单选题 Poseidon sat at his desk, doing figures. The administration of all the waters gave him endless work. He could have had assistants, as many--and he did have very many--but since he took his job very seriously, he would in the end go over all the figures and calculations himself, and thus his assistants were of little help to him. It cannot be said that he enjoyed his work: he did it only because it had been assigned to him; in fact, he had already filed many petitions foras he put it--more cheerful work, but every time the offer of something different was made to him it would turn out that nothing suited him quite as well as his present position. And anyhow it was quite difficult to find something different for him. After all, it was impossible to assign him to a particular sea; aside from the fact that even then the work with figures would not become less but only pettier, the great Poseidon could in any case occupy only an executive position. And when a job away from the water was offered to him he would get sick at the very prospect, his divine breathing would become troubled and his brazen chest began to tremble. Besides, his complaints were not really taken seriously; when one of the mighty is vexatious the appearance of an effort must be made to placate him, even when the case is most hopeless. In actuality a shift of posts was unthinkable for Poseidon--he had been appointed God of the Sea in the beginning, and that he had to remain.
What irritated him most-- and it was this that was chiefly responsible for his dissatisfaction with his job--was to hear of the conceptions formed about him: how he was always riding about through the tides with his trident. When all the while he sat here in the depths of the world--ocean, doing figures uninterruptedly, with now and then a trip to Jupiter as the only break in the monotony--a trip, moreover, from which he usually returned in a rage. Thus he had hardly seen the sea--had seen it but quickly in the course of hurried trips to Olympus, and he had never actually traveled around it. He was in the habit of saying that what he was waiting for was the fall of the world; then, probably, a quiet moment would be granted in which, just before the end and having checked the last row of figures, he would be able to make a quick little tour.
Poseidon became bored with the sea. He let fall his trident. Silently he sat on the rocky coast and a gull, dazed by his presence, described wavering circles around his head.
单选题 The underlined sentence ("It...him") in the first paragraph suggest that Poseidon regarded his work with______
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】[解析] 由上下文可知,波塞顿对他工作的态度是热心的。“He could have had assistants,as many—and he did have very many—but since he took his job very seriously,he would in the end go over all the figures and calculations himsele and thus his assistants were of little help to him.(虽 然他可以拥有助手,且曾经拥有过许多,但因为他对工作十分认真,所有数字和计算都要亲 自来完成,因此,助手的作用很有限,不能说他喜欢这份工作,但他这么做只是因为这是分 配给他的任务。)A放任,C敌对,D恫吓,显然都不符题意。
单选题 It can be inferred from the author"s description of Poseidon"s routine ("how... in a rage") that______
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】[解析] 由上下文可知,波塞顿“因为对工作的不满,所以导致工作效率的下降”,故选 D。其他选项意为:A波塞顿喜欢去木星执行工作,B波塞顿太忙了,以至于他对自己的王 国不很熟悉,C在工作期间,波塞顿需要安静。明显不符题意。
单选题 According to the passage, Poseidon"s dissatisfaction with his job primarily stems from______
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】[解析] 由上下文可知,波塞顿对工作不满主要是因为D,别人对他日常事务的误解。 根据上下文,由于波塞顿在工作期间偶尔造访火星,召来别人的闲言闲语(to hear-of the conceptions formed about him),导致波塞顿相当恼火(from which he usually returned in a rage)。
单选题 The author of the passage portrays the god Poseidon as ______
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】[解析] 由上下文可知,作者将波塞顿描述为:A不满的官僚。其他项意为:B强大的 神灵,C不满足的流浪汉和D能干的会计师。这些都未在文中予以描述,故选A。
单选题 Poseidon is unable to change occupations for all of the following reasons EXCEPT______
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】[解析] 根据上下文可知:A他的海神地位不可动摇,C他的生活无法与水脱离关系,D没 有什么职位比他目前的职位更适合他了。这些都有所陈述,而B“使他与诸神疏远”并未提及, 故选B。