A young woman carrying a three-year-old child got on a bus. The conductor(售票员) hurried to give her a warm welcome and then kindly asked the other passengers to make more room for the woman and her child. On seeing this, people began to talk. "You know this conductor used to be very rude. Now suddenly he has changed his bad behavior , "said a middle-aged man.
"Yes, he should be praised and we must write a letter to the company," said a second passenger. "That's right," another lady said, "I wish a newspaper reporter were here so that more people could learn from this conductor. "
Just then a gentleman who looked like a teacher turned to the conductor and said , "Excuse me, but can I know your name, please? Your excellent service must be praised..."
Before he could open his mouth, the three-year-old child sitting on the young woman's lap interrupted (打断谈话), "I know his name. I call him Dad."The passengers were ________ to see the conductor's kindness to the woman and the child.
A.excited | B.pleased | C.interested | D.surprised |
One passenger suggested writing a letter to the company to ______ .
A.make a demand for more buses |
B.thank the conductor for his good service |
C.criticize(批评) the conductor for his rude behavior |
D.invite a newspaper reporter to write about the conductor |
What was the gentleman?
A.A teacher. |
B.A newspaper reporter. |
C.Not known from the story. |
D.The conductor's friend from his company. |
The word "he" in the last paragraph refers to _______.
A.the gentleman |
B.the conductor |
C.the middle-aged man |
D.the three-year-old child |
It was the summer of 1965. Deluca, then 17, visited Peter Buck, a family friend. Buck asked Deluca about his plan for the future. “I'm going to college, but I need a way to pay for it,” Deluca recalls saying, “Buck said, ‘you should open a sandwich shop.’”
That afternoon, they agreed to be partners. And they set a goal: to open 32 stores in ten years. After doing some research, Buck wrote a check for $1,000. Deluca rented a storefront (店面) in Connecticut, and when they couldn't cover their startup costs, Buck kicked in another $1,000.
But business didn't go smoothly as they expected. Deluca says, “After six months, we were doing poorly, but we didn't know how badly, because we didn't have any financial controls.” All he and Buck knew was that their sales were lower than their costs.
Deluca was managing the store and to the University of Bridgeport at the same time. Buck was working at his day job as a nuclear physicist in New York. They'd meet Monday evenings and brainstorm ideas for keeping the business running. “We convinced ourselves to open a second store. We figured we could tell the public, ‘We are so successful; we are opening a second store.’” And they did—in the spring of 1966. Still, it was a lot of learning by trial and error.
But the partners' learnasyougo approach turned out to be their greatest strength. Every Friday, Deluca would drive around and handdeliver the checks to pay their supplies. “It probably took me two and a half hours and it wasn't necessary but as a result, the suppliers got to know me very well, and the personal relationships established really helped out,” Deluca says.
And having a goal was also important. “There are so many problems that can get you down. You just have to keep working toward your goal,” Deluca adds.
Deluca ended up founding Subways Sandwich, the multimilliondollar restaurant chain. Which of the following is true of Buck?
A.He put money into the sandwich business. |
B.He was a professor of business administration. |
C.He was studying at the University of Bridgeport. |
D.He rented a storefront for Deluca. |
What can we learn about their first shop?
A.It stood at an unfavorable place. |
B.It lowered the prices to poor management. |
C.It made no profits due to poor management. |
D.It lacked control over the quality of sandwich. |
They decided to open a second store because they ________.
A.had enough money to do it |
B.had succeeded in their business |
C.wished to meet the increasing demand of customers |
D.wanted to make believe that they were successful |
What contributes most to their success according to the author?
A.Learning by trial and error. |
B.Making friends with supplies. |
C.Finding a good partner. |
D.Opening chain stores. |
Some years ago, writing in my diary used to be a usual activity. I would return from school and spend the expected half hour recording the day’s events, feelings, and impressions in my little blue diary. I did not really need to express my emotions by way of words, but I gained a certain satisfaction from seeing my experiences forever recorded on paper. After all, isn’t accumulating memories a way of preserving the past?
