ACT考试小说类文章例题及分析

　　下面文章整理了ACT小说类文章例题及分析，供大家参考。

　　ACT小说类文章例题及分析

　　ACT各类文章中，考生通常觉得最难的便是小说类文章了。这很大程度上是因为小说类文章不像自然科学类文章那样包含的是具体的客观的分析数据，而是让学生就文本做出合乎情理的推断并在这个基础上回答问题。

　　让我们来看一篇小说类文章范例解一道阅读难题吧!

　　例题：

　　小说类：改编自伊丽莎白· 毕晓普(ElizabethBishop)的短篇故事《女管家》(TheHousekeeper)

　　Outside, the rain continued to run down the screened windows of Mrs. Sennett's little Cape Cod cottage. The long weeds and grass that composed the front yard dripped against the blurred background of he bay, where the water was almost the color of the grass. Mrs. Sennett's five charges were vigorously playing house in the dining room. ( In the wintertime, Mrs. Sennett was housekeeper for a Mr. Curley, in Boston, and during the summers the Curley children boarded with her on the Cape ).

　　My expression must have changed. "Are those children making too much noise?" Mrs. Sennett demanded, a sort of wave going over her that might mark the beginning of her getting up out of her chair. I hook my head no, and gave her a little push on the shoulder to keep her seated. Mrs. Sennett was almost stone-deaf and had been for a long time, but she could read lips. You could talk to her without making any sound yourself, if you wanted to, and she more than kept up her side of the conversation in a loud, rusty voice that dropped weirdly every now and then into a whisper. She adored talking.

　　To look at Mrs. Sennett made me think of eigh-teenth-century England and its literary figures. Her hair must have been sadly thin, because she always wore, indoors and out, either a hat or a sort of turban, and sometimes she wore both. The rims of her eyes were dark; she looked very ill.

　　Mrs. Sennett and I continued talking. She said she really didn't think she'd stay with the children another winter. Their father wanted her to, but it was too much for her. She wanted to stay right here in the cottage.

　　The afternoon was getting along, and I finally left because I knew that at four o'clock Mrs. Sennett's "sit down" was over and she started to get supper. At six o'clock, from my nearby cottage, I saw Theresa coming through the rain with a shawl over her head. She was bringing me a six-inch-square piece of spicecake, still hot from the oven and kept warm between two soup plates.

　　A few days later I learned from the twins, who brought over gifts of firewood and blackberries, that

　　their father was coming the next morning, bringing their aunt and her husband and their cousin. Mrs . Sennett had promised to take them all on a picnic at thepond some pleasant day.

　　On the fourth day of their visit, Xavier arrived with a note. It was from Mrs. Sennett, written in blue

　　ink, in a large, serene, ornamented hand, on linen-finish paper :

　　. . . Tomorrow is the last day Mr. Curley has and the Children all wanted the Picnic so much. The Men can walk to the Pond but it is too far for the Children. I see your Friend has a car and I hate to ask this but could you possibly drive us to the Pond tomorrow morning? . . .

　　Very sincerely yours,

　　Carmen Sennett

　　After the picnic, Mrs. Sennett's presents to me were numberless. It was almost time for the children to go back to school in South Boston. Mrs. Sennett insisted that she was not going; their father was coming down again to get them and she was just going to stay. He would have to get another housekeeper. She said this over and over to me, loudly, and her turbans and kerchiefs grew more and more distrait.

　　One evening, Mary came to call on me and we sat on an old table in the back yard to watch the sunset.

　　"Papa came today," she said, "and we've got to go back day after tomorrow."

　　"Is Mrs. Sennett going to stay here?"

　　"She said at supper she was. She said this time she really was, because she'd said that last year and came back, but now she means it."

　　I said, "Oh dear," scarcely knowing which side I was on.

　　"It was awful at supper. I cried and cried."

　　"Did Theresa cry?"

　　"Oh, we all cried. Papa cried, too. We always do."

　　"But don't you think Mrs. Sennett needs a rest?"

　　"Yes, but I think she'll come, though. Papa told her he'd cry every single night at supper if she didn't,

　　and then we all did."

　　The next day I heard that Mrs. Sennett was going back with them just to "help settle." She came over the following morning to say goodbye, supported by all five children. She was wearing her traveling hat of black satin and black straw, with sequins. High and somber, above her ravaged face, it had quite a Spanish-grandee air.

　　"This isn't really goodbye," she said. "I'll be back as soon as I get these bad, noisy children off my

　　hands."

