No matter how long your life, 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. You can rejoice in the fact that the number of such is relatively small.
Yet there is a surprising uniformity in the lists which represent the best choices of any period. In every age, the list makers include both ancient and modern books in their selections, and they always wonder whether the moderns are up to the great books of the past.
What are the signs by which we may recognize a great book? The four I will mention may not be all they 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 pared to the plays of Shakespeare or DON QUIXOTE. It would be reasonable to estimate that Homer’s Iliad（伊丽亚特）has been read by at least 25,000,000 people in the last 3000 years.
Great books are popular, not pedantic. 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. Inquiry not only begins with wonder, but usually ends with it also. Great minds acknowledge mysteries honestly. Wisdom is fortified, not destroyed, by understanding its limitations.
64．Which of the following can be put in the blank in the second paragraph?
A．Great books deal with the persistently unsolved problems of human life.
B．It is to be expected that the selections will change with the times
C．The listing of the best books is as old as reading and writing.
D．The fundamental human problems remain the same in all ages.
65．According to the author, Gone With The Wind is .
A．a best seller
B．disgusted by readers who like Shakespeare
C．read more often than Don Quixote
D．a great book
66．In the passage “pedantic” means .
A．showing the feelings, esp, those of kindness, which people are supposed to have
B．serving as practical examples
C．being elementary
D．paying too much attention to details in books
67．The best title for this passage is .
A．Great Books in Your Life B．Great Books in Your Speciality
C．How to Find a Great Book? D．What Is a Great Book?64-67 BADD
网友回答
(答案→)64-67 BADD
解析：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。
64．主旨大意题。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。
65．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。本题最难，易误选D
66．语义理解题。由文中第五段第一句可判断pedantic一词与popular意思相反，而第五段第二句进一步解释了该词的意思，可判断选项D正确。本题易误选B
67．主旨大意题。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。