单选题
People seldom feel neutral about poetry(诗). Those who love it sometimes give the impression that it is an adequate substitution for food, shelter, and love. It isn't. Words, no matter how satisfying, are never an equivalent for life itself and its human experiences. Those who dislike poetry on principle sometimes claim, on the other hand, that poetry is only words and good for nothing. That's not true either. It is easy to become frustrated by words—in poetry or in life—but when words represent and recreate genuine human feelings, as they often do in poetry, they can be very important. Poetry is, in fact, more than just words. It is an experience of words, and those who know how to read poetry can easily ex- tend their experience of life, their sense of what other people are like, their awareness of themselves, and their range of human feelings. One reason poetry can be so important is that it is so closely concerned with feelings. Poetry is often full of ideas, too, and sometimes poems can be powerful experiences of the mind, but most poems are primarily about how people feel rather than how people think. Poems provide, in fact, a language for feeling, and one of poetry's most insistent merits involves its attempt to express the inexpressible. How can anyone, for example, put into words what it means to be in love or what it feels like to lose someone one cares about? Poetry tries, and it often captures exactly the shade of emotion that feels just right to a reader. No single poem can be said to express all the things that love or death feels like, or means, but one of the joys of experiencing poetry occurs when we read a poem and want to say, "Yes, that is just what it is like; I know exactly what that line means but I've never been able to express it so well " Poetry can be the voice of our feelings even when our minds are speechless with grief or joy.
单选题
"People seldom feel neutral about poetry" (in Para. 1) in this context means that______. A. few people think that poetry is neutral B. people always differ in their views about poetry C. people rarely take a biased opinion about poetry D. people generally think of poetry as extremely important or totally useless
单选题
The author suggests that______. A. poetry tends to make the reader disappointed B. poetry makes its readers sentimental C. poetry is more important than words D. poetry often captures real human feelings
【正确答案】
D
【答案解析】本题考查考生是否读懂了第一段中的一个长句子：It is easy to become frustrated by words—in poetry or in life—but when words represent and recreate genuine human feelings，as they often do in poetry，they can be very important．该句大意是：“人们很容易被语言弄得沮丧——无论在诗歌中还是在生活中——但是当语言体现并再次激发出真实的人类情感时，正如诗歌中的语言那样，语言就有可能非常重要”。D“诗歌可以抓住人类的真实情感”和原句内容相符，是答案。选项A“诗歌使读者失望”和B“诗歌使读者伤感”，均太片面，因为人类的真实情感包括喜怒哀乐各种情感。C“诗歌比语言更重要”也不对，因为从原句只能归纳出诗歌中的语言很重要，而并没有提及诗歌和语言哪个更重要。该句的难点是对as they often do in poetry 的理解。这是个由as 引导的非限定性定语从句，修饰前面when 引导的时间状语从句。其中，they 指代“语言”，do 指represent and recreate genuine human feelings。整个定语从句的大意是：“正如语言在诗歌中经常体现和再创造出人类的真实情感一样。”
单选题
According to the author, poetry______. A. is more than just words B. is the poet's feelings about words C. is anything but patterns of lines D. is an experiment on the use of words
【正确答案】
A
【答案解析】本题问及的是第一段的中心思想，即诗歌到底是什么?在第一段的结尾，作者写道：“事实上，诗歌不仅仅是语言。它是语言的经历，那些知道如何读诗的人能够很容易地拓展他们对生活的体验、他们对别人的感觉、对自己的认识，以及使他们拥有更丰富的人类情感。”由此可知，A 最贴切。其他选项B“诗歌是诗人对语言的感觉”，C“诗歌不是一行一行的模 式”(anything but 意为“绝对不”)和D“诗歌是对语言使用所作的实验”均与第一段的主题相差甚远。
单选题
Poetry tries, persistently, to express______. A. what love and death mean B. what people think about themselves C. what people feel but find it hard to describe D. how people go through life
单选题
This passage is mainly about ______. A. the structure of poetry B. the components of poetry C. the nature and importance of poetry D. the appreciation of poetry