revolved around home. The boundary of our world was the gutter at the end of the street. We got pleasure from playing night games or from a breathtaking ride on a tricycle. Things are different now, as my friends become adults and move on. Children who rode tricycles now drive cars. The kids who once played with me now have new interests and values as they go their separate ways. Some have gone away to college like me, a few got married, two went into the army, and one went to prison. Watching all these people grow up and go away makes me long for the good old days.

Perhaps the biggest change on my street is the fact that the city is going to turn my precious hill into several lots for now homes. For sixteen years, the view out of my kitchen window has been a view of that hill. The hill was a fundamental part of my childhood life; it was the hub of social activity for the children of my street. We spent hours there building forts, sledding, and playing tag. The view out of my kitchen window now is very different; it is one of tractors and dump trucks tearing up the hill. When the hill goes, the neighborhood will not be the same. It is a piece of my childhood. It is a visual reminder of being a kid. Without the hill, my_street_will_be__just_another_pea_in_the_pod.

There was a time when my street was my world, and I thought my world would never change. But something happened. People grow up, and people grow old. Places changes, and with the change comes the heartache of knowing I can never go back to the times I loved. In a year or so, I will be gone just like many of my neighbors. I will always look back to my years as a child, but the place I remember will not be the silent street whose peace is interrupted by the sounds of construction. It will be the happy, noisy, somewhat strange, but wonderful street I knew as a child.

【语篇解读】本文是一篇记叙文。秋日午后，"我"漫步街头，回想起孩提时的欢笑；而今许多邻居在变老，朋友长大成人并离"我"而去，街道也将面临开发：屋后的山已经被人承包，整个街道将不再是"我"以前的街道。

16．The writer calls up the memory of the street________.

A．every year when autumn comes

B．in the afternoon every day

C．every time he walks along his street

D．now that he is an old man

答案　A　[细节理解题。根据第一段第一、二句"About this time every year，I get very nostalgic(怀旧的)．Walking through my neighborhood on a fall afternoon reminds me of..."可知，作者每年秋天这个时候都来这里回忆往事，故A项正确。]

17．The writer finds it hard to accept the fact that________.

A．many of his good neighbors are growing old

B．the lady next door who used to yell at him and his brother is now a widow