题目内容
阅读理解
When the mills and mines were still open around Hebden Bridge, a northern English town, playing children showered the streets with sparks from the iron plates on their woodenclogs (木底鞋), the only shoos they could afford.
“At one time, they were the cheapest kind of footwear, ”said master clog-maker John Merrick, 62. “They used to use clogs in the mills. You would walk to Work in the morning and all you could hear was the chick-clock of the sales.”
Merrick, who has been making clogs since he started as a teenage apprentice (学徒) 47 years ago, can remember when he was paid just 1.50 pounds (US $ 2) for a dozen pairs of the shoos, whose leather tops and iron bottoms are nailed to wooden soles. Three decades ago, he sold 500 pairs of metal tipped industrial clogs a week to the Ford Motor Company for workers to wear in their factories.“That’s before they got all those robots,(机械设备)” he said, swinging his arms to imitate automation (自动控制). “We used to be really, really busy.”
Today, clogs cost 30 pounds (US $ 42) to 50 pounds a pair. Merrick, who can nail together a shoe in minutes, makes about 100 pairs a week.
One of the last clog-makers in Britain-he knows of only two others-Merrick says he does not know when he retires. He will have to train his successor (继承者)at Walkley’s Clog Factory in Hebden Bridge how to pull leather over wooden soles an tap on the traditional horseshoe-shaped irons underneath.
In his workshop by a canal, Merrick sells wooden-soledpatent leather (漆皮) clogs, open-toed sandals (凉鞋),industrial steel-toed work boots and mini-clogs that customers can hang over the dashboards (汽车的仪表板) of their cars. Enthusiasts can pick up a clog purse or even a pair of clog earrings(耳饰). Merrick said he still gets orders from brickyards(砖厂)and glass companies for industrial clogs.
1.When Merrick was an apprentice, a pair of clogs cost ________.
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2.The word“shower” ( in Para. 1)most probably means ________.
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3.Today, Merrick sells his clogs to ________.
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4.Comparing to 3 decades ago, the different situation in making clogs is ________.
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A.more and more people become enthusiastic about clogs
B.Merrick becomes busier and busier
C.clogs cost more and mare
D.Merrick got mare. and more orders from brickyard
5.which of the following statements is true?
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A.Merrick is the only one who masters the skill of clog-making.
B.Merrick will give way to his successor very soon.
C.Merrick can make different kinds of clogs.
D.The children in the past liked clogs more than the children today.
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