"It's over! Thank goodness!"
      School was over and I was tired. I sat at the front of the school bus.
      Janie, the driver, always tries to break the uncomfortable atmosphere (氣氛) by talking. I try to listen
politely, but usually I'm too busy thinking about my day. On this day, however, her talk was worth listening
to.
      "My father's ill," she said to no one in particular (特別地). I could see worry in her eyes. I had never
seen her like this before. She always meets students with a smile.
      With a sudden chance of interest, I asked, "What's wrong with him?"
      With her eyes wet and her voice unusual, she answered, "Heart trouble." Her eyes lowered as she
continued, "I've already lost my mum, so I don't think I can stand losing him." I couldn't answer. My heart
ached for her.
      I sat on the seat thinking of the great pain my own mother was thrown into when her father died.
      I saw how hard it was, and still is, for her. I wouldn't want anyone to go through that.
      Suddenly I realized Janie wasn't only a bus driver, which was just her job. She had a whole world of
family and cares too.
      I shouldn't have been so selfish. I paid no attention to Janie because she was a bus driver. I had judged
her by her job and brushed her off as unimportant.
      I shouldn't have been so selfish and self-centered.
      Understanding people is an art.

1. When the students get on the school bus, Janie usually _____.

A. listens to music
B. talks about her own worry
C. sits on her seat without words
D. meets them with a smile

2. After she learned Janie's story, the writer thought of _____.

A. her father's death
B. her mother's pain
C. the ache of her own heart
D. the pain of Janie's parents

3. The writer felt herself selfish because she had _____.

A. thought of Janie as nothing but a driver
B. made only a few friends in the school
C. hardly thought of herself
D. never listened to others

4. In this passage the writer tries to tell us that _____.

A. losing parents makes people sad and helpless
B. understanding the people around us takes time
C. we should learn to understand the people around us
D. it's not right to judge the people around us by their clothes

      Mama and Daddy loved having the family together on Christmas. They spent days making candy and
cookies, preparing gifts and decorating.
      Forty-four years together made them a great team. But with Mama's unexpected death in the spring,
we now faced our first Christmas without her. The holidays would be especially hard for Daddy. We tried
to comfort him. We would all be with him on Christmas as usual.
      On Christmas Eve a small snow turned to a heavy one, covering our yard and 150-foot driveway, as
well as the access road (干道的支路). We started cleaning, but the snow was falling faster than we could
keep up. The weatherman predicted the storm would continue through the night. Church services were also
canceled. "We'll be there as soon as possible in the morning," I told Daddy on the phone. But inside I wondered
how. 
      Early Christmas morning we began digging through stomach-high snow. We finished the driveway, but
seeing the mountains of snow on the access road, we admitted failure. As I stared at the access road, I heard
the sound of a snowblower. Lord, please help us get to Daddy today, I prayed.
      The sound of the snowblower grew louder. I looked up. There, coming straight toward us was a big
yellow machine with a huge plow (犁) effortlessly clearing a path through the snow-packed road. I stared in
disbelief. Never in our 18 years here had the snow been plowed on this road.
      The driver of the snowblower sat up straight at the wheel and was warmly dressed, collar (衣領(lǐng)) up, cap
down-and wings beneath his coat, I'm sure.

1. We learn from the passage that the author's parents _____.

A. separated a year ago
B. were married for forty-four years
C. like spending holidays very much
D. have prepared for this Christmas for days

2. The author started to clean the snow in order to _____.

A. go to church
B. have a clean driveway
C. go to please his father
D. send his children to school

3. Before the snowblower arrived, the author had _____.

A. decided to give up
B. stopped to have a rest
C. finished the access road
D. cleaned the snow mountains

4. In the author's eyes, the driver of the snowblower was a(n) _____.

A. angel
B. father
C. ordinary cleaner
D. hard worker

                                                                 How to Become Cleverer
      Once a boy came to ask a fisherman how to become cleverer, because his mother always called him
"foolish boy".
      "That's easy," answered the fisherman. "I know one way to make you become cleverer."
      "Really?"
      "Of course. It is said a fish head is good for brain. If you eat one, you'll become cleverer indeed. Pay
only three pounds for one fish head." The boy paid him three pounds and the fisherman cut off a fish head
and handed it to him.
      A raw fish head is not good-not even for a hungry boy to eat but the boy ate it up in two gulps.
      "Do you feel anything?" asked the fisherman. 
      "Not in my head," said the boy.
      The boy lay on the ground and thought. "One whole fish costs only two pounds. I had paid him three
pounds for the fish head. Why couldn't I have the whole fish for soup, a head for brain and one pound left
over?" He jumped up and shouted at the fisherman. "You thief! You are fooling me!" The fisherman laughed,
saying, "The fish head works now, you see."

1. The boy ate up the raw fish head only in two gulps, because he _____.

A. enjoy it
B. wanted to taste it
C. took it as a good medicine
D. was a foolish boy

2. The boy came to the fisherman in order to _____.

A. buy a fish head
B. ask the fisherman a question
C. buy a whole fish
D. A and C

3. The boy paid three pounds. He should have had _____.

A. a whole fish
B. a fish head and one pound back
C. a whole fish and one pound back
D. a whole fish, a fish head and one pound back

4. _____ helped the boy become cleverer.

