Mr. Helton was the closest mouthed fellow Mr. Thomson had ever met up with all his day. The first day Mr. Helton was hired to work for Thomson’s family, they tried, at the dinner table after work, to engage Mr. Helton in conversation, but it was a failure. They tried first the weather, and then the crops and then the cows, but Mr. Helton simply did not reply. Mr. Thomson then told something funny he had seen in town. It was about some of the other old farmers, friends of his, giving beer to a goat, and the goat’s following behavior. Mr. Helton did not seem to hear. Mrs. Thomson laughed dutifully, but she didn’t think it was funny. She had heard it often before, though Mr. Thomson, each time he told it, pretended it had happened that same day. It must have happened years ago if it ever happened at all, and it had never been a story that Mrs. Thomson thought suitable for mixed company. The whole thing came of Mr. Thomson’s weakness for drinking too much now and then. She passed the food to Mr. Helton, who took every serving of all the foods, but not much, not enough to keep him up to his full powers if he expected to go on working the way he had started.

At last he took a fair-sized piece of cornbread, wiped his plate up as clean as if it had been licked up by a dog, stuffed his mouth full, and, still chewing, slid off the bench and started for the door.

“Good night, Mr. Helton,” said Mrs. Thomson, and the other Thomsons took it up. “Good night, Mr. Helton!”

“Good night,” said Mr. Helton’s voice from the darkness.

“Gude not,” said, Arthur, imitating Mr. Helton.

“Gude not,” said Hert, the copycat.

“You don’t do it right,” said Arthur. “Now listen to me. Guuuuuuude, naht.” Herbert almost went into a fit with joy.

“Now stop that,” said Mrs. Thomson. “He can’t help the way he talks. You ought to be ashamed of yourselves, both of you, making fun of a poor stranger like that. How’d you like to be a stranger in a strange land?”

“I’d like it,” said Arthur. “I think it would be fun.”

“They’re both regular heathens, Ellie. We’ve got to raise them. We can’t just let them grow up wild.” said Mr. Thomson. He turned the face of awful fatherhood upon his young. “You’re both going to get sent to school next year, and that’ll knock some sense into you!”

“It’s no use picking on them when they’re so young and tender.” She went on in another tone. “That Mr. Helton seems all right, even if he can’t be made to talk. I wonder how he comes to be so far from home.”

62. What did Mrs. Thomson think about her husband’s telling the funny story to Mr. Helton?

A. Her husband did a right thing to interest Mr. Helton.

B. It was not proper to tell such a story to a stranger.

C. The story was funny enough to attract Mr. Helton.

D. It was her duty to laugh in the presence of a stranger.

63. From the passage, we can infer that ________.

A. Mr. Helton was a quiet and unhappy man

B. Mr. Helton worked hard before coming for dinner

C. Mr. Thomson would be very kind to Mr. Helton

D. Mrs. Thomson didn’t like Mr. Helton’s accent

64. The underlined expression “regular heathens” in Paragraph 10 indicates that Mr. Thomson was ________.

A. angry with their children’s behavior

B. eager to send their children to school

C. disappointed at his children’s school education

D. confident school would change their children

65. At the end of the passage Mrs. Thomson returned to the topic about Mr. Helton because she was ________.

A. interested in Mr. Helton’s pronunciation

B. worried about her difficulties in communication

C. curious about Mr. Helton’s coming from far away

D. trying to change her husband’s emotion