Question

The fictional Chinese-American detective Charlie Chan was the subject of popular books and movies for many decades. In recent years, however, the character has been criticized as an ill image of Asian-Americans.

Yunte Huang, an English professor at the University of California, says that’s not the case. He has been exploring the character and real-life policeman who inspired him.

Charlie Chan has been a familiar character to readers and film-goers, beginning in the 1920s. The detective solved crimes around the world in more than 40 films through the 1940s, and with the invention of television, found a new audience in the 1950s and 1960s.

Huang discovered Charlie Chan through books by American author Earl Derr Biggers, who created the character.

“One day, I happened to find two Charlie Chan novels. At that point I thought I knew that he was a negative character against Asians, but when I read the book,” he says, “I was immediately attracted. Ever since then, I’ve been a fan of Charlie Chan.”

As a fan of the books and films, Huang was surprised to learn that Charlie Chan was based on a real detective named Chang Apana, who was born to Chinese parents in Hawaii around 1871. Apana worked as a cowboy, and joined the Honolulu police force in 1898.

“He almost immediately became a local legend because as a former cowboy,” says Huang, “he would walk the most dangerous areas in Chinatown carrying a bullwhip（皮鞭）instead of a gun. He didn’t need that.”

Although some say the image of Charlie Chan, with his broken English, is embarrassing for Asian-Americans, Huang believes Chan’s broken English and unusual ancient sayings were part of his charm（魅力）.

“Let me just quote（引用）a few – ‘Actions speak louder than French,’ or ‘Mind like parachute (降落傘). Only function when open.’ Charlie Chan always owes these instructive sayings to Confucius’ eastern wisdom.

For Huang, the fictional Charlie Chan is highly entertaining, while the real-life policeman, Chang Apana, is a Chinese-American success, whose story is worth telling.

1.The passage mainly talks about ______________.

A．how Yunte Huang discovered Charlie Chan

B．how Charlie Chan became famous in the US

C．what Yunte Huang thought of Charlie Chan

D．how a cowboy became a famous detective

2.According to the passage, we know that Charlie Chan __________.

A．was a character in books and movies based on a real detective

B．was a famous actor starring in movies beginning from the 1920s

C．was a famous detective solving crimes all over the world

D．was a Chinese immigrant who became a local legend

3.Chang Apana didn’t need a gun as a weapon because__________.

A．he had his personal charm

B．he liked being a cowboy

C．he was not a true policeman

D．a bullwhip was more useful

4.It can be inferred from the passage that ________.

A．American author Earl Derr Biggers gave an ill picture of Asian-Americans

B．Yunte Huang believes Charlie Chan represents Asian wisdom in some way

C．Chan’s story was more popular with TV audience than readers and film-goers

D．Charlie Chan became an ill image of Asian-Americans when it first appeared.

 

Answer 1

【答案】

1.C

2.A

3.A

4.B

【解析】幾十年來，一位虛構的名叫陳查理的美籍華人偵探是很多暢銷書和電影的主人公。不過最近幾年，陳查理這個人物被批評為諷刺亞裔美國人的刻板形象。但是，作家黃運特認為這種批評沒有道理。在本文黃教授講述了他如何喜歡上這個人物，分析了陳查理的人物性格以及陳查理在現實生活中的警察原型。

1.主旨大意題。本文主要是講述黃教授對陳查理這個人物的看法，以此來反駁人們對陳查理這個人物形象的批評。

2.細節理解題。由第一段可知，陳查理是小說和電影中虛構的人物。

3.細節判斷題。陳查理與眾不同的地方，正是他的個人魅力所在。

4.推理判斷題。根據文章的最后兩段可知，陳查理這個人物是東方智慧的結晶，也是一個成功的警察形象，因此，他的故事值得一讀。