Question

I HEAR America beeping(嘟嘟響)．

 Beep，says my cellophane when it gets a text message．

  Beep，says my microwave oven when my sandwich  is warmed up． 

 Sometimes  I long for a natural sound：a bird singing，dog barking，children laughing， anything to drown out  the maddening beeps that have become the soundtrack(配樂)to modern life．

  My cellophane? It isn’t enough that its ring tone offerings seem to stretch from  “annoymg” toextremely “annoying”． It also has to beep whenever someone texts messages me． 

The microwave? A bell rings when it's finished heating my food．But is that enough? No．If I don’t rush to it right away, it starts beeping，like an impatient child tugging(用力拉) at my sleeve(袖子)．

 The smoke detector(探測器) is the worst offender．When its batteries are in need of replacement，it 1ets out a series of chirps．The things that don’t beep buzz(嗡嗡響)．And for some reason，beeping and buzzing is beneath them，they clear their throats and perform a symphony． Like my TV, each time I turn it on, it performs an aria(詠嘆調)：La di da di dum．Salutions! Here I am! Same thing when I turn it off: La di da di dum．Good bye, kind sir! Until the next time

But at 1east I know where each of these sounds is coming from．That isn’t always the case．For weeks, my wife and I were awoken in the night by a beeping．There，in the stillness， we went through the possible suspects．Could we have a text message? Could it be any of the devices(裝置)able to make a sound? Curling iron, rice cooker, smoke detector, TV set，clock radio．．．

The only way to tell was to chase the sound down ，but no sooner  would we pull on our bathrobes than the beeping would stop. We didn’t hear it every night but often enough that we would climb into bed wondering whether our sleep  would be interrupted by that maddening sound，that beep．

  Finally,early one morning，my wife found it：in the study,under a desk，a big plastic cube that was plugged into the wall．It was an uninterruptible power supply that we’d inherited(繼承)from my wife’s mother．We’d never known it was capable of speech． 

I think it just wanted someone to talk to.

14．What does the writer truly mean by saying“I hear America beeping”?

A．American people like devices that beep．

B．Americans are crazy about sending text messages．

C．In modern society people are dependant on technology．

D．The soundtrack to modern life is no longer natural．

15．Why couldn’t the author and his wife find the source of the noise in their house in the beginning?

A．There were too many devices for them to check．

B．They were unwilling to get up at midnight．

C．They had never known that thing could beep too．

D．The noise didn’t come every day．

16．After reading this passage，we can probably tell the author    ．

   A．enjoys being surrounded by beeps  B．has a touch of humor in his writing

C．tries to avoid using anything that beeps

D．understands the beeping is designed to be user-friendly

Answer 1

14．D。15．A。16．B。

解析:

14.主旨大意題，考查歸納能力。文章主要想表明美國現代生活中有太多的東西發出令人厭煩的機械聲音。根據第四段 “Sometimes I long for a natural sound: a bird singing, a dog barking, children laughing, anything to drown out the maddening beeps that have become the soundtrack (配樂) to modern life.”可以推斷出答案。C的technology太泛，不能確定為發嘟嘟等聲音的設備裝置。

15.細節題。根據倒數第四段“There, in the stillness, we went through the possible suspects.”可確定答案。

16.作者雖然很討厭那些不自然的聲音，但是通過幽默風趣的擬人手法來表達厭煩。所以很有幽默感。Touch這里的意思是a particular way of doing something, or the ability to do it in a particular way。例如： The room was decorated with a very artistic touch.