A small boy lived with his mother and grandmother in a big house. His father had died.

A bucket（桶）of water fell on the small boy’s left foot, and it began hurting a hot. His mother said, “I’m going to put something very hot on your foot tonight. That’s always very good. Tomorrow your foot won’t hurt any longer.”

In the evening, the small boy’s mother came to his bedroom. She had a hot poultice（膏药）in a bowl. The small boy looked at it and said, “I don’t want that. I had one a month ago. Poultices hurt.”

His mother sat down on his bed and said, “You’re going to have this poultice on.” She pulled his sheets（床单）and blankets（毯子）away, and put the poultice near his foot, but the boy pulled it away quickly, and poultice fell on the bed.

His mother was angry. She went down stairs and came back with his grandmother and a stick. She said to her son, “Your grandmother’s going to put the poultice on your foot, and I’m going to hold this stick. Now don’t be a stupid boy.”

She held the stick over the boy, and the grandmother took his foot and put the poultice near it. The boy said. “Stop, you…” but his mother brought the stick nearer, and he did not say anything else.

The grandmother brought the poultice near the foot again, and the boy stopped her again, but his mother was angry now and said, “I’m going to hit you.” The boy did not finish his words, and his grandmother put the poultice on his foot. He let it there for a few minutes and then took it off again.

The boy’s mother and grandmother put the sheets and blankets over him again and he said, “My left foot hurts, but you put the poultice on my right foot. I stopped you twice, but you didn’t listen to me.”

1. The small boy’s foot hurt because ____.

2. In the evening ___ first came to the small boy’s room.

3. The small boy ____ his mother.

4. The small boy took the poultice off because ____.

5.The best title for this passage is ____.

Have you ever seen a horse with toes? Millions of years ago, horses had many toes. They had four toes on each front foot. They had three toes on each back foot. The horses were smaller than cats.

These small horses lived in the forest. Their many toes helped the horses run over the soft wet ground.

It was very hot in the forest. But the weather changed. It became cold. Many trees couldn’t live in cold weather. The trees died and fell. Forests became open field. The sun made the ground dry and hard. Horses began to change too. They began to get bigger. This took a long time. On the dry hard land, horses needed only their middle toes for running. At last their middle toes became hard.

1.Long ago, the horse had four toes on each of its __________.

A. back feet B. front feet C. right feet D. left feet

2.The cats were __________ the horses at that time.

A. as big as B. smaller than C. bigger than D. as small as

3.When the weather changed, __________.

A. many trees grew well in cold weather

B. animals began to change too

C. cats were older than the horses

D. horses were the same as they are

Have you ever seen a horse with toes (脚趾)? Millions of years ago, horses had many toes.They had four toes on each front foot.They had three toes on each back foot.The horses were smaller than cats.

These small horses lived in the forest.Their many toes helped the horses run over the soft wet ground.

It was very hot in the forest.But the weather changed.It became cold.Many trees couldn’t live in cold weather.The trees died and fell.Forest became open field.The sun made the ground dry and hard (坚硬).Horses began to change too.They began to get bigger.This took a long time.On the dry hard land, horses needed only their middle toes for running.At last their middle toes became hard.

1.Long ago, the horse had four toes on each of its __________.

A．back feet          B．front feet          C．right feet          D．left feet

2.The cats were __________ the horses at that time.

A．as big as          B．smaller than        C．bigger than        D．as small as

3.When the weather changed, __________.

A．many trees grew well in cold weather        B．animals began to change too

C．cats were older than the horses            D．horses were the same as they are