书城外语《21世纪大学英语》配套教材.阅读.1
23990700000017

第17章 Th e Wa s hwoman(4)

A. Singer was a Polish-American.

B. Singer received the Nobel Prize for literature in 1978 .

C. A vegetarian,he and his wife both loved living creatures and didn??t eat meat.

D. Singer??s writings have been translated into many languages including Chinese.

4. The themes of Singer??s writings were .

A. the supernatural and religion

B. mysticism and folklore

C. children??s book about animals,children and angels

D. both A and B

( 2)

Your Majesties,Your Royal Highnesses,Ladies and Gentlemen,People ask me often,“Why do you write in a dying language?”And I want toexplain it in a few words.

Firstly,I like to write ghost stories and nothing fits a ghost better than a dyinglanguage. The deader the language the more alive is the ghost. Ghosts love Yiddishand as far as I know,they all speak it.

Secondly,not only do I believe in ghosts,but also in resurrection. I am sure thatmillions of Yiddish speaking corpses will rise from their graves one day and their firstquestion will be:“ Is there any new Yiddish book to read?”For them Yiddish will notbe dead.

Thirdly,for 2 ,000 years Hebrew was considered a dead language. Suddenly itbecame strangely alive. What happened to Hebrew may also happen to Yiddish oneday,( although I haven??t the slightest idea how this miracle can take place. )There is still a fourth minor reason for not forsaking Yiddish and this is: Yiddishmay be a dying language but it is the only language I know well. Yiddish is mymother language and a mother is never really dead.

Ladies and Gentlemen: There are five hundred reasons why I began to write forchildren,but to save time I will mention only ten of them. 1 ) Children read books,not reviews. They don??t give a hoot about the critics. 2) Children don??t read to findtheir identity. 3 ) They don??t read to free themselves of guilt,to quench the thirst forrebellion,or to get rid of alienation. 4 ) They have no use for psychology. 5 ) Theydetest sociology. 6) They don??t try to understand Kafka or Finnegans Wake. 7) Theystill believe in God,the family,angels,devils,witches,goblins,logic,clarity,punctua- tion,and other such obsolete stuff . 8 ) They love interesting stories,notcommentary guides,or footnotes. 9 ) When a book is boring,they yawn openly,without any shame or fear of authority. 10) They don??t expect their beloved writer toredeem humanity. Young as they are,they know that it is not in his power. Only theadults have such childish illusions.

Isaac Bashevis Singer??s speech at the Nobel Banquet,December 10,1978

1. What is the theme of the passage?

A. Why I write in a dying language.

B. Why I write for children.

C. Singer??s speech at the Nobel Banquet.

D. Both A and B.

2. According to the text,how many reasons are given why the author wrote in a dyinglanguage?

A. Three. B. Four. C. Five. D. Ten.

3. According to the speech,how many reasons did the author specifically mention forhis writing for children?

A. Four. B. Ten.

C. Five hundred. D. Countless.

4. The word “ redeem ” in “ They don??t expect their beloved writer to redeemhumanity”means .

A. respect B. save C. pay D. compensate

( 3) Why I Wr ite for Childr en