Question

“Two books per visit per week,” said the unsmiling librarian as she handed a library card. Neither the limits nor her attitude   36   me, a 9-year-old Jewish girl growing up in Berlin in the 1950s. I needed those visits. The books were filled with stories in which, however   37   things seemed, everything   38   well in the end,  39   justice, bravery, and wisdom—a striking contrast (對(duì)比) to my everyday experiences.

Thirty years later, I, a recent immigrant to the US with a daughter aged 13, stood in front of another librarian. This librarian was   40  .

“What did she say?” I asked my daughter, who already knew a little English and often  41   as my interpreter.

“She said ‘Can I help you?’”

“Ask if they have any books in   42  ,” I requested.

“No, they don’t.” translated my daughter.

While hunting for a job, I was told that the library needed people to   43   books. The interview was short—the job didn’t require much English, just a   44   of the alphabet. I started the next day. Every day, I handled hundreds of books whose meaning was   45   from me, mentally dividing them by size and color. One day, while shelving, I found English for Beginners and began studying it on my own.   46   English letters started forming words I could   47  , words combined into phrases, and—oh,   48  !—I was reading. It was a slow process, supported by dictionaries and    49   by tears, but it was progress. Afterwards I got promoted to the front desk—  50   books in and out and answering simple questions.

 Every day I receive dozens of people. Sometimes I spot new immigrants. They come from all over the world, so they look different, but the hesitant expression on their faces and their   51   manners are similar. My heart goes out to them,   52   they are people like me. I fully understand the    53   roads on which they have stepped. “They’ve come to the right place,” I think to   54  . Then I smile and say—just the   55   a librarian said to me a long time ago—“Can I help you?”

36A. surprised           B. comforted          C. puzzled             D. shocked

37A. attractive          B. dull                C. terrible               D. strange

38A. went out    B. turned out          C. ended in              D. came up

39A. rewarding          B. affecting            C. deserving              D. denying

40A. chatting           B. staring              C. reading               D. smiling

41A. introduced         B. instructed           C. guided                D. served

42A. Spanish            B. French              C. Russian               D. German

43A. shelve             B. register             C. record                D. mark

44A. list               B. knowledge          C. line                  D. competence

45A. vague             B. simple             C. hidden               D. clear

46A. All of a sudden      B. In no time          C. Step by step           D. Now and then

47A. recognize          B. realize             C. define               D. interpret

48A. challenge          B. wonder           C. opportunity                  D. news

49A. inspired           B. accompanied        C. blocked               D. excited

50A. checking           B. classifying          C. borrowing                   D. lending

51A. rough             B. elegant             C. polite                 D. shy

52A. though            B. until               C. for                         D. unless

53A. difficult           B. smooth           C. endless                D. straight

54A. me               B. myself             C. them                  D. themselves

55A. means             B. approach          C. method                D. way

Answer 1

36 A  37 C  38 B  39 A  40 D  41 D  42 D  43 A  44 B  45 C 

46 C  47 A  48 B  49 B  50 A  51 D  52 C  53 A  54 B  55 D