单选题
Reading for Pleasure

The first thing I want to insist on is that reading should be enjoyable. Of course, there are many books that we all have to read, either to pass examinations or to acquire information, from which it is impossible to extract enjoyment. We are reading them for instruction, and the best we can hope is that our need for it will enable us to get through them without tedium. Such books we read unwillingly rather than willingly. But that is not the sort of reading I have in mind. The books I shall mention in due course will help you neither to get a degree nor to earn your living, they will not teach you to sail a boat or run a stopped motor, but they will help you to live more fully. However, they cannot do unless you enjoy reading them.
Every man is his own best critic. Whatever the learned say about a book, however unanimous they are in their praise of it, unless it interests you, it is no business of yours. Don't forget that critics often make mistakes; the history of criticism is full of the serious mistakes some of them have made, and you are the final judge of the value to you of the book you are reading. This, of course, applies to the books I am going to recommend to your attention.
We are none of us exactly like everyone else, only rather like, and it would be unreasonable to suppose that the books that have meant a great deal to me should be precisely those that will mean a great deal to you. If any of you who are not interested in the books I introduce to you, just put them down; they will be of no service to you if you do not enjoy them. No one is under an obligation to read poetry, fiction or literature. He must read them for pleasure, and who can claim that what pleases one man must necessarily please another?

单选题 The first thing I want to insist on is that reading should be pleasant.
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】[解析] 文章的第一句话说的就是个意思。enjoyable等于pleasant。
单选题 Whatever the learned say about a book, however unanimous they are in their praise of it, unless it interests you, it is no business of yours.
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】[解析] 该命题说的是: 不管学者对一部书怎样评价,不论他们怎样异口同声高度赞扬它,除非它能吸引你,否则跟你无关。答案可以在第二段中找到。
单选题 We are reading them for interests, and the best we can hope is that our need for it will enable us to get through them without tedium.
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】[解析] 这个命题是不正确的。文章第一段说了,有些书我们必须读,比方说为了考试或者获得信息,这些书不可能有趣,因此最大的希望是读完后不感到乏味。
单选题 It would be reasonable to suppose that the books that have meant a great deal to me should be precisely those that will mean a great deal to you.
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】[解析] 该命题不正确。在文章的最后一段,作者说了,每个人的情况是不一样。
单选题 No one is forced to read poetry or fiction or novels.
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】[解析] 这个命题是正确的,可以从最后一段找到答案is under an obligation to等于be forced to。
单选题 The author likes reading various kinds of books.
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】[解析] 在文章中找不到,我们也看不出作者喜欢哪一类的书。
单选题 If you don't like to read certain books, it means that they are of no service to you.
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】[解析] 该命题是正确的,可以从最后一段找到答案。