Question

If you live in America in the 21^st century you'll probably have to listen to a lot of people tell you how busy they are. It's become the default response when you ask anyone how they are doing: “Busy!” “Crazy busy!”. It is, pretty obviously, a boast disguised as a complaint. And the common response is a kind of congratulation:“ That's a good problem to have, ”or“ Better than the opposite.”

    Notice it isn't generally people pulling back-to-back shifts in the ICU or commuting by bus to three minimum-wage jobs who tell you how busy they are. What those people are is not busy but tired. Exhausted! Dead on their feet. It's almost always people whose busyness is purely self-imposed work and obligations they've taken on voluntarily, classes and activities they've “encouraged” their kids to participate in. They're busy because of their own ambition or drive or anxiety, because they're addicted to busyness and dread that they might have to face in its absence.

    Almost everyone I know is busy. They feel anxious and guilty when they aren't either working or doing something to promote their work. It's something they have chosen. Busyness serves as a kind of existential reassurance(令人安心的保證），a measure against emptiness, obviously your life cannot possibly be silly or tiny or meaningless if you are so busy, completely booked, in demand every hour of the day.

Idleness is not just a vacation. It is as necessary to the brain as vitamin D is to the body, and deprived of it we suffer a mental affliction as ugly as rickets. The space and quiet that idleness provides is a necessary condition for standing back from life and seeing it whole, for making unexpected connections and waiting for the wild summer lightning strikes of inspiration.” Idle dreaming is often the essence of what we do”, wrote Thomas Pynchon. Archimedes' “Eureka” in the bath, Newton's apple :history is full of stories of inspirations that come in idle moments.

1.When many Americans say “Crazy busy”, they mean______.

A. they are really tired of their present situation

B. they are really proud of their present life

C. they are complaining about their current work

D. their life are full of all kinds of problems

2.The writer mentions Archimedes'“Eureka” and Newton's apple to show that________.

A. history is full of interesting stories

B. Archimedes and Newton were very busy, so they made great discoveries

C. people may get inspiration when they are idle

D. inspirations come from hard work

3.The word “its” in the second paragraph refers to_________________.

 ambition       B. anxiety                 C. busyness                      D. dread

4.From the article, we can infer that ___________________.

A. generally people pulling back-to-back shifts in the ICU tell you they are busy

B. “Dead on their feet” means “being tired out”

C. all the kids are self-imposed due to the drive and motivation

D. The author seems to agree that idleness is better than busyness

 

Answer 1

【答案】

 

1.B

2.C

3.C

4.B

【解析】

試題分析：本文敘述了21世紀(jì)的美國人們的生活現(xiàn)狀。“忙！”“很忙。”“忙瘋了。”已經(jīng)變成了“你最近還好嗎”的默認(rèn)回答。很明顯，這些都是偽裝在抱怨之下的自我標(biāo)榜。對于它們的常備答復(fù)是：“忙一點(diǎn)好，”或者“總比不忙強(qiáng)。”他們忙，是出于自己的志向、動(dòng)力或者焦慮情緒，只因?yàn)樗麄儗γβ瞪习a，并且恐懼無所事事的感覺。但是歷史總是充滿了靈感的故事，它們恰恰來自于悠閑的時(shí)光與白日夢。

1.推理題：根據(jù)“It is,pretty obviously,a boast disguised as a complaint. And the common response is a kind of congratulation:"That's a good problem to have,"or"Better than the opposite.”很顯然,這是一個(gè)偽裝的抱怨。和常見的反應(yīng)是一種祝賀:“這是個(gè)好問題,”或“比相反的"。意思是他們以自己的生活為傲。故選B。

2.細(xì)節(jié)題：根據(jù)"Eureka"in the bath, Newton's apple :history is full of stories of inspirations that come in idle moments.人們得到靈感是他們閑的時(shí)候，故選C。

3.推理題：根據(jù)他們忙，是出于自己的志向、動(dòng)力或者焦慮情緒，只因?yàn)樗麄儗γβ瞪习a，并且恐懼無所事事的感覺。故選C。

4.推理題：根據(jù)What those people are is not busy but tired.Exhausted!可以判斷是人累壞了，故選B。

考點(diǎn)：考查社會(huì)現(xiàn)象類閱讀