Around twenty years ago I was going through hard times. I could not find a satisfying job. To my shame, I had to drive a school bus to make ends meet and lived in a friend’s house.
One afternoon, while driving through a quiet suburban (郊外的) neighborhood I was so sad that I kept asking myself “Why has my life become so hard?” “What’s wrong with the world?” Then I pulled over the bus to drop off (让...下车) a little girl and as she passed she handed me a pretty earring, saying she found it on the floor of the bus and I should keep it in case（以防）the owner came to look for it.
In the evening, the owner did come to look for her earring. When I handed it to her, she got very excited and continued saying “Thanks, you’re a real gentleman.” I told her that she should thank the little girl who had found it. She said, “Yes, and you are a good driver, too. What a lovely world it is!” Then she left with satisfaction. I was touched by her last words. I had thought something was wrong with the world just because of my poor condition. In fact, nothing was wrong with the world. I should change my attitude towards life. I should be positive about life.
At first it was hard, and then it got easier. Every day I could find things to make me happy. Then one night there was a phone call for me at my friend’s house from a lady who was a manager in a large hospital. She said she had read my application form and asked me if I would like to work in the hospital. I said yes and got the job. Looking back at the experience I know the most important is to have a positive attitude towards life.We know from the second paragraph that ________.
| A．the author cried while driving that afternoon |
| B．a girl picked up an earring before getting off |
| C．there was only one passenger on the bus |
| D．the girl gave the author an earning as a gift |
The author decided to have a change in life because ________.
| A．what the earring owner said moved him |
| B．he didn’t want to be a driver any more |
| C．his friends helped him become positive |
| D．he was offered a better job in a hospital |
When the author got a call from the manager of the hospital, he felt ________.
| A．surprised | B．disappointed |
| C．shocked | D．delighted |
What does the author want to show in this passage?
| A．Lost things should be returned to the owner. |
| B．Life is usually hard for the young at the beginning. |
| C．One should hold a positive attitude towards life. |
| D．It is not easy to find a good job nowadays. |
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（魔术般）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 our 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 (竞争). Besides, milk is for sale everywhere, and it may just not have been practiced 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 needed it for his milk bottles. | D．He planted flowers in it. |
“Have a nice day” may be a pleasant gesture or a meaningless expression. When my friend Maxie says “Have a nice day” with a smile, I know she sincerely cares about what happens to me. I feel loved and secure since another person cares about me and wishes me well.
“Have a nice day. Next!” The version of the expression is spoken by a salesgirl at supermarket who is rushing me and my groceries out the door. The words came out in the same tone ( 腔调 ) with a fixed procedure. They are spoken at me, not to me. Obviously, the concern for my day and everyone else’s is the management’s attempt to increase business.
The expression is one of those behaviors that help people get along with each other. Sometimes it indicates the end of a meeting. As soon as you hear it, you know the meeting at an end. Sometimes the expression saves us when we don’t know what to say. “Oh, you just had a tooth out? I’m terribly sorry, but have a nice day”.
The expression can be pleasant. If a stranger says “Have a nice day” to you, you may find it heart-warming because someone you don’t know has tried to be nice to you.
Although the use of the expression is insincere, meaningless social custom at times, there is nothing wrong with the sentence except that it is a little uninteresting. The salesgirl, the waitress, the teacher, and the countless others who speak it without thinking may not really care about my day. But in a strange and comfortable way, it’s nice to know they care enough to pretend they care when they really don’t care all that much. While the expression may not often be sincere, it is always spoken. The point is that people say it all the time when they like.How does the author understand Maxie’s words?
| A．Maxie shows her anxiety to the author. |
| B．Maxie really wishes the author a good day. |
| C．Maxie encourages the author to stay happy. |
| D．Maxie really worries about the author’s security. |
What does the underlined sentence in Paragraph 2 mean?
| A．The salesgirl is rude. |
| B．The salesgirl is bored. |
| C．The salesgirl cares about me. |
| D．The salesgirl says the words as nothing special. |
According to the last paragraph, people say“Have a nice day”_______.
| A．sincerely |
| B．as thanks |
| C．as a habit |
| D．encouragingly |
What is the best title of the passage?
| A．Have a Nice Day—a Social Custom |
| B．Have a Nice Day—a Pleasant Gesture |
| C．Have a Nice Day—a Heart-warming Greeting |
| D．Have a Nice Day—a Polite Ending of a Conversation |
Five-time world overall short-track speed skating champion Yang Yang(A)won China’s first-ever Winter Olympic gold medal with a runaway victory in the 500m final on Saturday.
Yang Yang, putting behind her a dismal fourth place finish in the 1,500 meters three days ago, got off to a sparking lead and never looked back to cross the line in 44.187 seconds.
World-record holder and four-time European champion Evgenia Radanova followed home 0.065 seconds behind.
