SAT阅读:Reading Comprehension Test 14 参考答案

　　1.Correct Answer: D

　　Explanation:

　　The main point of the passage is to show that so-called pleasure is not enough to justify existence. By answering these questions we will apparently reveal that pleasure and physical comforts are only part of what a human being needs. (We also need “solitude, creative work and the sense of wonder”.) These ideas are best conveyed by answer D.

　　2.Correct Answer: A

　　Explanation:

　　Poker is mentioned as part of the list of things that do not bring us the highest happiness. We need to relate this list to the first sentence to get the answer. Poker is apparently an example of “what goes by the name of pleasure” and which the author says is an “effort to destroy consciousness”. Answer A is best because it paraphrases this idea. (“Destroy consciousness” is changed to “avoid thinking”).

　　3.Correct Answer: E

　　Explanation:

　　The author is at pains to show us how watching an embryo develop makes it look like a modeler is at work. He is comparing the way parts appear during development to the way a model is formed from clay. A figurative comparison is called a simile and here we have an extended simile because the author persists with different aspects of the comparison through several sentences.

　　4.Correct Answer: C

　　Explanation:

　　The author has the fanciful idea that if he had an instrument more penetrating than a microscope he could “see” the modeler at work. The use of the word “subtle” implies that the instrument would have to have more power to reveal things and in this sense would be more “discriminating”. “Discriminating” is one of the words that examiners like because students often misunderstand. In this sense “discriminating” means able to make finer distinctions or judgments.

　　5.Correct Answer: A

　　Explanation:

　　How is it possible for someone to revisit somewhere he has never been? This apparently contradictory statement is an example of a paradox - something that appears contradictory but for which there is an explanation. In this case the explanation is that the visits are all in the imagination.

　　6.Correct Answer: E

　　Explanation:

　　America is a real country so to call it “imaginary” is paradoxical. (See explanation to the previous question.) The author apparently gained an idea of what America was like from his childhood reading, but this idea in his imagination was unlike the real country, hence he calls it “imaginary”.

　　7.Correct Answer: D

　　Explanation:

　　We can eliminate answer A because the word “better” is unjustified. B refers to children’s books in general, and we have no evidence about all children’s books. C can be eliminated because of the very strong word “inescapable”. E is incorrect because it is impossible to see imaginary places. D is clearly the correct answer.

　　8.Correct Answer: B

　　Explanation:

　　The author of passage one does not indicate that he could visit the North Pole or Robinson Crusoe’s island, but the author of passage two suggests that some of the fabulous countries can “survive a visit to the real countries which they are supposed to represent”. Hence answer B is correct. (If you want to eliminate the other choices then eliminate A because of the word “more”; eliminate C because the author of passage one is actually more specific in his list; eliminate D on the basis of the word “all”; eliminate E because we have no evidence to warrant the use of the word “more”.)