Question

Cleverness is a gift while kindness is a choice. Gifts are easy—they’re given after all. Choices can be hard.

I got the idea to start Amazon 16 years ago. I came across the fact that the Internet usage was growing at 2,300 percent per year. I’d never seen or heard of anything that grew that fast, and the idea of building an online bookstore with millions of titles was very exciting to me. I had just turned 30 years old, and I’d been married for a year. I told my wife Mac kenzie that I wanted to quit my job and go to do this crazy thing that probably wouldn’t work since most start-ups don’t and I wasn’t sure what to expect. Mac kenzie told me I should go for it. As a young boy, I’d been a garage inventor. I’d always wanted to be an inventor, and she wanted me to follow my passion.

I was working at a financial firm in New York City with a bunch of very smart people and I had a brilliant boss that I much admired. I went to my boss and told him I wanted to start a company selling books on the Internet. He took me on a long walk in Central Park, listened carefully to me, and finally said, “That sounds like a really good idea, but it would be an even better idea for someone who didn’t already have a good job.” That logic made some sense to me, and he convinced me to think about it for 48 hours before making a final decision. Seen in that light, it was really a difficult choice, but finally, I decided I had to give it a shot. I didn’t think I’d regret trying and failing. And I suspected I would always be haunted (萦绕) by a decision to not try at all.

After much consideration, I took the less safe path to follow my passion, and I’m proud of that choice. For all of us, in the end, we are our choice.

1.What inspired the author with the idea of building an online bookstore?

A. His dream of being an inventor.

B. The support of his wife.

C. The greatly increasing usage of the Internet.

D. The successful boss that he admired.

2. Which of the following is closest in meaning to the underlined sentence?

A. The idea of not trying would keep coming to his mind and disturb him.

B. He would be very excited if he tried it out.

C. He would be always having a doubt if he didn’t try.

D. The decision to not try the online bookstore would terrify him.

3.We can know from the passage that ________.

A. the boss thought the idea was suitable for the author

B. the author might not regret if he failed the attempt

C. the author wanted someone else to try the idea

D. the author might go back to his boss if he failed

4.Which of the following would be the best title for the passage?

A. Cleverness and Kindness

B. The Starting of Amazon

C. Following My Passion

D. We Are What We Choose

Answer

1.C

2.A

3.B

4.D

【解析】

试题分析：文章讲述的是亚马逊网站创始人的故事。才智是与生俱来的，而善良是后天可以选择的。天赋易得，选择难做。在贝佐斯16岁的时候，他惊叹于互联网的迅速发展，于是萌发了建立网上书店的想法。在得到妻子的支持以后，他辞去了待遇很好的工作，虽然老板曾试图留住他，但贝佐斯最终决定把自己的想法付诸实践。

1.C细节理解题。根据第二段“I came across the fact that the Internet usage was growing at 2,300 percent per year. I’d never seen or heard of anything that grew that fast, and the idea of building an online bookstore with millions of titles was very exciting to me.”可知，互联网的迅速发展让作者感到吃惊，也让作者萌生了创建一个网络书店的想法，故选C。

2.A推理判断题。根据第三段段意和“I didn’t think I’d regret trying and failing. And I suspected I would always be haunted by a decision to not try at all.”可知，老板想说服作者留下来，作者有些动摇，但经过思考之后，作者决定辞职建网站，作者不害怕尝试和失败，但会因为想法没有付诸实践而愧疚。故选A。

3.B推理判断题。根据第三段“I decided I had to give it a shot. I didn’t think I’d regret trying and failing.”可知，作者认为自己将不会为尝试和失败感到后悔。故选B。

4.D主旨大意题。根据最后一段“After much consideration, I took the less safe path to follow my passion, and I’m proud of that choice. For all of us, in the end, we are our choices.”可知，作者把自己的热情付诸了实践，并且获得了成功。是我们的选择才成就了我们每一个人。故选D。

【名师点睛】

一、人物传记类文章的文体特征：

人物传记是记叙文体的一种，主要描写某人的生平事迹、趣闻轶事、生活背景、个性特征、成长奋斗历程等，包含记叙文的时间、地点、人物、事件等要素。其特点是以时间的先后或事件的发展为主线，空间或逻辑线索贯穿文章始终，脉络清楚，可读性较强。

二、人物传记类文章的阅读策略和解题技巧

1、把握文体特征，注意写作手法如前文所述，人物传记是记叙文体的一种，因此在阅读时要把握好时间、地点、人物和事件这四大要素。

其次，还应该注意人物传记类文章的结构多按时间顺序排列，一般采用倒叙的写作手法，有时也采用插叙和补叙等手段。弄清楚人物传记类文章的特征和写作手法，能帮助考生在阅读和回答问题时做到高效省时、准确无误。

