It was a village in India. The people were poor but they were happy. After all, their forefathers had lived in the same way for centuries.

Then one day, some visitors from the city arrived. They told the villagers there were some people elsewhere who liked to eat frog. However, they did not have enough frogs of their own, and so they wanted to buy frogs from other places.

This seemed like money for nothing. There were millions of frogs in the fields around, and they were useless to the villagers. What they had to do was to catch them. Agreement was reached, and the children were sent into the fields to catch frogs. Every week a truck arrived to collect the catch and hand over the money. The villagers were able to dream of a better future. But the dream didn’t last long.

The change was hardly noticed at first, but it seemed as if the crops weren’t doing so well. More worry was that the children fell ill more often, and there were more insects around lately. The villagers decided that they couldn’t just wait to see the crops failing and the children getting weak. They would have to use the money earned to buy pesticides (杀剂) and medicine. Soon there was no money left.

The people realized what was happening. It was the frog. They hadn’t been useless. They had been doing an important job--- eating insects. Now with so many frogs killed, the insects were increasing more rapidly. They were damaging the crops and spreading diseases.

Now, the people are still poor. But in the evenings they sit in the village square and listen to sounds of insects and frogs. These sounds of the night now have a much deeper meaning.

1.From Paragraph l, we learn that the villagers_______.

A. worked very hard for centuries

B. dreamed of having a better life

C. were poor but somewhat happy   

D. lived a different life from their forefathers

2.Why did the villagers agree to sell frogs?

A. The frogs were easy money.

B. They needed money to buy medicine.

C. They wanted to please the visitors.

D. The frogs made too much noise.

3. What might be the cause of the children’s sickness?

A. The crops didn’t do well.                              B. There were too many insects.

C. The visitors brought in diseases.             D. The pesticides were overused.

4.What is meaning of the last sentence of the article?

A. Happiness comes from peaceful life in the country.

B. Money is important.

C. The harmony between man and nature is important.

D. Good old days will never be forgotten.

There was a lovely vegetable patch (菜园). A large tree grew there. Both the patch and the tree gave the place a wonderful look, and they were the pride of the gardener. But no one knew that the vegetables and the tree couldn’t stand each other. The vegetables hated the tree’s shadow (阴影), because it left them only just enough light to live. The tree, on the other hand, hated the vegetables because they drank nearly all the water, leaving him just enough to live.
The situation became so serious that the vegetables decided to use up all the water in the ground so that the tree would die. The tree answered back by not protecting the vegetables from the hot sun, so they began to dry up. Soon the vegetables were really weak, and the tree was drying up.
The gardener wondered why and stopped watering them. When he did that, both the tree and the vegetables realized that it was better to help each other. They learned how to live in harmony with those around them. So they decided to work together, using both the shade and the water to grow well. After seeing how well they were doing, the gardener gave the best care to his vegetable patch, watering and fertilizing (施肥) it better than any other patch for miles around.
根据短文内容，选择最佳答案，并在答题卡上按要求作答。
【小题1】Why didn’t the vegetables and the tree get on well with each other?