Passage 1
When I was in fourth grade,I worked part-time as a paperboy.Mrs.Stanley was one of my customers.She’d watch me coming down her street,and by the time I’d biked up to her doorstep,there’d be a cold drink waiting.I’d sit and drink while she talked.
Mrs.Stanley talked mostly about her dead husband.“Mr.Stanley and I went shopping this morning,” she’d say.The first time she said that,soda (汽水) went up my nose.
I told my father how Mrs.Stanley talked as if Mr.Stanley were still alive.Dad said she was probably lonely,and that I ought to sit and listen and nod my head and smile,and maybe she’d work it out of her system.So that’s what I did,and it turned out Dad was right.After a while she seemed content to leave her husband over at the cemetery (墓地).
I finally quit delivering newspapers and didn’t see Mrs.Stanley for several years.Then we crossed paths at a church fund-raiser (募捐活动).She was spooning mashed potatoes and looking happy.Four years ago,she had to offer her paperboy a drink to have someone to talk with.Now she had friends.Her husband was gone,but life went on.
I live in the city now,and my paperboy is a lady named Edna with three kids.She asks me how I’m doing.When I don’t say “fine,” she sticks around to hear my problems.She’s lived in the city most of her life,but she knows about the community.The community isn’t so much a place as it is a state of mind.You find it whenever people ask how you’re doing because they care,and not because they’re getting paid to do so.Sometimes it’s good to just smile,nod your head and listen.
1.Why did soda go up the author’s nose one time?
A.He was talking fast. B.He was shocked.
C.He was in a hurry. D.He was absent-minded.
2.Why did the author sit and listen to Mrs.Stanley according to Paragraph 3?
A.He enjoyed the drink.
B.He wanted to be helpful.
C.He took the chance to rest.
D.He tried to please his dad.
3.Which of the following can replace the underlined phrase “work it out of her system”?
A.Recover from her sadness.
B.Move out of the neighborhood.
C.Turn to her old friends.
D.Speak out about her past.
4.What does the author think people in a community should do?
A.Open up to others. B.Depend on each other.
C.Pay for others’ help. D.Care about one another.
Passage 2
Five years ago,when I taught art at a school in Seattle,I used Tinkertoys as a test at the beginning of a term to find out something about my students.I put a small set of Tinkertoys in front of each student,and said:“Make something out of the Tinkertoys.You have 45 minutes today—and 45 minutes each day for the rest of the week.”
A few students hesitated to start.They waited to see what the rest of the class would do.Several others checked the instructions and made something according to one of the model plans provided.Another group built something out of their own imaginations.
Once I had a boy who worked experimentally with Tinkertoys in his free time.His constructions filled a shelf in the art classroom and a good part of his bedroom at home.I was delighted at the presence of such a student.Here was an exceptionally creative mind at work.His presence meant that I had an unexpected teaching assistant in class whose creativity would infect(感染) other students.
Encouraging this kind of thinking has a downside.I ran the risk of losing those students who had a different style of thinking.Without fail one would declare,“But I’m just not creative.”
“Do you dream at night when you’re asleep?”
“Oh,sure.”
“So tell me one of your most interesting dreams.”The student would tell something wildly imaginative.Flying in the sky or in a time machine or growing three heads.“That’s pretty creative.Who does that for you?”
“Nobody.I do it.”
“Really—at night,when you’re asleep?”
“Sure.”
“Try doing it in the daytime,in class,okay?”
1.The teacher used Tinkertoys in class in order to .
A.know more about the students
B.make the lessons more exciting
C.raise the students’ interest in art
D.teach the students about toy design
2.What do we know about the boy mentioned in Paragraph 3?
A.He liked to help his teacher.
B.He preferred to study alone.
C.He was active in class.
D.He was imaginative.
3.What does the underlined word “downside”in Paragraph 4 probably mean?
A.Mistake. B.Drawback.
C.Difficulty. D.Burden.
4.Why did the teacher ask the students to talk about their dreams?
A.To help them to see their creativity.
B.To find out about their sleeping habits.
C.To help them to improve their memory.
D.To find out about their ways of thinking.
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