2、抓住题干关键词，采用寻读的方法查找细节描述事实细节题是人物传记类文章的主要题型，一般常见以下几种类型：

(1)对号入座题：

这种题的答案一般在原文中可以直接找到，只要读懂文章，掌握文章中的事实，如时间、地点、事件等细节问题，就能选对正确答案。

(2)词义转换题：

这种题常常是原文有关词语和句子的转换，而不能在原文中直接找到。它要求考生能理解原文中某个短语或句子的含义，从而找到与答案意思相同的词语和句子。

例如：第22题，根据第三段段意和“I didn’t think I’d regret trying and failing. And I suspected I would always be haunted by a decision to not try at all.”可知，老板想说服作者留下来，作者有些动摇，但经过思考之后，作者决定辞职建网站，作者不害怕尝试和失败，但会因为想法没有付诸实践而愧疚。故选A。

(3)是非题：

该题型俗称“三缺一”题型，即题目四个选项中有三个符合文章内容，剩下一个不符合。题干多为：Which of the following isTRUE?或者三个不符合文章内容，剩下一个符合，题干多为：Which of the following…isNOTtrue?或All the following are true EXCEPT

(4)排序题：

这种题要求考生根据动作发生的先后顺序和句子之间的逻辑关系，找出事件发生的正确顺序。可采用“首尾定位法”，即先找出第一个动作和最后一个动作，迅速缩小选择范围，从而快速选出正确答案。

(5)指代理解题：

一般是在人物或事物关系比较复杂的情况下使用的一种题型，所以理清人物及事物之间的逻辑关系是关键所在。可采用“逻辑关系梳理法”，使人物或事件关系清晰条理。不管题型如何，在做事实细节题时，可采用比较实用的方法一有目的的阅读。在阅读时，首先看题目要求我们理解什么细节，找出关键词，然后以此为线索，运用寻读的技巧迅速在文章里找出相应的段落、句子或短语。认真比较选项和文中细节的区别，在正确理解细节的前提下，确定最佳答案。这样一来，既提高了阅读的速度，又能确保答案的准确率。同时，建议阅读文章时把与答案相符的句子或短语用红线标示出来，标号注上是哪一题答案的相关句子，这样在检查时就不必重新阅读整篇文章了。

3、抽丝剥茧，推理判断深层含义推理判断题主要提问那些未曾在文中说明，但已特别暗示的内容，考查考生对文章的准确理解和判断。人物传记类文章常见的推理判断题型为：

(1)细节推断题：

要求考生根据语篇关系，推断具体细节，如时间、地点、人物关系、人物身份、事件等。一般可根据短文提供的信息，或者借助生活常识进行推理判断。

例如：第21题，就是一道细节题，只要根据第二段“I came across the fact that the Internet usage was growing at 2,300 percent per year. I’d never seen or heard of anything that grew that fast, and the idea of building an online bookstore with millions of titles was very exciting to me.”就可知，互联网的迅速发展让作者感到吃惊，也让作者萌生了创建一个网络书店的想法，故选C。

(2)因果推断题：

要求考生根据已知结果推测导致结果的可能原因。考生要准确掌握文章的内涵，理解文章的真正含义。

(3)人物性格、作者态度及观点判断题：

人物传记类文章中有些是考查考生对作者的主导思想、被描写人物的语气、言语中流露的情绪、性格倾向和作者或文中人物态度、观点等方面的理解题。推理判断题要求在理解原文表面文字信息的基础上做出一定推论和判断，从而得到文章的隐含意义和深层意义。解答此类题时，要注意：

(1)吃透文章的字面意思，从字里行间捕捉有用的提示和线索，这是推理的前提和基础。

(2)对文字的表面信息进行挖掘加工，由表及里，由浅入深。从具体到抽象，从特殊到一般，通过分析、综合、判断等进行符合逻辑的推理。不能就事论事，断章取义，以偏概全。

(3)基于文章内容，以文章提供的事实和线索为依据，立足已知，推断未知。不能主观臆想，凭空想象，随意揣测，更不能以自己的观点代替作者的观点。

(4)把握句、段之间的逻辑关系，了解语篇的结构。要体会文章的基调，揣摸作者的态度，摸准逻辑发展的方向，悟出作者的弦外之音。

(5)注意文中所用词句的感情色彩，是讽刺性的，批评性的，赞成性的，还是反对性的，以便推测作者的观点和态度。

考点：考查人物传记类短文阅读。