Why People Use Pseudonyms
You can’t choose the name you are given at birth, but in many countries you can change it legally when you reach adulthood. Of course, most people never change their names 51 they feel unhappy about them. However, some people do 52 this course of action—particularly artists! What makes an artist want to change their name? sometimes it’s for purely __53__ reasons, such as the Nobel Prize winning poet from Chile, Neftali Reyes. He didn’t want his father to ___54__ he has writing poetry, so he changed his name to Pablo Neruda when he was a young man.__55__ other times the reason may appear eccentric; take the case of the Portuguese poet Fernando Pessoa,____56_ wrote under 75 different names. The reason? “When I use a different name, I always write in a different way,” he explained. In most cases,__57__, the reason is for social, historical, political, or cultural reasons. Here are some of the most __58__:
The person’s real name is just ___59__ long and difficult to remember. Let’s be honest, Madonna Louise Ciccone is not as ___60_ to remember as just plain “Madonna”. And short names are much easier to remember: William Bradley became Brad Pitt and Edson Arantes do Nascimento became Pele.
Sometimes names are changed for marketing___61_. For example , if a name sounds too “foreign”, it may be changed to something that is more recognizable in a ___62_. So in the film world, Ramon Estevez adopted the name Martin Sheen. Or maybe the artist’s real name doesn’t sound very attractive--- Chad Everett does__63_ a lot better than Raymond Cramton.
Artists sometimes___64__ the name of someone they admire. Robert Zimmerman changed his name to Boo Dylan because of his admiration for the Welsh poet, Dylan Thomas.
Another reason may be practicality: in the past, women found it very difficult to get published. To
___65_ this situation they sometimes gave themselves men’s names, so the English author Mary Ann Evans became George Eliot, and she did get her books published!
51. A) as if B) as C) even if D) even
52. A) take B) make C) do D) have
53. A) private B) individual C) own D)personal
54. A) understand B) know C) recognize D) observe
55. A) at B) on C) in D) during
56. A) whom B) which C) who D) that
57. A) but B) although C) though D) however
58. A) popular B) common C)ordinary D) average
59. A) so B) too C) very D) much
60. A) easy B) short C) simple D) brief
61. A) aims B)ends C) goals D)purposes
62. A) market B) film C)country D) business
63. A) look B) sound C) appear D) seem
64. A) choose B) give C) change D) get
65. A) admit B) assure C) avoid D) affect
答案解析:
51 C
本句前半句提到“大多数人不会改名字”,因此可以判断是选有让步转折意义的“even if”,其他的选项都没有这个意思,尤其要注意even是副词,不可以这样用于句首引出从句。
52 A
本句的意思是想说“有些人,尤其是艺术家们,会更改名字”。 不过,本句没有直接说change their names而是说采取行动,那么只能用take与action 进行搭配,其他动词都不合适。
53 D
根据后面 such as 后所举的例子知道,某些人改名字完全出于个人的原因,故选择personal. private是指与公众无关的,私隐的;individual 是与集体对立而言,个体的;而own则必须放在物主代词的后面一起来表达属于某人的。
54 B
本句是想说他改名字是为了不让父亲了解到他在写诗这件事。因此选know. understand是理解的意思,recognize是认出,observe是察觉、观察到的意思。
55 A
本句里的times是时机、场合的意思,at other times是表示“其他的情况”,还有其他的固定搭配也是用at 这个介词,如at all times, at the best of times等等,其他介词无此搭配。
56 C
本句是举葡萄牙人的例子来说明某些人更改名字的理由很奇怪,后半句是想说此人用过75个不同的名字。对本句结构做出分析后,应该是非限定性定语从句对此诗人做出补充解释,故用who. That 不能用于非限定性定语从句,which则不能表示人,只能表示物,whom是用来做宾格形式只能作宾语不能作主语。
57 D
如果注意到了此空前后的逗号的话就应该知道需要填一个副词来表示转折了,四个选项中只有however是副词,所以其他的选项都不对。
58 B
前一句刚说到大家改名字有社会、历史、政治、文化等方面的原因,通过下面几段里所给出的例子可以知道本句是想说“下面是几种常见的原因”, 所以选common用于指常常发生的情况,而popular是指大家都喜欢的,ordinary和average则都是指没什么特别的。
59 B
根据后文,本句是想说某些人的名字太长,太难不好记住,是一个too…to…的结构,表达“太……而不能……”的意思。
60 A
根据上下文知道,本句是想说简单明了的Madonna更容易记住。从本句中的plain一词可以断定不是想说长短,所以short和brief都不对,而simple则是与复杂相对立的,因此选用easy一词与前句的difficult来对应,后一句话中的easier to remember也可以帮助我们选择easy.
61 D
此题四个选项都能表示目的,但各有不同,aim是偏重于想要取得的目标;end往往表示最终目的,而且常常用于指与手段相对应的目的;goal 则更多的指个人或者某群体决心要达到的目标,通常指一般的趋势或方向而没有最终的具体目标;而purpose则主要是指所向往的结果,是行为、行动的缘由。
62 A
根据前一句中的marketing purposes一词可以判断此句是想说把名字改成在市场上更好识记的,因此选market,而不是在某个国家、某部电影或者是某笔生意里更容易辨识。
63 B
根据前半句里的doesnt sound可以判断此处应该选用sound 来表示听上去怎样,其他三个选项里的词意上不恰当。
64 A
从后面一句可以推断此句是想艺术家有时候根据自己所欣赏的人的名字给自己取笔名或艺名。如果用give一词的话则必须有themselves来作间接宾语,不然就不是给他们自己取名字了。也不能用change,但如果用change into的话还可以表示把名字改成别的名字,而get则是“获得、得到的意思”,所以只能用choose来表示“选用”的意思。
65 C
本句是想说为了不让作品得不到出版的情况而出现而取个男子的名字,因此选avoid, admit是承认的意思,assure是确认的意思,affect则是影响的意思。