Question

A Chinese couple tried to name their baby “@”, saying the character best represents their love for the child, according to an official trying to standardize the national language. The unusual name stands out especially in Mandarin, which has no alphabet (字母表) and instead uses tens of thousands of multi­stroke (多笔画的) characters to represent words. “The whole world uses it to write emails, and translated into Chinese it means ‘love him’,” the father explained, according to the deputy chief of the State Language Commission Li Yuming.

While the @ symbol is familiar to Chinese email users, they often use the English word “at” to sound it out. With a drawn­out “t”, this sounds something like “ai ta”, or “love him”, to Mandarin speakers. Li says the name is an extreme example of people’s increasingly adventurous approach to Mandarin, as commercialization and the Internet break down conventions (习俗).

Another couple tried to give their child a name that in English sounds like “King Osrina”.

Li did not say if officials accepted the “@” name. But earlier this year the government announced a ban on names using Arabic numerals (阿拉伯数字) and foreign languages. Sixty million Chinese face the problem that their names use ancient characters so uncommon that computers cannot recognize them and even fluent speakers are left scratching their heads, said Li, according to a report on the government website. One of them is the former Premier Zhu Rongji, whose name has a rare “rong” character that gives newspaper editors headaches.

1.Why did the Chinese couple try to name their baby “@”？

A. Because they wanted their baby to have a special name.

B. Because they wanted their baby to have an international name.

C. Because the @ symbol is familiar to email users all over the world.

D. Because the @ symbol sounds something like “ai ta”, which means “love him” in Chinese.

2.It can be inferred that ___________.

A. Li Yuming is in favor of the baby’s name

B. many Chinese people use Arabic numerals in their names

C. a majority of the Chinese people are having longer names

D. there is little possibility for the “@” name to be officially accepted

3.The underlined part in the passage probably means___________.

A. even native speakers find it hard to accept these strange names

B. even native speakers can’t find these characters in their computers

C. even those who are expert at Chinese can’t recognize these characters

D. even those who are expert at Chinese find it hard to accept these names

4.The former Premier Zhu Rongji is mentioned in the passage because ________.

A. people often mispronounce his name

B. there is an uncommon character in his name

C. he often made newspaper editors annoyed during his term in office

D. he once stressed the importance of standardizing Chinese characters

5.The passage is mainly about ___________.

A. how Chinese parents name their babies

B. the importance of standardizing Chinese characters

C. a ban on names using Arabic numerals and foreign languages

D. the problems caused by uncommon characters used in Chinese names

Answer

1.D

2.D

3.C

4.B

5.D

【解析】

试题分析：本文属于新闻类阅读，通过一对中国夫妻想给孩子起名为@的新闻，引起讨论的话题：中国人名中使用不常见的汉字所导致的问题。

1.D 细节题。根据文章第二段第二句With a drawn­out “t”, this sounds something like “ai ta”, or “love him”, to Mandarin speakers.可知这对中国夫妻给孩子起这个名字主要是因为谐音。故D正确。

2.D 推理题。根据最后一段第二句But earlier this year the government announced a ban on names using Arabic numerals (阿拉伯数字) and foreign languages.可知今年早些时候中国政府宣布人名中禁止使用阿拉伯数字和外国语言。所以这对夫妻的愿望可能很难实现。故D正确。

3.C 推理题。根据前半句Sixty million Chinese face the problem that their names use ancient characters so uncommon that computers cannot recognize them可知有6百万中国人的名中使用了冷僻字，导致电脑都无法识别。本句与前半句表示相近含义，and even fluent speakers are left scratching their heads,指擅长于汉字的人也要摇头。故C正确。

4.B 推理题。根据最后一段第二句前一半Sixty million Chinese face the problem that their names use ancient characters so uncommon that computers cannot recognize them可知有6百万中国人的名中使用了冷僻字，导致电脑都无法识别。接着就列举了朱镕基的例子，以此说明在朱镕基的名中也有一个冷僻字。故B正确。

5.D 主旨大意题。本文通过一对中国夫妻想给孩子起名为@，引起讨论的话题：中国人名中使用不常见的汉子所导致的问题。故D正确。

【名师点睛】

我们阅读一篇文章，首先是要了解其大意， 明确其主旨。因此， 主旨大意题是常考题。主旨大意题包括：主要内容(main idea, mainly about)型、文章标题(title)型、写作目的(purpose)型。

解题技巧：

1.弄清文章的大意， 关键是找到主题句。

主题句的位置：主题句通常在文首、文末或首尾呼应， 有时也在文中，或没有主题句，需根据文章所述内容进行归纳。各段的主题句也常在该段的首句或尾句。议论文和说明文一般有主题句，但记叙文通常没有主题句，需要归纳。

2.找主题句的方法：用浏览法(skimming)，即快速阅读文首、文尾，或每段的首句和尾句等，搜索主题线索和主题信息。找主题句的四个小窍门：

(1)段落中出现表转折的词语(如however, but, in fact, actually等)时， 该句很可能是主题句。

(2)首段出现疑问句时， 对该问题的回答很可能就是文章主旨。

(3)作者有意识地反复重复的观点，通常是主旨;反复出现的词语，一般为体现文章主旨的关键词。

(4)表示总结或结论的话常有therefore, thus, in short, conclude, conclusion等。

以本文第10题为例，The passage is mainly about ___.本题属于主旨大意题，首先我们清楚本文属于新闻报道，这类文章的主题通常在第一段中就会出现。根据第一段第一句A Chinese couple tried to name their baby “@”, saying the character best represents their love for the child, according to an official trying to standardize the national language.一对夫妻要给自己的孩子起名为@，以此引出话题：中国人名字中会有冷僻字。再看文章最后一句One of them is the former Premier Zhu Rongji, whose name has a rare “rong” character that gives newspaper editors headaches.朱镕基的名字中的镕让很多报纸编辑很头疼。叙述了冷僻字给人们带来的不便。故D项正确。

考点：考查新闻类阅读