2. 职称英语
  3. In the course of time, Mr. Earnshaw began to fail. He had been active and he

In the course of time, Mr. Earnshaw began to fail. He had been active and he

游客2023-12-07  16
问题     In the course of time, Mr. Earnshaw began to fail. He had been active and healthy, yet his strength left him suddenly; and when he was confined to the chimney comer he grew grievously irritable. Nothing vexed him; and suspected slights of his authority nearly threw him into fits. This was especially to be remarked if anyone attempted to impose upon, or domineer over, his favourite: he was painfully jealous lest a word should be spoken amiss to him; seeming to have got into his head the notion that, because he liked Heathcliff, all hated, and longed to do him an ill turn. It was a disadvantage to the lad; for the kinder among us did not wish to fret the master, so we humoured his partiality; and that humouring was rich nourishment to the child’s pride and black tempers. Still it became in a manner necessary; twice, or thrice, Hindley’s manifestation of scorn, while his father was near, roused the old man to a fury: he seized his stick to strike him, and shook with rage that he could not do it.
    At last, our curate advised that the young man should be sent to college; and Mr. Earnshaw agreed, though with a heavy spirit, for he said—"Hindley was nought, and would never thrive as where he wandered."
    I hoped heartily we should have peace now. It hurt me to think the master should be made uncomfortable by his own good deed. I fancied the discontent of age and disease arose from his family disagreements: as he would have it that it did: really, you know, sir, it was in his sinking frame. We might have got on tolerably, notwithstanding, but for two people, Miss Cathy and Joseph, the servant. By his knack of sermonizing and pious discoursing, he contrived to make a great impression on Mr. Earnshaw; and the more feeble the master became, the more influence he gained. He was relentless in worrying him about his soul’s concerns, and about ruling his children rigidly. He encouraged him to regard Hind-ley as a reprobate; and, night after night, he regularly grumbled out a long string of tales against Heath-cliff and Catherine: always minding to flatter Earnshaw’s weakness by heaping the heaviest blame on the last.
    Certainly, she had ways with her such as I never saw a child take up before; and she put all of us past our patience fifty times and oftener in a day: from the hour she came downstairs till the hour she went to bed, we had not a minute’s security that she wouldn’t be in mischief. Her spirits were always at high-water mark, her tongue always going—singing, laughing, and plaguing everybody who would not do the same. A wild, wicked slip she was—but she had the bonniest eye, the sweetest smile, and lightest foot in the parish; and, after all, I believe she meant no harm; for when once she made you cry in good earnest, it seldom happened that she would not keep you company, and oblige you to be quiet that you might comfort her. She was much too fond of Heathcliff. The greatest punishment we could invent for her was to keep her separate from him: yet she got chided more than any of us on his account.
    Now, Mr. Earnshaw did not understand jokes from his children; he had always been strict and grave with them; and Catherine, on her part, had no idea why her father should be crosser and less patient in his ailing condition, than he was in his prime. His peevish reproofs wakened in her a naughty delight to provoke him. She was never so happy as when we were all scolding her at once, and she defying us with her bold, saucy look, and her ready words turning Joseph’s religious curses into ridicule, baiting me, and doing just what her father hated most—showing how her pretended insolence, which he thought real, had more power over Heathcliff than his kindness. How the boy would do her bidding in anything, and his only when it suited his own inclination.  [br] The italicized part "heaping the heaviest blame on the last" probably implies that
选项 A、Joseph might dislike Catherine most.
B、Catherine was blamed most by Earnshaw.
C、Heathcliff blamed Catherine for her deeds.
D、Joseph spoke ill of every child in the house.
答案 A
解析 语义题。由题干定位至第三段末旬“…he regularly grumbled out a long string of tales againstHeathcliff and Catherine：always minding to flatter Earnshaw’s weakness by heaping the heaviestblame on the last”。接着第四段首句指出“Certainly，she had ways with her such as I never saw achild take up before；and she put all of us past our patience fifty times and oftener in a day…”，显然这里的she是承接前文而来，指第三段末句中提到的Catherine。既然Joseph总是对Catherine的责难最多，可以推断[A]符合文意。
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