There are good Santas and there are bad Santas. The good Santas all realize one thing: In the mind of a child, Santa Claus is perfect.
That’s difficult. And so they e from around the world to attend the Charles W. Howard School in Midland, Mich. The school offers a three-day, 40-hour course for Santas hoping to be excellent. There’s a real range to what Santas earn, from big bucks for large events to no pay for charities①. One thing for them all is a pure love for children.
A former Macy’s Santa named Charles Howard founded the Michigan school in 1937. “Many people will think if you have a suit and you’re a Santa,” said Tom Valent, the school’s current dean. “It’s more than that.” So with a pet reindeer②, his properly named wife Holly and a workshop full of wonder.
The school teaches everything from breathing techniques for carol singing to the beard maintenance. There are lessons in child psychology, sign language and even media training for talk-show appearances and call-in shows. Santas also need to make sure they know all the names of the reindeer. What’s harder to deal with, however, is children who ask for Christmas gifts like bringing daddy home or making mommy happy again.
After spending time in the classroom, Weir went to the mall to test his training. However, at one point, his hat fell off, and he was unsure how to react. “You’re the real Santa,” Valent said. “Pick that hat up, slip it back on, keep smiling and do your job. You’ve got to stay on top of your game. Even the last one at night, when you’re tired, you’ve got to remember: This one’s forever, so do a good job.”
Notes:
① charity n. 慈善，慈善团体
② reindeer n. 驯鹿
【小题1】According to the passage, good Santas should be the ones that .A．can offer the children some giftsB．help adults look after their childrenC．have ability to make children happyD．should be perfect in the mind of children【小题2】 The underlined words “big bucks” should refer to .A．lots of moneyB．many giftsC．loves for childrenD．gifts from children【小题3】 The Michigan school was founded by Charles Howard with the purpose to .A．train the pet reindeer for the SantasB．earned money from its studentsC．train perfect Santas for the worldD．show the world’s concern to the poor【小题4】 According to Weir’s performance, we can conclude that .A．Weir was short of experienceB．Weir was not fit for the job as a SantaC．Weir did very badly in the gameD．Weir was not a good student in schoolD
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(答案→)D
解析：
【小题1】细节理解题。从文章的第一段第二句可知。
【小题2】词义猜测题。由该句前面的动词“earn”和该句后面的“no pay for charities”可知。
【小题3】推理判断题。由文章的第三、四、五段可知，这所学校教给这些人有关圣诞老人的各种技能和知识，很明显目的就是要使他们成为合格的圣诞老人。
【小题4】推理判断题。由文章的最后一段可知，Weir在处理突发事件时缺乏经验。