2013年SAT阅读实践练习题-文学

SAT Subject Test Practice

Literature

Well versed in literature? The Literature Subject Test gives you the opportunity to highlight your strengths in reading and interpreting literary texts from a variety of historical periods and genres. Taking the test also gives you the opportunity to showcase your interests and enhance your college application.

Read the following poem carefully before you choose your answers.

View Passage

Passage

	Against that time (if ever that time come) When I shall see thee frown on my defects, When as thy love hath cast his utmost sum, Called to that audit by advised respects—
Line 5	Against that time when thou shalt strangely pass, And scarcely greet me with that sun, thine eye, When love, converted from the thing it was, Shall reasons find of settled gravity— Against that time do I ensconce me here
Line 10	Within the knowledge of mine own desert, And this my hand against myself uprear, To guard the lawful reasons on thy part. To leave poor me thou has the strength of laws, Since why to love I can allege no cause. (1609)

1、If the speaker is implying in line 10 that he is not deserving of love, which of the following most strongly supports the implication?

(A) "defects" (line 2)

(B) "utmost sum" (line 3)

(C) "strangely" (line 5)

(D) "love, converted" (line 7)

(E) "settled gravity" (line 8)

The correct answer is A

Explanation

Difficulty: Easy

Choice A is correct. The word "defects" refers to the speaker's sense of his own weaknesses or failures to meet the expectations of others. It would support an argument by the speaker that he did not deserve to be loved.

2、The speaker of the poem is addressing

(A) an unspecified general audience

(B) a friend of the speaker's beloved

(C) a lover

(D) a former lover

(E) a legal adviser

The correct answer is C

Explanation

Difficulty: Medium

Choice C is correct. The person being addressed in the poem is presented as loving and being loved by the speaker.

3、The speaker imagines a time in the future when he might

(A) no longer be in love

(B) no longer be loved

(C) be even more deeply in love

(D) be able to explain why he is in love

(E) look back fondly on his present happiness

The correct answer is B

Explanation

Difficulty: Medium

Choice B is correct. Lines 2-8 describe an imagined time when the person being addressed will be critical of the speaker and no longer care for him.

 

4、In line 5, the adverb "strangely" means:

(A) oddly

(B) be even more deeply in love

(C) in a distant manner

(D) eerily

(E) haltingly

The correct answer is C

Explanation

Difficulty: Medium

Choice C is correct. In lines 5-6, the speaker imagines a time when the person being addressed no longer wishes to meet him. The person passes by "strangely," like someone who is almost a stranger, who "scarcely greets" the speaker and assumes "a distant manner."

5、In lines 1, 5, and 9, "against" is best understood to mean:

 

(A) in opposition to

(B) in repetition of

(C) in contrast to

(D) in preparation for

(E) in rejection of

The correct answer is D

Explanation

Difficulty: Medium

Choice D is correct. In lines 1 and 5, the speaker uses "Against that time" to imagine a situation that he anticipates and fears; he uses the phrase again in line 9 to present his preparations for dealing with this situation.

6、The "reasons" mentioned in line 8 are best characterized as:

(A) scientific explanations for a natural force

(B) arguments against rationality itself

(C) arguments for the importance of loving

(D) logical explanations for the absence of love

(E) counterarguments to the speaker's propositions

The correct answer is D

Explanation

Difficulty: Medium

Choice D is correct. Lines 7-8 indicate that love personified (the lover's feelings) has found "reasons" that justify rejecting the speaker's love.

7、One theme of the poem appears to be that：

(A) unrequited love is still sweet

(B) time transforms lust into love

(C) the value of true love cannot be calculated

(D) relationships should be controlled by laws

(E) reason is insufficient to explain love

The correct answer is D

 

Explanation

Difficulty: Medium

Choice E is correct. The speaker refers to "reasons" (line 8), "lawful reasons" (line 12), and "laws" (line 13) that seemingly support behavior with rational motives. In line 14, however, the speaker suggests two related ideas: that reason cannot explain why he is loved and that, since he clearly is loved, reason lacks an adequate way to explain the behavior of lovers.

8、In lines 1-12, which of the following is a main verb?

