Question

I became a magician by accident. When I was nine years old, I learned how to make a coin disappear. I’d read The Lord of the Rings and gone into the adult section of the library to be buried in fantasy literature but young enough to still hold out hope that you might find a book of real, actual magic in the library. The book I found taught basic techniques, and I tried to practice.

At first the magic wasn’t any good. It was just a trick—a bad trick. I spent hours each day running through the secret moves in front of the mirror. I dropped the coin over and over, a thousand times in a day, and after two weeks my mom got a carpet and placed it under the mirror to muffle (消音) the sound of the coin falling again and again.

One day I made the coin disappear on the playground. We had been playing football and were standing in the field behind the school. A dozen people were watching. I showed the coin to everyone. Then it disappeared. The kids screamed. Everyone went crazy.

A few years later, I staged an underwater escape in the river that flowed through the middle of the campus of the University of Iowa, where I went to school. I stood on a boat in the middle of the river wearing nothing but biking shorts. The sky was dead and gray, and the water was cold at the surface, and colder in the depths below.

Technically, I succeeded. I jumped into the water, sank to the bottom, and escaped from the locks and the chains before swimming to the surface. But it didn’t feel like a success.

1.What do we know about the author?

A. He became a magician in one day.

B. He found wonderful techniques in the library.

C. In order to become a magician he never stopped practising.

D. He looked through every section of the library to search for a useful book.

2.Why did the author’s mother bring a carpet home?

A. To encourage him to clean the house.

B. To make the sounds less noisy than before.

C. To have guests clean their shoes on entering the house.

D. To decrease the number of cleaning the house.

3.How did the author make the kids scream?

A. By playing football with them.    B. By making the showing coin disappear.

C. By practising his techniques more frequently.    D. By providing hands-on practice.

4.What can be a suitable title for the text?

A. The Magic Trick that Changed My Life    B. A Nineteen-year-old Magician

C. What Can Give You a Magic Life?    D. A Brief Introduction to a Magician’s Life

Answer

1. C

2. B

3. B

4. A

【解析】

本文为记叙文。主要叙述了作者为了成为一句魔术师，不仅读了许多有关魔术的书，也从没停止过魔术练习。

1.推理判断题。根据文中的“When I was nine years old, I learned how to make a coin disappear. ”“be buried in”、“I spent hours each day running through the secret moves in front of the mirror”中的“hours each day ”、第三段在学校操场的魔术表演，第四段中的“A few years later”的表演。综述可知，作者为了成为魔术师，他从不停止练习。分析选项可知C项符合题意，故选C。

2.推理判断题。根据第二段最后“I dropped the coin over and over, a thousand times in a day, and after two weeks my mom got a carpet and placed it under the mirror to muffle (消音) the sound of the coin falling again and again.”可知，作者每天要扔一千次硬币，为了减小硬币落在地面的声音，妈妈带回家一块地毯。分析选项可知B（为减小硬币落地的声音）符合题意，故选B。

3.细节理解题。根据第三段“I showed the coin to everyone. Then it disappeared. The kids screamed. Everyone went crazy.”可知，作者在操场上变魔术把硬币变没了，孩子们尖叫起来。分析选项可知B项符合题意，故选B。

4.主旨大意题。通读全文可知，魔术（the Magic Trick）贯穿全文。全文讲述了魔术给“我”的生活带来的乐趣，以及由此改变了“我”的生活。分析选项可知，这与A项相符合，故选A。