单选题 A happy life, according to the Scottish poet James Thomson, consists of "retirement, rural quiet, friendship, books," among other things. Alice Munro, perhaps the greatest short-story writer of our time, has elected to embrace this bliss, saying last week, "I'm probably not going to write anymore." An incredulous editor from the National Post had to follow up on whether she really meant it-that last year's sublimely devastating collection, Dear Life, was it for her. "Oh, yes," the 81-year-old Canadian said, telling disappointed fans to "read the old ones over again. There are lots of them."
Yet if you have ever imagined a typical day in the life of an author, your vision probably resembles Thomson's. Writing seems like tender labor, and it's not hard to picture all those quarterly Munro stories— the ones that appear in The New Yorker as regularly as fresh interns—being created from a diet of easy grace, fertilized frequently with tea, long walks, dinners on the porch, and Chekhov readings. Why would anyone have to retire from writing, as if it's a job with regular hours?
Except it is. John Updike used to rent a one-room office above a restaurant, where he would report to write six days a week. John Cheever famously put on his only suit and rode the elevator with the 9-to-5 crowd, only he would proceed down to the basement to write in a storage room. Robert Caro still puts on a jacket and tie every day and repairs to his 22nd-floor Manhattan office. Authors who corral their duties into daily routines help remind us of the industry of writing. A muse does not pour words into someone's skull. The drudgery has conquered some of our best wordsmiths. "When you decide 'to be a writer, ' you don't have the faintest idea of what the work is like," Philip Roth, another recent literary retiree, has said about the "stringent exigencies" of literature. "But working at it nearly every day for 50 years ... turns out to be an extremely taxing job and hardly the pleasantest of human activities." He even called it "just torture, awful."
Munro has long been able to pensively observe someone and effortlessly penetrate the character's extraordinary private history. "Nobody bothers anymore to judge her goodness," the critic James Wood has said. "Her reputation is like a good address." It is as if she can look upon a person and always see the full span of a life. Now she has taken a measure of her years and judged that, at last, she can stop. Let us read the old ones over again. There are lots of them.

单选题 From the first paragraphs we can learn that ______.

A. a happy life is the life after retirement
B. Dear Life proved a big failure
C. retirement is viewed as a pleasant life period by writers
D. Munro retired when she was young

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】[解析] 段落主旨+事实细节文章第一段以一句名言开篇A happy life consists of retirement，rural quiet，friendship，books. 然后举加拿大作家Alice Munro为例，讲述了她决定封笔退休，以及面对大众的疑虑时她的回复，都表明她退休的决心。举Alice Munro为例也是为了相互印证第一段第一句的观点，即作家也认为退休之后的时光很美好。故C选项正确。此题考查考生对文章指定段落主旨及相关细节的理解。针对第一段内容命题，属于事实考查类题目。此类题目一般根据段落内容作答。该段的中心句即第一句。C选项是对第一句A happy life consists of retirement，rural quiet, friendship，books．的印证说明。选项A对文章意思以偏概全，选项B与原文中last year's sublimely devastating collection不符，选项D也与原文中the 81-year-old不符。

单选题 A job of a writer is often thought to be ______?

A. freely scheduled
B. fertilized with food
C. related to physical excise
D. finished after dinners

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】[解析] 段落主旨+事实细节根据题干信息定位到文章第二、三段。作家的生活到底是怎么样的呢？第二段Why would anyone have to retire from writing, as if it's a job with regular hours?第三段Authors who corral their duties into daily routines help remind us of the industry of writing. 那些把写作固化为日常事务的作家们让我们了解了写作这个职业。从这句话可以证明他们的时间是自主计划的。故A选项正确。本题针对文章第二、三段内容命题，属于事实细节考查类题目。此类题目一般根据题干定位到原文作答。题干问题是：作家的工作常常被认为是______。第二段中心意思是写作看起来像是一项轻松的工作。第三段第一句Except it is．除非情况真是如此(实际是事实并非如此)。第三段关于作家工作的描述才是真实情况。从第三段我们看出，尽管作家工作不需要朝九晚五，可自主计划，但绝不轻松。选项B酒足饭饱的和D选项饱餐后完成的，都是对作家工作的曲解。在第二段有如此描述，但第二段结尾Why would anyone have to retire from writing．as if it's a job with regular hours? 如果这是一份如此轻松惬意的工作，那作家为什么还需要退休呢。第三段第一句指出Except it is．除非情况真是如此。选项C信息在文章中没有提到。

单选题 What can we infer from the third paragraph?

