One day, the principle(校长) came into our room and, after talking to the teacher, for some reason said: “I wish all of the white students to stand for a moment.” I rose with the others. The teacher looked at me and, calling my name, said: “You sit down for the present, and rise with the others.” I did not quite understand her. She repeated: “You sit down now, and rise with the others.” I sat down puzzled. I saw and heard nothing. When the other were asked to rise, I did not know it. When school was dismissed, I went out unconsciously. A few of the white boys laughed at me, saying: “Oh, you’re a nigger, too.”
I hurried on as fast as I could to where my looking-glass hung on the wall in my own little room. For an instant I was afraid to look, but when I did, I looked long and earnestly. I was accustomed to hearing remarks about my beauty, but now, for the first time, I became conscious of it and recognized it. I noticed the ivory(象牙) whiteness of my skin, the beauty of my mouth, the size and the liquid darkness of my eyes. I ran downstairs and rushed to where my mother was sitting. I buried my head in her lap and cried out: “Mother, tell me, am I a nigger?” I could not see her face, but I felt her hands on my head. I looked up into her face. There were tears in her eyes and I could see that she was suffering for me. And then it was that.
I looked at her critically for the first time. I had thought of her in a childish way only as the most beautiful woman in the world; now I looked at her searching for defects(缺点) .I could see that her skin was almost brown, and that she did differ in some way from the other ladies who came to the house; yet, even so I could see that she was more beautiful than any of them. She must have felt that I was examining her, for she hid her face in my hair and said with difficulty: “No, my darling, you are not a nigger.” She went on: “If anyone calls you a nigger, don’t notice them.”
But the more she talked, the less was I reassured, and I stopped her by asking:“Well, mother, am I white? Are you white?” She answered tremblingly(颤抖的): “No, I am not white, but your father is one of the greatest men in the country. The best blood of the South is in you.” This suddenly opened up in my heart a fresh fear, and I almost fiercely demanded: “Who is my father? Where is he?” She stroked my hair and said: “I’ll tell you about him some day.” I sobbed(抽泣): “I want to know now.” She answered: “No, not now.”
1.We can infer from the passage that “a nigger ”means________.
A. a white person B. a black person C. anyone that is not white D anyone that is not black
2.When the teacher asked him to sit down and rise with the others ,the author was confused because___.
A. he never considered himself a non-white person B. he thought the teacher didn’t recognize him
C. he thought he should be considered D. he thought it rude for the teacher to call his name
3.It was on that day that he began to realize that _________.
A. he was a nigger B. he was different from others because of his beauty
C. his color was like that of his mother D. he differed from other white people even with his beauty
4.From the passage we can learn that _________.
A. the boy’s father left them for some reasons
B. the boy’s mother didn’t want to mention his father at all
C. the boy never met his father before
D. the boy’s mother hated his father
5.This passage generally tells us a story of ________.
A. a boy who suddenly realized that he was a colored person
B. a boy who had been looked down upon because he had no father
C. the miserable life of colored people
D. the life of a one-parent family
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