When I was thirteen years old, I went on a long journey on foot in a great valley, well-equipped with pens, a diary, and a camera. During the trip, I was busy recording every incident, name and place I came across. I felt proud to be spending my time productively, dutifully preserving for future generations a detailed description of my travels. On my last night there, I wandered out of my tent, diary in hand. The sky was clear and lit by the glare of the moon, and the walls of the valley looked threatening behind their screen of shadows. I automatically took out my pen….
At that point, I understood that nothing I wrote could ever match or replace the few seconds I allowed myself to experience the dramatic beauty of the valley. All I remembered of the previous few days were the dull characterizations I had set down in my diary.
Now, I only write in my diary when I need to write down a special thought or feeling. I still love to record ideas and quotations that strike me in books, or observations that are particularly meaningful. I take pictures, but not very often—only of objects I find really beautiful. I’m no longer blindly satisfied with having something to remember when I grow old. I realize that life will simply pass me by if I stay behind the camera, busy preserving the present so as to live it in the future.
I don’t want to wake up one day and have nothing but a pile of pictures and notes. Maybe I won’t have as many exact representations of people and places; maybe I’ll forget certain facts, but at least the experiences will always remain inside me. I don’t live to make memories—I just live, and the memories form themselves. Before the age of thirteen, the author regarded keeping a diary as a way of ______.
A.observing her school routine | B.expressing her satisfaction |
C.impressing her classmates | D.preserving her history |
What caused a change in the author’s understanding of keeping a diary?
A.A dull night on the journey. |
B.The beauty of the great valley. |
C.A striking quotation from a book |
D.Her concerns for future generations. |
What does the author put in her diary now?
A.Notes and beautiful pictures. |
B.Special thoughts and feelings. |
C.Detailed accounts of daily activities. |
D.Descriptions of unforgettable events. |
The author comes to realize that to live a meaningful life is ______.
A.to experience it | B.to live the present in the future |
C.to make memories | D.to give accurate representations of it |
One day, when I was working as a psychologist in England,an adolescent boy showed up in my office. It was David. He kept walking up and down restlessly, his face pale, and his hands shaking slightly. His head teacher had referred him to me. "This boy has lost his family," he wrote. "He is understandably very sad and refuses to talk to others, and I'm very worried about him. Can you help?”
I looked at David and showed him to a chair. How could I help him? There are problems psychology doesn’t have the answer to, and which no words can describe. Sometimes the best thing one can do is to listen openly and sympathetically
The first two times we met, David didn't say a word. He sat there, only looking up to look at the children's drawings on the wall behind me. I suggested we play a game of chess. He nodded. After that he played chess with me every Wednesday afternoon--in complete silence and without looking at me. It's not easy to cheat in chess, but I admit I made sure David won once or twice.
Usually, he arrived earlier than agreed, took the chess board and pieces from the shelf and began setting them up before I even got a chance to sit down. It seemed as if he enjoyed my company. But why did he never look at me?
"Perhaps he simply needs someone to share his pain with," I thought. "Perhaps he senses that I respect his suffering.” Some months later, when we were playing chess, he looked up at me suddenly.
"It’s your turn," he said.
After that day, David started talking. He got friends in school and joined a bicycle club. He wrote to me a few times about his biking with some friends, and about his plan to get into university. Now he had really started to live his own life.
Maybe I gave David something. But I also learned that one一without any words一can reach out to another person. All it takes is a hug, a shoulder to cry on, a friendly touch, and an ear that listens.When he first met the author, David.
A.felt a little excited | B.walked energetically |
C.looked a little nervous | D.showed up with his teacher |
As a psychologist, the author.
A.was ready to listen to David |
B.was skeptical about psychology |
C.was able to describe David’s problem |
D.was sure of handling David’s problem |
What can be inferred about David?
A.He recovered after months of treatment. |
B.He liked biking before he lost his family. |
C.He went into university soon after starting to talk. |
D.He got friends in school before he met the author. |
What made David change?
