The young boy saw me, or rather, he saw the car and quickly ran up to me, eager to sell his bunches (串) of bananas and bags of peanuts. Though he appeared to be about twelve, he seemed to have already known the bitterness of life. "Banana 300 naira. Peanuts 200 naira"
He said in a low voice. I bargained him down to 200 total for the fruit and nuts. When he agreed, I handed him a 500 naira bill He didn't have change, so I told him not to worry.
He .said thanks and smiled a row of perfect teeth.
When, two weeks later, I saw the boy again, I was more aware of my position in a society where it's not that uncommon to see a little boy who should be in school standing on the corner selling fruit in the burning sun. My parents had raised me to be aware of the advantage we had been afforded and the responsibility it brought to us.
I pulled over and rolled down my window. He had a bunch of bananas and a bag of peanuts ready. I waved them away. “What's up”. I asked him. “I...I don't have money to buy books for school.” I reached into my pocket and handed him two fresh 500 naira bills.
"Will this help?” I asked. He looked around nervously before taking the money. One thousand naira was a lot of money to someone whose family probably made about 5,000 naira or less each year. "Thank you, sir," he said. 'Thank you very much.”
When driving home, I wondered if my little friend actually used the money for school-books. What if he's a cheat (骗子)? And then I wondered why I did it. Did I do it to make myself feel better? Was I using him? Later, I realized that I didn't know his name or the least bit about him, nor did I think to ask.
Over the next six months, I was busy working in a news agency in northern Nigeria. Sometime after I returned, I went out for a drive When I was about to pull over, the boy suddenly appeared by my window with a big smile ready on his face
" Long time."
"Are you in school now?” I asked.
He nodded.
"That's good," I said. A silence fell as we looked at each other, and then I realized what he wanted. "Here," I held out a 500 naira bill. "Take this.” He shook his head and stepped back as if hurt. "What's wrong?” I asked. "It's a gift"
He shook his head again and brought his hand from behind his back. His face shine with sweat (汗水)。 He dropped a bunch of bananas and a bag of peanuts in the front seat before he said, "I've been waiting to give these to you."
72. What was the author's first impression of the boy?
A. He seemed to be poor and greedy.
B. He seemed to have suffered a lot
C. He seemed younger than his age.
D. He seemed good at bargaining
73. The second time the author met the boy, the boy________.
A. told him his purpose of selling fruit and nuts
B. wanted to express his thanks
C. asked him for money for his schoolbooks
D. tried to take advantage of him
74. Why did the author give his money to the boy?
A. Because he had enough money to do that.
B. Because he had learnt to help others since childhood.
C. Because he held a higher position in the society.
D. Because he had been asked by the news agency to do so.
75. Which of the following best describes the boy?
A. Brave and polite.
B. Kind and smart
C. Honest and thankful.
D. Shy and nervous.
72B 73 A 74B 75C
He's an old cobbler (修鞋匠) with a shop in the Marais, a historic area in Paris. When I took him my shoes, he at first told me: “I haven't time. Take them to the other fellow on the main street ; he'll fix them for you right away.”
But I'd had my eye on his shop for a long time. Just looking at his bench loaded with tools and pieces of leather, I knew he was a skilled craftsman (手艺人). “No,” I replied, “the other fellow can't do it well.”
“The other fellow” was one of those shopkeepers who fix shoes and make keys “while-U-wait” -- without knowing much about m
ending shoes or making keys. They work carelessly, and when they have finished sewing back a sandal strap (鞋带) you might as well just throw away the pair.
My man saw I wouldn't give in, and he smiled. He wiped his hands on his blue apron ( 围裙), looked at my shoes, had me write my name on
one shoe with a piece of chalk and said, “Come back in a week.”
I was about to leave when he took a pair of soft leather boots off a shelf.
“See what I can do?” he said with pride. “Only three of us in Paris can do this kind of work. ”
When I got back out into the street, the world seemed brand-new to me. He was something out of an ancient legend, this old craftsman with his way of speaking familiarly, his very strange, dusty felt hat, his funny accent from who-knows-where and, above all, his pride in his craft.
These are times when nothing is important but the bottom line, when you can do things any old way as long as it “pays”, when, in short, people look on work as a path to ever-increasing consumption (消费) rather than a way to realize their own abilities. In such a period it is a rare comfort to find a cobbler who gets his greatest satisfaction from pride in a job well done.
