2. 职称英语
  3. Blake had been in very low water for months--almost under water part of the

Blake had been in very low water for months--almost under water part of the

游客2023-11-11  32
问题      Blake had been in very low water for months--almost under water part of the time--due to circumstances he was fond of saying were no fault of his own; and as he sat writing in his room on "third floor back" of a New York boarding-house, part of his mind was busily occupied in wondering when his luck was going to mm again, ①
     It was his room only in the sense that he paid the rent. Two friends, one a little Frenchman and the other a big Dane, shared it with him, both hoping eventually to contribute something towards expenses, but so far not having accomplished this result. ② They had two beds only, the third being a mattress they slept upon ih turns, a week at a time. Occasionally, when dinner failed them altogether, they swallowed a little raw rice and drank hot water from the bathroom on the top of it, and then made a wild race for bed so as to get to sleep while the sensation of false repletion was still there, for sleep and hunger are slight acquaintances as they knew. Fortunately all New York houses are supplied with hot air, and they only had to open a grating in the wall to get a plentiful, if not a wholesome amount of heat.
     Though loneliness in a big city is a real punishment, as they had severally learnt to their cost, their experiences, three in a small room for several months, had revealed to them horrors of quite another kind, and their nerves had suffered according to the temperament of each. ③But, on this particular evening, as Blake sat scribbling by the only window that was not cracked, the Dane and the Frenchman, his companions in adversity, were in wonderful luck. They had both been asked out to a restaurant to dine with a friend who also held out to one of them a chance of work and remuneration. They would not be back till late, and when they did come they were pretty sure to bring in supplies of one kind or another. For the Frenchman never could resist the offer of a glass of absinthe, and this meant that he would be able to help himself plentifully from the free-lunch counters, with which all New York bars are furnished, and to which any purchaser of a drink is entitled to help himself and devour on the spot or carry away casually in his hand for
consumption elsewhere.④ Thousands of unfortunate men get their sole subsistence in this way in New York, and experience soon teaches where, for the price of a single drink, a man can take away almost a meal of chip potatoes, sausage, bits of bread, and even eggs. The Frenchman and the Dane knew their way about, and Blake looked forward to a supper more or less substantial before pulling his mattress out of the cupboard and turning in upon the floor for the night. In the daytime he was a reporter on an evening newspaper of sensational and lying habits. His work was chiefly in the police courts; and in his spare hours at night, when not too tired or too empty, he wrote sketches and stories for the magazines that very rarely saw the light of day on their printed and paid—for sentences. On this particular occasion he was deep in a most involved tale of a psychological character, and had just worked his way into a sentence, or set of sentences, that completely baffled and muddled him. [br] The word "subsistence" in paragraph 3 probably means______.
选项 A、having enough food to stay alive
B、having enough money to stay alive
C、having enough time to enjoy dinner
D、having enough room to live at
答案 A
解析 语义理解题。本句前一句指出法国室友在别人请客时的用餐诀窍：不拒绝别人给他买杯酒，这意味着他能够在免费餐台随意大吃，站在那儿吃或者拿到其他地方吃。之后本句指出Thousands of unfortunate men get their sole subsistence in this way in New York，从该句中的Thousands of unfortunate men可知这里指的是像Blake和他室友这样的倒霉蛋们，从前一段他们没钱吃饭可以推断，subsistence这里是指能够大吃大喝得以生存之意，故A ，为答案。前一句提到的是food，与money无关，排除B 。这里也没有提及时间和空间，选项C 和D 无根据。
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