Question

    I’m from the Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma, but I’ve lived in Denver for quite a few years. I have a friend that also lives in Denver who is originally from Oklahoma. We got talking about how homesick we were, and he suggested that we go spend a couple of weeks with his grandma but informed me of two things.

The first was that his grandmother might not be particularly fond of Shawnee people. This was because of a thing that had happened between our tribes in the late 1800s. The second thing was that she could be a little bit persistent about inviting people to go to church with her on Sunday.

I grew up with an Irish Catholic mother and a Shawnee father, and so I was very open to all kinds of different spiritual beliefs. Thus I promised my friend that I could be diplomatic with his grandmother if she was persistent with her invitations, and I even thought that maybe I could win her over to liking Shawnee people.

When we got inside, he introduced us. I addressed her as Miss Myrtle to show extra respect. Her greeting was polite but not particularly warm. But over the next week I took her to Tulsa to run errands (做琐碎的事情), I fixed her chicken coop, and I used all my best manners to win her over. At dinner that night she said to me, “You know, Alistair, it’s been nice having you here. Now, you know this Sunday is Mother’s Day. Of course, at my age I never know if this could be my last Mother’s Day. There’s just one thing I want. I would like you to be my special guest at church on Sunday.”

We got to the church. People walked up the center aisle and put some money into this little wooden collection box, and that bought them the privilege of inviting somebody from the congregation (集会) up to sing a “Special.” A Special, it turned out, is a solo hymn (赞美诗；圣歌). And then Miss Myrtle started up the aisle. When she reached the front, she scanned the congregation, found me, and said, “My grandson brought a friend with him from Denver. His name is Alistair, and he is from the Eastern Shawnee Tribe. But he is a very nice person. Alistair, I would like you to come up here and sing us a Special.”

I immediately began making “no” gestures and grinning. But my friend had grabbed me by the arm and was guiding me over his knees in the narrow pew. He said, “Grandma’s going to be so happy.”

And the next thing I knew, I was out in the center aisle, and it almost felt like there was some invisible force pushing me toward the front of the church. It could have been God. And I was hoping that, if it was God, when I reached the microphone, God would choose that moment to work a super-big miracle and make it so that I could sing.

The music started, and I started to sing. “Michael, row your boat ashore, alleluia. Michael, row your boat ashore ...” It was about the time I reached the second alleluia (哈利路亚的欢呼声) that I realized that was in fact the only line I remembered.

And then, finally, I stopped. The organist, who was not quite sure what was happening, continued to play, but when she realized it was finally over, she stopped in kind of an abrupt way, and then there was silence, and in that silence I walked back down the aisle. Suddenly an applause broke out and then more and more joined in. I sat back down. Miss Myrtle was on the other side of me. But once I was settled in my seat, she leaned toward me slightly and said, “I don’t believe I’ve ever met someone that didn’t know at least one hymn.” There wasn’t a whole lot I could say about that, so I was just like, “Happy Mother’s Day.”

1.From the first two paragraphs, we can know that the writer ______.

A.has a friend whose home origin is Denver

B.lives in a distant tribe of Shawnee

C.is suffering periods of homesickness

D.won’t be warmly received by the grandma

2.Miss Myrtle was a little cold when seeing the writer probably because ______.

A.she had been told he was Shawnee B.she was too old to be so warm

C.her last Mother’s Day was coming D.he had declined her invitation

3.The process of the author winning Miss Myrtle over can be best described by “________”.

A.Faith can move mountains B.Nurture passes nature

C.Fact is stranger than fiction D.Custom makes all things easy

4.Why did the writer made “no” gesture when invited to sing a hymn?

A.He was too shy to do it. B.He had different spiritual belief

C.Some invisible force pushed him D.He did not know any hymn at all

5.From the last paragraph we can know that ______.

A.the writer sang so well that he was warmly applauded

B.the writer was really pride of the unexpected result

C.Miss Myrtle was quite unsatisfied with the writer

D.Miss Myrtle was grateful for the writer’s special thyme

6.Which of the following could be the best title?

A.A Hymn to End All Hymns B.A Hymn to Embarrass Grandma

C.An Experience to Turn Around D.An Experience to Learn To Sing

Answer

1.C

2.A

3.A

4.D

5.D

6.A

【解析】

本文是一篇记叙文。讲述了作者为了获得莫尔特祖母的欢心，为了帮助祖母庆祝母亲节，尽管不会唱赞美诗却依然上台演唱，改变了祖母对肖尼人的成见。

1.

细节理解题。根据第一段We got talking about how homesick we were表明他和他的朋友都非常想家，因此我们知道作者正经历着乡愁。故选C。

2.

推理判断题。根据第二段The first was that his grandmother might not be particularly fond of Shawnee people.( 首先，他的祖母可能不太喜欢肖尼人)和第三段 I even thought that maybe I could win her over to liking Shawnee people.(我甚至想，也许我能说服她喜欢肖尼人)可以看出他的祖母不喜欢 Shawnee，因此推断莫尔特小姐看见作者有点冷淡，也许是因为她被告诉他是肖尼人。故选A。

3.

推理判断题。四个选项意思分别是信仰能移山、教养胜过天性、事实比小说更离奇，习惯使一切变得容易。题目问的是 The process of the author winning miss Myrtle over，根据文章的讲述可知，作者因为是肖尼人，莫尔特小姐不喜欢他，因此推断作者赢得莫尔特小姐的支持表达了跨越信仰的努力，故选A。

4.

推理判断题。从倒数第二段It was about the time I reached the second alleluia (哈利路亚的欢呼声) that I realized that was in fact the only line I remembered.(就在我到达第二个哈利路亚的欢呼声的时候，我意识到这实际上是我记忆中的唯一一行)可以推断，作者根本不会唱赞美诗，哈利路亚是他唯一知道的台词。故选D。

5.

推理判断题。根据最后一段的 Miss Myrtle was on the other side of me. But once I was settled in my seat, she leaned toward me slightly可以看出祖母靠在了我的身上，因此推断虽然我不会唱什么赞美诗，但努力地去唱，改变了两个部落之间固有的隔阂，祖母感到欣慰与感动，从祖母说的这句话I don't believe I' ve ever met someone that didn 't know at least one hymn.可知，这句话的实质含义是说，我认识一个至少知道一首赞美诗的Shawnee人,说白了祖母对于 Shawnee的印象因为作者而有所改观，而且为了让祖母的母亲节过得快乐作者豁出去了(即在不熟悉歌词的情况下也去台上演唱了)，因此推断莫特尔小姐很感激作者的特别的赞美诗。故选D。

6.

主旨大意题。祖母没有感到难堪，故排除B。C选项说的转身的经历和D选项说的学习唱歌都没有抓住重点，而A选项代表着作者所唱的赞美诗虽然磕磕绊绊、但充满真情和感动，是文章的核心，表明了作者为了赢得莫特尔祖母的欢心而做出的努力，故选A。