66. From the passage we may infer that the author is most probably 　　　　.

A. an instructor of writing　　 B. a writer　　 C. an educator　　　　　　 D. a publisher

答案　 63.D　 64.B　 65.A　 66.B

Passage 3

(湖北省钟祥六中2009年高三高考冲刺最后一卷B篇)

If you have a chance to go to Finland, you will probably be surprised to find how “foolish” the Finnish people are.

Take the taxi drivers for example. Taxis in Finland are mostly high-class Benz with a fare of two US dollars a kilometer. You can go anywhere in one, tell the driver to drop you at any place, say that you have some business to attend to, and then walk off without paying your fare. The driver would not show the least sign of anxiety.

The dining rooms in all big hotels not only serve their guests, but also serve outside diners. Hotel guests have their meals free, so they naturally go to the free dining rooms to have their meals. The most they would do to show their good faith is to wave their registration card to the waiter. With such a loose check, you can easily use any old registration (登记) card to take a couple of friends to dine free of charge.

The Finnish workers are paid by the hour. They are very much on their own as soon as they have agreed with the boss on the rate. From then on they just say how many hours they have worked and they will be paid accordingly.

With so many loopholes (漏洞) in everyday life, surely Finland must be a heaven to those who love to take “petty advantages”. But the strange thing is, all the taxi passengers would always come back to pay their fare after they have attended to their business; not a single outsider has ever been found in the free hotel dining rooms. And workers always give an honest account of the exact hours they put in. As the Finns always act on good faith in everything they do, living in such a society has turned everyone into a real “gentleman”.

65. According to the author, writing 　　　　.

A. is basically a self-taught occupation and no instructions on how to deal with it are of any practical use

B. is a “trial and error” process and it does not count whether you have the gift for writing or not

C. for a living is the most pleasant of all careers, full of praise and enjoyment

D. sometimes provides good hopes of winning public praise and escaping poverty

64. From the context we can figure out that the underlined word “defect” in Paragraph 3 means 　　　　.

A. advantage　　　　　　　　　　　　 B. fault　　　　　 　　 C. truth　　　　　　　　　　　 D. disadvantage

63. This passage mainly discusses 　　　　.

A. the difficulties and risks of making a career of words

B. the uselessness of instructions contained in writing guidebooks

C. the autobiography of the 19th century English novelist Anthony Trollope

D. sound advice provided in Anthony. Trollope’s autobiography

6. Understand the risks of writing for a living. “The career, when successful, is pleasant enough certainly; but when unsuccessful, it is of all careers the most painful.”

5. Do not be carried away by praise. And, above all, do not be injured by criticism.

4. Meet your deadlines. Life is endlessly “painful and troublesome” for writers who can’t finish their work on time.

3. Have a story to tell, but, more important than that, people with characters who will speak and move as living creatures in the reader’s mind. Without memorable characters, story alone is nothing.

2. Do not depend too much on inspiration. Writing is a craft, which Trollope compared to the craft of shoemaking. The shoemaker who has just turned out one pair of his work sets to work immediately on the next pair.

1. For safety’s sake, arm yourself with some other skills, some other line of work to fall back on(求助). That way, failure at writing, though the disappointment may appear, will not mean ruin.