题目内容
Father and his crew radioed for help when water started pouring in his ship. We flew out there about an hour ago and dropped them a pump. “Take it easy. He will be back soon.” “What if the pump doesn’t work?” Mom questioned. “You should do another fly-over.” The man tried to comfort Mom, “He must be all right now, Mrs Hemingway, or we would have heard a radio signal from him.” “You haven’t got a Mayday?” “No, but we will let you know if we hear the radio signal.” Mom hung up.
I remained crying. Mom called the Coast Guard again. Finally, they said they would send out a rescue plane.
At midnight the phone rang. It was the Coast Guard. They had found my father and all his crew floating in sea 15miles off Jamaica. Dad’s ship had sunk, but fortunately all were safe.
“The pump they dropped didn’t work fast enough,” Dad said. “I radioed a Mayday, but I couldn’t get through.”
Dad didn’t get through to the Coast Guard because of the storm, but he got through to us. Really, there is something that can’t be seen but exists, as is said but can’t be explained, between us, the families.
- 1.
The underlined word “Mayday” in the first paragraph probably means “_________”.
- A.a radio program
- B.the signal for help
- C.the holiday in May
- D.a sign of feeling sick
- A.
- 2.
Why did the man on duty say the author’s father would return soon?
- A.The pump they dropped was of high quality.
- B.The author’s father called him and told him so.
- C.The plane waited until the pump worked.
- D.He thought no news was good news.
- A.
- 3.
We can infer from the text that _________.
- A.the man on duty in the Coast Guard was careless
- B.the plane failed to find the ship which was in danger
- C.the author’s father was in charge of the ship
- D.the pump saved the author’s father finally
- A.
- 4.
What may be the explanation for the author’s (as a baby) crying?
- A.He might feel hungry in the evening
- B.He might see something terrible in the room.
- C.He might be afraid when left alone in room
- D.He might have a feeling of uneasiness.
- A.
It was Saturday. As always, it was a busy one, for “Six days shall you labor and all your work” was taken seriously back then. Outside, Father and Mr. Patrick next door were busy chopping firewood. Inside their own houses, Mother and Mrs. Patrick were engaged in spring cleaning.
Somehow the boys had slipped away to the back lot with their kites. Now, even at the risk of having brother caught to beat carpets, they had sent him to the kitchen for more string(线). It seemed there was no limit to the heights to which kites would fly today.
My mother looked at the sitting room, its furniture disordered for a thorough sweeping. Again she
cast a look toward the window. “Come on, girls! Let’s take string to the boys and watch them fly the kites a minute.”
On the way we met Mrs. Patric, laughing guiltily as if she were doing something wrong, together with her girls. There never was such a day for flying kites! We played all our fresh string into the boys’ kites and they went up higher and higher. We could hardly distinguish the orange-colored spots of the kites. Now and then we slowly pulled one kite back, watching it dancing up and down in the wind, and finally bringing it down to earth, just for the joy of sending it up again.
Even our fathers dropped their tools and joined us. Our mothers took their turn, laughing like schoolgirls. I think we were all beside ourselves. Parents forgot their duty and their dignity; children forgot their everyday fights and little jealousies. “Perhaps it’s like this in the kingdom of heaven,” I thought confusedly.
It was growing dark before we all walked sleepily back to the housed. I suppose we had some sort of supper. I suppose there must have been surface tidying-up, for the house on Sunday looked clean and orderly enough. The strange thing was, we didn’t mention that day afterward. I felt a little embarrassed. Surely none of the others had been as excited as I. I locked the memory up in that deepest part of me where we keep “the things that cannot be and yet they are.”
The years went on, then one day I was hurrying about my kitchen in a city apartment, trying to get some work out of the way while my three-year-old insistently cried her desire to “go park, see duck.” “I can’t go!” I said. “I have this and this to do, and when I’m through I’ll be too tired to walk that far.”
My mother, who was visiting us, looked up from the peas she was shelling. “It’s a wonderful day,” she offered, “really warm, yet there’s a fine breeze. Do you remember that day we flew kites?”
I stopped in my dash between stove and sink. The locked door flew open and with it a rush of memories. “Come on,” I told my little girl. “You’re right, it’s too good a day to miss.”
Another decade passed. We were in the aftermath(余波) of a great war. All evening we had been asking our returned soldier, the youngest Patrick Boy, about his experiences as a prisoner of war. He had talked freely, but now for a long time he had been silent. What was he thinking of --- what dark and horrible things?
“Say!” A smile sipped out from his lips. “Do you remember --- no, of course you wouldn’t. It probably didn’t make the impression on you as it did on me.”
I hardly dared speak. “Remember what?”
“I used to think of that day a lot in POW camp (战俘营), when things weren’t too good. Do you remember the day we flew the kites?”
【小题1】Mrs. Patrick was laughing guiltily because she thought________.
| A.she was too old to fly kites |
| B.her husband would make fun of her |
| C.she should have been doing her housework |
| D.her girls weren’t supposed to the boy’s games |
| A.felt confused | B.went wild with joy |
| C.looked on | D.forgot their fights |
| A.The boys must have had more fun than the girls. |
| B.They should have finished their work before playing. |
| C.Her parents should spend more time with them. |
| D.All the others must have forgotten that day. |
| A.She suddenly remembered her duty as a mother. |
| B.She was reminded of the day they flew kites. |
| C.She had finished her work in the kitchen. |
| D.She thought it was a great day to play outside. |
| A.the writer was not alone in treasuring her fond memories |
| B.his experience in POW camp threw a shadow over his life |
| C.childhood friendship means so much to the writer |
| D.people like him really changed a lot after the war |