　　But the children hung on to her skirt and tugged at her sleeves, shaking their heads frantically, silently saying, "No! No! No!" to her with their puckered-up mouths.

　　Q

　　Given the evidence provided throughout the passage, the children probably silently mouth the word "no" ( underlined ) because:

　　F. Mrs. Sennett has just called them bad, noisy children, and they are defending themselves.

　　G. they do not want to leave the Cape before the summer is over and are protesting.

　　H. they are letting the narrator know that Mrs. Sennett is thinking about returning to the Cape.

　　J. they are continuing their battle against Mrs. Sennett’s intention to return to the Cape.

　　分析：

　　这个题让考生回答的是当孩子们说“no”的时候孩子们是什么意思。这个问题之所以难是因为“no”在这种情况下有多个含义。这篇文章并没有详细特别地说到孩子们是喜欢还是不喜欢Mrs.Sennett。这就意味着解题的第一步就应该是弄清孩子们对Mrs.Sennett的感想。

　　文中有两个主要线索揭示了孩子们对Mrs.Sennett的态度。首先在第67-68行，故事的叙述者“我”详细地描述了和其中一个叫Mary的孩子的互动。Mary在晚饭期间告诉“我”说Mrs. Sennett说她不会和孩子们一起离开科德角(the Cape，美国马塞诸塞州的一个沿海地区)，孩子们和他们的父亲知道这个消息后都哭了。我们可以对孩子和父亲的哭做两种理解：孩子们和父亲都是真心地伤心，或者他们是对Mrs.Sennett的决定感到喜极而泣。因为孩子们的感受还不清楚，我们必须再去找找另外的线索来判定到底哪个理解才是对的。

　　Mrs. Sennett告诉“我”说他们的分离不会是永久的：她将在帮助孩子习惯了远离科德角的家之后回来。当她告知孩子们这个的时候，孩子们紧紧抓住她的衣服不放并且疯狂地摇头，这就透露了孩子们对于Mrs.Sennett的态度：他们真心地喜欢她并不愿意她离开。由此看出这道题的最佳答案便是J.they are continuing their battle against Mrs. Sennett’s intention to return tothe Cape.

　　选项F是错的是因为其表述的孩子们和Mrs. Sennett间的关系是错误的， 而选项H是错的是因为Mary已经告诉故事叙述者“我”Mrs. Sennett计划要回到科德角。最后，选项G是错的是因为离开科德角不是他们伤心的原因，离开Mrs.Sennett才是让他们伤心的原因。

　　Among the different passage types on ACT Reading, students often consider the Prose Fiction passages to be the most difficult. This is largely because unlike the Natural Science passages, whichcontain concrete, analytical, and impersonal information, the Prose Fiction passages ask students to create justified inferences about the text, and then answer questions based off those inferences. Let us take a moment to look at a sample Prose Fiction passage and tackle a difficult reading question.

　　Question:

　　PROSE FICTION: This passage is adapted from Elizabeth Bishop’s short story "The House keeper" (©1984 by Alice Methfessel).

　　Outside, the rain continued to run down the screened windows of Mrs. Sennett's little Cape Cod cottage. The long weeds and grass that composed the front yard dripped against the blurred background of he bay, where the water was almost the color of the grass. Mrs. Sennett's five charges were vigorously playing house in the dining room. ( In the wintertime, Mrs. Sennett was housekeeper for a Mr. Curley, in Boston, and during the summers the Curley children boarded with her on the Cape ).

　　My expression must have changed. "Are those children making too much noise?" Mrs. Sennett demanded, a sort of wave going over her that might mark the beginning of her getting up out of her chair. I hook my head no, and gave her a little push on the shoulder to keep her seated. Mrs. Sennett was almost stone-deaf and had been for a long time, but she could read lips. You could talk to her without making any sound yourself, if you wanted to, and she more than kept up her side of the conversation in a loud, rusty voice that dropped weirdly every now and then into a whisper. She adored talking.

　　To look at Mrs. Sennett made me think of eigh-teenth-century England and its literary figures. Her hair must have been sadly thin, because she always wore, indoors and out, either a hat or a sort of turban, and sometimes she wore both. The rims of her eyes were dark; she looked very ill.

　　Mrs. Sennett and I continued talking. She said she really didn't think she'd stay with the children another winter. Their father wanted her to, but it was too much for her. She wanted to stay right here in the cottage.

　　The afternoon was getting along, and I finally left because I knew that at four o'clock Mrs. Sennett's "sit down" was over and she started to get supper. At six o'clock, from my nearby cottage, I saw Theresa coming through the rain with a shawl over her head. She was bringing me a six-inch-square piece of spicecake, still hot from the oven and kept warm between two soup plates.

