Twenty years ago, I drove a taxi for a living. One night I went to pick up a passenger at 2:30 AM. When
I arrived to collect, I found the building was dark except for a single light in a ground floor window.
     I walked to the door and knocked, "Just a minute," answered a weak, elderly voice.
     After a long pause, the door opened. A small woman in her eighties stood before me. By her side was a
small suitcase.
     I took the suitcase to the car, and then returned to help the woman. She took my arm and we walked
slowly toward the car.
     She kept thanking me for my kindness. "It's nothing," I told her. "I just try to treat my passengers the
way I would want my mother treated."
     "Oh, you're such a good man." She said. When we got into the taxi, she gave me an address, and then
asked, "Could you drive through downtown?"
     "It's not the shortest way," I answered quickly.
     "Oh, I'm in no hurry," she said. "I'm on my way to a hospice (臨終醫(yī)院). I don't have any family left.
The doctor says I don't have very long."
     I quietly reached over and shut off the meter (計(jì)價(jià)器).
     For the next two hours, we drove through the city. She showed me the building where she had once
worked, the neighborhood where she had lived, and the furniture shop that had once been a ballroom where
she had gone dancing as a girl.
     Sometimes she'd ask me to slow down in front of a particular building and would sit staring into the
darkness, saying nothing.
     At dawn, she suddenly said, "I'm tired. Let's go now."
     We drove in silence to the address she had given me.
     "How much do I owe you?" she asked.
     "Nothing." I said.
     "You have to make a living," she answered. "Oh, there are other passengers," I answered.
     Almost without thinking, I bent and gave her a hug. She held onto tightly. Our hug ended with her remark,
"You gave an old woman a little moment of joy."

1. The old woman chose to ride through the city in order to _____.

A. show she was familiar with the city
B. see some places for the last time
C. let the driver earn more money
D. reach the destination on time

2. The taxi driver did not charge the old woman because he _____.

A. wanted to do her a favor
B. shut off the meter by mistake
C. had received her payment in advance
D. was in a hurry to take other passengers

3. What can we learn from the story?

A. Giving is always a pleasure.
B. People should respect each other.
C. An act of kindness can bring people great joy.
D. People should learn to appreciate others' concern.

     Two thieves came to a house to steal something. They dug a hole in the wall of the house.
     There lived many mice in the house. The woman in the moonlight saw a mouse crawl (爬行) into the
house."Look! In comes one," she said to the man in the house. The thief was so frightened that he hurriedly
crawled out of the house and said to the one waiting outside,"She found me when I was just in." But the thief
outside didn't believe him, so he said,"Let us two try to crawl into the house together." At that time two mice
happened to crawl into the house, too. The woman saw the mice and shouted,"In come two, catch them!" The
two thieves were terribly frightened. The man in the house said,"You saw them come in but where are they? I
will catch them tonight." The two thieves started running away at once.
     The two thieves wanted to make it clear whether they had been found or not the night before. The next day
they acted as men selling sweet potatoes and came before the house. The man and the woman were ploughing
in their fields. The rein (韁繩) broke and the woman came home for a rope. She saw two men selling sweet
potatoes and wanted to buy some. She picked out two which looked like mice. At the time the man couldn't
wait for her any longer in the fields and he ran back from the fields to hurry her up. The woman showed the
sweet potatoes to the man and said,"How they look like the two of last night." The man said,"I asked you to
fetch a rope, why don't you hurry for it?" The two thieves ran away very quickly without their sweet potatoes.

1. The two thieves failed to steal anything from the house because _____.

A. they were found out
B. they were frightened by what they had heard in the house
C. they didn't work together well with each other
D. mice stopped them from doing so

2. From the last paragraph, we know that _____.

A. the two thieves were famous selling sweet potatoes
B. the woman recognized the two thieves
C. the woman pretended to know nothing about the two thieves and made fun of them
D. the two thieves didn't know that they were not found at all

3. The woman said, "How they look like the two of last night." Here"the two" refers to _____.

A. the two thieves
B. nothing
C. the mice
D. the sweet potatoes

     As soon as I returned from the USA, I called   1   Lily, one of my neighbors. I dialed several times, but I
still could not get   2   it."Is it her telephone out of   3    or   4   she changed the number?" I thought."She used
to help me greatly when I was in need of her. She is a kind lady,   5    is thought highly of by others. Anyway,
I must go to see her this time." The next morning,   6   wind was blowing hard.   7   (Regard) of the bad
weather, I went to the shop, buying some presents. Then I took a taxi and drove to her home. I arrived ten
minutes later. I knocked at the door. Out came an old lady."Is Lily's home here?" I asked her."Oh, you are
Tony!" The lady cried    8   amazement."I myself am Lily!""Is she Lily? She is much   9   than Lily!" It was
my turn to be shocked this time. I stared at her for several minutes."My God! She is Lily.   10   can one person change so much?"

     A man once said how useless it was to put advertisements in the newspaper."Last week," he said,"my
umbrella was stolen from a London church. As it was a present, I spent twice its worth in advertising, but
didn't get it back."
     "How did you write your advertisement?" asked one of the listeners, a merchant.
     "Here it is," said the man, taking out of his pocket a slip cut from a newspaper. The other man took it
and read,"Lost from the City Church last Sunday evening, a black silk umbrella.. The gentleman who finds
it will receive ten shillings on leaving it at No. 10 Broad Street."
     "Now," said the merchant,"I often advertise, and find that it pays me well. But the way in which an
advertisement is expressed of extreme importance. Let us try for your umbrella again, and if it fails, I'll buy
you a new one."
     The merchant then took a slip of paper out of his pocket and wrote: "If the man who was seen to take
an umbrella from the City Church last Sunday evening doesn't wish to get into trouble, he will return the
umbrella to No.10 Broad Street. He is well known."
     This appeared in the newspaper, and on the following morning, the man was astonished when he opened
the front door. In the doorway lay at least twelve umbrellas of all sizes and colors, and his own was among
them. Many of them had notes fastened to them saying that they had been taken by mistake, and begging the
loser not to say anything about the matter.

