单选题 In the lumberyard by the lake, where trees from the woods were turned into boards for construction work, there was an old brick building two floors high, and all around the outside walls were heaped great piles of soft sawdust; There were many of these golden mountains of dust covering that part of the yard fight down to the blue lake. That afternoon, bored with having nothing else to do, all the fellows followed Michael up the ladder to the roof of the old building and they sat with their legs hanging over the edge looking out across the lake. Suddenly Michael said,"I dare you to jump down, "and without thinking about it, he pushed himself off the roof and fell on the sawdust where he lay roiling around and laughing. "I dare you all! "he shouted, "You're all cowards, "he said, encouraging them to follow him. Still laughing, he watched them looking down from the roof, white-faced and hesitant, and then one by one they jumped and got up grinning with relief.
In the hot afternoon sunlight they all lay on the sawdust pile telling jokes till at last one of the fellows said, "Come on up on the old roof again and jump down. "There wasn't much enthusiasm among them, but they all went up to the roof again and began to jump off in a determined, desperate way till only Michael was left and the others were all down below grinning up at him calling, "Come on, Mike. What's the matter with you?" Michael wanted to jump down there and be with them, but he remained on the edge of the roof, wetting his lips, with a silly grin on his face, wondering why it had not seemed such a long drop the first time. For a while they thought he was only fooling them, but then they saw him clenching his fists tight. He was trying to count to ten and then jump, and when that failed, he tried to take a long breath and close his eyes. In a while the fellows began to laugh at him; they were tired of waiting and it was getting on to dinnertime. "Come on, you're a coward, do you think we're going to sit here all night?" they began to shout, and when he did not move they began to get up and walk away, still shouting. "Who did this in the first place? What's the matter with you all?" he called.
But for a long time he remained on the edge of the roof, stating unhappily and steadily at the ground. He remained all alone for nearly an hour while the sun, like a great orange ball getting bigger and bigger, rolled slowly over the grey line beyond the lake. His clothes were wet from nervous sweating. At last he closed his eyes, slipped off the roof, fell heavily on the pile of sawdust and lay there a long time. There were no sounds in the yard, the workmen had gone home. As he lay there he wondered why he had been unable to jump; and then he got up slowly and walked home feeling deeply ashamed and wanting to avoid everybody.

单选题 Why did the boys first decide to climb onto the roof of the building?
A. To test their courage.
B. To pass the time.
C. To keep out of the way of the workmen.
D. To get a better view of the woods.

单选题 When the boys jumped after Michael, they ______.
A. were not afraid at all
B. wanted to do it again immediately
C. were glad they had got down safely
D. found the jump easier than expected

单选题 Why didn't Michael make the second jump immediately?
A. The ground seemed further away.
B. He thought his friends had been foolish.
C. He was trying to trick his friends.
D. He wanted his friends to go away.

单选题 How did Michael's friends react when he didn't jump?
A. They left immediately.
B. They were not surprised.
C. They remembered how they had felt themselves.
D. They thought he was joking.

单选题 When Michael finally jumped the second time, he ______.
A. was proud of himself
B. improved on his first jump
C. could not understand what had stopped him
D. was not so angry with his friends