Which of the following is true about the old cobbler.'?
| A.He was equipped with the best repairing tools. | B.He was the only cobbler in the Marais. |
| C.He was proud of his skills. | D.He was a native Parisian. |
The sentence “He was something out of an ancient legend.” ( paragraph 7 ) implies that
| A.nowadays you can hardly find anyone like him |
| B.it was difficult to communicate with this man |
| C.the man was very strange |
| D.the man was too old |
According to the author, many people work just to .
| A.realize their abilities | B.gain happiness | C.make money | D.gain respect |
This story wants to tell us that ________ .
| A.craftsmen make a lot of money | B.whateve r you do, do it well |
| C.craftsmen need self-respect | D.people are born equal |
Seattle International Film Festival :Future Wave Shorts Program
Seattle Washington
May/June annually
Deadline:March
A presentation of original short films created by youth aged 18 and under. Entries must be no longer than 10 minutes(including end titles).The juried Future Wave winner receives a $500 each prize!
http://www.siff.net
Contact:Dustin Kasper 【dustin.Kasper @siff.Net 】
Entry fee:$20
University if Toronto Film and Video Festival
Toronto
February
Deadline:January
Annual Festival accepting all lengths and genres(流派),with an emphasis on student work.Submission (提交)form on festival website.
http://www.uoftfilmandvideofestival.ca
Contact: Steven Hoffner 【uoftfilmfest@harthousetheatre.ca】
Entry fee:$15 (early) $20(final)
Young Cuts Film Festival
Toronto Ontario
August 23th-27th
Deadline:April 30th
The Young Cuts Film Festival is one of the world’s most important film festivals for film makers under the age of 25 and is for student film makers and non-student film makers alike. It’s important because we not only evaluate young film m
akers’ short films for our own Festival competition,but we can also evaluate your film with an eye to establishing its market potential. For more information please go to our website at www.youngcuts.com or emai
l us at info@youngcut.Com
Contact:Peter Bailey 【info@youngcut.Com】
Entry fee:$60.00—$90.00
Scene First Student Film Festival
Wilmington North California
June 14th-16th
Deadline:May
The 3-day national film competition provides student film makers with an opportunity to show their short films, network with industry professionals, and learn from academic and industry leadership ——all in a relaxed social environment.
http://www.scenefirstfestival.com
Contact: Sam Connelly 【sam
c@campusentertainment.net】
Entry fee:$12
If you want to enter Seattle Int
ernational Film Festival,you have to ______.
| A.be above 18 years of age |
| B.apply before May |
| C.make a film no more than 10 minutes in length |
D.make a film with end titles |
Those who enter Young Cuts Film Festival can _______.
| A.win some prize money |
| B.have their films sold at the film market |
| C.meet very professional film makers |
| D.know whether it is possible for their films to go into market |
If a student film maker want to ask famous film makers for advice,he should go to ________.
| A.Seattle International Film Festival |
| B.University if Toronto Film and Video Festival |
| C.Young Cuts Film Festival |
| D.Scene First Student Film Festival |
How many people have I met who have told me about the book they have been planning to write but have never yet found the time ? Far too many.
This is Life, all right, but we do treat it like a rehearsal (排演) and, unhappily, we do miss so many of its best moments.
We take jobs to stay alive and provide homes for our families always making ourselves believe that this style of life is merely a temporary state of affairs along the road to what we really want to do. Then, at 60 or 65, we are suddenly presented with a clock and several grandchildren and we look back and realize that all those years waiting for Real Life to come along were in fact real life.
In America they have a saying much laughed at by the English:“Have a nice day” they speak slowly and seriously in their shops, hotels and sandwich bars. I think it is a wonderful phrase, reminding us, in effect, to enjoy the moment: to value this very day.
How often do we say to ourselves, "I'll take up horse-riding (or golf, or sailing) as soon as I get a higher position," only to do none of those things when I do get the higher position.
When I first became a reporter I knew a man who gave up a very well paid respectable job at the Daily Telegraph to go and edit a small weekly newspaper. At the time I was astonished by what appeared to me to be his completely abnormal (反常的) mental state. How could anyone turn his back
on Fleet Street in central London for a small local area?I wanted to know.
Now I am a little older and possibly wiser, I see the sense in it. In Fleet Street the man was under continual pressure. He lived in an unattractive London suburb and he spent much of his life sitting on Southern Region trains.
