Unit 7 The Monster习题答案综合教程四

Unit 7 The Monster

Key to the Exercises

Text comprehension

I.

Decide which of the following best states the author's purpose of writing.

II.

Judge, according to the text, whether the following statements are true or false.

1.

T (Refer to Paragraphs 2?.)

2.

F (Refer to Paragraph 5, which suggests he was emotionally unstable.)

3.

F (Refer to Paragraph 7, which states he was responsible for large sums of debt.)

4.

T (Refer to Paragraph 8. A lot of women came into his life as a result of his pursuit,

and were abandoned by him in the end.)

5.

T (Refer to Paragraph 12.)

III.

A

nswer the following questions.

1.

Refer

to

Paragraph 1.

He

had

a

short

stature

with

a

disproportionately

large

head.

And he had skin diseases.

2.

Refer

to

Paragraph

2.

He

believed

he

was

one

of

the

greatest

men

in

the

world,

a

great composer, a great thinker and a great dramatist combined into one. A man of such

arrogance cannot help but take himself to be the center of conversations.

3.

Refer

to

Paragraph

3.

If

anyone

showed

slight

disagreement

with

him,

he

would

make a lengthy and aggressive speech for hours to prove himself to be in the right. This

would force his dazed and deafened hearer to surrender.

4.

Refer

to

Paragraph

5.

He

was

emotionally

capricious

like

a

child.

Rapture

in

him

could easily turn into extreme melancholy. He was heartless and callous to a frightening

degree

on

some

occasions.

Moreover,

his

emotional

states

always

found

outward

expression.

5.

Refer to Paragraphs 11 and 12. The author says that Wagner was among the greatest

dramatists, the greatest thinkers and the most tremendous musical geniuses in our world.

His immortal works far exceeded in value the tortures his arrogance inflicted upon others

and the debts he owed.

6.

Refer

to

Paragraph

13.

The

tremendous

creative

power,

which

propelled

him

to

produce so many memorable works in his lifetime, could have crushed his poor brain and

body. However, he miraculously survived and made all the immortal accomplishments.

In this sense he was a monster rather than a human being.

IV.

Explain in your own words the following sentences.

C

1.

He almost had no sense of responsibility.

2.

He wrote large numbers of letters begging for money. In some letters he was servile

without shame, and in other letters he loftily offered his targeted benefactor the privilege

of contributing to his support. If the recipient refused to accept his offer, i.e. refused to

lend him money, he would fly into a rage.

3.

He

would

use

his

influence

on

as

many

people

as

possible

in

order

to

meet

some

admirer of his who was only too glad to offer him his help.

4.

Since Wagner was driven by such tremendous forces, it is no surprise that he didn't

behave like a normal human being.

Structural analysis of the text

In

the

first

10

paragraphs,

we

can

find

the

following

words

and

expressions

used

to

describe Richard Wagner as a monster of conceit: delusions of grandeur / a monster of

conceit

/

believed

himself

to

be

one

of

the

greatest

dramatists

in

the

world,

one

of

the

greatest

thinkers,

and

one

of

the

greatest

composers

/

the

most

exhausting

conversationalist / proved himself right in so many ways / had theories about almost any

subject

under

the

sun

/

almost

innocent

of

any

sense

of

responsibility

/

an

endless

procession of women.

In

the

remaining

paragraphs,

we

can

find

the

following

words

and expressions

used

to

describe him as a great genius: right all the time / one of the world's greatest dramatists /

a great thinker / one of the most stupendous musical geniuses / owe him a living.

Rhetorical features of the text

The repetitive use of the third person pronoun he creates suspense in the reader's mind.

This is one of the effective ways to hold the reader's attention and make him read on.

Vocabulary exercises

I.

Explain the underlined part in each sentence in your own words.

1.

person with extremely excessive self-pride

2.

with all their talents combined in him

3.

in a bad temper; unwell or annoyed

4.

without

5.

use as much influence of his as possible (from behind the scenes)

6.

make concession

II.

Fill in the blank in each sentence with a phrase from the box in its appropriate form.

1.

pulled wires

2.

be content with

3.

rolled into one

4.

between the lines of

5.

sink into

6.

innocent of

7.

out of sorts

8.

lay my hands on

III.

Fill in the blanks with the appropriate forms of the given words.

1.

callousness

2.

tormentor

6.

tragedy

3.

inconceivable

4.

arrogantly

5.

gloomy

IV.

Choose

the

word

that

can

replace

the

underlined

part

in

each

sentence

without

changing its original meaning.

1. A

2. B

3. C

4. A

5. C

6. B

7. A

8. D

V.

Give a synonym or an antonym of the word underlined in each sentence in the sense

it is used.

1.

Antonym: humbleness (modesty)

2.

Synonym: amazing (stunning, miraculous)

3.

Synonym: cold-blooded (inhumane, merciless)

4.

Synonym: void

5.

Antonym: ethical (moral, principled, scrupulous)

6.

Synonym: parody (caricature)

7.

Antonym: exhilaration (bliss, ecstasy)

8.

Synonym: proudly (self- importantly)

VI.

Explain the meaning of the underlined part in each sentence.

1. company

2. controlled

3. imprecise

4. out of fashion

5. immediately

Grammar exercises

I.

Complete the following sentences with prepositions.

1.

at

2.

on

6.

of

3.

to

4.

at

5.

from

7.

in, for, at

8.

on, of, of

6. cover

7.

delusion

8.

lofty