阅读理解 Knitting My mother knew how to knit (编织), but she never taught me. She assumed, as did many women of her generation, that knitting was no longer a skill worth passing down from mother to daughter. A combination of feminism (女权主义) and consumerism (浪费主义) made many women feel that such homely accomplishments were now out of date. My Grandmother still knitted, though, and every Christmas she made a pair of socks for my brother and me, of red wool. They were the ones we wore under our ice skates (冰鞋) , when it was really important to have warm feet. Knitting is a nervous habit that happens to be productive. It helped me quit smoking by giving my hands something else to do. It is wonderful for depression because no matter what else happens, you are creating something beautiful. Time spent in front of the television or just sitting is no longer time wasted. I love breathing life into the patterns. It''s true magic, finding a neglected, dog-eared old book with the perfect snowflake design, buying the same Germantown wool my grandmother used, in the exact blue to match my daughter''s eyes, taking it on the train with me every day for two months, working enthusiastically to get it done by Christmas, staying up late after the stockings are filled to sew in the sleeves and weave in the ends. Knitting has taught me patience. I know that if I just keep going, even if it takes months, there will be a reward. When I make a mistake, I know that anger will not fix it, that I just have to go back and take out the stitches (针脚) between and start over again. People often ask if I would do it for money, and the answer is always a definite no. In the first place, you could not pay me enough for the hours I put into a sweater. But more important, this is an activity I keep separate from such considerations. I knit to cover my children and other people I love in warmth and color. I knit to give them something earthly that money could never buy. Knitting gives my life an alternative rhythm to the daily deadline. By day I can write about Northern Ireland or the New York City Police Department and get paid for it, but on the train home, surrounded by people with laptops, I stage my little rebellion. I take out my old knitting bag and join the centuries of women who have knitted for love.
单选题 Why did many women feel that knitting was out of date?
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】第一段第三句明确提供了此问题的答案，只是变换了表达方法即把“made many women feel”改为“were influenced by”而已。B)项和D)项都不全面，A)项文章没提到，而且答非所问。
单选题 The author wore the red socks her grandmother had knitted for her______.
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】第一段最后一句间接提示了本问题的答案。他们把祖母为他们织的毛袜子穿在冰鞋里，难道不是去滑冰吗?
单选题 The word "quit" in Paragraph 2 is closest in meaning to______.
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】即使不知道“quit”这个词的词义，也可以从该句子猜到：如果两只手都有别的事干，还能去抽烟吗?另外，运用排除法也可以找到答案：speed up：加速；slow down：减慢；build up：树立，建立；这些在这里与smoking连用显然不通，只有quit才合适。To quit=to stop，cease，disconfinue or to sive up。
单选题 According to the passage, which of the following statements about knitting is NOT true?
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】选项A)在短文第五段尤其第一句作者已明确说“编织不是为了挣钱”；选项B)在短文第二段第三句已得到证实(“it is wonderful for depression”)；选项C)在短文第四段尤其第一句也得到证实(“knitting has taught me patience'’)；选项D)在短文第二段第二句也得到证实(“it helped me quit smoking”)。因此只有选项A)与原文不符，是最佳答案。
单选题 Which of the following is NOT the writer's purpose of knitting?
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】短文第二段第四句说“在电视机前度过的时间或闲坐不再是浪费时间”，证明选项A)是正确的；短文最后一段说“编织改变了我一天的安排，它使我的生活换了个样”，可见编织丰富了她的生活，证明选项C)是正确的；短文第五段最后两句作者说“我编织是为了让我的孩子和我所爱的人穿起来暖和而且绚丽多彩，我编织所给予他们的是世间用金钱所绝对买不到的东西”，可见选项D)也是正确的；只有选项B)说“为了省钱”是短文中没有提到的，而且从文章来判断，也绝不是作者编织的目的，故应是最佳答案。