All I had to do for the two dollars was clean her house for a few hours after school． It was a beautiful house， too， with a plastic﹣covered sofa and chairs， wall﹣to﹣wall blue﹣and﹣white carpeting， a white enamel stove， a washing machine and a dryer things that were common in her neighborhood， absent in mine． In the middle of the war， she had butter， sugar， steaks， and seam﹣up﹣the﹣back stockings．
I knew how to scrub floors on my knees and how to wash clothes in our zinc tub， but I had never seen a Hoover vacuum cleaner or an iron that wasn't heated by fire．
Part of my pride in working for her was earning money I could squander （浪费）： on movies， candy， paddleball， jacks， ice﹣cream cones． But a larger part of my pride was based on the fact that I gave half my wages to my mother， which meant that some of my earnings were used for real things an insurance﹣policy payment or what was owed to the milkman or the iceman． The pleasure of being necessary to my parents was profound． I was not like the children in folktales： burdensome mouths to feed， nuisances to be corrected， problems so severe that they were abandoned to the forest． I had a status that doing routine chores in my house did not provide and it earned me a slow smile， an approving nod from an adult． Confirmations that I was adultlike， not childlike．
In those days， the forties， children were not just loved or liked； they were needed． They could earn money； they could care for children younger than themselves； they could work the farm， take care of the herd， run errands （差事）， and much more． I suspect that children aren't needed in that way now． They are loved， doted on， protected， and helped． Fine， and yet…
Little by little， I got better at cleaning her house good enough to be given more to do， much more． I was ordered to carry bookcases upstairs and， once， to move a piano from one side of a room to the other． I fell carrying the bookcases． And after pushing the piano my arms and legs hurt so badly． I wanted to refuse， or at least to complain， but I was afraid she would fire me， and I would lose the freedom the dollar gave me， as well as the standing I had at home although both were slowly being eroded． She began to offer me her clothes， for a price． Impressed by these worn things， which looked simply gorgeous to a little girl who had only two dresses to wear to school， I bought a few． Until my mother asked me if I really wanted to work for castoffs． So I learned to say "No， thank you" to a faded sweater offered for a quarter of a week's pay．
Still， I had trouble summoning （鼓起） the courage to discuss or object to the increasing demands she made． And I knew that if I told my mother how unhappy I was she would tell me to quit． Then one day， alone in the kitchen with my father， I let drop a few whines about the job． I gave him details， examples of what troubled me， yet although he listened intently， I saw no sympathy in his eyes． No "Oh， you poor little thing．" Perhaps he understood that what I wanted was a solution to the job， not an escape from it． In any case， he put down his cup of coffee and said， "Listen． You don't live there． You live here． With your people． Go to work． Get your money． And come on home．"
That was what he said． This was what I heard：
Whatever the work is， do it well not for the boss but for yourself．
You make the job： it doesn't make you．
Your real life is with us， your family．
You are not the work you do： you are the person you are．
I have worked for all sorts of people since then， geniuses and morons， quick﹣witted and dull， big﹣hearted and narrow． I've had many kinds of jobs， but since that conversation with my father I have never considered the level of labor to be the measure of myself， and I have never placed the security of a job above the value of home．
（1）What is the "pleasure" of the author from the sentence "The pleasure of being necessary to my parents was profound．（paragraph 3）"？
| A． |
She was proud as she could earn money for her mother． |
| B． |
Her own value of being needed． |
| C． |
She is distinctive from those children in folktales． |
| D． |
She enjoyed a status of being an adult in her family． |
（2）According to the article， which of the following is true about children in the 1940s and now？
| A． |
Children become needed， loved and liked when they are at forty． |
| B． |
Children in modern times are less likely to be spoiled by parents． |
| C． |
Children in 1940s are capable as they can handle various daily routine． |
| D． |
Children in modern times aren't needed to do daily works any more． |
（3）What did the author's father make her understand？
| A． |
Don't escape from difficulties at work． |
| B． |
Whatever decision she made， her father would support her． |
| C． |
Convey her dissatisfaction with her work． |
| D． |
Make a distinction between work and life． |
（4）Which of the following corresponds to the author's views in the passage？
| A． |
Don't regard work achievement as a criterion for evaluating oneself． |
| B． |
Hard work is a struggle for a better future in your limited life． |
| C． |
Parents are the best teachers of children． |
| D． |
Job security is less valuable when compared with family． |
We spent a day in the country, picking wild flowers. With the car full of flowers we were going home. On our way back my wife noticed a cupboard (柜厨) outside a furniture shop. It was tall and narrow. “Buy it, ” my wife said at once. “We’ll carry it home on the roof rack. I’ve always wanted one like that.”
