15. According to the selection, Mrs McCullers_____.

A. follows literary fashions　　　　　　　　　　　 B. intellectualizes her art

C. discusses her work avidly(热心的)D. takes her critics seriously

14. Mrs McCullers did not write for many years because ______.

A. strokes left her partially incapacitated　 B. she had a mental block

C. she had no ideas　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 D. both A and B

13. Clock without Hands was the product of ______.

A. many years of work　　 　B. one year of work

C. many years of thought 　　D. both B and C

12. Mrs McCullers' comments about Clock without Hands were______.

A. enthusiastic　　　　　　　　　 　 B. defensive

C. shy and self-conscious　　　　 　 D. unemotional

11. The novel made the best-seller list ______.

A. one month after publication　　　　 　B. immediately upon publication

C. before publication　　　　　　　　 　D. before completion

10. The author is most probably a ______.

A. teacher　 　　　　 B. psychologist　 　 C. philosopher　 　 D. doctor

B

In spite of ill health and a physical incapacity(伤残)that threatened her career, Carson McCullers completed a novel in the summer of 1961 that made the best-seller list before its official publication; date by virtue of(由于)prepublication sales.

In an interview at her home, the noted novelist looked back on some of her problems of recent years and spoke without emotion of her latest book, Clock without Hands, her first in fifteen years, "For many years I had been thinking of the novel and finally wrote it this passed year. ""The tall, frail novelist, forty-three years old in 1961, suffered a series of strokes in her twenties that left her partially incapacitated, and she also admitted that a mental block kept her away from writing for many years after the strokes.

Mrs McCullers once wrote that "writing is a wandering, dreaming occupation. " But beyond the admission that she works" very hard" at her writing, she is shy about discussing her work. She is remote from literary fashions, and she has never learned to intellectualize her art, but she reads her critics and takes them seriously.

Clock Without Hands depicts (叙述) Mrs McCullers' native South and the slow passing of the old way of life through the lives of a dying pharmacist (药剂师), a white judge and former congressman, his rebellious grandson, and two Negroes. Among her earlier noted works are Member of the Wedding, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, and Ballad of Sad Cafe.

9. When we listen to a person talking, the most important thing for us to do is　 　　__.

A. notice the way the person is talking

B. take a good look at the person talking

C. mind his tone, his posture and the look in his eyes

D. examine the real meaning of what he says based on his manner, his tone and his posture

8. The underlined word "it" in the second paragraph refers to______.

A. being friendly　 　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 B. a bit of envy

C. lucky dog 　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 D. your luck

7. According to the author, the reason why we go wrong about our friends is that　　　 .

A. we fail to listen carefully when they talk

B. people tend to be annoyed when we check what they say

C. people usually state one thing but mean another

D. we tend to doubt what our friends say

6. This passage is mainly about ______.

A. how to interpret what people say

B. what to do when you listen to others talking

C. why we go wrong with people and how to avoid these mistakes

D. why we go wrong with people sometimes