A. A good meal
B. The raw fish head
C. Nothing
D. What had happened

      This is a talk by a London taxi (出租車) driver.
      "I've been a taxi driver for nearly ten years. Most London taxi drivers have their own taxis."
       "It's a nice job most of time. You meet a lot of people. I always work at night, because there is too much
traffic during the day. I live twenty miles (英里) outside London and I go to work at 5:30 in the afternoon."
       "I usually go home between 2 and 3 in the morning."
        "Some very strange things happened late at night. The other day I was taking a woman home from a
party. She had her little dog with her. When we got to her house, she found that she had lost her key. So I
waited in the car with the dog while she climbed in through the windows."
       "I waited and waited. After half an hour of ringing the bell I decided to find out what was going on. I tied
the dog to a tree and started to climb in through the window. The next thing I knew was that the police came.
They thought I was a thief (小偷).
       Luckily the woman came downstairs (下樓). She must have gone to sleep and forgotten about me and the
dog!

1. The driver always worked at night because it was easier to _____.

A. drive
B. make money 
C. climb in through the window
D. meet a lot of people

2. The woman climbed in through the window because _____.

A. she wanted to have a sleep
B. her husband didn't open the door for her
C. she didn't want to pay the driver
D. she couldn't find her key

3. The story happened _____.

A. in the afternoon
B. late at night
C. 20 miles outside London
D. near the police station

4. Which of the following is wrong?

A. The driver worked until between 2 and 3 in the morning.
B. The police made a mistake.
C. The woman had no money to pay the driver.
D. The woman had forgotten about the driver and the dog.

5. The driver climbed in through the window to _____.

A. get money from the woman
B. return the dog to the woman
C. see what was happening in the house
D. phone the police

      The nervous-looking (緊張不安地) young man had waited for a few moments outside the jeweler's shop
before he got enough courage (勇氣) to enter. He was warmly greeted by a young assistant. James felt a rush
blood to his face as he explained he would bring in his future wife to choose a birthday present. The assistant
listened carefully and told him he'd better buy a necklace. He wasn't used to buying jewelry and was a little
worried about overspending. After some discussion as to reasonable price and type, the assistant showed him
dozens of necklaces and helped him to choose. At last James chose one and left the shop promising to return
at five o'clock. When, half an hour later, James did return to the shop with his future wife, Laura, the assistant
acted as if she had never seen him before. When she was asked to show them some necklaces, she first
brought out some inexpensive ones for them to choose and then gave them the one she had prepared. A choice
was soon made and they went away, satisfied. James would certainly come back to buy what he wanted when
he got married.

1. A good title for this passage is _____.

A. A Clever Assistant
B. Buying a Birthday Present
C. How to Choose a Necklace
D. A Brave Young Man

2. The word "overspending" in this passage means _____.

A. spending too much money
B. spending too much time
C. spending more time than be planned
D. spending too much time and too much money

3. When James told the assistant why he wanted to buy a present, his face _____.

A. turned pale　　　
B. turned red
C. turned yellow　　　
D. turned black

4. James would come back to buy what he wanted because _____.

A. the assistant knew how to satisfy the people who came to buy things
B. the necklace was good
C. Laura liked the necklace
D. the assistant who served James was very beautiful

      There was once a captain who loved money so much that he cheated his sailors at the end of every
voyage and took their wages.
      On the last day of one voyage, the ship was in a small port. It was winter time, and the sea was very
cold, so the captain said to his sailors, "If one of you stays in the water during the whole night, I will give
him my ship. But if he comes out before the sun appears, I shall get his wages."
      The sailors had heard about the captain's cheating, so they didn't trust him. But then one of them, who
thought that he was cleverer than the captain, said that he would do it. He got into the water, and, though
it was very cold, he stayed in it. When it was nearly morning, some fishermen lit a fire on the shore about
half a mile away.
       "You are cheating," the captain said to the sailor. "The fire's warming you."
       "But it's half a mile away!" said the sailor.
       "A fire's fire," answered the captain. "I have won."
       The sailor came out of the water, and said, "Perhaps you think that you are clever because you have
won my wages, but you can't cook a chicken."
       "I can," answered the captain.
       "If you cook this chicken," said the sailor, "I shall work for you without wages for seven years, but
if you can't, you will give me your ship."
       The captain agreed, took the chicken and said, "Where's the fire?"
       "There it is," answered the sailor. "On the shore." 
       "But it's half a mile away," said the captain angrily.
       " 'A fire's fire,' you said," answered the sailor. "If it is enough to warm me in the water, it is enough
to cook your chicken."

1. The captain got the sailors' wages _____.

A. to buy a chicken for himself
B. and kept the money for future use
C. by cheating him
D. and said he would return the money soon

2. Which of the following statements is TRUE?

A. All the sailors refused to get into the water because it was too cold.
B. The captain knew that the fire the fishermen made was enough to warm the sailor in the water.
C. The captain succeeded in cheating the sailor.
D. It was the sailor who was cleverer.

3. The captain insisted that the fire was warming the sailor because he _____.

A. didn't want to lose the bet
B. didn't believe the sailor's success
C. wanted to keep his promise
D. wanted to show his cleverness

4. Which of the following statements is NOT TRUE?

A. The sailors didn't trust the captain.
B. In order to help the sailor in the water, the fishermen made a fire.
C. The captain failed to cheat the sailor this time.
D. The sailor didn't get out of the water before the sun appeared.

5. What is the title of the story?

A. How a Captain Cheated His Sailor
B. How a Sailor Got a Ship
C. A Brave Sailor
D. A Fire Is Fire