That summer an army of crickets(蟋蟀) started a war with my father. Dad cared for insects no more than Mamma, but he could tolerate a few living in the basement. Mamma was a city girl and she said a cricket was just too noisy. Then to support her point she wouldn’t go to bed. She drank coffee and smoked my father’s cigarettes and paced between the sofa and the TV. Next morning she threatened to pack up and leave, so Dad drove to the store and hurried back. He sprayed poison from a jug. When he was finished he told us that was the end of it.
For a couple of weeks we went back to find dead crickets in the laundry. He suggested that we’d all be better off to hide as many as we could from Mamma. I fed a few dozen to the cat who I didn’t like because he scratched for no reason.
However,soon live crickets started showing up in the kitchen and bathroom. Mamma was upest because she thought they were the dead crickets ing back,but Dad said these were certainly new ones. He fetched his jug of posion and sprayed all over until the whole house smelled of posion, and then he sprayed the basement again.
A couple of weeks later, when both live and dead crickets kept turning up, Dad emptied the basement of junk. Then he burned a lot of old newspapers and magazines which he said the crickets had turned into nests.
While we ate supper that evening, the wind lifted some flames onto the wood pile. The only gasoline was in the lawn mower’s(割草机) fuel tank but that was enough to create an explosion big enough to reach the house. Once the roof caught, there wasn’t much anyone could do.
After the fire trucks left, Mamma took the others to Aunt Gail’s. I helped Dad and Uncle Burt carry things out of the house and pile them by the road. We worked into the night and we didn’t talk much, while all around the noise of crickets broke our silence.
【小题1】What do we know about the author’s mother?A．She didn’t like insects at all. B．She liked insects more than his father. C．She cared for insects very much. D．She could only tolerate a few insects.【小题2】The author’s father drove to the store to buy . A．cigarettes for himselfB．some poisonC．more coffee for his wifeD．some gasoline【小题3】The author’s father burned the old newspapers and magazines because he thought . A．they were no longer usefulB．the crickets were afraid of firesC．they became the home of cricketsD．the dead crickets came back to life【小题4】We learn from the last paragraph that . A．the author’s family lost their battle against the cricketsB．the author’s parents learned to put up with insectsC．the author’s family didn’t suffer much in the fireD．the author’s parents got divorcedA
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(答案→)A
解析：本文讲述了作者妈妈不能忍受蟋蟀的叫声，父亲用毒药毒死蟋蟀后再焚烧它们的身体时不小心引着了木堆，割草机油箱中的汽油发生爆炸并波及到房屋，作者的妈妈带着其他人去了Gail婶婶家，作者和爸爸还有Burt叔叔把房屋中的东西搬出去后堆放在路边，并一直忙到晚上，此时打破他们之间沉默的还是蟋蟀的叫声这一故事。
【小题1】推理题，第一段中提到作者的爸爸能够容忍在地下室中有几只昆虫，而作者的妈妈在城市中长大，说蟋蟀太吵了，为了证明这一点，她不肯睡觉，喝咖啡，吸烟，甚至要威胁离开，由此可知她根本不喜欢昆虫。故选A。
【小题2】细节题，根据第一段中“Next morning she threatened to pack up and leave, so Dad drove to the store and hurried back. He sprayed poison from a jug.”内容可知，在作者的妈妈的一番折腾后，作者的爸爸开车去商店买回了一些毒药。故选B。
【小题3】细节题。根据第四段最后一句“Then he burned a lot of old newspapers and magazines which he said the crickets had turned into nests. ”爸爸焚烧了大量旧报纸和旧杂志，说蟋蟀已经把报纸和杂志变成了窝。故选C。【小题4】推理题，作者的爸爸用毒药杀死一些蟋蟀，之后木堆起火，割草机油箱中的汽油发生爆炸并波及到房屋，作者的妈妈带着其他人去了Gail婶婶家，作者和爸爸还有Burt叔叔把房屋中的东西搬出去后堆放在路边，并一直忙到晚上，此时打破他们之间沉默的还是蟋蟀的叫声，由此可推断在与蟋蟀的战争中，作者一家失败了。故选A。