单选题 For eighty years Thomas"s family had grown corn on its hundred-acre plot. In his grandfather"s day, even in his father"s, wheat and timothy were also sown to help feed cattle and pigs. While there had been no animals on the land in Thomas"s time, Thomas"s father spoke at length about those days, when he himself had been a child. Back then, Thomas"s father had dedicated every one of his free hours to taking care of the farm; grinding chop, cleaning up after the animals, mending fences, and performing innumerable other taxing chores. Later, it was just corn, sold to some big company out East that his father said paid them a little less every year. It wasn"t about the money though; his father would have made do just enough to keep things going. His concern was family and tradition, the agricultural way of life. During harvest, Thomas would ride on the enormous thresher with his father. In the cabin, above the green sea parting before them, he would listen as his father explained the significance of a life dedicated to agriculture. As Thomas nibbbled on a lunch packed by his mother, his father expounded upon his philosophy that a man must not be separated from the land that provides for him, that the land was very important. He would say, time and again, "A man isn"t a man without land to call his own. " He was not an uneducated man, Thomas"s father. He had completed high school and probably could have gone to college if he wanted, but he was a man of the earth, and his spirit was tied to the soil. Agriculture was not his profession; it was his passion, one that he tried to seed in the hearts of his three boys. Thomas"s two older brothers had little time for farmwork, however. What chores they were not forced to do went undone or were done by Thomas; their energies were focused on cars, dating, and dance halls. Even at a young age, Thomas was able to see in his father"s eyes the older man"s secret despair. The land that had been in his family for three generations was not valued by the fourth. Not even little Tommy, who always rode in the cabin with him and helped out as much as he was able, would stay and tend the fields. The world had grown too large, and there were too many distractions to lure young men from their homes. Boys these days did not realize they had a home until it was too late. Sitting on the hood of his jeep, Thomas gazed out over dozens of acres of orange survey stakes that covered what was once his family"s farm. The house, barn, and silos were all gone, replaced by construction trailers and heavy equipment. The town that lay just five miles up the road had grown into a city, consuming land like a hungry beast. Thomas"s father had been the last farmer left in the county, holding out long after the farm became unprofitable. He farmed after his sons left and his wife died; he farmed until his last breath, on principle. Now a highway and several shopping malls were going to take his place, Thomas thought. His brothers both said it was inevitable, that progress cannot be halted. They argued that if the family did not sell the land, the city would claim eminent domain and take it from them for a fraction of what they could get by selling it. Thomas did not feel he had any right to disagree. After all, he had chosen to leave the farm as well, to pursue his education. Though he didn"t stand in their way, and though his profit from the lucrative sale was equal to his brothers", Thomas was sure he felt something that they could not. The money didn"t matter much to him; he had enough to get by. It was something about the land. Now that he had finally found his way back to it, he was losing it. He was losing his home.
单选题 Which is NOT CORRECT about the farm in Thomas"s father"s day?
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】解析:本题考查对托马斯父亲那个时代农场的描述。由文章第一段可知,托马斯家经营农场80年,在他祖父和父亲的年代,小麦和牧草仍是用来喂养猪牛的,故选项A错误,选项B正确;文中提到,托马斯的父亲将所有时间都用在打理农场上,除了做农活外,他还出售玉米以维持农场正常运转,选项C、D正确。故答案为A。
单选题 In Line 6 Paragraph 1 the word "taxing" most nearly means______.
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】解析:文中有“innumerable”一词,为“无数的”之意,上文中又提到清理粪便,修篱笆等农活,可推知taxing为修饰这些农活的形容同。monetary“货币的”;expensive“昂贵的”;rejuvenating“有活力的”;tiring“劳累的”。根据文意,最适合的搭配为“劳累的”,故选D项。
单选题 Based on the passage, a thresher(Line 1 , Paragraph 2)is most likely used to______.
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】解析:由题干定位至第二段第一句。作者提到,丰收的时候,托马斯和父亲一起骑坐在巨大的“thresher”上,可推断“thresher”是用来收获粮食的,故答案为选项B。thresher意为“打谷机”。
单选题 Thomas"s father"s statement in the last line of Paragraph 2 primarily shows the father to be______.
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】解析:由题干定位至第二段最后一句。作者在该段倒数第二句描述了托马斯父亲在收获粮食时对托马斯的告诫,父亲认为土地对人非常重要,人一定不能和土地分离。他非常热爱自己的土地,也希望自己的孩子能和他一样,他的话实际是在说服自己的孩子农民的生活是很值得的。只有选项C符合文意。
单选题 The most likely cause of the "secret despair"(Line 1, Paragraph 4)that Thomas sees in his father"s eyes is his father"s______.
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】解析:由题干直接定位到第四段第一句。作者在第二句接着指出,他们家三代人所拥有的土地,却不为第四代人所珍惜。托马斯的父亲深深爱着自己的土地,并且希望自己的孩子也能和他一样热爱他们的土地,然而社会的发展使年轻人的世界观发生变化,A符合文意。B与该段第三句文意矛盾,排除;文中并没有提到托马斯的父亲担心他的儿子被其他事情占用,排除C;文中指出托马斯的父亲觉得做个农夫很值得,故排除D。
单选题 The description of Thomas"s brothers" interest in the last two sentences of Paragraph 3 highlights______.
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】解析:通过上题分析可知,儿子们不再珍视土地的事实让父亲感到绝望,父亲对土地的热爱和孩子们对外面世界的迷恋使他们之间产生了代沟,C项为答案。根据文意,排除A、B项;哥哥们和父亲之间虽然存在代沟,但文中并没有说他们之间有巨大冲突,排除D项。
单选题 An important function of Paragraph 5 is to______.
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】解析:第五段中,作者叙述了现实的生活以及托马斯的心理活动,对前面的内容作了总结,选项C正确。作者的叙述是从过去到现在,不属于倒叙,A项错误;将托马斯过去和现在的生活作对比是为了突出他的心情,强化文章主题,B项错误;根据分析知道这段并没有预示托马斯的未来,D项错误。
单选题 The last sentence of the passage suggests that Thomas feels______.
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】解析:从最后一段的措辞中,如“inevitable(不可避免的)”,“now that(尽管)”等词以及结尾两个排比的进行时句子,可以看出作者表达的是一种遗憾的乡愁。B为答案,排除其他选项。