A
Walt Disney is credited for creating such wonderful things as Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse. However, he cannot take the credit for creating other wellloved characters, such as Cinderella and Snow White. They are almost automatically associated with Disney because Disney turned old fables (寓言) into cartoon movies.
The original Cinderella varies very much from the Disney version we know today. It started off with the girl mourning her mother's death and going to her tomb three times a day. In addition, there were only birds that helped Cinderella; there was no such thing as a fairy godmother or helpful mice, nor was there mention of a horse and carriage.
The stepsisters were cruel: they always threw Cinderella's food into the ashes of the fire, and made her sleep on the ashes on the floor, hence (因此，由此) her name.
In the original story, the king's ball actually lasted for three days. With the help of the birds, the girl, beautifully dressed, danced with the prince on all three nights and the prince fell in love with her. However, she broke away from him to rush back home each night. On the last night, the prince placed something sticky on the stairs; as Cinderella made her escape, a shoe got stuck on it.
Here now is where the story becomes unpleasant: when the prince went to the house looking for the girl whose foot fit the shoe, the wicked (邪恶的) stepmother told one of her two daughters to cut off her big toe to fit into the shoe. The daughter did as told. So the prince took her away to be his bride. But, when they passed the tomb of Cinderella's mother, the birds called out to the prince，
“Turn and peep, there's blood within the shoe；
The shoe is too small, the true bride waits for you.”
Realizing he had been tricked, the prince returned the daughter to her mother; the other then had to cut off part of her heel in order to fit into the shoe, with the same result. Only Cinderella's foot fit perfectly and so the prince chose to marry her. The story ends with the wedding day: as Cinderella's two stepsisters followed her, pretending to be devoted to her so that they could enjoy the king's riches, two birds flew by and plucked (啄) out their eyes. Because of their wickedness and falsehood, they had to spend the rest of their days blind.
The original Cinderella is so different from the Disney version. Thank goodness Disney made such changes; it indeed was a wise move.
语篇解读：本文是一篇记叙文。迪士尼的卡通人物“灰姑娘”的故事几乎是家喻户晓，但你知道最初的灰姑娘的故事吗？大家赶快读文章，从中寻求一个不同的“灰姑娘”吧。
1．What does the underlined word “They” in the first paragraph refer to?
A．Such wonderful things.
B．Other wellloved characters.
C．Old fables.
D．Cartoon movies.
解析：选B 代词指代题。根据画线单词所在句的前一句“However, he cannot take the credit for creating other wellloved characters ...”可以得出答案。
2．How did Cinderella get her name?
A．The birds came up with it.
B．It was given by Disney.
C．It came from the word “ash”．
D．She got it from her mother.
解析：选C 细节理解题。根据第三段中可知，“灰姑娘”这个名字是从单词ash得出的。A项“鸟儿们想出的”，B项“迪士尼给的”，D项“她从她妈妈那里得到的”，都与原文的内容不符。
3．The moral of the original story is that .
A．a wicked person cannot escape punishment
B．a devoted person certainly deserves respect
C．a wellbehaved child earns a great reward
D．a dishonest child cannot get mother love
解析：选A 推理判断题。根据倒数第二段中的冒名顶替的两个姐姐都被王子发现了，且小鸟把她们的眼睛啄瞎了可知，她们为自己的行为付出了代价，因此本文的寓意是“邪恶的人逃脱不了惩罚”，所以选择A项。
4．What does the author think of the Disney version?
A．Excellent. B．Ordinary.
C．Dull. D．Ridiculous.
解析：选A 推理判断题。根据最后一段中的“Thank goodness Disney made such changes; it indeed was a wise move.”尤其是“Thank goodness”以及“a wise move”可知，作者对迪士尼版本的灰姑娘比较认可，因此选A项“极好的，优秀的”。
