To us, the kitchen was a mysterious place. Our kitchen at home was so simple: an old Sparks oven, a refrigerator, a sink, and a table. At the New Eastern, it was a busy factory. Almost an entire wall was taken up by a line of huge black woks (锅). This was my father’s stage. He strode (大步走) the length of the four woks, each one fired up by gas flames underneath. Beneath him, blocks of wood, raised off the ground an inch or two, served to give his legs and feet some spring.

       The sink was the size of a bathtub (浴); the refrigerator had glass doors and stretched three times as wide as the one at home. Every appliance was bigger, and there were things we never saw anywhere else, like the big metal oven in which my father hung long poles holding large pieces of pork. We could hear the fire roaring from the bottom of it. My dad would go about his business, and then, always at exactly the right time, he’d wander over, lift off the top, and take out several poles of barbecued pork—bright red, with black at the tips. If I happened by at that magical moment, I’d stop. “Yeet-gow!” I’d say. And he’d skillfully chop off a piece of the juicy, sweet meat. “One dollar!” he’d shout, and then hand it over.
       My father made the best food in town. There was nothing he wouldn’t try. He was once proud of a rock candy he invented and determined to sell at the front counter of the New Eastern. We, of course, served as his guinea pigs—we couldn’t bring ourselves to tell him the sad truth: The candy was so hard that it was uneatable. I rolled a piece around my mouth. “Tastes good, Ba-Ba, ”I said. Then, when he looked away, I spat it out.

Sometimes, he liked to invent stories to us. Watching my little sister Shirley biting on an apple, he’d lean over. “Don’t eat the seed,” he said, “or an apple tree will grow inside you.” “What?” “Yes. Right inside your stomach, an apple tree!”

【小题1】It can be learned from paragraph 1 and 2 that____________.

A．the author’s father can repair springs	B．the author enjoys observing in the kitchen
C．the author helps to cook difficult dishes	D．the author’s family lives in a busy factory

【小题2】How does the author develop the idea that “the kitchen is a mysterious place”?

A．By describing how his father manages various tasks in the kitchen.

B．By classifying the kitchen appliances into different categories.

C．By contrasting the restaurant kitchen with the kitchen at home.

D．By explaining why large pieces of pork were placed in the oven.

【小题3】The author mentions the incident of a rock candy in paragraph 3_____________.

A．to highlight how he disliked the food his father made

B．to illustrate why they often kept secrets from his father

C．to emphasize the troubled relationship with his father

D．to show the family’s support for his father’s experiments

【小题4】Which of the following words can best describe the author’s father?

A．dynamic and playful	B．strict and innovative
C．talented and greedy	D．hardworking and outdated