The day was warm and the sun shone down like a new beginning on my life. I was waving goodbye to my son, the last one of my fledglings (剛會飛的鳥)to leave home and go to new woods, "University actually" . I felt so lighthearted after spending many years looking after my four children-cooking, washing, ironing, teaching them how to look after themselves and manage their finances-that I actually thought “At long last, freedom".
But, as I watched my last one leave, although it was a joyous occasion, I realized I had not really prepared for this day, I was too tied up with bringing up these adults of the future to realize that they would all leave the nest and lives independently.
At first I didn't know what "I" wanted to do. I tried a part time job, which ended in me running out in tears. I started a business making soft furnishings, but that didn't work either.  I grew my own veggies and fruit, which lasted 3 years, until I was advised by my doctor that my feet couldn't take any more "tools” driven through them. 
I began wondering if I had a future of my own. I cried for the life I was used to, and hadn't known or wanted anything different.
Then one day I saw an ad. For foster parents, I discussed it with my husband who was always behind everything I tried and with great disturbance, I rang up the number.
I now laugh and sing with my 14-year-old foster daughter, even when my cooker is a mess and my bathroom is a disaster area. I now know, 8 years later, what “I” was meant to be doing with all the spare hours, days, and weeks I had on my hands when my last fledgling flew the nest. The sun shines once again in my home.
【小題1】How did the mother first feel when her last child went off to university?

A.Lonely.B.Anxious.C.Relieved.D.Annoyed.
【小題2】The underlined phrase “was tied up with” in the second paragraph means “        ”.
A.was occupied inB.was associated with
C.was tired ofD.was addicted to
【小題3】In the third paragraph, the poor mother did all the things just to         .
A.live a greener and healthier life
B.earn more money for her kids’ education
C.shift her attention and ease her anxiety
D.start her own decorating business
【小題4】What did the empty-nested mother think of her husband?
A.SkilledB.SupportiveC.StubbornD.Open-minded
【小題5】Thanks to the foster daughter, the author         .
A.got rid of her busy workB.forgot her other children
C.found a suitable jobD.knew what she really wanted


【小題1】C
【小題2】A
【小題3】C
【小題4】B
【小題5】D

解析試題分析:
【小題1】C 推理題。根據(jù)第一段后3行I felt so lighthearted after spending many years looking after my four children-cooking, washing, ironing, teaching them how to look after themselves and manage their finances-that I actually thought “At long last, freedom"說明我很放松,再這么多年的辛苦以后,終于可以放松了。故C正確。
【小題2】A 猜測詞義題。根據(jù)本句I was too tied up with bringing up these adults of the future to realize that they would all leave the nest and lives independently.是, 這些年來我一直忙于撫養(yǎng)教育我的孩子們,故A正確。Be occupied in 忙于…
【小題3】C 推理題。根據(jù)第三段I tried a part time job和I started a business making soft furnishings 以及I grew my own veggies and fruit說明我做了很多事情來把自己的注意力轉移并減輕自己的焦慮。故C正確。
【小題4】B 推理題。根據(jù)倒數(shù)第二段I discussed it with my husband who was always behind everything說明我的丈夫總是在背后支持我。故B正確。
【小題5】D 推理題。根據(jù)文章最后一段可知我收養(yǎng)了一個孩子,這個孩子讓我知道了自己真正想要的是什么。故D正確。
考點:考查社會現(xiàn)象類短文閱讀
點評:文章介紹了現(xiàn)在很正常的空巢現(xiàn)象,文章以我為例說明這些空巢母親所遇見的困境。考查推理題為主,解此類題需要結合上下文提供的語境和信息進行簡單的概括和判斷。?

練習冊系列答案
相關習題

科目:高中英語 來源:河北省邢臺一中2011-2012學年高二下學期第四次月考英語試題 題型:050

閱讀理解

  My father made a deal with me that he would match whatever I could come up with to buy my fir st car.From the time I wa s a saver.My allowance, back in tho se day s, wa s twenty five cent s a week.I grew up on a farm near a small town called Ventura.In tho se day s the area wa s mo stly agricultural.The climate wa s and still i s a s clo se to perfect a s you could get.I earned some of my money picking one crop or another.When I wa s about ten, a school friend' s family owned walnut orchard s(果園)and it wa s harve st time.She told me we could earn five dollar s for every bag of walnut s we picked.I certainly learned about picking walnut s that day.Not surprisingly, that wa s my fir st and la st time a s a walnut picker.

