In the kitchen of my mother’s houses there has always been a wooden stand (木架) with a small notepad (记事本) and a hole for a pencil.
I’m looking for paper on which to note down the name of a book I am remending 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 years.” I say to her, walking back 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 those 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 plain 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 travelled unaffected through fifty years, rooted in the soil of a cheap wooden breadboard, invisible (看不到的) exhibits at every meal.
【小题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.【小题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.【小题3】The author feels embarrassed for .A．blaming her mother wronglyB．giving her mother a lot of troubleC．not making good use of time as her mother didD．not making any breakthrough in her field【小题4】What can be inferred from the last paragraph?A．The mother is successful in her career.B．The family members like travelling.C．The author had little time to play when young.D．The marks on the breadboard have disappeared.【小题5】In the author’s mind, her mother is .A．strange in behaviourB．keen on her researchC．fond of collecting old thingsD．careless about her appearanceD
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(答案→)D
解析：【文章大意】本文是一篇故事。文章讲述了母亲厨房里的纸、铅笔及放置它们的木架的故事。
【小题1】D考查推理判断。根据文章第一段中的In the kitchen of my mother’s houses there has always been a wooden stand (木架) with a small notepad (记事本) and a hole for a pencil.可知D正确。
【小题2】B考查推理判断。根据文章第二段中的The pad is more modern, but the wooden stand is definitely the original one.可知，记事本是现代的了，而木架还绝对是原来的。这表明作者的心理态度是：其他都变了，这个架子也该变了。故选B。
【小题3】C考查推理判断。根据文章倒数第一段中的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 plain about not having enough child-free time to work.可知，使我感到难堪的是我总是抱怨没有时间。故选C。
【小题4】A考查推理判断。根据文章最后一段中的This story—which happened before I was born—reminds me how extraordinary my mother was, and is, as a gifted mathematician.可推知A正确。母亲是一个天才的数学家。
【小题5】B考查推理判断。根据文章最后一段中的Those symbols have travelled unaffected through fifty years, rooted in the soil of a cheap wooden breadboard, invisible (看不到的) exhibits at every meal.可知B正确。