A. will rain; will rain
B. rains; rains
C. rains; will rain
D. will rain; rains

     When I was growing up, I had an old neighbor, Dr. Gibbs. He didn't look
like any doctor I'd ever known. He never invited us to play in his yard, but
he was a very kind person.
     When Dr. Gibbs wasn't saving lives, he was planting trees. He owned a
large field and wanted to make it a forest.
     The good doctor had some interesting ideas about planting trees. He never
watered his new trees. Once I asked why. He said that watering plants spoiled
them, and that if you watered them, each baby tree would grow weaker and
weaker, so you had to make things difficult for them and pick out the weaker
trees early on.
     He talked about how watering trees made for shallow roots, and how trees
that weren't watered had to grow deep roots in search of water under the earth
by themselves. Deep roots were very important.
     So he never watered his trees. He'd planted an oak and, instead of watering
it every morning, he beat it with a rolled-up newspaper. I asked him why he
did that, and he said it was to get the tree's attention.
     Dr. Gibbs died several years after I left home. Every now and then, I
walked by his house and looked at the trees that I watched him plant about
twenty-five years ago. They're very big and strong now. I planted some trees a
few years back and carried water to them for a whole summer. After two years
of caring too much, whenever a cold wind blows in, they shake a lot.
     Every night before I go to bed, I check on my two sons. Mostly I pray (祈祷)
that their lives will be easy. But lately I've been thinking that it's time to change my prayer. I know my children are going to face difficulties. There's always a
cold wind blowing somewhere, so what we need to do is to pray for roots that
reach deep into the brave heart, so when the rains fall and the winds blow, they
could face it strongly and won't be beaten down.

1. What does the underlined word "shallow" in the fourth paragraph probably
mean?

A. Near to the surface of the earth.
B. Short.
C. Thin.
D. Weak.

2. The writer's trees shake a lot whenever a cold wind blows because ______.

A. he has never beaten his trees with a rolled-up newspaper
B. he didn't often water his trees
C. his trees are younger than Dr. Gibbs'
D. he has done too many things for his trees

3. The writer wants to change his prayer, hoping that his sons will ______.

A. not catch a cold in the rain easily
B. be strong enough in the cold wind in winter
C. be better at planting trees
D. be stronger in their lives

4. Which can be the best title of the passage?

A. Watering Trees
B. Growing Roots
C. How to Be a Father
D. How to Plant Trees