(A) "come" (line 1)

(B) "shall see" (line 2)

(C) "shalt pass" (line 5)

(D) "shall find" (line 8)

(E) "do ensconce" (line 9)

The correct answer is E

Explanation

Difficulty: Hard

Choice E is correct. The verb phrase "do ... ensconce," appearing in a section of the poem (lines 9-12) that functions as a main clause would in a sentence, resolves the tension of the modifying clauses represented in lines 1-8.

 

9、Which of the following best describes the language of the poem?

(A) Concrete and matter-of-fact

(B) Euphemistic and prosaic

(C) Metaphoric and logical

(D) Informal and conversational

(E) Ironic and amused

The correct answer is C

Explanation

Difficulty: Hard

Choice C is correct. The speaker makes his points through devices like personification ("thy love hath cast" in line 3), metaphorical comparisons ("that sun, thine eye" in line 6), and abstractions ("lawful reasons" in line 12). The repetition of "Against that time" also organizes the poem by lending it the systematic structure of a logical argument.

 

10、After Granny’s “Good mornin” (line 7), the camera man probably behaves as he does because he

(A) is made to realize that he is intruding

(B) suspects that he is in physical danger

(C) hopes to win Granny’s affection by appearing at ease

(D) is relieved that an adult is present

(E) realizes that he is disturbing the tidiness of the yard

The correct answer is A

Explanation

Difficulty: Easy

Choice (A) is correct. Lines 1-7 of the passage set the scene for the conversation that follows: Granny sees the cameraman “cut[ting] across our neighbor’s yard” and comes outside to confront him (“the screen door bammin soft and scratchy against her palms”). As the cameraman begins to speak, “Granny cut him off. And smiled that smile.” Granny’s curt greeting (“Good mornin’”) and no-nonsense manner make the cameraman realize that he is intruding, as his reaction makes clear: “‘Good mornin’,’ he said, head all down the way Bingo does when you yell at him.” The cameraman seems to feel uncomfortable and hesitant, although he still tries to complete his task of filming Granny’s house.

 

11、The tone of “Now, aunty” (line 37) is most accurately described as

(A) expectant

(B) patronizing

(C) accusatory

(D) obedient

(E) respectful

The correct answer is B

Explanation

Difficulty: Easy

Choice (B) is correct. In this context, “patronizing” means condescending, or assuming undue familiarity with a person perceived to be inferior. Referring to a person to whom one is not related as “aunty” is patronizing and disrespectful. The cameraman’s lack of respect for Granny is emphasized by the fact that he is “pointin [the camera] straight at her,” despite having been asked to turn it off. Presumably, it is only because the cameraman feels superior to Granny that he calls her “aunty” rather than using a more respectful term like “ma’am.”

 

12、Granny’s final comment can best be understood as a

(A) reluctant confession

(B) tentative assertion

(C) witty joke

(D) surprising revelation

(E) strong rebuke

The correct answer is E

Explanation

Difficulty: Easy

Choice (E) is correct. When Granny tells the cameraman, “Your mama and I are not related,” she is doing more than clarifying that she is not his “aunty”; she is also rebuking him, or criticizing him sharply and angrily. Granny’s anger towards the cameraman has been building throughout the passage: first, she “cut him off” and “smiled that smile” (lines 7-8); then, she said “with no smile” that she did mind the filming (line 29); last, speaking “real low through her teeth” as she “took a step down off the porch and then another,” she warned the cameraman to “shut that machine off” (lines 34-36). In the last line of the passage, Granny forcefully expresses her anger towards the cameraman by rejecting his insulting use of the term “aunty.”

13、The episode reveals a conflict between

(A) propriety and impertinence

(B) virtue and corruption

(C) kindness and cruelty

(D) passiveness and aggression

(E) refinement and grossness

The correct answer is A

Explanation

Difficulty: Easy

Choice (A) is correct. Granny displays “propriety,” or polite and appropriate behavior, while the cameraman displays “impertinence,” or rude and inappropriate behavior. The cameraman is not hostile or vulgar in his dealings with Granny, but his rude treatment is evident in his use of the patronizing term “aunty” and his failure to ask permission to film or apologize for his intrusion onto Granny’s property; in short, the cameraman does not treat Granny with proper respect. Granny, on the other hand, politely greets the cameraman with the phrase “Good mornin’” and a curt smile, and asserts through her speech and actions (“‘I do indeed,’ said Granny with no smile”) that she considers his behavior to be an improper intrusion. Granny is angry, but she does not shout or curse; she simply states, with appropriate directness, that she does not appreciate the cameraman’s actions.

