Question

    By the end of the year, editors of New York Times have picked the 4 best books of 2019, including fiction and non-fiction. Let’s see which one will take your fancy.

Disappearing Earth

By Julia Phillips

In the first chapter of this novel, two young girls vanish, sending shock waves through a town on the edge of the remote and mysterious Kamchatka Peninsula. What follows is a novel of overlapping short stories about the different women who have been affected by their disappearance. Each tale pushes the narrative forward another month and exposes the ways in which the women of Kamchatka have been destroyed — personally, culturally and emotionally — by the crime.

No Visible Bruises

By Rachel Louise Snyder

Snyder’s thoroughly reported book covers what the World Health Organization has called “a global health problem”. In America alone, more than half of all murdered women are killed by a current or former life partner; domestic violence cuts across lines of class, religion and race. Snyder reveals pervasive myths (restraining orders are the answer, abusers never change) and writes movingly about the lives (and deaths) of people on both sides of the equation. She doesn’t give easy answers but presents a wealth of information that is its own form of hope.

Midnight in Chernobyl

By Adam Higginbotham

Higginbotham’s superb account of the April 1986 explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant is one of those rare books about science and technology that read like a tension-filled thriller. Filled with vivid detail and sharply etched personalities, this narrative of astonishing incompetence moves from mistake to mistake, miscalculation to miscalculation, as it builds to the inevitable, history-changing disaster.

Exhalation

By Ted Chiang

Many of the nine deeply beautiful stories in this collection explore the material consequences of time travel. Reading them feels like sitting at dinner with a friend who explains scientific theory to you with no airs and graces. Each thoughtful, elegantly crafted story poses a philosophical question; Chiang arranges all nine into a conversation that comes full circle, after having travelled through remarkable areas.

1.Which of the following tells about the violence from a husband to a wife in a family?

A.Disappearing Earth B.No Visible Bruises

C.Midnight in Chernobyl D.Exhalation

2.How may readers feel when reading the book Midnight in Chernobyl?

A.Delighted. B.Awkward.

C.Tense. D.Calm.

3.What kind of book is Exhalation?

A.A folk tale. B.A biography.

C.A love story. D.A sci-fi story.

Answer

1.B

2.C

3.D

【解析】

这是一篇应用文。短文介绍了纽约时报推荐的2019年度最佳书籍。

1.细节理解题。根据第三段中In America alone, more than half of all murdered women are killed by a current or former life partner可知，仅在美国一半以上被谋杀的妇女是被现任或前任男友杀害。这是与家庭暴力有关的内容，所以选择第三段对应的书籍。故选B。

2.推理判断题。根据第四段中第一句话Higginbotham’s superb account of the April 1986 explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant is one of those rare books about science and technology that read like a tension-filled thriller.（希金博塔姆对1986年4月切尔诺贝利核电站爆炸的高超描述是那些罕见的关于科学和技术的书籍之一，读起来就像一部充满张力的惊悚片。）可推断，这本书读起来像一部充满紧张气氛的惊悚片。A.delighted高兴的；B.awkward尴尬的；C.tense紧张的；D.calm平静的。故选C。

3.推理判断题。根据第五段中的关键词time travel和 scientific theory可知，时光旅游和科学理论是有关科幻方面的，因此这是一本科幻故事方面的书籍。故选D。