Mom’s birthday present? It may be a difficult thing for some people, but for me, it is an easy thing. Mom loved flowers, so every year I sent her flowers. Actually she had a bed of irises (鸢尾花) in the backyard of her small, Indiana farm. They were beautiful. “Take some,” she said, “Dig some up and plant them on the side of your own house.”
But in my yard they became lacking in energy. A year passed, then two, but not one flower appeared. I cut back all their green leaves. I was tired of seeing them so lonely. Finally, I dug the irises up and threw them away.
About that time Mom died unexpectedly. My sister and I sold the farm. I never went back to see the irises. I just couldn’t bear seeing another family living in our home—Mom’s home. Autumn came, then winter. The following spring, as Mom’s birthday approached, I struggled with the question of how to remember her. I stared out the window and saw a few stubborn irises in my side yard sprouting (发芽), —tall, thin but flowerless. Because of seeing them, I decided to order flowers as I always did on Mom’s birthday, and send them to my sister. I wished so badly I could still send flowers to Mom. But that was impossible.
In the morning of Mom’s birthday, I was in my car ready to work. Something in the yard caught my eye. The irises! One had bloomed with flowers, big, showy and purple, as lovely as they ever had been on Mom’s farm. I smiled and turned my eyes upward. I could no longer send flowers to Mom. But somehow, she’d been able to send them to me.
小题1:According to the first paragraph, Mom ________.
| A．wanted to give the author some flowers |
| B．didn’t like the presents from the author |
| C．lived with the author on an Indiana farm |
| D．got different birthday presents from the author every year |
小题2:At first, the irises in the author’s yard ________.
| A．all died quickly |
| B．didn’t bloom at all |
| C．grew as well as on Mom’s farm |
| D．grew better than those on Mom’s farm |
小题3:What troubled the author?
| A．She didn’t know how to grow irises. |
| B．She regretted they had sold Mom’s farm. |
| C．She didn’t know what to do in memory of Mom. |
| D．She couldn’t bear others living in Mom’s home. |
小题4:After seeing the irises sprouting, the author________.
| A．decided to send flowers to her sister on Mom’s birthday |
| B．dug them out because they were flowerless |
| C．decided to send them to Mom after they bloom |
| D．ordered flowers for the people living in Mom’s home |
小题5:What can be learned from the last paragraph?
| A．All the irises in the author’s yard bloomed. |
| B．The author went to see the irises in Mom’s yard. |
| C．It was Mom who took care of these irises in the author’s yard. |
| D．The author thought the blooming irises were gifts from Mom. |
