甘肃省兰州第一中学2016届高三上学期9月月考 英语试题
第一部分 阅读理解（共两节，满分40分）
第一节（共15小题; 每小题2分，满分30分）
阅读下列短文，从每题所给四个选项中，选出最佳选项。
A
The writings of Shakespeare are today little read by young people in Britain. His young readership is limited to those who choose to study literature at university.
Shakespeare’s work, together with most other classics, is seen as remote, and written in a 400-year-old version of English that is about as inviting as toothache.
Still, in Britain schools, it is compulsory to study the bard (诗人), and when something is made compulsory, usually the result is boredom, resentment (憎恨)or both.
This was my experience of the classics at school. But when I reached my late teenage years, I had a change of heart. Like every other young person since the dawn of time, the world confused me. I wanted answers, so I turned to books to find them.
I went on to take a PhD in literature and have taught it in Britain and China. I have never regretted it. There is something in literature that people want, even if they don’t read books. You see this in the popularity of TV and movie adaptations of great works, the recent film version of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice being a case in point. These popular adaptations may help increase people’s interest in the classics.
Reading a simplified Romeo and Juliet may perhaps lead to a reading of Shakespeare’s actual play. If that is the case, then I welcome the trend. But do not make the mistake of thinking that it is the same thing. Shakespeare is a poet. His greatness is in his language. Reading someone else’s rewriting of his work is like peeling a banana, throwing away the fruit, and eating the skin. Take on the original. It really is worth the effort.
1. Which of the following is true according to the passage?
A. The language used in classics is no longer in use today.
B. British students usually find compulsory reading dull.
C. Only those studying literature read Shakespeare’s works.
D. For British people, Shakespeare’s works are no longer classics.
2. According to the passage, the writer ________.
A. has liked literary classics since an early age
B. was forced to read the classics for a PhD
C. turned to literature to seek answers in his teens
D. thinks only people who read books like literature