1. What is an advertisement?

A. A news item.
B. public opinions.
C. One way to voice one's view.
D. A public announcement on papers, TV, etc.

2. The result of the first advertisement was that __________.

A. the man got his umbrella back
B. the man wasted some money advertising
C. nobody found the missing umbrella
D. the umbrella was found somewhere near the church

3. The merchant suggested that the man should ________.

A. buy a new umbrella
B. go on looking for his umbrella
C. write another and better advertisement
D. report the police

4. "If it fails, I'll buy you a new one," suggested that the merchant ________.

A. was quite sure of success
B. wanted to buy him a new umbrella
C. didn't know what to do
D. was rich enough to buy one

5. The story is mainly about _________.

A. a useless advertisement
B. how to make an effective advertisement
C. how the man lost and found his umbrella
D. what the merchant did for the umbrella owner

     Like many lovers of books, Mary and her husband, Richard Goldman, seldom walked past a bookstore
without stopping to look inside. They often talked of opening their own store one day.
     When Mary was hospitalized with heart trouble in 1989, they decided it was time to get serious. Richard,
who worked for a business company, was eager to work for himself, and Mary needed to slow down from
her demanding job.
     They started by talking to bookstore owners and researching the industry."We knew it had to be a specialty
store because we couldn't match the big chains dollar for dollar," says Mary. One figure caught her attention:
She'd read somewhere that roughly 20 percent of books sold were mysteries (推理小說), and many buyers
spent more $300 a year on books. She and Richard were themselves mystery readers.
     On Halloween 1992, they opened the Mystery Lovers Bookshop and Café near their home. With three
children in college, the couple could not spend all the family's money to start a shop. To cover the $100,000
cost, they drew some of their savings, borrowed from relatives and from an bank.
     The store merely broke even in its first year, with only $120,000 in sales. But Mary was always coming up
with new ways to attract customers. The shop had a coffee bar and it offered gifts to mystery lovers and
served dinners for book clubs that met in the store. She also invited dozens of writers to discuss their stories.
     Today Mystery Lovers makes sales of about $420,000 a year. After paying taxes, business costs and the
six part-time sales clerks, Richard and Mary together earn about $34,000.
     "The job you love may not go hand in hand with a million-dollar income," says Richard."This has always
been about an enjoyable life for ourselves, not about making a lot of money."

1. When Mary was in hospital, the couple realized that ____.

A. they had to put their plan into practice
B. health was more important than wealth
C. heart trouble was a serious illness
D. they both needed to stop working

2. After Mary got well from her illness they began _____.

A. to study industrial management
B. to buy and read more mystery books
C. to do market research on book business
D. to work harder to save money for the bookstore

3. How did their bookstore do in the first year?

A. They had to borrow money to keep it going.
B. They made just enough to cover all the costs.
C. They succeeded in earning a lot of money.
D. They failed though they worked hard.

4. According to Richard, the main purpose of running the bookstore is _____.

A. to pay for their children's education
B. to get to know more writers
C. to set up more bookstores
D. to do what they like to do

     Talk about a real-life hero! Ten-year-old Larry Champagne from St. Louis,Missouri, hit the brake (剎車) on
a runaway school bus. He saved himself and 20 other kids on board from disaster. It all happened in one terrible accident. On the way to school, the bus driver, Ernestine Blackman, suddenly fell ill. Seeing the car was running away, the other kids started to scream, but Larry ran to the front and stopped the bus.
      "At first I thought, 'We're going to die,'" says Larry,"but after I pressed the brake, I felt safe."
     Larry's speedy reaction made news all over the country. He appeared on TV shows as a hero. The bus
company gave Larry a big gift. His school hung a medal of honor around his neck.
     "My grandmother always tells me to do what's right," says Larry. He thanked his brother, Jerrick, 9, who
"helped me get the bus driver up" during the emergency (緊急情況). How did he know how to stop the bus?
Larry is something of a mechanic (機(jī)械師). He helps his grandfather work on his old truck."He gets his hands
dirty," says his grandfather. One thing is for certain: Larry knows where to find the brakes.

1. What did Larry do to save the runaway bus?

A. He parked it for the sleeping bus driver.
B. He helped all the kids climb out through the windows.
C. He dialed 911.
D. he pressed the brake.

2. When did Larry finally feel safe?

A. When the kids finally stopped screaming.
B. When the police officers arrived.
C. Once he pressed the brake, and the bus stopped.
D. When the bus driver started driving again.

3. Larry got the following as praise for his hero action Except _____.

A. appearing on TV shows
B. a scholarship from his school
C. a big gift from the bus company
D. a medal of honor

4. Larry thanked his brother Jerrick for _____.

A. helping him get the bus driver up
B. helping him work on his old truck
C. teaching him how to find the brake
D. teaching him how to stop the bus

5. The underlined sentence "Larry is something of a mechanic" tells us that ____.

A. Larry's job is a mechanic
B. Larry knows something about machines
C. Larry is a robot
D. Larry knows nothing about machines