My favourite English teacher could draw humour out of the driest material. It wasn’t forced on us either. He took Samuel Johnson’s dictionary,Addison’s essays,and many other literary wonders from the eighteenth century and made them hilarious,even at eight o’clock in the morning. The thing that amazed me most was that the first time I read these works on my own,some of them seemed dead,but the second time,after his explanation,I couldn’t believe that I hadn’t seen the humour. The stories and poems and plays were suddenly filled with allusions (典故) and irony and hilarious moments. I learned more from him than from any other teacher.

  My least favourite English teacher also made people laugh. Some students found him to be wonderfully funny. Many others did not. He assigned journals over a six-week period,to be written every day. At the end of the six weeks I had a notebook full of bits and pieces about my ideas,short stories,reactions to what we had read,and so on.   Our teacher announced that we would be grading each other’s journals. Mine was passed to Joe,that class clown,who always behaved in a funny or silly way. He saw it fit to make a joke of and said, “This writing isn’t fit to line the bottom of a birdcage. ” Our teacher laughed at that funny remark. It hurt me so much that the anger from it has driven my writing and teaching ever since.

  So what makes the difference? Humour is one of the most powerful tools teachers or writers have. It can build up students and classes and make them excited about literature and writing,or it can tear them apart. It is true that humour is either productive or counter-productive and self-defeating.

(   ) 1. The passage mainly discusses        .

   A. teaching   B. literature

   C. humour   D. knowledge

(   ) 2. The underlined word “hilarious” in Paragraph 1

probably means “________”.

   A. funny   B. tiring

   C. inspiring   D. brilliant

(   ) 3. With his favourite English teacher,the writer found it most amazing that________.

   A. his teacher was very learned

   B. his teacher was very humorous

   C. the works by Johnson and Addison were very humorous

   D. few were able to find humour in works by Johnson and others

(   ) 4. The English teacher the writer disliked most        .

   A. was not able to make students laugh

   B. hurt his students’ feelings

   C. didn’t let his students do the grading

   D. had no sense of humour

  Last Christmas,when I was in the fourth grade and my brother was in the first grade,our school held its yearly Holiday Shop. At the Holiday Shop,students can buy things like necklaces,key chains,and other small items for their friends and family as Christmas gifts. Since my brother really wanted to take part,my mum gave him two dollars to buy his Christmas gifts.

My mum didn't know that he had picked out a special necklace for her. When he got home from the Holiday Shop that day,he couldn't wait to show it to me. He pulled out a little green box and opened it. Inside was a gold chain with a little red flower and a man-made diamond next to gold letters that spelled out " Grandmother".

"Wow," I said, "It's beautiful. ” Since my brother was in the first grade and was just learning to read,he didn't realize that the necklace said "Grand?mother" instead of "Mother". I knew that on Christmas morning,when he found out,he had bought the wrong necklace,he would be very unhappy,so I said nothing more about it. My brother ran and put the necklace under his bed to hide it from mum until Christmas morning.

When he wasn't looking,I took the necklace and put it in my backpack. The next day I took it back to school and asked the woman who ran the Holi?day Shop if I could change it for the "Mother" necklace. She said yes. When I got home that day,I put the necklace under my brother's bed.

When my mum opened it up on Christmas morning,my brother was so exalted!My mum's eyes were filled with joy. She knew what had happened,which made the necklace even more special to her!

My brother still does not know what I did,but I knew I had done the right thing.

1. What do we know about the gift the author's brother bought?

   A. The author didn't like it.

   B. It wasn't worth the price.

   C. It was designed for Mother.

   D. The author changed it for another one.

2. The underlined word "exalted" is the closest in meaning to "      ”. 

    A. amazed   B. disappointed

   C. excited   D. worried

3. It can be inferred from the text that      .

   A. the author's mother didn't know what she had done

   B. the author helped her brother secretly

   C. the author's grandma also received a gift

   D. the author paid for the right necklace

4. What can be the best title for the passage?

   A. Our school 's yearly Holiday Shop

   B. A special Christmas gift for mum

   C. An unforgettable experience

   D. My lovely younger brother

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