Charlie and the chocolate factory (excerpt)查理和巧克力工厂（节选）

李彤

主題语境：小说节选 篇幅：369词 建议用时：7分钟

1 Mr and Mrs Bucket have a small boy whose name is Charlie. The whole family， the twoold grandfathers， the two old grandmothers， Charlies father， Charlies mother and little CharlieBucket live together in a small wooden house on the edge of a great town. Mr Bucket was theonly person in the family with a job. He worked in a toothpaste factory， where he worked allday long. But he was never paid very much money， and was never able to make enough tobuy one half of the things that so large a family needed.

2 There wasnt even enough money to buy proper food for them all. The only meals theycould afford were bread and butter for breakfast， boiled potatoes and cabbage for lunch， andcabbage soup for supper. The Buckets， of course， didnt starve， but every one of them went aboutfrom morning till night with a terrible empty feeling in their stomach. And although Charliesfather and mother often went without their own share of lunch or supper so that they could giveit to him， it still wasnt nearly enough for a growing boy. He desperately wanted something morefilling and satisfying than cabbage and cabbage soup. The one thing he had a strong desire formore than anything else was chocolate.

3 Only once a year， on his birthday， Charlie Bucket did ever get to taste a bit of chocolate.The whole family saved up their money for that special occasion， and when the great day arrived，Charlie was always presented with one small chocolate bar to eatall by himself.

4 Each time he received it on those wonderful birthdaymornings， he would place it carefully in a small wooden box thathe owned， and treasure it as though it were a bar of solid gold.

And for the next few days， he would allow himself only to look at it，but never to touch it. Then at last， when he couldnt stand it nolonger， he would peel a tiny bit of the paper wrapping at one corneroff to expose a tiny bit of chocolate， and then he would take a tiny bite. The next day， he wouldtake another tiny bite， and so on， and so on.

Reading Check

Gist

1. Whats the main idea of the first paragraph？

A. Mr Bucket worked hard.

B. The Buckets were poor.

C. The Buckets needed to unite.

D. Mr Bucket was able to raise his family.

Detail

2. What can we know from paragraph 2？

A. The Buckets were hungry all the time.

B. Charlie was eager to have a bar of chocolate.

C. The Buckets couldnt offer Charlie a birthday present.

D. Charlie was satisfied with cabbage and cabbage soup.

Inference

3. What can we infer about Charlies chocolate？

A. It was very expensive.

B. It was specially made for him.

C. It was particularly precious to him.

D. It was the size of a bar of solid gold.

Detail

4. What did Charlie do first after receiving his birthday present？

A. He stored it in a box.

B. He only looked at it.

C. He took a little bite.

D. He just touched it.

Language Study

Difficult sentences in the text

1. But he was never paid very much money， and was never able to make enough to buy one half of the things that so large a family needed. 但是他從来没有得到过很多薪水，也从来没有挣到足够的钱来购买这么大一个家庭所需的一半东西。

【点石成金】句中的that引导的是一个定语从句，在从句中作宾语。

2. Each time he received it on those wonderful birthday mornings， he would place it carefully in a small wooden box that he owned， and treasure it as though it were a bar of solid gold. 每当他在那些美妙的生日早晨收到礼物时，他都会小心翼翼地把它放在自己的一个小木盒里，把它当作一块纯金一样珍藏起来。

【点石成金】句中的each time引导的是时间状语从句，此类用法的词组还有every time、the last time、the first time、next time 等。句中的as though 引导的是方式状语从句，其引导的状语从句中的谓语可用虚拟语气，表示与客观事实不符。