单选题
All of us have read thrilling stories in which the hero had only a limited and specified time to live. Sometimes it was as long as a year, sometimes as short as 24 hours. But always we were interested in discovering just how the doomed hero chose to spend his last days or his last hours. I speak, of course, of free men who have a choice, not condemned criminals whose sphere of activities is strictly delimited. Such stories set us thinking, wondering what we should do under similar circumstances. What events, what experiences, what associations should we crowd into those last hours as mortal beings, what regrets? Sometimes I have thought it would be an excellent role to live each day as if we should die tomorrow. Such an attitude would emphasize sharply the values of life. We should live each day with gentleness, vigor and a keenness of appreciation which are often lost when time stretches before us in the constant panorama of more days and months and years to come. There are those, of course, who would adopt the Epicurean motto of "Eat, drink, and be merry". But most people would be chastened by the certainty of impending death. In stories the doomed hero is usually saved at the last minute by some stroke of fortune, but almost always his sense of values is changed. He becomes more appreciative of the meaning of life and its permanent spiritual values. It has often been noted that those who live, or have lived, in the shadow of death bring a mellow sweetness to everything they do. Most of us, however, take life for granted. We know that one day we must die, but usually we picture that day as far in the future. When we are in buoyant health, death is all but unimaginable. We seldom think of it. The days stretch out in an endless vista. So we go about our petty tasks, hardly aware of our listless attitude toward life.
单选题
Why is the author talking about those examples in paragraph 1?
【正确答案】
B
【答案解析】考查首段的写作目的。做这种题目不可以就事论事，要从全篇的整体去考虑，放在篇章中去分析作者的写作目的，否则就会出现以偏概全的分析，比如A只是看到了作者提到的主人公遇到意外就说是为了证明生活充满坎坷(twist and turns)；C项只看到作者提到了罪犯condemned criminals就认为是劝读者守法；D项只看到原文提到的情况包括病危的人，就说是倡导健康的重要，都是属于这种类型的错误；作者的真正目的在二段首句可以看到“Such stories set us thinking，wondering...”直接阐明了作者的目的，举的各种例子和进行的铺垫，都是为了提起我们的思考，进而转入文章主题的讨论。
单选题
What is the excellent rule to live in the author's opinion?
【正确答案】
D
【答案解析】考查细节。借助“the excellent rule to live”我们可以找到原文的第三段，原文的信息是这样的“to live each day as if we should die tomorrow”，对这句话的正确理解就是正确的答案；理解这句话首先要关注的是should在这里的含义，should在这里不是我们熟悉的“应该”的意思，而是虚拟语气的用法，类似于“会”，整句意思是“假如明天我们就离开人世”，选择A项和D项的一部分考生很有可能问题出在这里，把这里的should作为应该来理解了；另外，这句话出现在一个段落的第一句，提醒我们应该往后面多看几句再做决定是一种更好的选择，“emphasize the values of life”“live each day with gentleness，vigor and a keenness of appreciation”都在帮助我们把答案定位在D项，目的是说“假如我们即将离开人世，那么一切都变得更加珍贵”。
单选题
What does the word "Epicurean" (Para. 3 Line 5) most probably means in the text?
【正确答案】
A
【答案解析】词义题。考查我们在上下文中推测词义的能力；Epicurean作为一个大写首字母的单词，我们很容易从原文中找到它，在原文中就有对这个词的直接解释“Eat， drink，and be merry”这个意思和中文的“吃喝玩乐”几乎是完全对应的关系，分析四个选项，A项表示的是享乐主义；D项表示的是现实主义；C项表示的是利他主义的；D项表示的是浪漫主义的。所以我们选择A项。
单选题
What does the author say about "those who live, or have lived, in the shadow of death"?
【正确答案】
C
【答案解析】考查细节。通过引号中的内容我们可以定位到原文的第四段末句，原文的表述是“bring a mellow sweetness to everything they do”，大意是“经历了生死磨难的人，更能够体会到生活中的细节之美”，根据这样的分析，我们可以看到，C项的表述是最接近的；A项的干扰点在appreciate，但整个选项的意思和原文相反，B项在文章中没有涉及到；D项的a stroke of fortune与原文表述类似，但也是“嫁接”而成的选项，需要大家对这些选项的设置方式的识别能力有所练习和总结。