There are so many new books about dying that there are now special shelves set aside for them in bookshops , along with the health-diet and home-repair paperbacks . Some of them are so 1 with detailed information and step-by-step instructions for performing the function , that you ' d think this was a new sort of skill which all of us are now required to learn . The strongest impression the casual reader gets is that proper dying has become an extraordinary ， 2 an exotic experience , something only the specially trained can do .

　　Furthermore , you could be led to believe that we are the only 3 capable of being aware of death , and that when the rest of nature is experiencing the life cycle and dying , one generation after 4 ，it is a different kind of process , done automatically and trivially , or more “natural”, as we say .

　　An elm in our backyard 5 the blight (枯萎病)this summer and dropped stone dead , leafless , almost overnight . One weekend it was a normal-looking elm , maybe a little bare in spots but 6 alarming , and the next weekend it was gone , passed over , departed , taken . Taken is right , for the tree surgeon came by yesterday with his crew of young helpers and their cherry picker , and took it down branch by branch and carted it off in the back of a red truck , everyone 7 .

　　The dying 8 a field mouse , at the jaws of an amiable household cat , is a spectacle I have beheld many times . It 9 to make me wince . However , early in life I gave up throwing sticks at the cat to make him drop the mouse , 10 the dropped mouse regularly went ahead and died anyway .

　　1. A. contained B. embraced C. packed D. littered

　　2. A. and B. even C. yet D. but

　　3. A. races B. creatures C. people D. human

　　4. A. the other B. another C. the next D. the following

　　5. A. caught B. held C. took D. picked

　　6. A. something B. anything C. nothing D. everything

　　7. A. sings B. sang C. sung D. singing

　　8. A. to B. in C. for D. of

　　9. A. was B. was used C. used D. was about

　　10. A. but B. because C. while D. in order that

　　答案與解析：

　　1.【答案】C

　　【解析】此句表示其中一些關于死亡的書中寫滿了相關的翔實信息，A 、B 兩項均為包括之意，不與with 連用。D 項有“充滿的”意思，并可以with 連用，但意為“胡亂丟滿、亂七八糟的”，用在此處不正確。C 項Packed 意為“擁擠、塞滿、充滿的”，感情色彩也與原文相符，表示書中充斥著關于… … 的內容。

　　2.【答案】B

　　【解析】文中需要的是連接詞，exotic 的含義比extraordinary 更進一步，句意為“適當的死法已然成了一種特別的、甚至是奇異的經歷”。這種情況不必多想，B 為最合適的選項。A 項為并列關系，C 、D 項表示轉折，而非遞進。

　　3.【答案】B

　　【解析】從本句“書中內容會讓你覺得我們是唯一有死亡意識的… … ”和下句中的“自然界中的其他生命經歷著生命的周期和死亡”，可以推測出空格處所指的是生物，而不是種族、人們、人類，故選B。

　　4.【答案】B

　　【解析】本句的意思是“自然界中的其他生命(除我們以外的)一代又一代”，是考形容詞代詞的用法。the other指兩個人或物中的一個。所以選another 。

　　5.【答案】A

　　【解析】句意為“我家后院的榆樹今年夏天染上了枯萎病”, catch 作及物動詞，有“染上疾病”的意思。B 項意為“持有，抓住”, C 項意為“(疾病)突然侵襲”，用在疾病的后面，如the blight took our elm 。D 項意為“采集，挑選”。故選A 。

　　6.【答案】C

　　【解析】本句意為“或許出現些斑點，但… … 讓人擔憂，而且外表看來一切正常”，所以出現的問題不嚴重，不會讓人不安，所以選C。

　　7.【答案】D

　　【解析】 singing ，表示伴隨動作，現在分詞作伴隨狀語。

　　8.【答案】D

　　【解析】 a field mouse 為dying 的定語，根據下文可以得出句意為“一只田鼠的死”，中間的插人語表示它是如何死掉的。

　　9.【答案】C

　　【解析】四個選項中只有C 是正確用法，田鼠的死曾讓我感到害怕。若選A 項，it was to make me wince 意為“田鼠的死是(計劃好)用于讓我害怕、畏縮的”。若選B 項，句子意為“田鼠之死習慣了讓我害怕”。若選C 項，句子意為“以前田鼠的這種死法常讓我感到害怕”。D 項指此事即將讓我害怕。

　　10.【答案】B

　　【解析】根據上下文判斷，“但是我老早就不再向叼著田鼠的貓扔棍子，讓它把田鼠放下”，這樣做的原因就在下一句：因為被放下的老鼠通常還是會死掉。