Once when I was six years old I saw an amazing picture in a book called True Stories from Nature about the primeval(原始的)forest. It was a picture of a boa constrictor(大蟒蛇) in the act of swallowing an animal. In the book it said:“Boa constrictors swallow their prey whole without chewing(嚼)it. After that they are not able to move and they sleep through the six months that they need for digestion(消化).”
I thought deeply then over the adventures of the jungle. And after some work with a colored pencil I succeeded in making my first drawing. My Drawing Number One. I showed my work to the grown-ups and asked them whether the drawing frightened them. But they answered:“Frighten? Why should anyone be frightened by a hat?”
My drawing was not a picture of a hat. It was a picture of a boa constrictor digesting an elephant. But since the grown-ups were not able to understand it, I made another drawing. I drew the inside of the boa constrictor so that the grown-ups could see it clearly. They always need to have things explained. That's my Drawing Number Two.
The grown-ups' response this time was to advise me to lay aside my drawings of ba constrictors whether from the inside or the outside and devote myself instead to geography, history, arithmetic and grammar. That is why at the age of six I gave up what might have been a great painter. I had been disheartened by the failure of my Drawing Number One and my Drawing Number Two. Grown-ups never understand anything by themselves and it is tiresome for children to be always and forever explaining things to them.
So then I chose another profession(职业) and learned to pilot airplanes. I have flown a little over all parts of the world; and it is true that geography has been very useful to me. At a glance I can distinguish China from Arizona. If one gets lost in the night, such knowledge is valuable.
In the course of this life I have had lots of chances to meet with a great many people. And that hasn't much improved my opinion of them. Whenever I met one of them who seemed to me at all clear-sighted, I tried showing him my Drawing Number One which I have always kept. I would try to find out if this was a person of true understanding. But whoever it was, he or she would always say: That is a hat. Then I would never talk to that person about boa constrictors or primeval forests or stars. I would bring myself down to his level. I would talk to him about bridge and golf and politics and neckties. And the grown-up would be greatly pleased to have met such an intelligent man.
The writer drew his first picture in order to ________.
A.show the grown-ups what the book was about |
B.frighten the grown-ups trying to enter the forest |
C.remind himself of the adventures of the jungle |
D.illustrate(说明)a boa constrictor's act of digesting an animal |
How did the writer understand the grown-ups' response to his second drawing?
A.He was actually only good at academic study. |
B.It was a waste of time for him to keep on drawing. |
C.He had difficulty in communicating with the adults. |
D.He was good at anything but geography. |
The underlined word disheartened in Paragraph 4 could most probably be replaced by ________.
A.discouraged | B.dissatisfied | C.discovered | D.disturbed |
Which of the following statements is true?
A.The writer could have become a pilot if encouraged when young. |
B.The writer finally changed his opinion of grown-ups. |
C.The writer has been showing his two pictures to others ever since. |
D.The writer felt nobody could have really understood him. |