Question

There’s a case to be made, from things like Google search figures, that Robert Frost’s poem The Road Not Taken – you know, the one about two paths diverging (分开) in a wood – is the most popular in modern history. Yet people still can’t agree what it means. On the surface, it’s a fridge-magnet cliché (陈词滥调) on the importance of taking risks and choosing the road less travelled. But many argue it slyly mocks (暗讽) that American belief in the individual’s power to determine his or her future. After all, the poet admits that both paths look roughly similarly well-travelled. And how could he be sure he took the right one? He’ll never know where the other leads. Looking back at our life histories, we tell ourselves we faced important dilemmas and chose wisely. But maybe only because it’s too awful to admit we’re stumbling (跌跌撞撞地走) mapless among the trees, or that our choices don’t make much difference.

Two psychologists, Karalyn Enz and Jennifer Talarico, throw light on these matters in a new study with a title that nods to Frost: Forks In The Road. They sought to clarify how people think about “turning points” versus “transitions” in life. A turning point, by their definition, is a moment that changes your future – deciding to leave a job or marriage, say – but often isn’t visible from the outside, at least at first. “Transitions” involve big external changes: going to university, marrying, emigrating (迁出). Sometimes the two go together, as when you move to a new place and realize it’s where you belong. (“New Yorkers are born all over the country,” Delia Ephron said, “and then they come to New York and it hits them: oh, that’s who I am.”) But it’s turning points we remember as most significant, Enz and Talarico conclude, whether or not they also involve transitions.

The distinction is useful: it underlines how the most outwardly obvious life changes aren’t always those with the biggest impact. Hence the famous “focusing illusion”, which describes how we exaggerate (夸大) the importance of a single factor on happiness: you switch jobs, or spouses, only to discover you brought the same troublesome old you to the new situation. Before it became a joke, “midlife crisis” referred to a turning point that happens because your circumstances don’t change, when your old life stops feeling meaningful. Turning points can be caused by mundane (世俗的) things – the offhand remark that makes you realize you’re in the wrong life – or by nothing at all.

1.Why do some people think the poem makes fun of the American belief?

A. Because the two roads are more or less similar in the poet’s view.

B. Because Americans believe they can decide their future themselves.

C. Because Americans can find their way easily in a forest just with a map.

D. Because Americans surely know which road to take without consideration.

2.Which of the following can be considered as a transition?

A. Your experience of midlife crisis.

B. Your choice of the road to take.

C. Your decision to travel abroad.

D. Your move into a new flat.

3.What can we infer from this passage?

A. Turning points involving transitions are often remembered as most significant.

B. The biggest impact is often characterized with obvious outside changes.

C. A fundamental change is often affected by more than one single factor.

D. We can rid ourselves of the unpleasant past with the change of a job.

4.What’s the best title of the passage?

A. Is our fate in our own hands?

B. Must people make changes in life?

C. Should we choose the road less travelled?

D. Are turning points connected with transitions?

Answer

1.A

2.D

3.C

4.A

【解析】

试题分析：本文是一篇议论文。从对于两条路的选择，引出人们生活中的转折点、改变对人的一生的影响。

1.A 细节理解题。在文章中的第一段After all, the poet admits that both paths look roughly similarly well-travelled.最终，诗人本人承认两条路都看起来有同样好走的相似点。由此可知A 正确。

2.D细节理解题。“Transitions” involve big external changes: going to university, marrying, emigrating，由此可知D 为正确项，乔迁。

3.C细节理解题。根据第二段Sometimes the two go together,有时候两者同时而来，可见影响事情发展的不止是一个因素。

4.

C．我们应该选择不太经常被走的道路么？ D. 转折点和我们的变化有关。

【名师点睛】

阅读中的细节理解可以细化为：（1）一一对应型。答案与题目在表达形式和意义上直接吻合，一一对应，一目了然。属于浅层次的阅读试题，分数比例较少。如本题中的59题，从文章中可以直接找到选项。（2）语言转述型。这是一类间接事实细节题，答案与题目在意义上从分运用了词义之间的转述关系，即正确选项是原文有关词语和句子的另类表达。属于中档难度题，分数比例较大。（3）语意理解型。这是一类深层事实细节理解题，答案与题目之间存在着一定的逻辑联系，这种联系需要建立在事实的基础上通过上、下文来进行判断、分析、归纳和整合，才能得出正确答案。属于较高难度的事实细节题。（4）是非辨别型。这是一类综合事实细节题，出题形式常常是“三正一误”(三项正确，只有一项不符合原文内容)或“三误一正”（三项错误，只有一项符合原文内容)。如本题目中的61题，需要找到正确叙述，再从中分析，此类题目难度较大，需要比较选项与原文的差异。

考点：考查议论文阅读理解