III. Reading comprehension (5%)       Once upon a time I taught school in the hills of Tennessee, where the broad dark vale of theMississippi begins to roll and crumple to greet the Alleghanies. I was a Fisk student then, and all Fiskmen thought that Tennessee was theirs alone, and in vacation time they sallied forth in lusty bands tomeet the county school-commissioners. Young and happy, I too went, and I shall not soon forget thatsummer, seventeen years ago.       First, there was a Teachers' Institute at the county-seat； and there distinguished guests of thesuperintendent taught the teachers fractions and spelling and other mysteries—white teachers in themorning, Negroes at night. A picnic now and then, and a supper, and the rough world was softenedby laughter and song. I remember how—but I wander.       There came a day when all the teachers left the Institute and began the hunt for schools. I learnfrom hearsay (for my mother was mortally afraid of firearms) that the hunting of ducks and bearsand men is wonderfully interesting, but I am sure that the man who has never hunted a countryschool has something to learn of the pleasures of the chase. I see now the white, hot roads lazily riseand fall and wind before me under the burning July sun； I feel the deep weariness of heart and limbas ten, eight, six miles stretch relentlessly ahead； I feel my heart sink heavily as I hear again andagain, "Got a teacher? Yes." So I walked on and on—horses were too expensive—until I hadwandered beyond railways, beyond stage lines, to a land of "varmints" and rattlesnakes, where thecoming of a stranger was an event, and men lived and died in the shadow of one blue hill.       Sprinkled over hill and dale lay cabins and dale lay cabins and farmhouses, shut out from theworld by the forests and the rolling hills toward the east. There I found at last a little school. Josietold me of it； she was a thin, homely girl of twenty, with a dark-brown face and thick, hard hair. I hadcrossed the stream at Watertown, and rested under the great willows； then I had gone to a little cabinwhere Josie was resting on her way to town. The gaunt farmer made me welcome, and Josie, hearingmy errand, told me anxiously that they wanted a school over the hill； that but once since the war hada teacher been there； that she herself longed to learn—and thus she ran on, talking fast and loud, withmuch earnestness and energy.       Next morning I crossed the tall, round hill, plunged into the wood, and came out at Josie's home.The father was a quiet, simple soul, calmly ignorant, with no touch of vulgarity. The mother wasdifferent—strong, bustling, and energetic, with a quick, restless tongue, and an ambition to live "likefolks." There was a crowd of children. Two growing girls； a shy midget of eight； John, tall, awkward,and eighteen； Jim, younger, quicker, and better-looking； and two babies of indefinite age. Then therewas Josie herself. She seemed to be the center of the family: always busy at service, or at home, orberry-picking； a little nervous and inclined to scold, like her mother, yet faithful, too, like her father.I saw much of this family afterwards, and grew to love them for their honest efforts to be decent andcomfortable, and for their knowledge of their own ignorance. There was with them no affectation.The mother would scold the father for being so "easy"； Josie would roundly berate the boys forcarelessness； and all knew that it was a hard thing to dig a living out of a rocky side hill.
【題組】26. The passage as a whole is best characterized as
(A) a description of the achievements of a graduate of a prestigious school
(B) an illustration of the innocence and gullibility of youth.
(C) an example of the harsh realities of searching for employment
(D) a reminiscence of a memorable time in one man’s life.