When milk arrived on the doorstep
When I was a boy growing up in New Jersey in the 1960s, we had a milkman delivering milk to our doorstep. His name was Mr. Basille. He wore a white cap and drove a white truck. As a 5-year-old boy, I couldn’t take my eyes off the coin changer fixed to his belt. He noticed this one day during a delivery and gave me a quarter out of his coin changer.
Of course, he delivered more than milk. There was cheese, eggs and so on. If we needed to change our order, my mother would pen a note----“Please add a bottle of buttermilk next delivery”----and place it in the box along with the empty bottles. And then, the buttermilk would magically appear.
All of this was about more than convenience. There existed a close relationship between families and their milkmen. Mr. Basille even had a key to our house, for those times when it was so cold outside that we put the box indoors, so that the milk wouldn’t freeze. And I remember Mr. Basille from time to time taking a break at our kitchen table, having a cup of tea and telling stories about his delivery.
There is sadly no home milk delivery today. Big companies allowed the production of cheaper milk, thus making it difficult for milkmen to compete. Besides, milk is for sale everywhere, and it may just not have been practical to have a delivery service.
Recently, I saw an old milk box in the countryside. I took it home and planted it on the back porch (门廊). Every so often my son’s friends will ask what it is. So I start telling stories of my boyhood, and of the milkman who brought us friendship along with his milk.
【小题1】Mr. Basille gave the boy a quarter out of his coin changer____.

A.to show his magical power
B.to pay for the delivery
C.to satisfy his curiosity
D.to please his mother
【小题2】What does “this” in the third paragraph refer to?
A.The milkman’s magic power
B.The milkman’s kindness to me
C.The note to change an order
D.The home delivery service
【小题3】What can be inferred from the fact that the milkman had the key to the boy’s house?
A.He wanted to have tea there.
B.He was a respectable person.
C.He was treated as a family member.
D.He was fully trusted by the family.
【小题4】Why does home milk delivery no longer exist?
A.Nobody wants to be a milkman now.
B.It has been driven out of the market.
C.Its service is getting poor.
D.It is forbidden by law.
【小题5】Why did the author bring back home an old milk box?
A.He missed the good old days.
B.He wanted to tell interesting stories.
C.He missed it for his milk bottles.
D.He planted flowers in it.


One day, when old Jacob and little Jacoble were walking home, the sun began to go down. Old Jacob was thinking of his house and little Jacoble didn’t know what to think. Then he thought of a wonderful idea, and he cried, “Jacob! Do you know what I saw yesterday? I saw a green rabbit. It was flying in the air and it was so big, even bigger than an elephant!”
“You saw that with your own eyes?” asked old Jacob. “Of course I did,” said Jacoble proudly. “It’s a good thing that you really saw that big, flying, green rabbit,” said old Jacob, “because that old bridge we are going to walk over is a very strange one. As soon as anyone who hasn’t told the truth comes on it, the bridge breaks in two.” They continued walking.
“Jacob,” said Jacoble a little later, “you know that big, green, flying rabbit I saw yesterday ... Well, it wasn’t really flying, and ... it wasn’t quite as big as an elephant ... but it was very big, about the size of a horse!” “Big as a horse?” asked Jacob as they got closer to the bridge and little Jacoble began not to feel so well.
“Jacob,” said Jacoble. “That big, green rabbit I saw yesterday, well, I had something in my eye and so I couldn’t see that well. It wasn’t a very big rabbit but it was green. Yes, that’s what it was — all green!”
Old Jacob didn’t say a word. He just walked over the bridge. But Jacoble didn’t go after him because he was afraid and he knew why he was afraid. He stood at the bridge and said, “Oh, Jacob! You know that rabbit I saw yesterday. It wasn’t green. No. It was just a little, brown rabbit.”
Then he was not afraid of anything any more and he ran happily over the bridge.
【小题1】We know from the text that the story happened ______.

A.in the morningB.in the afternoonC.at dusk (黄昏) D.at midnight
【小题2】Jacob considered Jacoble’s story ______.
A.humorousB.interestingC.frightening D.unbelievable
【小题3】Why did little Jacoble change his story again and again?
A.Because he was afraid of falling into the river.
B.Because he tried to persuade Jacob to believe it.
C.Because he wanted to frighten Jacob.
D.Because he didn’t remember the story clearly.
【小题4】What lesson can we learn from the text?
A.A lie will never be known.
B.True friends don’t cheat each other.
C.Telling lies makes one suffer from fears.
D.Making up a story is lying.


