Alex Harley was born in the northeast of New York in 1921, but he spent most of his early life with his
mother's family in southem Tennessee. His grandmother told him stories about their family. 1_____ He was
a slave (奴隶) from Africa and his name was Kunta.
     Alex Harley went to school and then to college. In 1939, he joined the US coast-guard. As he was a black,
his job was to wait tables and wash dishes. 2_____ He served in the coastguard for 20 years. After he retired,
he put all his time into writing.
     Alex Harley remembered the stories his grandmother had told him. He began to study his family history.
After a lot of research, Harley decided that Toby was proba- bly Kunta Kinte of the West African Mandingo
people, who was caught near the village of Juffure on the Gambia River. He was sold as a slave in Annapolis,
Maryland in 1767. Then Harley made a trip to Gambia. 3_____ The African historian made his research
stronger.
     Alex Harley wanted to tell the experiences of the black people in 18th and 19th century of America. He
spent 10 years researching. 4_____ It was published in 1976. After that, it won a special prize. A few years
later, a film series (连续剧) based on Harley's book was shown on American television.

A. She said their history began with Toby.
B. He was interested in his family history.
C. He talked with a history expert in Juffure.
D. In his spare time, he learned to write stories.
E. Then he wrote his family story for the book Roots.

     On a rubbish run to work, I was greeted with a sight that made me both sad and angry. On the top of the
pile (堆) of rubbish sat a small dog. He was too high up to get down,and there was no way that he could have
climbed up by himself. He had been thrown out with the rubbish by some sick-minded person.
     I took him back to my workplace and then home with me. I didn't want to take him to the lost animal
society. However, later that evening, my boss heard that someone had lost their dog and gave them my
number. I was very surprised when the dog's owner phoned me.
     She came straight over to fetch him and was very thankful for what I'd done. The dog was sitting on an
electric blanket (毯子) happily playing with a ball when she arrived.
     Maybe she'd been putting her rubbish into bags and had left one on the floor. The little dog had jumped
in there,and without realizing where he was, she'd tied the bag and dropped it off at the collection point.
Luckily, he was able to find his way out somehow, and had found himself high up.
     It made me feel very silly for jumping to such a wrong conclusion. It was obvious (明显的) that she
loved her dog very much, and I felt sorry for what I'd been thinking about its owner all afternoon.
     Now I'm never sure that something happened in a certain way, no matter how obvious it appears. And
when I hear people drawing a conclusion without the facts, I tell them about the dog on the rubbish pile.

1. How did the dog come to the rubbish pile probably?

A. He was thrown there by his owner.
B. He climbed there on his own.
C. He was driven there by someone.
D. He followed the writer there.

2. The writer brought the dog home because _______.

A. she didn't know whose he was
B. she was waiting for the owner
C. she wanted to keep him home
D. she'd like to give him to the boss

3. What is the best conclusion we can draw from the story?

A. Everyone takes pity on lost animals.
B. There are really sick-minded people.
C. We should correct mistakes in time.
D. Facts must come before conclusions.