People often say, “Children can’t do math problem, it’s because parents can’t do their children’s homework.” Here’s an example to show what I mean.

 

　　The other day my daughter brought home her math homework. “I have to subtract (減) 179 from 202,” she said.

 

　　“It’s quite easy,” I said. “You put the 202 over the 179.”

 

　　“But we need a 10 here. Where is the 10?”

 

　　“I don’t know where the 10 is. Let’s just subtract 179 from 202. Nine from two is three. You carry one and add it to seven. Eight from zero is two. The answer is 23.”

 

　　“We can’t do it that way. We have to use the 10.”

 

　　“Well, I’m going to call your teacher to see how she subtracts 179 from 202.”

 

　　Over the telephone, I said that I was having a bit of trouble with the homework she had given to my daughter. The teacher said, “In the right-hand column (欄) we have units of one. The two in that column counts for two ones. The zero in the center counts for zero tens. The two in the left-hand column counts for hundreds. Are you clear?” But I didn’t think I was clear.

 

　　I hung up and found my way to the medicine box. My head was now hurting. I started putting pills of medicine into my mouth. “How many did you take?” my wife asked. “I took one and then I took another…I know one and one was two, but don’t ask me what it is now.”

 

　　11. The daughter wanted ______ the other day.

 

　　A. to give her father a lesson

 

　　B. to show how difficult math was

 

　　C. her father to phone her teacher

 

　　D. her father to help her with her homework

 

　　12. Which of the following sentences is not true?

 

　　A. The father had a different way to do the math problem.

 

　　B. The father couldn’t do his daughter’s homework.

 

　　C. The daughter couldn’t understand her father’s way.

 

　　D. The daughter had some trouble doing the math problem.

 

　　13. From what the teacher said, we know that the word “units” means ______ here.

 

　　A. whole numbers less than 10 B. whole things

 

　　C. groups of lessons D. the smallest numbers

 

　　14. What the teacher said made the father _________.

 

　　A. angry B. worried C. sad D. tired

 

　　15. Can you guess what would happen next in the story?

 

　　A. The father would go to school and begin to learn math.

 

　　B. The father would become very ill and have to take more medicine.

 

　　C. The father would never do his daughter’s math problems again.

 

　　D. The father would go to the school and fight with the teacher.

 

　　答案：

 

　　(C) 作者向我們講述了很多人都可能遇到的一個問題：父母往往回答不上來小孩子問的一些非常簡單的數學問題。文中作者的女兒向他詢問怎樣計算202減去179這道題。結果，他的女兒不但弄不懂他的解釋，而且他還無法解釋清楚女兒提出的問題。他只好向女兒的老師求助，而自己被老師的解釋搞得天昏腦脹……

 

　　11. D。細讀第二段，再聯系父女倆的談話即可得出答案。

 

　　12. B。根據“but I didn’t think I was clear.”以及“I took one and then I took another…I know one and one was two, but don’t ask me what it is now.”可知B項是錯誤的。

 

　　13. A。根據短文內容，那位老師所說的“”她的意思是說“個位上的數字是幾就表示幾個一”，當然應是小于1的數。

 

　　14. D。由“My head was now hurting.”這句話，可知“父親”聽了老師的解釋后沒有生氣、焦慮或悲傷，而是頭昏腦脹，疲憊之至。

 

　　15. C。選項A是不現實的，而選項C、D更是荒誕離奇。體會一下文末一段“父親”的舉動，就可以想起他是一種什么樣的心情。