Unit 2 Cloning Learning about language课时作业

阅读理解(共15小题；每小题2分，满分30分)

　　请阅读下列短文，从短文后各题所给的 A、B、C、D 四个选项中，选出最佳选项。

　　A

　　The English are not often thought of as passionate people. It's often said that they are unemotional, or keep their emotions hidden. Emily Bronte's characters in Wuthering Heights (《呼啸山庄》)(1847) seem very un­English then, since they are some of the most passionate in the literary history.

　　This story is set in the north of England where Bronte grew up with her two famous sisters, the well­known Charlotte and the lesser­known Anne.

　　Bronte presents this part of the world as a wild place, with few of the graces of civilization. Indeed, one of the novel's points is that nature can be as strong a force as civilization.

　　Wuthering Heights begins with a tale from the past.

　　We hear how Mr.Earnshaw, father to Catherine and Hindley, comes home one day from his travels with a child named Heathcliff. Heathcliff is loved by Earnshaw and liked by Catherine, but hated by Hindley, who is pushed aside by this "intruder (闯入者)"．

　　Catherine and Heathcliff form a passionate attachment (依恋). They are both wild and natural, much like the moor (荒野) they love to wander in. They are so close that Catherine declares herself to be Heathcliff's. If something comes to separate them, there will certainly be consequences.

　　What separates the two is Catherine's marriage to the very civilized and tame Edgar Linton from Thrushcross Grange. Catherine has fooled herself into thinking that she and Edgar are similar, and so she believes that he is better than Heathcliff. This belief, and Heathcliff's reaction to it, will cost Catherine her life.

　　The tormented (痛苦万分的) story of Heathcliff and Catherine then repeats itself in the next generation.

　　Wuthering Heights is a piece of romantic literature. The word "romantic" doesn't just mean that it is about love, but it is about love in the most wild and dangerous sense. This is the love that threatens what is apparently civilized.

　　This is a story about nature and culture, about how the world tries to civilize nature, but how nature always bites back. This, for sure, is why readers today still relate to the novel, just as they still relate to tales like Romeo and Juliet. Love can be a dangerous thing.

语篇解读：这是一篇说明文。文章主要介绍了艾米莉·勃朗特的小说《呼啸山庄》。该