B
Ever since I was a small girl in school, I’ve been aware of what the school textbooks say about Indians. I am an Indian and, naturally, am interested in what the schools teach about natives of this land.
One day, I read that a delicacy(美味) of American Indian people was dried fish, which , according to the textbook, tasted “like an old shoe, or was like chewing on dried leather.” To this day I can remember my surprise, my anger and my sadness at reading these words. We called this wind-dried fish “sleet-shus”, and to us, it was our favorite delicacy and, indeed, did not  taste like shoe leather, and didn’t rot our teeth and bring about the various dietary problem that trouble Indian people in modern times. It took many hours of long and hard work to cure the fish in just this particular fashion. Early fur traders and other non-Indians must have agreed, for they often had this food as they traveled around isolated areas.
I brought the textbook home to show it to my father, leader of my tribe at that time. On this particular day, he told me in his wise and modest manner that the outside world did not understand Indian people, and that I should not let it prevent me from learning the good parts of education.
At a later time in my life, I had brought a group of Indian people to the country fairgrounds to sell Indian-made arts and crafts. My group was excited to make some money by selling Indian handicrafts. We thanked the man who showed us to our booth and told him it was nice of him to remember the people of the Indian community. The man expanded a little and remarked that he liked Indian people. “In fact,” he went on to state, “we are bringing some professional Indians to do the show!”
As we stood there in shock, listening to this uninformed outsider, I looked at my dear Indian companion, an eighty-year-old woman who could well remember the great chiefs of the tribe who once owned all the land of this country before the white man came bringing “civilization”, which included diseases and pollution. My friend said not a word, but took the hurt as Indian people have done for many years.
Of course, we all knew that the “professional Indian” were not Indians at all, but dressed in leather and dancing their own dances. And, anyway, how does one become a “professional Indian”?
45．Which of the following statements about “sleet-shus” is true?
A．It tasted like an old shoe.
B．Eating it was like chewing on dried leather.
C．It was delicious but bad for our teeth.
D．It must have brought pleasure to Indians as well as early business men.
46．What does the writer mean by saying “how does one become ‘a professional Indian’”?
A．Only the Indians know how to become professional Indians.
B．The outside civilization can help and Indian become a professional Indian.
C．An Indian is a born professional Indian.
D．The outside civilization can help white people become professional Indians.
47．After reading the passage, you don’t know __________.
A．what the writer’s profession is
B．what upset the writer and her friend at the county fair
C．why the writer went to the county fair
D．the writer’s attitude to the so-called civilization
48．This story is primarily about ___________.
A．customs of native Americans
B．how textbooks describe native Americans.
C．misunderstanding between people from different cultures
D．how an Indian becomes a “professional Indian”

Once again, I was in a new school. So was a girl in my class named Paris. That's where the similarities ended.

I was tall and she was small. My thick, black hair had been recently cut short. Her natural blonde hair flowed to her waist and looked great. I was awkward and shy. She wasn't. I couldn't stand her. I considered her my enemy. She liked me. She wanted to be friends.

One day, she invited me over and I said yes — I was too shocked to answer any other way. No one had invited me over to play. But this girl who wore the latest fashions wanted me to go home with her after school.

I got very surprised when she led me into an apartment building. She lived on the fourth floor in a two-room place with her mother, her stepfather, her two brothers and her sister.

Once upon a time, a Japanese man wanted to rebuild his house. First he had to tear the walls open .Japanese houses  36  have hollow(空的)spaces between the wooden walls. As he was  37  them down, he found a lizard(蜥蜴)  38 there because a nail(钉子)from the outside had been hammered into one of its feet. Seeing this, he felt  39 for it, and at the same time was curious about it.

     He knew very well that the  40  had been hammered 10 years before when the house was first  41   . What had happened since? The lizard had  42  for 10 years! To be stuck in a dark wall for 10 years without  43 —it hardly seems possible, and is hard to   44  . Then he wondered how the lizard could have lived for 10 years without moving a single step —since its   45  was nailed! So he stopped work and began to   46  the lizard. He wanted to know what it had been doing, and what and   47  it had been eating.

     A short time later another lizard   48  with food in its mouth. He was shocked, and at the same time deeply   49  . Another lizard had been feeding the stuck one   50 the past ten years.

     "What love  51 in this tiny creature! What can love do? It can do  52 ! Just think, one lizard has been   53  another untiringly for 10 long years, without   54 hope that its partner would be saved,"the man marvelled.

     If a small creature like a lizard can   55   like this, just imagine how we could if we tried

Once I went to a railway station near New York. I  36  to take the night train there.  37  of people were pushing into the  38  train. I found a railway official and asked him if I could get a place in a sleeping car,  39  he said sharply, “No, you can’t. The train is full. Don’t  40  me any more.”

I was very  41  indeed. I said to the friend who was with me, “ he talked to me like this  42 he doesn’t know that I am a famous writer. If he knew…But before I could 43 my sentence my friend said, “Don’t be  44 . How could that help you? Whoever you are, there are no  45  seats on the train.” I was  46  he was wrong, so I went up to the same official again and told him that I was Mark Twain. But all he said, “I told you not to trouble me any more.”

Just then I  47  a young porter in a sleeping car looking at me, He whispered something to the train conductor, and that conductor came over to me and said very  48 , “ Can I help you, sir?” “ I  49 do.” I answered.

The porter took out boxes and we got on to the train. When the porter saw we were comfortably  50  in our places, he said, “Now. Is there anything you want, sir? Because you can have whatever you  51 .”

After the porter had gone, my friend looked 52  . He said. “I am  53  sorry I said those things to you just now…” Just then the porter came again and said. “ Oh. Sir, I  54  you immediately”. “Really?” I said happily, “of course”, he said. “I recognized you the  55  I saw you and told the conductor that you are Mr Smith, the mayor of New York City.”

After my 26 second-graders finished reciting the text, they settled back in their seats. But Duane was still __21__ there. Duane was a bright and lovable student, __22__ his mother, a single parent, had many problems such as drinking. __23__ that he might have had a bad night, I walked over to him to see what was wrong. As he looked up, I could see the __24__ in his dark eyes.

“Mrs. Brown, aren’t you going to open my present for you?” he asked __25__. “I put it on your desk.”

Getting back his gift from my desk, he handed it to me. I noticed my gift __26__ to be a matchbox. Duane told me that this was really a jewelry box __27__ a matchbox. As I opened it, the __28__ of two beer caps surprised me. Duane __29__ me that they were two earrings. He had noticed that I __30__ wore earrings and wanted me to have some pretty ones.

I was __31__ by Duane’s creativity and thoughtfulness. __32__ birth, one of my ears was slightly deformed (畸形的). Fearing that wearing earrings might __33__ to the ear, I avoided wearing them. But how could I __34__ to wear these precious earrings given by this __35__ child?

As I placed the earrings on my ears, my __36__ clapped, and Duane stood proudly beside me.

Since then, the matchbox remained on my desk. It __37__ me of Duane’s act of kindness and of the lessons he taught me. Although his __38__ at home was bad, Duane continued to see the good in life. Although poor, he still wanted to __39__. Whenever I see Duane’s gift on my desk, I feel encouraged. If I am having __40__ reaching a student, I’ll try to be like Duane and give that student a piece of my heart.