Question

【題目】 Still in shock! I moved around the house purposelessly trying to decide what to put into the suitcases (行李箱). Earlier that evening, I’d received a call telling me that my brother was killed in a car crash. “Come as soon as you can.” cried my mother.

I wanted to hurry to her at once. But my husband, Larry, and I were packing to move from New York to Seattle. Our house was in total mess. Supper dishes sat on the kitchen table. Toys lay everywhere. I purposelessly picked things up and put them down. Mother’s crying went through my head again and again.

Larry called some friends to tell them what had happened. Someone asked to speak to me. “If there’s anything I can do, let me know.” But I didn’t know what to ask for.

Suddenly, the doorbell rang. It was Emerson. He and his wife Donna lived in the block nearby.

“I’ve come to clean your shoes,” he said.

I asked him to repeat.

“Donna had to stay with the baby,” he said, “but we want to help you. I remember when my father died, it took me hours to clean our shoes for the funeral (葬禮). Give me all your shoes.”

I gathered all our dirty shoes to the kitchen. Emerson got to work right away. Watching him devoting himself to one task helped me pull my own thoughts into order. I told myself to wash clothes first. Then, Larry and I bathed the children and put them to bed. One job after another.

When we returned to clear the dishes, Emerson had left. All our shoes stood in a line against the wall, clean, shining. I couldn’t help crying. Early next morning, we left for the airport with all the jobs done.

Now whenever I hear of a friend who’s lost a loved one, I no longer call with the polite offer,” If there’s anything I can do …” Instead I try to think of one specific task that suits that man’s need, like taking the dog to the boarding kennel, or house-sitting during the funeral. If the person asks,” How did you know I needed that one?” I reply, “Because a man once cleaned my shoes.”

【1】What does paragraph 1 mainly tell us?

A. The writer’s house was in a mess.

B. The writer’s mother was very sad about her son’s death.

C. The writer heard the sad news from her mom and had no idea of what to do.

D. The writer was ready to go to Seattle.

【2】The writer didn’t know what to put into the suitcases because _____.

A. she couldn’t do it on her own

B. she was too sad to do anything

C. she wanted to take everything to Seattle

D. she was not good at doing housework

【3】Here’s a time line of what happened in the story.

Which of the events should go in the empty box above?

A. Emerson came to clean the shoes.

B. The couple bathed the children.

C. They cleared the supper dishes

D. The writer found the shoes cleaned.

【4】If one of her friends has lost a loved one, what will the writer probably NOT do?

A. Call her friend to ask what she can do.

B. Look after her friend’s young children.

C. Take her friend’s dog to the boarding kennel.

D. Offer her friend house-sitting during the funeral.

【5】Which sentence best expresses the theme(主題) of this story?

A. One person’s loss is another’s gain.

B. An act of kindness is often rewarded.

C. A near neighbor is better than a brother far off.

D. Do something specific to help those in need.

Answer 1

【答案】

【1】C

【2】B

【3】A

【4】A

【5】D

【解析】

本文作者講述了當她的母親告訴她她的哥哥在車禍中喪生，作者太悲傷了，不知道該怎么做。她的朋友艾默生主動過來給他們擦鞋， 作者把所有的臟鞋子都收集到廚房，艾默生馬上就開始工作了。看著他全身心地投入到一項任務中，作者知道該怎么做了�，F(xiàn)在每當作者聽到一個失去親人的朋友，她就不再禮貌地打電話，“如果有什么我能做的…”，而是試著去想一個適合那個人需要的具體任務，比如把狗帶到寄宿處，或者在葬禮上坐在家里。

【1】考查主旨理解。根據(jù)第一段內(nèi)容“仍在震驚中！我在家里轉(zhuǎn)來轉(zhuǎn)去，目的是想決定把什么放進手提箱里�！笨芍�第一段主要告訴我們作家從她媽媽那里聽到了這個不幸的消息，不知道該怎么辦。故選C。

【2】考查細節(jié)理解。根據(jù)第一段中“Earlier that evening, I’d received a call telling me that my brother was killed in a car crash. “Come as soon as you can.” cried my mother” （那天晚上早些時候，我接到一個電話，告訴我我哥哥在車禍中喪生�！澳惚M快來�！蔽夷赣H叫道。）可知作家不知道該把什么放進手提箱里，因為她太傷心了以至于不能做任何事情；故選B。

【3】考查細節(jié)理解。第一段告訴我們“作家的弟弟在車禍中喪生”，接著第2描述家里凌亂的場面，作者不知道做什么，第3段描述作者的丈夫和他的朋友打電話，告訴發(fā)生的事情，第4-7段講述愛默生來擦鞋，第8段愛默生來擦鞋之后，作家知道該做什么了，開始洗衣服，給孩子洗澡，收拾餐具。第二天早上，他們動身去機場�？芍�作家的弟弟在車禍中喪生之后，愛默生來擦鞋；故選A。

【4】考查細節(jié)理解。根據(jù)第9段第1句Now whenever I hear of a friend who’s lost a loved one, I no longer call with the polite offer,“If there’s anything I can do …” Instead I try to think of one specific task that suits that man’s need, like taking the dog to the boarding kennel, or house-sitting during the funeral.（現(xiàn)在每當我聽到一個失去親人的朋友時，我不再用禮貌的話語打電話，“如果有什么我可以做的......”相反，我試著想出一個適合那個男人需要的具體任務，比如帶狗 到了寄宿犬舍，或在葬禮期間的家務。）可知“如果她的一個朋友失去了心愛的人，作家可能不會打電話給她的朋友問她能做些什么。故選A。

【5】考查主旨理解。本文作者講述了當她聽說她的哥哥在車禍中喪生時，她不知道怎么做，但一個朋友給她家來擦鞋，使她理清思路，知道該做些什么�，F(xiàn)在每當作者聽到一個失去親人的朋友，她就不再禮貌地打電話，“如果有什么我能做的…”，而是試著去想一個適合那個人需要的具體任務，比如把狗帶到寄宿處。故“做一些具體的事情來幫助那些需要幫助的人”最能表達這個故事的主題；選D。