  In 1960 my grandmother pa s sed away.She left me 100 share s of AT&T.One hundred share s of stock don't seem like much today but back then tho se share s paid me$240 per year in dividend s(利息).That wa s huge for a kid my age.

  By the time I wa s seventeen.I had saved up $ 1, 300 and I knew exactly that I wanted.Ithink my father wa s somewhat suri sed when I announced I had saved up $ 1, 300 and wa s ready to buy my new car.I'll never forget the evening my father said, “Let' s go see about that car”.I wa s so excited.

  My father could have ea sily ju st given me the car but he alway s in si sted that hi s children work for what they got.Thi s wa s not a bad thing.I learned self-reliance.Self-reliance i s equal to freedom.Now that I think about it I need to be thanking my father.

(1)

Which one of the following s didn't belong to the saving of $1, 300?

[  ]

A.

Weekly allowance.

B.

Her earning s by picking crop s.

C.

Share s left by grandma.

D.

Money earned from selling share s.

(2)

The underlined part in the second paragraph probably meant ________.

[  ]

A.

she didn't have the chance of picking walnut s

B.

enough money had been earned for her car

C.

the work wa s too hard for children like her

D.

she had no time to do that again for some rea son

(3)

We can know from the pa s sage the author got her car at the age of ________.

[  ]

A.

16

B.

17

C.

18

D.

19

(4)

The purpo se of the author' s father doing like that wa s to ________.

[  ]

A.

give the author freedom

B.

be unwilling to buy the author a car

C.

teach the author to learn self-reliance

D.

give the author a big surpri se

查看答案和解析>>

科目:高中英語 來源:河北省邢臺一中2011-2012學年高二下學期第四次月考英語試題 題型:050

閱讀理解

  Two year s ago, Wendy Ha snip, 47,experienced a brain injury that left her speechle s s for two week s.When she finally recovered, she found her self talking with what seemed to be a French accent.“I phoned a friend the other day, and she spent the fir st ten minute s laughing, ” Ha snip said at the time, “while I have nothing again st the French.”

  Ha snip suffered from foreign accent syndrome(外國口音綜合癥), a rare condition in which people find them selve s speaking their own language like someone from a foreign country.The condition u sually occur s in people who have experienced a head injury or a stroke-a sudden lo s s of con sciou sne s s, sen sation, or movement cau sed by a blocked or broken blood ve s selin the brain.

  The condition wa s fir st identified during the Second World War in a Norwegian woman who se head wa s injured during an attack by the German military.The woman recovered but wa s left with a German-sounding accent, to the horror of fellow villager s who avoided her after that.

  Re searcher s have di scovered that the combined effect of the damage to several part s of the brain make s victim s lengthen certain syllable, mi spronounce sound s, and change the normal pitch(音高)of their voice.Tho se change s in speech add up to what sound s like a foreign accent.

  Another re searcher, a phonetician, say s victim s of the syndrome don't acquire a true foreign accent.Their strangely changed speech only re semble s the foreign accent with which it ha s a few sound s in common.

  When an Engli sh woman named Annie recently developed foreign accent syndrome after a stroke, she spoke with what seemed to be a Scotti sh accent.However, Annie' s Scotti sh coworker s said she didn't sound at all like a Scot.

(1)

According to the pa s sage, people ________ may have foreign accent syndrome.

[  ]

A.

who se parent ha s experienced a head injury

B.

who have lived in a foreign country for a long time

C.

who have lo st their con sciou sne s s owing to a stroke

D.

who have learned foreign language from their coworker s

(2)

If a per son suffer s foreign accent syndrome, ________.

[  ]

A.

hi s coworker s will be afraid of him and avoid contacting with him

B.

he ha s more chance of suffering stroke again

C.

he will speak a fluent foreign language like native speaker s

D.

hi s speech only ha s a few sound s in common with the foreign accent

(3)

Writing thi s pa s sage, the writer' s main purpo se i s to ________.

