My mind seems always to return to the day when I met
Carl. The city bus stopped at a corner to pick up the daily commuters (someone
who travels regularly to and from work), a group in which I was included.
Boarding the bus, I looked for a place to sit. At last, I found a place near
the back.
The man in the seat next to the one I was going for
was an older man in a grey suit, well-worn dress shoes, and a black hat like I
always pictured reporters wearing, but without the little press card. Seated, I
began to read the book I had been carrying, which was Jack Kerouac’s On the
Road. The man in the seat next to me introduced himself by asking if I had read
any other book like the one I was holding. When I told him I had, he seemed to
become interested, and so did I. He introduced himself as Carl and asked if I
liked jazz, and I told him that I didn’t really listen to it, and that I liked
rock and roll. Waiting for Carl to tell me that I should listen to real music,
I was shocked when he just smiled and nodded. He said, "You remind me of
myself when I was your age. I remember how my parents hated jazz and how they
couldn’t see how I could listen to that awful noise. I bet your parents say the
same thing, don’t they?" Now it was my turn to smile, amused with how
right he was.
As the bus carried us from one side of the city to the
other, Carl and I talked about a lot of different things. The more we talked,
the more amazed I became at how much the two of us really had in common,
despite the age difference. I haven’t seen him since we parted, but the thought
of our connection that day rarely leaves my mind.
Carl really made
me think about how much we can learn from each other if we just break through
the blocks between us we’ve got. I mean, I would have never thought before that
day that I could have anything in common with someone so much older than I. But
Carl taught me that no matter what we are, we are all just people, and that we
should make an extra effort to try and get to know our neighbors and people we
see every day, regardless of age, race, religion, sex, or anything else. If we
all take the time to attempt to understand each other, I think that the world
would be a much better place that we could share together, as humans.
1.From the first paragraph we know that the author
_____________.
A. did not mind whether there was a seat or not
B. hoped to have a seat when getting on the bus
C. thought the bus was overcrowded
D. looked for a seat but failed
2.The author usually imagined a reporter as one who
_____________.
A. liked jazz music
B. enjoyed talking with others
C. liked reading Jack Kerouac’s works
D. usually wore a black hat and press card
3. After talking with Carl, the author realized that
_____________.
A. older people were nice to talk to
B. he should have known Carl earlier
C. his parents were so different from Carl in
listening to music
D. age was not necessarily a problem in heart-to-heart
communication
4.It can be inferred from the passage that _________.
A. the author hasn’t seen the old man since then
B. jazz music used to be more popular than rock and
roll
C. the author was not satisfied with human
relationships in the world
D. Carl made the author realize we humans live in
peace and brotherhood
