Born into a farmer’s family, life was not easy when I
was a kid. We were so poor that we often did not know where our next meal was
coming from. I had to sell cabbages at the marketplace to support my family.
A storyteller once came to the marketplace, and I went
to listen to him. My mother was unhappy with me for forgetting my job. But that
night, while she was making clothes for us under the weak light of an oil lamp,
I couldn't help retelling stories I'd heard that day. She listened impatiently
at first, since in her eyes professional（职业的）
storytellers were smooth-talking men—nothing good ever came out of their
mouths. But slowly she was attracted by my retold stories, and from that day
on, she never gave me any task on market days, unspoken agreement to enjoy new
stories. As a repayment（回报）for Mother's kindness and a way to show off
my memory, I'd retell the stories for her in lively detail. Soon, she wasn't
the only member of my audience, which later included my elder sisters, my
aunts, even my stubborn grandmother.
I knew she was worried about me. Talkative kids are
not well thought of in our village, for they can bring trouble to themselves
and to their families when they talk too much. Mother often reminded me not to
talk so much, wanting me to be a silent and modest teenager. However, my
natural desire（渴望）to talk never went away, and that is what
makes my name – Mo Yan, which means ‘no speaking’. This strong wish to talk
also improved my ability to express myself, which is important for writers who
are also considered as storytellers.
1.Mo Yan lived a/an ________ life when he was young.
A．hard B．colourful C．easy D．rich
2.From the second paragraph, we can learn that
________
A．little Mo Yan
was interested in selling vegetables
B．his mother
was attracted by the retold story at first
C．his mother
didn’t let him listen to the new stories again
D．little Mo Yan
had quite a good memory
3.Why did his mother dislike the professional
storytellers?
A．Because she
thought they never said anything good.
B．Because she
thought they couldn’t make much money.
C．Because she
thought they would affect Mo Yan’s schoolwork.
D．Because she
thought most people didn’t like listening to stories.
4.In Mo Yan’s opinion, a writer should be a ________
child when they were young.
A．silent B．modest C．talkative D．trouble-making
5.Which is the best title（标题）of the passage?
A．My Unlucky
Childhood B．A Storyteller’s Childhood
C．My Kind
Grandmother D．More talking
leads to success