[  ]

A.

introduce foreign accent syndrome and some related information

B.

warn people not to be at the ri sk of experiencing a stroke

C.

make it clear that foreign accent syndrome can be cured

D.

tell a story of an injured woman during the Second World War

查看答案和解析>>

科目:高中英語 來源:人教版新課標20092010學年度高二下學期期末考試試題(英語) 題型:閱讀理解

第三部分:閱讀理解(共20小題,每題2分,滿分40分)

閱讀下列短文,從每題所給的A、B、C、D四個選項中,選出最佳答案,并在答題卡上將該項涂黑。

In this age of ours, I find that almost all of my friends are becoming mere voices.

Not too long ago when friends came, they would fill half the drawing room and their voices would penetrate the four walls and disturb all the neighbors. Now they have all become, step by step, into invisible and untouched beings, whose tiny voices can only be heard by one ear through the telephone, no louder than the mosquitoes(蚊子).

Since this has become a necessary part of modern life, I too have learnt to live with this “ear language”. Many friends have become more distant because they are not very good at this way of communication(交流), others have become closer through ear language, and there are some friends I know by voice only. There is one particular voice friend I got to know through a very curious incident.

One day my telephone rang. When I lifted the receiver- a young lady’s voice informed me that she was phoning in answer to an advertisement for a night club program hostess. Obviously she had got the wrong number. The incident should have ended there and then. Actually, it was a sweet voice, only her poor imitation(模仿)of Hong Kong pronunciation and intonation got on my nerve and especially the “wa!” gave me the goose flesh. I told her that if I were the boss of the club, I wouldn’t give her a second thought because of her poor pronunciation. The young lady at the other end of the phone immediately came up with a surprising suggestion that, of course in her true local accent, she wanted to learn proper standard spoken Chinese speech from me, because she valued every chance very much. To my great surprise, we became “phone” friends. Every day, at the agreed time, she would ring me up and our “l(fā)esson” would begin. And she was tested and interviewed by a radio station in the south and got acceptd. She phoned me for the last time to thank me and to say good-bye. We had already formed a very deep “voice” friendship and have left deep unchangeable vocal(聽覺的) impressions in each other’s mind. Any sudden appearance of visual images(視覺印象), good or bad, could only be destructive.

56.The underlined word penetrate in the first paragraph means _____.

A.pass quickly by              B.force a way through 

C.hear accidentally       D.make a hole in

57.The passage suggests us that _____.

A.they would be friends forever

B.they would meet in the future

C.they hadn’t had and wouldn’t have any interview

D.the young lady was able to sing sweet songs in standard Chinese

58.We know from the passage that _____.

A.in modern times people get in touch less than before

B.young people enjoys getting together very much

C.people are more ready to help others

D.people can earn a lot of money in the night club

59.Which is wrong according to the passage?

A.The writer taught the young lady without pay.

B.The young lady can’t be a native of Beijing.

C.The writer is not fond of getting in touch with others

D.Neither of the two is ready to see each other.    

 

查看答案和解析>>

科目:高中英語 來源: 題型:閱讀理解

第三部分:閱讀理解(共20小題,每題2分,滿分40分)

閱讀下列短文,從每題所給的A、B、C、D四個選項中,選出最佳答案,并在答題卡上將該項涂黑。

In this age of ours, I find that almost all of my friends are becoming mere voices.

Not too long ago when friends came, they would fill half the drawing room and their voices would penetrate the four walls and disturb all the neighbors. Now they have all become, step by step, into invisible and untouched beings, whose tiny voices can only be heard by one ear through the telephone, no louder than the mosquitoes(蚊子).

Since this has become a necessary part of modern life, I too have learnt to live with this “ear language”. Many friends have become more distant because they are not very good at this way of communication(交流), others have become closer through ear language, and there are some friends I know by voice only. There is one particular voice friend I got to know through a very curious incident.