 

14、The excerpt is best described as

(A) an enthusiastic celebration of youthful optimism

(B) an ironic self-portrait colored by satiric observations

(C) an imaginative evocation without didactic intention

(D) a symbolic representation of intellectual creativity

(E) a narrative episode with philosophical implications

The correct answer is E

Explanation

Difficulty: Medium

Choice (E) is correct. The excerpt is a narrative episode with philosophical implications, or a story that deals with issues of nature, reality, and perception. The narrative elements of the poem are evident throughout: the speaker tells the story of events that began when he or she “found/A little boat” and decided to take it out on the water. Feeling exhilarated, the speaker suddenly sees “a huge peak, black and huge,” and guiltily turns “Back to the covert of the willow tree,” after which “for many days . . . There hung a darkness, call it solitude/Or blank desertion.” The philosophical elements of the poem are most evident in the discussion of the speaker’s feelings after the event; the speaker grapples with “a dim and undetermined sense/Of unknown modes of being.” Is the speaker awed by the peak because he or she is already feeling guilty about having stolen the boat? Or is there some external force in nature that governs our internal feelings and actions? The questions the poem raises have philosophical implications.

 

15、In lines 1-7, which of the following devices is used to present nature, the boat, and the mountain echoes?

(A) Personification

(B) Apostrophe

(C) Rhyme

(D) Paradox

(E) Simile

The correct answer is A

Explanation

Difficulty: Medium

Choice (A) is correct. “Personification” is the attribution of human qualities to an object or abstraction. Nature, the boat, and the mountain echoes are all personified to some degree in lines 1-7. The speaker first refers to nature as “her” (“led by her”), then calls the cave the boat’s “home” and refers to the boat as “her” (“unloosed her chain”), and finally refers to “the voice/Of mountain echoes.” The speaker’s words subtly convey the impression that nature, the boat, and the mountain echoes are like human characters in the episode and are not merely things.

 

16、In lines 6-7, “the voice/Of mountain-echoes” serves to reinforce the speaker’s sense of

(A) freedom

(B) omnipotence

(C) furtiveness

(D) enthusiasm

(E) despondency

The correct answer is C

Explanation

Difficulty: Medium

Choice (C) is correct. “Furtive” means stealthy or surreptitious; a person who is breaking a rule or law or otherwise behaving unethically, in secret, could be said to be behaving in a furtive manner. In lines 5-7, the speaker acknowledges the furtiveness of borrowing a boat that did not belong to him or her: “It was an act of stealth/And troubled pleasure, nor without the voice/Of mountain-echoes did my boat move on.” The reference to the “voice” of the “mountain-echoes” indicates that the speaker, no doubt wary of making too much noise, was acutely conscious of the sounds all around him; the reference thus reinforces the speaker’s sense of furtiveness.

 

17、Which of the following best describes the change in the outlook of the speaker during the course of this excerpt?

(A) Naïveté to cynicism

(B) Bravery to cowardice

(C) Hope to despair

(D) Daring to uncertainty

(E) Eagerness to sloth

The correct answer is D

Explanation

Difficulty: Medium

Choice (D) is correct. The outlook of the speaker at the beginning of the excerpt would best be described as "daring," or bold and adventurous. Having boldly taken a small boat out on the lake for an evening adventure, the speaker describes himself or herself as "like one who rows,/Proud of his skill"; the speaker even uses the adverb "lustily" to convey the confidence with which he or she piloted the boat. But the speaker’s outlook shifts dramatically when he or she speaks of seeing the "huge peak, black and huge": the speaker turned back to the shore "With trembling oars . . . And through the meadows homeward went, in grave/And serious mood." The speaker reveals that in the days that followed, he or she was profoundly shaken and confused by the experience: "for many days, my brain/Worked with a dim and undetermined sense/Of unknown modes of being; o'er my thoughts/There hung a darkness." During the course of the excerpt, the speaker clearly passes from a daring outlook to one of "uncertainty," or one lacking conviction and confidence.

