Question

Oliver Twist was born in a workhouse, and when he arrived in this hard world, it was very doubtful whether he would live beyond the first three minutes. He lay on a hard little bed and struggled to start breathing.

Oliver fought his first battle without much assistance from the two people present at his birth. One was an old woman, who was nearly always drunk, and the other was a busy local doctor, who was not paid enough to be very interested in Oliver’s survival. ____________________.

However, Oliver managed to draw his first breath, and then announced his arrival to the rest of the workhouse by crying loudly. His mother raised her pale young face from the pillow and whispered, “Let me see the child, and die.”

The doctor turned away from the fire, where he had been warming his hands. “You must not talk about dying yet,” he said to her kindly. He gave her the child to hold. Lovingly, she kissed the baby on its forehead with her cold white lips, then stared wildly around the room, fell back—and died. “Poor dear!” said the nurse, hurriedly putting a green glass bottle back in the pocket of her long skirt.

The doctor began to put on his coat. “The baby is weak and will probably have difficulties,” he said. “If so, give it a little milk to keep it quiet.” Then he looked at the dead woman. “The mother was a good-looking girl. Where did she come from?”

“She was brought here last night,” replied the old woman. “She was found lying in the street. She’d walked some distance, judging by her shoes, which were worn to pieces. Where she came from, where she was going to, or what her name was, nobody knows.”

The doctor lifted the girl’s left hand. “The old story,” he said sadly, shaking his head. “No wedding ring, I see. Ah! Good night.”

And so Oliver was left with only the drunken nurse. Without clothes, under his first blanket, he could have been the child of a king or a beggar. But when the woman dressed him later in rough cotton clothes, yellow with age, he looked exactly what he was—an orphan in a workhouse, ready for a life of misery, hunger, and neglect.

Oliver cried loudly. If he could have known that he was a workhouse orphan, perhaps he would have cried even more loudly.

There was no one to look after the baby in the workhouse, so Oliver was sent to a special “baby farm” nearby. There, he and thirty other children rolled around the floor all day, without the inconvenience of too much food or too much clothing. Mrs Mann, the old woman who “looked after” them, was very experienced. She knew what was good for children, and a full stomach was very dangerous to their health. She also knew what was good for herself, so she kept for her own use the money that she was given for the children’s food. The board responsible for the orphans sometimes checked on the health of the children, but they always sent the beadle, a kind of local policeman, to announce their visit the day before. So whenever the board arrived, of course, the children were always neat and clean.

This was the way Oliver was brought up. Consequently, at the age of nine he was a pale, thin child and short for his age. But despite frequent beatings by Mrs Mann, his spirit was strong, which was probably the reason why he managed to reach the age of nine at all.

On Oliver’s ninth birthday, Mr Bumble, the beadle, came to the house to see Mrs Mann. Through the front window Mrs Mann saw him at the gate, and turned quickly to the girl who worked with her.

“Quick! Take Oliver and those others upstairs to be washed!” she said. Then she ran out to unlock the gate which was always kept locked.

1.According to the passage, a workhouse was where ________.

A. many women died unexpectedly

B. workers helped each other

C. the poor and homeless lived

D. people were only interested in money

2.Which of the following is true according to the passage?

A. Oliver was born into the world on a cold day.

B. Many people, especially women, drank heavily at that time.

C. The children in the baby farm were taken good care of.

D. Doctors were usually paid too little for the work they did.

3.Which sentence is most suitable for the blank in Paragraph 2?

A. Therefore, he felt very lonely in the world.

B. Frightened at the sight of the two, he started to cry.

C. After all, death was a common event in the workhouse.

D. In fact, the world was privileged to have him in it.

4.It can be inferred that the gate of the baby farm was always kept locked in order to ________.

A. protect the children inside from dangers outside

B. prevent official visitors walking in unexpectedly

C. keep the children inside working all the time

D. ensure the children were always neat and clean

5.According to the passage, Mrs Mann ________.

A. was mad keen on looking after children

B. provided children with little food and few comforts

C. beat children frequently to make them mentally strong

D. cared little about Mr Bumble’s abrupt appearance

Answer

1.C

2.A

3.C

4.B

5.B

【解析】

本文是节选。文章主要叙述了Oliver Twist的出生及悲惨的童年。

1.推理判断题。根据文章大意可知，Oliver的母亲晕倒街头被带到workhouse（济贫愿），在这里生下了Oliver，文中对workhouse艰苦简陋的条件可知这是穷人和无家可归者住的地方。故选C。

2.细节理解题。根据第四段The doctor turned away from the fire, where he had been warming his hands.可推断天气很冷，A正确；B、D项文中未提到；根据文章倒数第四段without the inconvenience of too much food or too much clothing.和frequent beatings by Mrs Mann可知孩子们的生活饥饿、悲惨，C错误。故选A。

3.推理判断题。本段讲了Oliver Twist出生时的情况：现场一个是几乎喝醉了的老护士，另一个是繁忙的当地医生，由于没有给足够的钱所以对Oliver的存活并不感兴趣。C. After all, death was a common event in the workhouse.“毕竟，在济贫院死亡是常有的事”符合文意。故选C。

4.推理判断题。根据最后一段可知，当有人来检查时都会提前通知，然后把孩子们洗干净。门常锁着是为了阻止官方访问者突然到来。故选B。

5.细节理解题。根据倒数第四段She also knew what was good for herself, so she kept for her own use the money that she was given for the children’s food.和frequent beatings by Mrs Mann可知，Mrs Mann把给孩子们吃饭的钱据为己有，不让孩子们吃饱还经常打骂孩子们。故选B。