单选题 Looking back on my childhood, I am convinced that naturalists are born and not made. Although we were all brought up in the same way, my brothers and sisters soon     27    their pressed flowers and insects. Unlike them, I had no ear for music and languages. I was not an     28    reader and I could not do mental arithmetic.
    Before World War I we spent our summer holidays in Hungary. I have only the     29    memory of the house we lived in and of my room and my toys. But I do have a crystal-clear memory of the dogs, the farm animals, the local birds, and above all, the insects.
    I am a naturalist, not a scientist. I have a strong love of the natural world and my     30    had led me into varied investigations. I love discussing my     31    topics and enjoy burning the midnight oil while reading about other people's observations and     32    Then something happens that brings these observations together in my conscious mind. Suddenly you fancy you see the answer to the riddle, because it all seems to fit     33    together. This has resulted in my publishing 300 papers and books, which some might     34    with the title of scientific research.
    But curiosity, a keen eye, a good memory and enjoyment of the animal and plant world do not make a scientist. A scientist requires not only     35    but hard training, determination and a goal. A scientist, up to a point, can be made. A naturalist is born. If you can     36    the two, you get the best of both worlds.
  A. combine          B. connect            C. serf-discipline        D. enthusiasm
  E. regulations        F. discoveries          G. dim                H. eventually
  I. abandoned        J. honor              K. disposed            L. modest
  M. favorite          N. early                O. perfectly
问答题    
 
【正确答案】I
【答案解析】此处需要过去时态的及物动词作谓语。根据第1句提到的“我相信自然主义者是天生的”和下文的“与他们不一样”,可以推断兄弟姐妹是不喜欢花和昆虫的。abandoned their pressed flowers and insects意为“抛弃了他们压平的花和昆虫”。
问答题    
 
【正确答案】N
【答案解析】此处需要元音开头的形容词作定语。以元音开头的只有early,根据and后面的“不会做心算”也可进一步确认。not an early reader意为“不是很早就学会阅读的人”。abandoned一词虽然也以元音开头,而且也可充当形容词,但在词义上不符合上下文的要求。
问答题    
 
【正确答案】G
【答案解析】此处需要形容词作定语。根据下文But后的内容,可知空白处应与crystal-clear(一清二楚的)形成反义关系,所以答案应该是dim。dim memory意为“模糊的记忆”。
问答题    
 
【正确答案】D
【答案解析】此处需要名词作主语。根据上文的strong love,可知答案为enthusiasm。
问答题    
 
【正确答案】M
【答案解析】此处需要形容词作定语。根据topics的谓语动词love可推断答案为favorite,即my favorite topics(我最喜欢的话题)。
问答题    
 
【正确答案】F
【答案解析】此处需要名词作宾语。能与observations构成并列关系的名词是discoveries。
问答题    
 
【正确答案】O
【答案解析】此处需要副词作状语,修饰谓语部分seems to fit together。从上下文语义看,perfectly较合适。seems to fit perfectly together意为“似乎都相配得非常完美”。
问答题    
 
【正确答案】J
【答案解析】此处需要及物动词,而且是动词原形,作谓语。从下一句But后的内容看,此处需要一个积极意义的动词,所以honor最合适。honor with the title of scientific research意为“尊称这些为科学研究”。
问答题    
 
【正确答案】C
【答案解析】此处需要名词,与hard training, determination and a goal并列作宾语,因此答案为self-discipline。
问答题    
 
【正确答案】A
【答案解析】此处需要及物动词,而且是动词原形作谓语。根据下文“获得这两个领域最棒的东西”,可知要把两者结合起来,因此答案为combine。