Tales of the supernatural are common in all parts of Britain. In particular there was（and perhaps still is）a belief in fairies. Not all of these fairies are the friendly, people-loving sprites that appear in Disney films. In some folktales they are cruel and cause much human suffering. This is true in the tales about the changeling. These tell the story of a mother whose baby grows sick and pale and is changed so much that it is almost unrecognizable to the parents. It was then feared that the fairies had come and stolen the baby away and replaced the human baby with a fairy changeling. This was most likely to happen between birth and the baby’s baptism. There were many ways to prevent this from happening: hanging a knife over the baby’s head while he slept or covering him with some of his father’s clothes were just two of the recommended（推荐）methods. However, hope was not lost even if the baby had been stolen .In those cases there was often a way to get the real baby back. You could place the changeling on the fire—then it would rise up the chimney, you would hear the sound of fairies’ laughter and soon after you would find your own child safe and sound nearby. Or, if you were more cautious（谨慎）,perhaps there was a magic well in the neighbourhood where you could leave the changeling overnight, and in the morning you would return to find your own baby there without a scratch（划痕）on him. 1. Another word in the passage which is closest in meaning to the underlined word sprites is ______. A. changeling B. baptism C. folktales D. fairies 2.The writer described ______ways to prevent babies from being stolen and ______ways to save a stolen baby. A. Many; two B. Two; two C. Two; three D. Two; four 3.Which is not stated but can be inferred from this passage? A. Some sick babies might have been killed with the recommended methods. B. There are bad fairies as well as good fairies. C. Lots of stolen babies were saved with the recommended methods. D. Fairies would laugh if they found a changeling rise up the chimney. |