I was born in Tuckahoe, Talbot Country, Maryland. I have no accurate(準確的)knowledge of my age, never having seen any record containing it. By far the larger part of the slaves know as little of their age as horses know of theirs, and it is the wish of most masters within my knowledge to keep their slaves thus ignorant(不知情的). I do not remember having ever met a slave who could tell of his birthday. They seldom come nearer to it than planting-time, harvesting, springtime, or falltime. A lack of information concerning my own was a source of unhappiness to me even during childhood. The white children could tell their ages, I could not tell why the same right ought to be taken away from me. I was not allowed to ask my master about it. He considered all such questions on the part of a lave improper and impolite. The nearest estimate(估計)I can give makes me now between twenty-seven and twenty-eight years of age. I come to this, from hearing my master say, some time during 1835, I was about seventeen years old. My mother was named Harriet Bailey. She was the daughter of Isaac and Betsey Bailey, both colored, and quite dark.

　 My father was a white man. The opinion was also whispered that my master was my father; but of the correctness of this opinion, I know nothing and I had no means to know. My mother and I were separated when I was but an infant-before I knew her as my mother. It is a common custom, in the part of Maryland from which I ran away, to part children from their mothers at a very early age. Frequently, before the child has reached its twelfth month, its mother is taken from it, and hired out on some farm a considerable distance off, and the child is placed under the care of an older woman, too old for field labor.

1. It can be learned from the text that____.

A. the slaves forgot the exact time when they are born

B. the writer didn’t know whether his master was his father

C. the writer was about twenty-seven years old in 1835

D. the writer’s mother left him as soon as he was born

2. The underlined word “it” in Paragraph 1 refers to ____.

A. their birthday　 　　B. my age　 　　C. a record　　 　 D. Maryland

3. According to the passage, when the writer was very young his mother____.

A. ran away　　　 　　　　 　 B. was light-skinned

C. had several children　　 　 　 D. was sent to work elsewhere

4. The author was most probably raised____.

A. by his grandparents　　　　 　　B. by an old woman slave

C. with his master’s support　　 　　D. together with other children

5. How does the writer feel about not knowing his age?

A. Curious.　　 　B. Unhappiness.　　　 C. Astonished.　　　　 D. Ashamed.