Question

In the kitchen of my mother’s houses there has always been a wooden stand（木架）with a small notepad（记事本）and a hole for a pencil.

I’m looking for paper on which to note down the name of a book I am recommending to my mother. Over forty years since my earliest memories of the kitchen pad and pencil, five houses later, the current paper and pencil look the same as they always did. Surely it can’t be the same pencil? The pad is more modern, but the wooden stand is definitely the original one.

“I’m just amazed you still have the same stand for holding the pad and pencil after all these year.” I say to her, walking bank into the living-room with a sheet of paper and the pencil. “You still use a pencil. Can’t you afford a pen?”

My mother replies a little sharply. “It works perfectly well. I’ve always kept the stand in the kitchen. I never knew when I might want to note down an idea, and I was always in the kitchen in these days.”

Immediately I can picture her, hair wild, blue housecoat covered in flour, a wooden spoon in one hand, the pencil in the other, her mouth moving silently. My mother smiles and says, “One day I was cooking and watching baby Pauline, and I had a brilliant thought, but the stand was empty. One of the children must have taken the paper. So I just picked up the breadboard and wrote it all down on the back. It turned out to be a real breakthrough for solving the mathematical problem I was working on.”

This story—which happened before I was born—reminds me how extraordinary my mother was, and is, as a gifted mathematician. I feel embarrassed that I complain about not having enough child-free time to work. Later, when my mother is in the bathroom, I go into her kitchen and turn over the breadboards. Sure enough, on the back of the smallest one, are some penciled marks I recognize as mathematics. Those symbols have traveled unaffected through fifty years, rooted in the soil of a cheap wooden breadboard, invisible（看不到的）exhibits at every meal.

1．Why has the author’s mother always kept the notepad and pencil in the kitchen?

A．To leave messages.                      B．To list her everyday tasks.

C．To note down maths problems.             D．To write down a flash of inspiration.

2. What is the author’s original opinion about the wooden stand?

A. It has great value for the family.

B. It needs to be replaced by a better one.

C. It brings her back to her lonely childhood.

D .It should be passed on to the next generation.

3. The author feels embarrassed for_______.

A. blaming her mother wrongly.

B. giving her mother a lot of trouble.

C. not making good use of time as her mother did.

D. not making any breakthrough in her field.

4. What can be inferred from the last paragraph?

A .The mother is successful in her career.

B. The family members like traveling.

C. The author had little time to play when young.

D. The marks on the breadboard have disappeared.

5. In the author’s mind ,her mother is_________.

A. strange in behavior.             B. keen on her research.

C. fond of collecting old things.      D. careless about her appearance.

Answer 1

【小题1】D

【小题2】B

【小题3】C

【小题4】A

【小题5】B

解析:

【语篇解读】本篇文章为记叙文。主要讲述“我”的母亲总是习惯实用厨房里的记事本和铅笔。50年过去了，换了5所房子，可母亲的习惯没有改变，却更热衷于此。我突然意识到母亲是为天才的数学家。

【小题1】细节理解题。根据第四段第三句“I never knew when I might want to note down an idea, and I was always in the kitchen in those days”可知作者母亲随时在存放的记事本上记录自己的想法，故选D项。

【小题2】推理判断题。根据第三段作者说的“I’m amazed you still have the same stand for hlding the pad and pencil after all these years …Can’t you afford a pen”可知作者的态度，是在反问母亲，想让母亲更好的笔和记事本，故选B项。

【小题3】细节理解题。根据第五段二句“I fell embarrassed that I complain about not having enough child-free time to work”可判断选C项。

【小题4】推理判断题。根据最后一段内容，可知我意识到母亲的成功，她是天才数学家，母亲充分利用了厨房里的记事本写下数学，以及他对我的影响，由此判断选A项。

【小题5】细节理解题。根据第四段第第二句母亲的话“One day I was cooking and watching baby …It turned out to be a real breakthrough for solving the mathematical problem I was working on.”可知，作者的母亲很热衷于自己的发现，由此判断选B项。