A
Also of interest...in family dramas
The Travelers
by Regina Porter (Hogarth, $27)
Though Regina Porter’s formally daring first novel “can feel too much like a jigsaw puzzle,” it achieves a “simply stunning” level of complexity, said Meng Jin in the San Fracisco Chronicle. As the first-time novelist tells the stories of two Georgia families — one black, one white — she weaves together events from 1946 to 2010 while deftly shifting between play-like dialogue, straight narrative, and various other modes. Not one character is a mere extra, and the impressive result “looks very much like life.”
Ask Again, Yes
by Mary Beth Keane (Scribner, $27)
Mary Beth Keane’s new novel is “one of the most unpretentiously profound books I’ve read in a long time,” said Maureen Corrigan in NPR.org. In 1973 New York City, two rookie cops forge a friendship that shapes the lives of the Irish-American families they raise side by side in a nearby suburb. Because each chapter is told from a new perspective, we come to know almost every member of those families, and Keane “beautifully dramatizes” how lives are built on a series of happenstances, including tragic ones.
Native Country of the Heart
by Cherrie Moraga (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $26)
“This memoir’s beauty is in its fierce intimacy,” said Roy Hoffman in The News York Times. Playwright Cherrie Moraga makes her mother the heroine of the book, bringing the late immigrant’s story to life “with a poet’s verve.” Mexican-born Elvira Moraga, who picked cotton in California at 11, sold cigarettes in Tijuana at 14, and never learned to read, became the heart and soul of a large extended family. Here, she’s a character too resonant to be merely emblematic.
The Edge of Every Day
by Marin Sardy (Pantheon
$26)
Mental illness leaves no one in a family untouched, said Alison Van Houten in Outside. In a book whose nonlinear structure “mimics the erratic nature of schizophrenia,” essayist Marin Sardy bringing the describes how the disorder struck her mother and a brother, scrambling life for all the children. Her mother’s paranoid delusions disrupted their schooling; years later, Sardy’s brother, after refusing help, committed suicide. “How does one lead any semblance of a normal life under such circumstances?” Sardy shows us how.
Note:
1. resonant: 共振的，共鸣的 2. emblematic: 象征的，典型的
3. nonlinear: 非线性的 4.schizophrenia: 精神分裂症
21. Which book touches upon a personal family tragedy?
A. The Travelers. B. Ask Again, Yes.
C. Native Country of the Heart. D. The Edge of Every Day.
22. Which of the following about each book is TRUE?
A. The Travelers tells a straightforward story about two Georgia families.
B. The thread running through Ask Again,Yes is Irish way of life.
C. Native Country of the Heart was written in memory of Elvira Moraga.
D. The Edge of Every Day describes one’s struggle against mental diseases.
23. What do the four books have in common?
A. They were published by the same publishing house.
B. They belong to he same type of literary works.
C. The stories were ll set in the last century.
D. They represented the peak level of each writer.
【答案】21. C 22. B 23. B
【解析】
【分析】本文是一篇应用文。文章主要介绍的是让人感兴趣的家庭戏剧。
【21题详解】
细节理解题。根据文章小标题“Native Country of the Heart”下的“Mexican-born Elvira Moraga, who picked cotton in California at 11, sold cigarettes in Tijuana at 14, and never learned to read, became the heart and soul of a large extended family. Here, she’s a character too resonant to be merely emblematic.”可知，埃尔维拉·莫拉加出生于墨西哥，11岁时在加利福尼亚摘棉花，14岁时在提华纳卖香烟，从未学会阅读，却成为了一个大家庭的核心和灵魂。在这里，她是一个太有共鸣的角色，而不仅仅是象征性的。由此可知，这本书涉及到一个个人的家庭悲剧。故选C。
【22题详解】
细节理解题。根据文章小标题“Ask Again, Yes”下的“In 1973 New York City, two rookie cops forge a friendship that shapes the lives of the Irish-American families they raise side by side in a nearby suburb. Because each chapter is told from a new perspective, we come to know almost every member of those families”可知，1973年的纽约，两个新警察在附近的郊区建立了友谊，这友谊塑造了他们共同抚养的爱尔兰裔美国家庭的生活。因为每一章都是从一个新的视角讲述的，所以我们几乎了解了这些家庭的每一个成员。由此可知，Ask Again, Yes描述的是爱尔兰人的生活方式。故选B。
23题详解】
推理判断题。根据文章的题目“Also of interest…in family dramas”可知，文章主要介绍的书都是家庭剧，即它们属于同一类型的文学作品。故选B。
