Every question has its time and place. It′s perfectly acceptable, for instance, to ask “How do you feel?” if you are visiting a close friend in the hospital. But if the fellow is walking on both legs, hurrying to take a train or sitting at his desk working, it′s no time to ask him that silly question.
When George Bernard Shaw, the famous British writer of plays was in his eighties, someone asked him, “How do you feel?” Shaw put him in his place. “When you reach my age,” he said, “either you feel all right or you are dead.”
1. According to the writer, greetings, such as “How do you feel?” .
A. show one′s consideration for others
B. are a good way to make friends
C. are proper to ask a man in action
D. generally make one feel uneasy
2. The question “How do you feel?” seems to be correct and suitable when asked of .
A. a friend who is ill
B. a person who has lost a close friend
C. a stranger who looks somewhat worried
D. a man who is working at his desk
3. George Bernard Shaw′s reply in this passage shows his .
A. silliness
B. cleverness
C. carelessness
D. politeness
4. “You have put a bug in his ear” means that you have .
A. made him laugh
B. shown concern for him
C. made fun of him
D. given him some kind of warning
5. This passage can be entitled .
A. A Silly Question
B. Don′t Trouble a Busy Man
C. What Are Good Greetings
D. George Bernard Shaw′s Reply
參考答案:D A B D A
The biographer has to dance between two shaky positions with respect to the subject (研究對(duì)象) . Too close a relation, and the writer may lose objectivity. Not close enough, and the writer may lack the sympathy necessary to any effort to portray a mind, a soul—the quality of life. Who should write the biography of a family, for example? Because of their closeness to the subject, family members may have special information, but by the same token, they may not have the distance that would allow them to be fair. Similarly, a king′s servant might not be the best one to write a biography of that king. But a foreigner might not have the knowledge and sympathy necessary to write the king′s biography—not for a readership from within the kingdom, at any rate.
There is no ideal position for such a task. The biographer has to work with the position he or she has in the world, adjusting that position as necessary to deal with the subject. Every position has strengths and weaknesses: to thrive, a writer must try to become aware of these, evaluate them in terms of the subject, and select a position accordingly.