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In late summer or early fall the large, yellow seed heads of sunflowers will be ripening. If gardeners can keep off the birds and other wildlife trying to eat the seeds, they can have a large harvest. The bright yellow blooms will make a rainbow garden, brightening up any space.

However, planting the sunflower seeds is a skilled job. Plant seeds no deeper than the full length of itself. Smaller sized sunflowers can be spaced a foot apart. Larger varieties will need to be spaced as far apart as three feet. This allows ripe plants enough space for the seed heads to ripen without knocking the ripe seeds off before gardeners have a chance to harvest them.

Most sunflower seeds, especially those with eatable seeds, are large enough to handle without the need for seed sorters. This is why sunflowers make an excellent choice for a children's garden as well. Gardeners will want to mix plenty of soil fertilizers into the ground as sunflowers tend to be heavy feeders.

Sunflowers can be slow starters and the tiny new plants don't seem to grow very rapidly. Gardeners should protect the new plants as they begin to grow. Once they get going, sunflowers are able to out-grow many weeds, making them easier to grow in the home vegetable garden than many other plants.

Most pests and diseases are not a bother to the sunflower, however, more than one gardener has said that their lovely looking plants were destroyed overnight by hungry squirrels, mice or birds. To preserve their harvest, gardeners can cover the ripening seed head with stockings or net cloth to help keep the destroyers off the seeds.

Planting sunflower seeds is easy and can help even the smallest gardener feel successful in their gardening attempts.

1.What is the passage mainly about?

A. How to plant sunflowers.

B. Different kinds of sunflowers.

C. Ways to preserve sunflowers.

D. Tips on making your garden bright.

2.Why should enough space be left between sunflowers?

A. To prevent birds from eating sunflower seeds.

B. To offer the sunflowers enough sunlight.

C. To protect the ripe seed heads before harvest.

D. To help the sunflowers grow stronger.

3.Why do children love to grow sunflowers in their garden?

A. They want to decorate their garden with sunflowers.

B. The seeds are easy to plant and unnecessary to sort.

C. They want to share their own harvest with their parents.

D. Sunflowers don’t need too much soil fertilizer.

It was a hot, humid day, and my brother Walt and I had decided that the only way to survive it would be to go swimming in a deep swimming hole across Mr.Blickez’s pasture(牧场) and through some woods.

The only problem with our plan was that this pasture was guarded by a huge, mean Hereford bull. Mr.Blickez had told us that Elsie was the meanest bull in the township, maybe even the county, and we believed him. But the hotter it got, the more we thought there was something fishy about his claim. For one thing, we remembered Mr.Blickez liked telling tall tales; for another, Elsie seemed like an odd name for a bull.

Finally, I talked Mom into asking permission for us to walk through the pasture, but then another problem surfaced. Mom said she would talk to Mr.Blickez if we would take our cousin Joanie along with us. Joanie was almost two years older than me and a head taller. If her teasing ever got around my grade school, it would be all over for me. In fact, I still had a headache from a quarrel with her that morning. “I’m not going swimming with that dumb girl cousin.” I told my mom.

“Either Joanie goes with, or you stay home alone,” Mom said in her serious tone. I gave in and we set out. On our way across the pasture, Walt yelled suddenly. Elsie had approached him quietly and was licking(舔) his back. Joanie and I dove under the wire fence, but while I was on the ground I looked up and saw that Elsie wasn’t a big mean bull after all. She was going to keep licking my brother’s back as long as he stood still.

We had many good days growing up and visiting our secret swimming hole guarded by the so-called “big mean bull”. And as it turned out, for a girl cousin, Joanie hasn’t been too bad. She’s been one of my best friends over the years.

1.What’s the meaning of the underline word “fishy” in Paragraph 2?

A. Funny. B. Interesting.

C. Doubtful. D. Believable.

2.What’s the second problem the author has to face?

A. His mother insisted on his cousin going with him.

B. His cousin made jokes on him in his grade school.

C. He quarreled with his cousin and had a headache.

D. His mother failed to ask permission for him.

3.What does the author think of Elsie in the end?

A. Aggressive. B. Unkind.

C. Bad-tempered. D. Friendly.

4. What’s the passage mainly about?

A. The bull guarding Mr.Blickez’s farm.

B. The story of visiting the swimming hole.

C. How friendly the so-called mean bull was.

D. How the author changed his attitude to Joanie.

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