Passage Four
When I began reading Catch -22, I thought it was a farcical satire on life in the United States Army Air Force. Later I believed that Mr. Heller’s target was modern war and all those who are responsible for waging it. Still later it seemed that he was attacking social organization and anyone who derives power from it. But by the end of the book it had become plain to me that it is——no other phrase will do——the human condition itself which is the object of Mr. Heller’s outraged fury and disgust.
A reviewer must always keep an anxious eye on the state of his currency. If he announces too many masterpieces he risks inflation (though it is sometimes forgotten by some of us that the cowardice of perpetual crabbing (挑剔) receives its own kind of punishment). It does not seem many weeks since I was proclaiming that Malcolm Lowry’s Under the Volcano is one of the great English novels of the century; and
A. a very great English novel
B. an accurate portrayal of life in wartime
C. an excellent piece of satire
D. the work of a neglected author
Passage Two
When I was about 12 I had an enemy, a girl who liked to point out my shortcomings. Week by week her list grew: I was skinny, I wasn’t a good student, I was boyish, I talked too loud, and so on. I put up with her as long as I could. At last, with great anger, I ran to my father in tears.
He listened to my outburst quietly. Then he asked, "Are the things she says true or not"
True I wanted to know how to strike back. What did truth have to do with it
"Mary, didn’t you ever wonder what you are really like Well, you now have that girl’s opinion. Go and make a list of everything she said and mark the points that are true. Pay no attention to the other things she said."
I did as he directed and discovered to my surprise that about half the things were true. Some of them I couldn’t change (like being skinny), but a good number I could - and suddenly wanted to - change.
For the
A. He wanted to keep the list at home.
B. He didn't know what the girl's enemy had said.
C. He wanted the girl to talk back.
D. He wanted her to check if she really had these weak points.
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