A. Great writers are favored by the muse.
B. Writing is actually a hard job requiring continuous efforts.
C. You know exactly what the work is like when you begin to write.
D. Philip Roth worked with the 9-to-5 crowd.

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】[解析] 段落主旨+事实细节第三段中心句是Authors who corral their duties into daily routines help remind us of the industry of writing. A muse does not pour words into someone's skull. The drudgery has conquered some of our best wordsmiths．都说明了写作是一项艰苦的工作。故B选项正确。本题针对第三段内容命题，属于推理判断考查类题目。此类题目要根据原文相关内容进行推理。选项A与原文A muse does not pour words into someone's skull．意思正好相反。选项C与原文中When you decide 'to be a writer'，you don't have the faintest idea of what the work is like. 不符，选项D也与原文John Cheever famously put on his only suit and rode the elevator with the 9-to-5 crowd，...不符，约翰·契弗曾经同朝九晚五的人群挤在电梯里到地下储藏室坚持写作，而不是菲利普·罗斯。

单选题 According to the last paragraph, Munro is adept in ______.

A. drawing drafts
B. perceiving the traits of characters
C. rewriting her works
D. judging someone's goodness

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】[解析] 段落主旨+事实细节根据题干关键词Munro is adept in...定位到最后一段第一句Munro has long been able to pensively observe someone and effortlessly penetrate the character's extraordinary private history．和第三句It is as if she can look upon a person and always see the full span of a life. 都说明她长期深入观察人物，可以轻松洞悉角色的非凡经历。故B选项正确。本题针对最后一段内容命题，属于事实细节考查类题目。此类题目的正确答案一般需要在原文相关内容中寻找。选项A在文章中没有提到，属于无中生有。选项C与原文信息不符，原文中Let us read the old ones over again.是说我们可以重读门罗的作品，而非作者翻新作品。选项D也与原文中Nobody bothers anymore to judge her goodness．不符。

单选题 Which of the following can be the best title for the text?

A. How to Be Great Writers
B. What Consists A Happy Life
C. Writing Is A Job Of Elegance
D. Why Should A Writer Retire

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】[解析] 段落主旨+事实细节需结合全文内容，找准文章中心。文章的核心段落是第三段。第三段中心句Authors who corral their duties into daily routines help remind us of the industry of writing. A muse does not pour words into someone's skull. The drudgery has conquered some of our best wordsmiths. 都是说明作家工作艰苦性的，即文章中心：作家为什么应该退休。故选项D正确。本题针对整篇文章内容命题，属于主旨大意考查类题目。此类题目的正确答案一般要根据文章的整体内容总结归纳。文章第一段引用詹姆斯·汤姆森的话，并且举Alice Munro决心封笔实例，来引出文章的主题——幸福生活的要素和作家退休决定。第二段设想了作家工作的情况，提出问题是如果写作是一份轻松惬意的工作，为什么作者还要退休呢？第三段通过描述一些伟大作家的真实写作工作说明了作家其实是一项极其烦冗和艰苦的工作。最后一段与第一段呼应，举门罗为例，再次宣布她退休的决定，再次建议读者读她的旧作。从每段的中心内容来看，本篇文章强调了作家工作的艰辛，因此选项D为正确答案。选项A和B对文章意思以偏概全。选项C与原文中Authors who corral their duties into daily routines help remind us of the industry of writing. A muse does not pour words into someone's skull. The drudgery has conquered some of our best wordsmiths. 不符。