 

B

       But I wonder about my Momma sometimes, and all the other Negro(blacks )mothers who got up at 6 a.m. to go to the white man’s house with sacks over their shoes because it was so wet and cold. I wonder how they made it .They worked very hard for the man, they made his breakfast and they scrubbed his floors and they took care of his babies. They didn’t have too much time for us.
I wonder about my Momma ,who walked out of a white woman’s clean house at midnight and came back to her own where the lights had been out for three months ,and the pipes were frozen and the wind came in through the holes in the wall. She’d have to make deals with the rats: leave some food out for them so the wouldn’t bite the doors or the babies. The roaches(蟑螂)?Oh ,they were just like part of the family!
I wonder how she felt telling those white kids she took care of to brush their teeth after they ate, to wash their hands after they finish bathroom. She could never tell her own kids because there wasn’t soap or water back home.
I wonder how my Momma felt when we came home from school with a list of vitamins and pills the school nurse said we had to have .Momma would cry all night , and then go out and spend most of the rent money for pills. A week later ,the white man would come for his eighteen dollars’ rent and Momma would beg him to wait until tomorrow . She had to lie to him that she had lost her wallet or the relief check was coming soon or the white people had some money for her. Tomorrow I’d be hiding in the closet because there was only supposed to be two kids in the flat ,and I could hear the rent man shout at my Momma and call her a cheat. And when he finally went away, Momma put the sacks on her shoes and went off to the rich white man’s house to dress the rich white kids so their mother could take them to a special baby doctor.
60.Mother got up at 6 a.m. every day ,because    .
A.she had to cook breakfast for her children
B.she had to catch the first bus to the factory
C.she had to work in the white man’s house
D.she had to go to see a special baby doctor
61.Mother never told us to brush our teeth or to wash our hands because    .
A.she though we didn’t need to                B.we didn’t like washing hands
C.we had done everything very well         D.there was no soap or water in our home
62.Why did the writer hide in a closet when the landowner came for rent?
A.The closet could only hold two kids.
B.Only two kids were allowed to live in the house.
C.They should pay more rent for two kids.
D.There was only one bedroom for the two kids.
63.What does the writer mainly tell us?
A.Black people lead a miserable life.       
B.Black people don’t have enough rent money.
C.White people lead an expensive life.     
D.White people have special baby doctors.

The small unframed painting called “Fisherman” was signed by a little-known Italian artist, Maveleone (1669-1740). When it was sold recently in New York for $27,000, the seller, Mr. Oliver Pitt, was asked to explain how the picture had come into his possession.

Pitt said, “I didn’t know it was so valuable. I’m not an art expert. Photography is my hobby. I bought ‘Fisherman’ in Italy in 1970 for $140. The picture was dirty, and I couldn’t see the artist’s signature. But anyway it wasn’t the picture that I liked. I bought it because of the frame. ”

“It’s a most unusual frame, made of tiny, silvery sea-shells. They are set in such a way that they reflect perfect light onto the surface of a picture. I now have a photograph of my wife in that frame, and I’ll never part with it.”

“When I returned to New York I showed the painting in its frame to a customs officer. I told him that I had paid $140 for it but admitted I didn’t know its actual worth. The customs man valued it at $140, and I was asked to pay duty on that value. I did so, there and then. ” 

“Later, I took off the frame, and that uncovered Maveleone’s signature. My wife suggested in fun that the painting might be a valuable one, so I cleaned it and put it up for sale.”

As a result of this explanation, Oliver Pitt had to appear in court. He was accused of knowingly making a false statement of the value of a picture so as to cheat the Customs Department.

Pitt was not happy. “I told the truth as I knew it then,” he said, “What else could I say?”

And then the judge agreed with him. “The Customs Department is to be responsible,” he said, “for making a true valuation of goods brought into the country, so that the correct amount of duty may be charged. Mr. Pitt did not cause or try to cause the mistake that was made. He paid the duty that was demanded. If, now, the Customs Department finds that its valuation was not correct, it cannot be allowed to have another try. Pitt is not guilty”.

1.When Oliver Pitt bought the picture, ________.

    A. it was unframed                     B. Maveleone signed the deal

    C. he suggested that it was valuable        D. it was the frame that attracted him 

2. From the passage we can infer that if Maveleone had been a well-known artist,        _.

    A. the painting would have cost much more than $ 140

    B. he wouldn’t have sold his painting

    C. the customs officer wouldn’t have been cheated

    D. Pitt wouldn’t have had the intention to buy any of his paintings

3. Pitt took off the frame probably in order to        _.

    A. clean the painting to put it up for sale

    B. look for the artist’s signature

    C. use it for his wife’s photograph

    D. find the painting’s true value

4.Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the story?  

    A. In the end Pitt was asked to pay the correct amount of duty.

    B. In the end Pitt sold the frame of the painting at an even higher price.

    C. In the end the Customs Department had no right to revalue the painting.

    D. In the end Pitt’s wife was regarded as an expert because of her wise suggestion.

 

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