1 . The Enduring Appeal of Peter Rabbit
“I don’t know what to write to you, so I shall tell you a story about four little rabbits, whose names were Flopsy, Mopsy, Cottontail and Peter,” wrote Beatrix Potter, an English writer, illustrator, natural scientist, and conservationist in 1893, in a letter to a little boy who was suffering from a serious infectious disease.
Like many children-story authors, Potter was not a writer by profession. Her chief enthusiasm was natural history. Childhood family holidays in Perthshire and the Lake District had given her the freedom to experience the natural world first-hand.
The Tale of Peter Rabbit was first published by Frederick Warne in 1902.
| A．Potter surely had a business mind. |
| B．A decade later, with slight adjustments, the lines formed the opening to what became the bestselling. |
| C．It was this experience that gave Peter Rabbit its unique atmosphere of believable wonder. |
| D．Potter was determined that the book should be small enough to fit into a child’s hands and inexpensive. |
| E．She spent holidays in the Lake District, developing a love of landscape, which she closely observed and painted. |
| F．Though her later stories would contain more strikingly detailed illustrations, The Tale of Peter Rabbit has charming pictures of its naughty hero. |
2 . III. 阅读理解
A
“As sure as you’re alive now, Peter Rabbit, some day I will catch you,” shouted Reddy Fox, as he put his black nose in the hole between the roots of the Big Hickory-tree which grows close to the Smiling Pool. “It is lucky for you that you were not one jump farther away from this hole.”
Peter, safe inside that hole, didn’t have a word to say, or, if he did, he didn’t have breath enough to say it. It was quite true that if he had been one jump farther from that hole, Reddy Fox would have caught him. As it was, the hairs on Peter’s funny white tail actually had tickled Reddy’s back as Peter ran wildly through the root-bound entrance to that hole. It had been the narrowest escape Peter had had for a long, long time. You see, Reddy Fox had surprised Peter eating sweet clover (苜蓿) on the bank of the Smiling Pond, and it had been a lucky thing for Peter to have that hole, dug long ago by Johnny Chuck’s grandfather, had been right where it was. Also, it was a lucky thing that old Mr. Chuck had been wise enough to make the entrance between the roots of that tree in such a way that it could not be dug any larger.
Reddy Fox was too shrewd (机灵的) to waste any time trying to dig it larger. He knew there wasn’t room enough for him to get between those roots. So, after trying to make Peter as uncomfortable as possible by telling him what he, Reddy, would do to him when he did catch him, Reddy walked across the Green Meadows. Peter remained where he was for a long time. When he was quite sure that it was safe to do so, he crawled out and hurried to the Old Orchard. He felt that that would be the safest place for him, because there were ever so many hiding places in the old stone wall along the edge of it.
1. Where is Peter Rabbit hiding?| A．On the bank of a pond | B．In a hole |
| C．In a tall tree | D．Behind a room |
| A．Reddy Fox might find rabbit hairs on him. |
| B．Old Mr. Chuck took advantage of the roots to dig the hole. |
| C．The hole could be made larger. |
| D．Reddy almost caught Peter this time. |
| A．Because Reddy was trying to get him. |
| B．Because it was cold outside. |
| C．Because his grandfather would help him dig a large hole. |
| D．Because the Old Orchard was not so safe as this hole. |
