Question

I came to live here where I am now between Wounded Knee Greek and Grass Greek. Others came too, and we made these little grey houses of logs that you see, and they are square, It is a bad way to live, for there can be no power in a square.

You have noticed that everything an Indian does is in a circle, and that is because the Power of the World always works in circles, and everything tries to be round. In the old days when we were a strong and happy people, all our power came to us from the respectful circle of the nation, and so long as the circle was unbroken, the people were getting rich. The flowering tree was the living center of the circle, and the circle of the four quarters nursed it. The east gave peace and light, the south gave warmth, the west gave rain, and the north with its cold and strong wind gave strength and continuous power. This knowledge came to us from the outer world with our brief. Everything the Power of the World does is done in a circle. The sky is round, and I have heard that the earth is round like a ball, and so are all the stars. Birds make their nests in circle, for theirs are the same as ours. The sun comes forth and goes down again in a circle. The moon does the same, and both are round. Even the seasons form a great circle in their changing, and always come back again to where they were. The life of a man is a circle from childhood to childhood, and so it is in everything where power moves. Our places were like the nests of birds, and these were always set in a circle, the nation’s circle, a nest of many nests, where the Great Spirit meant for us to nurse our children.

But the Wasichus (Indian word for “white people”) have put us in these square boxes. Our power is gone and we are dying, for the power is not in us any more. You can look at our boys and see how it is with us. Where we were living by the power of the circle in the way we should, boys were men at twelve or thirteen years of age. But now it takes them very much longer to be bull - grown.

According to the passage, the Indians _______.

A. don’t have modern instruments in their homes

B. refused to move from round places

C. lived in round places, but were forced to live in square houses

D. lived in round places, but then decided to move into square houses

Two things being compared in the passage are _______.

A. the Indians’ past and present living conditions

B. the Indians’ past and modern beliefs

C. the Indians’ old and new power

D. people and nature

In the second paragraph “the four quarters” refers to _______.

A. the four rooms of the Indian’s house

B. the four kinds of natural power

C. the four seasons

D. the four directions

According to the author, once the Indians moved into square houses, _______.

A. they had to move to other houses   

B. boys took more time to grow into men

C. they forgot the old way of life           

D. everyone was not happy

Answer 1

【小題1】C

【小題2】A

【小題3】D

【小題4】B

解析:

本文描述了一名印第安人認(rèn)為該民族被白人從圓形建筑趕到方形房子之后，以前的種種祥和就此消失了。

【小題1】細(xì)節(jié)題。閱讀全文可知 A、B、D 不符合原文之意，而答案 C 是本文大意的描述。

【小題2】細(xì)節(jié)題。根據(jù)本文內(nèi)容可知全篇作者都在把過去的祥和與現(xiàn)在的不如人意進(jìn)行對(duì)比，故選 A。

【小題3】細(xì)節(jié)題。根據(jù)第 2 段and the circle of the four quarters nursed it. The east gave…the south gave…the west gave…the north with… 可知 D 為正確答案。

【小題4】細(xì)節(jié)題。根據(jù)最后一段 But now it takes them very much longer to be bull-grown 可知現(xiàn)在男孩要長(zhǎng)大需花費(fèi)更長(zhǎng)的時(shí)間。