Native Tongue
At first Kate thought the Romanian girl could not speak and understand English.Nadia would not reply to anything Kate said.Kate was in charge of showing Nadia around on her first day at Buckminster Grade School.Kate could not figure out why the school had put Nadia in a class where she could not understand what people were saying.
“Why did they do this?”Kate wondered aloud.“I mean,you can't learn if you can't understand the teacher.”
Nadia's voice was a whisper.“I understand English.I will learn.”Nadia's English was perfect.
Kate was perplexed.She couldn't understand why Nadia did not like to speak.Then she realized that moving to a new country probably wasn't the easiest thing to do.There were hundreds of unfamiliar and unusual things to learn—all at the same time.
“There're a lot of new things to learn,huh?” said Kate.
Nadia nodded rapidly.In a quiet voice she replied，“Many things people say,I do
not understand.I have been speaking English and Romanian all my life,but I do not know what some children are saying.For example,yesterday a boy asked if I could help him find the USB port on a thin black box he was carrying.Isn't a port a place for ships?It made no sense to me.”
“Don't worry,”said Kate.“You'll figure everything out in time.You see,that thin black box was a computer.A USB port is a place where you can connect other machines to a computer.”
Nadia and Kate were quiet after that.They took notes while the teacher gave a maths lesson.To Kate's surprise,Nadia put up her hand and offered to answer questions at the blackboard.
Nadia handled every question the teacher gave her.Some of the questions were really difficult,and no one understood what was going on except Nadia and the teacher.When the teacher said that Nadia answered everything correctly,the whole class clapped their hands.
Nadia was smiling when she sat back down next to Kate.“Some things,”she said in a normal voice,“are the same all over the world.”
At the beginning of Nadia's first day at school,she was_____________.
A.disappointed B.helpful C.lively D.shy
2.The underlined word“_________perplexed”probably means___________.
A.puzzled B.angry C.shocked D.serious
3.We can infer from the passage that______________.
A.Nadia did not like Kate
B.Nadia had lived by the sea before
C.Nadia had never seen a computer before
D.Nadia spoke in a soft voice out of politeness
4.Which of the following statements is true?
A.Nadia was better at maths than other students.
B.Nadia found some of the maths questions difficult.
C.Nadia was encouraged to answer questions in class.
D.Nadia understood the maths teacher better than other teachers.
5.What is the message of the story?
A.Talking about something familiar gives you confidence in communication.
B.Answering questions in class makes you better understood by classmates.
C.Language plays an important role in communication between cultures.
D.Mathematics helps to improve communication between cultures.
