《考研英語閱讀理解100篇 高分版》 Unit 13 - TEXT TWO

Tracy Borman can tell a good story. Admittedly, her subject is a gift. But Henrietta Howard, mistress to George II, lived in the midst of a large cast of characters, many of them entangled in the complicated politics of 18th-century court life, and Ms. Borman handles them and their world with aplomb.
Though the 18th century is called the Age of Reason, it was anything but. Henrietta was born in 1689, a year after the balance of power in Britain shifted from monarch to Parliament. But this did nothing to shift the tyranny of men over women, and Henrietta's life was largely shaped by violent and unreasonable men. When she was eight, her father, the profligate and choleric squire of Blickling Hall in Norfolk, challenged a neighbour to a duel for impugning his valour. He was killed for his pains, leaving a wife, eight children and a pile of debts. Eight years later, perhaps hoping to help her now motherless siblings, Henrietta released her dowry money by marrying a cousin, Charles Howard, 14 years her senior.
It was a disaster. Charles turned out to be a compulsive gambler and wife-beater, and their lives descended into lodging-house flits and near-starvation. Then, aged 25, Henrietta made her own astonishing gamble. In 1714, when Queen Anne lay dying, she took herself and Charles off to Hanover, where George Louis, heir presumptive to the English throne, held court. There she joined throngs of other hopefuls, all jockeying for the notice either of George Louis, or his son, George Augustus, or his daughter-in-law, Caroline.
Henrietta's gamble paid off, though frying pans and fires come to mind. Her appointment as Woman of the Bedchamber to Princess Caroline meant long days of tedious and exacting ceremony, such as holding her mistress's wash basin on bended knee, a point that Caroline spitefully insisted on when Henrietta became her husband's mistress. Not that that was much comfort, either. The man was a boor, and dull with it. In any case, Henrietta never really supplanted Caroline. Being a royal mistress was, in this case, more a post than a romance. But it suited Henrietta in that it protected her from her husband—something the law denied her.
Henrietta was known for her discreet and even temper, but she must also have had sharp elbows. As Ms. Borman vividly shows, the court was a scandal-mongering, fickle place, driven by political factionalism and held at fever pitch by the royal family's own very public quarrels. This was the atmosphere Henrietta breathed. And yet she somehow managed to be liked. Even acid-tongued poet, Alexander Pope, described her as reasonable, good-humoured, witty and, above all, a friend.
Some of Ms. Borman's most engaging writing describes Henrietta's circle of friends—poets, writers and wits such as Lord Chesterfield and Horace Walpole—and the pleasure they all took in the design of her Palladian villa, Marble Hill at Twickenham. When her husband's death made it safe for her to retire, this was where she came: to entertain, to re-marry, to have a home. After a life of winging it, such hard-wrung domesticity feels almost heroic.
1. Tracy Borman is probably _____.
[A] a story teller
[B] a historian
[C] a novelist
[D] an autobiographer
2. According to the passage, 18th century is characterized by _____.
[A] the widespread notion of reason
[B] extensive violence among men
[C] irrationality underneath the overcoat of rationality
[D] the tyranny of men over women
3. The word “supplanted” (Line 5, Paragraph 4) most probably means _____.
[A] hated
[B] displaced
[C] threatened
[D] pleased
4. Henrietta chose to be a royal mistress because _____.
[A] she wanted to have a romance with the royal family member
[B] such a royal post helped her to climb up the social ladder
[C] she wanted to dodge her husband
[D] she could be exempt from Caroline's tedious ceremony
5. Henrietta must have had sharp elbows in order to _____.
[A] maintain good temper when serving the royal family
[B] survive the complicated disputes
[C] have herself accepted by all the people she met
[D] make friends with reasonable people

