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When her five daughters were young, Helene An always told them that there was strength in unity （团结）. To show this, she held up one chopstick, representing one person. Then she easily broke it into two pieces. Next, she tied several chopsticks together, representing a family. She showed the girls it was hard to break the tied chopsticks. This lesson about family unity stayed with the daughters as they grew up.
Helene An and her family own a large restaurant business in California. However, when Helene and her husband Danny left their home in Vietnam in 1975, they didn’t have much money. They moved their family to San Francisco. There they joined Danny’s mother, Diana, who owned a small Italian sandwich shop. Soon afterwards, Helene and Diana changed the sandwich shop into a small Vietnamese restaurant. The five daughters helped in the restaurant when they were young. However, Helene did not want her daughters to always work in the family business because she thought it was too hard.
Eventually the girls all graduated from college and went away to work for themselves, but one by one, the daughters returned to work in the family business. They opened new restaurants in San Francisco and Los Angeles. Even though family members sometimes disagreed with each other, they worked together to make the business successful. Daughter Elizabeth explains, “Our mother taught us that to succeed we must have unity, and to have unity we must have peace. Without the strength of the family, there is no business.”
Their expanding business became a large corporation in 1996, with three generations of Ans working together. Now the Ans’ corporation makes more than $20 million each year. Although they began with a small restaurant, they had big dreams, and they worked together. Now they are a big success.
1. Helene tied several chopsticks together to show ______.
A. the strength of family unity
B. the difficulty of growing up
C. the advantage of chopsticks
D. the best way of giving a lesson
2. We can learn from Paragraph 2 that the An family ______.
A. started a business in 1975
B. left Vietnam without much money
C. bought a restaurant in San Francisco
D. opened a sandwich shop in Los Angeles
3. What can we infer about the An daughters?
A. They did not finish their college education.
B. They could not bear to work in the family business.
C. They were influenced by what Helene taught them.
D. They were troubled by disagreement among family members.
4. Which of the following can be the best title for the passage?
A. How to Run a Corporation
B. Strength Comes from Peace
C. How to Achieve a Big Dream
D. Family Unity Builds Success
strength n . 力量；优点，长处
hold up 举起；支撑
chopstick n . 筷子
represent v . 代表；象征；扮演；作为……代表
tie v . （用线、绳等）系；（在线、绳上）打结；连接
Vietnam n . 越南
Vietnamese adj . 越南的，越南人的
eventually adv . 终于，最后
expanding adj . 扩大的；扩展的
corporation n . 公司
generation n . 一代人
1. Eventually the girls all graduated from college and went away to work for themselves, but one by one, the daughters returned to work in the family business.
本句由两个独立的并列句组成，由but连接，表明前句和后句是转折关系。one by one是后句的修饰状语，意为“一个接一个，先后”。
（参考译文） 后来女孩们都大学毕业并且找到了自己的工作，不过，她们又都先后回到了家族企业工作。
2. Daughter Elizabeth explains, “Our mother taught us that to succeed we must have unity, and to have unity we must have peace. Without the strength of the family, there is no business.”
本句的理解难点为直接宾语从句，从句由两个独立句组成，前一个独立句结构相对复杂，Our mother taught us that...后面引导了间接宾语从句，to succeed和to have unity均为从句的目的状语。
（参考译文） 女儿伊丽莎白解释说：“妈妈教育我们：要想获得成功，我们必须团结；而要想团结，我们必须和睦相处。没有家庭的力量，生意无从谈起。”