hair and her smile. They said she was a remarkable girl to be carrying coats upstairs at her age.

　　I thought to myself that we adults usually make_a_big_"to_do"_over the younger child because he/she is the one who seems more easily to be hurt. We do it with the best intention.

　　But we seldom think of how it might affect the other child. I was a little worried that Kirsten would feel she was being outshone. I was about to serve dinner when I realized that she had been missing for twenty minutes. I ran upstairs and found her in the bedroom, crying.

　　I said, "What are you doing, my dear？"

　　She turned to me with a sad expression and said, "Mommy, why don't people like me the way they like my sister? Is it because I'm not pretty? Is that why they don't say nice things about me？"

　　I tried to explain to her, kissing and hugging her to make her feel better.

　　Now, whenever I visit a friend's home, I make a point of speaking to the elder child first.

　　语篇解读：作者有两个女儿，有一天客人们来时，他们只对小女儿表示了关注和赞美，因此使大女儿受到了伤害。作者通过这件事懂得：成年人要给予孩子们同样的关注。

　　4．The underlined expression "make a big 'to do' over" (Paragraph 4) means "________"．

　　A．show much concern about B．have a special effect on

　　C．list jobs to be done for D．do good things for

　　解析：选A　词义猜测题。从第四段中的"because ... the best intention"可知选A。

　　5．The guests praised Kelly for carrying coats upstairs because of her ________.

　　A．beautiful hair B．pretty clothes

　　C．lovely smile D．young age

　　解析：选D　细节理解题。从第三段最后一句可知答案为D。

　　6．Kirsten felt sad and cried because ________.

　　A．the guests gave her more coats to carry

　　B．she didn't look as pretty as Kelly

　　C．the guests praised her sister more than her

　　D．her mother didn't introduce her to the guests

　　解析：选C　推理判断题。从文章倒数第三段可以推出答案为C。

　　7．We can conclude from the passage that ________.

　　A．parents should pay more attention to the elder children

　　B．the younger children are usually more easily hurt

C．people usually like the elder children more