【2011·西南师大附中第六次月考】
D
Americans: Restless? Illiterate(没文化的) ?
Americans are queer people: they can’t rest. They have more time, more leisure, shorter work hours, more holidays, and more vacations than any other people in the world. But they can’t rest. They rush up and down across their continent as tourists; they move about in great herds to conferences; they search the wilderness; they flood the mountains; they keep the hotels full. But they can’t rest. The scenery rushes past them. They learn it. Battles and monuments are announced to them on a tour bus. They hear them, but they don’t get them. They never stop moving; they rush up and down as Shriners, Masons, Old Graduates, Bankers—they are a new thing each day, always rushing to a reunion or something. So they go on rushing about till eventually the undertaker (殡葬工) gather them to the grave.
Americans are queer people: they can’t read. They have more schools, and better schools and spend more money on schools and colleges than all Europe. But they can’t read. They print more books in a year than the French print in ten. But they can’t read. They cover their country with one hundred thousand tons of Sunday newspapers every week. But they don’t read them. They’re too busy. They use them for fires and to make more paper with. They buy eagerly thousands of new novels at two dollars each. But they read only page one. Their streets are full of huge signs. They won’t look at them. Their streetcars are filled with advertising; they turn their eyes away. Transparent colors, cart wheels, and mechanical flares whirl and flicker in the crowded streets at night. No one sees them. Tons of letters pour into the mail boxes, through the houses, and down the garbage cans. No one reads them.
21． The underlined word “queer ” means ___________.
A. difficult B. strange C. forgetful D. friendly
22． According to the text, when do the Americans stop rushing about ?
A. When they are to allowed to. B. Where they feel tired and sleepy
C. When they are seriously ill in bed D. When they stop breathing eventually
23． The Americans know the places of battles and monuments ___________.
A. when they are on the tour bus B. by driving there in person
C. from books and magazines D. from their friends and co-workers
24． Why does the writer write this passage?
A. To tell people the Americans are illiterate
B. To prove the Americans to be a queer nation
C. To give the readers information about USA
D. To make fun of the American way of life