.阅读理解
(2014·福建)
Walt Disney is credited for creating such wonderful things as Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse. However, he cannot take the credit for creating other wellloved characters, such as Cinderella and Snow White. They are almost automatically associated with Disney because Disney turned old fables(寓言) into cartoon movies.
The original Cinderella varies very much from the Disney version we know today. It started off with the girl mourning her mother's death and going to her tomb three times a day. In addition, there were only birds that helped Cinderella; there was no such thing as a fairy godmother or helpful mice, nor was there mention of a horse and carriage.
The stepsisters were cruel: they always threw Cinderella's food into the ashes of the fire, and made her sleep on the ashes on the floor, hence(因此)her name.
In the original story, the king's ball actually lasted for three days. With the help of the birds, the girl, beautifully dressed, danced with the prince on all three nights and the prince fell in love with her. However, she broke away from him to rush back home each night. On the last night, the prince placed something sticky on the stairs; as Cinderella made her escape, a shoe got stuck on it.
Here now is where the story becomes unpleasant: when the prince went to the house looking for the girl whose foot fit the shoe, the wicked(邪恶的) stepmother told one of her two daughters to cut off her big toe to fit into the shoe. The daughter did as told. So the prince took her away to be his bride. But, when they passed the tomb of Cinderella's mother, the birds called out to the prince，
“Turn and peep, there's blood within the shoe;
The shoe is too small, the true bride waits for you.”
Realizing he had been tricked, the prince returned the daughter to her mother. The other then had to cut off part of her heel in order to fit into the shoe, with the same result. Only Cinderella's foot fit perfectly and so the prince chose to marry her. The story ends with the wedding day; as Cinderella's two stepsisters followed her, pretending to be devoted to her so that they could enjoy the king's riches, two birds flew by and plucked(啄) out their eyes. Because of their wickedness and falsehood, they had to spend the rest of their days blind.
The original Cinderella is so different from the Disney version. Thank goodness Disney made such changes; it indeed was a wise move.
文章大意：Walt Disney在动画电影当中所创造的灰姑娘与原著当中的灰姑娘的情节很不一样，原著当中，灰姑娘的生活很不幸，继母及继母的两个女儿都对灰姑娘很残忍。当然，我们还是应该感谢Walt Disney所作出的改变。
1.What does the underlined word “They” in the first paragraph refer to?
A.Such wonderful things.
B.Other wellloved characters.
C.Old fables.
D.Cartoon movies.
答案：B 细节理解题。由文章第一段可知因为Walt Disney将“灰姑娘”和“白雪公主”等老寓言故事改编成了动画电影，所以他们(they)这些“受欢迎的人物”(wellloved characters)被自然的与Walt Disney联系起来。
2.How did Cinderella get her name?
A.The birds came up with it.
B.It was given by Disney.
C.It came from the word “ash”.
D.She got it from her mother.
答案：C 细节理解题。由文章第三段可知，继母的两个女儿经常讲灰姑娘的食物扔进炉灰里面，并让她在这些地板上的炉灰里面睡觉，而灰姑娘的名字也由此而来。
3.Which of the following is TRUE according to the original story?
A.Helpful mice got Cinderella a beautiful dress.
B.The ball was held to celebrate the prince's wedding.
C.Cinderella left her shoe on the stairs on purpose.
D.The birds told the prince that he had been cheated.
答案：D 细节理解题。由文章第二段当中的句子“there was no such thing as a fairy godmother or helpful mice...”可排除A项;由第四段可知王子是在舞会上认识的灰姑娘，而非在婚礼舞会上，可排除B项;在舞会的最后一晚，王子将很黏的东西涂在楼梯上，粘掉了灰姑娘的一只鞋子，故排除C项。由第五、六段可知是小鸟告诉王子他被骗了，故D项正确。
4.The moral of the original story is that ________.
A.a wicked person cannot escape punishment
B.a devoted person certainly deserves respect
C.a wellbehaved child earns a great reward
D.a dishonest child cannot get mother love
答案：A 主旨大意题。原著的结尾时继母的两个女儿被小鸟啄瞎了眼睛，受到了惩罚，所以“邪恶的人不能逃脱惩罚”。故A项正确。
5.What does the author think of the Disney version?
A.Excellent. B.Ordinary
C.Dull. D.Ridiculous.
答案：A 细节理解题。由文章最后一段可知，应该感谢Disney作出的改变，说明作者对Disney的版本非常认可，故应选A项excellent“极好的;完美的”;ordinary“普通的;平凡的”;dull“无趣的;呆滞的”;ridiculous“荒谬的;可笑的”。
