Question

阅读理解 　　People tend to be more impressed by the evidence that seems to confirm some relationship．Thus many that are convinced their dreams are prophetic(预言的)because a few have come true; they neglect or fail to notice the many that have not． 　　Consider also the belief that“the phone always rings when I’m in the shower”．If it does ring while you are in the shower, the event will stand out and be remembered．If it doesn’t ring, that nonevent probably won’t even register． 　　People want to see order, pattern and meaning in the world．Consider, for example, the common belief that things like personal misfortunes, plane crashes, and deaths “happen in threes”．Such beliefs stem from the tendency of people to allow the third event to define the time period．If three plane crashes occur in a month, then the period of time that counts as their “happening together” is one month; if three crashes occur in a year, the period of time is stretched．Flexible end points reinforce such beliefs． 　　We also tend to believe what we want to believe．A majority of people think they are more intelligent, more fair-minded and more skilled behind the wheel of an automobile than the average persons．Part of the reason we view ourselves so favorably is that we use criteria that work to our advantage．As economist Thomas Schelling explains, “Everybody ranks himself high in qualities he values：careful drivers give weight to care, skilled drivers give weight to skill, and those who are polite give weight to courtesy．” This wayeveryone ranks high on his own scale． 　　Perhaps the most important mental habit we can learn is to be cautious in drawing conclusions．The “evidence” of everyday life is sometimes misleading． (1) In the first paragraph the author states that ________． [　　] A． dreams cannot be said to be prophetic even though a few have come true B． dreams are prophetic because some of them did come true C． dreams may come true if they are remembered clearly D． dreams and reality are closely related (2) From Paragraph 3, we can learn that ________． [　　] A． personal misfortunes tend to happen now and then B． personal misfortunes, plane crashes, and deaths usually happen together C． misfortunes tend to occur in a certain pattern D． misfortunes will never occur more than three times to a person in his lifetime (3) The underlined word “courtesy” in Para．4 probably means ________． [　　] A． good manners B． appropriate speech C． friendly relations D． satisfactory service (4) What can be inferred from the passage? [　　] A． In a series of misfortunes the third one is usually the most serious． B． Happenings that go unnoticed deserve more attention．? C． People tend to make use of evidence that supports their own beliefs． D． Believers of misfortunes happening in threes are cautious in interpreting events． (5) It can be concluded from the passage that ________． [　　] A． there is some truth even in the wildest dreams B． one should take notice of other people’s merits C． there is no order or pattern in world events D． we should not base our conclusions on accidental evidence

Answer 1

答案：1．A;2．C;3．A;4．A;5．D;
解析：

(1)	根据第一段可见作者不赞同那些因为少数梦变成了现实就认为梦具有预言性的人，指出这些人忽视了还有许多梦并未变成现实的事实。所以A项正确。
(2)	根据第三段可知人们普遍认为世界上所发生的事情总具有一定的规律性。所以C项正确。
(3)	courtesy意思是“言谈举止谦恭有礼”，即使不认识这个词，也可以从句子”Everybody ranks himself…polite give weight to courtesy．“中得知courtesy和polite有关。
(4)	根据第一段和最后一段分析，A项为正确答案。
(5)	文章最后一段点明全文主旨，因此D项：我们不应将结论建立在偶然的证据基础上，是符合全文中心的。