Question

    In ancient Greece, Socrates was a widely-recognized wise man. One day one fellow met the great philosopher and said, “Do you know what I just heard about your friend?”

“Hold on a minute,” Socrates replied. “Before telling me anything I’d like you to pass a little test. It’s called the Triple Filter Test.”. “Triple filter?”. “That’s right,” Socrates continued. “Before you talk to me about my friend, it might be a good idea to take a moment and filter what you’re going to say. That’s why I call it the triple filter test.

The first filter is Truth. Have you made absolutely sure that what you are about to tell me is true?” “No,” the man said, “actually I just heard about it and…”. “All right,” said Socrates. “So you don’t know if it’s true or not.

Now let’s try the second filter, the filter of Goodness. Is what you are about to tell me about my friend something good?” . “No, on the contrary…”. “So,” Socrates continued, “you want to tell me something bad about him, but you’re not certain it’s true.

You may still pass the test though, because there’s one filter left: the filter of Usefulness. Is what you want to tell me about my friend going to be useful to me?” “No, not really.”

“Well,” concluded Socrates, “if what you want to tell me is neither true nor good nor even useful, why tell it to me at all?”

Well we can always participate in loose talks to curb our boredom. But when it comes to your friends its not worth it. Always avoid talking behind the back about your near and dear friends.

1.Why did Socrates stop the fellow when he wanted to tell him about his friend?

A.Because he didn’t know the fellow.

B.Because he wanted to tell the fellow something first.

C.Because he knew the fellow wouldn’t tell him something useful.

D.Because he wanted the fellow to think twice before speaking.

2.Which of the following statements is NOT true according to the passage?

A.Socrates was a great philosopher in Ancient Greece.

B.The fellow wanted to tell Socrates something bad about his friend.

C.Socrates was curious to hear what the fellow wanted to tell him.

D.It’s not a good idea to gossip about our friends behind the back.

3.What does the underlined “curb” mean in the last paragraph?

A.increase B.describe

C.reduce D.hide

Answer

1.D

2.C

3.C

【解析】

本文是记叙文。文章讲述了伟大哲学家苏格拉底的一个故事。这个故事告诉我们，如何一件事情不知道它是否真实、是否出于好心、是否有用，那么就不要轻易地说出来。不要在背后谈论你的亲密朋友。

1.推理判断题。根据倒数第二段中的“Well,” concluded Socrates, “if what you want to tell me is neither true nor good nor even useful, why tell it to me at all?”（“好吧，”苏格拉底总结道，“如果你想告诉我的既不是真的，也不是好的，甚至也不是有用的，那你为什么要告诉我呢?”）可推知，当有人想告诉他关于他朋友的事情时，苏格拉底要求他先通过一个测试，因为苏格拉底想让那个人在说之前先考虑清楚，即三思而后言。故选D。

2.细节理解题。根据第二段中的“Hold on a minute,” Socrates replied. “Before telling me anything I’d like you to pass a little test. It’s called the Triple Filter Test.”.（“等一下，”苏格拉底回答。“在告诉我任何事情之前，我想让你先通过一个小测试。这就是所谓的三重过滤测试。”）可知，当那个人想告诉苏格拉底一些事情的时候，苏格拉底并没有急切地想听他会说什么，而是先让他通过一个测试。由此可知，C项“苏格拉底很想知道这个人想告诉他什么”陈述错误，符合题意要求。故选C。

3.词义猜测题。根据划线词所在句Well we can always participate in loose talks to curb our boredom.（嗯，我们总是可以参加一些轻松的谈话来抑制我们的无聊）可知，划线词意为“抑制”。A. increase 增加；B. describe描述；C. reduce减少；D. hide躲藏。结合选项可知，reduce与划线词意思接近。故选C。