I spend half of my life with my mother and the other half with my father.My father lives with a twenty-pound cat named Tofu.He calls me his favorite daughter.I am the only child.
   My father's apartment is quite different from any other people's living space.Except for my room，there is no furniture.He doesn't like sofas or any comfortable chairs，so he has only a drawing table，a desk and a bed.For three years he has resisted buying a stereo because he thinks it's ugly and will mess up his studio.
   From my father's studio，window，you can see a large part of San Francisco.I like to watch the colors change in the bay when the sun is setting.All the walls are white，and framed posters of my father's last three books hang side by side.He spends a lot of time lying on the studio floor.That's how he thinks，he says.Then he does yoga.He has a big kitchen，and on top of the Refrigeration is an old clock he winds every week for good luck.The last time the clock stopped，my father's car was pulled away by the police and some other unfortunate things happened，so he has become very superstitious（迷信）.When he goes out of town，he hires someone to feed Tofu and wind the clock so it won't stop.
   The one thing he has plenty of is house rules.You have to take off your shoes when you came in.He won't allow anyone who wears a baseball cap into his house.He says only baseball players should wear baseball caps and only the catchers should wear them backward.Every time I go to stay at his house，he makes up a new rule. "House rule number 579，no television programs with laugh tracks!" he will say.Well then he can never remember the numbers，so they change constantly.
   The rule that he always enforces is the one that requires me to write a two-page-long essay anytime I want something.He didn't speak English until he was sixteen，and he had a hard time learning to write it，so he wants me to become a good writer at an early age.The ritual started when I asked him if I could have my ear pierced when I was nine.He said it was barbaric and told me I couldn't do it until I was thirty-five.But I kept asking him，and he finally said that if I wrote an essay and I could persuade him in writing why I wanted holes in my ears，maybe he would say okay.I wrote my first essay for my father，and after one month of writing and rewriting，he backed down and gave me his permission.

（1）Which statement is an example of a house rule？

C

C

A．No baseball players should wear caps backward.
B．Lying on the studio floor can improve the way of thinking.
C．Wearing shoes in the house is not acceptable.
D．Keeping Tofu fed and the clock wound is important.
（2）Based on the passage，we can draw the conclusion except that

C

C

.
A．the writer's parents are separated
B．writing a two-page-long essay is a well-meant intention of the father
C．there are in all 579 house rules and the number is growing
D．my father doesn't want a stereo in his house for its ugliness
（3）Which of the following means the closest to the underlined word "pierced" in paragraph 5？

C

C

A．A sudden scream pierced the silence.
B．The darkness was pierced by the light from the sun.
C．Boil the corn until it can easily be pierced with a fork.
D．The crazy man threatened to pierce the defense of the police.
（4）What is the best title of the passage？

B

B

A．The Tension between My Father and Me
B．A Father's Unusual Habits
C．A Caring Father
D．A Challenging Teenager