My elder brother Steve, in the absence of my father
who died when I was six, gave me important lessons in values that helped me
grow into an adult.
For instance, Steve taught me to face the results of
my behavior. Once when I returned in tears from a Saturday baseball game, it
was Steve who took the time to ask me what happened. When I explained that my
baseball had soared through Mrs. Holt’s basement window, breaking the glass
with a crash, Steve encouraged me to confess（承認）to her.
After all, I should have been playing in the park down Fifth Street and not in
the path between buildings. Although my knees knocked as I explained to Mrs.
Holt, I offered to pay for the window from my pocket money if she would return
my ball. I also learned from Steve that personal property is a sacred（神圣的） thing. After I found a shiny silver pen in my
fifth-grade classroom, I wanted to keep it, but Steve explained that it might
be important to someone else in spite of the fact that it had little value. He
reminded me of how much I’d hate to lose to someone else the small dog that my
father carved from a piece of cheap wood. I returned the pen to my teacher,
Mrs. Davids, and still remembered the smell of her perfume as she patted me on
my shoulder.
Yet of all the instructions Steve gave me, his respect
for life is the most vivid in my mind. When I was twelve, I killed an old brown
sparrow in the yard with a BB gun. Excited with my accuracy, I screamed to
Steve to come from the house to take a look. I shall never forget the way he
stood for a long moment and stared at the bird on the ground. Then in a dead,
quiet voice, he asked, “Did it hurt you first, Mark?” I didn’t know what to
answer. He continued with his eyes firm, “The only time you should even think
of hurting a living thing is if it hurts you first. And then you think a long,
long time.” I really felt terrible then, but that moment stands out as the most
important lesson my brother taught me.
1. What is the main subject of the passage?
A．The
relationship between Mark and Steve.
B．The important
lesson Mark learned in school
C．Steve’s important role in mark’s
growing process.
D．Mark and
Steve’s respect for living things.
2. It can be inferred from the passage that when Mark
confessed to Mrs. Holt, __________.
A．he felt
surprised B．he was
light-hearted
C．he felt
frightened D．he knelt
before her
3.In the story about the pen, which of the following
lessons did Steve teach his brother?
A．Respect for
personal property.
B．Respect for
life.
C．Sympathy for
people with problems.
D．The value of
honesty.
4. According to the writer, which was the most
important lesson Steve taught his young brother?
A．Respect for
living things.
B．Responsibility
for one’s actions.
C．The value of
the honesty.
D．Care for the
property of others.
5.Which of the follow is true according to the passage?
A．Mark was
still a boy when he wrote this passage.
B．Mark lost the
small dog his father carved somewhere.
C．When a living
thing hurts you, you should kill it.
D．Even if a
living thing hurts you, you should not kill it without hesitation.
