2. 职称英语
  3. (1)I was sure that I had found at last the one true cosmopolite since Adam,

(1)I was sure that I had found at last the one true cosmopolite since Adam,

游客2023-11-29  6
问题     (1)I was sure that I had found at last the one true cosmopolite since Adam, and I listened to his worldwide discourse fearful lest I should discover in it the local note of the mere globe-trotter. But his opinions never fluttered or drooped: he was as impartial to cities, countries and continents as the winds or gravitation. And as E. Rushmore Coglan prattled of this little planet I thought with glee of a great almost-cosmopolite who wrote for the whole world and dedicated himself to Bombay. In a poem he has to say that there is pride and rivalry between the cities of the earth, and that "the men that breed from them, they traffic up and down, but cling to their cities’ hem as a child to the mother’s gown. " And whenever they walk "by roaring streets unknown" they remember their native city "most faithful, foolish, fond: making her mere-breathed name their bond upon their bond. " And my glee was roused because I had caught Mr. Kipling napping. Here I had found a man not made from dust: one who had no narrow boasts of birthplace or country, one who, if he bragged at all, would brag of his whole round globe against the Martians and the inhabitants of the Moon.
    (2)Expression on these subjects was precipitated from E. Rushmore Coglan by the third corner to our table. While Coglan was describing to me the topography along the Siberian Railway the orchestra glided into a medley. The concluding air was "Dixie", and as the exhilarating notes tumbled forth they were almost overpowered by a great clapping of hands from almost every table. I hastened to ask him a question because I wanted to try out a theory I had.
    (3)"Would you mind telling me," I began, "whether you are from—"
    (4)The fist of E. Rushmore Coglan banged the table and I was jarred into silence.
    (5)"Excuse me," said he, "but that’s a question I never like to hear asked. What does it matter where a man is from? Is it fair to judge a man by his post-office address? Why, I’ve seen Kentuckians who hated whiskey, Virginians who weren’t descended from Pocahontas, Indianians who hadn’t written a novel, Mexicans who didn’t wear velvet trousers with silver dollars sewed along the seams, funny Englishmen, spendthrift Yankees, cold-blooded Southerners, narrow-minded Westerners, and New Yorkers who were too busy to stop for an hour on the street to watch a one-armed grocer’s clerk do up cranberries in paper bags. Let a man be a man and don’t handicap him with the label of any section. "
    (6)" Pardon me," I said, " but my curiosity was not altogether an idle one. I know the South, and when the band plays ’ Dixie’ I like to observe. I have formed the belief that the man who applauds that air with special violence and ostensible sectional loyalty is invariably a native of either Secaucus, N. J. , or the district between Murray Hill Lyceum and the Harlem River, this city. I was about to put my opinion to the test by inquiring of this gentleman when you interrupted with your own—larger theory, I must confess. "
    (7)"I’ve been around the world twelve times," said he. " It’s a mighty little old world. What’s the use of bragging about being from the North, or the South, or the old manor house in the dale, or Euclid avenue, Cleveland, or Pike’s Peak, or Fairfax County, Va. , or Hooligan’s Flats or any place? It’ll be a better world when we quit being fools about some mildewed town or ten acres of swampland just because we happened to be born there. "
    (8)"You seem to be a genuine cosmopolite," I said admiringly. "But it also seems that you would decry patriotism. "
    (9)"A relic of the stone age," declared Coglan, warmly. "We are all brothers—Chinamen, Englishmen, Zulus, Patagonians and the people in the bend of the Kaw River. Some day all this petty pride in one’s city or State or section or country will be wiped out, and well all be citizens of the world, as we ought to be. "
    (10)"But while you are wandering in foreign lands," I persisted, "do not your thoughts revert to some spot— some dear and—"
    (11)"Nary a spot," interrupted E. R. Coglan, flippantly. "The terrestrial, globular, planetary hunk of matter, slightly flattened at the poles, and known as the Earth, is my abode. I’m not tied down to anything that isn’t 8,000 miles in diameter. Just put me down as E. Rushmore Coglan, citizen of the terrestrial sphere. "
    (12)My cosmopolite made a large adieu and left me, for he thought he saw someone through the chatter and smoke whom he knew. I sat reflecting upon my evident cosmopolite and wondering how the poet had managed to miss him. He was my discovery and I believed in him. How was it? "The men that breed from them they traffic up and down, but cling to their cities’ hem as a child to the mother’s gown. " Not so E. Rushmore Coglan. With the whole world for his—
    (13)My meditations were interrupted by a tremendous noise and conflict in another part of the cafe. I saw above the heads of the seated patrons E. Rushmore Coglan and a stranger to me engaged in terrific battle. They fought between the tables like Titans, and glasses crashed, and men caught their hats up and were knocked down, and a brunette screamed, and a blonde began to sing "Teasing".
    (14)My cosmopolite was sustaining the pride and reputation of the Earth when the waiters closed in on both combatants with their famous flying wedge formation and bore them outside, still resisting.
    (15)I called McCarthy, one of the French garcons, and asked him the cause of the conflict.
    (16)" The man with the red tie(that was my cosmopolite)" , said he, " got hot on account of things said about the bum sidewalks and water supply of the place he come from by the other guy. "
    (17)"Why,"said I, bewildered, "that man is a citizen of the world—a cosmopolite. He—"
    (18)"Originally from Mattawamkeag, Maine," he said, continued McCarthy, "and he wouldn’t stand for no knockin’ the place. " [br] The conflict between Mr. Coglan and the man reveals______.
选项 A、that Mr. Coglan deeply resented his home town
B、what Mr. Coglan did and said was contradictory
C、how Mr. Coglan would defend his own dignity
D、why Mr. Coglan was so opposed to localism
答案 B
解析 推断题。根据题干定位至第十三段至文末。第十三段讲到科格兰先生与一个“我”不认识的人发生了激烈的冲突，而冲突的原因在第十六段给出。他是因为陌生人诋毁了他的家乡而激怒了他，可见他虽然嘴上反对任何形式的地方主义，但实际上自己还是受这种思想的牵绊，其言行是相互矛盾的，故[B]为答案，同时排除[D]“他为什么反对地方主义”。旁人对其家乡评价差就激怒了科格兰先生，这不能说明他憎恶自己的家乡，因此排除[A]；科格兰与此人发生了激烈搏斗，以至被强行推出咖啡馆，早就没有了矜持和自尊，故排除[C]。
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