Question

I’m Mr. Lockwood and have been to see my landlord Mr. Heathcliff today. He was standing at the gate to his farm when I arrived. His black eyes looked at me suspiciously.

The name of Mr. Heathcliff’s house is Wuthering Heights. ‘Wuthering’ means ‘stormy’ or ‘windy’ in the local language and it describes the place well. The house stands on the top of a hill. On one side of it there are a few trees. They all lean in the same direction, blown by the strong north winds.

Then we went into the sitting room. The floor was made of smooth, white stone. There was a big fireplace at one end of it and a large dresser at the other end. Several large hunting dogs were lying in the dark corners of the room. I sat down in one of the chairs near the fire. But unfortunately, when Mr. Heathcliff was out for his servant, Joseph, I was attacked by his hunting dogs.

To my surprise, I enjoyed our conversation very much, though. When it was time for me to leave, I said, ‘I’ll come and see you again tomorrow’. I set out after lunch the following day. But Mr. Heathcliff wasn’t in, and a young man led me to the sitting room. His manner was proud and free, so I couldn’t decide if he was a servant or not. He was dressed like one and spoke like one.

A few minutes later, Heathcliff walked in. We all drank our tea in silence and there was a very tense atmosphere in the room. I thought it was my fault so I tried to be sociable.

‘This is a beautiful part of the country,’ I said, ‘but very isolated. However, you seem very happy here, with your wife and family…’

‘My wife!’ Heathcliff exclaimed looking around him. ‘Where? Are you talking about her spirit?’

How stupid of me! Of course the girl wasn’t his wife! She was much too young for him. She must be married to the young man.

‘Mrs. Heathcliff is my daughter-in-law’, said Heathcliff, reading my thoughts. There was hatred on his face as he spoke.

‘Ah, yes,’ I said. ‘You are very lucky to have such a lovely wife, young man.’

The youth went red and looked down at his plate.

‘I said she was my daughter-in-law, sir. She was married to my son,’ said Heathcliff.

‘And this young man is…’

‘Not my son.’

‘My name is Hareton Earnshaw,’ growled the youth angrily.

The atmosphere began to depress me. After a long silence I asked, ‘Perhaps one of your servants is free now to take me home?’

‘There’s only Heathcliff, Hareton, Zillah the housekeeper, Joseph and me here’, said the girl.

‘Then I suppose I’ll have to stay until the morning.’ I replied

That night, I was arranged in a house where the master didn’t usually allow people to stay. I closed the door and got into bed. I put my candle on a small shelf next to a pile of old books. To my surprise, I saw that the shelf was covered in writing. These names were scratched in the paint: Catherine Earnshaw, Catherine Heathcliff and Catherine Linton.

I picked up one of the books on the shelf. It was a diary. On the first page I read, ‘Catherine Earnshaw, her book’, and a date of twenty-five years ago. Curious to know more about this Catherine, I started to read. I understand the following: Catherine Earnshaw’s father was dead and she lived with her cruel older brother Hindley. Catherine and Heathcliff were close friends, but Hindley and his young wife Frances heated and abused the adopted Heathcliff.

I had terrible dreams that night. There was a lot of noise-rapping and tapping sounds. I woke up. The branch of a tree outside was hitting the glass in the window. I got up, pushed my hand through the glass and pout out my arm. But instead of the branch my fingers closed on a little ice-cold hand. The hand held mine tightly and a sad voice sobbed, ‘Let me in!’

‘Who are you?’ I said.

‘Catherine Linton’ it replied. ‘I’ve come home. I lost my way on the moor! Let me in!”

1.All of the following descriptions of Mr. Heathcliff’s house are true EXCEPT “_____”.

A. It was built on the top of a hill

B. It was named after the local climate

C. On the hill grow a few trees leaning north

D. The floor of the living room was made of stone

2.The underlined sentence ‘He was dressed like one and spoke like one’ in paragraph four means _____.

A. he was well-dressed but poorly-behaved

B. he was poorly-dressed but well-behaved

C. what he said does much what he did

D. what he wore does match what he said

3.Who is the housekeeper among the following characters?

A. Heathclliff. B. Joseph.

C. Hareton. D. Zillah.

4.From the conversation between Mr. Lockwood and Mr. Heathcliff, we can infer______.

A. Mr. Heachcliff is a sociable person

B. Mr. Heathcliff’s son had been dead for years

C. Mr. Heathcliff’s wife had been dead for years

D. Mr. Heathcliff liked his daughter-in-law very much

5.According to the last four paragraphs, what can we learn about Catherine?

A. Catherine Heathcliff was Heathcliff’s elder sister.

B. Catherine Earnshaw owned the room ten years ago.

C. Catherine Linton used to live in the room long before.

D. Catherine Earnshaw wasn’t interested in writing diaries.

6.Which of the following can be served as the best title of the passage?

A. A narrow escape B. An unfriendly visit

C. An unpleasant experience D. An unforgettable banquet

Answer 1