单选题
My parents immigrated to the United States in December 1966, three weeks before my 11th birthday. It is as if during that transcontinental flight from Belgrade, Yugoslavia, to Chicago, Illinois, my history was erased. I left behind my eccentric neighbors "Crazy Drina," with her many cats, and her one-legged mother who scared us children with nothing more than her appearance. Gone were my friends, the books from which I learned the Cyrillic alphabet, my uncle who taught me how to tell time and my aunt who sewed clothes for me and my dolls. I would no longer spend summers in my grandmother's village, where day and night blended into one and meals consisted of what we picked from her orchard. My colorful childhood ceased to exist. Everything in Chicago felt as gray as the color of the fire escape on the apartment building that had become my home. The contrast made me yearn for every familiar street corner on the way from my house to the school in Belgrade, the aroma from the neighborhood bakery, the sound of my aunt's sewing machine, the grain bin and the oil lamp in my grandmother's old house. These images embedded themselves so deeply in my cellular memory that three decades later I still feel a sense of loss. I love America with an immigrant's passion, but like everyone who has become a citizen, I also live with a part of me missing. I never quite adapted to life in America until 11 years ago when I moved to New Mexico, a simple, rustic place with breathtaking beauty, not unlike my homeland. Here, in an old adobe house with a wood floor in my bedroom, stained pine laid simply over dirt, I feel at home. It's not the packed-dirt floor of my grandmother's house, but in its imperfection it comes close. My house does have electricity and running water, of course, but it also once had a well like my grandmother's from which I drew water as a child. The house was last occupied by a much-loved schoolteacher. When the son of the local gas-station owner delivered my car one day, he asked if I saw a lot of butterflies on this property. Puzzled, I answered, "Yes, why do you ask?" "Well, you know, the woman who used to live here was such a sweet old lady. They say butterflies come around to people like that." My landlady, the old woman's daughter, seems to understand my need for history. She's given me some things that once belonged to her mother. The granddaughter, who lives in Colorado and visits often, has become a friend. When we sit in this house where she played as a child or go for walks on land she knows so intimately, I vicariously gain some more history. It has not been an easy thing, this business of becoming American. But there are times, like when I walk my dog in the country outside Santa Fe, when the sights and sounds of horses, roosters and donkeys so strongly evoke my childhood that I feel a deep sense of belonging. I've come to realize that by planting my roots here so firmly, I am no longer borrowing history. I am living and even creating it. Perhaps someday when I'm gone, someone will ask the person who lives in this house after me, "Do you see a lot of butterflies on this property?/
单选题
Which of the following is NOT included in the author's memory of her native land in Yugoslavia?
【答案解析】本题是一道推断题,要求学生透过文字表面,深入体会作者的内心感受。作者在叙述自己11岁时离开家乡飞往美国,感慨自己的历史从此被抹掉了;在第二段和第三段,作者不无眷恋地回忆在故乡度过的多彩童年,这与她在芝加哥所见到的灰暗色彩形成强烈的反差,作者不禁感叹:“My colorful childhood ceased to exist.”在第三段结尾处,作者说:故乡的情景已如此深地植入她的记忆之中,以至于她到美国30年后还感到怅然若失。由此可见,作者对故乡有这一种怀旧心情,故选B。其余三个选项不符合作者想要表达的心境。作者回忆家乡时没有显得兴高采烈(A),她没有谈到对未来的憧憬(C),而是充满了怀旧之情,她怀念故乡的亲友,但这种怀念不是担忧(D)。
单选题
The author at last feels at home in America because
【正确答案】
D
【答案解析】本题为细节题。作者在第四段开头有一句话:“I love America with an immigrant's passion,but like everyone who has become a citizen,I also live with a part of me missing.”这句话表明,尽管作者热爱美国,但像所有已成为美国公民的移民一样,她还是感到失去了一部分自己。根据这句话,选项A、B和C都可以排除。作者重新找回归属感的真正原因正如她自己所说:“I never quite adapted to life in America untill 11 years ago when I moved to New Mexico,a simple,rustic place with breathtaking beauty,not unlike my homeland.”作者在新墨西哥的居所与她的故乡有许多相似之处,这使她有了认同感,故选D。
单选题
What does the author mean by saying "I am no longer borrowing history" in the last paragraph?
【正确答案】
D
【答案解析】本题为推断题,要求学生根据上下文推断出作者这句话的深层含义。文章一开头,作者回忆当时从南斯拉夫飞往美国时感到自己的历史被擦去了,在美国她一直没有找 到归属感,直到她移居新墨西哥州的一个乡村。在文章最后一段,作者谈到把自己视为美国人不是一件易事(It has not been an easy thing,this business of becoming American.),接着作者描写了新墨西哥州的这个乡村多次使她感觉回到了童年的故乡,终于她感到自己已扎根于此,自己的历史又从这里开始,也就是说,她开始认同自己是美国的一分子了,所以选D。选项B和选项C明显与作者意图不符。选项A只是说作者适应了美国的生活,但没有接触到更深层的认同感,故不可取。