hce_kmu
111年
英文
第 36 題
📖 題組：
While death and taxes are the two facts of life, not all funerals are alike. During the same week, there were two news reports related to funerals that reflected glaring differences. The first concerned the death of Joanna Nichols, the founder of the Children’s Hearing Foundation in Taipei. Nichols dedicated the last twenty-three years of her life to bringing speech, communication, and hope to children with hearing impairments. She died of cervical cancer at the age of forty-seven. In her obituary, her death was portrayed as a peaceful return to the eternal rest in the arms of a loving God, and her funeral ceremony was an invitation to celebrate her life. The second article reported the involvement of gangsters in the funeral enterprise. In Taiwan, funerals are big business. To secure the well-being of the deceased and appease their spirits in the afterlife, relatives would burn paper money, houses, cars and whatever paper replicas of worldly comforts they could offer. Professional mourners are hired to wail to proclaim piety. Singers and even strip dancers have become common sights at funerals. In fact, the amount of money spent on a funeral becomes indicative of the wealth and status of the family in mourning. As such, funerals have become a lucrative endeavor for funeral homes, and the underworld has begun to stake out their claims. Compare the two reports. Apart from the genuine sorrow of the grieving families, the first speaks of peace in the face of death and quiet confidence in life after death, while the second reflects fear and insecurity in the after world. Nichols’ funeral marked the celebration of her life lived, in contrast to the average funeral which marks the finality of death. Final respects to Nichols were paid with dignity by remembering and appreciating who she was rather than by paying big money for the funeral. Last of all, grief was expressed and comfort gained through the knowledge of a loving God rather than through the paid cries of professional mourners. Why would one funeral, the sacred rite of death, reflect serenity and triumph, while another, also a religious rite of death, hint at fear and empty materialism?
While death and taxes are the two facts of life, not all funerals are alike. During the same week, there were two news reports related to funerals that reflected glaring differences. The first concerned the death of Joanna Nichols, the founder of the Children’s Hearing Foundation in Taipei. Nichols dedicated the last twenty-three years of her life to bringing speech, communication, and hope to children with hearing impairments. She died of cervical cancer at the age of forty-seven. In her obituary, her death was portrayed as a peaceful return to the eternal rest in the arms of a loving God, and her funeral ceremony was an invitation to celebrate her life. The second article reported the involvement of gangsters in the funeral enterprise. In Taiwan, funerals are big business. To secure the well-being of the deceased and appease their spirits in the afterlife, relatives would burn paper money, houses, cars and whatever paper replicas of worldly comforts they could offer. Professional mourners are hired to wail to proclaim piety. Singers and even strip dancers have become common sights at funerals. In fact, the amount of money spent on a funeral becomes indicative of the wealth and status of the family in mourning. As such, funerals have become a lucrative endeavor for funeral homes, and the underworld has begun to stake out their claims. Compare the two reports. Apart from the genuine sorrow of the grieving families, the first speaks of peace in the face of death and quiet confidence in life after death, while the second reflects fear and insecurity in the after world. Nichols’ funeral marked the celebration of her life lived, in contrast to the average funeral which marks the finality of death. Final respects to Nichols were paid with dignity by remembering and appreciating who she was rather than by paying big money for the funeral. Last of all, grief was expressed and comfort gained through the knowledge of a loving God rather than through the paid cries of professional mourners. Why would one funeral, the sacred rite of death, reflect serenity and triumph, while another, also a religious rite of death, hint at fear and empty materialism?
The main purpose of this article is to ____.
- A compare two religions
- B describe differences between two funerals
- C argue that all funerals are similar in some ways
- D explain why funerals have become profitable in Taiwan
- E introduce Joanna Nichols’ contribution to children with hearing impairments
思路引導 VIP
請你觀察文章第一段的第一句話，以及最後一段開頭的問句，作者分別使用了哪些詞彙來連結這兩個截然不同的案例？這些詞彙通常暗示作者正在進行什麼樣的寫作活動（例如：證明規律、描述演進，還是對照差異）？
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AI 詳解
AI 專屬家教
恭喜你精準地掌握了文章的整體脈絡！這題你選對了，代表你成功看穿了作者的寫作佈局。這篇文章的架構非常清晰，從首段開宗明義提到「並非所有喪禮都一樣」，隨後便詳細鋪陳了兩種截然不同的情境：一位是致力於公益的女士（Joanna Nichols）那安詳且充滿生命慶典意義的儀式；另一邊則是充滿物質色彩、甚至有黑道介入的傳統台式葬禮。
核心主旨：對照與反思
作者透過具體的細節——例如「平靜的安息」對比「專業哭喪與物慾」，以及「尊嚴」對比「金錢地位」——來引導讀者思考死亡儀式的本質。這種對比（Comparison）的寫作手法是這類測驗中最常見的命題點。你沒有被局部細節（如選項 E 的人物生平或選項 D 的喪禮利潤）所迷惑，而是站在高處看清了兩者之間的差異性，這正是解讀主旨題最重要的核心能力。
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