What could I do? Ten minutes later I was ￡20 poorer; and the cupboard was tied on the roof rack. It was six feet long and eighteen inches square, quite heavy too.
In the gathering darkness I drove slowly. Other drivers seemed unusually polite that evening. The police even stopped traffic to let us through. Carrying furniture was a good idea.
After a time my wife said, “There’s a long line of cars behind. Why don’t they overtake, I wonder?” In fact a police car did overtake. The two officers inside looked at us seriously as they passed. But then, with great kindness, they led us through the rush-hour traffic. The police car stopped at our village church. One of the officers came to me.
“Right, sir, ” he said. “Do you need any more help?”
I was a bit puzzled. “Thanks, officer, ” I said. “You have been very kind. I live just on the road.”
He was staring at our car, first at the flowers, then at the cupboard. “Well, well, ” he said, laughing. “It’s a cupboard you’ve got there! We thought it was something else.”
My wife began to laugh. The truth hit me like a stone between the eyes. I smiled at the officer. “Yes, it’s a cupboard, but thanks again.” I drove home as fast as I could.
1. In fact the husband _______ the cupboard.
A. would like very much to buy B. badly wanted
C. was glad to have bought D. would rather not buy
2. Other drivers thought they were _______.
A. carrying a cupboard to the church
B. sending flowers to the church
C. carrying nothing but a piece of furniture
D. going to attend a funeral(葬礼) at the church
3. The police will be more polite to those who are _______.
A. driving in gathering darkness B. in great sorrow (悲痛)
C. driving with wild glowers in the car D. carrying furniture
4. What did the husband think of this matter?
A. It was very strange. B. He felt ashamed of it.
C. He took great pride in it. D. He was puzzled at it.
The most frightening words in the English language are, “Our computer is down.” You hear it more and more when you are on business. The other day I was at the airport waiting for a ticket to Washington and the girl in the ticket office said, “I’m sorry, I can’t sell you a ticket. Our computer is down.”
“If your computer is down, just write me out a ticket.”
“I can’t write you out a ticket. The computer is the only one allowed to do so.”
I looked down on the computer and every passenger was just standing there drinking coffee and staring at the black screen. Then I asked her, “What do all you people do?”
“We give the computer the information about your trip, and then it tells us whether you can fly with us or not.”
“So when it goes down, you go down with it.”
“That’s good, sir.”
“How long will the computer be down?” I wanted to know.
“I have no idea. Sometimes it’s down for 10 minutes, sometimes for two hours. There’s no way we can find out without asking the computer, and since it’s down it won’t answer us.”
After the girl told me they had no backup(备用) computer, I said. “Let’s forget the computer. What about your planes? They’re still flying, aren’t they?”
“I couldn’t tell without asking the computer.”
“Maybe I could just go to the gate and ask the pilot if he’s flying to Washington, ” I suggested.
“I wouldn’t know what gate to send you to. Even if the pilot was going to Washington, he couldn’t take you if you didn’t have a ticket.”
“Is there any other airline flying to Washington within the next few hours?”
“I wouldn’t know, ” she said, pointing at the dark screen. “Only ‘IT’ knows. ‘It’ can’t tell me.”
