A friend of mine named Paul received an expensive ear from his brother as a Christmas present．On Christmas Eve when Paul came out of his office，a street urchin（顽童）was walking around the shining car．“Is this your ear，Paul?”he asked．

      Paul answered，“Yes，my brother gave it to me for Christmas．”The boy was surprised．“You mean your brother gave it to you and it didn’t cost you nothing? Boy，I wish…”He hesitated．（犹豫）

    Of course Paul knew what he was going to wish for．He was going to wish he had a brother like that．But what the boy said surprised Paul greatly．

    “I wish，”the boy went on，“that I could be a brother like that．”Paul looked at the boy in surprise，then he said again，“Would you like to take a ride in my ear?”

      “Oh yes．I’d love that．”

      After a short ride，the boy turned and with his eyes shining，said，“Paul，would you mind driving in front of my house?”

    Paul smiled a little．He thought he knew what the boy wanted．He wanted to show his neighbors that he could ride home in a big car．But Paul was wrong again．“Will you stop where those two steps are?”the boy asked．

    He ran up to the steps．Then in a short while Paul heard him coming back，but he was not coming fast．He wil8 carrying his little crippled（残疾）brother．He sat him down on the step and pointed to the car．

    “There she is，Buddy，just like I told you upstairs．His brother gave it to him for Christmas and it didn’t cost him a cent（美分）．And some day I’m going to give you one just like it…then you can see for yourself all the nice things in the Christmas window that I’ve been trying to tell you about．”

      Paul got out and lifted the boy to the front seat of his car．The shining-eyed older brother climbed in beside him and the three of them began an unforgettable holiday ride．

（    ）1．The street urchin was very surprised when ________．

A．Paul received an expensive car

    B．Paul told him about the car

    C．he saw the shining car

（    ）2．From the story we Call see the urchin _________．

    A．wished to give his brother a car

    B．wanted Paul’s brother to give him a car

    C．wished he could have a brother like Paul’s

（    ）3．The urchin asked Paul to stop his car in flout of his house ______

    A．to show his neighbors the big car

    B．to show he had a rich friend

    C．to tell his brother about his wish

（    ）4．we can infer（推断）from the story that _________．

    A．Paul couldn’t understand the urchin

    B．the urchin had a deep love for his brother

    C．the urchin wished to have a rich brother

（    ）5．The best name of the story is _________

    A．A Christmas Present

    B．A Street Urchin

    C．A Brother Like That

It was a quiet village in which there was a military camp. It was far from the towns and cities and there were some high mountains around. Of course it was a good place for training the new soldiers. But it was difficult for the young men to go outside. Mr. White, an officer of forty, was strict with them and he hardly let them leave the camp.

　　Once Mr. White was ill in bed. He couldn't work, so a young officer, Mr. Hunt, began to train the new soldiers instead of him. He knew the young men well and let nine soldiers go to the nearest town to have a holiday. But night fell and none came back to the camp. He was worried about it and stood at the gate. It was five to twelve when Mr. Hunt decided to go to the town and see what was happening with the young men. He started the car quickly and set off. At that moment the nine soldiers came back. It seemed they were all drunk. Of course they found the officer was angry.

　　"I'm sorry, sir," said the first soldier. "I left the town on time. But something was wrong with my bus on my way here. I had to buy a horse and made it run fast. Bad luck! It died and I had to run back."

　　And the other seven soldiers said they were late for the same reasons. It was the last soldier's turn. He said, "I'm sorry, sir. I got on a bus on time, but…"

　　Having heard this, the officer became even angrier and stopped him at once. He called out, "If you say something was wrong with your bus, I'll punish you at once!"

　　"No, no, sir," said the young man. "My bus was all right, but their horses were in the way!"

1.The military camp was built in the village to _______.

A．stop the soldiers going to towns

B．stop the soldiers meeting their friends

C．train the new soldiers

D．make the young men live quietly

2.The nine soldiers returned to the camp late because _______.

A．something was wrong with their buses

B．their horses died on the way back

C．it took them much time to run back

D．they all had drunk much in the town

3.The underlined phrase in the way in the last paragraph means ______.

A．stopping somebody from moving

B．getting drunk

C．standing on the road

D．running very fast

The idea of what shaking the head means is not always the same in different countries. Maybe some visitors would be surprised when they first come to India. When they talk to an Indian, they would find he would often shake his head. The visitors might think that the Indian doesn’t like what they say. But in fact, they would be completely wrong.
Indians always shake their heads when they talk to others. It doesn’t mean “No”. If someone wants to visit India, he should know this, or he will be in trouble.
One day, a foreign officer went to India on business. He hired a car and asked an Indian to drive him. When he told his driver to take him to his office, the Indian shook his head at once. The officer said again and the driver shook his head again. At last the officer, of course, got angry.
“How dare you refuse my order?” he shouted, “Drive me to my office at once!”
The driver answered in quite a loud voice, too. “Yes, sir!” But to the officer’s surprise, the driver shook his head at the same time.
The car started and the foreign officer was now too surprised to say a word. He thought about it for a while, and then he nodded with a smile, “‘No’ means ‘Yes’ here!”
【小题1】What does shaking one’s head mean all over the world?