Howard Dill is a giant among giant pumpkin

题目内容：

Howard Dill is a giant among giant pumpkin(南瓜) growers. He grew world champion pumpkins for four years running，from 1979 to 1982, and missed winning the fifth year by only 5 pounds. Today, his Dill Atlantic Giant seeds are sold worldwide to more than 50 seed companies. The pumpkins grown from his Dill Atlantic Giant seeds commonly weigh in at over 1,000 pounds. “I don’t have any training in genetics(遗传学); it was all trial and error,” Dill says. He got his love of pumpkins from his father and has enjoyed growing them for years.

Dill still grows giant pumpkins, but not for competition. In the fall, visitors come to enjoy the pumpkins on his 90-acre farm in Nova Scotia, Canada. He plants ten acres of pumpkins for Halloween and two acres of giant pumpkins. One of giant pumpkins was recently baked into 442 pumpkin pies and sold at $5 each for charity.

It you want to try growing a giant pumpkin, Dill recommends starting with a soil test and then adding fertilizer(农药) as needed. Plant the giant pumpkin seed. A giant pumpkin can gain 15 to 20 pounds a day, so careful watering—every day or two—is necessary. You should wait about 130 days until the pumpkin matures and then you can harvest it.

Dill’s favorite pumpkin set the Guinness Book record in 1981. It weighted 493.5 pounds. “I’ve grown them larger since, but that one meant a lot,” he remembers. “I never would have imagined ten

years ago that there would be a 1,000-pounder, but there are many of them now,” says Dill. The 2006 world record holder is Larry Checkon of Pennsylvania. He grew a 1,469 pounder. Dill says, “These world champions are grown from my seeds, so I feel like a winner right along with them.”

小题1:What can we learn about the world champion pumpkin of 1983?

A．It weighed over 1,000 pounds.

B．It was missing after the competition.

C．It was 5 pounds heavier than that of 1982.

D．It was 5 pounds heavier than Dill’s biggest one that year.小题2: One of Dill’s giant pumpkins earned.

A．$2210

B．$442

C．$1000

D．$1469小题3: In the third paragraph Dill mainly tells about.

A．how to do a soil test

B．how to plant the giant pumpkin seed

C．when to water the pumpkin

D．how to grow a giant pumpkin小题4:Which of the following is the best title for the passage?

A．Gardening Giant: Howard Dill

B．World Champion Pumpkin

C．Dill Atlantic Giant Seeds

D．How to Grow Giant Pumpkins

最佳答案：

小题1:D

小题2:A

小题3:D

小题4:A

答案解析：

本文讲述了南瓜冠军的种植者Dill的故事。

小题1:细节推理题。 根据第一段第二句话，可知Dill种植的南瓜连续四年获得冠军，第五年以5磅之差落败。

小题2:计算题。根据第二段最后一句话，可知答案为442×5=2210美元。

小题3:段落大意归纳题。本段第一句话即为本段中心句，故选D.

小题4:标题归纳题。本文主要讲述了种植大南瓜的能手Dill的故事，所以称她为园艺巨人再恰当不过了。

考点核心：

人物传记类文章的文体特征：

人物传记是记叙文体的一种，主要描写某人的生平事迹、趣闻轶事、生活背景、个性特征、成长奋斗历程等，包含记叙文的时间、地点、人物、事件等要素。其特点是以时间的先后或事件的发展为主线，空间或逻辑线索贯穿文章始终，脉络清楚，可读性较强。