2 . When I was growing up, I had an old neighbor named Doctor Gibbs. He didn’t look like any doctor I’d ever known. He never yelled at us for playing in his yard, but was always very kind.
When Doctor Gibbs wasn’t saving lives, he was planting trees. He had some interesting theories about planting trees. He hardly watered his new trees, an attitude which flew in the face of conventional wisdom.
Once I asked why and he told me that watering plants spoiled them because it made them grow weaker. He said he had to make things tough for the trees so that only the strongest could survive. He talked about how watering trees made them develop shallow roots and how, if they were not watered, trees would grow deep roots in search of water.
So, instead of watering his trees every morning, he’d beat them with a rolled-up newspaper. I asked him why he did that, and he said it was to get the trees’ attention.
Doctor Gibbs died a couple of years after I left home. Every now and then, I walked by his house and looked at the trees that I'd watched him plant some 25 years ago. They were tall and strong.
Every night before I go to bed, I check on my two sons. I often pray that their lives will be easy. But lately I’ve been thinking that it’s time to change my prayer. I know my children are going to encounter hardship. There’s always a cold wind blowing somewhere. What we need to do is to pray for deep roots, so when the rains fall and the winds blow, we won’t be torn apart.
1. What did the author think of Doctor Gibbs’s planting trees at first?
| A．Perfect . | B．Puzzled. |
| C．Amused. | D．Impractical . |
2. What did Doctor Gibbs do to the trees he planted?
| A．He let them grow quickly. |
| B．He beat them to get their attention. |
| C．He helped them search for water. |
| D．He read a newspaper near them. |
3. Which of the following can best describe Doctor Gibbs?
| A．Kind and wise. | B．Calm and brave. |
| C．Careful and ambitious | D．Strict and devoted. |
4. What does the author learn from Doctor Gibbs?
| A．Elders are treasures. |
| B．Two heads are better than one. |
| C．A man without distant care must have near sorrow. |
| D．Only those who bear the most become the highest. |
