A
I remember the first time I got on a horse. When I was a little boy aged two, my mom agreed to let me take a short ride and that was it! From then on, I drove my parents crazy begging for a horse.
When I was four, I had mutism, in which children stop speaking in certain social situations. I went days, weeks, months without a sound at school. At most, I might quietly whisper to a friend. I suffered silently through school until I was ten when a psychologist (心理学家) had an idea. He asked me what I wanted more than anything else in the world. He explained I was going to be given a chance to work for that. And I was permitted to whisper the answer in my mother's ear, “A horse.”
I was to get a pony, but I had to live up to my end of the bargain (讲价). I had a list of weekly tasks I had to finish. I had to answer the phone five times per week, something I had never done before. I had to say one word to my teacher at school and the list went on. For a child with mutism, saying one word to someone can be like climbing Mount Qomolangma. I did everything that was asked of me and the day came. His name was Sequoia, whom I fell in love with immediately. When I was in Sequoia's presence, I forgot all about my problems and felt strong and secure.
I am a fully participating member of society these days. My horse and I made it through a master's degree. I may have made it otherwise, but I'm not sure. I feel I owe my life to the horse and I try to give it back to him. He has given me the best gift I could ever imagine, my life.
本文是一篇记叙文。主要讲述作者的亲身经历，作者在四岁的时候，语言沟通出现障碍，心理学家想到一个办法，让作者通过完成说话任务得到了他从小就梦想拥有的一匹小马，这匹小马的到来，治愈了作者，使作者感觉到强大和安全，作者十分感激这匹小马。
1．What was the situation like when the author was four?
A．He didn't say a word at all.
B．He learned how to ride a horse.
C．He found his classmates unfriendly.
D．He had difficulty in communicating.
答案：D
解析：细节理解题。根据第二段“When I was four, I had mutism, in which children stop speaking in certain social situations. I went days, weeks, months without a sound at school. At most, I might quietly whisper to a friend.”可知，我四岁的时候在一些社交场合不说话，在学校几天，几周或者几个月也不发一声，最多同朋友说悄悄话。可见，作者在语言沟通上出现了障碍，故选D。
2．What can we infer about the author from Paragraph 3?
A．He completed some tasks easily.
B．He pushed himself extremely hard.
C．He fell in love with Sequoia gradually.
D．He found the psychologist's idea useless.
答案：B
解析：推理判断题。根据第三段可知，心理学家想出一个办法，让作者通过完成说话任务得到小马，而对于一个有不言症的孩子来说，说话是一件十分困难的事情，而作者又特别渴望得到小马，因此推断作者应该是极其努力地逼迫自己去完成说话任务，故选B。
3.What is the author's purpose of writing the text?
A．To share his unfortunate childhood.
B．To give tips on how to cure mutism.
C．To show his deep gratefulness to his horse.
D．To encourage kids struggling against mutism.
答案：C
解析：推理判断题。本题是根据文章来推断作者的写作目的。根据文章最后一段可知作者可以完全地参与社会活动，这都归功于作者的马，并且作者认为这匹小马给了他生命，赋予他力量，因此作者写这篇文章的目的就是要感谢这匹小马，故选C。
