In the 1950s, a family that owned a farm near Beulah, Michigan kept a bull chained to an elm (榆树). The bull paced around the tree, dragging the heavy iron chain, which led to a groove (槽) in the bark . The groove deepened over the years. Though for whatever reason, it did not kill the tree.
After some years, the family took their bull away. They cut the chain, leaving the loop around the tree and one link hanging down.
Then one year, agricultural disaster struck Michigan in the form of Dutch Elm Disease. All of the elms lining the road leading to the farm became infected and died. Everyone thought that the old elm would be the next.
The farm owners considered doing the safe thing: pulling it out and cutting it up into firewood before it died. But they simply could not bring themselves to do it. It was as if the old tree had become a family friend. So they decided to let nature take its course.
Amazingly, the tree did not die. Nobody could understand why it was the only elm still standing in the county!
Plant experts from Michigan State University came out to observe the tree. They observed the scar left by the iron chain, now almost completely covered by bark. The experts decided that it was the chain that saved the elm’s life. They reasoned that the tree must have absorbed so much iron from the chain that it became immune to the virus.
It’s said that what doesn’t kill you will make you stronger. Or, as Earnest Hemingway put it, "Life breaks us all, but afterwards, many of us are strongest at the broken places."
小题1:What did the family do with the elm when the agricultural disaster hit Michigan one year?
A．They invited plant experts to observe it.
B．They pulled it out and chopped it up into firewood.
C．They prevented it from being infected by the disease.
D．They did nothing and just let it be.小题2:Which of the following statements is TRUE?
A．A groove formed because of natural forces.
B．The family decided to keep the tree because they had become attached to it.
C．All of the elms in Beulah, Michigan died of the disease.
D．The plant experts advised the family to chop it down.小题3:What actually saved the elm?
A．The bull.
B．The groove.
C．The iron chain.
D．The experts.小题4:What would be the best title for the passage?
A．Let nature take its course
B．Strengthened by our wounds
C．Constant dripping wears away a stone
D．Bend, but don’t break
