A
When we first moved into our present home, the houses only had a chainlink fence (钢丝网围栏) between them. People behind us were older; their children were in their late teens, and we didn't see them or hear from them much.
Time passed and a younger family moved in. While at first we thought this would be fun for the kids, it quickly became a pain. If one of our children had a birthday party, the neighbors would line up their children along the back fence to watch. We would have invited their children if they had been of the same age. While our older children had parties the neighbor's little kids would shout through the fence the entire time; we knew it was time to get a new fence.
When we built our fence next to the old one, they not only paid nothing for it, but watched us have it built. After we built our fence the mother of the house would call over and ask who was jumping on our trampoline (蹦床). She could only see the tops of their heads but couldn't figure out who it was. Good people, just too much interest in us. Years later they rebuilt their houses and built a pretty fence between the houses next to the old one. They were not surprised that we didn't want to pay for it. I have to admit their fence is much prettier than our wooden one.
Our yard is next to four other homes; each of the families has had his own home with a strong fence. We have left ours in place. While we love all our neighbors we are glad we have fences between each of us. Only in this way can we protect our little privacy (隐私), as fences certainly do make good neighbors.
语篇解读：作者通过自己的亲身经历，向我们说明了邻里之间的围墙可以增进邻里关系，保护各家的隐私，避免产生矛盾。
1．When the author's older children had a party, ________.
A．his neighbor's children also had a party as they did
B．they would invite his neighbor's children to attend it
C．his neighbor's children would shout behind the fence
D．his neighbor's children would watch it through the window
解析：选C 细节理解题。根据第二段的最后一句“While our older children had parties the neighbor's little kids would shout through the fence the entire time”可知，答案选C。
2．How did the mother know the children were jumping on the trampoline?
A．She learned about it by making a call.
B．She saw the tops of the children's heads.
C．She heard the sound of the children jumping.
D．Her children told her about it.
解析：选B 细节理解题。从第三段的“She could only see the tops of their heads but couldn't figure out who it was.”可知，当孩子们在蹦床上跳起来时，隔壁那位年轻妈妈仅看到头顶，弄不清楚是谁在跳。故选B。
3．Which of the following statements is TRUE?
A．The author's neighbors all have built strong fences.
B．Old people living behind liked children very much.
C．The young neighbors wanted the author to pay for the fence.
D．The young neighbors were very angry about the author's ugly fence.
解析：选A 细节理解题。由最后一段的“Our yard is next to four other homes; each of the families has had his own home with a strong fence.”可知，作者的邻居都围上了围墙，故选A。
4．We can learn from the passage that ________.
A．the young mother was interested in other families' life
B．the author's neighbors started to live there when the author was very young
C．the author thinks that the fences destroy the friendship between the neighbors
D．the author's family was not a big one when the younger family moved here
解析：选A 推理判断题。文章第三段提到隔壁的那位妈妈打电话问是谁在蹦床上跳，又根据下文的“Good people, just too much interest in us.”可推断出那位妈妈好管闲事，故选A。其他选项的推断与原文意思不符。
