“I believe in holding onto traditions because they helped our family flourish（兴旺）in a new country. But this concept is more concretely expressed this way: I believe in feeding monkeys on my birthday — something I’ve done without fail for 35 years.
In the Burmese jungle, monkeys are as common as pigeons. But in America, feeding monkeys means violating the rules.
As a kid, I thought that was cool. I learned English through watching bad television shows and expected that I was the chosen warrior（勇士）sent to defend my family. Dad and I would go to the zoo early in the morning, just the two of us. When the Coast was clear, I would throw my peanuts to the monkeys.
I never had to explain myself until my 18th birthday. It was the first year I didn’t go with my father. I went with my friends and arrived 10 minutes after the zoo gates closed. “Please,” I begged the zookeeper, “I feed monkeys for my family, not for me. Can’t you make an exception?” “Go find a pet store,” she said.
If only it were so easy. That time, I got lucky. I found out that a high school classmate trained the monkeys for the movie Out of Africa, so he allowed me to feed his monkeys. Once a man with a pet monkey suspected that my story was a ploy — that I was an animal rights activist out to liberate his monkey. Another time, a zoo told me that outsiders could not feed the monkeys without violating the zookeepers’ collective bargaining agreement. Once in a pet store, I managed to feed a marmoset（狨）being kept in a birdcage. Another time, I was asked to wear a special
suit to feed a laboratory monkey.
It’s rarely easy and, yet, somehow I’ve found a way to feed a monkey every year since I was born.
24. Why has the author fed monkeys all these years?
A. To please his father.
B. To develop a new hobby.
C. To celebrate his birthday.
D. To keep up his family tradition.
25. How did the author and his father feed the zoo monkeys?
A. They did it in a secret way.
B. They pretended to be warriors.
C. They did it with the help of friends.
D. They got the zookeeper’s permission.
26. What does the underlined word “ploy” in Paragraph 5 mean?
A. Joke. B. Trick. C. Excuse. D. Adventure.
27. How is the fifth paragraph mainly developed?
A. By providing examples. B. By giving explanations.
C. By following time order. D. By making comparisons.
 
DA BA