18、The dramatic situation in the poem is that of

(A) a youth speaking to a lover

(B) a priest speaking to a sinner

(C) a reformer addressing an impoverished person

(D) God addressing any human soul

(E) an individual addressing his or her own soul

The correct answer is E

Explanation

Difficulty: Hard

Choice (E) is correct. Beginning in line 1, the speaker directly addresses his or her soul: “Poor soul, the centre of my sinful earth” (“earth” means “body,” as the following lines make clear). Throughout the rest of the poem, the speaker discusses the relationship between his or her soul and physical body. When the speaker refers to “thy outward walls,” “thy fading mansion,” “thy charge,” and so on, he or she is referring to the body, which will ultimately die and be eaten by worms (“Shall worms, inheritors of this excess/Eat up thy charge? Is this thy body’s end?”). The message of the poem is that the (inner) soul should stop worrying about the (outer) body and should essentially let the body wither and die, knowing that the soul is all that matters in the afterlife (“Then, soul, live thou upon thy servant’s loss”). The dramatic situation of the poem is that of an individual—the speaker—addressing his or her own soul.

 

19、In the context of the poem, “Painting thy outward walls so costly gay” (line 4) refers to

(A) camouflage

(B) writing poetry

(C) attending to physical appearances

(D) pretending to be happy

(E) preparations for a celebration

The correct answer is C

Explanation

Difficulty: Hard

Choice (C) is correct. At the beginning of the poem, the speaker addresses his or her soul (“Poor soul, the centre of my sinful earth”), and asks why the soul is “Painting thy outward walls so costly gay?” The “outward walls” of the soul refer to the speaker’s physical body, which is being adorned in an expensive and showy manner (“so costly gay”). Lines 3-4 of the poem ask why the soul is attending to physical appearances while neglecting the nourishment the soul needs (“pine within and suffer dearth”)—presumably from spiritual or religious sources.

 

20、The poet signals a major shift at line 9 by changing from

(A) entirely negative to entirely positive imagery

(B) imagery of permanence to imagery of change

(C) direct address to impersonal statement

(D) material to spiritual imagery

(E) questions to commands

The correct answer is E

Explanation

Difficulty: Hard

Choice (E) is correct. The first eight lines of the poem feature four consecutive questions. The speaker is essentially asking the soul why so much attention is being paid to the body (“thy outward walls,” “thy fading mansion”), which is only going to die and be consumed by worms (“Is this thy body’s end?”). In other words, the speaker is asking why the immortal soul is sacrificing its needs in favor of those of the “sinful” and dying body. The speaker’s questions are rhetorical; he or she is using the questions to subtly make the point that spiritual concerns should be emphasized over material things. This point is made more explicit at line 9, when the speaker turns to commands: “Then, soul, live thou upon thy servant’s loss,/And let that pine to aggravate thy store . . .” The speaker is commanding the soul to let the body wither and die, knowing that the soul is all that matters in the afterlife (“there’s no more dying then”).

21、Which of the following best describes the theme of the concluding couplet (lines 13-14)?

(A) A confession of sin before an almighty judge

(B) An affirmation of the immortality of the soul

(C) A declaration of rebellion against the powers of fate

(D) An accusation that death is a faithless servant

(E) A surrender to the inexplicable nature of life

The correct answer is B

Explanation

Difficulty: Hard

Choice (B) is correct. Throughout the poem, the speaker directly addresses the soul. The speaker first questions his or her soul and then commands it to put its own needs over those of the body: “live thou upon thy servant’s loss,/And let that pine to aggravate thy store . . .” In other words, the speaker advocates ignoring physical or material concerns and focusing on increasing one’s spiritual wellbeing. The last two lines of the poem carry this idea to its logical conclusion: the soul should “feed on Death, that feeds on men,/And Death once dead, there’s no more dying then.” To paraphrase: the body will wither and die but the immortal soul will be enriched, and, having benefited from the death of the body, the soul will transition into some kind of eternal paradise. The image is a fascinating one: while Death is feeding on the body, weakening and ultimately killing it, the soul is feeding on Death, using the suffering of the body to improve its spiritual fitness or closeness to God, in preparation for the eternal afterlife. The theme of these lines is best described as an affirmation of the immortality of the soul.