Question

A city child’s summer is spent in the street in front of his home, and all through the long summer vacations I sat on the edge of the street and watched enviously the other boys on the block play baseball. I was never asked to take part even when one team had a member missing—not out of special cruelty, but because they took it for granted I would be no good at it. They were right, of course.

     I would never forget the wonderful evening when something changed. The baseball ended about eight or eight thirty when it grew dark. Then it was the custom of the boys to retire to a little stoop(门廊) that stuck out from the candy store on the corner and that somehow had become theirs. No grownup ever sat there or attempted to. There the boys would sit, mostly talking about the games played during the day and of the game to be played tomorrow. Then long silences would fall and the boys would wander off one by one. It was just after one of those long silences that my life as an outsider changed. I can no longer remember which boy it was that summer evening who broke the silence with a question: but whoever he was, I nod to him gratefully now. “What’s in those books you’re always reading?” he asked casually. “Stories,” I answered. “What kind?” asked somebody else without much interest.

     Nor do I know what drove me to behave as I did,for usually I just sat there in silence, glad enough to be allowed to reain among them; but instead of answering his question, I told them for two hours the story I was reading at the moment. The book was Sister Carrie. They listened bug-eyed and breathless. I must have told it well, but I think there was another and deeper reason that made them to keep an audience. Listening to a tale being told in the dark is one of the most ancient of man’s entertainments, but I was offering them as well, without being aware of doing it, a new and exciting experience.

     The books they themselves read were the Rover Boys or Tom Swift or G.A.Henty. I had read them too, but at thirteen I had long since left them behind. Since I was much alone I had become an enthusiastic reader and I had gone through the books-for-boys series. In those days there was no reading material between children’s and grownups’books or I could find none. I had gone right fromTome Swift and His Flying Machine to Theodore Dreiser and Sister Carrie. Dreiser had hit my young mind, and they listened to me tell the story with some of the wonder that I had had in reading it.

     The next night and many nights thereafter, a kind of unspoken ritual (仪式) took place. As it grew dark, I would take my place in the center of the stoop and begin the evening’s tale. Some nights, in order to taste my victory more completely, I cheated. I would stop at the most exciting part of a story by Jack London or Bret Harte, and without warning tell them that that was as far as I had gone in the book and it would have to be continued the following evening. It was not true, of course; but I had to make certain of my new-found power and position. I enjoyed the long summer evenings until school began in the fall. Other words of mine have been listened to by larger and more fashionable audiences, but for that tough and athletic one that sat close on the stoop outside the candy store, I have an unreasoning love that will last forever.

1.Watching the boys playing baseball, the writer must have felt ________.

A. bitter and lonely                            B. special and different

C. pleased and excited                         D. disturbed and annoyed 

2.The writer feels grateful even now to the boy who asked the question because the boy ________.

A. invited him to join in their game       

B. liked the book that he was reading

C. broke the long silence of that summer evening

D. offered him an opportunity that changed his life

3.According to Paragraph 3, story-telling was popular among the boys basically because ________.

A. the story was from a children’s book         

B. listening to tales was an age-old practice

C. the boys had few entertainments after dark    

D. the boys didn’t read books by themselves

4.The boys were attracted to Sister Carrie because ________.

A. it was written by Theodore Dreiser           

B. it was specifically targeted at boys

C. it gave them a deeper feeling of pleasure       

D. it talked about the wonders of the world

5.Sometimes the writer stopped at the most exciting part of a story to _______.

A. play a mean trick on the boys                

B. experience more joy of achievement

C. add his own imagination to the story         

D. help the boys understand the story better

6.What is the message conveyed in the story?

A. One can find his position in life in his own way.

B. Friendship is built upon respect for each other.

C. Reading is more important than playing games.

D. Adult habits are developed from childhood.

 

Answer 1

1.A

2.D

3.B

4.C

5.B

6.A

【解析】

试题分析：讲述了一个曾经不合群的少年，通过自己特长，增强自信，充分融入他向往群体的故事，这位少年成长经历的同时，也必定感受到阅读的力量——因为正是阅读帮他找到了自信。

1.1】A 细节理解题。看着孩子们打棒球，作者感觉怎样？根据短文第一段的内容可知，作者羡慕地看着一些孩子打棒球，但是他们从来不邀请作者参加，即使场上少一个人。所以作者的感受应该是孤独的，苦涩的。故选A。

2.2】D 推理判断题。作者直到现在都对那个问他问题的男孩充满感激是因为什么？根据短文第二段的内容可知，因为这个男孩的提问，打破了沉默，也让一直总是沉默的作者融入了他们当中，改变了作者的生活。故应该选D。

3.3】B细节理解题。根据第三段的内容，讲故事在这些孩子们孩子很受欢迎，是因为什么？根据第三段中Listening to a tale being told in the dark is one of the most ancient of man’s entertainments可知，在晚上听故事是男人们最古老的的娱乐形式之一，即听故事是有很久的历史的，是很传统的。故应该选B。

4.4】C推理判断题。这些孩子们被Sister Carrie 的故事吸引了是因为什么？根据短文第四段的内可知，那些孩子们读过的书，作者早已读过。并且因为作者总是不合群，所以特别热爱读书。当作者给他们讲他们从没听过的故事的时候，孩子们立刻被吸引住了，这给了他们更多的快乐。故应该选C。

5.5】B细节理解题。有时候作者会在故事中最令人激动的地方停下来是为了什么？根据短文最后一段中Some nights, in order to taste my victory more completely, I would stop at the most exciting part of the story.，作者在故事中最令人激动的地方停下来，看着那些孩子们被故事所吸引，作者感受到了自己的成功，所以是为了享受自己的成功。由此可知选B。

6.6】A主旨大意题。这篇短文中，一开始作者只是一些打棒球的孩子们的旁观者，一个偶然的机会，作者给他们讲了他正在读的一本书的故事，吸引了这些孩子们的注意力，融入了他们的世界。作者通过他的亲身经历告诉诉我们，每个人都可以有自己的方法找到他在生活中的位置。故选A。

考点：故事类短文阅读。