5.Mr. Flowers’ good idea was to ______.
A.write some words on the glass B.put
up a large notice to cover his glass-houses
C.give the boys something else to throw
stones at D.send for policemen
Passage 47
People often say, “Children can’t do
math problem, it’s because parents can’t do their children’s homework.” Here’s
an example to show what I mean.
The other day my daughter brought home
her math homework. “I have to subtract (减) 179 from 202,”
she said.
“It’s quite easy,” I said. “You put the
202 over the 179.”
“But we need a 10 here. Where is the
10?”
“I don’t know where the 10 is. Let’s
just subtract 179 from 202. Nine from two is three. You carry one and add it to
seven. Eight from zero is two. The answer is 23.”
“We can’t do it that way. We have to use
the 10.”
“Well, I’m going to call your teacher
to see how she subtracts 179 from 202.”
Over the telephone, I said that I was
having a bit of trouble with the homework she had given to my daughter. The
teacher said, “In the right-hand column (栏) we have units
of one. The two in that column counts for two ones. The zero in the center
counts for zero tens. The two in the left-hand column counts for hundreds. Are
you clear?” But I didn’t think I was clear.
I hung up and found my way to the
medicine box. My head was now hurting. I started putting pills of medicine into
my mouth. “How many did you take?” my wife asked. “I took one and then I took
another…I know one and one was two, but don’t ask me what it is now.”