Question

In a Station of the Metro

The apparition of these faces in the crowd;

Petals on a wet, black bough.

This is the only Ezra Pound poem that many people will read in their lives. Why? One obvious reason is that it’s just two lines long. The poem, which can be understood as “A man sees a bunch of faces in the subway and thinks they look like flowers on a tree branch,” is an exercise in shortness. Pound wrote it after having a spiritual experience in a Paris metro (subway) station.

In 1916, the US poet originally thought he could best describe his vision in a painting. Unfortunately, he wasn’t a painter. So he wrote a thirty-line poem, which he didn’t like. He dropped the long version in the waste bin. Six months later, he wrote a shorter poem, but didn’t like that one either. Finally, a full year after the experience, he had been reading short Japanese poems called haikus, and he figured he would try this style. The result, which was published in 1913, is one of the most famous and influential works in modern poetry.

This poem is one of the monuments (纪念物) of the 20th-century artistic movement known as “Imagism”. Basically, Pound and his friends thought that images (意象) weren’t just decoration: they were the highest form of speech. By finding the right image, the poet can express the true, spiritual reality of a thing, which is more important than using a bunch of adjectives to describe its physical appearance. Thus, “In a Station of the Metro” is a poem that consists of one image expressed with absolute (绝对的) exactness and nothing else.

To the imagists, the best way to describe an experience is not to use more and more words; the best way is to find exactly the right words. Have you ever told a beloved one that “words can’t express” how much you love them? Well, Pound would say that you’re just being lazy. In his view, words can express anything, even if it takes an entire year to find the right ones.

1.In the short poem, Ezra Pound         .

A. tells us one of his painful experiences

B. compares the passengers’ faces to flowers

C. describes a man walking among the crowd

D. shows a wet, black tree branch in a metro station

2.According to the text, “In a Station of the Metro” was         .

A. based on one of Pound’s paintings

B. first discovered in a waste bin

C. influenced by haikus

D. completed in 1916

3.Pound and his friends         .

A. stressed the importance of using adjectives

B. were good at describing abstract images

C. decorated their poems with pictures

D. used images to express their ideas

Answer

1.B

2.C

3.D

【解析】

试题分析：文章介绍了“意象派”代表人物 Ezra Pound。 庞德是一位美国诗人和文学评论家, 也是现代主义运动的重要代表人物。他对诗歌的主要贡献始于他对意象派的发展。意象派名作《在地铁站内》（In a Station of the Metro）是庞德最著名的作品。

1.B 细节理解题。根据第一段“A man sees a bunch of faces in the subway and thinks they look like flowers on a tree branch”可知, Ezra Pound 在诗中把乘坐地铁的乘客的脸比作了花朵, 故选B。

2.C 细节理解题。根据第二段“Unfortunately, he wasn’t a painter.”排除A；根据第二段“So he wrote a thirty-line poem, which he didn’t like. He dropped the long version in the waste bin.”排除B；根据第二段“which was published in 1913”排除D；根据第二段“he had been reading short Japanese poems called haikus, and he figured he would try this style”可知, Ezra Pound 是受到了日本的一种叫haikus(日本俳句)的诗歌形式的影响才创作的这首诗歌, 故选C。

3.3】D 推理判断题。根据第三段“which is more important than using a bunch of adjectives”可知, 意象比形容词重要, 排除A；根据第三段“the poet can express the true, spiritual reality of a thing”可知, 意象能够表达真实的和精神上的现实, 排除B；根据“Pound and his friends thought that images (意象) weren’t just decoration: they were the highest form of speech.”可知, Pound 和他的朋友是意象派的代表, 说明他们主张使用意象来表达想法, 故选D。

【名师点睛】

英语阅读理解中的细节理解题可以分为以下5种：

1、直接信息题

对此类题型，考生可以首先从问题中找到关键词，然后以此为线索，运用略读及查阅的技巧在文中迅速寻找这一细节，找到后再把这一部分内容仔细阅读一遍，仔细比较所给选项与文中细节的细微区别，在准确理解细节的前提下，最后确定最佳答案。

2、间接信息题

做这类题目时，考生需要对原文信息进行加工处理，然后再进行进一步的推理或鉴别，这是介于事实细节题和推理判断题之间的一种题型，对考生来说有一定难度。

3、数字计算题

数字计算题也是近几年高考中常考的内容，此类试题是在文章中直接表现出来细节事实，有的要经过具体的计算才能够得出正确的答案。具体的计算题可以是对年代的计算、月份的计算或比例的计算等。文章中经常会出现许多数字，它们对解题产生一定的影响。解答此类试题的方法是先来理解文章的大意，然后经过对比、分析、计算等就能够得出正确的答案。

4、排列顺序题

这种试题要求考生根据事件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。做这种题时可采用“首尾定位法”，即最先找出第一个事件和最后一个事件，迅速缩小选择范围，从而快速选出正确答案。

5、图表图画题

在有图表图画的阅读理解中，有的图表图画出现在阅读理解文章中，有的出现在选项中，这些图片的出现增加了试题的直观性，同时也暗含着和文章内容相关的信息。在解答此类试题的时候，一定要把握图表图画中所暗含的信息，特别是有些事实是通过图片来叙述的，我们可以采用按图寻找正确答案的方法。

考点：人物类短文阅读