If you had been in my classes in the early McKee days , you would have seen a skinny young man in his late twenties with messy black hair , eyes that looked with a sign of infection , bad teeth and the hangdog look you see on immigrants in Ellis Island photographs or on pickpockets being arrested .
There were reasons for the hangdog look .
I was born in New York and taken to Ireland before I was four . I had three brothers . My father , an alcoholic , wild man , great patriot , always ready to die for Ireland , abandoned us when I was ten . A baby sister died , twin boys died , two boys were born . My mother begged for food , clothing , and coal to boil water for the tea . Neighbors told her to place us in an orphanage , a place for homeless kids . No , no , never . The shame of it . She hung on . We grew . My brothers and I left school at fourteen , worked , dreamed of America and , one by one , sailed away . my mother followed with the youngest , expecting to live happily ever after . That’s what you are supposed to do in America , but she never had a moment of happy-ever-after .
In New York I worked at laboring jobs till I was put into the United States Army . After two years in Germany I went to college on the GI Bill program to become a teacher . In college there were courses on literature and composition . There were courses on how to teach by professors who did not know how to teach . After college I went to McKee , where I put what I had learnt to trial and embarrassed myself when the students considered me a fool .
小题1:. What is a hangdog look ?
A．happy
B．disappointed
C．discouraged
D．angry小题2:. It can be inferred from this passage that __________ .
A．before the author went to Ireland , he lived in New York .
B．the mother is living a joyful life in America with her little son
C．there are four sons in this Irish family living in America
D．the author is now a young teacher in his twenties teaching in a high school小题3:. Which of the following statements is TRUE ?
A．Someone recommended the mother give the children away to kind people .
B．The author’s father sacrificed himself for his beloved homeland .
C．The author got into college because he was hard-working .
D．The author didn’t know much about how to teach when he first started .小题4:. In what way is the passage mainly developed ?
A．Presenting effects and analyzing the causes .
B．Giving typical examples .
C．Describing things in space order .
D．Presenting an idea and arguing in favor of it .