　　A few days later I learned from the twins, who brought over gifts of firewood and blackberries, that

　　their father was coming the next morning, bringing their aunt and her husband and their cousin. Mrs . Sennett had promised to take them all on a picnic at thepond some pleasant day.

　　On the fourth day of their visit, Xavier arrived with a note. It was from Mrs. Sennett, written in blue

　　ink, in a large, serene, ornamented hand, on linen-finish paper :

　　. . . Tomorrow is the last day Mr. Curley has and the Children all wanted the Picnic so much. The Men can walk to the Pond but it is too far for the Children. I see your Friend has a car and I hate to ask this but could you possibly drive us to the Pond tomorrow morning? . . .

　　Very sincerely yours,

　　Carmen Sennett

　　After the picnic, Mrs. Sennett's presents to me were numberless. It was almost time for the children to go back to school in South Boston. Mrs. Sennett insisted that she was not going; their father was coming down again to get them and she was just going to stay. He would have to get another housekeeper. She said this over and over to me, loudly, and her turbans and kerchiefs grew more and more distrait.

　　One evening, Mary came to call on me and we sat on an old table in the back yard to watch the sunset.

　　"Papa came today," she said, "and we've got to go back day after tomorrow."

　　"Is Mrs. Sennett going to stay here?"

　　"She said at supper she was. She said this time she really was, because she'd said that last year and came back, but now she means it."

　　I said, "Oh dear," scarcely knowing which side I was on.

　　"It was awful at supper. I cried and cried."

　　"Did Theresa cry?"

　　"Oh, we all cried. Papa cried, too. We always do."

　　"But don't you think Mrs. Sennett needs a rest?"

　　"Yes, but I think she'll come, though. Papa told her he'd cry every single night at supper if she didn't,

　　and then we all did."

　　The next day I heard that Mrs. Sennett was going back with them just to "help settle." She came over the following morning to say goodbye, supported by all five children. She was wearing her traveling hat of black satin and black straw, with sequins. High and somber, above her ravaged face, it had quite a Spanish-grandee air.

　　"This isn't really goodbye." she said. "I'll be back as soon as I get these bad, noisy children off my

　　hands."

　　But the children hung on to her skirt and tugged at her sleeves, shaking their heads frantically, silently saying, "No! No! No!" to her with their puckered-up mouths.

　　Q

　　Given the evidence provided throughout the passage, the children probably silently mouth the word "no" ( underlined ) because:

　　F. Mrs. Sennett has just called them bad, noisy children, and they are defending themselves.

　　G. they do not want to leave the Cape before the summer is over and are protesting.

　　H. they are letting the narrator know that Mrs. Sennett is thinking about returning to the Cape.

　　J. they are continuing their battle against Mrs. Sennett’s intention to return to the Cape.

　　Explanation:

　　This question asks students to determine what the children mean when they mouth the word “no.” This question is difficult because the “no” can have a multitude of meanings based on the situation, and this passage does not concretely specify whether the children like or dislike Mrs. Sennett. This means the first step to solving this question is finding out how the children feel about Mrs. Sennett.

　　There are two major contextual clues that reveal the attitude of the children toward Mrs. Sennett. The first is in in lines 67-78, where the narrator of the story details an interaction with one of the children, Mary. Mary tells the narrator that over supper, Mrs. Sennett had announced she would not leave the Cape, a coastal area of Massachusetts, with the children, and that the children and their father had all cried in reaction to the news. We can interpret the crying in two ways: the children and father are genuinely sad, or they are crying tears of joy in response to her decision. Because it is unclear how the children feel, we must find additional evidence in order to determine which is true.

　　The Mrs. Sennett tells the narrator that their separation would not be permanent: she would return after helping the children settle into their home away from the Cape. As she makes her announcement, the children grab onto her clothing and shake their head, signifying their attitude towards Mrs. Sennett: they genuinely like her and do not want her to leave. As a result, we can determine that the best answer is J. they are continuing their battle against Mrs. Sennett’s intention to return to the Cape.

　　Answer F. is incorrect because it inaccurately represents the relationship between the children and Mrs. Sennett, while answer H. is incorrect because Mary has already told the narrator that Mrs. Sennett has plans to return to the Cape. Finally, answer G. is incorrect because their departure from the Cape is not what is upsetting them: it is their departure from Mrs. Sennett that that is upsetting them.

　　以上整理的就是ACT小说类文章例题及分析，希望对考生们有帮助。