To make coffee when he signed, he was quite confident. (He thought the experience would make a nice book. )

　　After 40 of the 70 days, he was ready to give up.“I was beaten down, completely humbled,”admits Peters. Three weeks later he spoke to the local press (also part of the bargain), stating,“Not only is motherhood a difficult task, not only is it never-ending, it is an impossible job for any normal human being.”

　　 Bob and Pat were high school sweethearts. After they were married in 1960, she worked as a secretary to help put him through university. Since then Bob has been the football and wrestling coach at Palo Alto's Cubberley High while Pat raised the kids.

　　Then two years ago Pat went back to work as a secretary at Cubberley.“I had been around children so much,”she sighs（叹气）,“I couldn't talk to a grownup.”She continued to run the household, however until Bob signed the contract, whereupon she decided to relax and enjoy it.

　　Although Peters had consulted with his school's home economics teachers and the head of the cafeteria（食堂）,his meals were sometimes a disaster.“I tried to slip the butter I'd forgotten under the eggs after they were frying,”he says. For the last three weeks, the family ate out a lot sometimes having Macdonald's hamburgers for lunch and dinner.

　　As for housekeeping, a home economics teacher had told Bob that a room always looks clean if the bed is made.“I found an easier way--I shut the doors,“he says. Soon the kids were wearing the same clothes for a week.“I made them wear their shirts inside out, and when we went to pick up Pat at work they turned them fight side out so they would look clean.”

　　Now that Bob has publicly admitted he was wrong, he is routinely（日常地）sharing the child-raising and household tasks with Pat. The tentative（暂定的）title of his book about the summer is taken from something he shouted at the kids one day:“A contract”.

(1) The couple signed the contract because ________.

[　　]

A．Pat complained a lot about her doing the housework all by herself

B．Bob loved taking care of children and wanted his wife to have a good rest

C．they agreed that husband and wife should share household tasks

D．Bob thought it easy to take care of the family and wanted the experience for a book

(2) It was agreed that if Bob failed to keep to the contract, he would have to ________.

[　　]

A．pay a certain amount of money

B．do all the housework for years

C．say sorry to his wife

D．admit publicly he was wrong about motherhood

(3) What can we learn about Pat Peters?

[　　]

A．She was hardworking and selfless.

B．She was pretty and kindhearted.

C．She was tired of the child-raising and house-hold tasks.

D．She did not love Bob any longer.

(4) Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

[　　]

A．Bob managed to keep the kids' clothes clean.

B．Bob tried to cook good meals for his children.

C．Bob frequently took the kids out to eat because he was too busy at work.

D．Bob taught the kids to make their beds every day.

阅读理解

阅读下列短文，从文中所给的四个选项(A，B，C和D)中，选出最佳选项。

　　Bob and Annie had not known each other long before they became eager to get married: Bob because he wanted Annie and she (though she was fond of Bob in her own way) because she could at least lead a life away from her family. When Mrs. Thompson suggested that they marry and live with her in Dover Street until they could get a house of their own, Annie hesitated. Her idea of marriage had been something which brought her a husband and an orderly, well - furnished home all at once. But she soon saw the advantages of this arrangement. She would, first of all, escape from her present life into a house which was quiet and efficiently run, not like her own; and she would be able to go on working so that she and Bob could save up all the money quickly for their own house. She would also get Bob, a good enough husband for any working-class girl; good - natured and ready to be bent to her way whenever it was necessary for her ends.

　　Things went well until mother - in - law's death, when Annie had to give up her job and was at home all day. Her father - in - law became just a silent figure in the house and although Bob became used to him, Annie began to find the old man's constant presence in the house a source of growing annoyance.

　　“He gets on my nerves, Bob,” she said one night when they were alone. “Just sitting there all day and me having to clean up around him. And he hardly says a word from getting up in a morning to going to bed.”

　　“Well, I suppose he has a right to do as he likes,” Bob said mildy. “It's his house, not ours. We're the lodgers.” But to Annie, now looking after the house as if it were her own, it was beginning to seem the other way about.

1．The reason that Annie wanted to get married was ________.

[　　]

A．she found she couldn't leave Bob

B．she could at least escape the present life

C．she lived alone for a long time

D．she could live in a big house

2．Annie thought Bob was ________.

[　　]

A．kind and easy - going

B．poor but good for working - class girls

C．in good health

D．good at making money

3．Annie found her father - in - law getting on her nerves because he ________.

[　　]

A．sat when she was cleaning

B．never said what time he was getting up

C．rarely talked to her and Bob

D．caused her to give up her job