新SAT官方指南阅读第十六篇全解析
This passage is adapted from MacDonald Harris,The Balloonist.©2011by The Estate of Donald Heiney.During the summer of1897,the narrator of this story,a fictional Swedish scientist,has t out for the North Pole in a
hydrogen-powered balloon.
My emotions are complicated and not readily verifiable.I feel a vast yearning that is simultaneously a pleasure and a pain.I am certain of the consummation of this yearning,but I
don’t know yet what form it will take,since I do not understand quite what it is that the yearning desires.For the first time there is borne in upon me the full truth of what I mylf said to the doctor only an hour ago:that my motives in this undertaking are not entirely clear.For years,for a
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国家体系lifetime,the machinery of my destiny has worked in cret to prepare for this moment;its量化宽松政策
clockwork has moved exactly toward this time and place and no other.Rising slowly from the
earth that bore me and gave me sustenance,I am carried helplessly toward an uninhabited and
hostile,or at best indifferent,part of the earth,littered with the bones of explorers and the wrecks of ships,frozen supply caches,messages scrawled with chilled fingers and hidden in cairns that no 10
eye will ever e.Nobody has succeeded in this thing,and many have died.Yet in freely willing this enterpri,in choosing this moment and no other when the south wind will carry me exactly northward at a velocity of eight knots,I have converted the machinery of my fate into the rvant of my will.All this I understand,as I understand each detail of the technique by which this is
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carried out.What I don’t understand is why I am so intent on going to this particular place.Who
wants the North Pole!What good is it!Can you eat it?Will it carry you from Gothenburg to
Malmölike a railway?The Danish ministers have declared from their pulpits that participation in polar expeditions is beneficial to the soul’s eternal well-being,or so I read in a newspaper.It isn’t clear how this doctrine is to be interpreted,except that the Pole is something difficult or
impossible to attain which must nevertheless be sought for,becau man is condemned to ek out 20
and know everything whether or not the knowledge gives him pleasure.In short,it is the same
unthinking lust for knowledge that drove our First Parents out of the garden.
And suppo you were to find it in spite of all,this wonderful place that everybody is so anxious to stand on!What would you find?Exactly nothing.A point precily identical to all the 25
others in a completely featureless wasteland stretching around it for hundreds of miles.It is an
abstraction,a mathematical fiction.No one but a Swedish madman could take the slightest interest in it.Here I am.The wind is still from the south,bearing us steadily northward at the speed of a trotting dog.Behind us,perhaps forever,lie the Cities of Men with their teacups and their brass bedsteads.I am going forth of my own volition to join the ghosts of Bering and poor Franklin,of frozen De Long and his men.What I am on the brink of knowing,I now e,is not an ephemeral 30
mathematical spot but mylf.The doctor was right,even though I dislike him.Fundamentally I am a dangerous madman,and what I do is both a challenge to my egotism and a surrender to it.
1、Over the cour of the passage,the narrator’s attitude shifts from
A)fear about the expedition to excitement about it.
B)doubt about his abilities to confidence in them.可观的意思
C)uncertainty of his motives to recognition of them.
D)disdain for the North Pole to appreciation of it.
正确答案：C
分析：作者在一开始，表达出一种不确定性（my motives in this undertaking are not entirely clear.）在文章结尾处，作者意识到：因为这场旅行，他正在认识自己（What I am on the brink of knowing,I now e,is not an ephemeral mathematical spot but mylf.）
2、Which choice provides the best evidence for the answer to the previous question?
A)Lines5-6(“nt”)
B)Lines11-14(“will”)
C)Lines23-24(“stand on”)
护理基础知识D)Lines30-31(“lf”)
正确答案：D
分析：见第1题解释。
3、As ud in line1,“not readily verifiable”most nearly means
A)unable to be authenticated.
B)likely to be contradicted.
呦组词C)without empirical support.
D)not completely understood.
正确答案：D
分析：我的感情是复杂的和无法理解(not readily verifiable)的。这一点可以通过第一段最后一句话“since I do not understand quite what it is that the yearning desires”找到线索。
4、The ntence in lines5-6(“her”)mainly rves to
A)expo a side of the narrator that he prefers to keep hidden.
B)demonstrate that the narrator thinks in a methodical and scientific manner.
C)show that the narrator feels himlf to be influenced by powerful and independent forces.
D)emphasize the length of time during which the narrator has prepared for his expedition.
正确答案：C
分析：文章当中，作者说：命运在悄悄安排，让他准备这场旅行；命运的发条，促使他在这个时间这个地点做出选择。文中使用了“machinery”和“clockwork”来表示一种强大的独立的力量在影响着他。
5、The narrator indicates that many previous explorers eking the North Pole have
A)perished in the attempt.
B)made surprising discoveries.
C)failed to determine its exact location.
睡觉的英文D)had different motivations than his own.
正确答案：A
分析：文章11行作者提到：很多之前的探险者对去北极的旅行已经麻木，因为从来没有人成功多，很多人在探险过程中死亡（nobody has succeeded in this thing,and many have died）.
6、Which choice provides the best evidence for the answer to the previous question?
A)Line11(“died”)
B)Lines14-15(“ut”)
C)Lines17-18(“wspaper”)
D)Lines28-29(“bedsteads”)
正确答案：A
深眼窝分析：见第5题解释。
7、Which choice best describes the narrator’s view of his expedition to the North Pole?
A)Immoral but inevitable
B)Absurd but necessary
C)Socially beneficial but misunderstood
D)Scientifically important but hazardous
正确答案：B
分析：文章27-39行，作者提到：他打算去北极，却意识到这个旅程是荒谬的，是没有实际价值的。但是作者依然认为这是必要的，因为无论如何都要去追寻（it must nevertheless be thought for）.
8、The question the narrator asks in lines16-17(“ailway”)most nearly implies that
A)balloons will never replace other modes of transportation.
B)the North Pole is farther away than the cities usually reached by train.
闪闪红星读后感C)people often travel from one city to another without considering the implications.
D)reaching the North Pole has no foreeable benefit to humanity.
正确答案：D
分析：文章15-17行，作者发出一系列的疑问“Who wants the North Pole!What good is it! Can you eat it?Will it carry you from Gothenburg to Malmo like a railway?”这一系列的疑问，说明到北极没有明显的好处。
9、As ud in line26,“take the slightest interest in”most nearly means
A)accept responsibility for.
B)posss little regard for.
C)pay no attention to.
D)have curiosity about.
正确答案：D
分析：25-26行，作者提到：北极是一部抽象作品，是一部数学小说；除去一个瑞典妇女外，没有人对它有一丝兴趣。这里take the slightest interest in表示好奇。
10、As ud in line27,“bearing”most nearly means
A)carrying.
B)affecting.
C)yielding.
D)enduring.
正确答案：A
分析：文章26-27行，作者这样描述到北极的气球旅行：风仍然从南风刮来，以一只小跑的狗的速度承载我们稳定的向北方前进。A选项carry的意思是承载。
