Tom arrived at the bus station quite early for Paris bus. The bus for Paris would not leave until five to twelve. He saw a lot of people waiting in the station. Some were standing in line, others were walking around. There was a group of schoolgirls. Their teacher was trying to keep them in line. Tom looked around but there was no place for him to sit.
He walked into the station cafe. He looked up at the clock there. It was only twenty to twelve. He found a seat and sat down before a large mirror on the wall. Just then, Mike, one of Tom’s workmates, came in and sat with Tom.
“What time is your bus?” asked Mike.
“There’s plenty of time yet,” answered Tom.
“Well, I’ll get you some more tea then,” said Mike.
They talked while drinking. Then Tom looked at the clock again. “Oh! It’s going backward(倒行)!” he cried. “A few minutes ago it was twenty to twelve and now it’s half past eleven.”
“You’re looking at the clock in the mirror.” said Mike. Tom was so sad. The next bus was not to leave for another hour. Since then Tom has never liked mirrors.The bus for Paris would leave at____________.
| A．12: 05 | B．11: 55 | C．11: 30 | D．11: 40 |
Tom went into the station cafe because ______.
| A．Mike asked him to have a cup of tea |
| B．he didn’t like to stay with the schoolgirls |
| C．it was quite early and he could find a seat there |
| D．he wanted to have a drink with his workmate there |
____________, so he was sad.
| A．There was something wrong with the clock |
| B．Tom couldn’t arrive in Paris on time |
| C．Tom couldn’t have coffee with Mike |
| D．The train arrived late that day |
Although I had left school against the advice of my teacher, I had, without telling anyone, tried to continue my studies in literature at evening classes. It was a tiresome walk from one end of the city to another and to sit among adults was uninteresting. I was the youngest in the class, so the friendship I knew at school was absent, I put up with it for a short period. It was too long a walk on cold winter’s nights and it was hard to put my heart into Shakespeare with wet shoes and trousers. So I continued reading books and started writing poetry at home.
By chance, I won some prizes and rewards for literature. A young woman from a TV company came to the college one day. She wanted to make a short film about me, to which I said, “No, I couldn’t do that.” Not that I had any real excuse, I was just frightened. In the end she advised me that I should do it the following day.
So I did. They made a short film of me reading one of my poems and I became more interested in literature than ever. I wondered what I should do after this, and decided some weeks later that I could not imagine myself spending the rest of my days dealing with machines. So one evening, I hesitatingly（支吾其词地） told my parents that I wanted to return to school. They wanted to know if I was sure, if I knew what it meant and whether I realized that if I gave up my job training, it would be very difficult to get a good job. But nothing could stop me, and they asked about the matter on future.Which of the following has most probably been discussed in the paragraphs above this text?
| A．The writer’s unhappy childhood. |
| B．The poor teaching quality of the writer’s school. |
| C．The writer’s leaving school against his teacher’s advice. |
| D．Whether it was worth leaving school for job training. |
The writer did NOT feel comfortable at the evening school because __________.
| A．he found it difficult to make friends with his classmates |
| B．he had to walk a long distance to the evening school |
| C．he could not put his heart into reading books after he was caught in the rain |
| D．all of the above |
After his success, he __________.
| A．decided to get a good job |
| B．decided to continue his studies in literature at the evening school |
| C．decided to return to the school he once left |
| D．began to feel very important and proud |
Uncle Li and Uncle Wang are good friends. They live next to each other and their farms are both at the foot of the mountain. So they can help each other. But neither of them likes to use his head. They're both poor though they work hard. Most villagers have built new houses, but they still live in the low and broken houses. They never find out why.
Once Uncle Li went to town to buy some medicine for his wife. In the town he heard the apples in a city were expensive. He told Uncle Wang about it as soon as he went back. They decided to carry some apples to the city. They borrowed some money from their friends and bought nearly 1,000 kilograms of apples in the villages and carried them to the city on a tractor. Bad luck! A lot of apples has already been carried there when they arrived. A few days later they had to sell them at a low price (价格)。They felt unhappy and returned to their village.
