There are so many new books about dying that there are now special shelves set aside for them in bookshops , along with the health-diet and home-repair paperbacks . Some of them are so 1 with detailed information and step-by-step instructions for performing the function , that you ' d think this was a new sort of skill which all of us are now required to learn . The strongest impression the casual reader gets is that proper dying has become an extraordinary ， 2 an exotic experience , something only the specially trained can do .

 

　　Furthermore , you could be led to believe that we are the only 3 capable of being aware of death , and that when the rest of nature is experiencing the life cycle and dying , one generation after 4 ，it is a different kind of process , done automatically and trivially , or more “natural”, as we say .

 

　　An elm in our backyard 5 the blight (枯萎病)this summer and dropped stone dead , leafless , almost overnight . One weekend it was a normal-looking elm , maybe a little bare in spots but 6 alarming , and the next weekend it was gone , passed over , departed , taken . Taken is right , for the tree surgeon came by yesterday with his crew of young helpers and their cherry picker , and took it down branch by branch and carted it off in the back of a red truck , everyone 7 .

 

　　The dying 8 a field mouse , at the jaws of an amiable household cat , is a spectacle I have beheld many times . It 9 to make me wince . However , early in life I gave up throwing sticks at the cat to make him drop the mouse , 10 the dropped mouse regularly went ahead and died anyway .

 

　　1. A. contained B. embraced C. packed D. littered

　　2. A. and B. even C. yet D. but

　　3. A. races B. creatures C. people D. human

　　4. A. the other B. another C. the next D. the following

　　5. A. caught B. held C. took D. picked

　　6. A. something B. anything C. nothing D. everything

　　7. A. sings B. sang C. sung D. singing

　　8. A. to B. in C. for D. of

　　9. A. was B. was used C. used D. was about

　　10. A. but B. because C. while D. in order that

 

　　答案与解析：

 

　　1.【答案】C

　　【解析】此句表示其中一些关于死亡的书中写满了相关的翔实信息，A 、B 两项均为包括之意，不与with 连用。D 项有“充满的”意思，并可以with 连用，但意为“胡乱丢满、乱七八糟的”，用在此处不正确。C 项Packed 意为“拥挤、塞满、充满的”，感情色彩也与原文相符，表示书中充斥着关于… … 的内容。

 

　　2.【答案】B

　　【解析】文中需要的是连接词，exotic 的含义比extraordinary 更进一步，句意为“适当的死法已然成了一种特别的、甚至是奇异的经历”。这种情况不必多想，B 为最合适的选项。A 项为并列关系，C 、D 项表示转折，而非递进。

 

　　3.【答案】B

　　【解析】从本句“书中内容会让你觉得我们是唯一有死亡意识的… … ”和下句中的“自然界中的其他生命经历着生命的周期和死亡”，可以推测出空格处所指的是生物，而不是种族、人们、人类，故选B。

 

　　4.【答案】B

　　【解析】本句的意思是“自然界中的其他生命(除我们以外的)一代又一代”，是考形容词代词的用法。the other指两个人或物中的一个。所以选another 。

 

　　5.【答案】A

　　【解析】句意为“我家后院的榆树今年夏天染上了枯萎病”, catch 作及物动词，有“染上疾病”的意思。B 项意为“持有，抓住”, C 项意为“(疾病)突然侵袭”，用在疾病的后面，如the blight took our elm 。D 项意为“采集，挑选”。故选A 。

 

　　6.【答案】C

　　【解析】本句意为“或许出现些斑点，但… … 让人担忧，而且外表看来一切正常”，所以出现的问题不严重，不会让人不安，所以选C。

 

　　7.【答案】D

　　【解析】 singing ，表示伴随动作，现在分词作伴随状语。

 

　　8.【答案】D

　　【解析】 a field mouse 为dying 的定语，根据下文可以得出句意为“一只田鼠的死”，中间的插人语表示它是如何死掉的。

 

　　9.【答案】C

　　【解析】四个选项中只有C 是正确用法，田鼠的死曾让我感到害怕。若选A 项，it was to make me wince 意为“田鼠的死是(计划好)用于让我害怕、畏缩的”。若选B 项，句子意为“田鼠之死习惯了让我害怕”。若选C 项，句子意为“以前田鼠的这种死法常让我感到害怕”。D 项指此事即将让我害怕。

 

　　10.【答案】B

　　【解析】根据上下文判断，“但是我老早就不再向叼着田鼠的猫扔棍子，让它把田鼠放下”，这样做的原因就在下一句：因为被放下的老鼠通常还是会死掉。