Passage 4

When your secretary invited me to come here, she told me that your Society is concerned with the employment of women and she suggested that I might tell you something about my own professional experiences.
1) __________________________________________________. For the road was cut many years ago --by Fanny Burney, by Aphra Behn, by Harriet Martineau, by Jane Austen, by George Eliot-- many famous women, and many more unknown and forgotten, have been before me, making the path smooth, and regulating my steps.
2) __________________________________________________. The family peace was not broken by the scratching of a pen. No demand was made upon the family purse. For ten and sixpence one can buy paper enough to write all the plays of Shakespeare-- if one has a mind that way. Pianos and models, Paris, Vienna and Berlin, masters and mistresses, are not needed by a writer. The cheapness of writing paper is, of course, the reason why women have succeeded as writers before they have succeeded in the other professions.
But to tell you my story -- it is a simple one. You have only got to figure to yourselves a girl in a bedroom with a pen in her hand. Then it occurred to her to do what is simple and cheap enough after all-- to slip a few of those pages into an envelope, and drop the envelope into the red box at the corner. And my effort was rewarded on the first day of the following month by a letter from an editor containing a cheque for one pound ten shillings and sixpence. 3) __________________________________________________.
What could be easier than to write articles and to buy Persian cats with the profits? But wait a moment. Articles have to be about something. Mine, I seem to remember, was about a novel by a famous man. And while I was writing this review, I discovered that if I were going to review books I should need to do battle with a certain phantom. And the phantom was a woman, and when I came to know her better I called her after the heroine of a famous poem, The Angel in the house.4) __________________________________________________.
5) __________________________________________________. She was intensely sympathetic. She was immensely charming. She sacrificed herself daily. And when I came to write I encountered her with the very first words. The shadow of her wings fell on my page; I heard the rustling of her skirts in the room....

[A] But to show you how little I deserve to be called a professional woman, how little I know of the struggles and difficulties of such lives, I have to admit that instead of spending that sum upon bread and butter, rent, shoes and stockings, or butcher's bills, I went out and bought a cat-- a beautiful cat, a Persian cat, which very soon involved me in bitter disputes with my neighbours.
[B] It is true I am a woman; it is true I am employed; but what professional experiences have I had? It is difficult to say. My profession is literature; and in that profession there are fewer experiences for women than in any other, with the exception of the stage-- fewer, I mean, that are peculiar to women.
[C] It was she who used to come between me and my paper when I was writhing reviews. It was she who bothered me and wasted my time and so tormented me that at last I killed her.
[D] Thus, when I came to write, there were very few material obstacles in my way. Writing was a reputable and harmless occupation.
[E] But to continue my professional experiences. I made one pound ten and six by my first review; and I bought a Persian cat with the proceeds. Then I grew ambitious.
[F] You who come of a younger and happier generation may not have heard of her-- you may not know what I mean by the Angel in the House. I will describe her as shortly as I can.
[G] That indeed is one of the reasons why I have come here --out of respect for you, who are in process of showing us by your experiments what a woman is, who are in process of providing us, by your failures and successes, with that extremely important piece of information.

【文章大意及结构分析】
　　
　　本文讲述了作者如何在写作中与旧意识进行斗争的经验。妇女从事写作的经验很少。有些优秀的女作家已经把道路开辟出来；开始写作时没有障碍，写作是件既便宜，又可名利双收的事情。但所写文章要有内容，我写的是书评。我一开始评论一本书，就要与一个幻影进行搏斗，这个幻影是妇女，我称之为"房间里的天使"（代表旧时代的女性形象）。这位天使是家庭的楷模，善良无私，富于同情心；每当我开始评论一本书的时候，她就出现在我的笔和纸之间，对我悄悄地说：这是一本著名男人写的书，温柔些，不要尖锐，多赞美，少批评；她在指导着我的笔。她每每这样打搅我，烦恼我，折磨我，我忍无可忍，最后把她杀了。年轻幸福的一代不会再遇到这样的事了。

