阅读理解
One
day last summer, watching the boys and girls trying to catch butterflies I
remembered something happened when I was young. When I was a boy of 12 in South
Carolina, something happened to me that cured me forever of wanting to put any
wild creature in a cage.
We
lived on the edge of a wood, and every evening the mockingbirds would come and
rest in the trees and sing. No musician can sing more beautiful than the birds.
I decided that I would catch a young bird and keep it in a cage and in that way
would have my own private musician.
I
finally succeeded in catching one and put it in a cage. At first, the bird flew
about the cage, but eventually it settled down in its new home. I felt very
pleased with myself and looked forward to some beautiful singing from my tiny
musician.
I had
left the cage out, and on the second day my new pet's mother flew to the cage
with food in her mouth. The baby bird ate everything she brought to it. I was
pleased to see this. Certainly the mother knew better than I about how to feed
her baby.
The
following morning when I went to see how my bird was doing, I discovered it on
the floor of the cage, dead. I was shocked! What had happened! I had taken good
care of my little bird.
Arthur
Wayne, the famous ornithologist, happened to be visiting my father at the time.
Hearing me crying over the death of my bird, he explained what had occurred. “A
mother mockingbird, finding her young in a cage, will sometimes bring it
poisonous (有毒的) berries(干果). She thinks it better for her young to die than to
live in cage.”
Never
since then have I caught any living creature and put it in a cage. All living
creatures have a right to live free.
(1)
Why did the writer catch a mockingbird when he was a boy of 12?
A . He had just got a new cage.
B . He liked its beautiful feather.
C . He wanted a pet for a companion.
D . He wanted it to sing for him.
(2)
The mockingbird died because it ______.
A . drank the poisonous water by mistake
B . was frightened to death
C . ate the poisonous food its mother gave it
D . refused to eat anything
(3)
What is the most important lesson the writer learned from the incident?
A . Freedom is very valuable to all living things.
B . All birds put in a cage won't live long.
C . You should keep the birds from their mother.
D . Be careful about food you give to baby birds.
答案: D
C
A