阅读理解

Directions: In this section there are reading passages followed by multiple-choice questions. Read the passages and then mark your answers on your answer sheet.

Passage A

Silence: A Story of Courage and Healing

Some say that silence is a great healer. If you’ d said that to me two years ago, I would have agreed. “Silence, ” I would have argued, “is anything but healing. There is nothing therapeutic about keeping your feelings inside, never talking about what’ s going on in your life. ” I now believe that silence is the reward you get from great healing in addition to being the healer itself. But 1 didn’t know that then.

I had never understood the value of silence. I didn’ t have to. My family was loud and happy. And why not? Nothing serious ever went wrong--not that we knew about. Sure, my siblings and I always fought noisily until our mom yelled at us to stop. Then we’ d shout and complain about injustice, but always, eventually, hug and make-up. Within the parameters of my innocent world, I knew silence as a lack of something: a lack of noise, a lack of discussion, a lack of feeling, a lack of love. Maybe I was even a little afraid of the emptiness it created--the aural darkness where forgiveness never happened; I thought I knew . . . I was very wrong.

Jaime entered my life without much fanfare about two years ago. I’ll never forget the day I met him. My university required a community service stint to graduate, and I wanted to get it out of the way. I’d heard that the local YMCA was a good resource, and I liked working with little kids. I thought maybe they’d let me teach swimming. So on a cool October day in the fall of my sophomore year, I made my way to the YMCA looking for easy credits.

I didn’ t have a car at school until my junior year of college, so if I needed to go anywhere, I would generally catch a ride with a friend or walk. On that particular day, no friend was available and the ten-mile walk was far beyond my dedication to public service. Consequently, I was at the mercy of public transportation. Thankfully, I’d heard the local bus system was pretty reliable.  With the help of the CITA bus line map, I climbed onto Bus Route 3, paid my fifty cents, and scanned for a seat. Buses often have their own unique demographic: each crowd is unlike any other. On this bus, most everyone was either asleep or totally oblivious. Except for one kid. He wasn’t all that big-maybe thirteen years old-and he seated by himself, farther apart from the other riders than seemed possible in such a crowed space. Unlike the others, his eyes were alert. And they were glued on me.

Normally, I ignore people with such awkward habits. But for some reason, I couldn’ t stop starting back. Older still, instead of avoiding him, I found myself passing an empty seat to sit on the bench beside him. Once I did, he turned to look out the window. That’ s when the strangeness of it all hit me, and I started to feel a little awkward. I wanted to get back control of the situation. Trying to be subtle, I looked him over. I noticed some scarring on his hands, and a small gash on his cheek. Suddenly, He turned and looked me in the eye. Expecting him to say something, I just waited, watching. He said nothing. After about fifteen seconds, I couldn’ t take the silence anymore.

“Hi, ” I said, trying not to appear as nervous as I felt. No response. He just kept staring. “I’ m Katie. ” I added a smile. Again, I received no response. I gave it one more try.

“I’ ve never used the bus system before. It seems pretty reliable. Do you use it a lot?” Silence. My cheery voice sounded out of place. Other people were starting to stare at me. This time I gave UP and tamed my head toward the front of the bus, trying to ignore the thirteen-year-old staring me down. . . again, I opened my cell phone to check the time and saw that only two minutes had passed. This was going to be the longest bus ride ever. Then a thin voice cut through the silence. “I’m Jaime. ”

My heart skipped a beat. Could it be that my silence was the catalyst for this small victory? By allowing Jaime the room that silence allows to make his own decision about talking to me, I had made a connection. Suddenly, I knew that my long heed opinion of silence was forever changed. 

单选题 Which of the following best describes the structure of the passage?
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】文章大意题。 作者在第二段结尾提到她曾 经不理解silence的意义， 直到他遇见了Jaime， 并在下文仔细讲述了和Jaime相遇的情形， 原文最后一段话， 作者说“Suddenly, I knew that my long heed opinion of silence was forever changed. ” 可以总结出本文是关于作者碰到一个人后改变了她一直以来的看法的故事， 故B项为正确答案。
单选题 Based on the passage, which of the following statements best describes the overall attitude of the narrator towards the boy?
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】推断题。 Jaime先是盯着作者， 在第五段中部作者写到“That’ s when the strangeness of it all hit me, and I started to feel a little awkward. ” 说明Jaime一开始让她感到不舒服， 并且作者几次尝试互动均未得到回应， 非常尴尬， 可以推断出Jaime沉着冷静的行为对作者发起了挑战、 让她一开始感到不舒服， 故A项为正确答案。
单选题 It can reasonably be inferred from the passage that the narrator had been raised with which of the following attitudes towards silence?
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】推断题。 原文第二段“I knew silence as a lack of something” 作者曾 认为安静是缺失的表现， 以及“Maybe I was even a little afraid of the emptiness it created--the aural darkness where forgiveness never happened” 表明她惧怕安静带来的空虚感， 就像黑暗， 可以推断出作者认为安静是空虚和不详的， 故D项为正确答案。
单选题 According to the narrator, silence is usually characterized by_____.
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】细节题。 原文第二段倒数第三句话“Within the parameters of my innocent world, I knew silence as a lack of something: a lack of noise, a lack of discussion, a lack of feeling, a lack of love. ” 提到作者认为安静是缺失的表现： 缺少声音、 探讨、 感受和爱， absence（没有； 缺乏） 最符合作者看法， 故B项为正确答案。
单选题 In relation to the first paragraph’ s earlier description of silence, the narrator’ s comments in lines6-8 primarily serve to_____
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】作者意图题。 原文第二段开头讲作者小时候不理解也不需要理解安静的价值， 并讲述了她热闹 的童年家庭生活， 并坦言这样的生活使她认为安静是空虚的， 从而引出下文Jaime改变了她对安静的看法， 可以看出作者这样写的目的是解释她为何不信任安静，故C项为正确答案。
单选题 Which of the following statements about the people on the bus is best supported by the passage?
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】细节题。 原文第四段“Buses often have their own unique demographic: ” 说公交车都有他们特殊的人口 组成， 即人们可能不能在其他公交车上再遇到一样的一群人， 故C项为正确答案。
单选题 According to the passage, the main reason the narrator decided to go to the YMCA was that_____
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】细节题。 原文第三段第三句话“My university required a community service stint to graduate, and I wanted to get it out of the way. ” 作者写到她的大学让他们完成社区服务， 本段最后一句话“So on a cool October day in the fall of my sophomore year, I made my way to the YMCA looking for easy credits. ” 写到她去YMCA是为了很简单地得到学分， 即她这样做的原因是大学有学分要求， 故A项为正确答案。
单选题 Based on the narrator’ s account, the boy, Jaime, is best described as_____
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】推断题。 原文第四段倒数第二句话提到“Unlike the others, his eyes were alert. ” ， 并且作者希望与Jaime互动均未果， 直到后来Jaime才开口 说话， 可以看出他是警觉并且害羞的， 故D项为正确答案。
单选题 As it is used in line 15, the word parameters most nearly means_____
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】猜词题。 原文第二段中部“Within the parameters of my innocent world. . . ” 以及结尾“I thought I knew . . . I was very wrong. ” 可以看出作者认为自己当时是年轻单纯的， 之后意识到了自己错误的想法， limitations（局限） 最为符合逻辑， 故C项为正确答案。
单选题 In the passage, the narrator describes her cheery voice as sounding out of place most likely because_____
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】细节题。 原文第四段提到“On this bus, most everyone was either asleep or totally oblivious. ” 车上的人们都是睡着或者心不在焉的， 因此作者的话在这样的环境中显得格外突出，故A项为正确答案。