故事类阅读理解模拟训练(93607)-高三英语阅读(526)-21英语网

A

The family had just moved to Rhode Island, and the young woman was feeling sad. After all, it was Mother’s Day – and 800 miles separated her from her parents in Ohio.

She had called her mother that morning to wish her a happy Mother’s Day. As they talked, the younger woman could almost smell the purple lilacs (紫丁香) hanging outside her parents’ back door.

Later, when she mentioned to her husband how she missed those lilacs, he popped up from his chair. “I know where we can find you all the lilacs you want,” he said. “Get the kids and come on.”

So off they went, driving on the country roads of northern Rhode Island. Eventually, he stopped the car.

“Come with me,” he said. “Over that hill is an old cellar hole (穴洞), and there are lilacs all around it. Go pick a few.”

The woman drifted among the lilacs. Carefully, she picked some out. She was in no hurry, relishing (欣赏) each blossom as a rare and delicate treasure. Finally, though, they returned to their car for the trip home. When they were almost home, she suddenly shouted to her husband: “Stop the car. Stop right here!”

In a second, the woman was out of the car and hurrying up a nearby grassy slope (斜坡) with the lilacs still in her arms. At the top of the hill was a nursing home and, because it was such a beautiful spring day, the patients were outdoors.

The young woman found an elderly patient who was sitting in her wheelchair, alone. She handed her some lilacs. The old woman lifted her head and smiled. Then the young woman left. As the car pulled away, the woman in the wheelchair waved and held the lilacs tightly.

The mother told her kids that she didn’t know the old woman. “I have all of you, and I still have my mother, even if she is far away. That woman needed those flowers more than I did.”

This satisfied the kids, but not the husband. The next day he purchased half a dozen young lilac bushes and planted them around their yard, and several times since then he has added more.

Now, every May, their yard is redolent (芬芳的) with lilacs. Every Mother’s Day the kids gather purple bouquets (花束). And every year they remember that smile on that lonely old woman’s face.

1. What is the main reason that the young woman was feeling sad on Mother’s Day?

A. She missed her mother and her mother’s home.

B. She got no gifts from her husband.

C. She was unhappy with her present life.

D. She missed being able to smell flowers.

2. The author gave her lilacs to the old woman because ______.

A. she could sense the loneliness of the old woman

B. the old woman reminded her of her mother

C. the old woman looked like her mother

D. she wanted to set a good example for her kids

3. From the article, we can conclude that the author’s husband ______.

A. loved flowers himself and often bought some for the family

B. loved his wife deeply and acted fast to help solve her problems

C. was not satisfied when his wife gave the lilacs to the old woman

D. thought that he ought to help his wife forget her parents

B

Only after the straight-talking repairman handed me the bill and waved goodbye did I finally acknowledge the painful truth: Our 20-year-old clothes dryer was not going to last.

I turned to my husband. “He says we’re throwing good money after bad,” I sighed. “I think he’s right.”

“When do you want to go shopping for a new one?” my husband asked.

I glanced out the window, appreciating the sunlight dancing on the big-leaf maples in our backyard. Perfect drying weather. Suddenly, I recalled my mother hanging laundry on a clothesline during my childhood. My sister and I had played hide-and-seek among the sweet-smelling sheets waving in the wind.

I suddenly had a plan. After the wash cycle, we covered the maples with damp blue jeans, shirts, socks and towels. The only things that didn’t go outside were my underpants. And I persuaded my shameless husband to let his big boxer shorts (男式平角短裤) stay indoors, too.

There is a secret pleasure to hanging laundry outdoors. It is the perfect excuse to get up from the computer. While checking on the laundry in the backyard, I could commune (亲近) not only with cotton T-shirts, but also my cats. I could watch cautious deer run through the yard with their young, listen to nervous squirrels in trees and observe a family of wild turkeys by the road. I returned to my desk refreshed.

And, except for the sandpaper feel of sun-dried bath towels, the drying method was a complete success. When autumn came, I’d scan the horizon each day to evaluate the chances of sun-drying. One morning I saw rain clouds. I had a load of wet clothes in my arms and no place to put them.

I found my husband. Together we hung laundry throughout the house.

Then my husband gave me a hug and a smile. “I think it’s time to buy a dryer…” he said, “… like, today.”

“Good idea,” I said, just as the infamous Oregon rain started.

Our sun-dried laundry habit was finished for the season.

4. Why did the author want to try sun-drying?

a. Her husband insisted.

b. She wanted to cut expenses.

c. Their dryer wasn’t working.

d. She had good childhood memories of using a clothesline.

A. bc B. cd C. acd D. bcd

5. What could the straight-talking repairman have said to the author?

A. “Your clothes-dryer is too old and I can’t find matching parts for it.”

B. “You should have taken better care of your dryer.”

C. “You shouldn’t have wasted money on repairing your dryer.”

D. “Just buy a new dryer, even if it’s very expensive.”

6.What was the biggest benefit that sun-drying brought to the author besides dry clothes?

A. She loves sun-dried bath towels.

B. She felt healthier and closer to nature.

C. She could bathe in the sunshine, too.

D. It gave her a break from her hard work.

7. Which of the following is TRUE according to the article?

A. The author has stopped sun-drying since autumn started.

B. The author later became fed up with the trouble of hanging up her clothes.

C. The author listened to weather reports every day when autumn came.

D. The author realized sun-drying was seasonal and thus had its disadvantages.

C

I wanted to meet my husband, Stéphane, for lunch at the university where he worked, but I got lost. Stéphane’s office mate, a Brazilian very used to life in France, overheard the conversation and said: “How could she get lost? You just go straight.”

But you never “just go straight”, because France is the land of roundabouts (环形交叉路). Highways, major streets, little village lanes – if you go straight long enough, you’ll end up going in circles. As if figuring out French life in general – the language, the bureaucracy (官僚主义) and so on – weren’t enough, I had to find a new way to find my way. I wanted to go straight while everyone else was turning circles around me.

Even after a year here, I’d still get lost going to the grocery store, or just about anywhere that wasn’t within a hundred yards of my house. To be fair, I’d been spoiled by American cities like New York, where the street numbers increase going northward or westward.

In France, the commercial centers are my nightmare because they’re roundabouts within roundabouts. You may see your goal, a clothing store, off in the distance. But no matter how far you travel, it seems to remain there – far away, shining like a desert mirage (海市蜃楼). As soon as I get into a roundabout, I panic. Rather than circling to survey my options with a cooler head, I exit somewhere, anywhere.

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