(,重庆高考，D篇)Willam Butler Yeats．a most famous Irish writer，was born in Dublin on June 13，1865．His childhood lacked the harmony(和睦)that was typical of a happy family．Later，Yeats shocked his family by saying that he remembered “little of childhood but its pain”．In fact，he inherited(继承) excellent taste in art from his family-both his father and his brother were painters．But he finally settled on literature，particularly drama(戏剧)and poetry．
Yeats bad strong faith in the coming of new artistic movements．He set himself the fresh task in founding an Irish national theatre in the late 1890s．His early theatrical experiments，however，were not received favorably at the beginning．He didn’t lose heart，and finally enjoyed success in his poetical drama．
Compared with his dramatic works，Yeats’poems attract much admiring notice．The subject matter includes love，nature，history，time and aging．Though Yeats generally relied on very traditional forms，he brought modern sensibility to them．As his literary life progressed，his poetry grew finer and richer，which led him to worldwide recognition．
He had not enjoyed a major public life since winning the Nobel Prize in 1923．Yet，he continued writing almost to the end of his life．Had Yeats stopped writing at age 40，he would probably now be valued as a minor poet，for there is no other example in literary history of a poet who produces his greatest works between the ages of 50 and 75．After Yeats’s death in 1939．W．H．Auden wrote．among others，the following lines：
Earth，receive an honoured guest：
William Yeats is laid to rest．
Let the Irish vessel(船)lie．
Emptied of its poetry．
47．Which of the following can describe Yeats’s family?
A．It filled Yeats’s childhood with laughter．
B．It was shocked by Yeats’s choice．
C．It was a typically wealthy family．
D．It had an artistic atmosphere．
48．According to the passage，what do we know about Yeats’s life?
A．Yeats founded the first Irish theatre．
B．Yeats stuck to modern forms in his poetry．
C．Yeats began to produce his best works from the 1910s．
D．Yeats was not favored by the public until the 1923 Nobel Prize．
49．What kind of feeling is expressed in W．H．Auden’s lines?
A．Envy．
B．Sympathy．
C．Emptiness．
D．Admiration．
50．What is the passage mainly about?
A．Yeats’s literary achievements．
B．Yeats’s historical influence．
C．Yeats’s artistic ambition．
D．Yeats’s national honor．
47．D
48．C
49．D
50．A
47．推理判断题。根据第一段后半部分中的both his father and his brother were painters可推测出他的家庭有艺术氛围。
48．推理判断题。叶芝出生在1865年，再结合文章后半部分的… who produces his greatest works between the ages of 50 and 75．可推知C项正确。
49．推理判断题。结合诗歌中的an honoured guest，对叶芝的比喻the irish vessel以及Emptied of its poetry可推知W．H．Auden表达的是对叶芝的“钦佩”。
50．主旨大意题。文章开门见山地总括了叶芝的成就，下文则比较详细地展开回顾，最后用诗坛名家W．H．Auden对他的高度评价结束全文，所以本文的主题是叶芝的文学成就。
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