2 . My sister, Lynn, taught me my first word: kira-kira. I pronounced it ka-a-ahhh, but she knew what I meant. Kira-kira means “glittering” in Japanese. Lynn told me that when I was a baby, she used to take me onto our empty road at night, where we would lie on our backs and look at the stars while she said over and over, “Katie, say ‘kira-kira, kira-kira!’” I loved that word! When I grew older, I used kira-kira to describe everything I liked: the beautiful blue sky, puppies, kittens, butterflies, colored tissues.
My mother said we were misusing the word; you could not call colored tissues kira-kira. She was dismayed over how un-Japanese we were and swore to send us to Japan one day. I didn’t care where she sent me, so long as Lynn came along.
When she wasn’t in school, she stayed with me constantly. Both our parents worked. Officially, I stayed all day with a lady from down the road, but unofficially, Lynn was the one who took care of me.
My sister used to keep a diary. Today I keep her diary in a drawer next to my bed. I like to see how her memories were the same as mine, but also different. For instance, one of my earliest memories is of the day Lynn saved my life. I was almost five, and she was almost nine. We were playing on the empty road near our house. Fields of tall corn stretched into the distance wherever you looked. A dirty gray dog ran out of the field near us, and then he ran back in. Lynn loved animals. Her long black hair disappeared into the corn as she chased the dog. The summer sky was clear and blue. I felt a brief fear as Lynn disappeared into the cornstalks. After Lynn ran into the field, I couldn’t see anything but corn. “Lynnie!” I shouted. We weren’t that far from our house, but I felt scared. I burst into tears.
Somehow or other, Lynn got behind me and said, “Boo!” and I cried some more. She just laughed and hugged me and said, “You’re the best little sister in the world!” I liked it when she said that, so I stopped crying.
1. What can be learned about Katie as a little child from the first paragraph?
| A．She only listened to Lynn’s advice. |
| B．She didn’t like to learn the Japanese language. |
| C．She mispronounced kira-kira on purpose. |
| D．She associated kira-kira with nice things. |
2. The underlined word
dismayed in the second paragraph probably means ________.
| A．discouraged | B．amused | C．relieved | D．unconvinced |
3. Which of the following lines is probably in Lynn’s diary description of the event?
| A．...I was sure that the dog would hurt Katie... |
| B．...My heart melted at the sight of the lovely dog... |
| C．...I kept chasing the dog until Katie appeared... |
| D．...I regretted taking Katie out when I saw the dog... |
4. The author writes about her childhood to ________.
| A．sing praise of her Japanese roots | B．share an adventurous experience |
| C．recall unique style of language learning | D．show the sisterly affection |
