After _________ seemed two weeks, Mary _________ herself to the climate in South Africa.

     A. what; had adapted                                        B. what; adapted

    C. when; had adapted                                        D. when; adapted

As kids, my friends and I spent a lot of time out in the woods．“The woods” was our part-time address, destination, purpose, and excuse．If I went to a friends house and found him not at home, his mother might say, “Oh, he’s out in the woods, ” with a tone（语气） of airy acceptance．It is similar to the tone people sometimes use nowadays to tell me that someone I’m looking for is on the golf course or at the gym, or even “away from his desk．” For us ten-year-olds, “being out in the woods” was just an excuse to do whatever we feel like for a while．

We sometimes told ourselves that what we were doing in the woods was exploring（探索）．Exploring was a more popular idea back then than it is today．History seemed to be mostly about explorers．Our explorations, though, seemed to have less system than the historic kind: something usually came up along the way．Say we stayed in the woods, throwing rocks, shooting frogs, picking blackberries, digging in what we were briefly persuaded was an Indian burial mound．

Often we got “lost” and had to climb a tree to find out where we were．If you read a story in which someone does that successfully, be skeptical: the topmost branches are usually too skinny to hold weight, and we could never climb high enough to see anything except other trees．There were four or five trees that we visited regularly—tall beeches, easy to climb and comfortable to sit in．

It was in a tree, too, that our days of fooling around in the woods came to an end．By then some of us had reached seventh grade and had begun the rough ride of adolescence（青春期）．In March, the month when we usually took to the woods again after winter, two friends and I set out to go exploring．We climbed a tree, and all of a sudden it occurred to all three of us at the same time that we really were rather big to be up in a tree．Soon there would be the spring dances on Friday evenings in the high school cafeteria．

The author and his friends were often out in the woods to _______．

     A．spend their free time               B．play golf and other sports

     C．avoid doing their schoolwork  D．keep away from their parents

What can we infer from Paragraph 2 ?

     A．The activities in the woods were well planned．

     B．Human history is not the result of exploration．

     C．Exploration should be a systematic activity．

     D．The author explored in the woods aimlessly．

The underlined word “skeptical” in Paragraph 3 is closest in meaning to ______．

     A．calm       B．doubtful   C．serious      D．optimistic

How does the author feel about his childhood?

     A．Happy but short．            B．Lonely but memorable．

     C．Boring and meaningless．      D．Long and unforgettable．

I'm from the South Bronx. At 7, my neighborhood was the beginning and end of my universe. It was a small town to me. Everyone knew each other, so if you got into trouble in school, chances are your mom knew about it before you got home. I felt watched over and safe.
But just before I turned 8, things began to change. I watched two buildings on my block burn down. I remember seeing my neighbor Pito go up and down the fire escape to get people out. Where were the firemen? Where was the truck? Somebody must have called them.
That same summer, after serving two tours in Vietnam, my brother was killed in the South Bronx. He was shot above the left eye and died instantly.  
People who could moved out of the neighborhood, and all I wanted to do was get out, too. I used education to get away from there and got good at avoiding the topic of where I was from. To be from the South Bronx meant that you were not a good person. It felt like a stain.
After college, I didn't want to come back to the South Bronx, but in order to afford graduate school, I had to. I was almost 30 and could only afford to live at my parents' home. It felt like a defeat, and I hated it.
At the same time, the city was planning a huge waste facility here, and no one seemed to care — including many of us who lived here. They were like, "Well, it's a poor community; what's the difference?"
I was very angry. It drove me to act. It moved my spirit in a way that I didn't know was possible. And it changed my beliefs — it changed the way I felt about myself and my community. I worked hard with others who felt the same way, and together, we defeated the plan.
After that, I realized it's just as important to fight for something as it is to fight against something. So we dreamed up a new park on the site of an illegal waste dump — and after many community clean-ups, along with $3 million from the city, we have one. And it's a glory. It was the seed from which many new plans for our community have grown.
Today, the South Bronx is no longer a stain; it's a badge(象征) of honor for me. I believe that where I'm from helps me to really see the world. Today, when I say I'm from the South Bronx, I stand up straight. This is home, and it always will be.
41. Paragraphs 2 and 3 make the readers believe ____________.

Monday: Here I am, in the middle of nowhere. This camping trip idea is not getting off to a very good start. It’s raining and the tent leaks. The hiking seemed to take forever, and I still can’t understand how it could all have been up hill! How did I ever let my brother talk me into this? When we get home—if we ever get home—he’s going to have to do something great to get back on my good side. Maybe he should sponsor a shopping spree（狂购）at the mall!
Tuesday: Things are looking up. The sun came out today, so we were able to leave the tents and dry out. We’re camped at the edge of a small lake that I couldn’t see before because of the rain and fog. The mountains are all around us, and the forest is absolutely beautiful. We spent most of the day dragging out everything out of our backpacks or tents and putting it where the sun could dry it out. Later in the afternoon we tried to catch the fish for dinner, but the fish were smarter than we were. At night we built a fire and sang songs happily.
Wednesday: We hiked to the far side of the lake and climbed to the top of a small peak. From there we could see how high the other mountains were and how far the forest spread around us. On the way up we passed through a snowfield!
Thursday: I caught my first fish! We followed the stream that fed the lake. After about two miles, we came to a section that Carol said looked “fishy”. She had a pack rod(竿), which can be carried in a backpack. I asked to cast it, and I caught a fish on my first try. Carol caught a few more. But they were just too pretty to eat for lunch so we put them back in the stream.
Friday: I can’t believe we are going home already. It will be nice to get a hot shower, sleep in a real bed, and eat junk food, but the trip has been wonderful. We’re already talking about another camping adventure next year where we canoe down a river. It’s hard to believe, but I think this city girl has a little country blood in her veins.
【小题1】The writer went on this camping trip because________.

                                                                             C
Monday: Here I am, in the middle of nowhere. This camping trip idea is not getting off to a very good start. It’s raining and the tent leaks (漏). The hiking seemed to take forever, and I still can’t understand how it could all have been up hill! How did I ever let my brother persuade me into doing this? When we get home—if we ever get home—he’s going to have to do something great to get back on my good side. Maybe he should sponsor (赞助) a shopping spree（狂购）at the mall!
Tuesday: Things are looking up. The sun came out today, so we were able to leave the tents and dry out. We’re camped at the edge of a small lake that I couldn’t see before because of the rain and fog. The mountains are all around us, and the forest is absolutely beautiful. We spent most of the day dragging out everything out of our backpacks or tents and putting it where the sun could dry it out. Later in the afternoon we tried to catch the fish for dinner, but the fish were smarter than we were. At night we built a fire and sang songs happily.
Wednesday: We hiked to the far side of the lake and climbed to the top of a small peak. From there we could see how high the other mountains were and how far the forest spread around us. On the way up we passed through a snowfield!
Thursday: I caught my first fish! We followed the stream that fed the lake. After about two miles, we came to a section (区域) that Carol said looked “fishy”. She had a pack rod (竿) , which can be carried in a backpack. I asked to cast (投掷) it, and I caught a fish on my first try. Carol caught a few more. But they were just too pretty to eat for lunch, so we put them back in the stream.
Friday: I can’t believe we are going home already. It will be nice to get a hot shower, sleep in a real bed, and eat junk food, but the trip has been wonderful. We’re already talking about another camping adventure next year where we canoe (乘独木舟) down a river. It’s hard to believe, but I think this city girl has a little country blood in her veins.
【小题1】The writer went on this camping trip because ____________．