Question

We have four chickens: Pecky, Buckbeak, Mayonnaise and Cornflake. My husband, Andrew, made their coop(籠子). It’s beautifully made.

What’s more interesting is that he made it with our sons and daughter. They spent several weekends in the garage(車庫). He gave them tools because he believed it was important that they could actually make something. He slowly helped them and together, they made the coop. They also made the mistakes of learning — a board cut too short, nails smashed(打碎) by hammers — but in the end, Andrew did some tricks and the coop looked perfect.

The chickens love their perfectly imperfect home and we like to give them free range(放養(yǎng)) of the yard. Yesterday, they ran around the lawn(草坪). We needed to go downtown, knowing that chickens wouldn’t go very far. When we got back, my son, Gordon, ran to check on them. There were Mayonnaise, Cornflake and Buckbeak, looking a mess. Pecky was nowhere to be seen.

With Andrew, we searched the yard and found feathers by the trees. More feathers littered the yard. By this time, Gordon started to worry; Pecky was his favorite chicken and his eyes got watery.

Andrew picked Gordon up and held him. As we stood there, accepting that we were now a three-chicken family, we heard it — a soft clucking(咯咯聲) sound. Andrew put Gordon down and they looked under a bush. There was Pecky, a half-naked chicken. She looked weird(怪異的), but she was fine. Andrew gently gathered her up and returned her to the coop.

The next day Andrew had the kids back in the garage. They planned to fence(把……圍起來) a bigger area for maximum(最大化) chicken freedom and safety. The kids believed that the chickens should be closed in, safe from everything that likes to eat chickens. Andrew disagreed. He believed that we should be more careful, letting the chickens out when we were in the yard. He encourages our kids to take risks. He sees that the risk of living life — by having the freedom to walk slowly around and dig for small insects in the garden — is better than the safety of a prison(監(jiān)牢).

Andrew and the kids are planning their next building project. I’m sure it will include the wisdom of a father who knows how to love through the act of giving freedom.

1.What does Paragraph 2 tell readers?

A.The family is not good at making things.

B.The kids were easily prevented by their mistakes.

C.The writer’s husband is impatient with his children.

D.The kids managed to build the coop with their father’s help.

2.What can we learn from Paragraphs 3 to 5?

A.The family didn’t know how to keep chickens.

B.The family loves the chickens as their family.

C.The family feels troubled by the chickens.

D.The family didn’t look after the chickens well.

3.What kind of chicken home will they probably make?

A.A stronger coop made out of the old one.

B.A bigger coop where there is no fence or anything.

C.A bigger place where the chickens will be safer.

D.An enclosed(封閉的) place with where the chickens are well protected.

4.Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?

A.Children made the mistakes of learning while making the coop.

B.In Paragraph 2, tricks means a way of doing something that works well.

C.The family lost a chicken because they went downtown and let the chickens out.

D.Andrew thinks that the risk of living life is better than the safety of a prison.

5.What is the writer’s main purpose in writing the story?

A.To show people how to love animals.

B.To show people some tips for keeping chickens.

C.To tell kids to stay calm when bad things happen.

D.To share the wisdom that comes keeping chickens.

Answer 1