　　本文共分6段，作者文章主要采用"提出问题--分析原因--解决问题"的行文格式。在文章第一段提出问题，妇女从事写作的经验很少。第二到第四段分析原因：道路已经由其他的著名作家开辟出来；开始写作时没有障碍，写作是件即便宜，又可名利双收的事情。在第五段和第六段，作者讲如何在写作中与旧意识进行搏斗，因为这些旧意识干扰写作，最后彻底摒弃了它们。

【解题思路与答案详解】

1) 【答案】[B]。本题在文章第二段的开始部分。它前一段讲的是：在秘书邀请我来此时，告诉我你们协会关心妇女的就业问题，并建议我讲一讲我个人的从业经验。因此可以判断，紧接着下面的文字，应该是关于作者个人从业经验方面的内容。在选项中只有选项[B]是这一内容，它承接了上一段的内容，与前面内容有顺承关系，衔接得非常自然。所以，选项[B]是正确答案。其意为：不错，我是妇女；不错，我有工作。但我有什么从业经验呢？我从事文学工作，这一职业比任何职业的经验都少。

2) 【答案】[D]。本题在文章的第三段的开始，第二段讲的是，写作事业的道路已经被我以前的著名或无名的作家铺平，我的步履也由他们调节好了(...many famous women, and many more unknown and forgotten, have been before me, making the path smooth, and regulating my steps.)。下文应该按照这一思路，讲我的写作没有什么困难之类的内容，选项[D]正是这一内容。而它后面的内容是：The family peace was not broken by the scratching of a pen. No demand was made upon the family purse...(家庭的和睦没有被沙沙的笔声而打破，它也不要求家庭提供金钱...) 这是对上面harmless的解释。本段落与上一个段落形成了顺承关系，衔接得非常自然。从上下文判断，这一选择是正确的。所以选项[D]是正确答案。其意为：因此，当我开始写作时，几乎没有什么障碍。写作是一项有名声而无害的职业。

3) 【答案】[A]。本题在段落的结尾。这道题可以直接从文字的线索确定正确的选项。它后一段落的第一句是：What could be easier than to write articles and to buy Persian cats with the profits?（还有什么比写文章，用稿酬买波斯猫更容易的呢？）而它前面的一句是：...by a letter from an editor containing a cheque for one pound ten shillings and sixpence.(来自编辑的一封信，里面装着一张1英镑10先令6便士的支票)，根据上下文判断，选项应涉及买猫，也应有cat这个词，在选项中搜索，会很容易的发现选项[A]中几次出现cat一词，内容也吻合。所以选项[A]是正确答案。其意为：为了说明我多么不配称为一个职业妇女，我对社会的困难多么无知，我不得不承认，我没有用这笔钱买食物，付房租，买鞋子...而是出去买了一只猫，一只漂亮的猫，一只波斯猫...。

4) 【答案】[C]。本题在段落的结尾处，又因为下一段落的开始也是一道题目，所以只能根据它的上文来推测其内容。上文讲，文章要有内容，我的文章是关于一位著名作家的小说。每当我评论书籍时，就感觉我要与某个幻影交战。这个幻影是一妇女，当我逐步对她了解多了，我根据一首著名的诗，称之为"房间里的天使"。下面的内容应该是关于这个幻影或"天使"的。在剩余4个选项中，只有选项[C]符合这一内容，它与上文非常吻合，是前面句组内容的进一步扩展，与之有顺承关系。所以选项[C]是正确答案。其意为：在我写评论时，是她总是出现在我与我的稿纸中间。是她每每这样打搅我，烦恼我，浪费我的时间，折磨我，我忍无可忍，最后把她杀了。

5) 【答案】[F]。本题应与上一题结合起来解答。根据本题后面的内容：她极富同情心。她异常的娇媚。她每天都在牺牲自己。...（She was intensely sympathetic. She was immensely charming. She sacrificed herself daily....）其中的代词She都指代上文中的the Angel in the House，所以应以此为线索，在剩余3个选项中选择，选项[F]是正确答案。其意为：你们年轻幸福的一代可能没有听说过她--也许不知道我说的"房间里的天使"是什么意思。我简单地描述一下她。