Question

No matter how long your life is, you will, at best, be able to read only a few books of all that have been written, and the few you do read should include the best. It is to be expected that the selections will change with the times. Yet there is a surprising uniformity (一致) in the lists which represent the best choices of any period.
What are the signs by which we may recognize a great book? The four I will mention may not be all there are, but they are the ones I’ve found most useful in explaining my choices over the years.
Great books are probably the most widely read. They are not best sellers for a year or two. They are enduring best sellers. GONE WITH THE WIND has had relatively few readers compared to the plays of Shakespeare or DONQUIXOTE. It would be reasonable to estimate that Homer Iliad has been read by at least 25,000,000 people in the last 3000 years.
Great books are popular, not pedantic(卖弄学问的). They are not written by specialists about specialties for specialists. Whether they are philosophy or science, or history or poetry, they treat of human, not academic problems. They are written for men, not professors. To read a textbook for advanced students, you have to read an elementary textbook first. But the great books can be considered elementary in the sense that they treat the elements of any subject matter. They are not related to one another as a series of textbooks, graded in difficulty or in the technicality of the problems with which they deal.
Great books are always contemporary, the most readable and instructive.
Great books deal with the persistently unsolved problems of human life. There are genuine mysteries in the world that mark the limits of human knowing and thinking. Great minds acknowledge mysteries honestly. Wisdom is fortified (加强), not destroyed, by understanding its limitations

1. 1.
   Which is NOT the standard in the following when evaluating a great book?
   1. A.
      Although not a best seller for a year or two, it must be the most widely read
   2. B.
      A great book can be read without any effort
   3. C.
      Great books are never out of date
   4. D.
      Great books will not disappoint you if you try to read them well
2. 2.
   According to the author, GONE WITH THE WIND is ______
   1. A.
      a best seller
   2. B.
      disgusted by readers who like Shakespeare
   3. C.
      read more often than Don Quixote
   4. D.
      a great book
3. 3.
   After reading the passage, we can infer that ______
   1. A.
      different periods have different lists of best books because there are many books for people to choose from
   2. B.
      if you don’t read an elementary textbook, you may have difficulty in understanding an advanced one
   3. C.
      Homer Iliad must be a best seller when it came out
   4. D.
      great books often deal with unsolved problems of human life for the writers have confidence in settling them
4. 4.
   The best title for this passage is ______
   1. A.
      Great Books in Your Life
   2. B.
      Great Books in Your Specialty
   3. C.
      How to Find a Great Book?
   4. D.
      What Is a Great Book?

Answer 1

DABD
试题分析：本文是一篇关于名著的说明文。第一、二段指出人们一生要读很多书，但名著却很少，而且古典名著一直被大家公认，从而引出本文讨论的话题：评定名著的标准是什么？文章接下来的部分就此进行了详细分析和说明。
1.推理题。此处要注意下文的Yet，表一个转折关系。下文说但是有一些作品可以作为任何时代的必读书目。可判断空白处表达的意思应是不同时代有不同的选读书。B符合此意。其他不合题意。本句意思是：人们预料，随着时代的变迁，选择书籍的方向会有所改变。选D
2.观点态度题。文中第四段主要说明名著的一个特点就是读者多，不是一两年的畅销书，而《飘》不如莎士比亚戏剧或《堂吉珂德》的读者多，说明读者认为《飘》不是名著，只是一本畅销书。所以，选A正确。
3.细节题：从第四段的句子：To read a textbook for advanced students, you have to read an elementary textbook first. 可知要想高级的书先要读最初的版本，选B
4.标题题。A、B说的是在日常生活和专业领域的名著，文章根本没有做这样的分类；文中第三段就谈到评定名著的四个标准，所以D正确。D
考点：考查文化类短文