Question

My grandfather came from Hungary and was the only one in his family who settled down in the United States. The rest of his family remained in Europe. When World War I broke out, he seemed to have become another man, downhearted. Such obvious change was not born out of concern for his welfare, but out of fear: if his only son, my uncle, had to go to war, it would be cousin fighting against cousin.

One day in 1918, my Uncle Milton received his draft notice. My grandparents were very upset. But my mother, at the age of 10, felt on top of the world about her soldier brother going off to war. Realizing how he was regarded by his little sister and all of her friends, my uncle bought them all service pins, which meant that they had a loved one in the service. All the little girls were delighted.

The moment came when my uncle and the other soldiers, without any training but all in uniforms, boarded the train. The band played and the crowd cheered. Although no one noticed. I’m sure my grandmother had a tear in her eye for the only son. The train slowly pulled out, but not about a thousand yards when it suddenly paused. Everyone stared in wonder as the train slowly returned to the station. There was a dead silence before the doors opened and the men started to step out. Someone shouted, “The war is over!” For a moment, nobody moved, but then the people heard someone bark orders at the soldiers. The men lined up in two lines, walked down the steps, and with the band playing, marched down the street, as returning heroes, to be welcomed home. My mother said it was a great day, but she was just a little disappointed that it didn’t last a tiny bit longer.

What the grandfather was most worried about was ______.

 A. the spread of the world war                      B. the safety of his two cousins

 C. a drop in his living standards                    D. his relatives killing each other

The underlined phrase “draft notice” means “______”.

 A. order for army service                             B. train ticket for Europe

 C. letter of rejection                                     D. note of warning

What did the “service pins” （in Para. 2） stand for in the eyes of the little girls?

 A. Strength.             B. Courage.               C. Victory.                        D. Honor.

Which of the following words can best describe the ending of the story?

 A. Disappointing.    B. Unexpected.          C. Uncertain.             D. Inspiring.

Answer 1

【小題1】 D

【小題2】A

【小題3】D

【小題4】B

解析:

【小題1】細節(jié)推理題。根據(jù)第1段…a if his only son, my uncle, had to go to war, it would be cousin fighting against cousin可推知孫子一旦參軍可能導(dǎo)致親人間相互斗爭，因此擔憂。D選項符合本意。

【小題2】詞義判斷題。根據(jù)下文…h(huán)er soldier brother going off to war可知draft notice的含義應(yīng)該是征兵令，故選擇A。B“去歐洲的火車票”，C“被拒收的信”， D“警告令”。都不合上下文。

【小題3】詞義判斷題。根據(jù)下文which meant that they had a loved one in the service. All the little girls were delighted可知這是令人感到自豪的東西，故service pins 代指honour。

【小題4】推理判斷題。開始人們依依不舍地送自己親友去參軍，但火車剛開出去就接到戰(zhàn)爭已結(jié)束的命令，所以這令人感到非常意外，使用Unexpected最能表達這層意思。