2020江苏高考英语二轮练习：题型重组练 第20组

第二十组

(建议用时：20分钟)

Ⅰ.阅读理解

Thomas had achieved fame as a poet in the 1930s and had spent World War Two in London writing propaganda(宣传) films.But by 1946, after the end of the war, he needed a regular income to support his wife Caitlin, and children Llewelyn and Aeronwy.Luckily he had a new admirer in the form of Margaret Taylor, wife of noted historian and broadcaster A．J.P. Taylor.Introduced as an “entertaining guest” by a mutual friend, he had succeeded in charming Mrs Taylor, who put the family up in a summerhouse in their garden in the grounds of Magdalen College(牛津大学莫德林学院)．①

Thomas had a love­hate relationship with Oxford, according to his biographer Andrew Lycett.His poetry may have brought him respect and celebrity in literary circles, but in Oxford he felt at odds with his surroundings.“His father, who had been a schoolmaster in Swansea, would have liked him to go to Oxford University，” Mr Lycett explains. “When he did actually get to Oxford he wasn’t actually at the university.It was a curious period.He was in this academic environment though he wasn’t a born academic himself.But he generally enjoyed himself because he got to know some of the professors there.He wasn’t popular among them, because they thought he was a bit of a wastrel(不务正业者), so he hung out in pubs and met students.”②Thomas also took paid jobs at the BBC, regularly travelling to London and became something of a celebrity through appearing on panel show.③

“He didn’t really endear(使受垂青) himself to Professor Taylor，”Mr Lycett says.“He_overstayed_his_welcome.The professor liked to have a barrel of beer in the house and Dylan would finish it off.He just took a dislike to him, partly because, reading between the lines, his wife rather fancied this young man.”Mark Davies, an Oxford historian, says Professor Taylor disliked the poet “intensely”．“He ended up being banished(驱逐) a safe distance away from his wife，” he adds.

This banishment was in the picturesque village of South Leigh, nine miles out from the city, in a house set up for Thomas by Margaret, who continued to be his proud sponsor.However, it was here that his granddaughter Hannah Ellis believes Thomas found much of the inspiration for one of his most famous works, the radio drama Under Milk Wood.“South Leigh is hugely important because that was one of those villages where he met all the different characters and it helped him arouse his passion，” she says.“The play had been a seed from when he was about 20 and I think it was that village lifestyle and all the characters that helped.He liked sitting in the corner of the pub, watching all the drama going on.Also he had somewhere quiet to work and a home.For such a long time he hadn’t settled and it was a good period in his life.”④