A
Nelda Billie has been waiting to turn on lights in her home for 15 years. “We’ve been living off those oil lanterns,” she says. “Now we don’t have to have flashlights everywhere. All the kids have a flashlight. When they get up in the middle of the night to use the restroom, they have a flashlight to go to the outhouse.”
Billie, her husband and their five kids live in a tiny, one-room cottage built with wood and mud, which is a traditional Navajo home. Their three sheep are on the green grass that carpets the rolling hills of Dilkon, Ariz., on the Navajo Nation, the largest Native American reservation in the US. They watch two men in a cherry picker hook the last power line to their home.
Billie says they’ve gone through too many electrical machines to count. “My two boys, they have really bad allergies and they have asthma(哮喘), so sometimes they need the sprayer.” Billie says. “So we usually go to their grandma’s house, travel in the middle of the night over there back and forth.”
The Billies are not alone. About 10% of Navajos on the reservation live without electricity. And as much as 40% of them have to haul their water far away and use outhouses. A poll(民意调查) of Native Americans conducted by NPR, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health found that more than a quarter of Native Americans have experienced problems with electricity, the Internet and with the safety of their drinking water.
Outside the Billies’ home, the couple waits patiently for the workers to finish the job. Finally, after waiting for so long, the Billies watch the foreman turn on the meter behind their house and close the cover. Nelda then runs inside to open the switch. “It’s so exciting to finally have electricity here after so many years without it,” Billie says. “My kids are going to be so happy. They keep asking every day… They go, ‘Mum, we’re going to have light! We’re going to finally have light!’”
Now the family will wait and pray for running water and the Internet.
21. Why did Billie’s children have flashlights in the past?
A. They used them as toys.
B. They wanted to save electricity.
C. They needed them to light up late at night.
D. They prepared these for going to grandma’s house.
22. What can we learn from paragraph 2?
A. The Billies lead a green but poor life.
B. Electricity can bring about great changes.
C. The situation of Native Americans is serious.
D. There is an urgent need for electricity in Billie’s house.
23. How does Billie often find electricity to treat her children’s illness?
A. By walking a long way to a friend. B. By producing electricity herself.
C. By inviting workers to her house. D. By going to her mum’s house.
24. What does the underlined sentence “The Billies are not alone.” imply in paragraph 4?
A. The Billies live far from cities but never feel lonely.
B. More Navajos suffer greatly from no electricity.
C. Only 10% of Navajos live without safe drinking water.
D. A quarter of Navajos have experienced problems with electricity.
25. What is the best title for the text?
A. The Disappearing Oil Lanterns B. Poor People’s Bright Future
C. Electricity Bringing Hope D. Power Lines Construction
