阅读理解
Mr. Parker was born in a small village. His father was so poor that he couldn't send him to school. The boy had to help his parents to do some farming and learned English and maths by himself when he was free. Later on he was made to leave his home village and hoped to find a job in a city. And as soon as war broke out, he joined the army. He couldn't forget his terrible past and fought with the enemies bravely. So he became a general when he was fifty. He was honest and friendly to his soldiers and often punished those who tried to pocket a portion of the soldiers' pay (克扣军饷). And his soldiers liked him very much.
Once Mr. Parker heard from a soldier. In the letter the young man said the food in their military camp was very bad and he wished the general could go to find out the reasons, the old man went there at once, without telling anybody. He went in the kitchen and examined everything carefully and found it was very dirty. Then he went in the soldiers' bedrooms and found there were a lot of fleas. He became angry and asked the soldiers, “What do you think of your food, young men?”
The soldiers saw their officer standing by the general and said nothing Only a new soldier said, “Very bad, sir!”
“What did you have for lunch today?” asked Mr. Parker.
“A fried chicken, some fish and pork, a cake, six eggs and I had three cups of wine.”
“Really?” Mr. Parker called out in surprise. “It's the King's lunch, I think!”
“So do I, general,” said the young man. “But it's my birthday today. I paid three hundred dollars for them all in the restaurant!”
