Question

When my daughter Sally was five, I bought Grimm’s Fairy Tales and read Snow White to her one night. At the end of the original Grimm tale, Snow White’s stepmother is made to put on red-hot iron shoes and dance until she falls down dead.

This came as something of a shock. I always thought fairytales had happy endings. And I didn’t want my five-year-old daughter going to sleep thinking: “Thank goodness they tortured (折磨) that old woman to death.” That’s when I decided to write fairy tales.

In the years that followed, I wrote tales non-stop and read them to Sally at bedtime. The Corn Dolly was based on a child who was always complaining; The Silly King was just a silly story Sally loved; I wrote The Witch and the Rainbow Cat for Sally because of her enormous  appetite for stories about witches while Dr Bonocolus’s Devil is a new version of the Faust legend．

Nifobobinus, however, was different. I wrote this book when Sally was older and took up all things girls have to do — who’s friends with who, who stuck a sticker on the back of whose boyfriend, or whatever thing she felt funny.

Nicobobinus, the boy who could do anything, came out of my desire for a more innocent world. He lived a 1ong time ago, in a city called Venice. Only his best friend, Rosie, knew he could, and nobody took any notice of anything Rosie said, because she was always having wild ideas anyway.

Nicobobinus was so different that it turned out to be an instant hit. The Times called me “an author setting out to rival the classic fairytales”. I asked Sally what she thought of Nicobobinus. She said it was her favourite.

1.What led the writer to start writing fairy tales for her daughter?

A. The frightening ends of past fairy tales.

B. His daughter’s strong interest in fairy tales.

C. His desire to let his daughter know more stories.

D. His attempt to fill his daughter’s bedtime with something.

2.We can infer from the third paragraph that the writer _____.

A. was a very productive fairy tale writer

B. based all his stories on some old legends

C. never described witches in his fairy tales

D. created his stories out of his own interest

3.When creating Nicobobinus, the first thing the writer considered was _____.

A. the changes of his daughter’s interests

B. what story the publisher wanted to get

C. ways to keep his daughter Sally innocent

D. the difference of the story from other stories

4.The underlined word “rival” in the last paragraph can be replaced by _____.

A. follow   B. explore  C. challenge  D. recommend

Answer

1.A

2.A

3.A

4.C

【解析】

试题分析: 本文讲述作者怕传统的童话故事的可怕的结尾会吓到自己的女儿 ，从而产生自己写书的愿望，随着女儿的长大写了很多相关的书，也被时代杂志喻为，敢于挑战传统童话的作家。

1.A考查细节理解题。根据第二段提到I always thought fairytales had happy endings. And I didn’t want my five-year-old daughter going to sleep thinking: “Thank goodness they tortured (折磨) that old woman to death.” That’s when I decided to write fairy tales.我一直认为童话故事有幸福的结尾，我不让想五岁的孩子睡觉时想，感谢上帝把这个老人折磨死，故选A项。

2.A 考查细节理解题。根据第三段提到作者写了很多的童话故事给女儿 听，根据不同的人写了不同的故事，故选A项。

3.A 考查细节理解题。根据第四段提到Nifobobinus, however, was different. I wrote this book when Sally was older and took up all things girls have to do这本故事是不同的，我写这本书时，我的女儿已经长大了，开始一些女孩不得不做的事情的时候，故选A项。

4.C 考查词意猜测。根据最后一段提到The Times called me “an author setting out to rival the classic fairytales”. I asked Sally what she thought of Nicobobinus. She said it was her favourite时代杂志称我是一个挑战传统童话故事的作者，故选C项。

考点 ：人物传记类阅读。