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 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 “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 grow up.
【小題1】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

【小題2】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

【小題3】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

【小題4】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【小題1】細節推斷題。根據文章中第一段以及第二段中：You have noticed that everything an Indian does is in a circle……可以看出，作者在文章中敘述了自己現實生活中的感觸：生活在一個固定的小圈子里，也就是所謂的四方木屋里，正如自然界中的萬物一樣。故此可以推斷出the Indians的現實，進而得出結論。
【小題2】細節查找題。根據文章的行文，尤其是文章的第一段及第二段可以看出，作者主要是借助于：印第安人的過去以及現在的生活情況對比，進而推動文章的進展。
【小題3】根據文章第二段中“The flowering tree was the living center of the circle, and the circle of the four quarters nursed it”以及最后一句話可以推測出答案：
【小題4】細節查找題。根據文章最后一段中: 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.以及最后一句中的but now 關鍵詞，由此可知印第安人的遭遇。尤其是孩子們艱辛的成長歷程。