Part Ⅱ Reading Comprehension(35 minutes)

Passage OneQuestions 21 to 25 are based on the following passage:

Many people seem to think that science fiction is typified by the Bug-eyed Monster,embodying every feature that most people find repulsive¹.This is unfortunate because it degrades a worthwhile literary endeavor. Instead, the basic interest of science fiction lies in the relation between man and his technology and between man and the universe. Science fiction is a literature of change and a literature of the future, and the aspects of human life that it considers make it well worth reading and studying for no other literary form does quite the same things. What is science fiction To begin, the following definition should be helpful: science fiction is a literary subgenre which postulates²(以…为前提) a change (for human beings) from conditions as we know them and follows the implications of these changes to a conclusion.

The first point that science fiction is a literary sub genre-is a very important one, but one which is often overlooked or  discussions of science fiction. Specifically, science fiction is either a short story or a novel. There are only a few dramas which could be called science fiction, the body of poetry that might be labeled science fiction is only slightly larger. To say that science fiction is a subgenre of prose fiction is to say that it has all the basic characteristics and serves the same basic functions in much the same way as prose fiction in general, that is, it shares a great deal with all other novels and short stories.

Everything that can be said about prose fiction, in general, applies to science fiction. Every piece of science fiction, whether short story or novel, must have a narrator, a story, a plot, the themes of science fiction are concerned with interpreting man’s nature and experience in  around him. Themes in science fiction are constructed and presented in exactly the same ways that themes are dealt with in any other kind of fiction. They are the result to a particular combination of a narrator, story, plot, character, setting, and language. In short, the reasons for reading and enjoying science fiction, and the ways of studying and analyzing³ it, are basically the same as they would be for any other story or novel.

21.From the first paragraph, we can infer that science fiction has been most popular in the 20th century because ____.
A) with the growth of literacy, the size of the reading public has increased
B) competition from television has created a demand for more exciting fiction
C) science fiction is easier to understand than other kinds of fiction
D) the increased importance of technology has given science fiction an increased relevance⁴

22.According to the definition in the passage, a fictional⁵ work that places human beings in a prehistoric⁶ world inhabited by dinosaurs____.
A) cannot be called science fiction because it does not deal with the future
B) cannot be called science fiction because it doesn’t deal with technology
C) can be called science fiction because it deals with man’s 
D) can be called science fiction because it places people in an environment different from the one we know

23. Science fiction is called a literary subgenre because____.
A) it is not important enough to be a literary genre
B) it cannot be made into a dramatic presentation
C) it shares characteristics with other types of prose fiction
D) it has its limits

24.One implication of the final sentence in the passage is that____.
A) the reader should turn next to commentaries on general fiction
B) there is no reason for any reader not to like science fiction
C) the reader should compare other novels and stories to science fiction
D) those who can appreciate prose fiction can appreciate science fiction

25.An appropriate title for this passage would be____.
A) Man and the Universe
B) Toward a Definition of Science Fiction
C) A Type of Prose Fiction
D) The Bug-Eyed Monster

内容概要:本文讨论的是科幻小说的定义，是类似于小说的一种重要的文学创作形式。由于科幻小说同小说有着类似的特点和功能，比如它们都有叙述者、情节、角色、主题等，所以人们阅读和欣赏科幻小说的原因和方法同阅读其他小说是相同的。

21.【答案】D。
【译文】根据文章的第一段，科幻小说在二十世纪最受欢迎是由于科技不断增长的重要性与科幻小说之间的相关性。
【试题分析】细节推理题。
【详细解答】见第一段的第三句话，“Instead, the basic interest ...relation between man and his technology ... the universe.”科幻小说的根本兴趣在于人与科技、人与宇宙的关系。依此推理，科幻小说之所以在二十世纪（相对与之前）最受欢迎是由于科技在二十世纪愈显重要。所以D)为正确答案。A)由于文化水平的提高，读者的规模扩大；B)电视的竞争要求更富有刺激性的小说；C)科幻小说比其他形式的小说更容易读懂；文中都未提到，为错误答案。

22.【答案】D。
【译文】根据科幻小说的定义，将人类置于史前恐龙居住的世界的小说能够被称为科幻小说，因为它将人类放置在一个全新的环境中。
【试题分析】细节推理题。
【详细解答】见第一段最后一句，“science fiction ...postulates a change (for human beings) from conditions as we know them and...”科幻小说的是以变化为前提的… 由此可推断出，将人类置于全新环境的小说可以成为科幻小说，所以D)为正确答案。A) 不能称为科幻小说，因为它没有涉及到未来，B)不能成为科幻小说，因为没有涉及到科技；从文中的定义可知科幻小说不一定要涉及到未来和科技； C)可以被成为科幻小说，因为涉及到人类与世界之间的关系；所有的小说都涉及到这个主题，所以不正确。

23.【答案】C。
【译文】科幻小说是文学的一种从属流派，是因为具有其他小说种类的特点。
【试题分析】细节推理题。
【详细解答】见第二段最后一句，“To say that science fiction is a sub-genre...shares a great deal with all other novels and short stories.”科幻小说是文学的一种从属流派，因为它同其他小说一样，基本的特点和功能大致相同。由此可知，正确答案为C）。A)科幻小说不够重要，显然不对；B)科幻小说不能以戏剧的形式表演，D)科幻小说有局限性，都与原文旨意不符，为错误答案。

24.【答案】D。
【译文】文章最后一句话的含义之一是能够欣赏小说的人同样能够欣赏科幻小说。
【试题分析】细节推理题。
【详细解答】文章最后一句话“In short, the reasons ... any other story or novel”阅读和欣赏科幻小说的原因，以及学习和分析科幻小说的方式，基本上同其他类型的小说是相同的。由此可推断出能够欣赏小说的人同样能够欣赏科幻小说, 所以正确答案为D)。A)读者应该求助于一般小说的评论；B) 任何读者都没有理由不喜欢科幻小说；C）读者应该将科幻小说同其他小说进行比较；都与原文不符，为错误答案。

25.【答案】B。
【译文】文章的标题可以是科幻小说的定义
【试题分析】主旨概括题。
【详细解答】文章主要讨论的是科幻小说的定义，所以B)为正确答案。A)人与宇宙； C)小说的一种；D)突眼怪物；与文章主旨不符，为错误答案。