A young father was visiting an old neighbor. They were standing in the old man’s garden, and talking about children. The young man said,“How strict should parents be with their children?”
The old man pointed to（指着）a string (细绳) between a big strong tree and a thin young one.
“Please untie (解开) that string
.” said the old man. “But first pull the string tight so that（以便于）the young tree is straight again.” The young man did so. He untied the string and only found that the young tree bent（弯）over to one side.
Then the old man said,“There, it is the same with children. You must be strict with them. But sometimes you must untie the string to see how they are getting on. If they are not yet able to stand alone，you must tie the string tight again. But when you find that they are ready to stand alone，you can take the string away.”
【小题1】The story is about ____________.
A. how to take care of young trees
B. how strict parents should be with their children
C. how the young father should get on with his old
neighbor
【小题2】 The young man untied the string ________________.
A. in order to throw it away
B. so that both of the trees wouldn’t grow straight
C. and found that the young tree bent over to one side
【小题3】When could the string
be taken away?
A. When the old man left.
B. When the young man untied it next time.
C. When the young tree grew strong enough.
【小题4】 At last the old man told the young man ________________.
A. that he should be strict with his children if they could not
stand alone
B. that he should always be strict with his children
C. that he should be hard on his children
【小题5】We learn that the big strong tree and the thin young one are like _________.
A. the young father and the old neighbor
B. parents and their children
C. the old neighbor and the children of young father
