SAN FRANCISCO―The “Reading Wizard”, an 11 year old boy, whose offer to read to children without being paid at a local library was refused by libraries, will get to read to younger kids after all.
Mayor Willie Brown last Wednesday ordered San Francisco Public Library officials to allow John O’Connor to read to preschool children to get them interested in books and stop them from watching television and video games.
“I didn’t expect this kind of attention. ” John said, “It’s just shocking.”
John has chosen his first book, “The King’s Giraffe”, and made up fliers inviting neighborhood children, aged from three to six, to the Presidio Branch every Wednesday afternoon. He planned to call himself the “Reading Wizard” and wear a special hat, fake glasses and a black coat.
But his idea was refused on the phone, in person and finally with a letter from Toni Bernardi, the chief of the library’s children and youth services. Using terms like “age appropriate material”（适龄读物）,she wrote that only library workers are allowed to read to children.
John then went to a member of the city board of supervisors（督导董事会）, who advised him to write letters to the library officials.
“Our libraries are supposed to turn kids on, not to turn them off.” Brown said he enjoyed “the creative idea, the sense of civic duty and the caring for others that John clearly showed us.”
57．Who is the “Reading Wizard”?
A．Presidio Branch. B．The King’s Giraffe.
C．John O’Connor. D．Toni Bernardi.
58．The 11 year old boy asked librarians at the local library for permission to .
A．play video games B．wear something strange
C．design fliers for new books D．read stories to young children
59．By dressing up as a wizard, the boy probably hoped to .
A．put up a performance
B．frighten the three year old boys
C．get the officials shocked
D．attract the children’s attention
60．We can infer that Mayor Willie Brown .
A．praised the boy for his new idea
B．received a call from the library for children
C．informed the boy to stop reading to children
D．held a party for John and his friends at the library