hce_kmu
111年
英文
第 39 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?
Which of the following statements is NOT TRUE?
- A In both funerals, the families felt sad.
- B Both funerals involved religious beliefs.
- C In both funerals, the families tried to seek comfort.
- D In both funerals, it is believed that people go somewhere after death.
- E Both funerals showed similar attitudes toward the afterlife of the deceased.
思路引導 VIP
請仔細比較文章描述的兩場儀式：第一場提到的是「在上帝懷抱中的平靜與確信」，第二場則提到了「為了平息亡靈而焚燒物質、並感到恐懼與不安全感」。如果你是參加這兩場葬禮的家屬，你認為這兩群人對於「死後的世界」所抱持的心態是趨於一致，還是截然不同呢？
🤖
AI 詳解
AI 專屬家教
恭喜你精準地捕捉到了文章的核心對比，順利答對了這題！這類題目考驗的是我們在長篇閱讀中「去蕪存菁」的歸納能力，你能識破選項 (E) 的陷阱，代表你的邏輯判斷非常清晰。
殯葬觀念的鮮明對比
這篇文章的核心在於對照（Contrast）。第一段描述的 Nichols 女士喪禮，強調的是對生命的「慶祝」以及在上帝懷抱中的「平安」；相對地，第二段描述的傳統喪禮則充斥著物質主義、黑道介入與「安撫（appease）」神靈的行為。選項 (E) 宣稱兩者展現了「相似的態度」，這顯然與文末提到的「平靜與勝利（serenity and triumph）」對比「恐懼與虛空的物質主義（fear and empty materialism）」完全矛盾，因此它是最明顯的錯誤敘述。
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