As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect. He was lying on his hard, as it were armor-plated, back and when he lifted his head a little he could see his dome-like brown belly divided into stiff arched segments on top of which the bed quilt could hardly keep in position and was about to slide off completely. His numerous legs, which were pitifully thin compared to the rest of his body, waved helplessly before his eyes.
What has happened to me? he thought. It was no dream. His room, a regular human bedroom, only rather too small, lay quiet between the four familiar white walls. Above the table on which a collection of cloth samples was unpacked and spread out- Samsa was a commercial traveler-hung the picture which he had recently cut out of an illustrated magazine and put into a pretty golden frame. It showed a lady. Gregor’s eyes turned next to the window, and the overcast sky-one could hear rain drops beating on the window-made him quite melancholy(忧郁的). What about sleeping a little longer and forgetting all this nonsense, he thought, but it could not be done, for he was accustomed to sleep on his right side and in his present condition he could not turn himself over. However violently he forced himself towards his right side he always rolled on to his back again. He tried it at least a hundred times, shutting his eyes to keep from seeing his struggling legs, and only stopped when he began to feel in him a faint ache he had never experienced before.
He thought: ”what an exhausting job I’ve picked on!“ Traveling about day in, day out. It’s much more boring work than doing the actual business in the office, and on top of that there’s the trouble of constant traveling, of worrying about train connections, the bed and irregular meals, casual acquaintances that are always new and never become intimate friends. The devil take it all! He felt a slight itching up on his belly; slowly pushed himself on his back nearer to the top of the bed so that he could lift his head more easily; identified the itching place which was surrounded by many small white spots the nature of which he could not understand and made to touch it with a leg, but drew the leg back immediately, for the contact made a cold shiver run through him.
……(
to be continued)
【小题1】What might Gregor Samsa look like when he woke up?
| A．A normal commercial traveler. | B．Something ridiculous. |
| C．A huge insect with thick legs. | D．A lady in the gift frame. |
【小题2】What can we know about Samsa’s room?
| A．It was a regular room and tidy. |
| B．There was no window for him to look outside his tiny room. |
| C．Its walls were dull and pale. |
| D．There was a magazine and a pretty golden frame on the table. |
【小题3】How might Samsa feel when he found his transformation?
| A．Extremely frightened. | B．Indifferent. |
| C．Relieved. | D．Unreal. |
【小题4】Samsa couldn’t turn over because ___________.
| A．his present condition restricted him |
| B．it rained hard outside, which distracted him |
| C．it was just the right position and the side he used to lie in |
| D．it was painful to do as he might knock his feet on the wall |
【小题5】What can we conclude from the last paragraph?
| A．Samsa felt unsatisfied about his life before. |
| B．Samsa would rather do actual business. |
| C．Samsa couldn’t identify where was itching however he tried. |
| D．The white spots felt cold when Samsa touched them. |
