单选题 "The landscape seen from our windows is certainly charming, "said Annabel; "those cherry orchards and green meadows, and the river winding along the valley, and the church tower peeping out among the elms, they all make a most effective picture. There's something dreadfully sleepy and languorous about it, though; stagnation seems to be the dominant note. Nothing ever happens here; seedtime and harvest, an occasional outbreak of measles or a mildly destructive thunderstorm, and a little election excitement about once in five years, that is all that we have to modify the monotony of our existence. Rather dreadful, isn't it?"
"On the contrary, "said Matitda, "I find it soothing and restful; but then, you see, I've lived in countries where things do happen, ever so many at a time, when you're not ready for them happening all at once. ""That, of course, makes a difference, "said Annabel.
"I have never forgotten, "said Matilda, "the occasion when the Bishop of Bequar paid us an unexpected visit; he was on his way to lay the foundation-stone of a mission-house or something of the sort. ""I thought that out there you were always prepared for emergency guests turning up, "said Annabel.
"I was quite prepared for half a dozen Bishops, "said Matilda, "but it was rather disconcerting to find out after a little conversation that this particular one was a distant cousin of mine, belonging to a branch of the family that had quarreled bitterly and offensively with our branch about a Crown Derby dessert service; they got it, and we ought to have got it, in some legacy, or else we got it and they thought they ought to have it, I forget which; anyhow, I know they behaved disgracefully."
"It was rather trying, but you could have left your husband to do most of the entertaining. ""My husband was fifty miles up-country, talking sense, or what he imagined to be sense, to a village community that fancied one of their leading men was a were-tiger."
"A what tiger ?" "A were-tiger; you've heard of were-wolves, haven't you, a mixture of wolf and human being and demon? Well, in those parts they have were-tigers, or think they have, and I must say that in this case, so far as sworn, and uncontested evidence went, they had every ground for thinking so. However, as we gave up witchcraft prosecutions about three hundred years ago, we don't like to have other people keeping on our discarded practices; it doesn't seem respectful to our mental and moral position."
"I hope you weren't unkind to the Bishop, "said Annabel. "Well, of course he was my guest, so I had to be outwardly polite to him, but he was tactless enough to rake up the incidents of the old quarrel, and to try to make out that there was something to be said for the way his side of the family had behaved; even if there was, which I don't for a moment admit, my house was not the place in which to say it. I didn't argue the matter, but I gave my cook a holiday to go and visit his aged parents some ninety miles away. The emergency cook was not a specialist in curries, in fact, I don't think cooking in any shape or form could have been one of his strong points. I believe he originally came to us in the guise of a gardener, but as we never pretended to have anything that could be considered a garden he was utilised as assistant goatherd, in which capacity, I understand, he gave every satisfaction. When the Bishop heard that I had sent away the cook on a special and unnecessary holiday he saw the inwardness of the manoeuvre, and from that moment we were scarcely on speaking terms. If you have ever had a Bishop with whom you were not on speaking terms staying in your house, you will appreciate the situation."
Annabel confessed that her life-story had never included such a disturbing experience.
单选题 All of the following adjectives describe Annabel's impression of the landscape EXCEPT
  • A. languid.
  • B. repressive.
  • C. enchanting.
  • D. boring.
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】推断题，由题干中的landscape和Annabel定位至首段。首句提到Annabel认为从窗子看出去，外面的风景非常迷人，这里的charming与[C]enchanting同义，[C]符合文意。在对景色表示肯定之后，她又指出自己的负面感觉：something dreadfully sleepy and languorous。这里languorous与[A]含义相同，都有“无精打采的，倦怠的”之意。段尾提到monotony of our existence，此外，前面出现了stagnation(停滞不前)，这都说明了生活单调，[D]符合文意。只有[B]“压抑的”没有提及，属于过度推断，故为答案。
单选题 Which of the following statements is NOT true of Matilda?
  • A. She enjoys the peace of the place where she is.
  • B. The visit of a Bishop left a deep impression on her.
  • C. Her life story is quite different from Annabel's.
  • D. She is on good terms with a lot of Bishops.
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】细节题。由题干中的Matilda定位至第二段。首句直接指出Matilda的不同看法，她认为这儿很宁静，让人很安心，[A]符合文意。该段提到Matilda在不同的国家居住过，经历过很多事情，Annabel回答表明了两种生活的巨大差异，[C]符合文意。第三段首句指出Matilda不能忘记Bequar主教拜访她的情形， [B]符合文意。第四段首句提到：I was quite prepared for half a dozen Bishops，虽然她准备接待六个主教，这里并没有说她和这些主教关系如何，[D]不符合文意，故为答案。
单选题 When the Bishop of Bequar called on Matilda, she felt quite
  • A. hectic.
  • B. distraught.
  • C. disturbed.
  • D. pious.
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】细节题。第四段首句指出Matilda对主教来访的感受：当与主教交谈一会儿发现两人是表亲，而两个家族之间又有很大的分歧和隔阂之后，她感到很不安，[C]中的disturbed与首句中的disconcerting同义，故为答案。[A]意为“兴奋的”，不符合文意，排除。[B]意为“极其烦恼的”，程度过重，排除。[D]意为“虔诚的”，不符合此处语境，排除。
单选题 Which of the following can we infer from the passage?
  • A. Many people tend to practice witchcraft.
  • B. Matilda's husband knows the visiting Bishop.
  • C. Matilda's husband may be one of the priesthood.
  • D. Matilda doesn't believe that there are were-tigers.
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】推断题。第六段第三句指出Matilda对were-tigers的看法；我要说这次事件的证据充分，他们有足够的理由认为有人虎兽的存在。[D]与原文矛盾，排除。末句指出她丈夫去那个村庄的原因：因为300多年前已经停止用巫术进行迫害了，我们不想让一些人继续实施已经被摒弃了的行为。[A]为过度推断。结合第五段中提到的Matilda丈夫的去向：talking sense…to a village community…可以推断她丈夫可能是一名神职人员，故[C]为答案。文中没有任何线索提到Matilda的丈夫和来访的主教是否相识，排除[B]
单选题 The phrase "rake up" in the seventh paragraph probably refers to
  • A. bring to light.
  • B. keep away from.
  • C. chatter on about.
  • D. keep dark.
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】语义理解题。第七段第二句提到Matilda对主教的态度“因为他是客人，我不得不表面装作礼貌”，接着用but引出主教的表现：他一点儿都不识趣，竟然想为他们家族的行为开脱。由第二句中的try to make out…可知主教没有避开old quarrel，也没有隐而不说，排除[B]和[D] 因为提到的是old quarrel，rake up显然是指“旧事重提”，这与bring to light意思相近，故[A]为答案。[C]具有较强干扰性，此处语境没有表明或暗示主教喋喋不休，此项为过度推断，排除。
单选题 What do we know about the emergency cook from the passage?
  • A. His parents lived ninety miles away.
  • B. He did well in tending Matilda's livestock.
  • C. He had planned to work as a cook in Matilda's.
  • D. He cooked a dish with curries for the Bishop.
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】细节题。由题干中的emergency cook定位至第七段，第三句提到Matilda让他的厨子放假，去看望住在90英里以外的父母，并非emergency cook的父母，排除[A] 第四句提到那名临时厨子不懂咖喱，对厨艺一窍不通，并未指出为主教做一道有咖喱的莱，排除[D] 第五句提到临时厨子来的时候应聘“园丁”一职，但Matilda家没有花园，让他照看山羊，他的表现让人十分满意，[B]符合文意，故为答案。[C]与此矛盾，排除。