I was going to bed the other night when my wife told me that I had left the light on in the shed（儲(chǔ)藏室）. She could see it from the bedroom window. As I looked for myself, I saw that there were thieves in the shed taking things. I phoned the police, but they told me that no one was in this area to help at this time, but they would send someone over as soon as they were free.

I said OK, hung up, and waited one minute, then phoned the police back, “Hello, I just called you a minute ago because there were thieves in my shed. Well, you don’t have to worry about them now because I’ve killed them all.”

Within five minutes there were six police cars in the area. Of course, they caught the thieves very quickly. One of the officers said: “I thought you said that you’d killed them!” I replied with “I thought you said there was nobody free!”

1.There were thieves in the        .

A. shed                  B. bedroom     C. kitchen     D. garden

2.The man        when he found the thieves.

A. caught them by himself                     B. called the police at once

C. did nothing but wait            D. killed them

3.The police said that        so they couldn’t come and help at first.

A. it was too far                                      B. the car was broken

C. they were all busy          D. it was too cold

4.The police        when the man called them again.

A. found it boring                                  B. took it serious

C. let it go                    D.have a rest

5.The thieves were        at the end of the story.

A. lost                 B. killed                  C. caught     D. away

Aunt Polly had told Tom to paint the whole fence (柵欄)in front of the house. He thought of the other boys out for the day enjoying themselves and he felt very unhappy. Then he had an idea! He picked up the brush and started painting slowly and carefully. Soon, his friend Ben Rogers appeared, eating an apple. Tom pretended (假裝) not to see him.
“Tom!” Ben said. “Why are you working?”
“Oh, it’s you, Ben,”Tom said, “I didn’t notice you.”
“I’m gong for a swim,” Ben said, “but you don’t’ want to come. You want to work, don’t you? It’s much nicer!” Ben laughed loudly. Tom looked seriously at Ben and said. “What is work? What do you call work?”
“Isn’t that work?” Ben asked.
“Well, no. Does a boy get the opportunity to paint a fence every day? You’ve never painted a fence, have you? Auntie says I have to do it with great care!’
“Pleas, Tom. Let me do a little,” said Ben.
“No, Ben. If you do, you’ll do it wrong. You can’t paint very well. If it was the back fence wouldn’t mind, but it isn’t.”
“I won’t do it wrong. I’ll be really careful. I’ll give you my apple.” Tom gave him the brush and paint with a sad face, but in his heart he was glad, His trick had worked.
After Ben got tired and left, other boys came along and Tom said the same things to them. Soon, the whole fence was painted white, but not by Tom. He felt very clever because he had discovered something important about the way people are. People only want what they can’t have or want to do what they shouldn’t do.
【小題1】Which of the following has the closest meaning to the underlined word “opportunity” on this passage?