1. Tracy Borman is probably _____.
[A] a story teller
[B] a historian
[C] a novelist
[D] an autobiographer
1. Tracy Borman可能是 _____。
[A] 講故事的人
[B] 歷史學家
[C] 小說家
[D] 自傳作家
答案：C　難度系數(shù)：☆☆
分析：推理題。文章第一句說Tracy Borman是個講故事的好手，由此可以推斷出她不是歷史學家；而后面提到她對人物的描寫，可以推斷出她是寫小說的。此外，這部書不是關于她自己的，因此她也不是一個自傳作家。選項A有一定的干擾性，文章最后一段說Berman女士在描寫人物時筆觸迷人，由此可以推斷她是個作家而不僅是個講故事的人。因此，正確答案為C。
2. According to the passage, 18th century is characterized by _____.
[A] the widespread notion of reason
[B] extensive violence among men
[C] irrationality underneath the overcoat of rationality
[D] the tyranny of men over women
2. 根據(jù)這篇文章，18世紀的特點是 _____。
[A] 廣為傳播的理念——理性
[B] 男人之間充滿了暴力
[C] 在理性外衣下的非理性
[D] 男人對于女人的殘酷控治
答案：C　難度系數(shù)：☆☆☆
分析：細節(jié)題。文章第二段一開頭就提到Though the 18th century is called the Age of Reason, it was anything but. 即18世紀被稱為理性時代，但事實卻恰恰相反。那么可以看出，18世紀在理性的外衣下，其實質是非理性的。因此，選項C為正確答案。
3. The word “supplanted” (Line 5, Paragraph 4) most probably means _____.
[A] hated
[B] displaced
[C] threatened
[D] pleased
3. supplanted這個詞（第四段第五行）最有可能的意思是 _____。
[A] 憎恨
[B] 代替
[C] 威脅
[D] 討好
答案：B　難度系數(shù)：☆
分析：猜詞題。根據(jù)上下文，Caroline刁難Henrietta，因為知道她是自己丈夫的情人；而后面寫的是王室的情人只是個“職位”，而沒有浪漫可言；由此可以推斷，Henrietta和國王的兒子并沒有什么感情。因此，選項B最為合適，即Henrietta從來沒有真正地替代公主。
4. Henrietta chose to be a royal mistress because _____.
[A] she wanted to have a romance with the royal family member
[B] such a royal post helped her to climb up the social ladder
[C] she wanted to dodge her husband
[D] she could be exempt from Caroline's tedious cere-mony
4. Henrietta選擇去做王室的情人，是因為 _____。
[A] 她想要和王室成員有一段浪漫史
[B] 這樣的一個王室職位能夠幫助她爬上社會高層
[C] 她想要躲避自己的丈夫
[D] 她想要使自己免于遵守Caroline那些枯燥的儀式
答案：C　難度系數(shù)：☆☆☆
分析：細節(jié)題。第四段末尾提到，王室情人這個職位很適合Henrietta，因為可以保護她免受丈夫的傷害；而文章最后又提到，在她丈夫死后，她就馬上離開了王宮。因此可以看出，她選擇這個職位是為了躲避自己的丈夫，因此選項C為正確答案。A顯然是一個干擾選項，而選項B的錯誤在于，文章并沒有提及她想爬到社會高層。選項D也是錯誤的，因為那不是她的主要目的，而且她也必須履行那些儀式。
5. Henrietta must have had sharp elbows in order to _____.
[A] maintain good temper when serving the royal family
[B] survive the complicated disputes
[C] have herself accepted by all the people she met
[D] make friends with reasonable people
5. Henrietta手腕必須強硬，以便于 _____。
[A] 保持好脾氣，以更好地服務王室
[B] 在復雜紛繁的斗爭中生存下來
[C] 為所有她見到的人所接受
[D] 和理智的人交朋友
答案：B　難度系數(shù)：☆☆☆
分析：推理題。文章第五段提到，雖然她非常審慎、性格很好，但是手腕需要強硬些，原文的“肘部尖銳些”應當是一個比喻。下文又說這是因為宮廷是一個是非之地，因此可以推斷，這個引申義是指運用這種手段來保護自己、使自己能夠在復雜紛繁的皇室斗爭中生存下來，因此選項B為正確答案。其余三個選項都是文章中提到的一些細節(jié)內容，與本題題干無關。

Tracy Borman是個講故事的好手，必須承認，她選取的題材是不同凡響的。Henrietta Howard，這位喬治二世的情人生活在一大群人物中間，他們許多人都和18世紀宮廷生活的復雜政治糾結在一起，但Borman女士卻能沉靜地描述這些人以及他們的世界。
雖然18世紀被稱為理性時代，但事實卻恰恰相反。Henrietta出生于1689年，而在1688年，英國的政權由君主轉向了議會，但沒有摒棄男性對女性的專制，Henrietta的大部分生活都是由一些暴力、非理性的男性控制著。8歲時，她的父親，一個貪圖享樂、性格暴躁的諾?？薆lickling Hall鄉(xiāng)紳，因為一位鄰居質疑他不勇猛，就向鄰居提出了決斗。他最終因為傷痛死去，留下了妻子、八個孩子和一堆債務。八年后，也許是希望可以幫助當時已失去母親的兄弟姐妹們，Henrietta嫁給了比她大14歲的表哥Charles Howard，條件是免于出嫁妝錢。
這段婚姻是個災難。Charles是個沒有自制力的賭徒，還經常毆打妻子，他們的生活顛沛流離，幾近餓死。就在這時，25歲的Henrietta給自己下了個令人震驚的賭注。1714年，安妮皇后去世，Henrietta和Charles一起到了漢諾威，在那里，英國王位的假定繼承人George Louis繼位。Henrietta成了那些希望通過一些手段引起George Louis或是他兒子George Augustus和兒媳Caroline注意的人之一。
Henrietta賭贏了，盡管她得留意煎鍋和火苗。她成為了Caroline公主的臥室女仆，這就意味著她每天都得應付那些單調、嚴格的禮節(jié)，比如屈膝端著洗臉盆到某一高度，這是Caroline在Henrietta成為她丈夫的情婦后惡意堅持的。并不是說做George Augustus的情婦是什么舒服的事情。他是個粗野的男人，而且也厭煩了。但無論如何，Henrietta從沒有真正取代過Caroline。既然這樣，作王室情人更多的是一個職位，而不是什么浪漫的事情，但這個職位卻適合Henrietta，因為這能夠使她免于受到丈夫的傷害，而這正是法律不能給予她的。
Henrietta因她的審慎和溫和的性格而著稱，但是她一定有強硬的手腕。正像Borman女士生動地描寫的那樣，宮廷是個謠言肆虐、感情淡薄的地方，受政治的黨派之爭驅動，加上王室內部公開的爭吵，這一直是個水深火熱之地。而這就是Henrietta生活的地方，但她卻讓人人都喜歡她。即使是尖酸刻薄的詩人Alexander Pope也把她形容為理智、風趣、機敏，最重要的是Pope把她當成了朋友。
Borman女士用迷人筆觸描述了Henrietta的朋友們，有詩人、作家還有像Lord Chesterfield和 Horace Walpole那樣的才子，以及他們在為設計Henrietta位于Twickenham大理石山上的Palladian別墅時的快樂。在丈夫死后，Henrietta就可以安全地退隱了，她開始享樂，然后再嫁人，擁有了一個家。經歷過這一切雜亂的生活之后，辛苦得來的家庭生活感覺就像是英雄史詩一般壯美。