Reading Test
35 MINUTES, 16 QUESTIONS
Questions 1-8 are bad on the following passage.
This passage is from Lydia Minatoya, The Strangeness of Beauty. ©1999 by Lydia Minatoya. The tting is Japan in 1920. Chie and her daughter Naomi are members of the Hou of Fuji, a noble family.
Akira came directly, breaking all tradition. Was that it? Had he followed form—had he asked his mother to speak to his father to approach a go-between—would Chie have been more receptive? nba篮球明星
He came on a winter’s eve. He pounded on the door while a cold rain beat on the shuttered veranda, so at first Chie thought him only the wind. The maid knew better. Chie heard her soft scuttling footsteps, the creak of the door. Then the maid brought a calling card to the drawing room, for Chie.
Chie was reluctant to go to her guest; perhaps she was feeling too cozy. She and Naomi were reading at a low table t atop a charcoal brazier. A thick quilt spread over the sides of the table so their legs were tucked inside with the heat.
“Who is it at this hour, in this weather?” Chie questioned as she picked the name card off the maid’s lacquer tray.
“Shinoda, Akira. Kobe Dental College,” she read.
Naomi recognized the name. Chie heard a soft intake of air. 萝卜馅
“I think you should go,” said Naomi.
Akira was waiting in the entry. He was in his early twenties, slim and rious, wearing the black military-style uniform of a student. Ashe bowed—his hands hanging straight down, a
black cap in one, a yellow oil-paper umbrella in the other—Chie glanced beyond him. In t
复活节日期he glistening surface of the courtyard’s rain-drenched paving stones, she saw his reflection like a dark double. 月报表
“Madame,” said Akira, “forgive my disruption, but I come with a matter of urgency.”
His voice was soft, refined. He straightened and stole a deferential peek at her face.
In the dim light his eyes shone with sincerity. Chie felt herlf starting to like him.
“Come inside, get out of this nasty night. Surely your business can wait for a moment or two.”
“I don’t want to trouble you. Normally I would approach you more properly but I’ve received word of a position. I’ve an opportunity to go to America, as dentist for Seattle’s Japane community.”
“Congratulations,” Chie said with amument. “That is an opportunity, I’m sure. But how am I involved?”
Even noting Naomi’s breathless reaction to the name card, Chie had no idea. Akira’s message, delivered like a formal speech, filled her with maternal amument. You know how children speak so earnestly, so hurriedly, so endearingly about things that have no importance in an adult’s mind? That’s how she viewed him, as a child.
It was how she viewed Naomi. Even though Naomi was eighteen and training endlessly in the arts
n英语好句摘抄大全eeded to make a good marriage, Chie had made no effort to find her a husband.
Akira blushed.
“Depending on your respon, I may stay in Japan. I’ve come to ask for Naomi’s hand.”
Suddenly Chie felt the dampness of the night. “Does Naomi know anything of your . . . 个性签名霸气
ambitions?”
“We have an understanding. Plea don’t judge
my candidacy by the unemliness of this proposal. I 65 ask directly becau the u of a go-between takes
much time. Either method comes down to the same thing: a matter of parental approval. If you give your connt, I become Naomi’s yoshi.* We’ll live in the Hou of Fuji. Without your connt, I must go to
America, to cure a new home for my bride.”
Eager to make his point, he’d been looking her full
in the face. Abruptly, his voice turned gentle. “I e I’ve startled you. My humble apologies. I’ll take no more of your evening. My address is on my card. If
you don’t wish to contact me, I’ll reapproach you in two weeks’ time. Until then, good night.”
He bowed and left. Taking her ea, with effortless grace, like a cat making off with a fish.
“Mother?” Chie heard Naomi’s low voice and turned from the door. “He has asked you?”
The sight of Naomi’s clear eyes, her dark brows gave Chie strength. Maybe his hopes were preposterous.
“Where did you meet such a fellow? Imagine! He think she can marry the Fuji heir and take her to
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America all in the snap of his fingers!”
Chie waited for Naomi’s ripe laughter. Naomi was silent. She stood a full half minute
石家庄好玩的地方有哪些地方looking straight into Chie’s eyes. Finally, she spoke. “I met him at my literary meeting.”
