阅读理解
After Mom died, I began visiting Dad every morning before I went to work. He was frail and moved
slowly, but he always had a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice on the kitchen table for me, along with
an unsigned note reading, "Drink your juice." Such a gesture, I knew, was as far as Dad had ever been
able to go in expressing his love. In fact, I remember, as a kid I had questioned Mom "Why doesn't Dad
love me!" Mom frowned. "Who said he doesn't love you!" "Well, he never tells me," I complained. "He
never tells me either," she said, smiling. "But look how hard he works to take care of us, to buy us food
and clothes, and to pay for this house. That's how your father tells us he loves us."
I nodded slowly. I understood in my head, but not in my heart. I still wanted my father to put his arms
around me and tell me he loved me. Dad owned and operated a small scrap(片)metal business and after
school I often hung around while he worked. I always hoped he'd ask me to help and then praise me for
what I did. He never asked. His tasks were too dangerous for a young boy to attempt, and Mom was
already worried enough that he'd hurt himself. Dad hand fed scrap steel into a device that chopped it as
cleanly as a butcher chops a rack of ribs. The machine looked like a giant pair of scissors, with blades
thicker than my father's body. If he didn't feed those terrifying blades just right, he risked serious injury.
"Why don't you hire someone to do that for you?" Mom asked Dad one night as she bent over him and
rubbed his aching shoulders with a strong smelling liniment. "Why don't you hire a cook?" Dad asked,
giving her one of his rare smiles.
Many years later, during my first daily visit, after drinking the juice my father had squeezed for me, I
walked over, hugged him and said, "I love you, Dad." From then on I did this every morning. My father
never told me how he felt about my hugs, and there was never any expression on his face when I gave
them.
1. What would be the best title for the passage?
A. I just couldn't understand my father
B. My father never loved me
C. Silent fatherly love
D. My hard-working father
2. The author's father always prepared a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice for him because _______.
A. that was the author's favorite
B. he was sure the author would be thirsty
C. the author was always complaining
D. that was a gesture of love
3. When the author complained in the first paragraph, his mother __________.
A. tried to comfort him
B. told him that his father loved him with action
C. tried to defend his father
D. got a bit angry with him
4. The author's father didn't hire a helper because __________.
A. his job was too dangerous
B. his job required high skills
C. he wanted to save money
D. he was not good at communicating with others
5. We may infer from the passage that __________.
A. the author's father lacked a sense of humor
B. the author quite understood his father as time went on
C. the author's father didn't love him very much
D. the author's father was too strict with him
