As I write this, I have half an eye on an old James Bond film that is showing on

As I write this, I have half an eye on an old JamesBond film that is showing on my computer. But this is a story about how Istopped watching TV and began reading again for pleasure, after ten years inwhich I hardly turned a page.

I suppose I was an enthusiastic reader of "literature"between the ages of nine and fourteen. I had enough time to be White Fang,Robinson Crusoe, and Bilbo Baggins and Jeeves. Of course there was room in theschoolboy's imagination for some real historical figures: Scott of theAntarctic, all of the Vikings, and Benjamin Franklin were good friends of mine.

Then, in adolescence, I began a long search forstrange and radical (激进的) ideas. I wanted to challenge my eldersand betters, and shock my fellow students with amazing points of view. Ofcourse, the only place to look was in books. I hunted out the longest titlesand the authors with the funniest names; I searched the library for completelyunread books. Then I found one which became my bible for the whole of 1982, ithad a title composed of eleven long words and an author whose name I didn'tknow how to pronounce. It was really thick and looked dead serious. Evenbetter, it put forward a whole world-view that would take days to explain.Perfect. I took it out of the library three times, proud to see the date-stampslined up on the empty library insert.

Later, I went to university. Expecting to spend longevenings in learned discussion with clever people, I started readingphilosophy. For some reason I never found the deep-thinking intellectuals Ihoped to meet. Anyway, I was ready to impress with my profound (深奥的) knowledge of post-structuralism, existentialismand situationism. These things are usually explained in rather short books, butthey take a long time to get through. They were the end of my youthful reading.

Working life was hard to get used to after so muchtheory. It was the end of books for me. There didn't seem to be much in booksthat would actually get things done. To do things you had to answer thetelephone and work a computer. You had to travel about and speak to people whoweren't at all interested in philosophy. I didn't stop reading, you can't avoidthat. I read all day. But no books came my way, only manuals (操作手册) and contracts and documents. Maybe most peoplesatisfy their need for stories and ideas with TV and, to tell the truth, it wasall I needed for ten years. In those days I only had a book "on thego" for the duration of aeroplane flights. At first I would come home andwatch TV over dinner. Then, I moved the TV so I could watch it from bed. I evengot a switch so I could turn it off without getting out of bed. Then, onefateful day, my TV broke and my landlady took it away.

My new TV is an extra circuit board (电路板) inside my computer. It's on a desk in front of aworking chair and I can't see it from the bed. I still use it for the weatherforecasts and it's nice to have it on while I'm typing this… but what to dolast thing at night? Well, have another go with books.

Now, I just like books. I have a pile of nice ones bymy bed and I'm reading about six at the same time. I don't want to be any ofthe characters. I don't care if a thousand people have already read them. Idon't have to search through libraries. There are books everywhere and all ofthem have something to read in them. I have the strange feeling that they'vebeen there all along, waiting for me to pick them up.

1.The writer enjoyed reading “literature” between theages of nine and fourteen because ________.

A．he thought itwas important for a schoolboy to do so

B．he was stilltoo young to understand other books

C．he believedall the real historical figures were his friends

D．he couldimagine himself being the characters in the books

2.“Existentialism” (in paragraph 4) is probably________.

A．a libraryintended for teenagers            B．a kind ofbooks on traditions

C．a philosophytheory                     D．a kind ofreading skill

3.The main reason the writer stopped reading books wasthat ________.

A．he foundwatching TV was more interesting

B．he became toobusy to read any books

C．he foundbooks were of little use to his work

D．he had toread a lot of manuals, contracts and documents

4.Now the writer starts to read books again ________.

A．to find backhis youth in books             B．for the purepleasure of reading

C．so as to helpkill his spare time             D．for onlybusiness purposes

5.Which of the following is the best title of thepassage?

A．The Yearswith Books                     B．Books and TVPrograms

C．Don’t Judge a Book by Its Cover           D．Reading MakesOne Excellent

试题答案

【答案】

1.D

2.C

3.C

4.B

5.A

【解析】

试题