A.His teacher’s help. |
B.The author’s friendship. |
C.His exchange of letters with the author. |
D.The author’s silent communication with him. |
My father was Chief Engineer of a merchant ship, which was sunk in World War Ⅱ. The book Night of the Uboats told the story.
Memories
In September ,1940,my mother ,sister and I went to Swansea ,where my father ‘s ship was getting ready to sail ,we brought him a family photography to be kept with him at all times and keep him safe .
Then I remember my mother lying face down ,sobbing .she had heard from a friend that the ship had been sunk by a torpedo (鱼雷).
I can remember the arrived of the telegram(电报),which in those days always brought bad news .my grandmother opened it ,it read ,safe .love ted.”
My most vivid memory is being woken and brought down to sit on my father’s knee, his arm in a bandage .
He was judged unfit to return to sea and took a shore job in Glasgow for the rest of the war, for as long as I can remember ,he had a weak heart ,mother said it was caused by the torpedoes .he said it was because of the cigarette ,whichever ,he died suddenly in his early 50s.
Ten years later I read night of the U-boat and able to complete the story .
A toast
In my room is the book and the photograph .often , glass in hand, I have wondered how I would have dealt with an explosion ,a sinking ship ,a jump into a vast ocean and a wait for rescue ?lest (以免 )we forget ,I have some more whisky and toast the heroes of the war.We can infer that the mother and children went to Swansea ________.
A.to meet a friend | B.to see the father off |
C.to take a family photo | D.to enjoy the sailing of the ship |
What did the author learn about the father from the telegram?
A.he was still alive. | B.His knee was broken. |
C.His ship had been sunk. | D.He had arrived in Glasgow. |
The underlined word “it” in Paragraph 6 refers to the father’s ________.
A.weak heart | B.taking a shore job |
C.failure to return to sea | D.injury caused by a torpedo |
What is the passage mainly about?
A.A group of forgotten heroes |
B.A book describing a terrifying battle. |
C.A ship engineer’s wartime experience. |
D.A merchant’s memories of a sea rescue. |
When milk arrived on the doorstep
When I was a boy growing up in New Jersey in the 1960s, we had a milkman delivering milk to our doorstep. His name was Mr. Basille. He wore a white cap and drove a white truck. As a 5-year-old boy, I couldn’t take my eyes off the coin changer fixed to his belt. He noticed this one day during a delivery and gave me a quarter out of his coin changer.
Of course, he delivered more than milk. There was cheese, eggs and so on. If we needed to change our order, my mother would pen a note-“Please add a bottle of buttermilk next delivery”-and place it in the box along with the empty bottles. And then, the buttermilk would magically appear.
All of this was about more than convenience. There existed a close relationship between families and their milkmen. Mr. Basille even had a key to out house, for those times when it was so cold outside that we put the box indoors, so that the milk wouldn’t freeze. And I remember Mr. Basille from time to time taking a break at our kitchen table, having a cup of tea and telling stories about his delivery.
There is sadly no home milk delivery today. Big companies allowed the production of cheaper milk, thus making it difficult for milkmen to compete. Besides, milk is for sale everywhere, and it may just not have been practical to have a delivery service.
Recently, an old milk box in the countryside I saw brought back my childhood memories. I took it home and planted it on the back porch (门廊). Every so often my son’s friends will ask what it is. So I start telling stories of my boyhood, and of the milkman who brought us friendship along with his milk.Mr. Basille gave the boy a quarter out of his coin changer ________.
A.to show his magical power | B.to pay for the delivery |
C.to satisfy his curiosity | D.to please his mother |
What can be inferred from the fact that the milkman had the key to the boy’s house?
A.He wanted to have tea there. |
B.He was a respectable person. |
C.He was treated as a family member. |
D.He was fully trusted by the family. |
Why does home milk delivery no longer exist?
A.Nobody wants to be a milkman now. |
B.It has been driven out of the market. |
C.Its service is getting poor. |
D.It is forbidden by law. |
Why did the author bring back home an old milk box?
A.He missed the good old days. |
B.He wanted to tell interesting stories. |
C.He missed it for his milk bottles. |
D.He planted flowers in it. |