When school was out, I hurried to find my sister and get out of the schoolyard before seeing anybody in my class. But Barbara and her friends, had beaten us to the playground entrance and they seemed to be waiting for us. Barbara said, So now youre in the A class.
She sounded impressed.
Whats the A class? I asked.
Everybody made superior yet faintly envious giggling sounds. Well, why did you think the teacher moved you to the front of the room, dopey? Didnt you know you were in the C class before, way in the back of the room?
Of course I hadnt known. 『The Wenatchee fifth grade was bigger than my whole school which had been in North Dakota, and the idea of subdivisions within a grade had never occurred to me.』① The subdividing for the first marking period had been done before I came to the school, and l had never, in the six weeks Id been there, talked to anyone long enough to find out about the A, B, and C classes.
I still could not understand why that had made such a difference to Barbara and her friends. I didnt yet know that it was shameful and dirty to be a transient laborer and ridiculous to be from North Dakota. I thought living in a tent was more fun than living in a house.
I didnt know that we were gypsies, really , and that we were regarded with the suspicion felt by those who plant toward those who do not plant. It didnt occur to me that we were all looked upon as one more of the untrustworthy natural phenomena, drifting here and there like mists or winds, I didnt know that I was the only child who had camped on the Baumanns land ever to get out of the C class. I didnt know that school administrators and civic leaders held conferences to talk about the problem of transient laborers.
I only knew that for two happy days I walked to school with Barbara and her friends, played hopscotch and jumped rope with them at class intervals, and was even invited into the house for some ginger alea strange drink I had never tasted before.
1.The tone of this passage as a whole is.
A. reflective B. enthusiastic
C. impersonal D. defensive
2.The narrator had most probably been placed in the C class because .
A. she was a poor reader
B. she had come from a small school
C. the marking system confused her
D. all children of transient laborers were placed in the C class
3.The basic reason why the people in the community distrusted the transient workers was that the transient workers.
A. tended to be lawbreakers B. had little schooling
C. were afraid of strangers D. were temporary residents
4. Which of the following is not characteristic of Gypsies?
A. Wandering around the world.
B. Make ginger ale in their house.
C. Never plant something.
D. Had been foreigners wherever they go.
5.Immediately after the narrator was moved to the A class, what was the attitude of Barbara and Barbaras friends towards her?
A. Dislike B. Acceptance
C. Apology D. Jealousy
Vocabulary
1.envious adj.嫉妒的
2.giggling n. 傻笑
3.subdivision n. 细分
4.transient adj.短暂的
5.mist n. 薄雾
6.hopscotch n. 跳房子游戏
长难句解析
①【解析】and连接两个并列的句子。第一个分句中含有than引导的比较状语从句,注意主从句中时态的不同。occur to译为想到,想起。
【译文】Wenatchee 的五年级比我以前在Dakota北部的学校规模还要大,在一个年级内分班这是我以前从未想到过的。
答案与详解
【短文大意】在文章中作者回顾了她童年时从低级班升入高级班的往事及这件事给她带来的感受。
1.A主旨题。 reflective在此意为:回顾的。在这个问题中tone意为:语气、心情。纵观全文, 我们可以看出,叙述者是在回忆她童年时发生的一件事(第一、二、三、四段)及这件事 的发生所给她带来的感受(第四、五段)。 impersonal意为:不涉及个人情感的,客观的。 defensive意为:辩护的,申辩的。这里并非是作者因受到指责而为自己辩护,本文主要谈的是人与人之间的歧视给作者当时幼小心灵带来的困惑。
2.D细节题。在文章第五段第六句,本文叙述者告诉我们,在所有生活在Baumann这个地方 帐篷里的孩子中,她是迄今为止(ever)从 C班(低级班)升入 A班(高级班)唯一的一个孩子。而生活在那里的人无固定工作,被称作无固定工作者(transient laborer, 见本段第三句与第七句)。C意为:记分体制(或方法)使之困惑。
3.D推断题。文章第四、五段指出,当地的人(农民:those who plant)用怀疑的眼光(with the suspicion)来看待他们,因为,他们住帐篷,没有固定职业,像吉普赛人(gypsies: 这里并非真指吉普赛人,而是指他们的生活方式像吉普赛人)一样游移不定,四海漂泊 (drifting here and there like mists or winds)。 A意为:很可能成为违法分子; B意为:受过很少教育。
4.B推断题。吉普赛人住帐篷,没什么房子,因而也不会在房子里做ginger ale。另外三项都是他们的生活特色。
5.B推断题。答对题的关键是准确地理解这个题。这个题提问的焦点是:叙述者刚刚升入A班后(Immediately afterA class), Barbara及其朋友对她是什么态度,而不是后来。仔细审视一下本题,我们就会得出这样一个结论:在叙述者介入A班后,Barbara等起初是一种态度,尔后,她们改变了这种态度。从原文第四段第三句我们了解到:叙述者与Barbara等在那个学校上学至少有六个星期了,只是不知道A、B、C班的分班基础。同时,在文章 最后一段,我们了解到:叙述者与Barbara等至少共度了两天的快乐时光,如,课间(at class intervals)一起玩,到她们家做客等。很明显,这两天说的是叙述者刚刚升入A班。
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