Question

FOUR BOOKS YOU SHOULD READ
Caroline Leavitt Cruel Beautiful World	At age 16 Lucy is a lonely orphan living with older sister Charlotte and devoted aunt Iris in Waltham, Massachusetts. On the last day of school, she runs away with her 30-year-old teacher, William, and settles in a hillside shack in rural Pennsylvania, near his new teaching job. Though Lucy feels increasingly isolated, William won’t allow her any outlet. Leavitt draws upon a real-life crime that involved a girl she knew in high school. She tells her story from multiple viewpoints, building tension and empathy for Lucy and Charlotte as tragedy swallows them.
Steven Price By Gaslight	Price, an award-winning Canadian poet, achieves an extraordinary achievement of Dickensian storytelling in his weighty second novel. His hero is William Pinkerton, son of the founder of the legendary detective agency, who finds clues in his late father’s safe to the case of William Shade. This mythic thief had disturbed and upset his father. William tracks a Shade accomplice（共犯）, Charlotte Reckitt, to London, only to find she’s been found dead in the Thames. Also on the scene is Adam Foole, who is obsessed with Charlotte, who he met while stealing De Beers diamonds from a South African mine. Price ably arranges dozens of interlinking plotlines as he spans three continents and several decades, from American Civil War battlefields to Scotland Yard at the end of the 19th Century.
GeFei The Invisibility Cloak	Beijing-based GeFei (pen name for Liu Yong) won the 2015 Mao Dun Literature Prize for fiction “describing the changing spirit of Chinese society” over the past century. The Invisibility Cloak, his first English publication, revolves around Cui, a divorced man who creates customized hi-fi speakers for Beijing’s newly wealthy and a few intellectuals. Beijing’s rapid expansion has left Cui longing for an invisible life away from the city. His chance comes when he agrees to build a world-class sound system for a gangster（黑社会老大）. GeFei’s nice irony, translated from the Chinese by Canaan Morse, should find many fans.
Tim Harford Messy	The temptation to be neat and tidy may be powerful, but “we would be better served by embracing a degree of mess,” Harford argues. His defense of the creative potential of the imperfect, crude, random, vague, difficult, diverse and even dirty is refreshing. Reaching into the arts, politics, business, science and technology, Harford makes a compelling case for opening up to disorder and luck.

1.Which author does NOT tell a story in his / her work listed above?

A. Caroline Leavitt    B. Steven Price

C. GeFei    D. Tim Harford

2.Jack is an American who would like everything to be neat and tidy. He loves reading novels with ironic humor and detective stories. He is going to work and live in Beijing for the next three years, and he is very curious about the place he is soon heading to. Which book will he most likely choose to read now?

A. Cruel Beautiful World    B. By Gaslight

C. The Invisibility Cloak    D. Messy

3.This page is intended for people who want to ______.

A. buy newly-published books at a discount

B. recommend books to friends and family

C. know what books are worthwhile to read

D. understand the current trend in literature

Answer

1. D

2. C

3. C

【解析】

这是一篇说明文。介绍了四本书的主要内容。

1.细节理解题。由“The temptation to be neat and tidy may be powerful, but “we would be better served by embracing a degree of mess,” Harford argues. His defense of the creative potential of the imperfect, crude, random, vague, difficult, diverse and even dirty is refreshing. Reaching into the arts, politics, business, science and technology, Harford makes a compelling case for opening up to disorder and luck.”可知，Tim Harford讲述的是对不完美、粗糙、随意、模糊、困难、多样甚至肮脏的创作潜力的辩护，没有在他的作品中讲述故事。故D选项正确

2.推理判断题。由“Beijing-based GeFei (pen name for Liu Yong) won the 2015 Mao Dun Literature Prize for fiction “describing the changing spirit of Chinese society” over the past century. The Invisibility Cloak, his first English publication,………. for Beijing’s newly wealthy and a few intellectuals. Beijing’s rapid expansion has left Cui longing for an invisible life away from the city.”可知，The Invisibility Cloak描述的是中国社会精神的变化。杰克是一个美国人。他将在北京工作和生活三年，对即将去的地方非常好奇，他现在最可能读 “The Invisibility Cloak ” 。故C选项正确。

3.推理判断题。通读全文可知，每一本书都简要的介绍了书籍的主要内容。目的是让读者了解内容，并确定是否需要去读。所以这篇文章是为那些想知道哪些书值得一读的人准备的，故C选项正确。