After an absence of thirty years, I deci...

    After an absence of thirty years, I decided to visit my old school again. I had expected to find changes, but not a completely different building. As I walked up the school drive, I wondered for a moment if I had come to the right address. The dirty red brick houses had been swept away. In its place stood a bright, modern block. A huge expanse of glass extended (延展) across the face of the building, and in front, there was a well-kept lawn (草坪) where there used to be “an untidy gravel (沙石) yard”.

I was pleased to find that it was bread time and that the children were all in the playground. This would enable me to meet some members of staff. On entering the building, I was surprised to hear loud laughter coming from what appeared to be the masters’ common room. I could not help remembering the teachers in my time, all dressed in black gowns and high collars. And above all, I recalled Mr Garston whom we had nicknamed “Mr Ghastly”, the headmaster who had iron discipline on staff and pupils alike. I knocked at the common room door and was welcomed by a smiling young man who introduced himself to me as the headmaster. He was dressed casually in a sports jacket, and his cheerful manner, quickly dispelled (驱散) the image of Mr Ghastly. After I had explained who I was, the headmaster presented me to the teachers all of whom were a little younger than himself, and said he would take me round the school.

Here the biggest surprise of all was in store for me. Gone were the heavy desks of old with their deeply carved names; gone too, were the dark classrooms with their ink stained, dark brown walls, and their raised platforms for the teachers. The rooms now were painted in bright colors, and the children, far from sitting straight in their places, seemed almost free to do as they liked. I looked with envy as I remembered how, as a child, I had looked at the blackboard hardly daring to whisper to my neighbor.

1.The writer ______.

A.had no difficulty in recognizing his old school

B.found it difficult to recognize his old school

C.noticed that the building was still unfinished

D.was surprised to see an untidy gravel yard

2.Which of the following statements is NOT true?

A.He had expected that the school had completely changed.

B.In the writer’s time, all the teachers were dressed in black gowns and high collars.

C.There was a well-kept lawn in their school when he visited it.

D.An untidy gravel yard had disappeared.

3.“Mr. Ghastly” must be ______.

A.the writer’s teacher B.a serious old man

C.the strict headmaster D.a naughty boy

4.From what is said in the passage it seems clear the writer ______.

A.disapproved of all the changes that had taken place

B.felt sorry for the children in the school

C.was glad that the school was still the same

D.felt that conditions at the school had improved a lot