Last Sunday I made a visit to some new neighbors down the block. No specific in mind, just an opportunity to sit at the kitchen table, have some tea and chat. As I did so, it occurred to me how rare the Sunday visit has bee.
When I was a kid in New Jersey of the 1960s, Sunday visits were routine. Most stores were closed, almost nobody worked, and the highways, as a result, were not desperate steeplechases(障碍赛跑) they have bee today. My family normally traveled eight city blocks to the home of my grandmother, where adults would sit on the front porch and chat while we children played hide-and-seek.
The Sunday visit was something to desire strongly. It was the repetition to church, our reward for an hour of devotion, an opportunity to take advantage of the fact that Dad was not at work, we were not in school, and there was no housework that couldn’t wait until Monday. Sunday was, indeed, different from the other days of the week, because everyone seemed to be on the same schedule, which means that there was one day when everyone seemed to have time for everybody else.
Sunday as a day of rest is, or was, so deeply rooted in the culture that it’s surprising to find that, in a short span of time, it has almost entirely lost this association. In my childhood, it was assumed that everyone would either be home or visiting someone else’s home on Sunday. But now the question is, “What do you plan to DO this Sunday?” The answer can range from going to the mall, to participating in a road race, to Montreal for lunch. If one were to respond, “I’m making a Sunday visit to family,” such an answer would feel strange, which sounds like an echo from another era.
I suppose I should be grateful to live in Maine, a state of small towns, abundant land and tight relationships. Even though folks work as hard here as they do anywhere else, the state’s powerfully rural feature still keeps at least remnants(残余部分) of the moral of yesterday’s America, where people had to depend on one another in the face of economic vagaries(反复无常的情况) and a challenging environment.
【小题1】The writer’s general impression of the Sunday in the past was a day when＿＿.A．everyone was paying a visit to some relatives far awayB．everyone seemed to be free for othersC．Dad was not at work while Mom was busy cleaning the houseD．nearly every adult would go to church and children weren’t at school【小题2】In the fourth paragraph, the writer pares the response “I’m making a Sunday visit to family” to an echo from another era because .A．people nowadays prefer staying at home on SundayB．such answers are rarely heard in our modern societyC．people in the city dislike being disturbed on SundayD．visiting someone on Sunday was routine in the past【小题3】From the last paragraph we may infer that .A．people in Maine suffer more from economic depression and the changed environmentB．people in Maine have abandoned their tradition and lived an absolutely new lifeC．land in Maine is short, thus the relationship between people is tenseD．people in Maine tend to help each other out of necessity【小题4】What’s the main idea of the passage?A．Doing many activities on Sunday is beneficial.B．We should often travel a long distance to visit some friends and relatives.C．Nowadays, Sunday has almost lost its association as a day of rest.D．We should abandon some old tradition.B
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(答案→)B
解析：本文讲述了在以前Sunday visit是非常流行的，人们在星期天都去看望家人朋友，放松娱乐自己，而在现代社会里，这样的机会是很少的，人们在周末都忙着别的事情，似乎星期天和放松休息没有什么关系了。
【小题1】B推理题。根据文章第二段描述尤其是1,2行When I was a kid in New Jersey of the 1960s, Sunday visits were routine. Most stores were closed, almost nobody worked,以及第三段最后2行Sunday was, indeed, different from the other days of the week, because everyone seemed to be on the same schedule, which means that there was one day when everyone seemed to have time for everybody else. 可知过去在星期天每个人似乎都很自由。故B正确。
【小题2】 B细节题。根据文章第4段最后2行If one were to respond, “I’m making a Sunday visit to family,” such an answer would feel strange, which sounds like an echo from another era.人们惊讶的原因也许就是这样的回到在现代社会已经很少出现了。人们都去做别的事情了。故B正确。
【小题3】D推理题。根据文章最后4行Even though folks work as hard here as they do anywhere else, the state’s powerfully rural feature still keeps at least remnants(残余部分) of the moral of yesterday’s America, where people had to depend on one another in the face of economic vagaries(反复无常的情况) and a challenging environment.可知在Maine人们总是在相互帮助。故D正确。
【小题4】 C主旨大意题。作者在本文中讲述了在过去Sunday visit是非常流行的，人们在星期天都去看望家人朋友，放松娱乐自己，而在现代社会里，这样的机会是很少的，人们在周末都忙着别的事情，似乎星期天和放松休息没有什么关系了。故C正确。