A
Reading poems is not exactly an everyday activity for most people.In fact, many people never read a poem once they get out of high school.
It is worth reminding ourselves that this has not always been the case in America.In the nineteenth century, a usual American activity was to sit around the fireside in the evening and read poems aloud.It is true that there was no television at that time, nor movie theaters, nor World Wide Web, to provide diversion.However, poems were a source of pleasure, of selfeducation, of connection to other people or to the world beyond one's own community.Reading them was a social act as well as an individual one, and perhaps even more social than individual.Writing poems to share with friends and relations was, like reading poems by the fireside, another way in which poetry has a place in everyday life.
How did things change? Why are most Americans no longer comfortable with poetry, and why do most people today think that a poem has nothing to tell them and that they can do well without poems?
There are, I believe, three factors: poets, teachers, and we ourselves.Of these, the least important is the third: the world surrounding the poem has betrayed us more than we have betrayed the poem.Early in the twentieth century, poetry in English headed into directions unfavorable to the reading of poetry.Readers decided that poems were not for the fireside or the easy chair, at night, and that they belonged where other difficulttoread things belonged.
Poets failed the reader, so did teachers.They want their students to know something about the skills of a poem; they want their students to see that poems mean something.Yet what usually occurs when teachers push these concerns on their high school students is that young people decide poems are unpleasant crossword puzzles.
文章大意：作者分析了如今人们不再热衷于诗歌的原因。
1．Reading poems is thought to be a social act in the nineteenth century because__A__.
A．it built a link among people
B．it helped unite a community
C．it was a source of selfeducation
D．it was a source of pleasure
解析：事实细节题。注意问题中的a social act，根据文章第二段“...of connection to other people or to the world beyond one's own community.Reading them was a social act...”可知选A。
2．The underlined word “diversion” most probably means__C__.
A．concentrations B．changes
C．amusements D．stories
解析：猜测词义题。根据前面的television, movie theaters, World Wide Web可知这些都是消遣娱乐形式，故可猜测答案为C。也可以将四个答案用代入法代入原文理解，也是只有C项最符合文章上下语境。
3．What is the main cause of the great gap between readers and poetry？__D__
A．Students are becoming less interested in poetry.
B．Students are poorly educated in high school.
C．TV and the Internet are more attractive than poetry.
D．Poems have become difficult to understand.
解析：推理判断题。根据第四段最后一句that they belonged where other difficulttoread things belonged和最后一段最后一句“...that young people decide poems are unpleasant crossword puzzles.”可推断出答案选D。
4．In the last paragraph, the writer question__B__.
A．the difficulty in studying poems
B．the way poems are taught in school
C．students' wrong ideas about poetry
D．the techniques used in writing poem
解析：推理判断题。根据最后一段“Poets failed the reader, so did teachers.Yet what usually occurs when teachers push these concerns on their high school students is that young people decide poems are unpleasant crossword puzzles.”可推知选B。
5．The author of the passage tries to tell us__B__.
A．the history and changes of poetry
B．the reason why people aren't keen on poetry today
C．the correct way for teachers to teach poetry
D．the failure of poetry in people's life nowadays
解析：主旨大意题。根据文章第三段的几个问题“Why are most Americans no longer comfortable with poetry, and why do most people today think that a poem has nothing to tell them and that they can do well without poems？”以及下文就这几个问题展开告诉读者造成这种现象的原因(人们不再喜欢诗歌的原因)。故选B项。
