阅读理解。
The host poured the tea into the cup and placed it on the small table in front of his guests, who were a
father and his daughter, and put the lid on the cup with a clink. Obviously thinking of something, he hurried
into the inner room, leaving the thermos (热水瓶) on the table. His two guests heard a chest of drawers
opening and rustling.
They remained sitting in the sitting room, the ten-year-old daughter looking at the flowers outside the
window, the father just about to take his cup, when the crash came, right there in the sitting room. Something
was hopelessly broken.
It was the thermos, which had fallen to the floor. The girls looked over her shoulder suddenly, shocked,
staring. It was mysterious; neither of them had touched it, not even a little bit. True, it hadn't stood steadily
when their host placed it on the table, but it hadn't fallen then.
The crash of the thermos caused the host, with a box of sugar cubes in his hand, to rush back from the
inner room. He looked foolishly at the steaming floor and blurted out. 'It doesn't matter! It doesn't matter!'
The father started to say something. Then he said in a low voice, 'Sorry I touched it and it fell.'
'It doesn't matter,' the host said.
Later, when they left the house,the daughter said, 'Daddy, did you touch it?'
'No. But it stood so close to me.'
'But you didn't touch it. I saw your reflection in the window. You were sitting perfectly still.'
The father laughed. 'Then how would you explain the cause of its fall?'
'The thermos fell by itself. The floor is uneven. It wasn't steady when Mr. Li put it there. Daddy, why
did you say that?'
'That won't do,girl. It sounds more acceptable when I say I knocked it down. There are things which
people accept less true it sounds.' The daughter was lost in silence for a while. Then she said, 'Can you
explain it only this way?'
'Only this way.' her father said.
1. Which statement is a possible main idea of this story?
A. People seldom tell the truth.
B. You can't always make people believe the truth.
C. If you try to defend yourself,people will believe you.
D. People never believe others.
2. It can be inferred from the story that the father _____.
A. didn't know Mr. Li very well
B. was sorry that he hadn't told the host the truth
C. didn't think Mr. Li would believe the truth
D. was glad that he had told the truth
3. From the story,we know that the daughter _____.
A. thought her father should have told the truth
B. knew the thermos would fall and stepped out
C. thought her father shouldn't have told the truth
D. thought her father must have known the cause
4. From the passage, we can see the reason why the thermos fell was that _____.
A. the table was too small
B. the father sat too close to the thermos
C. the father wanted to help himself with some water
D. something impossible to explain happened