A
My mother has a dining table which sits right in the middle of her dining room. It was once buried beneath piles of papers—magazines, articles, copies of schedules for vacations she took back in the 1990s, and baby pictures of grand children who are now paying off their college loans.
My brother Ross and I recently flew to New York to visit my mother. “Mom, why don’t we go through all that stuff?” Ross said. “No. Don’t touch it!” My mother said. The next afternoon, when she couldn’t find a bill she needed, Ross suggested it might be put somewhere in the dining room and that we find it together. “Besides,” he said, “all those papers are clearly stressing you out.” However, my mother just said, “Are you boys hungry?” And then she seemed to have lost herself in deep thought.
On our last night there, my mother walked up to us with a small pile of unopened mails, which she had collected at the western edge of the dining table, and said, “Help me go through these.” “Sure,” I said. When we had succeeded in separating wheat from chaff (谷壳), I asked, “Would you want to deal with another little pile of papers?”
My mother led the way, walking into the dining room the way an animal manager might be while entering a cage with tigers in it. Ross and I came in behind her and suddenly he reached for a pile of the papers on one side of the table. “No!” my mother said sharply. “Let’s start at the other end. That’s where the older stuff is.” Finally, we threw 95 percent of the stuff into paper shopping bags. Then I asked what she wanted us to do with them, she surprised us all by saying, “Put them in the incinerator (垃圾焚化炉).”
When I returned home, inspired by the visit to my mother, I sorted out my own accumulated(累积的) piles of papers, sold or gave away half of my possessions, and moved into a smaller house. It seems that my life has been cheaper and easier since then. And it proves that a small change does make a big difference.
1. What did the mother ask her children to do with these unopened mails?
A. To burn them.
B. To read them for her.
C. To collect them together.
D. To pick out the important ones among them.
2. When the mother walked into the dining room, she was________.
A. angry B. afraid
C. impatient D. careful
3. What’s the author’s attitude towards his mother’s cleaning up the dining table?
A. Positive. B. Negative.
C. Uncertain. D. Unknown.
4. What might be the best title of the passage?
A. The precious mail B. A visit to my mother
C. A happy family reunion D. The lesson of the dining table
【答案】1. D 2. D 3. A 4. D
【解析】
【分析】
本文是一篇夹叙夹议文。作者和哥哥在看望母亲期间帮助母亲清理餐桌上的资料（一向被她视为宝贝），只留下了极少的重要东西，烧掉了大部分无用的东西。受母亲清理餐桌的启示，作者回到家之后也对自己的东西进行归类清理，自此作者觉得生活更加简易了。
【1题详解】
细节理解题。题干问母亲要求孩子们做什么来处理这些未打开的邮件。根据第3段中help me go through these …When we had succeeded in separating wheat from chaff（从麦壳中分离出麦子即：挑出有用的，扔掉无用的），可知，母亲要求孩子们查看邮件并从这些邮件中挑出重要的邮件。故选D。
【2题详解】
细节理解题。题干问当母亲走进餐厅时她是很……。根据第4段第1句My mother led the way , walking into the dining room the way an animal manager might be while entering a cage with tigers in it可知，母亲就像动物管理员走进老虎笼中一样，那么谨慎的进入餐厅。故选D。
【3题详解】
推理判断题。题干问作者对待母亲清理餐桌的态度是什么。根据最后一段When I returned home , inspired by the visit to my mother , I sorted out my own accumulated piles of papers , sold or gave away half of my possessions…可知，作者受母亲清理餐桌行为动作的影响，回家之后也对自己的物品进行了归类清理。故可知，作者的态度是积极的。故选A。
4题详解】
主旨大意题。根据全文（全文以餐桌清理为主线，讲述了在我们的生活中要把无用之物抛弃，以使我们生活更加简易）和最后一段最后一句And it proves that a small change does make a big difference可知，D项（有关餐桌的一课）可作本文的标题。故选D。
【点睛】如何推断作者的态度。1.理解四个选项的含义，常见的表示态度的词有suspicious（怀疑的），unconcerned（不关心的），uncertain （含糊的；靠不住的；迟疑不决的），unknown（未知的，不了解的），optimistic（乐观的），pessimistic（悲观的），neutral（中立的），subjective（主观的），objective（客观的），sensitive（敏感的）hopeful（抱有希望的），doubtful（怀疑的），negative（消极的，否定的）。2.寻找文中具有感情色彩的形容词，副词或动词，根据作者使用词语的褒贬性去判断作者的态度。如本文最后一段inspired by the visit to my mother 考生可以看出其态度。3.作者的观点一般与文章主旨相关联，因此可以抓住论述的主线及举例的方式。4.多注意文章开头，结尾等传达作者感情倾向的部分。5.不要掺杂自己的观点。
