A
(2020·北京高二检测)
The Pillow
At the age of sixteen, I joined a volunteer group with my dad. I went on my first volunteer project in West Virginia. On the night we arrived, we discovered that “our family” was living in a trailer(拖车) that was in poor condition. A crew had been working on it for two weeks, but every time they finished one problem, another surfaced.
We decided the only reasonable solution was to build a new house—something unusual but necessary under these circumstances. The family was overjoyed with their new house that was twenty by thirty feet with three bedrooms, a bath and a kitchen.
On Tuesday of that week, while we ate lunch together, I asked the family’s three boys, Josh, Eric and Ryan, “What do you want for your new room? ” Expecting toys and other gadgets that children usually ask for, we were surprised when Josh responded, “I just want a bed. ”
The boys had never slept in a bed! They were accustomed to plastic mats. That night we had a meeting and decided that beds would be the perfect gift. On Thursday night, a few adults in our group drove to the nearest city and bought beds and new bedding.
When we saw the delivery truck coming, we told the family about the surprise. We could hardly contain ourselves. It was like watching excited children on Christmas morning.
That afternoon, as we fitted the frames of the beds together, Eric ran into the house to watch us. Too dirty to enter his room, he observed with wide-eyed enthusiasm from the doorway.
As my father slipped a pillowcase onto one of the pillows, Eric asked, “What is that? ”
“A pillow, ” he replied.
“What do you do with it? ” Eric continued to ask.
“When you go to sleep, you put your head on it, ” I answered softly. Tears came to our eyes as he handed Eric the pillow.
“Oh. . . that’s soft, ” he said, hugging it tightly.
Now, when my sister or I start to ask for something that seems urgent, my Dad gently asks, “Do you have a pillow? ”
We know exactly what he means.
【文章大意】本文是记叙文。文章讲述作者十六岁时和父亲一起做志愿者时所见所闻。一个家庭的贫穷深深地震撼了他们: 他们从来没有睡过床, 从来没有见过枕头。
21. The writer’s first volunteer project was ______.
A. working on a poor trailer
B. helping a poor family
C. donating beds and bedding
D. dealing with a housing problem
【解析】选B。推理判断题。从第一段we discovered that “our family” was living in a trailer. . . 和第二段的The family was overjoyed with their new house可知, 作者的第一个志愿者项目是帮助一个贫困家庭。故选B。
22. On hearing Josh’s answer, the writer was shocked because ______.
A. the family lived in a trailer
B. he expected to get some toys
C. he didn’t know what a bed was
D. the boys had no bed to sleep in
【解析】选D。细节理解题。从第三段最后一句we were surprised when Josh responded, “I just want a bed. ”及第四段第一句The boys had never slept in a bed! 可推知, 听到Josh的回答, 作者很震惊, 因为这些男孩们连睡觉的床都没有。
23. From the passage, what had Eric never seen before?
A. A trailer. B. A truck.
C. A pillow. D. A house.
【解析】选C。细节理解题。从第八段至第十一段Eric与作者的父亲的对话可知, Eric不知道枕头是什么。由此可知, Eric以前从未见过枕头。故选C。
24. By saying “Do you have a pillow? ”, the writer’s father means that ______.
A. what they want to get may be unnecessary
B. they should not waste money on small things
C. they should do more volunteer work for the poor
D. what he will buy is not what they want but a pillow
【解析】选A。推理判断题。根据上文的内容Eric一家连枕头都没见过, 结合最后一段内容可推断: 父亲认为我们要求的东西只是看起来急需, 实际上, 可能并不是必要的。故选A。
