Question

 

Too Much Happiness was written by Alice Munro，winner of the 2013 Nobel Prize in Literature，one of our greatest contemporary writers of fiction and the owner of the Man Booker Price for Fiction．Her stories have appeared in The New Yorker，The Atlantic Monthly，and other publications，and her collections have been translated into thirteen languages．

? The main character is Sophia Kovalevsky，a great Russian mathematician，writer and advocator擁護(hù)者）of women’s rights in the late nineteenth century. After visiting her lover Maxsim Kovalevsky in Riviera，she travels in Europe，ending up in Sweden，where she teaches at the only university in Europe willing to employ a female mathematician．The book writes about her journey from Riviera to Sweden．

??? The story tells the typical struggle of an intellectual（知識(shí)分子）woman to achieve success and happiness．However，when she is going to die，Sophia says“too much happiness”．I think it’s irony（諷*11的）．As reading the story，she has too many mental problems·First，as a woman mathematician，she was born in a wrong time ．She was married to Vladimir Kovalevsky without love，called“a white marriage”．She explained that“no a young Russian woman who was unmarried could leave the country．”She satisfied her marriage to seek her career．

??? Furthermore，when she sees a man look like Maxsim in the station，she says to herself，“of course，it would not be Maxsim，what could he be doing in Paris？”She doesn’t want to face the fact because she doesn’t want to lose her hope．She believes they will marry in spring．And in her letter to Julia she says：“it is to be happiness after all，happiness after all．Happiness．”She is cheating herself. In fact，the man does not want to marry her，and the happiness she expected doesn’t take place at all．

??? Finally, I conclude that the end must be a tragedy（悲�。�．From the very first pages the atmosphere is gloomy黯淡的）and threatening.“One of us will die this year.”“Because we have gone walking in a graveyard（墓地）on the first day of the New Year.”Some pages further，“a black cat across their path”all reflect it will be a bad ending．Not because she had some problems with her lung，but because her life does not bring her happiness，and because of these disharmony things that happen in her life．

1.We can infer from the passage that＿＿·

A．Sophia was born in a wrong time and was mentally ill

B．women were not fairly treated in Europe in Sophia’s time

C．Sophia loved travelling around Europe to meet `different people

D．unmarried women were forbidden to learn mathematics at that time

2.The underlined phrase“the fact”in Paragraph 4 most probably refers to the fact that

A．her husband refuses to divorce B．she can’t teach in university

C．she falls in love with Maxsim D．Maxsim doesn’t want to marry her

3.Why does the author name this book Too Much Happiness？

A．It is used to suggest that the story must be a comedy．

B．It’s a phrase repeatedly used by Sophia herself to her friend．

C．It’s used in an ironic way to show that Sophia isn’t happy at all．

D．It’s to show Sophia is very happy to achieve success in her career．

4.What can we conclude from Sophia’s experience？

A．It’s hard for an educated woman to achieve success in Europe at that time．

B．Russian women were not allowed to go abroad without a white marriage．

C．Married women could travel freely across Europe in the late nineteenth century．

D．Seeing a black cat across the path would bring people to death in the end．

5.In a newspaper，this passage is most probably in the section of____．

A. Entertainment B. Travel C．Career D. Culture

 

Answer 1

【答案】

1.B

2.D

3.C

4.A

5.D

【解析】

試題分析: 本文介紹了2013年普利策獎(jiǎng)和曼布克小說獎(jiǎng)的獲得者、現(xiàn)代作家愛麗絲·門羅的作品Too Much Happiness 。在她的這部作品中描述了一名19世紀(jì)女?dāng)?shù)學(xué)家的冬季旅程與她的愛及渴望，小說從側(cè)面反映了當(dāng)時(shí)時(shí)代婦女地位的低下。

1.B推理判斷題。根據(jù)第二段中where she teaches at the only university in Europe willing to employ a female mathematician．以及第三段中“no a young Russian woman who was unmarried could leave the country．”可知在當(dāng)時(shí)的歐洲婦女沒有受到公平的待遇，答案選B。

2.D詞義猜測(cè)題。文章第二段提到She was married to Vladimir Kovalevsky without love，called“a white marriage”，以及下文In fact，the man does not want to marry her可知答案選D.

3.C推理判斷題。根據(jù)故事的內(nèi)容可知女主人公口口聲聲說的幸福其實(shí)是不存在的，她沒有獲得所追求的幸福，故事是悲劇的結(jié)尾，由此推斷作者把Too Much Happiness做為書名，是為了做為反語(yǔ)，說明她的不幸福。

4.A推理判斷題。在這篇小說中女主人公是一個(gè)為了獲得成功和幸福而付出艱辛的數(shù)學(xué)家，但是最終卻一無所獲，由此判斷在當(dāng)時(shí)的歐洲婦女是很難成功的。

5.D推理判斷題。A娛樂；B旅游；C職業(yè)；D文化。文章主要介紹的是獲得普利策獎(jiǎng)的一部文學(xué)作品，由此推測(cè)D選項(xiàng)正確。

考點(diǎn)：考查文化教育類短文閱讀。