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I am not one who golfs. The only time I tried it I was confident that a dozen balls would be an adequate supply. This is the sport of retired people: how hard could it be? The confidence was misplaced, also, one by one, the balls, and I had to quit somewhere around the seventh hole. On the sixth, actually, I hit a car—there was absolutely no reason for a highway to be that close to a golf course—but that’s another story. The point is that the game did not yield up its mystery to me; I remain, in the golfing universe, a child of darkness. I do find that I am able to watch golf on television, however, where it is possible to experience a calmness that the game itself sadly lacks. Spread out on a couch and indifferent to the outcome (very important), you watch tiny white balls sail improbable distances over the biggest lawns in the world, interrupted occasionally by advertisements for expensive cars. One of the players is named Tiger. Another is named Love. If you have access to a bottle of Martinis (optional), the joy potential can be quite huge.
There is usually a price for pleasure so mindless. In the case of TV golf, it is listening to the commentators analyze the players’ swings. What looks to you like a single, continuous, and not difficult act is revealed, via slow motion and a sort of virtual-chalkboard graphics, to be a sequence of intricately measured adjustments of shoulder to hip, head to arm, elbow to wrist, and so on. Where you see fluidity, the experts see geometry; what to you is nature is machinery to them—parallel lines, extended planes, points of impact. They murder to examine. Yet, apparently, these minutes and individualized measurements make all the difference between being able reliably to land a golf ball in an area, three hundred yards away, the size of a bathmat and, say, randomly hitting a car, which, let’s face it, only a fool would drive right next to a golf course. There is a major disproportion, in other words, between the straightforwardness of the game and the fantastic precision required to play it, a disproportion mastered by a difficult but, to the ordinary observer, almost invisible technique.
Short stories are the same. A short story is not as restrictive as a sonnet, but, of all the literary forms, it is possibly the most single-minded. Its aim, as it was identified by the modern genre’s first theorist, Edgar Allan Poe, is to create “an effect”—by which Poe meant something almost physical, like a sensation or an extreme excitement.
1. The author quotes his own experience with golf to show that _____.
[A] things are often not so simple and easy as they seem
[B] his experience with golf has been a frustrating failure
[C] that experience of his offered much for his later life
[D] apparent truths are more often than not unreliable
2. The author enjoys watching golf games on TV because _____.
[A] access to drinks makes the game more joyful
[B] a more enjoyable view of the game is provided
[C] he is thus unaffected by the result of the game
[D] that is more likely real appreciation of the game
3.What does the author imply when he says “There is usually…so mindless”(Line 1, Paragraph 2)?
[A] Commentators often interrupt your attention.
[B] TV golf is frequently unaffordable for many.
[C] One needs to pay handsomely for the setting.
[D] Some essential parts of the game are missing.
4. In the part succeeding the third paragraph, the author will most probably _____.
[A] draw an analogy between golf and short story
[B] elaborate the “effect” of short story
[C] show other examples similar to golf games
[D] show impact of golf games on short story
5. What is the relationship between Paragraph 1 and Paragraph 2?
[A] Paragraph 1 is an introduction to Paragraph 2.
[B] Paragraph 1 provides an example for Paragraph 2.
[C] Paragraph 1 and Paragraph 2 are both supporting details.
[D] Paragraph 2 serves as an analogy to Paragraph 1.
答案：
1.C 2.D 3.A 4.B 5.C
1.[精解] 本题考查事实细节。第一段第二句中who引导的定语从句介绍了菲尔·麦格劳博士的观点。他告诉人们“要忍气吞声，找自己的问题而不要抱怨或责备其他人”。因此[C]正确。
2.[精解] 本题考查推理引申。第二段第五句提到，正如马克·佩瑟在他对菲尔博士的精彩简介中告诉我们的，电视工作组起初害怕观众会被他“面对现实”的强硬建议惹怒(be offended)。因此[D]正确。
3. [精解] 本题考查词义理解。tough一词出现在第二段第六句，该句指出，观众渴望这种tough谈话。其上文提到，电视工作组起初害怕观众会被菲尔博士“面对现实”的强硬(stern)建议惹怒。因此tough talk指的就是上文stern advice，即呼吁人们“面对现实”的建议。因此最接近的含义是[A]。
4. [精解] 本题考查推理引申。第一段提到，菲尔博士告诉人们要找自己的问题而不要抱怨或责备其他人。第二段最后两句提到，菲尔博士呼吁人们“面对现实”的建议不是革命性的建议，甚至没有考虑到影响人们行为的基本因素，但它仍然是有意义的，并得到了公众的回应。比如，它在我们对“9·11”事件的反省中就很有意义。由此可推知，作者认为对待“9·11”事件我们可以采用菲尔博士的建议，即面对现实，总结自己的经验教训，不把责任推卸到别人身上。因此[B]正确。[A]在第二段倒数第二句的括号中出现，是作者认为菲尔博士的建议中可能忽略的一些重要因素，并不是作者建议大家做的事情。[C]也无从推知。[D]项是根据第二段倒数第三句臆造的选项，也不是作者提倡的观点。
5. [精解] 本题考查写作目的。文章最后作者提问到，有这么多的利害关系在里面，媒体难道不应该关注吗?到底是谁愚蠢呢? 由上文可知，“这么多的利害关系”指的是“对国家和世界可能带来的不良影响”，“愚蠢”是在回应“新闻秘书长批评新闻界过多报道伊拉克问题是自寻烦恼的愚蠢行为”，显然，作者是在讽刺布什政府一意孤行地发动战争。因此[C]正确。