It was about midday. I’d left work early in the morning to cash a cheque. I walked along to the bank, and found that there weren’t too many people about ten or eleven customers in there, which was pretty unusual for those central city banks.

    I waited until it was my turn and just went up to the desk and started to talk to the bank clerk. He had a really strange expression on his face -- just sort of blank stare at least I thought he was looking at me and then I realized he was staring over my shoulder.

    I began to turn round to see what he was looking at. At the same moment the outside bank guard came flying through the door and lay face down on the floor and following him through the door were three frightening masked men. They were carrying guns; at least I think the one in front was carrying a gun. Whether or not they said anything at that point I can’t remember to this day, or whether people just automatically put their hands up I’ve just no idea.

    For a few moments there was just total silence, suddenly broken by the telephone ringing and I remember thinking and wondering who was on the other end of the telephone. Nobody went to answer the telephone, so this thing just kept on ringing and ringing. Then two of the masked men went to the counter, jumped over it and got the cashiers and the bank clerks to start filling the bags with cash. While the two were getting the money, the one at the door who was covering us with the gun was a bit frightened. He started swearing at them, and telling them to hurry up, to get a move on. They jumped back over the counter. One of them slipped as he landed on the floor and fell over and the other two swore at him again. They left through the door. Warning us, “Don’t move, stay like that with your hands up for ten minutes.” And then they just disappeared. Again back to total silence. People put their hands down, I put my hands down but I just stayed exactly where I was.

What does the writer mean by saying “…a pretty unusual number for those central banks” in the first paragraph?

    A. More customers than usual were staying in the bank.

    B. Less bank clerks than expected were in the bank.

    C. There were often more than a dozen customers in the bank.

    D. More banks should be open to serve customers in the city center.

The bank clerk wore a blank expression on his face probably because ________.

    A. he was feeling upset at that moment

    B. he felt puzzled and sensed something terrible

    C. he was required to keep silence

    D. he was threatened with a gun by robbers

Which of the following is true according to the passage?

    A. The customers didn’t wait in line but jumped the queue because of the confusion.

    B. All the people in the bank except the writer put their hands up automatically.

    C. Nobody answered the phone because all the clerks were busy with work.

    D. the bank workers were forced to fill the robbers’ bags with cash.

What’s the best title of this passage?

    A. A Street Gang              B. A Strange Bank

    C. A Bank Robbery            D. A Horrible Adventure

We once had a poster competition in our fifth grade art class.

 “You could win prizes,’’our teacher told US as she wrote the poster information on the blackboard. She passed out sheets of construction paper while continuing,“The first prize is ten dollars. You just have to make sure that the words on the blackboard appear somewhere on your poster. ”

We studied the board critically. Some of US looked with one eye and held up certain colors against the blackboard,rocking the sheets to the fight or left while we conjured up our designs. Others twisted their hair around their fingers or chewed their erasers while deep in thought. We had plans for that ten—dollar grand prize,each and every one of US. I'm going to spend mine on candies,one hopeful would announce,while another practiced looking serious,wise and rich.

Everyone in the class made a poster. Some of us used parts of those fancy paper napkins, while others used nothing but colored construction paper. Some of US used big designs,and some of us preferred to gather our art tidily down in one comer of our poster and let the space draw the viewer's attention to it. Some of US would wander past the good students’ desks and then return to our own projects with a growing sense of hopelessness. It was yet another grown-up trick of the soil they seemed especially fond of。making all of US believe we had a fair chance,and then always—always—rewarding the same old winners.

I believe I drew a sailboat,but I can’t say that with any certainty. I made it. I admired it. I determined it to be the very best of all of the posters I had seen,and then I turned it in.

Minutes passed.

No one came along to give me the grand prize,and then someone distracted me,and I probably never would have thought about that poster again.

I was still sitting at my desk,thinking,What poster? When the teacher gave me an envelope with a ten-dollar bill in it and everyone in the class applauded for me.

