A young father was visiting an old neighbor. They were standing in the old man’s garden, and talking about children. The young man said,“How strict should parents be with their children?”

　  The old man pointed to（指着）a string (细绳) between a big strong tree and a thin young one.

　 “Please untie (解开) that string.” said the old man. “But first pull the string tight so that（以便于）the young tree is straight again.” The young man did so. He untied the string and only found that the young tree bent（弯）over to one side.

　 Then the old man said,“There, it is the same with children. You must be strict with them. But sometimes you must untie the string to see how they are getting on. If they are not yet able to stand alone，you must tie the string tight again. But when you find that they are ready to stand alone，you can take the string away.”

1.The story is about ____________.

　　    A. how to take care of young trees　   

B. how strict parents should be with their children

C. how the young father should get on with his old neighbor

2. The young man untied the string ________________.

　　    A. in order to throw it away   　　

B. so that both of the trees wouldn’t grow straight

　　    C. and found that the young tree bent over to one side

3.When could the string be taken away?

　　    A. When the old man left.　   　　

B. When the young man untied it next time.

　    　C. When the young tree grew strong enough.

4. At last the old man told the young man ________________.

　　    A. that he should be strict with his children if they could not 

stand alone

　　    B. that he should always be strict with his children

　　    C. that he should be hard on his children

5.We learn that the big strong tree and the thin young one are like _________.

A. the young father and the old neighbor    　　

B. parents and their children

　　     C. the old neighbor and the children of young father

Tom walked into a shop . It had a sign outside : "Second-hand (旧的) clothes bought and sold . "He was carrying an old pair of trousers and asked the owner of the shop, "How much will you give me for these?" The man looked at them and then said: "Two dollars."

　　"What !" said Tom. "I had guessed they were worth at least five dollars."

　　"No," said the man, "they aren't worth a cent more than two dollars."

　　"Well," said Tom, taking two dollars out of his pocket. "Here's your money. These trousers were hanging outside your shop. The list price (标价)of them was six dollars and a half. But I thought that was too much money, so I wanted to find out how much they were really worth."

　　Then he walked out of the shop with the pair of trousers and disappeared before the shop owner could think of anything to say .

1.At first the owner of the shop thought that Tom __________.

A. wanted to steal the trousers　 　　  B. wanted to sell the trousers

C. wanted to fool him　　　　　　   D. wanted to buy the trousers 

2.The owner of the shop_______ 　for the old trousers.

A. would give Tom two dollars　  

B. would pay three dollars

C. would pay five dollars　　　  　　 

D. would give Tom six dollars and a half 

3.The shop owner insisted（坚持） that the trousers were worth only two dollars because ____.

A. he wanted to sell them cheaply   　 

B. he wanted to buy them cheaply

C. he didn't like the trousers    　　 

D. they were old and dirty 

4.In fact, the trousers _________.

A. were hanging inside the shop　  　　 

B. were stolen by Tom from the shop

C. had been the shop owner's　　 　　 

D. had been Tom's 

5.From the story we know that _________ cheaper than the list price.

A. the owner sold the trousers two dollars

B. Tom sold the trousers one dollar and a half

C. the owner bought the trousers three dollars

D. Tom bought the trousers four dollars and a half