By this time there were quite a few people standing in lines. The word soon spread to other travelers that the computer was down. Some people went white, some people started to cry and still others kicked their luggage.The best title for the article is _______.
| A．When the Computer Is Down | B．The Most Frightening Words |
| C．The Computer of the Airport | D．Asking the Computer |
What could the girl in the ticket office do for the passengers without asking the computer?
| A．She could sell a ticket. |
| B．She could write out a ticket. |
| C．She could answer the passengers’ questions. |
| D．She could do nothing. |
Why do you think they had not a backup computer?
| A．Because it was easy down |
| B．Because it was very expensive. |
| C．Because it was not advanced enough. |
| D．Because it was not as big as the main computer. |
The last paragraph suggests that _______.
| A．a modern computer won’t be down. |
| B．computers can take the place of humans |
| C．sometimes a computer may bring suffering to people |
| D．there will be great changes in computers |
Mr. Peter Johnson, aged twenty-three, battled for half an hour to escape from his trapped car yesterday when it landed upside down in three feet of water. Mr. Johnson took the only escape route—through the boot(行李箱).
Mr. Johnson’s car had finished up in a ditch(沟渠) at Romney Marsin, Kent after skidding on ice and hitting a bank. “Fortunately, the water began to come in only slowly,” Mr. Johnson said. “I couldn’t force the doors because they were jammed against the walls of the ditch and dared not open the windows because I knew water would come flooding in.”
Mr. Johnson, a sweet salesman of Sitting Home, Kent, first tried to attract the attention of other motorists by sounding the horn and hammering on the roof and boot. Then he began his struggle to escape.
Later he said, “It was really a half penny that saved my life. It was the only coin I had in my pocket and I used it to unscrew the back seat to get into the boot. I hammered desperately with a hammer trying to make someone hear, but no help came.”
It took ten minutes to unscrew the seat, and a further five minutes to clear the sweet samples from the boot. Then Mr. Johnson found a wrench and began to work on the boot lock. Fifteen minutes passed by. “It was the only chance I had. Finally it gave, but as soon as I moved the boot lid, the water and mud poured in. I forced the lid down into the mud and scrambled clear as the car filled up.”
His hands and arms cut and bruised(擦伤), Mr. Johnson got to Beckett Farm nearby, where he was looked after by the farmer’s wife, Mrs. Lucy Bates. Huddled in a blanket, he said, “That thirty minutes seemed like hours.” Only the tips of the car wheels were visible, police said last night. The vehicle had sunk into two feet of mud at the bottom of the ditch. What is the best title for this newspaper article?
| A．The Story of Mr. Johnson, A Sweet Salesman |
| B．Car Boot Can Serve As The Best Escape Route |
| C．Driver Escapes Through Car Boot |
| D．The Driver Survived A Terrible Car Accident |
Which of the following objects is the most important to Mr. Johnson?
| A．The hammer. | B．The coin. |
| C．The screw. | D．The horn. |
Which statement is true according to the passage?
| A．Mr. Johnson’s car stood on its boot as it fell down. |
| B．Mr. Johnson could not escape from the door because it was full of sweet jam. |
| C．Mr. Johnson’s car accident was partly due to the slippery road. |
| D．Mr. Johnson struggled in the pouring mud as he unscrewed the back seat. |
“Finally it gave” (Paragraph 5) means that _______.
| A．Luckily the door was torn away in the end |
| B．At last the wrench went broken |
| C．The lock came open after all his efforts |
| D．The chance was lost at the last minute |
It may be inferred from the passage that _______.
| A．the ditch was along a quiet country road |
| B．the accident happened on a clear warm day |
| C．the police helped Mr. Johnson get out of the ditch |
| D．Mr. Johnson had a tender wife and was well attended |
"The world's oceans are slowly getting more acidic,”say scientists. The researchers from California report that the change is taking place in response to higher levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
The lowering of the waters’pH value is not great at the moment but could cause a serious threat to current ocean life if it continues, they warn. Ken Caldeira and Michael Wickett, from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, report their concerns in the journal Nature.
Increasing use of oil fuels means more carbon dioxide is going into the air, and most of it will eventually be absorbed by seawater. Once in the water, it reacts to form carbonic acid. Scientists believe that the oceans have already become slightly more acidic over the last century.
