一 I’d like to go home now．

一 Why not stay here for the night? It is so late now.___,it is raining．

A．Instead           B．Beside            C．Besides           D．As a result

I spent my last Christmas Day working the whole day!

Due to the nature of my job, I had to go back to my __41___ and spent my whole Christmas Day there. Of course, It __42___ no good! Surely you will get ___43__ when almost all of your friends are either resting at home, watching TV, listening to music, __44___ watching movies in the cinema, and you are the only one that is not __45___. The feeling is really bad. And I really did not feel like __46___ and going to work in the morning. But I __47___ went to work. I am a responsible guy. Since the arrangement was like that, I __48___.

Of course, there is something __49___ about working on Christmas Day and most public __50___. First of all, since I had no plan to go out, or do any __51___ activities on that day, I most likely would __52___ the day at home playing computer games, so why not go to work and ___53__ some extra money? It makes sense to me. Besides, it is a holiday for __54___ the whole world. It __55___ most of my company’s offices in other __56___ would probably not be working, __57___ those in China, Japan and Thailand as Christmas is not a holiday for people there. Less users, less problems, meaning? Less __58___ for us to do. And the best part is, the office is ours! I can __59___ my laptop to the office, watch movies, play games, and at the same time, get my extra __60___! Well, what do you think of working on holidays?

The passengers on the subway who caught a glimpse of me may have thought I was strange. In particular a gentleman sitting opposite me was always staring at me, looking at the cheese bread on the floor in front of me and then staring back at me. A passenger probably dropped it by mistake and got off at a previous stop, but the gentleman might not think so. “Next stop, St. Patrick Station” — my stop was quickly coming up. I had few minutes to either take the cheese bread, which nobody else was claiming, or left it there.

In those few minutes I felt my pride getting in the way. “What would others on the subway think of me if I took the cheese bread? Would they think that I was poor and hungry? Would they think that I was stealing?” The ignorant thing to do was say “yes” to any of those self-imposed questions. Actually, they were just my own thoughts. Though I would leave the subway, walk a block to my office, get settled at my desk, and sit comfortably in my office for the whole day, I couldn’t get rid of the enormous sense of guilt and regret.

My thoughts once pushed me towards pride and ignorance, but finally I had to admit I was wrong. This missing cheese bread could be a gift for a homeless person who suffered from cold and hunger. So why not overcome a little bit of my pride and pass along so much kindness?

Just as the doors opened at my stop, I grabbed the cheese bread and left the subway. It felt awesome, but I didn’t care if people were looking at me or what they were thinking. Instead of going directly to my office as usual, I walked a few more blocks up to Queen’s park, where I often saw a homeless man sitting outside. I always wanted to give him something, but only today I walked toward him, who wrapped himself in a sleeping bag. I was full of satisfaction, and so did the homeless man, I thought.

1.The gentleman kept staring at the author because _______.

A.  he wanted to talk to the author

B.  he might think the author dropped the bread

C.  the author appeared too nervous

D.  the author was going to get off

2.The underlined word “self-imposed” in paragraph 2 probably means “_______”.

A. easily obtained              

B. strongly supported

C. deliberately created         

D. completely unaccepted

3.Why did the author grab the cheese bread when he got off?

   A. He noticed that no one was looking at him.

   B. He didn’t want to see the cheese bread to go to waste.   

   C. He remembered a homeless man at that very moment.  

 D. He valued kindness more than his own pride.

Some people would go through anything just to achieve their dream. Kasia Siwosz is proof. For the final year student on the university women’s tennis team, the road to Berkeley, University of California was met with poor advice and misinformation from her home country and two unsuccessful stops along the way that fell short of expectations.

    Born in Poland, Siwosz began playing tennis at seven years old and developed the skills that helped her earn a top-50 ranking among the ITF Junior division (國(guó)際網(wǎng)球聯(lián)會(huì)青少年賽).. Siwosz wanted to do more with her life than just play tennis, which led her to seek chances that would also allow her to obtain a top education. While most who grow up in the U.S. are naturally accustomed to the American tradition of collegiate (大學(xué)的) sports, such a custom is not as familiar in a country like Poland. “There’s no collegiate sports in Poland and no culture of sports and academic (學(xué)術(shù)的) study there. You can only do one, not both,” Siwosz said.

    Her desire to have a quality education led her to America to follow her dream. While Siwosz was talented enough to begin her collegiate tennis career, she could only attend community college because she missed the deadline to apply to four-year schools, mainly due to misinformation provided in her home country of Poland.

    When she had earned all her credits and was able to transfer (轉(zhuǎn)學(xué)), Siwosz made the decision to attend Baylor in Texas. Her friends from Poland put in a good word for the university, saying that it was a good fit because there were many international players at Baylor. “I thought it would be a good idea, but it really wasn’t what I thought it would be,” Siwosz said. “I wasn’t happy at Baylor. The level of tennis was high, but the academic standards were no match and I just wanted more.”

    After one year at Baylor, Siwosz’s luck finally began to change when she made the decision to transfer to Berkeley, which was due in large part to Lee, a former Berkeley student. Lee, who is a keen tennis player himself, met Siwosz four years ago in Texas. “I knew she was unhappy there,” he said. “I saw the opportunity for her to come here.” Siwosz visited Lee in Berkeley. “I ended up loving this place and this school,” Siwosz said. “I came here a lot over the summer, I gave it a shot and I ended up with a Berkeley education and a spot on one of the best college tennis teams in the country.”

What does “two unsuccessful stops” (Paragraph 1) refer to?

A. Poland and the U.S.

B. Baylor and Berkeley.

C. The community college and Baylor.

D. The ITF Junior division and the Berkeley tennis team.

Why did Siwosz want to leave her homeland for America?

A. Poland had no culture of sports.

B. Berkeley had always been her dream university.

C. She wanted to play tennis and have a good education.

D. She wanted to improve her tennis skills and get a higher ranking.

Why did she leave Baylor?

A. The level of tennis there was not high.

B. It was not suitable for international students.

C. She couldn’t get along with her friends there.

D. She was not satisfied with the education level there.

What is the main idea of the passage?

A. How Siwosz left Poland.

B. How Siwosz realized her dream.

C. How Siwosz became a top tennis player.

D. How Siwosz transferred from Baylor to Berkeley.