Question

I’m a storyteller. And I would like to tell you a few personal stories.

I grew up reading British and American children’s books. When I began to write, I wrote exactly the kinds of stories I was reading: All my characters were white and blue-eyed, they ate apples and talked a lot about the weather, despite the fact that I lived in Nigeria. We ate mangoes, and we never talked about the weather. Because all I had read were books in which characters were foreign, I had become convinced that books by their very nature had to have foreigners in them. Things changed when I discovered African books. Because of writers like Chinua Achebe and Camara Laye, I went through a mental shift in my idea of literature. I realized that people like me, girls with skin the color of chocolate, could also exist in literature. I started to write about things I recognized. So what the discovery of African writers did for me was this: It saved me from having a single story of what books are. The year I turned eight, we got a new house boy Fide from a nearby rural village. The only thing my mother told us about him was that his family was very poor. And when I didn’t finish my dinner, my mother would say，“Finish your food! Don’t you know? People like Fide’s family have nothing.” So I felt enormous pity for Fide’s family. Then one Saturday, we went to his village to visit, and his mother showed us a beautifully patterned basket that his brother had made. I was astonished. It had not occurred to me that anybody in his family could actually make something. Their poverty was my single story of them.

Years later, when I left Nigeria to go to university in the United States, my American roommate asked where I had learned to speak English so well, and was confused when I said that Nigeria happened to have English as its official language. What struck me was this: She had felt sorry for me even before she saw me. My roommate had a single story of Africa: a single story of catastrophe.

Of course, Africa is a continent full of catastrophes. But there are other stories that are not about catastrophe, and it is very important, it is just as important, to talk about them. The consequence of the single story is this: It robs people of dignity. It makes our recognition of our equal humanity difficult. It emphasizes how we are different rather than how we are similar.

So what if my mother had told us that Fide’s family was poor and hardworking? What if we had an African television network that broadcast diverse African stories all over the world? What if my roommate knew about my Nigerian publisher, Muhtar Bakare, a remarkable man who left his job in a bank to follow his dream and start a publishing house? What if my roommate knew about my friend Funmi Iyanda, a fearless woman who hosts a TV show, and is determined to tell the stories that we prefer to forget?

My Nigerian publisher and I have just started a non-profit called Farafina Trust, and we have big dreams of building libraries and providing books for state schools, and also of organizing lots of workshops in reading and writing, for all the people who are eager to tell our many stories.

Stories matter. Many stories matter. Stories can break the dignity of a people, but stories can also repair that broken dignity. When we realize that there is never a single story about any place, we regain a kind of paradise.

1.What is probably people’s first impression of the writer when it comes to her nationality?

A. She mainly eats apples and mangoes.

B. She may not speak fluent English.

C. She comes from a place free of catastrophes.

D. She prefers stories based on foreign characters.

2.The underlined phrase “a mental shift” in Paragraph 2 refers to the writer’s____.

A. discovery of African books with characters of her skin color

B. acquaintance with local African writers like Chinua Achebe

C. realization that not only foreign characters exist in literature

D. change that she started to write about things she recognized

3.How many personal stories has the writer mentioned in the passage?

A. Two.    B. Three.    C. Four.    D. Five.

4.The writer uses several single stories in the passage to illustrate that the single story____.

A. matters in keeping listeners well informed

B. tends to convey a prejudiced idea to listeners

C. gets increasingly popular among story tellers

D. fails to produce a lasting effect on listeners

5.The writer lists many “what ifs” in Paragraph 6 to____.

A. emphasize our differences rather than similarities

B. indicate the way that stories are used to break dignity

C. show the hardship of recognizing our equal humanity

D. stress the importance of telling diverse, balanced stories

6.Which of the following can be the best title for the passage?

A. The danger of the single story    B. The importance of telling stories

C. The single stories that matter    D. Stories that can repair broken dignity

Answer

1. B

2. C

3. B

4. B

5. D

6. A

【解析】

本文是一篇记叙文。文章作者讲了几个关于个人的故事，通过故事告诫我们：如果我们只去聆听关于一个人、一个国家的单一故事，将会导致非常严重的误解。

1.推理判断题。由本文第二段可知，作者实际上来自尼日利亚，经常吃芒果，不讨论天气，有着巧克力肤色。可知至少不是说英语的欧洲人。从本文第四段，作者的美国舍友对她能说一口流利英语表示疑惑可知，因此可以推断出人们对尼日利亚的人第一印象可能是认为他们不会说流利的英语。故选B。

2.词义猜测题。由本文第二段倒数I realized that people like me, girls with skin the color of chocolate, could also exist in literature.可知作者的思想转变是她意识到像她这样有着巧克力肤色的女生也是可以在文学作品中有一席之地的。即不仅仅外国人物才存在在文学作品中。故选C。

3.细节理解题。本文第二段、第三段、第四段分别讲了作者自己意识到文学作品中人物不限英美，作者发现Fide一家贫穷却努力，作者的室友对尼日利亚的刻板印象。即一共三个她的个人经历。故选B。

4.推理判断题。通读全文可知，不论是作者、作者妈妈、作者的室友，不同的人们有着不同的single story，实际上可以理解为“一面之词”“刻板印象”，但其实又不符合事实，即会给听众传达有偏见的想法，故选B。

5.推理判断题。作者的一系列假设，其实是更好的做法。兼听则明偏信则暗。我们不应该听信一面之词，应该去多角度的均衡的了解。故选D。

6.主旨大意题。全文讲述了作者、作者妈妈、作者的室友的偏见，以及作者对此的看法。认为一面之词实际上是很不好的。在并没有亲自去观察探索也没有去多方面了解之前，人们就接受了single story。但其实往往并不符合事实。因此最好的标题是一面之词的危险。故选A。