2026考研英语一 · 新题型

Directions: The following paragraphs are given in a wrong order. For questions 41-45, you are required to reorganize these paragraphs into a coherent text by choosing from the list A-H and filling them into the numbered boxes. Paragraphs F, H, and C have been correctly placed. Mark your answers on the ANSWER SHEET. (10 points)

A. And just read a single poem. In his Oxford lectures, Seamus Heaney argued that a poem draws a picture of reality, a “glimpsed alternative” that sets up a contradiction with your own, in ways little and large. The negotiation, between you and it, is the heart of the matter. What does the poet see that you don’t? What does the difference mean? It could be one of the best conversations you ever have. Forget self-help books; reading is self-help in action.

B. But for the most part, this isn’t what the business community does. I have yet to meet a chief executive who reads regularly. Many skip newspapers, and magazines are a stretch. They don’t have time, they say. It’s inefficient; they can get the information they need from those around them. At a pinch, they might pick up a business book before a long flight, in the hope that, like a cookbook, it will provide a foolproof recipe. Some are drawn to what I think of as “business car crash” books—the stories of Theranos, Purdue, or WeWork. But outside those narrow pools of interest, a vast ocean awaits, bountiful with simmering ideas, mental adventure and imaginative refreshment.

C. Neuroscientists have been at pains to demonstrate that the pleasure a book provides isn’t indulgence; it’s good for you. Reading will keep you better informed about the world but it can also improve our tech-shattered ability to concentrate. Standing in the shoes of others fine tunes our social understanding, useful as we struggle to understand friends, neighbours, customers and co-workers. Different parts of our brain engage as we simulate scenes, characters and mental states. Our imagination—remember that?—is rekindled.

D. It is undoubtedly true that all work and no play really does make Jack, or Jill, dull. The cure is right at hand. Reading is cheap, easy and, most important, it’s fun. Liberate your imagination this year.

E. We are living through a golden age of science writing, so lucid and accessible that even lay readers can relish the unpredictability of discovery. Daunted by uncertainty? Stand in the shoes of scientists and witness the degree to which breakthroughs emerge from accidents, conflict and sheer mental stamina. “We are never sure of anything,” says the physicist (and writer) Carlo Rovelli.

F. You don’t need to get out more. If, like most business people, you spend your life dashing from office to plane, train to home, boardroom to washroom, what you really need to do is stay in more, sit down—and read a book.

G. Reading has also been found to make us more helpful, to reduce bias, and even to increase longevity—something we will enjoy all the more if we have a good book in our hands. (And yes, all these benefits are more closely associated with physical books than digital ones.)

H. Read fiction. Any fiction. Free yourself from algorithms and choose—anything. You don’t need technology for an immersive experience—just surrender to narratives across time and place. Modern (Sebastian Barry or Olga Tokarczuk), classic (Virginia Woolf or James Baldwin) or genre (Stephen King, Margaret Atwood, Georges Simenon)—it doesn’t matter. Fiction invites you to loiter unseen in the lives of others. We are living through a golden age of translation too, so you can go anywhere in time or place.

F → 41. → 42. → H → 43. → C → 44. → 45.