Question

One evening last summer, when I asked my 17-year-old son, Ray, for help with dinner, his response surprised me, “What’s a colander (漏勺)?” he asked.

I could only blame myself. Nobody’s hands went in the sauce except my own. But that night, as I explained with a touch of panic that a colander is the thing with holes in it, I wondered what else I hadn’t prepared Ray for.

As parents, while we focus on our child’s confidence and character, we perhaps don’t always consider that we are also raising someone’s future roommate, boyfriend, husband, or father. I wanted to know that I’d raised a boy who would never ask the woman in his life, “What’s for dinner?” So I came up with a plan: I would offer Ray a private home economics course. I was delighted to find that he didn’t say no.

For two hours, three days a week, Ray was all mine. One day, as his tomato sauce reduced on the stove, he washed and seasoned a chicken for roasting. Then he rolled out the piecrust (餡餅) and filled it with apples, all while listening to my explanation on the importance of preheating an oven.

I knew that he would rather have been shooting hoops I the driveway than learning to mend socks with his mother — he tried to beg off sewing lessons, even though I insisted that one day, someone would find the sight of him fixing his own shirt very attractive — but it couldn’t be denied that he was learning, and more than just housekeeping. “I appreciate more what you do as a mom,” he told me one day.

Ray now understands the finer points of cooking, and more important, he realizes there’s nothing masculine (男子氣的) about being helpless. Not only can he make his own dinner, he can make it for his family, too. That’s what I call a man.

1.Hearing her son’s question, the author felt _______.

A. shocked B. angry

C. disappointed D. calm

2.We can learn from the text that Ray ________.

A. preferred sewing to cooking

B. made great progress in cooking

C. was unwilling to take the course at first

D. always thought it attractive to do housework

3.The underlined part “more than just housekeeping” shows that Ray ______.

A. fell in love with house work

B. did other work in the house

C. began to be more important

D. acknowledged the author’s efforts

4.What would be the best title for the text?

A. Should boys be involved in housework?

B. Present for my future daughter-in-law.

C. I’m proud I’ve raised a curious son.

D. Dependent or independent.

Answer 1