46. What was the teacher's requirement for the poster?

A. It must appear in time.

B. It must be done in class.

C. It must be done on a construction sheet.

D. It must include the words on the blackboard.

47. The underlined phrase in paragraph 3 most probably means _____________.

A. formed an idea for

B. made an outline for

C. made some space for

D. chose some colors for

48. After the teacher’s words,all the students in the class _________.

A. 1ooked very serious

B. thought they would be rich

C. began to think about their designs

D. began to play games

49. After seeing the good students’ designs,some students _________.

A. 1oved their own designs more

B. thought they had a fair chance

C. put their own designs in a comer

D. thought they would not win the prize

50. We can infer from the passage that the author ______________.

A. enjoyed grown-up tricks very much

B. 1oved poster competitions very much

C. felt surprised to win the competition

D. became wise and rich after the competition

My newly-rented small apartment was far away from the centre of London and it was becoming essential for me to find a job, so finally I spent a whole morning getting to town and putting my name down to be considered by London Transport for a job on the underground. They were looking for guards, not drivers. This suited me. I couldn’t drive a car but thought that I could probably guard a train, and perhaps continue to write my poems between stations. The writers Keats and Chekhov had been doctors. T.S. Eliot had worked in a bank and Wallace Stevens for an insurance company. I’d be a subway guard. I could see myself being cheerful, useful, a good man in a crisis(艰难危险时期). Obviously I’d be overqualified but I was willing to forget about that in return for a steady income and travel privileges — those being particularly welcome to someone living a long way from the city centre.

The next day I sat down, with almost a hundred other candidates, for the intelligence test. I must have done all right because after about half an hour’s wait I was sent into another room for a psychological test. This time there were only about fifty candidates. The interviewer sat at a desk. Candidates were signaled forward to occupy the seat opposite him when the previous occupant had been dismissed, after a greater or shorter time. Obviously the long interviews were the more successful ones. Some of the interviews were as short as five minutes. Mine was the only one that lasted a minute and a half.

I can remember the questions now: “Why did you leave your last job?” “Why did you leave your job before that?” “And the one before that?” I can’t recall my answers, except that they were short at first and grew progressively shorter. His closing statement, I thought, revealed a lack of sensitivity which helped to explain why as a psychologist, he had risen no higher than the underground railway. “You’ve failed the psychological test and we are unable to offer you a position.”

Failing to get that job was my low point. Or so I thought, believing that the work was easy. Actually, such jobs — being a postman is another one I still desire — demand exactly the sort of elementary yet responsible awareness that the habitual dreamer is least qualified to give. But I was still far short of full self-understanding. I was also short of cash.

The writer applied for the job chiefly because _________.

A.he wanted to work in the centre of London    

B.he could no longer afford to live without one

C.he was not interested in any other available job 

D.he had received some suitable training

The writer thought he was overqualified for the job because _________.

A.he often traveled underground           B.he had written many poems

C.he could deal with difficult situations    D.he had worked in a company

The length of his interview meant that _________.

A.he was not going to be offered the job    B.he had not done well in the intelligence test

C.he did not like the interviewer at all      D.he had little work experience to talk about

What does the writer realize now that he did not realize then?

A.How unpleasant ordinary jobs can be.   B.How difficult it is to be a poet.

C.How unsuitable he was for the job.    D.How badly he did in the interview.

What’s the writer’s opinion of the psychologist?

A. He was very aggressive(有进取心的).      B. He was unhappy with his job.

C. He was quite inefficient.                    D. He was rather unsympathetic.

Some people bring out the best in you in a way that you might never have fully realized on your own. My mom was one of those people.

My father died when I was nine months old, making my mom a single mother at the age of eighteen. While I was growing up, we lived a very hard life. We had little money, but my mom gave me a lot of love. Each night, she sat me on her lap and spoke the words that would change my life, “Kemmons, you are certain to be a great man and you can do anything in life if you work hard enough to get it.”

At fourteen, I was hit by a car and the doctors said I would never walk again. Every day, my mother spoke to me in her gentle, loving voice, telling me that no matter what those doctors said, I could walk again if I wanted to badly enough. She drove that message so deep into my heart that I finally believed her. A year later, I returned to school—walking on my own!

