It was ________ of my secretary not to have let others disturb me this morning when I was occupied with my work.

People do not analyze every problem they meet. Sometimes they try to remember a solution, from the last time they had a  36  problem. They often accept the opinions or ideas of other people. Other times they begin to act without  37   .They try to find a solution by trial or error. 3 8  , when all of these methods   39__ , the person with a problem has to start analyzing. There are six   40   in analyzing a problem.

     41  the person must recognize that these is a problem. For example, Sam's bicycle is broken, and he cannot ride it to class as he usually does. Sam must   42   that there is a problem with the bicycle.

Next, the person must find the problem. Before Sam can repair his bicycle, he must know why it does not work. For example, he must   43   the parts that are wrong.

Now the person must look for   44    that will make the problem clearer and lead to 45 solutions. For example, suppose Sam decides that his bicycle does not work because there is something wrong with the brakes.  46  , he can look in his bicycle repair book and read about brakes, talk to his friends at the bike shop, or look at his brakes carefully.

After  47   the problem, the person should have  48   suggestions for a possible solution. Take Sam as an example   49   , his suggestions might be: tighten or loosen the brakes; buy new brakes and change old ones.

In the end, one  50   seems to be the solution to the problem. Sometimes the   51  idea comes quite   52   because the thinker suddenly sees something new or sees something in a different way. Sam, for example, suddenly sees there is a piece of chewing gum stuck to a brake. He  53   hits on the solution to his problem: he must   54  the brake.

Finally the solution is  55  . Sam does it and finds his bicycle works perfectly. In short he has solved the problem.

36． A．serious        usual         C．similar              D．common

37．.A. practice        B. thinking        C. understanding         D. help

38． A．Besides       Instead        C．Otherwise           D．However

39． A．fail           work         C．change              D．develop

40． A．ways         conditions      C．stages              D．orders

41． A．First          Usually         C．In general            D．Most importantly

42． A．explain       prove          C．show               D．see

43． A．checkable     B．determine       C．correct             D．recover

44． A．answers       B．skills          C．explanation          D．information

45．A．possible       B．exact          C．real                 D．special

46．A．In other words  B．Once in a while  C．First of all           D．At this time

47．A．discussing     B．settling down    C．comparing with       D．studying

48．A．extra          B．enough         C．several             D．countless

49．A．secondly       B．again           C．also               D．alone

50．A．suggestion     B．conclusion       C．decision            D．discovery

51．A．next          B．clear            C．final               D．new

52．A．unexpectedly   B．late             C．clearly             D．often

53．A．fortunately     B．easily          C．clearly              D．immediately

54．A．clean          B．separate        C．loosen              D．remove

55．A．recorded          B．completed      C．tested                D．accepted

When I worked as a waitress in Chicago, US, my coworkers  and I would groan (嘆 息) whenever we heard someone with a foreign accent coming into our restaurant. We knew

what it meant to serve a non–American: no tip. We would work just as hard as we always did,

but we might not get paid.

    Americans have an unspoken rule about tipping: they give tips to almost everyone who

offers them a service of some kind. Americans tip their waiters, barbers and taxi drivers. An appropriate (合適的) tip is between 15 and 20 percent of the amount charged for the service, but the charge for the tip doesn’t appear on the bill. The customer is expected to add it on himself/herself.

So if you order $100 worth of food, you are expected to pay your waiter at least $15, making your total payment $115. Tipping less than this sends a message to your waiter that you think they’ve done a bad job serving you. And to leave no tip at all is simply unacceptable.

    It’s not that American waiters are greedy. In many countries, waiters are paid a salary for their work. They’ll earn money even if no one comes into the restaurant. This system offers much more safety for waiters than the American version. In the US, waiters know that a night without customers means a night without pay.

    Some countries include a tip for waiters – a “service charge” – on the bill itself. Since the tip is included with the other charges, waiters don’t need to worry about people forgetting to tip. But in the US, waiters do not receive a salary, and service charges only appear on bills when there are six or more customers at the table.

    Since almost all American customers are familiar with the system, they know to add a tip without being told. But visitors to the US may expect waiters to be paid a salary, or think that the tip is included on the bill. So as much as we waiters loved hearing stories about other places from our foreign customers, we were always nervous when they got ready to leave the restaurant. We were never sure what to expect.

Why would the author and her coworkers groan when they had to serve a non-American?

   A. They would have difficulty understanding the customer.

   B. They had to work harder to get tips from the customer.

   C. They might not get any payment from the customer.

   D. They thought a non-American customer would be hard to please.

If you order $550 worth of food, you are supposed to pay your waiter at least ______.

   A. $55    B. $82.5     C. $100     D.$110

Why would it be thought unacceptable not to tip a waiter in the US?

   A. They enjoy getting tips from their customers.

   B. They work harder than waiters in other countries.

   C. They are greedier than waiters in other countries.

   D. They earn most of their money from diners’ tips.

Michel is a young girl who works for the police   36       a handwriting expert (專家). She has helped   37     many criminals (罪犯) by using her special talents (天才).

  When she was fourteen, Michel was already       38    interested in the differences in her friends'   39      that she would spend hours    40     them. After   41    college she went to France for a   42    two-year class in handwriting at the School of Police Science.

  Michel says that it is    43      for people to hide their handwriting. She can discover

  44    of what she needs to know simply    45       looking at the writing with her own eyes,     46     she also has machines   47    help her make    48   different kinds of paper and ink. This knowledge is often    49      great help to the police.

Michel believes that handwriting is a good   50  of what kind of person the  51   is. "I wouldn't go out with a fellow    52   I didn't like his handwriting. " She says. But she      53  she fell in love with her future husband, a young policeman    54   she studied his handwriting. It is later proved to be  55   , however.

36. A. with                 B.  by              C. like                D. as

37. A. search       B. follow            C. catch             D. judge

38. A. so           B. too                C. quite              D. extra

39. A. books       B. letter              C. tongues           D. handwriting

40. A. writing    B. studying          C. settling            D. uncovering

41 A. attending          B. finishing          C. starting             D. stepping into

42. A. powerful          B. natural            C. special             D. common

43. A .main      B. safe               C. easy               D. impossible

44 A. most          B. nothing           C. little               D. sight

45. A. with        B. by                C. of                 D. about

46 A. so            B. for                 C. thus               D. but

47 A. they          B. in which         C. that                D. those

48 A. up           B. out                C. for                D. Into

49 A. of            B. to                 C. with              D. for

50 A. test           B. sign                C. means            D. habit(習慣)

51 A. thief          B. criminal           C. writer             D. policeman

52 A. whether      B. unless            C. if                  D. after

53 A. adds         B. tells               C. repeats            D. cries

54 A. before       B. after              C. shyly             D. and

55 A. necessary     B. all right           C. important                D. quite easy

He _____ articles for our wall-newspaper these three years, and he _____ about forty articles.

A. has been writing； has written       B. has been writing； wrote

C. is writing； has been writing               D. has written； has written

The plane _____ at 7:00 p.m., so I have to be at the airport by 6:40 at the latest.

A. has left            B. is to leave     C. will have left D. leaves

— Why? Tom, your shirt is so dirty!

— Mum, I _____ my storeroom downstairs。

A. cleaned      B. have worked         C. was cleaning    D. have been cleaning

Great changes _____ in the last twenty years in China.

A. took place                         B. have taken place

C. were taking place                  D. have been taken place

If it _____, we will go to visit the zoo.

A. not rains     B. doesn’t rain        C. won’t rain    D. isn’t going to rain

If only I _____ my watch! 

A. hadn’t lost        B. haven’t lost     C. didn’t lost  D. don’t lose