阅读理解

　　Tom appeared on the sidewalk with a bucket of whitewash and a long-handled brush．He stopped by the fence in front of the house where he lived with his aunt Polly．He looked at it, and all joy left him．The fence was long and high．He put the brush into the whitewash and moved it along the top of the fence．He repeated the operation．He felt he could not continue and sat down．

　　He knew that his friends would arrive soon with all kinds of interesting plans for the day．They would walk past him and laugh．They would make jokes about his having to work on a beautiful summer Saturday．The thought burned him like fire．

　　He put his hand into his pockets and took out all that he owned．Perhaps he could find some way to pay someone to do the whitewashing for him．But there was nothing of value in his pockets －nothing that could buy even half an hour of freedom．So he put the bits of toys back into his pockets and gave up the idea．

　　At this dark and hopeless moment, a wonderful idea came to him．It filled his mind with a great, bright light．Calmly he picked up the brush and started again to whitewash．

　　While Tom was working, Ben Rogers appeared．Ben was eating an apple as he walked along the street．As he walked along, he was making noises like the sound of a riverboat．First he shouted loudly, like a boat captain．Then he said “Ding-Dong-Dong”, “Ding-Dong-Dong” again and again, like the bell of a riverboat．And he made other strange noises．When he came close to Tom, he stopped．

　　Tom went on whitewashing．He did not look at Ben．Ben stared a moment and then said：“Hello! I’m going swimming, but you can’t go, can you?”

　　No answer．Tom moved his brush carefully along the fence and looked at the result with the eye of an artist．Ben came nearer．Tom’s mouth watered for the apple, but he kept on working．

　　Ben said, “Hello, old fellow, you’ve got to work, hey?”

　　Tom turned suddenly and said, “Why, it’s you, Ben! I wasn’t noticing．”

　　“Say－I’m going swimming．Don’t you wish you could? But of course you’d rather work－wouldn’t you? Of course you would．”

　　Tom looked at the boy a bit, and said “What do you call work?”

　　“Why, isn’t that work?”

　　Tom went back to his whitewashing, and answered carelessly．

　　“Well, maybe it is, and maybe it isn’t．All I know is, it suits Tom Sawyer．”

　　“Oh come, now, you don’t mean to say that you like it?”

　　The brush continued to move．

　　“Like it? Well, I don’t see why I shouldn’t like it．Does a boy get a chance to whitewash a fence every day?”

　　Ben stopped eating his apple．Tom moved his brush back and forth, stepped back to look at the result, added a touch here and there, and stepped back again．Ben watched every move and got more and more interested．Soon he said,

　　“Say, Tom, let me whitewash a little．”

　　Tom thought for a moment, was about to agree; but he changed his mind．

　　“No－no－it won’t do, Ben．You see, Aunt Polly wants this fence to be perfect．It has got to be done very carefully．I don’t think there is one boy in a thousand, maybe two thousand that can do it well enough．”

　　“No－is that so? Oh come, now－let me just try．Only just a little．”

　　“Ben, I’d like to, but if it isn’t done right, I’m afraid Aunt Polly…”

　　“Oh, I’ll be careful．Now let me try．Say－I’ll give you the core of my apple．”

　　“Well, here－No, Ben, now don’t．I’m afraid…”

　　“I’ll give you all of it．”

　　Tom gave up the brush with unwillingness on his face, but joy in his heart．And while Ben worked at the fence in the hot sun, Tom sat under a tree, eating the apple, and planning how to get more help．There were enough boys．Each one came to laugh, but remained to whitewash．By the time Ben was tired, Tom sold the next chance to Billy for a kite; and when Billy was tired, Johnny bought in for a dead rat－and so on, hour after hour．And when the middle of the afternoon came, Tom had won many treasures．

　　And he had not worked．He had had a nice idle time all the time, with plenty of company－and the fence had been whitewashed three times．If he hadn’t run out of whitewash, Tom would have owned everything belonging to his friends．

　　He had discovered a great law of human action, namely, that in order to make a man or a boy want a thing, it is only necessary to make the thing difficult to get．

阅读理解

阅读下面短文，从每题所给的A、B、C和D项中，选出最佳选项。

　　I am one of the many city people who are always saying that given the choice we would prefer to live in the country away from the dirt and noise of a large city．I have managed to convince myself that if it weren't for my job I would immediately head out for the open spaces and go back to nature in some sleepy village buried in the county．But how realistic is the dream?

　　Cities can be frightening places．The majority of the population live in massive tower blocks, noisy, dirty and impersonal．The sense of belonging to a community tends to disappear when you live fifteen floors up．All you can see from your window is sky, or other blocks of flats．Children become aggressive and nervous-cooped up at home all day, with nowhere to play; their mothers feel isolated from the rest of the world．Strangely enough, whereas in the past the inhabitants of one street all knew each other, nowadays people on the same floor in tower blocks don't even say hello to each other．

　　Country life, on the other hand, differs from this kind of isolated existence in that a sense of community generally binds the inhabitants of small villages together．People have the advantage of knowing that there is always someone to turn to when they need help．But country life has disadvantages too．While it is true that you may be among friends in a village, it is also true that you are cut off from the exciting and important events that take place in cities．There's little possibility of going to a new show or the latest movie．Shopping becomes a major problem, and for anything slightly out of the ordinary you have to go on an expedition to the nearest large town．The city-dweller who moves to the country is often oppressed by a sense of unbearable stillness and quiet．

　　What, then, is the answer?The country has the advantage of peace and quiet, but suffers from the disadvantage of being cut off：the city breeds a feeling of isolation, and constant noise batters the senses．But one of its main advantages is that you are at the centre of things, and that life doesn't come to an end at half-past nine at night．Some people have found(or rather bought)a compromise between the two：they have expressed their preference for the “quiet life” by leaving the suburbs and moving to villages within commuting distance of large cities．However, this is a strange idea about change and improvement which they force on to the unwilling original inhabitants of the villages．

　　What then of my dreams of leaning on a cottage gate and murmuring “morning” to the locals as they pass by?I'm keen on the idea, but you see there's my cat, Toby．I'm not at all sure that he would take to all that fresh air and exercise in the long grass．I mean, can you see him mixing with all those hearty males down the farm?No, he would rather have the electric imitation-coal fire any evening．