Reading to dogs is an unusual way to help children improve their literacy skills(读写能力), With their shining brown eyes, wagging tails, and unconditional love, dogs can provide the nonjudgmental listeners needed for a beginning reader to gain confidence(自信心), according to Intermountain Therapv Animals(ITA)in Salt Lake City．The group says it is the first program in the country to use dogs to help develop literacy in children, with the introduction of Reading Education Assistance Dogs(READ)．
The Salt Lake City Public Library is sold on the idea．“Literacy specialists admit that children who read below the level of their fellow pupils are often afraid of reading aloud in a group, often have lower self-respect, and regard-reading as a headache．”said Lisa Myton, manager of the children’s department．
Last November the two groups started“Dog Day Afternoon”in the children’s department of the main library．About 25 children attended each of the four Saturday-afternoon classes, reading for half an hour．Those who attended three of the four classes received a“pawgraphed”book at the last class．
The program was so successful that the library plans to repeat it in April．According to Dana Thumpowsky, public relations manager．
(1)
What is mainly discussed in the text?
[ ]
A．
Children’s reading difficulties．
B．
Advantages of raising dogs．
C．
Service in a public library．
D．
A special reading program．
(2)
Specialists use dogs to listen to children reading because they think ________．
[ ]
A．
dogs are young children’s best friends
B．
children can play with dogs while reading
C．
dogs can provide encouragement for shy children
D．
children and dogs understand each other
(3)
By saying“The Salt Lake City Public Library is sold on the idea,”the writer means the library ________．
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 ________．
