A、B排除。此外。作家在写作的过程中会更多地了解所搜集的素材，这也与经历无关，故C也排除。

　　3.词义推断题。第3段指出作家如果试图拉近自己与读者的距离，企图通过他人的评论了解自己塑造的形象，就相当于为取悦他人而写作。四个选项中，较能概括这种行为性质的是C。此外，undoing有毁灭之义，故C为本题答案。

　　4.因果关系题。根据题干中的no resting place定位到第4段。第4段段首提到：作家的才华体现在初稿，而艺术则体现在之后不断修改的稿子中。第2句以For this reason引出作家不能休息的情形。由此可见，第4段首句的内容，即作家需不断创作和修改作品：以实现由才华到艺术的转变是作家无法休息的真正原因。故8为答案，A、C、D不合文意。

　　5.细节判断题。末段末旬指出：当他追逐名利时，他就脱离了自我生活，脱离了对自己内心最深处世界的探索，故C符合文意，为本题答案。选项A、D均来自文中，但与末段无关，可排除。B与原文表述作家的才华体现在初稿，而艺术则体现在之后不断修改的稿子中不符，可排除。