One of the qualities that most people admire in others is the willingness to admit one’s mistakes. It is extremely hard sometimes to say a simple thing like “I was wrong about that, ”and it is even harder to say, “I was wrong, and you were right about that. ”
I had an experience recently with someone admitting to me that he had made a mistake fifteen years ago. He told me he had been the manager of a certain grocery store in the neighborhood where I grew up, and he asked me if I remembered the egg cartons (箱子). Then he related an incident and I began to remember clearly the incident he was describing.
I was about eight years old at the time, and I had gone into the store with my mother to do the weekly grocery shopping. On that particular day, I must have found my way to the dairy food department where the incident took place.
There must have been a special sale on eggs that day because there was an impressive display of eggs in dozen and half－dozen cartons. The cartons were stacked three or four feet high. I must have stopped in front of a display to admire the stacks. Just then a woman came by pushing her grocery cart and knocked off the stacks of cartons. For some reason, I decided it was up to me to put the display back together, so I went to work.
The Manager heard the noise and came rushing over to see what had happened. When he appeared, I was on my knees inspecting (examining)some of the cartons to see if any of the eggs were broken, but to him it looked as though I was the criminal. He severely scolded me and wanted me to pay for any broken eggs. I protested my innocence and tried to explain, but it did no goo Even though I quickly forgot all about the incident, obviously the manager did not.
(1)
The author was ________ when he wrote this article.
[ ]
A．
about 8
B．
about 18
C．
about 23
D．
about 15
(2)
Who should have been blamed for knocking off the stacks of cartons?
[ ]
A．
The author.
B．
The manager.
C．
The woman.
D．
The author’s mother.
(3)
When the manager scolded him the author ________.
[ ]
A．
was frightened and cried
B．
tried to explain
C．
did not say anything
D．
felt the manager was right
(4)
It can be inferred that the author ________.
[ ]
A．
regrets arguing with the manager for what he didn’t do
B．
would like to tell people never to be fooled by an egg sale
C．
has forgiven the manager for what he did to him fifteen years ago
D．
expects the woman to say sorry to him for the mistake she made
TALLMANSVILLE, W．Va．-Eleven miners who died in the Sago disaster could have walked out alive had they known that there was healthier air less than 2,000 feet away, the head of the mining company told NBC News in an interview aired on zMonday-exactly a week to the day that the men sat trapped in the mine awaiting rescuers who arrived too late for all but one survivor．
”They were headed into an unknown,” International Coal Group CEO Ben Haield said．“They had no way of knowing how big, how disastrous the explosion was．In hindsight, if they had known that the smoke was only extremely dense in an area of perhaps 1,000 or 1,500 feet, yes they could have moved to fresh air, yes they could have survived, but they had no way of knowing that．”
”It’s over two miles to the outside and they no doubt would have been concerned that they can’t walk through two miles of smoke,” he added．“If they had known that it was only 1,500 or 42,000 feet of smoke certainly they could have come on out and yes they could have been saved．”
Haield called it a tragedy that was”unavoidable and horribly sad” because the miners, even though they had breathing devices, did exactly what they had been taught to do：hunker down(蹲下)and wait for rescuers．
Crews did not know the location of the miners while they awaited rescue and had no way to communicate with them．
The men appeared to have died after about 10 hours and the rescuers only arrived after about 40 hours．Eleven men died awaiting rescue, one died in the blast that caused the disaster and a 13th survived．
(1)
Which of the following is the most suitable headline for this news report?
[ ]
A．
Mine explosion kills twelve．
B．
Fallen miners were not far from safety．
C．
International Coal Group CEO expresses condolences on(衰悼)death of miners．
D．
Fear of walking long distance leads to death．
(2)
The underlined word”dense” in Paragraph 4 means ________．
[ ]
A．
poisonous
B．
harmful
C．
light
D．
thick
(3)
The underlined paragraph implies that ________．
[ ]
A．
some safety knowledge may mislead victims in a particular situation
B．
all the trapped miners could have survived if they had not hunkered down
C．
to avoid similar tragedies, it is better not to teach miners what to do in case of danger
D．
the miners’ ignorance of proper safety measures lead to the tragedy
(4)
Which of the following statements is true according to the text?
[ ]
A．
One miner survived the accident by moving to fresh air on his own．
B．
The trapped miners did not walk out to safety because they could not tell their location．
C．
The only survivor was rescued around 40 hours after the explosion．
D．
Twelve miners died after sitting trapped in the mine for about 10 hours．
阅读理解
I received pictures of my daughter floating(漂浮)on a lake in California．Right there under the sun during the hottest time of the day, she has only her swimsuit to cover her．
When I showed it to my students, it was as if I had shown them scenes from a horror(恐怖)movie．
“But she will get dark,”they said．
“That's what she wants,”I told them．“We think darker skin(肤色)is beautiful．”
They looked at me in disbelief．It was as if I came from the moon．
For years, American girls spend their summer trying to get as tanned(晒黑)as possible．In China, on the other hand, girls use umbrellas all year round．
What in the world is going on?
The pale skin we think looks unattractive(不漂亮)is what Asian women want．Both groups want to meet their culture's standard(标准)of beauty．
In the US, if you can afford to go on vacation in the summer, you head for a river, a lake or a beach, where you try to get as much sun as possible．If you are rich you take a winter vacation in some sunny spot．Your winter tan shows your wealth．
In China, once upon a time, the few wealthy were the ones who didn't have to work out in the hot sun．So the whiter the skin, the richer the woman．The folk opera performers who play these ladies wore lots of white makeup(妆容)．The tradition survives to this day．
So it comes naturally that none of my students wishes to follow the Western ways in this regard．
But now I am noticing that a new business-the tanning booth(美黑店)-started up in China．I admire those brave enough to define(给…下定义)their own idea of beauty, but I do wonder what their grandmothers would have to say to them about it!
(1)
The students were shocked at the picture the writer showed them because ________．
[ ]
A．
they thought it shameful for a girl only to wear a swimsuit
B．
the writer's daughter was wearing very little while out in the sun
C．
it is dangerous for a girl to be out on a lake alone
D．
with the powerful sunlight the writer's daughter would have got a suntan
(2)
According to the article, which kind of woman meets the American standard of beauty?
[ ]
A．
Women with blond hair．
B．
Women with a slim figure．
C．
Women with tanned skin．
D．
Women with pale skin．
(3)
In the US a winter tan usually means the person ________．
[ ]
A．
is hard-working
B．
doesn't have to work
C．
has a lot of money and spare time
D．
is from a very poor family
(4)
The writer ________ the tanning booth started up in China．
