Question

It happened to me recently.I was telling someone how much I had enjoyed reading Barack Obama’s Dreams From My Father and how it had changed my views of our President.A friend I was talking to agreed with me that it was，in his words，“a brilliantly (精彩地)written book”．However，he then went on to talk about Mr Obama in a way which suggested he had no idea of his background at all.I sensed that I was talking to a book liar.

And it seems that my friend is not the only one.Approximately two thirds of people have lied about reading a book which they haven’t.In the World Book Day’s“Report on Guilty Secrets”，Dreams From My Father is at number 9.The report lists ten books，and various authors，which people have lied about reading，and as I’m not one to lie too often (I’d hate to be caught out)，I’ll admit here and now that I haven’t read the entire top ten.But I am pleased to say that，unlike 42 percent of people，I have read the book at number one，George Orwell’s 1984.I think it’s really brilliant.

The World Book Day report also has some other interesting information in it.It says that many people lie about having read Jane Austen，Charles Dickens，Fyodor Dostoevsky (I haven’t read him，but haven’t lied about it either) and Herman Melville.

Asked why they lied，the most common reason was to“impress”someone they were speaking to.This could be tricky if the conversation became more in?depth!

But when asked which authors they actually enjoy，people named J．K.Rowling，John Grisham，Sophie Kinsella (ah，the big sellers，in other words)．Forty?two percent of people asked admitted they turned to the back of the book to read the end before finishing the story (I’ll come clean：I do this and am astonished that 58 percent said they had never done so)．

1.How did the author find his friend a book liar?

A．By judging his manner of speaking.

B．By looking into his background.

C．By mentioning a famous name.

D．By discussing the book itself.

2.Which of the following is a“guilty secret”according to the World Book Day report?

A．Charles Dickens is very low on the top?ten list.

B．42% of people pretended to have read 1984.

C．The author admitted having read 9 books.

D．Dreams From My Father is hardly read.

3.By lying about reading，a person hopes to________.

A．control the conversation

B．appear knowledgeable

C．learn about the book

D．make more friends

4.．What is the author’s attitude to 58% of readers?

A．Favorable. B．Uncaring

C．Doubtful D．Friendly

 

Answer 1

1.D

2.B

3.B

4.C

【解析】本文是一篇議論文。主題講述了作者就奧巴馬寫的一本書同朋友進行交談，發(fā)現(xiàn)朋友撒謊說看過這本書的故事，從而引出了本文要討論的主題：很多人明明沒有看過某一本書，但是仍然說看過，這樣做是為了給人留下知識淵博的印象。

1.

2.2】解析：選B。細節(jié)理解題。根據(jù)第二段中的Approximately two thirds of people have lied...In the World Book Day’s“Report on Guilty Secrets”，Dreams From My Father is at number 9.和后面的．.. unlike 42 percent of people，I have read the book at number one...可知，guilty secret指的是人們?nèi)鲋e說讀過某本書這樣的情況，故B項符合語境。作者并未承認看了9本書，而是Dreams From My Father這本書排名第9，故排除C項；A項表示查爾斯·狄更斯在書單中排名比較低，無依據(jù)；D項中的hardly錯誤。而且這三項均與guilty secret不相關(guān)。

3.3】解析：選B。細節(jié)理解題。根據(jù)倒數(shù)第二段中的Asked why they lied，the most common reason was to “impress”someone they were speaking to.可知，當人們被問到為什么撒謊的時候，最常見的理由是為了給與他們談話的人留下印象，表現(xiàn)出知識淵博的樣子。因此選B。

4.4】解析：選C。推理判斷題。根據(jù)最后一段中的(I’ll come clean：I do this and am astonished that 58 percent said they had never done so)可知，作者坦承自己這樣做過，并吃驚于58%的人說從來沒這樣做過，表明了作者對于這些人說法的懷疑。A項表示“贊成的”，B項表示“不關(guān)心的”，D項表示“友好的”，均與astonished意義不符。