阅读下面短文，进行合理的推理判断，并从每题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出最佳选项。

Difficult times often bring out the best in people. And this was the case for basketball star Yao Ming, who hosted a television show in Shanghai that raised US0,000 to help researchers find a cure for SARS . Fund-raising, or charity, is an act of goodwill towards others. Charities in the West have more flexible ways. Look at a typical day for Ruth，a wealthy woman in the UK, for example. Ruth wakes up in the morning and collects her post. There’s a letter addressed to her with a picture of a half-dead, beaten horse. It’s from a charity asking Ruth to donate money to save the animals. The door bell rings and there, on Ruth’s doorstep, is an old woman asking for money to help the aged. She turns on the television, hears sad music and sees a picture of a wide-eyed child dying of hunger in Africa with an appeal for money to help the child. Ruth then goes shopping for a dress to wear to that evening’s large party for the rich and famous. The ticket cost her a small fortune, but she doesn’t mind because most of the money is going to a charity that fights AIDS. She feels good about going because she’s helping the sick. Within five minutes of walking down the street, Ruth has passed a charity shop. She doesn’t stop because she doesn’t think she’d find a suitable dress there — it’s full of old, second-hand clothes. But, many other people enter and buy all sorts of bargains. Edna, a little old lady, looks after the shop. Any profit it has made goes to a cancer charity. Now that she has retired, she has plenty of spare time to offer her services for free.

For people like Yao Ming, Ruth and Edna, charity is a virtue that holds the same importance in life as faith (信念) and hope. “As you look back on your life, the moments that stand out are the moments when you have done things for others,” said Scottish author Henry Drummond.

1. Which of the following is NOT mentioned in the story as a way of fund-raising?

A. Charity party.   

B. Charity post. 

C. Charity TV program.    

D. Charity for beggars.

2. What does the word “raise” in the first paragraph mean?

A. Collect together.      

B. Donate.          

C. Increase.      

D. Bring to someone’s attention.

3. We can infer from the passage that ______.

A. Yao Ming is very proud of what he did for SARS

B. Ruth is angry because so many people ask her for money every day

C. Ruth leads a busy life and she feels very tired

D. Edna may not be a rich lady but she is willing to do something for others

4. What’s the writer’s attitude towards charity?

A. The writer thinks it’s something only people like Ruth can afford to do.

B. The writer just wants to inform us of the different ways to practise charity.

C. The writer thinks it’s a virtue and admires the people who practise it.

D. The writer doesn’t make it clear in the story.

5. The underlined part in the last paragraph probably means that ______.

A. when you look back sometimes, you need stand out

B. when you want to do something for others, you need stand out

C. the moment you stand out, you can do something for others

D. what impresses people deeply is what they have done for others

答案与解析

1. 细节辨认题，选D。

2. 猜测词义题，选A。

3. 推理文中人物态度题，选D。A项意思是姚明对自己为SARS所做的事情感到自豪，文中只陈述了他募捐的事实，没有流露出他的态度。Ruth确实繁忙但并没有流露出feel tired 之意，寻读“The ticket cost her a small fortune, but she doesn’t mind…” 和 “She feels good about going because she’s helping the sick.” 等句可看出她并没有因为很多人让她捐钱而生气，因此B项、C项均排除。关于Edna,文中讲到她已退休，有足够的闲暇时间提供免费服务，因此D项正确。

4. 推理作者态度题，选C。作者除了引用Ruth为慈善事业捐钱的事，也引用了 Edna这样的普通人通过提供自己的劳动帮助别人，因此排除A。B项的意思是“作者仅仅想让我们知道一些从事慈善的不同方式”。其实，作者是想通过不同阶层的人用不同的方式从事着慈善工作，有钱出钱，有力出力，从而颂扬他们的美德，表达对他们的崇敬，所以最终目的不在于inform us of the different ways to practise charity，而应该选C。

5. 语义推测题，选D。划线部分本意是“当你回顾你的生活时，往往是你帮助了别人的那些时刻或情景会在你的记忆中清晰地显现（stand out）。” 因此选D。