When I was a teenager growing up in Russia, I wanted to leave school and have my own life. The only way I could do this was to work in the local brick factory in my town, or get married. I was nervous when I told my father I wanted to leave school. I thought he would say, “No! You are going to college.” He took me by surprise when he said, “OK. We’ll go to the brick factory.”
Two days later, he took me to the factory. I had a very romantic idea of working in a factory. I had imagined everyone to be friends working together and having fun. I even imagined there would be music and singing. I guess I had watched too many movies as a teenager.
When we arrived at the factory gate, my father spoke to the guard and one minute later we were inside. My father said, “Take your time. Look around.” I walked around the factory looking at the building, the workers, and listening to the noise. It was horrible. I ran back to my father and said, “I want to go home.”
He asked me, “What do you think of the factory?”
“It’s terrible,” I replied.
“And marriage is even worse!” he said.
I went back to school the next day thinking about studying hard so I could get into a good college. I enjoyed studying English so I decided to major in languages at college. Thanks to my father and our trip to the brick factory, I now work at the United Nations and my father is very proud of me. I married a very good man and my life is much better than it would have been working in the factory!
【小题1】The writer lived in       when she was a teenager.
A. Russia       B. Japan        C. China
【小题2】At first she thought life in the factory would be       than in school.
A. more careful     B. more colorful       C. more beautiful
【小题3】When she told her father that she wanted to leave school, he expressed his disagreement       .
A. by doing nothing    B. in a special way     C. by saying nothing
【小题4】After they visited the factory, the girl       .
A. decided to work there     B. decided to get married    C. changed her mind
【小题5】The underlined work “horrible” means “    ” in Chinese.
A. 糟糕的       B. 紧张的       C. 浪漫的