Question

In a moment of personal crisis (危机), how much help can you expect from a New York taxi driver? I began studying this question and found the answers interesting.

One morning I got into three different taxis and announced: “Well, it’s my first day back in New York in seven years. I’ve been in prison.” Not a single driver replied, so I tried again, “Yeah, I shot a man in Reno,” I explained, hoping the driver would ask me why, so I could say casually, “Just to watch him die.” But nobody asked. The only response came from a Ghanaian driver: “Reno? That is in Nevada?”

Taxi drivers were uniformly（一致地）sympathetic when I said I’d just been fired. “This is America,” a Haitian driver said. “One door is closed. Another is open.” He argued against my plan to burn down my boss’s house: “If you do something silly and they put you away, you cannot look for another job.” A Pakistani driver even turned down a chance to profit from my loss of hope: He refused to take me to the middle of the George Washington Bridge, a $20 trip. “Why you want to go there? Go home and relax. Don’t worry. Take a new job.”

One very hot weekday in July, while wearing a red ski mask（面具）and holding a stuffed (塞满的) pillowcase with the word “BANK” on it, I tried hailing (招呼) a taxi five times outside different banks. The driver picked me up every time. My ride with Guy Caaude Thevenain, a Haitian driver, was typical of the superb（一流的）assistance I received.

“Is anyone following us?”

“No,” said the driver, looking in his rearview mirror at traffic and me.

“Let’s go across the park,” I said. “I just robbed the bank there. I got $ 25,000.”

“$25,000?” he asked.

“Yeah, you think it was wrong to take it?”

“No, man. I work 8 hours and I earn just $70. If I can do that, I do it too.”

As we approached 86, Lexington Street, I pointed to the Chemical Bank.

“Hey, there’s another bank,” I said, “Could you wait here a minute while I go inside?”

“No, I can’t wait. Pay me now.” His reluctance may have something to do with money -- taxi drivers think the rate for waiting time is too low, but I think he wanted me to learn that even a bank robber can’t expect unconditional support.

1. From the Ghanaian driver’s response, we can infer that ________.

A. he was not caring about the killing         

B. he was frightened to hear what the writer said

C. he thought the writer was a criminal       

D. he thought the writer was crazy

2. Why did the Pakistani driver refuse to give the writer a ride ?

A. He didn’t want to help the writer get over his career crisis.

B. He was in a hurry to go home and relax.

C. The place was far away.

D. He thought the writer was going to kill himself.

3. The underlined word “reluctance” in the last paragraph most probably means________.

A. anger                   B. unwillingness           C. opportunity          D. eagerness

4. What does the passage mainly discuss?

A. Honesty of taxi drivers in New York.      

B. Taxi riders’ awareness of possible dangers.

C. Taxi drivers’ attitudes towards riders.

D. Importance of the education of taxi drivers.

Answer 1

A DBC