英语四级考试阅读练习及答案解析(6)

　　本文为各位同学准备了一篇英语阅读练习，希望能帮助各位考生顺利备考。祝同学们取得优异的四级成绩。

　　Many a young person tells me he wants to be a writer. I always __1__ such people, but I also explain that theres a big difference between being a writer and writing. In most cases these individuals are dreaming of __2__ and fame, not the long hours alone at a typewriter. Youve got to want to write, I say to them, not want to be a writer.

　　The reality is that writing is a __3__, private and poorpaying affair. For every writer kissed by fortune there are thousands more whose longing is never __4__. When I left a 20-year career in the US. Coast Guard to become a freelance writer, I had no __5__ at all. What I did have was a friend who found me my room in a New York apartment building. It didnt even matter that it was __6__and had no bathroom. I immediately bought a used manual typewriter and felt like a __7__ writer.

　　After a year or so, however, I still hadnt gotten a break and began to __8__ myself. It was so hard to sell a story that __9__ made enough to eat. But I knew I wanted to write. I had dreamed about it for years. I wasnt going to be one of those people who die wondering, what if? I would keeo putting my dream to the test--even though it meant living with __10__and fear of failure. This is the Shadow land of hope, and anyone with a dream learn to live there.

　　A) barely B) genuine C) rewarded D) doubt

　　E) lonely F) poverty G) persuade H) prospects

　　I) uncertainty J)impossibly K) encourage L)awarded

　　M) alone N)wealth O)cold

　　参考答案及解析:

　　1.选K)。 此处应填动词的原形。可选项有doubt, persuade, encourage, 但由always推知，作者是在鼓励那些想要成为作家的人，而不是怀疑也不是说服，故排除doubt和persuade而选encourage。

　　2.选N)。由空格后的fame可知，此处应填名词。可选项有prospects和wealth，但由dreaming of 与第二段中The reality is... poor-paying可推知，那些想当作家的人梦想的是金钱和名誉，而不是前途，故排除prospects而选wealth。

　　3.选E)。此处应填形容词，private, poor-paying一起修饰affair。选项中有lonely和alone,能修饰affair的只有lonely,alone表示孤独的时，通常作表语，故排除alone而选lonely。

　　4.选C)。此处应填动词的被动形式。可选项有rewarded和awarded,前者可表示回报，后者作动词时表示颁发，授予，故只有rewarded符合题意而排除awarded。

　　5.选H)。此处应填名词。当我辞别了我在美国海岸警卫队20年工作成为一个自由撰稿人时，没有任何......可言，可选项有prospects和wealth，但wealth一般指抽象意义上的金钱，因此排除wealth而选prospects前途。

　　6.选O)。it指代的是apartment building，从had no bathroom可知这个公寓条件很差，选项中只有cold能说明公寓的条件差，故选择O)cold。

　　7.选B)。我马上买了一台旧的手动打字机，感觉自己就好像是一个......的作家，由前面提到的to become a freelance writer可推知，此处作者是想成为一个真正的作家，故选项中只有genuine真正的符合题意。

　　8.选D)。由空格前的to可知，此处应填动词的原形。可选项有doubt,persuade,encourage,但由still hadnt gotten a break 在写作上还没有任何进展，所以此处应理解为他开始怀疑自己的选择是否正确，故doubt符合文意。

　　9.选A)。that从句结构完整，后面有made，故此处应填副词。可选项有barely和impossibly，因that引导的从句是对story的解释，再由hard一词可推知，此处应填的副词应表达肯定的意思，故排除impossibly而选barely仅仅，刚刚。

　　10.选I)。由空格后的and可知，此处应填名词。由fear of failure可知，所填词应表示不好的境遇，可选项有poverty和uncertainty;又由fear可推知，此处强调的是生活的变化无常，而不是生活的贫困，故选uncertainty。