Usually, people visit bookstores to buy books. But those who walk into Cotoha come to see its owner, Chen Bing-Hong. They bring him books with different problems. Some have lost their covers, some are missing a few pages, and some have pages that are falling out. Chen can always fix the books and make them whole again.
Chen sees himself as a doctor. He says that books, like people, get sick and need help. In Taiwan, there are not many "doctors" like him, and most of them work for big libraries and museums. If big libraries and museums are hospitals, Chen's bookstore is a health center. Big libraries and museums fix important old books with serious problems, and Chen helps people with books that have smaller problems. However, the smaller size of the problems doesn't mean Chen's job is less important.
Chen gave an example of a science book he once worked on. It was very old and half of its cover was lost. Its owner still wanted to keep it because it was a gift from a teacher who helped him follow his dream of studying science. When he got his book back, he was very surprised at the new-old book. He felt he was brought back to the days with his teacher. Seeing the owner's smile made Chen happy, because smiles like that are what his magic is for.
What is his magic?
A
Fixing books
B
Making book owners smile
C
Finding books that are long lost
D
Changing his bookstore into a library
正解:(A) Fixing books
his magic(他的魔法)指的是什麼?
(A) 修書。
(B) 讓書主露出笑容。
(C) 找回遺失已久的書。
(D) 把書店改成一間圖書館。
詳解
這題是全篇最細的一刀,切在一個介系詞上。
原句:「smiles like that are what his magic is for.」注意 for 這個字,它講的是目的。整句直譯是「那樣的笑容,是他的魔法『所為的』東西」,也就是:笑容是魔法的目的,不是魔法本身。魔法是那個「能產生笑容的能力」。回頭看全文,Chen 的能力是什麼?第一段就講了:「Chen can always fix the books and make them whole again.」他總能把書修好、修完整。所以, his magic 就是他的修書手藝,選 (A)。
(B) Making book owners smile.:全卷數一數二狠的干擾項。smile 就躺在劃線詞旁邊,距離近到伸手可及,「找最近的線索」這個平常好用的習慣,在這題剛好把你帶進溝裡。但句子的文法結構說得很清楚:笑容是 what his magic is for,魔法服務的對象,不是魔法的內容。手段和目的一對調,就從對變錯。
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(C) Finding books that are long lost.:文章講的是書「壞了」被修好(lost 的是 covers 和 pages,封面和書頁),不是書「不見了」被找回。把 lost 這個字從「缺損」偷渡成「遺失」,考的是你有沒有看清 lost 修飾的對象。
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(D) Changing his bookstore into a library.:文章的比喻是圖書館像「醫院」、Chen 的店像「衛生所」,兩者是分工不同的平行角色,從沒說要把誰變成誰。把比喻讀成計畫的人會選它。