大学英语六级考试拓展阅读练习(16)

　　The inventor of Sherlock Holmes was the most commercially successful author of his time. Arthur Conan Doyle was a phenomenon: practising doctor, war correspondent, businessman, politician and a campaigner for legal and colonial reforms as well as a popular novelist. But he considered his fiction undervalued. Though he was known worldwide as the author of the Holmes stories and even sometimes addressed as Mr Sherlock Holmes, Doyle regarded himself as primarily a writer of uplifting historical fiction, usually with a medieval background. At first he considered Sherlock Holmes a pleasant diversion that filled a gap in his income. Eventually he came to think of the detective as an irksome burden: He keeps me from higher things, he wrote. The Sherlock Holmes stories continue to exercise extraordinary power. The writing is never more than efficient but the setting remains perennial: the comfortable, carpeted, fire-lit Baker Street sitting room shared by Holmes and Watson, the paradoxically womblike world of a Victorian bachelor set above an anarchic underworld full of violence and immorality. Doyles literary masterstroke was dividing the story between Holmes and Watson. It was a device the writer used frequently but never as effectively as here. Doyles true theme was division: between order and anarchy, reason and emotion, the material and the spiritual. He himself was a man divided, as two new biographical books make clear. The very picture of an upright Victorian gentleman, Doyle was not averse to fighting in the street when the mood took him. And in his late 30s, at the height of his fame, he ran a double life, conducting a largely secret affair with the woman who eventually became his second wife, while his first was gradually succumbing to tuberculosis. Much of this is revealed in detail in Andrew Lycetts biography and in a selection of Doyles letters edited by the present executor of the Doyle estate. The story behind the publication of these two books might make a Doylesque thriller in itself. Mr Lycett and the Doyle estate vied to gain control of newly discovered material, each trying to get to market first. Mr Lycetts book is a serious piece of work from an experienced professional biographer. If he never quite gets fully to grips with Doyles elusive personality, the author is particularly good on the intellectual background to Doyles work, both known and forgotten. The biography is hobbled by the Doyle estates refusal to permit quotation from numerous documents. But Mr Lycett makes the best of what he has and fills the gaps with insight. The selected letters by contrast are strictly an enthusiasts book. The editors comments are a bit haphazard and it is poorly presented. On the other hand, it does convey an almost physical presence of the author, with his strange mixture of kindness and carelessness, overbearing self-confidence and depressive self-doubt. Above all there is the impression of a man driven by internal forces. Since boyhood Doyle had been struggling with the consequences of his rationalist rejection of Catholicism and his growing conviction that there must be some kind of reality beyond the scientific. This was a division that in the end he could not manage. By the close of his life he was spending his diminishing energies defending not only the world of spiritualism but also the outermost fraudulent fringes of supernatural belief. It was a sorry ending. 1. Conan Doyle regarded Holmes as a burden because_____ he considered his fiction was of high level but was generally undervalued. he wrote the Holmes stories at the beginning for fun but later merely for the large income. the Holmes stories hindered him from writing historical fiction. the Holmes stories earned him the international fame as well as pressure. 2. The word averse most probably means_____ adverse. against. opposite. converse. 3. In Andrew Lycett s biography, Doyle is most probably described as_____ a reasonable gentleman. a man with doubtful life style. one with man divided psychological identities. a man of integrity and enthusiasm. 4. Doyle s divided personality was a result of _____ his own creation of the two opposite characters, Holmes and Watson. his paradoxical views on religion and science in boyhood. his confusion on reality and fiction all through his life driven by internal forces. his devotion to the world of spiritualism and his involvement in the secular society. 5. Doyle estate refused to permit Mr. Lycett to quotate from documents because_____ He was concerned with the protection of Doyle s privacy. Mr. Lycett was not the ideal biographer of Doyle. there was a kind of competition between the two parties in the publication of Doyle s biography. He was unsatisfied with Mr. Lycett s work which turns Doyle s life into a thriller story.

