It was 1961 and I was in the fifth grade. My marks in school were miserable and, the thing was, I didn’t know enough to really care. My older bother and I lived with Mom in an ugly multi-family house in Detroit. We watched TV every night. The background noise of our lives was gunfire and horses’ hoofs(马蹄) from “Wagon Train” or “Cheyenne”, and laughter from “I Love Lucy”, or “Mister Ed”. After supper, we’d lie on Mom’s bed and stare for hours at the TV screen.
But one day Mom changed our world forever. She turned off the TV. Our mother had only been able to get through third grade. But, she was much brighter and smarter than we boys know at the time. She had noticed something in the suburban houses where she cleaned books. So she came home one day, switched off the TV, sat us down and explained that her sons were going to make something of themselves. “You boys are going to read two books every week,” she said. “And you’re going to write a report on what you read.”
We moaned（不满,发牢骚） and plained about how unfair it was. Besides, we didn’t have any books in the house other than Mom’s Bible. But she explained that we would go where the books were: “I’ll drive you to the library.”
So pretty soon there were these two peevish（坏脾气的）boys sitting in her white 1959 Oldsmobile on their way to Detroit Public Library. I wandered reluctantly（不情愿） among the children’s books. I loved animals, so when I saw some books that seemed to be about animals, I started leafing through them.
The first book I read clear through was Chip the Dam Builder. It was about beavers（河狸）. For the first time in my life I was lost in another world. No television program had ever taken me so far away from my surroundings as did this virtue visit to a cold stream in a forest and these animals building a home.
It didn’t dawn on me at the time, but the experience was quite different from watching TV. There were images forming in my mind instead of before my eyes. And I could return to them again and again with the flip（快速翻动）of a page.
Soon I began to look forward to visiting this quiet sanctuary form my other world. I moved from animals to plants, and then to rocks. Between the covers of all those books were whole worlds, and I was free to go anywhere in them. Along the way a funny thing happened: I started to know things. Teachers started to notice it too. I got to the point where I couldn’t wait to get home to my books.
Now my older brother is an engineer and I am chief of pediatric neurosurgery(儿童神经外科)at John Hopkins Children’s Center in Baltimore. Sometimes I still can’t believe my life’s journey, from a failing and indifferent student in a Detroit public school to this position, which takes me all over the world to teach and perform critical surgery.
But I know when the journey began the day Mom switched off the TV set and put us in her Oldsmobile for that drive to the library.
【小题1】We can learn from the beginning of the passage that .A．the author and his brother had done well in schoolB．the author had been very concerned about his school workC．the author had spent much time watching TV after schoolD．the author had realized how important schooling was【小题2】Which of the following is not true about the author’s family?A．He came from a middle-class family.B．He came from a single-parent family.C．His mother worked as a cleaner.D．His mother had received little education.【小题3】How did the two boys feel about going to the library at first?A．They were afraidB．They were reluctant.C．They were impatient.D．They were eager to go.【小题4】The author began to love books for the following reasons EXCEPT that .A．he began to see something in his mindB．he could visualize what he read in his mindC．he could go back to read the books again D．he realized that books offered him new experienceC
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(答案→)C
解析：本文作者讲述了自己童年的一段经历：他和他的哥哥如何在母亲的督促下，放弃看电视转而去图书馆阅读书籍，从一开始的不情愿到后来逐渐被书中的知识所吸引，进而对书爱不释手，最终学业有成、事业成功。
【小题1】 C 细节理解题。由第一段最后一句可知，Wagon Train”， “Cheyenne” “I Love Lucy”,，“Mister Ed”均是电视剧名，最后一句的stare for hours at the tube(显像管)，指的也是长时间看电视。此处tube(显像管)，at the tube其实就是指看电视，由下段的前两句表示转折的话也可知前段是说他两兄弟花很多时间看电视。
【小题2】A 推理判断题。由第二段第三句Our mother had only been able to get through third grade.可知D正确；由第二段第四句中in the suburban houses she cleaned可知C正确；由第一段第三句My older bother and I lived with Mom可知B正确；排除B，C和D可知选A。另外，从第一段第三句和第四句描写的他们生活的环境情况看，也可知选项A不合事实。
【小题3】B 细节理解题。由第三段第一句We moaned and plained…可知，他们最初是“不愿意的”。
【小题4】D 细节理解题。由第六段第一句but the experience…可知选项D对；由第二句images forming in my mind可知选项B对；由There were images forming in my mind instead of before my eyes可知A 、B均是作者喜欢读书的原因；由最后一句I could return to them again and again可知选项C对。由It didn’t dawn on me at the time可知作者当时并未意识到读书能给他予新的体验，故选D。dawn on sb. 意为“使某人明白什么”。