When the Great Depression(大萧条)hit, my mom lost her job. Then I left school to support the both of us. At that moment, I was determined never to be poor again.

Over the years, I experienced various levels of business success. But the real turning point occurred(出现)on a vacation I took with my wife and five kids in 1951. I was dissatisfied with the second-class hotels available for families and was angry that they charged an extra $2 for each child. That was too expensive for the average American family. I told my wife that I was going to open a motel(汽车旅馆)for families that would never charge extra for children. There were plenty of doubters at that time.

Not surprisingly, mom was one of my strongest supporters. She worked behind the desk and even designed the room style. As in any business, we experienced a lot of challenges. But with my mother’s words deeply rooted in my soul, I never doubted we would succeed. Fifteen years later, we had the largest hotel system in the world—Holiday Inn. In 1979 my company had 1759 inns in more than fifty countries with an income of $1 billion a year.

You may not have started out life in the best situations. But if you can find a task in life worth working for and believe in yourself, nothing can stop you.

61. What Kemmons’ mom often told him during his childhood was_______.

A. caring                      B. moving        C. encouraging                D. interesting

62. According to the author, who played the most important role in making him walk back to school again?

A. Doctors.                  B. Nurses.                          

C. Friends.                   D. Mom.

63. What caused Kemmons to start a motel by himself?

A. His mom’s support.              

B. His previous business success of various levels.

C. His terrible experience in the hotel. 

 D. His wife’s suggestion.

64. Which of the following best describes Kemmons’ mother?

A. Modest, helpful and hard-working.          

B. Careful, helpful and beautiful.

C. Loving, supportive and strong-willed.       

 D. Strict, sensitive and supportive.

65. Which of the following led to Kemmons’ success according to the passage?

A. Self-confidence, hard work, higher-education and a poor family.

B. Mom’s encouragement, a poor family, higher education and opportunities.

C. Clear goals,mom’s encouragement, a poor family and higher education.

D. Mom’s encouragement, clear goals, self-confidence and hard work.

I got interested in the idea of standing desks about a year ago. The health advantages of standing instead of sitting for eight hours a day are clear, so when the company Ergotron invited me to review their WorkFit C-Mod Dual Desk, I jumped out of my chair---really.
After several hours putting the desk together, I finally got to try it out. The standing desk had a desktop that I could use for writing.
At first I absolutely loved it. Standing during the day instead of sitting was fantastic. Although I felt more tired after all that standing during the day, I knew the health benefits were worth the slight discomfort. However, after the initial novelty (新奇)of the desk wore off, I realized that I could not use it in the long term.
It was just not practical. While using the desk for a month , I could definitely foresee problems arising from using it full time.
I enjoy having a lot of things on my desk. The standing desk just did not have enough room for all of my things.
I can easily foresee awkward situations when I put that desk in an office space. When someone comes into your office, does your guest have to stand as well? If you office is big enough, maybe you have room for two chairs for you and a visitor, which is great. Yet for the ordinary worker in a small office, the standing desk creates a very awkward situation.
Additionally, the amount of money I would have to spend to replace my current workspace with a standing desk was another issue. The desks I have looked at were highly expensive.
Yes, spending the day standing can offset(抵消) many of the negative effects of too much sitting, but we humans are designed for movement. Through activity changes like taking the stairs instead of the elevator, you can easily increase the time you spend on your feet. Best of all, those options are completely free.
【小题1】When the author was asked to try the standing desk out, he was ____.

A.excitedB.surprisedC.unhappyD.uninterested
【小题2】When first using the standing desk, the author ___.
A.thought it was boringB.thought it was wonderful
C.felt less tired than usualD.felt quite uncomfortable
【小题3】According to the author, a standing desk ____.
A.takes up too much spaceB.is suitable for long-term use
C.is cheaper than traditional desksD.is impractical though good for health
【小题4】What does the author mainly tell us in the text?
A.How to use the standing desk.B.What he does during the workday.
C.His opinion on the standing desk.D.The advantage of the standing desk.

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