Another Chinese, Wang Chunju, the world champion in the shortest distance came in third, two-hundredths of a second further behind.
Yang, 25, whose name is tagged with the letter A to distinguish her from her younger teammate and namesake, Yang Yang(S), is the overall World Cup winner this season, with the top points in the 1,000m and 1,500m.
In the 1,500m, the younger Yang, 24, who won two silver medals in Nagano four years ago, crashed out while chasing herd after two South Korean teenagers, KoGi-Hyun and Choi Eun-Kyungm who eventually finished first and second. Yang Yang(A) ended up fourth.
Yang Yang(S) did not compete in the 500 meters.How long did Evgenia Radanova take to finish the 500m final?
| A．44.252 seconds. | B．44.187 seconds. |
| C．44.122 seconds. | D．None of the above. |
Why did not Yang Yang(S) compete in the 500 meters?
| A．She did want to. | B．She was wounded. |
| C．She was not qualified. | D．It was not mentioned. |
“Fire! Fire!” What terrible words to hear when one wakes up in a strange house in the middle of the night! It was a large, old, wooden house and my room was on the top floor. I jumped out of bed, opened the door and stepped outside the house. There was full of thick smoke.
I began to run, but as I was still only half-awake, instead of going towards the stairs I went in the opposite direction. The smoke grew thicker and I could see fire all around. The floor became hot under my bare feet. I found an open door and ran into a room to get to the window. But before I could reach it, one of my feet caught in something soft and I fell down. The thing I had fallen over felt like a bundle of clothes, and I picked it up to protect my face from the smoke and heat. Just then the floor gave way under me and I crashed to the floor below with pieces of burning wood all around me.
I saw a doorway in fire, then I put the bundle over my face and ran. My feet burned me terrible, but I got through. As I reached the cold air outside, my bundle of clothes gave a thin cry, I nearly dropped it in my surprise. Then I was in a crowd gathered in the street. A woman in a night-dress and a borrowed man’s coat screamed as she saw me and came running madly.
She was the Mayor’s wife, and I had saved her baby.When the fire arose in the middle of the night, the author was _______.
| A．at home | B．sleeping | C．sitting in bed | D．both A and B |
The author saved the baby _____.
| A．because he was very brave. |
| B．because he liked the baby very much. |
| C．but he just happened to save it. |
| D．because it was the Mayor’s baby. |
He ran in the wrong direction because he _______.
| A．was a stranger there | B．could see nothing |
| C．was not completely awake | D．Both A and C |
He put the bundle over his face and ran in order to ______.
| A．save the baby | B．call for help |
| C．protect his face | D．run quickly |
Form which group of words, we can learn the fire took place out of people’s surprise?
| A．old and wooden house, a bundle |
| B．crashed to, fell down |
| C．terrible, half-awake |
| D．bare feet, a borrowed man’s coat |
Pingyao, in the center of Shanxi Province, is a famous historic cultural city of China and a world cultural heritage (遗产) site. It’s 90 kilometers south of Taiyuan on the Fen River.
People lived in Pingyao during the New Stone Age. Its long period as a county government seat has left Pingyao with lots of historic buildings and sites, with a 2,700-year history. Ninety-nine of them are under government protection, including Zhengguo Temple, Shuanglin Temple and Pingyao Ancient City.
During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, businessmen organized commercial (商业的) groups that did business nationwide. Shanxi Province had some of the most important ones and Pingyao was their center. In 1823, a store, known as Rishengchang (Sunrise Prosperity), traded in bank checks rather than in silver or gold coins. It was the beginning of modern Chinese banking. Branch (分支) banks were soon set up in major cities in China and other parts of Asia, leading to great development in Pingyao. Its lacquer ware (漆器) became well known.
In Pingyao Ancient City are many traditional houses and commercial buildings, 3,797 of which are protected and more than 400 of which are in good condition. Not only do the houses in Pingyao show Shanxi’s history and culture, but this large number is valuable for studying its history, customs, ancient buildings and art. Most of these houses are still used as homes and shops of local people.
In 1997, Ancient Pingyao City was listed in World Heritage List as “World Culture Heritage Site”.What does the underlined word “them” (in Paragraph 2) refer to?
| A．Historic buildings and sites. |
| B．The three temples. |
| C．The county government seats. |
| D．The 2,700-year history. |
Which of the following about Pingyao is NOT mentioned in the passage?
| A．Its location. | B．Its tourism. |
| C．Its business. | D．Its history. |
During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Pingyao was a leading center in _____.
| A．agriculture | B．raising cattle |
| C．commercial trade | D．making gold coins |
If you want to know about the history of banking in China, which of the following places should you visit?
| A．Sunrise Prosperity. | B．Zhengguo Temple. |
| C．A lacquer ware store. | D．A commercial house. |