A Good Lesson
After living in Europe for seven years, my parents decided that my family would move to the United States. We all looked forward to this. What would people think of us? For me, I hoped to be the hero of the class.
I was not disappointed. All my classmates admired my experience, and I quickly became well known as “the French guy.” I was very popular for a time. However, I was not interested in many things my classmates did, and it was hard for me to connect with them. I enjoyed listening to classical music, never watched TV, and almost never watched movies.
I did not have a common background with my friends because I grew up in Europe. I had few friends, and fewer good friends. When I look back now, I realize I was a bit of an idiot to many people around me. I kept talking proudly about my experience. And I thought myself better than those around me because I lived in Europe but they didn’t.
I had decided I wanted better friends when my parents said that we were going to move again! I saw this as a perfect chance to get better friends, where people did not know of my unkind past.
When we moved to California, I did not show off as I had done for five years. I did not tell everyone that I lived in Europe. I still listened to classical music, but I just kept my music to myself. Sure enough, I found that people like someone who is not typical but does not boast about it.
Nothing can replace good friends, and if I had to control my temper and pride, it was well worth it.
第13题：The phrase “an idiot” （Line 3, Part 3） most probably means ________.
A、an actor
B、a cheater
C、a fool
D、a loser
【正确答案】：C
【题目解析】：词汇题。A一个男演员，B一个骗子，C一个蠢人，D一个失败者。
（短文大意）
一个教训
在欧洲生活了七年以后，我父母决定搬到美国。我们都盼望着搬家，人们会怎样对待我们？我希望成为班里的英雄。
我没有失望。我的班里所有同学都羡慕我的经历，很快我以“法国男孩”著称。那一段时间我很受欢迎，然而我对班里同学做的许多事情都不感兴趣，很难融入他们之中。我喜欢听古典音乐，从不看电视，也几乎从不看电影。
因为我生长在欧洲，所以与我的朋友们背景不同。我没有几个朋友，好朋友更少。现在当我回顾往事，我意识到我对周围的人们有一点儿像个白痴一样，我总是高傲地谈到我的经历，并且我认为我比我周围的人都好，因为我曾生活在欧洲但他们没有。
当我的父母说我们要再次搬家时，我决定我要有更好的朋友。我看到交好朋友的机会，因为那个地方的人对我的过去并不了解。
我们搬到了加利福尼亚时，我没有像过去五年那样炫耀。我仍然听古典音乐，但是我只是自己欣赏。的确，我发现人们喜欢那种独特的但不夸耀的人。
什么也不能替代好朋友，如果为此不得不控制自己的脾气和傲慢，这也是值得的。
（试题分析）
本题题型是Reading Comprehension阅读理解。
阅读理解部分主要测试考生英语的阅读、理解、分析、判断能力。考生需要熟练掌握一定的词汇量，把握文章的基本结构，理解文中说明要点的事实和细节，根据上下文语境推断领会作者的写作意图、观点和态度。考生也需要具有一定的阅读速度以及知识背景。
一般来说，阅读理解题都可以分为主观题和客观题两大类。主观题用来测试考生的主观判断能力，包括对文章的中心思想、作者的意图和态度，以及整篇文章的逻辑关系的理解能力；客观题用来测试考生对原文内容中的客观事实的理解，要求考生理解文章中的具体事实和抽象概念。阅读理解题型一般有下列四类：细节题、推断题、主旨题以及词义题。常用的提问形式有：
细节：
题目要求考生在理解全文的基础上，仔细读懂短文后每个问题，从所给出的四个选项中选出一个最符合题意的答案。阅读理解试题是考查考生语言运用能力的主要题型。因为阅读能力的高低直接影响获取信息的能力，所以阅读理解试题强调对全篇文章的整体把握，强调语言文化因素的作用及考生通过阅读理解解决实际问题总的能力。
考试对阅读理解能力的要求是具备一定的知识面，具有逻辑分析、思维反映、词汇量和概括能力。考生要想提高抓住主题、理解具体信息、做出正确判断和推理、弄清作者意图和态度等方面的阅读能力，必须广泛阅读，在量中求质，熟能生巧，并在实践中训练出快速阅读和猜测词义的能力。
