All Miss White had been told about the new boy was that he’d spent most of his life in some kind of orphanage, and that the gray-haired “aunt and uncle” with whom he now lived were really foster parents (养父母), paid by the Welfare Department of the City of New York. A less devoted teacher might have pressed for more details, but Miss White was content with the rough outline. It was enough to fill her with a sense of mission that shone from her eyes, from the first morning he joined the fourth grade.
He arrived early and sat in the back row, his backbone very straight, his ankles crossed precisely under the desk and his hands folded on the center of its top, and while the other children were filling in, he received a long, expressionless stare from each of them.
“We have a new classmate this morning,” Miss White said, “His name is Vincent Sabella, and he comes from New York City. I know we’ll all do our best to make him feel at home.”
This time they all swung around to stare at once, which caused him to duck his head slightly and shift his weight from one side to the other. Ordinarily, the fact of someone’s coming from New York might have held a certain status, for to most of the children the city was a frightening, adult place that swallowed up their fathers every day. But anyone could see at a glance that Vincent Sabella had nothing to do with it. Even if you could ignore his twisted black hair and gray skin, his clothes would have given him away: ridiculously new pants, ridiculously old sports shoes and a yellow sweatshirt, much too small, with the faded remains of a Mickey Mouse design stamped on its chest.
The girls decided that he wasn’t very nice and turned away, but the boys remained in their inspection, looking him up and down with faint smiles. This was the kind of kid they were accustomed to thinking of as “tough,” the kind whose stare has made all of them uncomfortable at one time or another in unfamiliar neighborhoods; here was a unique chance for revenge.
【小题1】What can you learn about Miss White and Vincent from the first two paragraphs?| A．Since nobody had ever seen Vincent’s parents, he now lived all by himself. |
| B．Miss White knew Vincent so well that she’d like to focus every bit of attention on him. |
| C．Vincent sat in the back row so as to arouse attention caused by his late arrival. |
| D．Miss White made an attempt to do her part to make Vincent feel welcome. |
| A．To state a certain distinction between Vincent and people’s imagination. |
| B．To demonstrate children’s desire to go to see their fathers. |
| C．To illustrate Vincent’s distant origin. |
| D．To emphasize Vincent’s low social status from his shabby clothes. |
| A．Nervous and uneasy. | B．Devoted but shy. |
| C．Silent and genuine. | D．Sensitive but unfortunate. |
| A．They used to consider people like Vincent to be very tough. |
| B．They were either unconcerned or unfriendly toward him. |
| C．They barely noticed the new boy sitting in the back of the classroom. |
| D．They were very curious about the newcomer in a kind and considerate manner. |