　　文章剖析： 这篇文章介绍福尔摩斯故事集作者Doyle的一些情况。第一段讲述Doyle因福尔摩斯而闻名;第二段讲述Doyle对于福尔摩斯故事集的看法;第三段讲述福尔摩斯故事的特点;第四段讲述福尔摩斯故事的主题和作者的性格有关;第五段、第六段将数两本不同的传记刻画出两个不同性格的Doyle。 词汇注释： perennial adj. 永久的 womblike adj. 像子宫似的 masterstroke n. 妙举 averse adj. 反对的，不愿意的 get to grips with v. 认真处理 fraudulent adj. 欺骗性的 难句突破： And in his late 30s, at the height of his fame, he ran a double life, conducting a largely secret affair with the woman who eventually became his second wife, while his first was gradually succumbing to tuberculosis. He ran a double life 这是一个复合句，前面的in his late 30s，是句子的状语;at the height of his fame是修饰late 30s的;句子后面的现在分词结构是句子的伴随状语;while引导的状语从句做该句伴随状语的时间状语。 他30多岁时富有盛名，但却过着双面生活，与一位女士有着秘密的交往，这位女士以后成为他的第二任妻子，但他的发妻却慢慢被肺结核所吞噬。 If he never quite gets fully to grips with Doyles elusive personality, the author is particularly good on the intellectual background to Doyles work, both known and forgotten. If the author is 这是一个复合句,带有条件状语从句; 后面的both known and forgotten修饰前面的work。 他总是爱较真地弄明白Doyle难以捉摸的个性，而且他也是Doyle作品学术背景研究的专家，不论是大家熟知的还是为人们所遗忘的方面。

　　题目分析： 1. Conan Doyle regarded Holmes as a burden because_____ 1. Conan Doyle认为福尔摩斯是一个累赘，这是因为_____ he considered his fiction was of high level but was generally undervalued. 他认为他的小说价值很高但是却被低估了。 he wrote the Holmes stories at the beginning for fun but later merely fro the large income. 他写福尔摩斯故事一开始是因为好玩，后来只是为了可以赚很多钱。 the Holmes stories hindered him from writing historical fiction. 福尔摩斯故事阻碍他撰写一些历史小说。 the Holmes stories earned him the international fame as well as pressure. 福尔摩斯故事既给他带来的国际名声，有带来了很大的压力。 C ☆☆☆ 推理题。第二段提到，Doyle认为福尔摩斯是个累赘，他说 是他让我不能写更加高雅的东西。 那么他所说的高雅的东西是什么呢，根据上文，他自己认为自己首先是一个高雅的历史小说家，结果因为福尔摩斯的故事使得他必须一直写这方面的作品，没有精力从事其他写作。因此，选项中C最为符合。A混淆了两种小说，是错误选项。B选项，文章提到了写福尔摩斯故事可以给他增加收入，但是却没有提到他为了赚钱而写福尔摩斯故事。D选项也是错误的，因为他并没有感到了压力。 2. The word averse most probably means_____ 2. averse 最有可能的意思是_____ adverse. 不利的。 against. 反对的。 opposite. 相反的。 converse. 相反的。 B ☆ 猜词题。根据上下文，本段主要说的是Doyle是个比较矛盾的人，具有双重性格，那么本句前半句说的是他看起来是个绅士，后半句应该是和这个相反的情况。按理说这么个绅士不会在街上打架，但是情况相反，如果情绪上来也可能会这样做。因此，选项中B符合题意。 3. In Andrew Lycett s biography, Doyle is most probably described as_____ 3. 在Andrew Lycett的传记中，Doyle最有可能被描述为_____ a reasonable gentleman. 一个理智的人。 a man with doubtful life style. 一个生活方式令人质疑的人。 one with divided psychological identities. 一个心理分裂的人。 a man of integrity and enthusiasm. 一个正直而且充满热情的人。 A ☆☆☆☆ 推理题。文章第三段提到，从两本新的传记也可以看出来Doyle是个自相矛盾的人，这两本传记一本为Andrew Lycett写的传记，一本为其遗产接受人编写的书信集;可以推断这两本传记描述的是相反的两种性格，书信集中的Doyle是充满热情的人，那么可以推断Lycett写的与之相反，应该是比较理智的人。因此，A选项是正确答案。 4. Doyle s divided personality was a result of _____ 4. Doyle分裂的性格源于_____ his own creation of the two opposite characters, Holmes and Watson. 