阅读训练：大学英语四级阅读理解练习十

Directions: There are 4 passages in this part. Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A), B), C) and D). You should decide on the best choice and mark the corresponding letter on the Answer Sheet with a single line through the centre.
　　Questions 1 to 5 are based on the following passage:
　　Disraeli was as wonderful a letter-writer as he was a novelist. His letters show that his capability to observe was matched only by his ability to describe, and they are made more lively by his overdeveloped sense of self-dramatization（戏剧化的自我表现）as well as by his permanent sense of the greatness of his own fate. He goes through these pages like some beautiful bird of paradise, spreading his multicolored feathers and never passing long enough to become boring.
　　As early as 1830, when only 26, he is found advising Benjamin Austin to carefully keep his letters for his descendents（后代）. Fortunately Austin and others followed his advice. As a result over 10,000 letters in his own hand have survived, quite apart from dictated letters. Disraeli rarely kept a diary, and poured his thoughts, desires and reflections into his correspondence.
　　What treasures there lie in store! We leave him in 1837 with his longed-for election to Parliament, but ahead seemingly appear the high peaks of his career with the twin mountains of his two premierships （首相职位）and his friendship with the Queen. Lord Esher maintained that the letters between Disraeli and Queen Victoria had largely been destroyed, but this was not so. A new, bright and searching light will eventually shine on that extraordinary political and romantic relationship.
　　1. This passage appears to be written by_________ .
　　 A) a friend of Disraeli's
　　 B) a neighbor of Disraeli's
　　 C) a literary critic
　　 D) an autobiographer（自传作者）
　　2．"… his capacity to observe was matched only by his ability to describe …" means _________ .
　　 A) he was as accomplished an observer as he was a descriptive writer
　　 B) his capacity to observe could not be compared with his ability to describe
　　 C) his capacity to observe is greater than his ability to describe
　　 D) his ability to observe is greater than his capacity to describe
　　3．During his lifetime Disraeli pursued the career of _______ .
　　 A) a letter-writer
　　 B) a politician
　　 C) a novelist
　　 D) a correspondent　　
　　4． Even as a young man Disraeli realized that one day his letters would be _______ .
　　 A) out-dated
　　 B) well-connected
　　 C) destroyed
　　 D) widely read
　　5． Disraeli's two premierships and his friendship with the Queen are described as being ________ .
　　 A) difficult to conquer
　　 B) unconquerable obstacles
　　 C) peaks of success
　　 D) impossible challenges