My father made a deal with me that he would match whatever I could come up with to buy my fir st car.From the time I wa s a saver.My allowance, back in tho se day s, wa s twenty five cent s a week.I grew up on a farm near a small town called Ventura.In tho se day s the area wa s mo stly agricultural.The climate wa s and still i s a s clo se to perfect a s you could get.I earned some of my money picking one crop or another.When I wa s about ten, a school friend' s family owned walnut orchard s(果园)and it wa s harve st time.She told me we could earn five dollar s for every bag of walnut s we picked.I certainly learned about picking walnut s that day.Not surprisingly, that wa s my fir st and la st time a s a walnut picker.
In 1960 my grandmother pa s sed away.She left me 100 share s of AT&T.One hundred share s of stock don't seem like much today but back then tho se share s paid me$240 per year in dividend s(利息).That wa s huge for a kid my age.
By the time I wa s seventeen.I had saved up $ 1, 300 and I knew exactly that I wanted.Ithink my father wa s somewhat suri sed when I announced I had saved up $ 1, 300 and wa s ready to buy my new car.I'll never forget the evening my father said, “Let' s go see about that car”.I wa s so excited.
My father could have ea sily ju st given me the car but he alway s in si sted that hi s children work for what they got.Thi s wa s not a bad thing.I learned self-reliance.Self-reliance i s equal to freedom.Now that I think about it I need to be thanking my father.
(1)
Which one of the following s didn't belong to the saving of $1, 300?
[ ]
A.
Weekly allowance.
B.
Her earning s by picking crop s.
C.
Share s left by grandma.
D.
Money earned from selling share s.
(2)
The underlined part in the second paragraph probably meant ________.
[ ]
A.
she didn't have the chance of picking walnut s
B.
enough money had been earned for her car
C.
the work wa s too hard for children like her
D.
she had no time to do that again for some rea son
(3)
We can know from the pa s sage the author got her car at the age of ________.
[ ]
A.
16
B.
17
C.
18
D.
19
(4)
The purpo se of the author' s father doing like that wa s to ________.
[ ]
A.
give the author freedom
B.
be unwilling to buy the author a car
C.
teach the author to learn self-reliance
D.
give the author a big surpri se
阅读下面短文,从短文后各题所给的四个选项(A、B、C和D)中,选出可以填入空白处的最佳选项。
Mama' s voice floated through the apartment a s she sang a Mexican folk song that I had heard all my life.“Hola, ” she greeted me when she came out of the bedroom.“Plea se speak to me in 1 , ” I interrupted.She paid no attention and 2 speaking in Spani sh.The word s 3 me of my grandparent s and birthday partie s in Mexico, but I knew my mother' s life would be 4 if she learned to speak Engli sh.We had lived in the United State s for three year s, and she still had difficulty 5 to store owner s and my teacher s.I wa s determined that she should try.“Why won't you speak Engli sh? ” I 6 .“Don't you want to be 7 to talk to people here? ” “I sabel, ” she whi spered.Mama alway s whi spered when she wa s up set with me.“What? ” I wa s not 8 with her, either.She 9 for the Engli sh word s.“Come with me to the, uh-how do you say it? Meeting.” “What kind of meeting? Where i s it? ” I 10 her, but now she refu sed to an swer.In 11 , we drove acro s s town to the college, where she pulled into a brightly lit parking lot.I wa s 12 .I had expected a meeting at someone' s 13 -a garden club or a parent s’ group.Then I 14 a sign on a door.My mother wa s 15 night cla s se s to learn Engli sh!
“I don't under stand. 16 you’re learning Engli sh, why won't you speak Engli sh at home? ” I a sked.“You'll learn fa ster if you 17 with me.” “I speak Engli sh here, ” she said in her thick accent.She he sitated, putting the word s together, and then went on, “I speak Spani sh at home 18 you.”
I 19 under stood-she spoke Spani sh at home so that I wouldn't forget the word s, song s, and 20 of Mexico.I said, “O.K., Mama, e stabien.”