Old Mrs. Lynn was working in the cottage, hanging the washed clothes on the line. What she wasn’t aware was that some children were hiding in a nearby tree watching her every move. They were sure that she was a witch and wanted to find the evidence.
They watched nervously as she took a broomstick to sweep the dirt from her stone steps. But much to their disappointment, she didn’t get on the broomstick and fly off. The old lady only looked up when her hen began to make sounds loudly — signaling that she had laid an egg in the nest on the top of the haystack. (干草堆).
The old lady put aside her broomstick and walked to the haystack, followed by Michael, a black cat she had rescued from a fox trap. With only three legs, it was hard for Michael to keep up with his mistress. The cat was proof for the children that only a witch would own a black cat with three legs! Accidentally, she tripped and crashed to the ground. The children were in horror.
“Should we go and help her?” asked Mia.
“What if it’s a trick?” replied Patrick. “She probably knows we’re here. Witches know things like that!”
After thinking for a while, Julia said, “Anyway, we should go and check whether she is all right.”
Approaching prudently, they could see a wound on the old lady’s forehead. She had knocked her head on a stone and was unconscious.
“Go and get Dad,” Mia yelled to her brothers. “Tell him about the accident.”
Later, in the hospital, the old lady smiled her thanks. “I was so lucky that you lovely children happened to be passing when I fell. I must have yelled quite loudly.” The children exchanged guilty glances, but were very pleased that she was not a witch after all!
【小题1】Mrs. Lynn stopped sweeping when ________.| A．her doorstep became very clean |
| B．she heard the hen making sounds loudly |
| C．she noticed the children in the tree |
| D．her cat Michael managed to get her attention |
| A．He thought that she could be cheating them. |
| B．He was afraid of the three-legged black cat. |
| C．He did not think that she was hurt in the fall. |
| D．He knew he and the others shouldn’t have been in her tree. |
| A．Slowly. | B．Hurriedly. |
| C．Carefully. | D．Quietly. |
| A．Constant dropping wears away a stone. |
| B．Never judge a book by its cover. |
| C．A friend in need is a friend indeed. |
| D．A good medicine tastes bitter. |