The first paragraph of the passage tells us that .
| A.we always try to find some time to write a book |
| B.we always make plans but seldom fulfill them |
| C.we always enjoy many of life's best moments |
| D.we always do what we really want to do |
The underlined phrase "turn his back on" (paragraph 6) most probably means .
| A.leave for | B.return to | C.give up | D.rely on |
The man ( paragraph 6) left his first job partly because he was .
| A.in an abnormal mental state | B.under too much pressure |
| C.not well paid | D.not respected |
What is probably the best title for the passage?
| A.Provide Homes For Our Family | B.Take Up Horse-riding |
| C.Value This Very Day | D.Stay Alive |
The iPhone, the iPad, the iPod, each of apple's products sounds cool and has become a pad (一时的风尚). Apple has cleverly taken advantage of the power of the letter “i”,-- and many other brands are following suit. The BBC’s iPlayer —which allows Web users to watch TV programs on the internet—adopted the title in 2008. A lovely bear—popular in the US and UK—that plays music and video is called “iTeddy”.A slimmed-down version of London’s Independent newspaper,was launched last week under the name “i”.
In general,single-letter prefix have been popular since the 1990s,when terms such as e-mail and e-commerce first came into use.
Most “i”products are targeted at young people and considering the major readers of the Independent’s “i”,it’s no surprise that they’ve selected this fashionable name.
But it’s hard to see what’s so special about the letter “i”.Why not use “a”,“b”or “c”instead?According to Tony Thorne,head of Language Center at King’s College,London,“i”works because its meaning has become ambiguous .When Apple uses “i”,no one knows whether it means internet,information,individual or interactive,Thorne told BBC magazines “even when Apple created the iPod,it seems it didn’t have one clear definition,”he says.
“However,thanks to Apple,the term is now associated with portability (轻便), ”adds Thorne.
Clearly the letter “i”also agrees with the idea that the Western World is centered on the individual. Each person believes they have their own needs,and we love personalized products for this reason.
Along with “Google”and “blog”,readers of BBC magazines voted “i”as one of the top 20 words that have come to define the last decade.
But as history shows,people grow tired of fads. From the 1900s to the 1990s,products with “2000”in their names became fashionable as the year was associated with all things advanced and modern. However,as we entered the new century,the trend inevitably disappeared.
We can infer that the Independent’s “i”is aimed at _______.
| A.young readers | B.old readers | C.fashionable women | D.engineers |

Sunday is more like Monday than it used to be. Places of business that used to keep daytime “business hours” are now open late into the night. And on the Internet, the hour of the day and the day of the week have become irrelevant. A half century ago in the United States, most people experienced strong and precise dividing lines between days of rest and days of work, school time and summer time. Today the boundaries still exist, but they seem not clear.
The law in almost all states used to require stores to close on Sunday; in most, it no longer does. It used to keep the schools open in all seasons except summer; in most, it still does. And whether the work week should strengthen its legal limits, or whether it should become more “flexible,” is often debated. How should we, as a society, organize our time? Should we go even further in relaxing the boundaries of time until we live in a world in which every minute is much like every other?
These are not easy questions even to ask. Part of the difficulty is that we rarely recognize the “law of time” even when we meet it face to face. We know as children that we have to attend school a certain number of hours, a certain number of days, a certain number of years — but unless we meet the truant officer (学监), we may well think that we should go to school due to social custom and parents’ demand rather than to the law. As adults we are familiar with “extra pay for overtime working,” but less familiar with the fact that what constitutes (构成) “overtime” is a matter of legal definition. When we turn the clock forward to start daylight-saving time, have we ever thought to ourselves: “Here is the law in action”? As we shall see, there is a lot of law that has great influence on how we organize and use time: compulsory education law, overtime law, and daylight-saving law — as well as law about Sunday closing, holidays, being late to work, time zones, and so on. Once we begin to look for it, we will have no trouble finding a law of time to examine and assess. . By saying “Sunday is more like Monday than it used to be”, the writer means that .
| A.work time is equal to rest time |
| B.many people have a day off on Monday |
| C.it is hard for people to decide when to rest |
| D.the line between work time and rest time is unclear |
The author raises the questions in Paragraph 2 to introduce the fact that people ________ .

| A.fail to make full use of their time | B.enjoy working overtime for extra pay |
| C.are unaware of the law of time | D.welcome flexible working hours |
According to the passage, most children tend to believe that they go to school because they ______.


| A.need to acquire knowledge | B.have to obey their parents ![]() |
C.need to find companions | D.have to observe the law |
The underlined word “it” in the last paragraph probably refers to ___
_____ .
| A.influence |
| B.overtime |
| C.a law of time |
| D.being late to work |
What is the main idea of the passage?

| A.Our life is governed by the law of time. | |
B.How to organize time is not worth debating. ![]() |
C.New ways of using time change our society. |
| D.Our time schedule is decided by social customs. |