"I can't understand why we sustained (蒙受) losses in business while others always profit (盈利)" Uncle Li asked one day.
"The tractor was too small " Uncle Wang said without thinking. "We'll carry more apples on a truck next time!"
"I agree!" said Uncle Li. "How foolish (傻的) we were !"Uncle Li and Uncle Wang live in the low and broken houses because __________.
| A．they hope to save money |
| B．they're both poor |
| C．their farms are at the foot of the mountain |
| D．they're not far from their farms |
The two farmers had to sell their apples at a low price because ________.
| A．theirs weren't as good as the others’ |
| B．theirs were much less than the others' |
| C．a lot of apples had been already carried to the city |
| D．they forgot to carry them on a truck |
Which of the following is true?
| A．The two farmers found out why they were poor. |
| B．The two farmers will soon get rich. |
| C．Neither of the farmers is clever. |
| D．The two farmers decided to buy a truck. |
Have you ever been having a great day when suddenly a past mistake comes into your head? Here are some ideas on forgetting your past mistakes and moving forward in life.
You should let the mistakes in the past go away. You are not defined (界定) by your past mistakes. A mistake is just something that has happened in your life. And mistakes are only a small part of your life. You made mistakes because you thought something was the best for you. However, now you know clearly that it wasn’t the best.
Work out why you keep making the same mistake. It is important for you to learn why you keep making the same mistake. There are many ways to do this. For example, you can try to find out the cause(原因) of this mistake in order to learn more about it. To look into something deeply is very important.
See what you have learned from the experience. After you have learned why you made the mistake, you should think about what you have learned from it. Maybe you recognize that you should have listened to your heart. Or maybe you need to forgive(原谅) yourself for a mistake that you made a few days ago.
Information Card
| You should let the mistakes in the past |
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| It is important for you to learn |
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| You can try to find out the cause of this mistake in order to |
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| You should see what you have learned from |
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| For a mistake that you made a few days ago, you need to |
| 66. |
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Dinner customs (习惯) are different around the world. If you are a guest in Ghana( 加纳), this information will help you a lot.
In Ghana, dinner is usually from four in the afternoon to six in the evening. But there are no strict rules (规则) about time. Whenever a guest arrives, a family offers food. When you go to a home, the person who receives guests takes you to the living room first. At this time everyone welcomes you. Then you go to the dinning room. There you wash your hands in a bowl of water. All the food is on the table.
In Ghana you usually eat with your fingers. You eat from the same dish as everyone else. But you eat from one side of the dish only. It is not polite to get food from the other side of the dish. After dinner, you wash your hands again in a bowl of water.
Most meals in Ghana have a dish called fufu. People in Ghana make fufu from the powder(粉末) of some plants. Sometimes they cut the fufu with a saw(锯子) because it is very hard. You must chew(咀嚼) fufu well, or you may get sick. You eat fufu with the fingers of your right hand only.From the passage we know that in Ghana ______________.
| A．the rules for dinner time are not strict |
| B．dinner is always at six in the evening |
| C．a family offers food only at four in the afternoon |
| D．people usually invite their guests to dinner late in the evening |
If you are a dinner guest in Ghana, the host (主人) always takes you to ________.
| A．the dining room first | B．the living room first |
| C．the kitchen first | D．the garden first |
People in Ghana usually eat ________.
| A．from one side of a dish to the other |
| B．from the other side of the dish |
| C．with their fingers |
| D．with their spoons |
In fact, most dishes in Ghana ________.
| A．are cooked with the powder of some plants |
| B．have fufu in them |
| C．are too hard to eat |
| D．are not very hard |
When you eat fufu, you’d better _________.
| A．cut it with a saw | B．use your right hand only |
| C．chew it well | D．all of the above |