四、阅读理解
I'd never told my mother about climbing the tree. If I told her, she would say it was too dangerous. My brothers, being brothers, wouldn't have cared. Then there was my father. The only person I knew would understand. Still, I was afraid to tell him. He might tell my mother and very soon they'd try to stop me.
So I kept quiet, kept climbing, and felt a somewhat lonely joy as I looked out over the world. Then a few months ago, I found myself talking to the tree. This is a complete conversation, just me and a tree. And on the climb down I felt like crying. Why didn't I have someone real to talk to? Why didn't I have a best friend like everyone else? Sure, there were kids I knew at school, but none of them were close friends. They'd have no interest in climbing the tree or smelling the sunshine.
That night, after dinner my father went outside to paint. In the cold of the night, under the porch (门廊) light, he went on with the unfinished painting of a sunrise he'd been working on.
I got my jacket and went out to sit beside him, quiet as a mouse. After a few minutes, he said, "What's on your mind, sweetheart?"
I looked at him but couldn't seem to speak.
He mixed two kinds of orange together, and very softly he said, "Talk to me."
I sighed so heavily, and it surprised even me. "I understand why you come out here, Dad."
He tried kidding me. "Would you mind explaining it to your mother?"
"I hope not, Dad. I understand now about the whole being greater than the sum of the parts." He stopped his work. "You do? What happened? Tell me about it!"
So I told him about the sycamore (无花果) tree. About the view and the sounds and the colours and the wind, how climbing up so high felt like flying, and how it felt like magic.
He didn't stop me once, and when I finished my story, I looked at him and whispered, "Would you climb up there with me?"
He thought about this for a long time, then smiled and said, "I'm not much of a climber, Julianna, but I'll give it a try, sure. How about this weekend, when we've got lots of time to work with?"
"Great!" I went to bed feeling so excited that I didn't sleep for more than five minutes the whole night. Saturday was right around the corner. I couldn't wait!
—Adapted from *Flipped*
(
C
) 1. Why did the writer feel that climbing the tree was a lonely joy?
A. Because the tree could hold only one person's weight.
B. Because her family members didn't care about her.
C. Because she could share the joy of it with no one else.
D. Because she had nothing more interesting to do.
(
A
) 2. What might the writer feel when she asked the underlined question?
A. Nervous and uncertain.
B. Worried and impatient.
C. Unwilling and angry.
D. Confident and hopeful.
(
B
) 3. What does the passage mainly want to tell us?
A. Children need friends at school.
B. Children can always ask for help from parents.
C. Children should always listen to their parents.
D. Children should be allowed to do anything they like.