One day my telephone rang. When I lifted the receiver- a young lady’s voice informed me that she was phoning in answer to an advertisement for a night club program hostess. Obviously she had got the wrong number. The incident should have ended there and then. Actually, it was a sweet voice, only her poor imitation(模仿)of Hong Kong pronunciation and intonation got on my nerve and especially the “wa!” gave me the goose flesh. I told her that if I were the boss of the club, I wouldn’t give her a second thought because of her poor pronunciation. The young lady at the other end of the phone immediately came up with a surprising suggestion that, of course in her true local accent, she wanted to learn proper standard spoken Chinese speech from me, because she valued every chance very much. To my great surprise, we became “phone” friends. Every day, at the agreed time, she would ring me up and our “l(fā)esson” would begin. And she was tested and interviewed by a radio station in the south and got acceptd. She phoned me for the last time to thank me and to say good-bye. We had already formed a very deep “voice” friendship and have left deep unchangeable vocal(聽覺的) impressions in each other’s mind. Any sudden appearance of visual images(視覺印象), good or bad, could only be destructive.

56.The underlined word penetrate in the first paragraph means _____.

A.pass quickly by               B.force a way through 

C.hear accidentally        D.make a hole in

57.The passage suggests us that _____.

A.they would be friends forever

B.they would meet in the future

C.they hadn’t had and wouldn’t have any interview

D.the young lady was able to sing sweet songs in standard Chinese

58.We know from the passage that _____.

A.in modern times people get in touch less than before

B.young people enjoys getting together very much

C.people are more ready to help others

D.people can earn a lot of money in the night club

59.Which is wrong according to the passage?

A.The writer taught the young lady without pay.

B.The young lady can’t be a native of Beijing.

C.The writer is not fond of getting in touch with others

D.Neither of the two is ready to see each other.    

查看答案和解析>>

科目:高中英語 來源: 題型:閱讀理解

第三部分:閱讀理解(共20小題,每題2分,滿分40分)

閱讀下列短文,從每題所給的A、B、C、D四個選項中,選出最佳答案,并在答題卡上將該項涂黑。

A

In this age of ours, I find that almost all of my friends are becoming mere voices.

Not too long ago when friends came, they would fill half the drawing room and their voices would penetrate the four walls and disturb all the neighbors. Now they have all become, step by step, into invisible and untouched beings, whose tiny voices can only be heard by one ear through the telephone, no louder than the mosquitoes(蚊子).

Since this has become a necessary part of modern life, I too have learnt to live with this “ear language”. Many friends have become more distant because they are not very good at this way of communication(交流), others have become closer through ear language, and there are some friends I know by voice only. There is one particular voice friend I got to know through a very curious incident.

One day my telephone rang. When I lifted the receiver- a young lady’s voice informed me that she was phoning in answer to an advertisement for a night club program hostess. Obviously she had got the wrong number. The incident should have ended there and then. Actually, it was a sweet voice, only her poor imitation(模仿)of Hong Kong pronunciation and intonation got on my nerve and especially the “wa!” gave me the goose flesh. I told her that if I were the boss of the club, I wouldn’t give her a second thought because of her poor pronunciation. The young lady at the other end of the phone immediately came up with a surprising suggestion that, of course in her true local accent, she wanted to learn proper standard spoken Chinese speech from me, because she valued every chance very much. To my great surprise, we became “phone” friends. Every day, at the agreed time, she would ring me up and our “l(fā)esson” would begin. And she was tested and interviewed by a radio station in the south and got acceptd. She phoned me for the last time to thank me and to say good-bye. We had already formed a very deep “voice” friendship and have left deep unchangeable vocal(聽覺的) impressions in each other’s mind. Any sudden appearance of visual images(視覺印象), good or bad, could only be destructive.

56.The underlined word penetrate in the first paragraph means _____.

A.pass quickly by               B.force a way through 

C.hear accidentally        D.make a hole in

57.The passage suggests us that _____.

A.they would be friends forever

B.they would meet in the future

C.they hadn’t had and wouldn’t have any interview

D.the young lady was able to sing sweet songs in standard Chinese

58.We know from the passage that _____.

A.in modern times people get in touch less than before

B.young people enjoys getting together very much

C.people are more ready to help others

D.people can earn a lot of money in the night club

59.Which is wrong according to the passage?

A.The writer taught the young lady without pay.

B.The young lady can’t be a native of Beijing.

C.The writer is not fond of getting in touch with others

D.Neither of the two is ready to see each other.    

查看答案和解析>>

同步練習冊答案