A
Tang Dynasty poets sang for about three centuries in different tones. There were many famous poets living in the Tang period, such as Li Bai, Du Fu, Bai Juyi and Li Shangyin. Poems of the Tang Dynasty edited in the Qing Dynasty is a collection of more than 48, 900 poems that were written by over 2, 200 poets. But it didn’t cover all the poems of the Tang Dynasty.
During the Tang Dynasty, poems were recited when lovers walked under the moonlight. Poems were also recited when soldiers fought on the battlefield. People recited them in the open air or at temple fairs.
Tang Dynasty poets wrote poems to win fame and also to develop their temperament (性情). They poured out deep feelings for their friends and criticized injustice in the world through poems.
In the Tang Dynasty scholars had to be poets. Their readers were not only people of high social position but also common people. Poets recited poems, women singers sang poems and other ranks of people, including old women and children, read Tang poems. This atmosphere affected foreigners who visited the country at that time. As a result, Tang poetry was introduced to some adjacent countries, like Japan and Vietnam.
Tang poetry is a most brilliant page in the history of ancient Chinese literature. It’s a miracle (奇迹) in the cultural history of mankind. The Tang Dynasty was a powerful empire with a vast territory. It inherited (继承) Chinese civilization that went back to ancient times, was combined with the best of other cultures and adopted the benefits of other nations in the world. Tang poetry wasn’t the only spiritual wealth created by the Tang Dynasty people. Philosophy and religion, handwriting and painting, and music and dance all gained new peaks of development. Tang poetry, however, was the jewel in the crown and its greatest achievement.
【解题导语】 本文是一篇说明文。通过本文，我们可以更深入地了解唐诗的影响力和其对世界文化的贡献。
1．We can conclude from the passage that ________．
A．only people in the Tang Dynasty created poems
B．in total there were four famous poets in the Tang Dynasty
C．the Tang Dynasty probably existed for about three centuries
D．in the Tang Dynasty most common people were poets
C 解析：推理判断题。根据第一段第一句话可推断出C项正确。
2．Which of the following is NOT mentioned in the passage?
A．Why the poets created poems.
B．Some other kinds of spiritual wealth in the Tang Dynasty.
C．The significance and influence of the Tang Dynasty.
D．The editors of Poems of the Tang Dynasty.
D 解析：推理判断题。A项在第三段中提到了；B、C两项在最后一段提到了。根据第一段内容可知，文章没有具体交代Poems of the Tang Dynasty这本书是谁编辑的。故选D项。
3．The underlined word “adjacent” in Paragraph 4 probably means “________”．
A．strong B．neighboring
C．poor D．rich
B 解析：词义猜测题。根据句中的“like Japan and Vietnam”可推测出，adjacent意为“邻近的”。故B项意思相符。
4．What’s the best title for the passage?
A．The Great Tang Dynasty
B．Tang Dynasty Poetry
C．Famous Poets in the Tang Dynasty
D．The Development of the Tang Dynasty
B 解析：标题归纳题。本文主要叙述了唐诗在当时受欢迎的程度和影响力。故B项最适合作标题。
