After my husband died, my world crashed around me. My six children were 10, nine, eight, six, three and 18 months, and I was overwhelmed with the responsibilities of earning a living, caring for the children and simply keeping my head above water.
I was fortunate to find a wonderful housekeeper to care for the children during the week, but from Friday nights to Monday mornings, the children and I were alone, and frankly I was uneasy. Every unusual noise or any late-night phone call filled me with fear. I felt incredibly alone.
One Friday evening I came home from work to find a big beautiful German shepherd(牧羊犬) on our doorstep. It was obvious he wanted to make the house his home. The children took an instant liking to "German" and begged me to let him in. I agreed to let him sleep in the basement until the next day. That night I slept peacefully for the first time in many weeks.
The following morning we made phone calls and checked lost-and-found ads for German’s owner, but with no results. Saturday night he was still with us.
On Sunday I had planned to take the children on a picnic. Since I thought it best to leave German behind in case his owner came by, we drove off without him. When we stopped to get gas at a local station, we were amazed to see German racing to the gas station after us. He stayed again Sunday night.
Monday morning I let him out for a run while the children got ready for school. He didn’t come back. We thought we’d never see him again. On Friday evening, German was back again. We took him in, and again he stayed until Monday morning, when our housekeeper arrived. It went like this for almost 10 months. We looked forward to his coming each Monday morning he left home.
Each week, between German's visits, I grew a little braver, but every weekend I enjoyed his company. Then one Monday morning we patted his head and let him out for what turned out to be the last time. He never came back.
小题1:What does the underlined part in the first paragraph mean?
A．trying to keep calm in public
B．trying to get attention from other men
C．showing her high spirit in the face of trouble
D．managing to continue to live小题2:When the author’s husband died, ______.
A．she couldn’t raise the six children on her own
B．she couldn’t relax on the weekends
C．The housekeeper only came on weekends
D．she was too busy to feel lonely小题3:Which of the following is Wrong according to the article?
A．German was fond of living with the family.
B．The writer felt safe and protected with German around.
C．The dog stayed until the writer was strong enough to go on alone.
D．The writer was too busy that weekend to go find the dog’s owner.小题4:Which is the best title for the passage?
A．A homeless dog
B．A friend’s strength
C．How to keep a dog
D．Keep up when in trouble
小题1:D
小题2:B
小题3:D
小题4:B
题目分析：这篇短文记述了一位带着六个孩子艰难度日的母亲，从一条流浪狗的身上获得了生活的勇气。勇敢面对艰难生活的故事。
小题1:联系本段描述，可知此处指的是努力生存下去的意思，故选D。
小题2:根据第二段but from Friday nights to Monday mornings, the children and I were alone, 描述，可知这位母亲在周末也不能休息，故选B。
小题3:根据The following morning we made phone calls and checked lost-and-found ads for German’s owner, 描述，可知这位母亲虽然忙，但是还是尽力去找这条狗的主人，故选项D描述错误。
小题4:这篇短文中的母亲正在因为生活的艰难而情绪低落时，是一条流浪狗带给了她生活的勇气，让她明白了自己并不孤独。故选B，朋友的力量。
点评：本文中长句较多，一时很难读懂句子含义，注意多读几遍，不要强求非得理解一词一句的含义，能把握文章大意就行。然后带着问题阅读短文，一般就能顺利找出答题依据。对于不能直接找到根据的问题注意联系上下文，根据短文中心总结出正确答案。
Daughter’s __40__: “No, I’m not interested in that．”