When he thought of the past, my grandfather would sometimes show us photographs of himself at school. They were brown and faded, and it was hard to believe that the blurred figure of the little boy in the short trousers and socks could ever have been Grandfather. Besides, he wore a cap-all the boys in the photographs wore caps pulled so far forward that half of their faces were obscured. When Grandfather asked us to pick him out from the group, we would surely point to the wrong boy.

　　On one such occasion my younger sister, aged six, burst into tears when Grandfather proudly guided her finger to the right boy. "How could that boy be you?" she cried. "He should have a beard." We were, of course, all convinced that grandfathers should have beards, preferably white and bushy, like our own

　　grandfather's.

　　"I was a good scholar," Grandfather would say, wagging his beard over the photographs. "I should have been top of the class if I hadn't had to get up at six every morning to milk the cows and chop the wood, and again when I came home from school."

　　"But Saturdays? What did you do on Saturdays?"

　　"Saturdays, if it was fine, I'd be out all day in the fields with the men," replied Grandfather. "And if it was wet, I'd be helping my mother with odd jobs round the house. There wasn't much time for studying."

　　We all tried hard to imagine what it would have been like to have been Grandfather getting up at crack of dawn and never, obviously, having a moment for himself. It seemed we had learnt something from what Grandfather had said about his childhood.

　　1. In the first paragraph of this passage, what the author really tells us is that ________ .

　　A. his grandfather used to wear short trousers, socks and a cap as well

　　B. it was difficult to tell which of the boys in the photographs was Grandfather

　　C. he didn't believe Grandfather wore a cap pulled forward when he was at school

　　D. it was fun to watch boys in the photographs wearing caps pulled forward

　　2. The author's sister burst into tears because________.

　　A. she did not get a chance to pick out Grandfather in the photographs

　　B. she was told which was the right boy before she herself could pick him out

　　C. other children did not agree with her that Grandfather should have had a beard

　　D. she found Grandfather in the photographs did not have a beard

　　3. When Grandfather said, "I should have been top of the class...", he meant ________ .

　　A. if he had had more time for studying, he would have been the best in his class

　　B. he should have spent more time studying rather than playing ball games

　　C. his school days should not have been so hard and miserable

　　D. he could have never been the best student even if he had studied still harder

　　4. In the last paragraph the author said, "We all tried hard to imagine..." because ________ .

　　A. the figures of the boys in the photographs were small and blurred

　　B. the children had never experienced life like that of Grandfather

　　C. the photographs Grandfather showed them were brown and faded

　　D. Grandfather failed to tell them about his childhood in detail

　　1. B。细节判断题,可用直接就题找文法来解。第一段最后一句:When Grandfather asked us to pick him out from the group, we would surely point to the wrong boy. 此句表明答案为B。

　　2. D。细节判断题,可用直接就题找文法来解。由短文第二段第二句:"How could that boy be you?" she cried. "He should have a beard." 可以推断,小女孩接受不了爷爷没有胡子的事实。

　　3. A。推理判断题,可用逻辑推断法来解。该句为虚拟语气,表明如果他不需要每天起早干活,他的成绩一定会是班上最好的。

　　4. B。推理判断题,可用逻辑推断法来解。认真分析思考可以发现,作者身处现在较优越的生活环境中真难以想象爷爷当初会那么辛苦。

　　(文/郝鹏程；英语辅导报高三版2003-2004学年第51期；版权归英语辅导报社所有，独家网络合作伙伴新浪教育，未经许可，不得以任何形式进行转载。)