Question

Twenty-first century humanity has mapped oceans and mountains, visited the moon, and surveyed the planets. But for all the progress, people still don’t know one another very well.

That brings about Theodore Zeldin’s “feast of conversation”－events where individuals pair with persons they don’t know for three hours of guided talk designed to get the past “Where are you from?”

Mr. Zeldin, an Oxford University professor, heads Oxford Muse, a 10-year-old foundation based on the idea that what people need is not more information, but more inspiration and encouragement.

The “feast” in London looks not at politics or events, but at how people have felt about work, relations among the sexes, hopes and fears, enemies and authority, the shape of their lives. The “menu of conversation” includes topics like “How have your priorities(優先考慮的事) changed over the years?” Or, “What have you rebelled against the past?”

As participants gathered, Zeldin opened with a speech: that despite instant communications in a globalized age, issues of human heart remain. Many people are lonely, or in routines that discourage knowing the depth of one another. “We are trapped in shallow conversations and the whole point now is to think, which is sometimes painful,” he says. “But thinking interaction is what separates us from other species, except maybe dogs…who do have generations of human interactions.”

The main rules of the “feast”: Don’t pair with someone you know or ask questions you would not answer. The only awkward moment came when the multi-racial crowd of young adults to seniors, in sun hats, ties and dresses, looked to see whom they would be ‘intimate’ with for hours. But 15 minutes later, everyone was seated and talking, continuing full force until organizers interrupted them 180 minutes later.

“It’s encouraging to see the world is not just a place of oppression and distance from each other,” Zeldin summed up. “What we did is not ordinary, but it can’t be madder than the world already is.”

Some said they felt “liberated” to talk on sensitive topics. Thirty-something Peter, from East London, said that “it might take weeks or months to get to the level of interaction we suddenly opened up.”

1.What can the “conversations” be best described as?

A．Deep and one-on-one.                   B．Sensitive and mad.

C．Instant and inspiring.                     D．Ordinary and encouraging.

2.In a “feast of conversations”, participants ______.

A．pair freely with anyone they like

B．have a guided talk for a set of period of time

C．ask questions they themselves would not answer

D．wear clothes reflecting multi-racial features.

3.In paragraph 6, “they would be ‘intimate’” is closest in meaning to “______”.

A．they would have physical contact           B．they would have in-depth talk

C．they would be close friends               D．they would exchange basic information

4.From the passage, we can conclude that what Zeldin does is ______.

A．an attempt to promote thinking interaction

B．one of the maddest activities ever conducted

C．a try to liberate people from old-fashioned ideas

D．an effort to give people a chance of talking freely

 

Answer 1

【答案】

 

1.A

2.B

3.B

4.A

【解析】

試題分析：本文講述了在英國進行的一項feast of conversation，這是人與人之間進行地深入的探討人生理想及很多生活方面問題的活動，旨在于推斷人們之間的思維交流。

1.A 推理題。根據文章第一段That brings about Theodore Zeldin’s “feast of conversation”－events where individuals pair with persons they don’t know for three hours of guided talk designed to get the past “Where are you from?”可知這里的conversation是一種很深入的面對面的兩個人之間的對話。故A正確。

2.B 細節題。根據文章第四段The only awkward moment came when the multi-racial crowd of young adults to seniors, in sun hats, ties and dresses, looked to see whom they would be ‘intimate’ with for hours. But 15 minutes later, everyone was seated and talking, continuing full force until organizers interrupted them 180 minutes later.可知這樣的活動有時間限制，也有話題的限制。故B正確。

3.B 推理題。根據The only awkward moment came when the multi-racial crowd of young adults to seniors, in sun hats, ties and dresses, looked to see whom they would be ‘intimate’ with for hours.

是指在這樣的活動中他們與很多人進行深入的探討，故B正確。

4.A 推理題。根據文章第三段最后一句But thinking interaction is what separates us from other species, except maybe dogs…who do have generations of human interactions.”可知他們所做額是是一種促進思維交流的新的嘗試。故A正確。

考點：考察人生百態類短文閱讀

點評：本文講述了在英國進行的一項feast of conversation。本文主要考查推理題。在解題時要立足已知，推斷未知。立足現在，猜測未來。不能主觀臆想，憑空想象，隨意揣測，更不能以自己的觀點代替作者的觀點;要把握句、段之間的邏輯關系，了解語篇的結構。要體會文章的基調，揣摸作者的態度，摸準邏輯發展的方向，悟出作者的弦外之音。