There was no possibility of taking a walk that day. We had been wandering, indeed, in the leafless shrubbery an hour in the morning; but since dinner ( Mrs. Reed, when there was no company, dined early) the cold winter wind had brought with it clouds so dark, and rain so likely to pour, that further outdoor exercise was now out of the question.
I was glad of it. I never liked long walks, especially on cold afternoons. Awful to me was the coming home in the raw twilight, with nipped (冻伤的) fingers and toes, and a heart saddened by the scoldings of Bessie, the nurse, and humbled (贬低) by the consciousness of my physical inferiority to Eliza, John, and Georgiana Reed.
Eliza, John, and Georgiana were now surrounding their mama in the drawing room; she lay on a sofa by the fireside, and with her darlings around her ( for the time neither quarrelling nor crying) looked perfectly happy. She had stopped me from joining the group. She said that she regretted to be under the necessity of keeping me at a distance, but that until she heard from Bessie, and could discover by her own observation that I was trying to acquire a more sociable and childlike nature and a more attractive and lovely manner, and that she really must exclude me from privileges intended only for good children.
“What did Bessie say about me?” I asked.
“Jane, I don’t like questioners; besides, there is something truly forbidding in a child taking up her elders in that manner. Be seated somewhere; remain silent until you can speak pleasantly.”
The study room adjoined the drawing room and I slipped there. It contained a bookcase. I soon possessed myself of a volume stored with pictures.
With the book on my knee, I was then happy; happy at least in my way. I feared nothing but interruption, and that came too soon.
1. The underlined phrase “out of the question” in the first paragraph probably means________.
A. impossible B. possible C. likely D. no problem
2. Jane never liked long walks on cold afternoons because ________.
A. it often rained
B. it was too cold to walk outside
C. she often suffered a lot, both mentally and physically
D. she was often scolded by the nurse
3. We can infer from the passage that________.
A. Jane was treated equally in the family
B. Jane couldn’t enjoy equal rights with her cousins
C. Mrs. Reed was very strict with Jane for the sake of her
D. Jane was too troublesome
4. From the passage we can infer that ________.
A. the drawing room contained a bookcase B. Jane liked reading very much
C. Jane drew the curtain to keep warm D. Bessie was Jane’s good friend
5. The main idea of this part of the story is ________.
A. Jane was on good terms with her cousins B. Jane spent a happy childhood
C. Jane was badly treated in such a family D. Jane loved Mrs. Reed and her cousins
