1. When Berenice Belizaire arrived in New York from Haiti with her mother and sister in 1987, she was not very happy. She spoke no English. The family had to live in a small and crowded Brooklyn apartment, a far cry from the comfortable house they'd had in Haiti. Her mother, a nurse, worked long hours. School was torture(折磨). Berenice had always been a good student, but now she was learning a new language while enduring constant taunts(嘲笑) from the Americans. They cursed(咒骂) her in the cafeteria and threw food at her. Someone hit her sister in the head with a book. "Why can't we go home?" Berenice asked her mother.Because home was dangerous. The schools weren't always open anymore, and education --- her mother insisted --- was the most important thing. Her mother had always pushed her: memorize everything, she ordered. "I have a pretty good memory," Berenice admitted last week. Indeed, the other kids at school began to notice that Berenice always, somehow, knew the answers. "They started coming to me for help," she says. "They never called me a nerd(书呆子)."Within two years Berenice was speaking English, though not well enough to get into one of New York's elite(精英的) public high school. She had to settle for a neighborhood school, James Madison, a school with a history of unlikely success stories. "I didn't realize what we had in Berenice at first," says math teacher Judith Khan. "She was good at math, but she was quiet. And the things she didn't know! She applied for a summer program in Buffalo and asked me how to get there on the subway. But she always seemed to ask the right questions. She understood the big ideas. She could think on her feet. She could explain difficult problems so the other kids could understand them. Eventually I realized she wasn't just pushing for grades, she was hungry for knowledge ... And you know it never occurred to me that she also was doing well in English and history, all these other subjects that had to be much tougher for her than math."1. Berenice and her family came to the United States so thatA. they could learn to speak perfect EnglishB. they could live a comfortable lifeC. she could get a good educationD. she could enjoy school together with her sister
1. When Berenice Belizaire arrived in New York from Haiti with her mother and sister in 1987, she was not very happy. She spoke no English. The family had to live in a small and crowded Brooklyn apartment, a far cry from the comfortable house they'd had in Haiti. Her mother, a nurse, worked long hours. School was torture(折磨). Berenice had always been a good student, but now she was learning a new language while enduring constant taunts(嘲笑) from the Americans. They cursed(咒骂) her in the cafeteria and threw food at her. Someone hit her sister in the head with a book. "Why can't we go home?" Berenice asked her mother.
Because home was dangerous. The schools weren't always open anymore, and education --- her mother insisted --- was the most important thing. Her mother had always pushed her: memorize everything, she ordered. "I have a pretty good memory," Berenice admitted last week. Indeed, the other kids at school began to notice that Berenice always, somehow, knew the answers. "They started coming to me for help," she says. "They never called me a nerd(书呆子)."
Within two years Berenice was speaking English, though not well enough to get into one of New York's elite(精英的) public high school. She had to settle for a neighborhood school, James Madison, a school with a history of unlikely success stories. "I didn't realize what we had in Berenice at first," says math teacher Judith Khan. "She was good at math, but she was quiet. And the things she didn't know! She applied for a summer program in Buffalo and asked me how to get there on the subway. But she always seemed to ask the right questions. She understood the big ideas. She could think on her feet. She could explain difficult problems so the other kids could understand them. Eventually I realized she wasn't just pushing for grades, she was hungry for knowledge ... And you know it never occurred to me that she also was doing well in English and history, all these other subjects that had to be much tougher for her than math."
1. Berenice and her family came to the United States so that
A. they could learn to speak perfect English
B. they could live a comfortable life
C. she could get a good education
D. she could enjoy school together with her sister
题目解答
答案
解析
本题考查对文章细节信息的理解。解题思路是在文章中找到Berenice和她的家人来到美国的原因相关内容，然后对各个选项进行分析判断。
- 首先，在文章第一段提到 “Because home was dangerous. The schools weren't always open anymore, and education --- her mother insisted --- was the most important thing.”，这表明她们来美国是因为海地不安全，学校也不能正常开放，而母亲认为教育是最重要的，所以是为了让Berenice接受良好的教育。
- 接着分析选项：
- A选项 “they could learn to speak perfect English”，文章中并没有提及来美国是为了学习完美的英语，所以A选项错误。
- B选项 “they could live a comfortable life”，文中提到 “The family had to live in a small and crowded Brooklyn apartment, a far cry from the comfortable house they'd had in Haiti.”，说明在美国的生活并不舒适，B选项与文意不符。
- C选项 “she could get a good education”，与我们从文中找到的原因一致，C选项正确。
- D选项 “she could enjoy school together with her sister”，文章中没有提到来美国是为了和妹妹一起享受学校生活，D选项错误。