My father was a foreman of a sugar-cane plantation in Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico. My first job was to drive the oxen that ploughed the cane fields. I would walk behind an ox, guiding him with a broomstick. For $ 1 a day, I worked eight hours straight, with no food breaks. It was very _ work, but it prepared me for life and taught me many lasting lessons. Because the plantation owners were always watching us, I had to be on time every day and work as hard as I could. I've never been late for any job since. I also learned about being respectful and faithful to the people you work for. More important, I earned my pay; it never entered my mind to say I was sick just because I didn't want to work. I was only six years old, but I was doing a man's job. Our family needed every dollar we could make because my father never earned more than $ 18 a week. Our home was a three-room wood shack with a dirty floor and no toilet. Nothing made me prouder than bringing home money to help my mother, father, two brothers and three sisters. This gave me self-esteem , one of the most important things a person can have. When I was seven, I got work at a golf course near our house. My job was to stand down the fairway and spot the balls as they landed, so the golfers could find them. Losing a ball meant you were fired, so I never missed one. Some nights I would lie in bed and dreamt of making thousands of dollars by playing golf and being able to buy a bicycle. The more I dreamed, the more I thought. Why not? I made my first golf club out of guava limb and a piece of pipe. Then I hammered an empty tin can into the shape of a ball. And finally I dug two small holes in the ground and hit the ball back and forth. I practiced with the same devotion and intensity . I learned working in the field -- except now I was driving golf balls with club, not oxen with a broomstick . The writer's first job was _ . A) to stand down the fairway at a golf course B) to watch over the sugar-cane plantation C) to drive the oxen that ploughed the cane fields D) to spot the balls as they landed so the golfers could find them
C
(Question)
It is good to get in touch with your inner child from time to time,and obviously some people are willing to pay big money for the chance to do so in a proper environment.A Brooklyn-based adult preschool is charging customers between $333 and $999 for the chance to act like a kid again. At Preschool Mastermind in New York adults get to participate in show--and--tell,arts--and--crafts such as finger paint,games like musical chairs and even take naps.The month-long course also has class picture day where the adults are expected to have a field trip and a parent day. 30-year-old Michelle Joni Lapidos,the brain behind the adult preschool,studied childhood education and has always wanted to be a preschool teacher.She's always on the lookout for new ways to get people in touch with the freedom of childhood.A friend encouraged her to start the mastermind course instead. According to Candice,her blogger friend,Preschool Mastermind gives adults a chance to relearn and master the things that they failed to understand as children."I realized all the significances of what we learn in preschool,"said founder Michelle Joni,"People come here and get in touch with their inner child.It's magical.We are bringing ourselves back to another place,another time with ourselves when we are more believing in ourselves,more confident and ready to take on the world." "One person's here because they want to learn not to be so serious."Michelle said."Another's here to learn to be more confident."She explained that most of the classes were planned.However,Joni added that while the planned activities were fun,it was often the spontaneous moments that attracted students."It's the things you don't plan for,the sharing between friends and learning from each other.'' What is the purpose of Preschool Mastermind? A) To give adults a chance to return to childhood. B) To help parents understand their children better. C) To provide practical training courses for teachers. D) To introduce some ways of playing with children.
(Answer)
A
Ques: ,by Brian Selznick,is a novel like no other.There are pages of exciting events and then suddenly,wait! A picture with tiny details,then a big picture that takes up the whole page-and the next page,and the next page,and the next!The pictures are actually telling the story.It's like a book and a movie all in one. I recently had the opportunity to talk with Selznick about his unique novel.I wanted to know just how he came up with the concept of writing a novel that reads like a picture book. "Because the book was so much about movies and the history of cinema,I also wanted to figure out how to make a book that was also like a movie," Selznick said. Writing and illustrating the book was a long and hard process,Selznick said.One of the challenges was figuring out what the story was really about and what happens to the main character,Hugo.Selznick also had to figure out how to make the narrative and the pictures work together to tell the story. Working with pictures was natural for Selznick.He has actually spent most of his career as an illustrator and really considers himself more of an artist than a writer. But sometimes figuring out what was going to happen in the story was not easy,he told me.He had no idea what the story was going to be about when he started writing.He didn't know if it was going to be sad,adventurous,or exciting.For now,Selznick doesn't plan on writing a sequel to the book,but he warns,"You can never say never." It can be inferred that the text is _ . A) an introduction to an unusual novel B) a summary record of an interview C) a biography of the novelist Brian Selznick D) an ad persuading kids into buying the novel
Ans: B
Ques: Most painters discover a style of painting that suits them and stick to that, especially if people admire their pictures. But Picasso, the great Spanish painter, was like a man who had not yet found his own particular style of painting. He kept on struggling to find the perfect expression till his death in 1973. Some of Picasso's paintings are rich, soft color1ed and beautiful. Others are ugly and cruel and strange. But such paintings allow us to imagine things for ourselves. They force us to say to ourselves, "What does he see that makes him paint like that?" And we begin to look beneath the surface of the things we see. Picasso painted thousands of pictures in different styles. Sometimes he painted the natural look of things. Sometimes he seemed to break them apart and throw the pieces in our faces. He showed us what the mind knows as well as what the eye sees. At the age of 90 he remained as curious about the world as he had been when he was young. That's why people have called him "the youngest painter in the world.. What does the writer think of Picasso's paintings? A) He admires them. B) He doesn't understand them. C) He dislikes the ugly ones. D) He is angry at them.
Ans:
A