Everyone chases success, but not all of US want to be famous.
South African writer John Maxwell Coetzee is {{U}} {{U}} 1
{{/U}} {{/U}}for keeping himself to himself. When the
63-year-old was named the 2003 Nobel Prize winner for literature, reporters were
warned that they would find him "particularly difficult to {{U}} {{U}}
2 {{/U}} {{/U}}". Coetzee lives in Australia but spends
part of the year teaching at the University of Chicago. He seemed {{U}}
{{U}} 3 {{/U}} {{/U}}by the news he won the US $1.3 million prize.
"It came as a complete surprise. I wasn't even aware they were due to make the
announcement," he said. His {{U}} {{U}} 4
{{/U}} {{/U}}of privacy led to doubts as to whether Coetzee will attend the
prize, giving in Stockholm, Sweden, on December 10. But despite
being described as {{U}} {{U}} 5 {{/U}} {{/U}}to track down, the
critics agree that his writing is easy to get to know. Born in
Cape Town, South Africa, to all English-speaking family, Coetzee {{U}}
{{U}} 6 {{/U}} {{/U}}his breakthrough in 1980 with the novel Waiting
for the Barbarians. He {{U}} {{U}} 7 {{/U}} {{/U}}his place
among the world's leading writers with two Booker prize victories, Britain's
highest honour for novels. He first {{U}} {{U}} 8 {{/U}}
{{/U}}in 1983 for the Life and Times of Michael K ,and his second title came in
1999 for Disgrace. A major theme in his work is South Africa's
former apartheid system, which divided whites from blacks. {{U}} {{U}}
9 {{/U}} {{/U}}with the problems of violence, crime and racial division
that still exist in the country, his books have enabled ordinary people to
understand apartheid {{U}} {{U}} 10 {{/U}}
{{/U}}within. "I have always been more interested in the past
than the future," he said in a rare interview. "The past {{U}} {{U}}
11 {{/U}} {{/U}}its shadow over the present. I hope I have made one or
two people think {{U}} {{U}} 12 {{/U}} {{/U}}about whether they
want to forget the past completely." In fact this purity in his
writing seems to be {{U}} {{U}} 13 {{/U}} {{/U}}in his personal
life. Coetzee is a vegetarian, a cyclist rather than a motorist and doesn't
drink alcohol. But what he has {{U}} {{U}} 14
{{/U}} {{/U}}to literature, culture and the people of South Africa is far
greater than the things he has given up. "In looking at weakness and failure in
life," the Nobel Prize judging panel said, "Coetzee's work {{U}} {{U}}
15 {{/U}} {{/U}}the divine spark in man."
单选题
A. unhappy
B. well known
C. busy
D. worried
【正确答案】
B
【答案解析】[解析] 寻找正确的答案,常常需要借助上下文提供的信息。紧接着的句子中有这样一个短语particularly difficult to catch(特别难找到他)。这第二个句子是说明第一个句子的。从中可以推断出B项well known是正确的答案。well known for keeping himself to himself是“因与世隔绝而为大家熟知”的意思。
单选题
A. catch
B. come across
C. run into
D. bump into
【正确答案】
A
【答案解析】[解析] come across,run into,bump into在语义上都有某种“偶然性”,这里主语所指的是人所无法控制的,因而这种搭配在语义上是错误的,故选A。
单选题
A. influenced
B. affected
C. moved
D. shocked
【正确答案】
D
【答案解析】[解析] 在对第一题做解释时,提到了上下文常常可以帮助我们作出正确的判断。紧随其后的句子是“It came as a complete surprise.”(这个奖来得很突然)。shock跟surprise意思很接近,因而“shocked”是正确的答案。