阅读理解
TEXT C
I was standing in my kitchen wondering what to have for lunch when my friend Taj called.
“Sit down,” she said.
I thought she was going to tell me she had just gotten the haircut from hell. I laughed and said, “It can't be that bad.”
But it was. Before the phone call, I had 30 years of retirement saving in a “safe” fund with a brilliant financial guru（金融大亨）.When I put down the phone, my savings were gone. I felt as if I had died and, for some unknown reason, was still breathing.
Since Bernie Madoff’s arrest on charges of running a $65 million Ponzi scheme, I’ve read many articles about how we investors should have known what was going on. I wish I could say I had reservations about Madoff before “the Call”, but I did not.
On New Year’s Eve, three weeks after we lost our savings, six of us Madoff people gathered at Taj's house for dinner. As we were sitting around the table, someone asked, “If you could have your money back right now, but it would mean giving up what you have learned by losing it, would you take the money or would you take what losing the money has given you?”
My husband was still in financial shock. He said, “I just want the money back.” I wasn't certain where I stood. I knew that losing our money had cracked me wide open. I’d been walking around like what the Buddhists call a hungry ghost: always focused on the bite that was yet to come, not the one in my mouth. No matter how much I ate or had or experienced, it didn’t satisfy me, because I wasn’t really taking it in, wasn't absorbing it. Now I was forced to pay attention. Still, I couldn't honestly say that if someone had offered me the money back, I would turn it down.
But the other four all said that what they were seeing about themselves was incalculable, and they didn’t think it would have become apparent without the ground of financial stability being ripped out from underneath them.
My friend Michael said, “I’d started to get complacent. It’s as if the muscles of my heart started to atrophy（萎缩）. Now they’re awake, alive—and I don’t want to go back.”
These weren’t just empty words. Michael and his wife needed to take in boarders to meet their expenses. Taj was so broke that she was moving into someone’s garage apartment in three weeks. Three friends had declared bankruptcy and weren't sure where or how they were going to live.
单选题
According to the passage, to which was she “forced to pay attention”?
【正确答案】
D
【答案解析】[解析] 根据题干关键词forced to pay attention定位至第7段。
解答本题需要联系上文。第6段提到，有人问“想要回钱还是要得到的经验教训”。第7段是作者夫妇对这一问题的反馈。作者的丈夫想要回钱，而她则在两者间徘徊不定。作者说在遭受损失以前，她吃着碗里的，看着锅里的，不论吃多少、拥有多少、经历了多少，都不满足，因为自己“没有真正地消化吸收”，而现在就被迫关注自己“吃的、拥有的以及经历的”一切。故选D。
语义理解题。一开始作者在想要回钱还是要经验教训的问题上犹豫不定，她考虑的并非A“她的朋友们”和B“她的丈夫”。根据上下文，作者“被迫关注”的是前两句中指示代词it的内容，亦即作者拥有却不曾为之满足的东西，C“损失的积蓄”不全面。
单选题
Which of the following statements is CORRECT about her friends?
【正确答案】
A
【答案解析】[解析] 根据题干关键词her friends定位至第8段。
该段开头的But表明，朋友的态度与作者夫妇的态度不同。她的朋友认为从中悟到的经验非常珍贵(what they were seeing about themselveswas incalculable)。故选A“更看重得到的经验”，同时排除B“朋友们的看法和她相同”。
细节判断题。最后一段交代了各位朋友的经济状况：有的需要为他人提供寄宿、有的要住别人的车库、有的破产，因此排除C“朋友们的经济状况更好一些”。文章最后提到有的人破产之后对未来一片茫然，可见D“朋友们比她更乐观”错误。
单选题
What is the message of the passage?
【正确答案】
A
【答案解析】[解析] 全文。
全文围绕would you take the money or would you take what losing the money hasgiven you?展开。作者的多数朋友认为教训更重要；作者反思了过去自己总是不满足的心态。所以本题答案为A“获得的认识比损失钱财更重要”。
主旨判断题。B“面对经济危机人们的反应自然各不相同”，文中提到了这…点，但作者是以此为引子展开“金钱与教训”的深层讨沦。C“对金钱的欲望是人类的本性”和D“人们在危机面前要果断”文中没有提及。