Question

In the kitchen of my mother’s houses there has always been a wooden stand（木架）with a small notepad（記事本）and a hole for a pencil.

I’m looking for paper on which to note down the name of a book I am recommending to my mother. Over forty years since my earliest memories of the kitchen pad and pencil, five houses later, the current paper and pencil look the same as they always did. Surely it can’t be the same pencil? The pad is more modern, but the wooden stand is definitely the original one.

“I’m just amazed you still have the same stand for holding the pad and pencil after all these year.” I say to her, walking bank into the living-room with a sheet of paper and the pencil. “You still use a pencil. Can’t you afford a pen?”

My mother replies a little sharply. “It works perfectly well. I’ve always kept the stand in the kitchen. I never knew when I might want to note down an idea, and I was always in the kitchen in these days.”

Immediately I can picture her, hair wild, blue housecoat covered in flour, a wooden spoon in one hand, the pencil in the other, her mouth moving silently. My mother smiles and says, “One day I was cooking and watching baby Pauline, and I had a brilliant thought, but the stand was empty. One of the children must have taken the paper. So I just picked up the breadboard and wrote it all down on the back. It turned out to be a real breakthrough for solving the mathematical problem I was working on.”

This story—which happened before I was born—reminds me how extraordinary my mother was, and is, as a gifted mathematician. I feel embarrassed that I complain about not having enough child-free time to work. Later, when my mother is in the bathroom, I go into her kitchen and turn over the breadboards. Sure enough, on the back of the smallest one, are some penciled marks I recognize as mathematics. Those symbols have traveled unaffected through fifty years, rooted in the soil of a cheap wooden breadboard, invisible（看不到的）exhibits at every meal.

1．Why has the author’s mother always kept the notepad and pencil in the kitchen?

A．To leave messages.                      B．To list her everyday tasks.

C．To note down maths problems.             D．To write down a flash of inspiration.

2. What is the author’s original opinion about the wooden stand?

A. It has great value for the family.

B. It needs to be replaced by a better one.

C. It brings her back to her lonely childhood.

D .It should be passed on to the next generation.

3. The author feels embarrassed for_______.

A. blaming her mother wrongly.

B. giving her mother a lot of trouble.

C. not making good use of time as her mother did.

D. not making any breakthrough in her field.

4. What can be inferred from the last paragraph?

A .The mother is successful in her career.

B. The family members like traveling.

C. The author had little time to play when young.

D. The marks on the breadboard have disappeared.

5. In the author’s mind ,her mother is_________.

A. strange in behavior.             B. keen on her research.

C. fond of collecting old things.      D. careless about her appearance.

Answer 1

【小題1】D

【小題2】B

【小題3】C

【小題4】A

【小題5】B

解析:

【語篇解讀】本篇文章為記敘文。主要講述“我”的母親總是習慣實用廚房里的記事本和鉛筆。50年過去了，換了5所房子，可母親的習慣沒有改變，卻更熱衷于此。我突然意識到母親是為天才的數學家。

【小題1】細節理解題。根據第四段第三句“I never knew when I might want to note down an idea, and I was always in the kitchen in those days”可知作者母親隨時在存放的記事本上記錄自己的想法，故選D項。

【小題2】推理判斷題。根據第三段作者說的“I’m amazed you still have the same stand for hlding the pad and pencil after all these years …Can’t you afford a pen”可知作者的態度，是在反問母親，想讓母親更好的筆和記事本，故選B項。

【小題3】細節理解題。根據第五段二句“I fell embarrassed that I complain about not having enough child-free time to work”可判斷選C項。

【小題4】推理判斷題。根據最后一段內容，可知我意識到母親的成功，她是天才數學家，母親充分利用了廚房里的記事本寫下數學，以及他對我的影響，由此判斷選A項。

【小題5】細節理解題。根據第四段第第二句母親的話“One day I was cooking and watching baby …It turned out to be a real breakthrough for solving the mathematical problem I was working on.”可知，作者的母親很熱衷于自己的發現，由此判斷選B項。