The Cat in the Hat takes place on a cold, wet day with two kids awaiting their mother’s return. Instead of their mother, a strange cat enters the house. He begins balancing a fish bowl on the tip of his umbrella while balancing himself on a beach ball! The two kids and their pet fish worry and worry. But readers around the world laughed and laughed over the cat and the hat.
Theodore Seuss Geisel, known to fans as Dr. Seuss, wrote the book. It was first published in 1957. Geisel liked to have fun and make people laugh but he had a serious reason for writing the book. In 1954, a Life magazine article argued that kids couldn’t read because the books used to teach them how to read were too boring. John Hersey, the Pulitzer-prize winning author of the article, suggested Geisel write a story that “first graders wouldn’t be able to put down”.
To write the book, Geisel had to have a good knowledge of a beginning reader’s word list. Geisel says that he came up with the title by looking for the first two words on the list that rhymed（押韵）. And so The Cat in the Hat was born! But it wasn’t an easy book to write. It took Geisel one and a half years to complete. The story is 1,626 words in length and uses a vocabulary of only 236 unique words, of which 54 appear exactly once and 33 twice. Only a single word – another – has three syllables（音节）, while 14 have two and the remaining 221 are monosyllabic(单音节的). The longest words are something and playthings.
To celebrate The Cat in the Hat’s birthday, Random House, the book’s publisher, created Project 236. The number 236 represents the number of words Geisel used to write the book. As a part of Project 236, there will be a nationwide read-aloud of The Cat in the Hat at 2:36 on March 2, Dr. Seuss’s birthday.
28. What is Dr. Seuss’s purpose in writing The Cat in the Hat?
A. To develop educational system. B. To make readers laugh.
C. To improve children’s reading. D. To support John Hersey.
29. It can be inferred from the passage that John Hersey __________.
A. won the Pulitzer-prize because of the book
B. was the editor of the magazine Life
C. thought his article was too difficult for first graders to read
D. was dissatisfied with children’s readings of that time
30. The Cat in the Hat is loved by children because ______.
A. it’s interesting and easy to read B. it’s helpful for them to learn new words
C. the words used in it rhyme D. Dr. Seuss was a well-known writer
31. Why did Random House create Project 236?
A. To make more readers get to know Dr. Seuss. B. In honor of the birth of The Cat in the Hat.
C. In support of the nationwide read-aloud. D. To celebrate Dr. Seuss’s birthday.