8.When Duke University refused to accept Siobhan O'Dell,17,by sending her a rejection letter,she refused to take it quietly.
The teenager,from North Carolina,had applied to the famous college in her home state,but in March she was sent a letter telling her she had failed. Mirroring the standard format of college rejection letters,she wrote back:"Dear Duke University,thank you for the rejection letter of March 26,2015.After careful consideration,I regret to inform you that I am unable to accept your refusal to offer me admission into the fall 2015freshman class at Duke."
Her conclusion reads:"Therefore I will be attending Duke University's 2015freshmen class.I look forward to seeing you then."
Speaking to a newspaper about the letter,Siobhan said:"They sent me a typical college rejection letter saying this year they had an outstanding pool of applicants…blah,blah,blah.It made me realize how much power universities have over students.High School graduates labor over applications,stress over waiting,and sometimes cry over the answer.Then that's it."
"The college has all the power.But what if that wasn't it?What if we got to treat the college like they treated us?I wanted to give them a taste of their own medicine."
Officials at Duke were unmoved by the teenager's courage and obvious intelligence.They did eventually respond to her letter,but didn't appear to share the joke and her sense of humor,instead telling her that"We don't simply reopen and review the file"and"It's very rare that we learn something that leads us to change our decision."While Miss O'Dell's letter didn't earn her a place there,it seems to have got the attention of students on campus,and is even set to feature in the college newspaper.
However,all's well that ends well for Siobhan O'Dell,who has now been accepted by the University of South Carolina."I'm going to major in biology and I look forward to going to USC this fall."
35.Siobhan O'Dell wrote to Duke University officials toB.
A.inform them she would attend Duke anyway
B.express her feelings in a humorous way
C.tease them for the mistake they made
D.demand them to change the decision
36.What was Duke University's response to her letterB?
A.They are moved by her courage and intelligence.
B.They wrote a letter turning her down again.
C.They ran a story about her in newspaper.
D.They promised her to review her file.
37.The underlined word in the second paragraph may be replaced by"D".
A.Reflecting B.Commenting C.Criticizing D.Imitating
38.We can infer from the passage thatC.
A.officials at Duke don't know how to appreciate humor
B.high school graduates are under too much pressure
C.students have little power over admission decisions
D.universities should not reject students'application.
分析 本文讲述的是一位被大学拒绝的女学生对大学所做的决定写信进行抗议,但是拒绝无效,大学并没有改变最初的决定,又写了一封信拒绝了她.可见学生是无法改变大学的录取决定的.
解答 35.B.细节理解题.根据文章第二段"she wrote back:"Dear Duke University,thank you for the rejection letter of March 26,2015.After careful consideration,I regret to inform you that I am unable to accept your refusal to offer me admission into the fall 2015freshman class at Duke.""可知,Siobhan O'Dell写这封信是为了表达她的想法.而后文中"but didn't appear to share the joke and her sense of humor"可见,她写的这封信是用幽默的方式表达的.故选B.
36.B.细节理解题.根据文章倒数第二段"Officials at Duke were unmoved by the teenager's courage and obvious intelligence"可知,杜克大学的官员对她的来信无动于衷,后文"instead telling her that"We don't simply reopen and review the file"and"It's very rare that we learn something that leads us to change our decision."又提到这些官员又写了一封信,说不改变最初的决定,再次拒绝了她.故选B.
37.D.词义猜测题."Reflecting"反射."Commenting"评论."Commenting"批判."Imitating"模仿.原句中"Mirroring the standard format of college rejection letters,"划线部分后面的解释为大学拒绝信的格式.根据她所写内容可推测,是模仿大学拒绝信的格式.故选D.
38.C.推理预测题.全文讲述的是一位被大学拒绝的女学生对大学所做的决定进行抗议,但是拒绝无效,大学并没有改变最初的决定,可见,学生是无法改变录取决定的.故选C.
点评 本文考察学生人物故事类阅读,是记叙文体的一种,主要描写某人的生平事迹、趣闻轶事、生活背景、个性特征、成长奋斗历程等,包含记叙文的时间、地点、人物、事件等要素.其特点是以时间的先后或事件的发展为主线,空间或逻辑线索贯穿文章始终,脉络清楚,可读性较强.故事类文章情节性较强,这些都是文章中的主要内容和信息,对于准确理解文章十分重要.