building a home.

It didn’t dawn on me at the time, but the experience was quite different from watching TV. There were images forming in my mind instead of before my eyes. And I could return to them again and again with the flip of a page.

Soon I began to look forward to visiting this hushed sanctuary from my other world. I moved from animals to plants, and then to rocks. Between the covers of all those books were whole worlds, and I was free to go anywhere in them. Along the way a funny thing happened: I started to know things. Teachers started to notice it too. I got to the point where I couldn’t wait to get home to my books.

Now my older brother is an engineer and I am chief of pediatric neurosurgery at John Hopkins Children?s Center in Baltimore. Sometimes I still can?t believe my life’s journey, from a failing and indifferent student in a Detroit public school to this position,

which takes me all over the world to teach and perform critical surgery.

But I know when the journey began — the day Mom snapped off the TV set and put us in her Oldsmobile for that drive to the library.

81. We can learn from the beginning of the passage that ______.

A. the author and his brother had done poorly in school.

B. the author had been very concerned about his school work.

C. the author had spent much time watching TV after school.

D. the author had realized how important schooling was.

82. Which of the following is NOT true about the author’s family?

A. He came from a middle class family. B. He came from a single parent family. C. His mother worked as a cleaner. D. His mother had received little education.

83. The mother was ______ to make her two sons switch to reading books.

A. hesitant B. unprepared C. reluctant D. determined

84. How did the two boys feel about going to the library at first?

A. They were afraid. B. They were reluctant.

C. They were indifferent. D. They were eager to go.

85. The author began to love books for the following reasons EXCEPT that ______. A. he began to see something in his mind. B. he could visualize what he read in his mind. C. he could go back to read the books again. D. he realized that books offered him new experience.