There was once a farmer who had a fine orchard (果园). He worked very hard all his life and the orchard always did well. But he knew that his three sons looked down upon farm work, and were only interested in getting rich quickly.
When the farmer was old and knew he was going to die, he called his three sons to him and said, “My sons, there’s a lot of gold hidden in the orchard. Dig for it, if you want to have it.” The sons tried to get him to tell them the exact place where the gold was hidden, but he said nothing more.
After the farmer was dead, the sons went to look for the gold. Since they didn’t know where the hiding-place was, they decided to begin digging all over the orchard, They dug and dug, but no gold was found. Finally they had to give up the attempt.
The next summer, the fruit crop was the biggest they had ever had. This was because of the thorough digging the orchard had got.
When the three sons saw the great amount of money they got after they sold the fruit, they suddenly understood what their wise father had meant when he said “There’s gold hidden in the orchard. Dig for it.”
72. When the old farmer was living, ____________.
A. the orchard gave rich crops each year
B. the orchard gave rich crops only when the weather conditions were good
C. the orchard had an average crop
D. the fruit crop was usually poor
73. Which of the following statements is true?
A. The farmer’s sons were lazy and had never worked on the farm
B. The farmer’s sons did a lot of buying and selling in town so as to get rich quickly.
C. The farmer’s sons loved farm work, because their father, who was hardworking all his life, had told them to work hard.
D. The farmer’s sons considered farm work worthless.
74. When the sons asked their father to tell them t
he exact place where the gold was hidden, he told them nothing, because _________.
A. he was dying
B. he thought they understood what he meant
C. he wanted them to dig the orchard all over
D. the gold could easily be found
75. No gold was found because ___________.
A. the farmer’s sons hadn’t dug the orchard deep enough
B. the gold had been stolen
C. the farmer’s sons didn’t know in what part of the orchard the gold was hidden.
D. there was no gold hidden in the orchard.
