Question

    It was on the afternoon of the day of Christmas Eve, and I was in Mrs. Prothero’s garden, waiting for cats, with her son Jim. It was snowing. Patient and cold, our hands wrapped in socks, we waited to snowball the cats. The wise cats never appeared. We were so still in the snow that we never heard Mrs. Prothero’s first cry from the bottom of the garden. Or, if we heard it at all, it was, to us, like the cry of the neighbor’s Polar cat. But soon the voice grew louder. “Fire!” cried Mrs. Prothero.

And we ran down the garden, with the snowballs in our arms, towards the house; and smoke, indeed, was pouring out of the dining room.

This was better than all the cats in Wales standing on the wall in a row. We loaded with snowballs, stopped at the open door of the smoke-filled room. Something was burning all right; perhaps it was Mr. Prothero, who always slept there after midday dinner with a newspaper over his face; but he was standing in the middle of the room, saying, “A fine Christmas!”

There was no fire to be seen, only clouds of smoke and Mr. Prothero standing in the middle of them, waving his slipper as though he were conducting.

“Do something,” he said.

And we three all our snowballs into the smoke—I think we missed Mr. Porthero—and ran out of the house.

“Let’s call the police,” Jim said.

“And Emie Jenkins, he likes fires.” But we only called the fire-brigade, and soon the fire-engine came. Mr. Porthero went out just in time before they turned the hose (水管) on.

1.Why were the boys in Mrs. Prothero’s garden?

A.They were about to start a snowball fight.

B.They were waiting to see if there would be any fires this year.

C.They were waiting to hear Mrs. Porthero’s first cry.

D.They were waiting for the neighbour’s cats to appear.

2.The underlined phrase “snowball the cats” (in Paragraph 1) means “__________”.

A.make cats out of snow B.bury cats under the snow

C.throw snowballs at the cats D.play tricks on cats

3.When the boys saw smoke pouring out of the dining room, __________.

A.they were joyful and excited B.they were frightened and worried

C.they were sorry for Mrs. Prothero D.they were worried about Mr. Prothero

Answer

1.D

2.C

3.A

【解析】

文章大意：本文主要讲述了在一个下雪的圣诞节前夜下午，我和 Prothero太太的儿子吉姆在他们家的花园里准备拿雪球扔猫玩。突然我们听见Prothero太太喊叫说着火了。我们拿着雪球去冒出烟的厨房看，发现Prothero先生身处烟云之中却毫不慌张，我们也被他镇定的表现安抚了。我们把雪球砸向烟雾，然后拨打了火警电话。消防车及时过来把火灭掉了。

1.细节理解题。根据第一段的第二行“Patient and cold, our hands wrapped in socks, we waited to snowball the cats. ” （我们双手裹着袜子拿雪球，很冷但是耐心的等着丢猫玩。）可以判断答案是D. They were waiting for the neighbour’s cats to appear.他们等着邻居的猫出现。故答案为D。

2.词义猜测题。根据文中“Patient and cold, our hands wrapped in socks, we waited to snowball the cats.” 耐心和寒冷，我们的手裹着袜子，我们等待雪球猫。本题问划线的snowball the cats的意思，snowball作为名词意思是雪球，作为动词意思是扔雪球、打雪球。在这里是动词的意思。“朝猫扔雪球”。故答案为C。

3.细节理解题。根据第三段第一句“This was better than all the cats in Wales standing on the wall in a row. We loaded with snowballs, stopped at the open door of the smoke-filled room.”这比威尔士所有的猫排成一行站在墙上都要好。我们装上雪球，停在烟雾弥漫的房间敞开的门口。说明他们很开心很兴奋，找到比用雪球扔猫更好玩的事情，所以是 joyful and excited ,故答案为A。