Question

Saddam Hussein has been a familiar name since the Persian Gulf War in 1991.But, as the US again weighs the prospect（前景）of war with Iraq, the question of what to call the Iraqi president is becoming a bit of a media problem.

    The US’s largest newspapers, including the Los Angeles Times and The Washington Post, refer to the Iraqi leader as Hussein. Hussein is the name he inherited（继承）from his father, so some people use it as a surname. By contrast, USA Today is sticking with his first name Saddam, as is The Associated Press (AP), which sets style rules for 1700 US newspapers and 5000 television and radio outlets across the US.

    CNN splits the difference（折中）using neither Saddam nor Hussein on second reference, but rather Saddam Hussein, or “the Iraqi president”.

    The AP recently reminded papers of the Saddam-on-second-reference rule. Although AP style is not binding on member papers, its rulings tend to be respected, if only because changing the name in every story sent by AP could be time-consuming（费时的）and could lead to errors.

    One reason some newspapers adopted the Saddam usage for the last war is that King Hussein of Jordan (he had one name only, like Queen Elizabeth), was still alive, and there was concern about confusing the two.

But the king died in 1999, and now what binds Saddam to US readers and listeners is more habit than anything else.

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　    (From Los Angeles Times)

1. In the first paragraph, “weigh” probably means ________.

    A.consider　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　  B.value

C.understand　　　　　　　　　　　　　　  D.wish

2. This report mainly talks about ________.

   A. how to fight the war against Iraq

   B.how to call the Iraqi president

   C.Why Saddam Hussein has been a familiar name

   D.the difference between first name and surname

3. It can be inferred that the writer tends to call the Iraqi president ________.

    A.Hussein　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　   B.Saddam

    C.Saddam Hussein　　　　　　　　　　   D.the Iraqi president

 

Answer 1

答案：
解析：

1.A  本题考查通过上下文猜测词义。“weigh”一词是动词，“称分量”的意思，而其后面的宾语是“the prospect of war with Iraq”，即“与伊拉克交战的前景”，所以“weigh the prospect”应为“权衡前景”，由此可以推断出选A。对于这一类题目，学生一定要从上下文找蛛丝马迹，或者从词根来推断引申义，一般能有所帮助。 2.B  本题考查的是对文章主旨大意的总结。解这一类题目，考生要善于捕捉第一段的主题句，因为文章的展开往往是围绕第一段的主题句而展开的。而这个主题句也往往是文章的中心，本篇文章第一段的主题句就是：“…the question of what to call the Iraqi president is becoming a bit of a media problem.”而后面的5个段落都是围绕这一问题展开的。这一类题目的设问形式有：     The passage mainly talks about ________.     What’s the main idea of the passage ________? 3.B  本题考查对作者的意图或倾向的推断。解这一类题目，学生一定要善于找文章中带有反映作者倾向性的字眼，从而做出正确的判断，本篇文章的最后一段就很明显地反映了作者的倾向。