Question

She once said: "When people ask me if writing has been a hard or easy road I always answer with the famous saying, "the end is nothing; the road is all.'” That is what I mean when I say writing has been a pleasure. I have never faced the type-writer (打字机) with the thought that one more task had to be done."

  Like most writers, Willa Cather did not write books for the money that they brought her, but rather for the pleasure that came in their writing. Her works were, like her, simple and full of the vigor (活力) of her days in Nebraska, where she grew from childhood to young womanhood and where she developed a deep love for the treeless land of the Great Plains with its wild flowers, wheat fields and rivers.

  "It's a rather strange thing about the flat country," she wrote later. "It takes hold of you, or it leaves you perfectly cold. A great many people find it very dull; they like a church tower, an old factory, a waterfall country all made to look like a German, Christmas card... But when I come to the open plains, something happens. I'm home. I breathe differently."

1.What did Cather mean by "the end is nothing; the road is all"?

A. Writing is the only path to success.               

B. I feel happy when I finish writing a book.

C. I enjoy writing whether it is hard or easy.       

D. Writing itself, not its result, is important.

2.What was the place like where Cather grew up?

 A. It was cold, plain and without a church.       

B. It was a colorful world of wild flowers.

C. It was like a German Christmas card             

D. It was vast, open, flat and wild.

3.When she said "It takes hold of you, or it leaves you perfectly cold", Willa Gather meant ______.

A. you either love the place or hate it                 

B. you decide either to stay or to leave

C. some find the place warm; others find it cold

D. some find the place peaceful; others find it wild

4.What happens when Cather comes to the open plains?

A. She breathes differently from others:               

B. She wants to make the place her home.

C. She finds the place similar to her home.           

D. She feels completely comfortable

Answer

1.D

2.D

3.A

4.D

【解析】

试题分析：作家薇拉·凯瑟以自幼所熟悉的西部生活为题材；创作出很多富有地方特色的作品。薇拉·凯瑟认为，写作本身很重要，它能带给人快乐。她不以写作作为赚钱的手段，而是喜欢写作带来的乐趣。

1."the end is nothing; the road is all.'” That is what I mean when I say writing has been a pleasure.”可知，作者引用名言来说明，写作是一件趣事，名言的意思“结果不重要，重要的是过程”。D“写作本身是重要的”符合段意，故选D。

2.where she grew from childhood to young womanhood and where she developed a deep love for the treeless land of the Great Plains with its wild flowers, wheat fields and rivers”和最后一段“But when I come to the open plains”可知，作家薇拉·凯瑟的故乡是偏远的、开阔的、平坦的和荒凉的，故选D。

3.A great many people find it very dull; ...But when I come to the open plains, something happens. I'm home. I breathe differently."”可知，有的人不喜欢那里，而作者却很喜欢自己的家乡，故选A。

4.But when I come to the open plains, something happens. I'm home.”可知，作者来到广阔的草原就像到了自己的家一样，故选D。

考点：人物类短文阅读