These researchers have tried to predict what will happen in the future by combining what we know about the history of the oceans with computer models of climate change．"This level of acidity will get much more extreme in the future if we continue releasing CO2 into the atmosphere," said Dr Caldeira. "And we predict the amount of future acidity will exceed（超过）anything we have seen over the last several hundred million years, let alone perhaps after rare disastrous events such as asteroid（小行星) impacts．”
However, it is not absolutely clear what that means for ocean life．Most organisms live near the surface, where the greatest pH change would be expected to occur, but deep-ocean life forms may be more sensitive to pH changes．Coral reefs and other organisms whose shells contain calcium carbonate（小行星) may be particularly affected if the water's acidity levels keep going up, the team predict. They could find it much more difficult to build these structures in water with a lower pH.
In recent years some people have suggested storing carbon dioxide from power stations in the deep ocean as a way of dealing with global warming．But Dr Caldeira said that such a strategy should now be re-considered. "Previously, most experts had looked at ocean absorption of carbon dioxide as a good thing-because in releasing CO2 into the atmosphere we warm the planet, and when CO2, is absorbed by the ocean, it reduces the amount of greenhouse warming.”According to Dr Caldeira,__________ .
| A．ocean absorption of carbon dioxide is a good thing |
| B．more oil fuels will be used in the near future |
| C．scientists may predict climate changes with computer models |
| D．the future situation of the amount of acidity is extremely serious |
f the water's acidity level keeps rising,_________ .
| A．ocean life whose structures contain calcium carbonate may be affected |
| B．the waters’pH value will become higher and higher |
| C．organisms living near the surface are more sensitive to pH changes |
| D．some disastrous events will occur more often than before |
Most experts once believed storing carbon dioxide in the ocean would reduce________ .
| A．the CO2 absorbed by the ocean | B．the amount of greenhouse warming |
| C．the acidity of the ocean | D．the gradual release of CO2 |
The purpose of this passage is to_________ .
| A．show people the findings of a research team | B．inform people of how acid the ocean is now |
| C．introduce Dr Caldeira and his team's research | D．warn people of the higher level of CO2 |
There are many theories about the beginning of drama in ancient Greece. The one most widely accepted today is based on the assumption that drama came from ritual (宗教仪式). The argument for this view goes as follows. In the beginning, human beings viewed the natural forces of the world, even the seasonal changes, as unpredictable, and they sought through various means, to control these unknown and feared powers. Those measures which appeared to bring the desired results were then kept and repeated until they hardened into fixed rituals. Eventually stories arose which explained the mysteries of the rites. As time passed some rituals were abandoned, but the stories, later called myths (神话), coutinued to exist and provided material for art and drama.
Those who believe that drama came from ritual also argue that those rites contained the seed of theater because music, dance, masks, and costumes were almost always used. Furthermore, a suitable site had to be provided for performances and when the entire community did not participate, a clear division was usually made between the “acting area” and the “watching area.” In addition, there were performers, and, since considerable importance was attached to avoiding mistakes in performing, religious leaders usually undertook that task. Wearing masks and costumes, they often imitated other people, animals, or supernatural beings, and used gestures about the desired effect, success in hunt or battle, the coming rain, the revival (复活) of the Sun. Eventually such dramatic representations were separated from religious activities.
Another theory traces the theater’s origin from the human interest in storytelling. According to this view, tales about the hunt, war, or other feats are gradually added in detail, at first through imitation, action, and dialogue by a narrator and then through the assumption of each of the roles by a different person. A closely-related theory traces theater to those dances that are primarily rhythmical and gymnastic or that are imitations of animal movements and sounds.What does the passage mainly discuss?
| A．The origins of theater. | B．The role of ritual in modern dance. |
| C．The importance of storytelling. | D．The variety of early religious activities. |
What aspect of drama does the author discuss in the first parapraph?
| A．The reason why drama is often unpredictable. | B．The seasons in which dramas were performed. |
| C．The connection between myths and dramatic plots. | D．The importance of costumes in early drama. |
Which of the following is NOT mentioned as a common element of theater and ritual?
| A．Dance. | B．Costumes. | C．Music. | D．Magic. |
According to the passage, what is the main difference between ritual and drama?
| A．Ritual uses music whereas drama does not. | B．Ritual is shorter than drama. |
| C．Ritual requires fewer performers than drama. | D．Ritual has a religious purpose and drama does not. |