Bringing a giraffe into the world is a tall
order. A baby giraffe is born 10 feet high and usually lands on its
back. Within seconds it rolls over its legs under its body. Then the mother
giraffe rudely introduces its children to the reality(现实) of life.
In his book, A View from the Zoo, Gary Richmond
describes how a new-born giraffe learns its first lesson.
The mother giraffe lowers her head long enough to take
a quick look. Then she puts herself directly over her child. She waits for
about a minute, and then she does the most unreasonable(不合情理的) thing. She throws her long leg and kicks her baby,
so that it’s sent sprawling(四脚朝天).
When it doesn’t get up, the process is repeated again
and again. The struggle to rise is important. As the baby giraffe grows tired,
the mother kicks it again. Finally, it stands for the first time on its shaky(摇晃的) legs. Then the mother giraffe kicks it off its feet
again. Why? She wants it to remember how it got up. In the wild, a baby giraffe
must be able to get up as quickly as possible to stay with its group, where
there’s safety.
Another writer named Irving Stone understood this. He
spent a lifetime studying greatness, writing stories about such men as
Michelangelo, Vincent van Gogh, Sigmund Freud, and Charles Darwin.
Stone was once asked if he had found something that
runs through the lives of all these great people. He said, “I write about
people who sometime in their life have a dream of something. They’re beaten
over the head, knocked down and for years they get nowhere. But every time they
stand up again. And at the end of their lives they’ve realized some small parts
of what they set out(着手) to do .”
1.What does the underlined part “a tall order”
in Paragraph 1 mean?
A.A happy
thing. B.A difficult
task.
C.A big dream. D.A beautiful
scene.
2.What does the book A View from the Zoo talk
about?
A.A new-born
giraffe’s first lesson.
B.A mother
giraffe’s story.
C.The lives of
some great people.
D.The way for a
giraffe to stand up.
3.Why were some great people mentioned in the passage?
A.Because they
all worked hard.
B.Because they
all liked to read some special stories.
C.Because they
were born with some illnesses.
D.Because they
were similar to giraffes in some ways.
4.Which of the following statements is True according
to the passage?
A.This passage
is a description of giraffes’ living habits.
B.Baby giraffes
can’t stand up until three months old.
C.Irving Stone
spent a lifetime studying and writing stories about great people.
D.The great
people can’t stand up after they’re knocked down for years.
5.What would be the best title for the passage?
A.How to Raise
a Baby Giraffe.
B.Learning to
Get Back Up.
C.Stories about
the great people.
D.A Mother
Giraffe and Its Baby Giraffe.