二、阅读理解
After some time, I felt very tired. The farmer wanted me to do twelve shows a day. I began to feel ill. One day, the queen heard about me and wanted to see me. The farmer took me to the palace and the queen liked me so much that she invited me to live with her. She paid the farmer a thousand pieces of gold to keep me! I was happy to have a life different from the past but something made me sad.
"Why do you look so sad, Gulliver?" asked the queen.
"I have to say goodbye to Glumdalclitch," I replied. "She is the only person that has cared for me in the past months, and my only friend in Brobdingnag."
After hearing my words the queen said Glumdalclitch could stay with me. I felt safe and happy. The queen treated me well and every Wednesday I ate with the king and queen. They were curious about my life in England and Europe. The king asked me about the laws of my country and its government and religions.
I explained that though our system worked well, there were still fights and wars because of greed (贪婪) and dishonesty.
The king laughed loudly and said, "How important you little people think you are," he said. "You tell me you have many books about how to govern your country. Are you all so stupid? Don't you know that to govern any country all you need is common sense (常识)? Your people are dishonest and there are wars, revolutions and rebellions. This means that your system does not work as well as you think."
He continued to laugh and concluded (总结) by saying, "Common sense, my dear Gulliver, common sense! Don't the people who govern your country have any of this?"
I felt very
offended at first. But later, when I was alone, I thought about it and I understood he was probably right. Also my small size seemed to put me and my country into a completely different perspective (视角). We seemed very unimportant and I thought of the Lilliputians: I sometimes found them to be a little funny.
I later told the king, "You must not be influenced by my size, sir." I said, "In my country there are many tall people who are quite stupid and many short people who are very smart. This is true of everything. A long book may be boring and a short book may be a masterpiece." I was happy to see the king agreed with me on this.
"Size and looks do not matter," I concluded.
(
B
) 1. What does the underlined word "offended" in the passage most probably mean?
A. Excited.
B. Upset.
C. Afraid.
D. Relaxed.
(
D
) 2. What did the king think of the governing system in Gulliver's country?
A. It was better than that in Brobdingnag.
B. It worked perfectly and didn't have any problems.
C. It was based on common sense like that in Brobdingnag.
D. It didn't work well because of people's dishonesty and greed.
(
C
) 3. What is the CORRECT order of the following events?
① Gulliver said goodbye to the farmer and started a new life.
② Gulliver felt ill because of doing twelve shows every day.
③ Gulliver knew there were fights and wars in his own country.
④ Gulliver ate with the king and queen every Wednesday.
⑤ The king looked down upon the system in Gulliver's country.
A. ③②①④⑤
B. ②③④①⑤
C. ②①③⑤④
D. ④③②⑤①
(
C
) 4. What can we learn from the passage?
A. Gulliver always thought the king's words were wrong.
B. Gulliver thought tall people in his country were all stupid.
C. Glumdalclitch was Gulliver's only friend in Brobdingnag.
D. The king didn't agree that size and looks do not matter at all.
