I had an experience some years ago, which taught me something about the ways in which people make a bad situation worse by themselves. One January, I had to hold two funerals on successive days for two elderly women in my community. Both had died “full of years”, as the Bible would say .Their homes happened to be near each other, so I paid condolence(吊唁)calls on the two families on the same afternoon.
At the first home, the son of the deceased woman said to me, ”If only I had sent my mother to Florida and gotten her out of this cold and snow, she would be alive today. It’s my fault that she died. ”At the second home, the son of the other deceased woman said, “If only I hadn’t insisted on my mother’s going to Florida, she would be alive today .That long airplane ride, the sudden change of climate ,was more than she could take．It’s my fault that she’s dead.”
You see that any time there is a death, the survivors will feel guilty. Because the course of action they took turned out bad, they believe that the opposite course------keeping mother at home, putting off the operation----would have turned out better. After all, how could it have turned out any worse?
There seem to be two elements involved in our willingness to feel guilty. The first is our pressing need to believe that the world makes sense, that there is a cause for every effect and a reason for everything that happens. That leads us to find patterns and connections both where they really exist and where they exist only in our minds.
The second element is the view that we are the cause of what happens, especially the bad things that happen. It seems to be a short step from believing that every event has a cause to believing that every disaster is our fault. The roots of this feeling may lie in our childhood.
A baby comes to think that the world exists to meet his needｓ,and that he makes everything happen in it. He wakes up in the morning and summons the rest of the world to his tasks. He cries, and someone comes to attend to him. When he is hungry, people feed him，and when he is wet, people change him. Very often, we don not completely outgrow that childish view that our wishes cause things to happen.
小题1:The author had to conduct the two women’s funerals probably because_______.
A．he was minister of the local church
B．he wanted to comfort the two families
C．he was an official of the community
D．he had great pity for the deceased小题2:People feel guilty for the death of their loved ones because________.
A．they can’t find a better way of express their sorrow
B．they have neglected the natural course of events
C．they believe that they were the reason
D．the don’t know things often turn in the opposite direction小题3:According to the main passage, the underlined part in Paragraph 4 probably means that________.
A．everything in the world is predetermined
B．there’s an explanation for everything in the world
C．the world can be interpreted in different ways
D．we have to be sensible in order to understand the world小题4:What’s the main idea of the message?
A .Life and death is an unsolved mystery.
B. Never feel guilty all the time because not every disaster is our fault.
C Every story should have a happy ending.
D. In general, the survivors will feel guilty about the people who passed away.
小题1:A
小题2:C
小题3:B
小题4:B
题目分析：本文通过一个故事告诉我们不要总是责备自己，世界上的一切事情的发生都有自己的原因，很多情况下和我们没有关系，也不必责备自己。
小题1:A 推理题。根据文章第一段One January, I had to hold two funerals on successive days for two elderly women in my community.可知作者要主持两次葬礼，说明他是牧师，故A正确。
小题2:C 推理题。根据文章第二段开始和结束At the first home, the son of the deceased woman said to me, ”If only I had sent my mother to Florida and gotten her out of this cold and snow, she would be alive today. It’s my fault that she died. ”和.That long airplane ride, the sudden change of climate ,was more than she could take．It’s my fault that she’s dead.”可知他们都认为自己是导致事情发生的原因。故C正确。
小题3:B 推理题。根据本句The first is our pressing need to believe that the world makes sense, that there is a cause for every effect and a reason for everything that happens.可知在世界上发生的每一件事情都有自己的原因。故B正确。
小题4:B 主旨大意题。本文通过一个故事告诉我们不要总是责备自己，世界上的一切事情的发生都有自己的原因，很多情况下和我们没有关系，也不必责备自己。故B正确。
点评：本文通过一个故事告诉我们不要总是责备自己，世界上的一切事情的发生都有自己的原因，很多情况下和我们没有关系，也不必责备自己。考察推测题较多，推断题测试考生在阅读基础上的逻辑推理能力，要求考生根据文章所述事件的逻辑关系，对未说明的趋势或结局作出合理的推断；或根据作者所阐述的观点理论，对文章未涉及的现象、事例给以解释。考生首先要仔细阅读短文，完整了解信息，准确把握作者观点。