他创造了两个性格相反的人，福尔摩斯和华升。 his paradoxical views on religion and science in boyhood. 他在少年时代对宗教和科学的矛盾看法。 his confusion on reality and fiction all through his life driven by internal forces. 他一生中由于内心力量的趋势而混淆了现实与虚拟世界。 his devotion to the world of spiritualism and his involvement in the secular world. 他沉溺于精神世界、又充分生活在世俗世界中。 B ☆☆☆☆ 推理题。文章描述了Doyle双重的性格，最后一段提到 Since boyhood Doyle had been struggling with the consequences of his rationalist rejection of Catholicism and his growing conviction that there must be some kind of reality beyond the scientific. This was a division that in the end he could not manage ，他在少年时代一方面理智让他拒绝了天主教，但是另一方面他又觉得科学之外有别的东西存在，他就在这种矛盾中挣扎，一直没有答案。可以推断，可能就是因为这一点他才会有这种分裂的性格。选项中B符合题意，A选项只是这种性格的体现而已，并不是原因。 5. Doyle estate refused to permit Mr. Lycett to quotate from documents because_____ 5. Doyle的财产委托人不让Lycett先生从文件中引用是因为_____ He was concerned with the protection of Doyle s privacy. 他想要保护Doyle的隐私。 Mr. Lycett was not the ideal biographer of Doyle. Lycett先生不是理想的撰写Doyle传记的人。 There was a kind of competition between the two parties in the publication of Doyle s biography. 双方都在为出版Doyle的传记而竞争。 He was unsatisfied with Mr. Lycett s work which turns Doyle s life into a thriller story. 他对于Lycett先生把Doyle的生活写成一部惊险小说赶到不满。 C ☆☆ 细节题。文章第五段提到，Doyle遗产委托人和Lycett先生都想占有新发现的资料，好最先出版自己的书。后来就提到他不允许Lycett先生引用资料。可以看出，该委托人最终拥有了这些资料，他想作为独家资料来发表。显然只有C选项最为符合题意，而其他几个选项很明显都是干扰选项。 参考译文： 福尔摩斯的缔造者可能是那个时代在商业意义上最成功的作家。Arthur Conan Doyle是一个现象：实习医生、战地记者、商人、政治家、法律和殖民地改革的推行者，还是受人喜欢的小说家。 但是Doyle 认为他的小说价值被低估了。尽管全世界都知道他是福尔摩斯故事的作者，甚至有时候人们就把他叫做福尔摩斯先生，Doyle还是把他自己首先看作是高雅的历史小说作家，一般还是以中世纪为背景的历史小说。一开始他认为写福尔摩斯是一种消遣，可以给他添点收入，到后来他认为这个侦探成了讨厌的负担。 他让我没法做更高雅的事情。 他这样写道。 福尔摩斯的故事还一直有非凡的魔力。写作本身并不是很出色，但是故事的场景却是永久的：福尔摩斯和华生在贝克街舒适的、铺着地毯、烧着壁炉的公共起居室;一位维多利亚单身男子那荒谬的像子宫一样的世界，而这个世界下面是充满着暴力和不道德的混乱的黑暗。Doyle的妙笔就是把故事分为福尔摩斯和华生两条叙述线索。虽然这个手法经常为Doyle使用，但他在这里却运用得最为成功。 Doyle真正的主题是分裂：秩序和混乱，理智与情感，物质与精神。他自己本人也是分裂的，从关于他的两本新传记就可以看出来这一点。虽然他被描述为一位正直的维多利亚绅士，但如果情绪激动起来Doyle也会在街头打架。他30多岁时富有盛名，但却过着双面生活，与一位女士有着秘密的交往，这位女士以后成为他的第二任妻子，但他的发妻却慢慢被肺结核所吞噬。 这些在Andrew Lycett写的传记和被遗嘱指定的Doyle财产执行者整理的Doyle的信件中有详细描述。出版这两本书背后的故事本身都可以成为Doyle式的恐怖小说。Lycett先生和Doyle财产的执行者争着要占有新发现的资料，他们都想让自己的新书最先上市。Lycett先生的书是经验丰富的职业传记作家的一部严肃作品，他总是爱较真地弄明白Doyle难以捉摸的个性，而且他也是Doyle作品学术背景研究的专家，不论是大家熟知的还是为人们所遗忘的方面。但是Doyle财产的执行者拒绝让他引用众多文件，传记写作因此受到阻挠，但是Lycett先生充分挖掘自己手头有的资料，用自己的独到的见解填补了空白。 相反，选出的书信看起来却是出自一位热情洋溢的人。编辑的评论有些随意，展现在读者面前的书也不够精美。但另一方面，这本书确实展现了这位作者真实的存在，展现了他善良和粗心混合的奇特一面，又有着压抑的自信和郁闷的自疑。最重要的是，在这本书中我们看到了一位受内心力量驱使的男子。少年时代的Doyle一方面在理性上否认天主教的存在，但另一方面又越来越相信在科学之外有其他现实存在，因此他备受这两方面思想的煎熬。直到他走到了人生尽头，也没能处理这种分歧。在弥留之际，他不仅维护着唯灵论，还为超自然信仰最具欺骗性的外部边缘而辩护。这种结局令人感到遗憾。