The pickle jar（泡菜壇）, as I can remember, sat beside the dresser in my parents’ bedroom. When ready for bed, Dad would toss any coins in his pockets into the jar. As they dropped, they landed with a merry jingle.

Whenever the jar was full, Dad would roll up the coins. Every time he slid the box of rolled coins across the counter at the bank toward the cashier, he would smile proudly and say,“All for my son’s college.”

We would always celebrate each deposit by stopping for an ice cream cone. Dad would show me the coins in his change, saying “When we get home, we’ll start filling the jar again.” He always let me drop the first coins into the empty jar. “You might have to get to college on loose change,” he said. “But you’ll get there.”

As years passed, I went to college, got married and took a job.

Once, while visiting my parents, I noticed the jar was gone. It had served its purpose. My dad was a man of few words and never lectured me on the values of determination, perseverance or faith. The jar had taught me those far better than the most flowery of words could have done.

Soon, my daughter Jessica was born. We spent Christmas that year with my parents. After dinner, Mom and Dad sat next to each other, taking turns holding their first grandchild. When Jessica began crying, my wife Susan took her from Dad’s arms to put her in my parents’ room.

Susan came back, tears in her eyes and led me into the room. “Look,” she said softly. To my amazement, there, next to the dresser, stood the old pickle jar, as if never removed, the bottom already covered with coins. I walked over to it, dug down into my pocket, and pulled out several coins. Choked by emotion, I dropped them into the jar.

Dad had slipped quietly into the room when I looked up. Our eyes locked, but neither of us spoke, because we knew nothing had to be said.

1.Which of the following statements is TRUE?

A. The author and his wife were grateful for what parents had done.

B. The jar again in the bedroom reminded themselves of the hard years.

C. The author felt disappointed when he found the jar gone.

D. The author felt embarrassed whenever his father mentioned the jar.

2.We can learn from the passage that .

A. any difficulty can be overcome with the family’s support.

B. parents teach much more through their action than their words.

C. saving is always a good habit to pass down to the next generation.

D. you need to reward yourself and celebrate regularly to keep up with your faith.

3.Which words best describe the author’s father?

A. Humorous and patient. B. Quiet but loving.

C. Generous and talkative. D. Proud but strict.

4.The pickle jar in the article represents .

A. advice of parents.

B. one’s purpose in life.

C. determination to reach a goal.

D. healthy family relations.

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Anne is six years older than me. Growing up, we were very poor, and my mother worked evenings at a factory in a small town. Not seeing my mother much, Anne looked after me and my younger sister. During those hard years, Anne was always there for me, not only as a big sister, but as a mother and my best friend.

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Who’s in control of your life? Who is pulling your string? For the majority of us, it’s other people—society, colleagues, friends, family or our religious community. We learned this way of operating when we were very young, of course. We were brainwashed. We discovered that feeling important and feeling accepted was a nice experience and so we learned to do everything we could to make other people like us. As Oscar Wilde puts it, “Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else’s opinions, their lives a mimicry(模仿), their passions a quotation.”

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A. We need to pay for what we want to get.

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D. The price of taking drugs is freedom.

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A. care about others’ opinions and change opinions all the time

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C. stick to our own values

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