题目内容
Last Christmas was a very difficult time for me. My family and all of my close friends were back home in Florida, and I was all alone in a rather cold California. I was working too many hours and became very sick.
I was working a double shift at the Southwest Airlines ticket counter, it was about 9:00 PM on Christmas Eve, and I was feeling really miserable inside. There were a few of us working and very few customers waiting to be helped. When it was time for me to call the next person to the counter, I looked out to see the sweetest-looking old man standing with a cane. He walked very slowly over to the counter and in the faintest voice told me that he had to go to New Orleans. I tried to explain to him that there were no more flights that night and that he would have to go in the morning. He looked so confused and very worried. I tried to find out more information by asking if he had a reservation or if he remembered when he was supposed to travel, but he seemed to become more confused with each question. He just kept saying, “She said I have to go to New Orleans.”
After much time, I was able to at least find out that this old man had been dropped off at the curb on Christmas Eve by his sister-in-law and told to go to New Orleans, where he had family. She had given him some cash and told him just to go inside and buy a ticket. When I asked if he could come back tomorrow, he said that she was gone and that he had no place to stay. He then said he would wait at the airport until tomorrow. Naturally, I felt a little ashamed. Here I was feeling very sorry for myself about being alone on Christmas, when this angel named Clarence MacDonald was sent to me to remind me of what being alone really meant. It broke my heart.
Immediately, I told him we would get it all straightened out, and our Customer Service agent helped to book him a seat for the earliest flight the next morning. We gave him the senior citizen’s fare, which gave him some extra money for travelling. About this time he started to look very tired, and when I stepped around the counter to ask him if he was all right, I saw that his leg was wrapped in a bandage. He had been standing on it that whole time, holding a plastic bag full of clothes.
I called for a wheelchair. When the wheelchair came, we all stepped around to help him in, and I noticed a small amount of blood on his bandage. I asked how he hurt his leg, and he said that he had just had bypass surgery and an artery was taken from his leg. Can you imagine? This man had had heart surgery, and then shortly afterward, was dropped off at the curb to buy a ticket with no reservation to fly to New Orleans, alone!
I never really had a situation like this, and I wasn’t sure what I could do. I went back to ask my supervisors if we could find a place for him to stay. They both said yes, and they obtained a hotel voucher for Mr. MacDonald for one night and a meal ticket for dinner and breakfast. When I came back out, we got his plastic bag of clothes and cane together and gave the porter a tip to take him downstairs to wait for the airport shuttle. I bent down to explain the hotel, food and itinerary (行程) again to Mr. MacDonald, and then patted him on the arm and told him everything would be just fine.
As he left he said, “Thank you,” bent his head and started to cry. I cried too. When I went back to thank my supervisor, she just smiled and said, “I love stories like that. He is your Christmas Man.”
【小题1】Last Christmas the writer had a miserable time because ______.
A.there were more customers than usual waiting to be helped |
B.it was freezing cold in California at Christmas time |
C.she was working all alone at the ticket counter |
D.she was far away from her family and friends |
A.gentle-looking and weak | B.tired out and worried |
C.confused and very sick | D.sad and anxious |
A.see his friends there |
B.spend the Christmas with his family |
C.visit his sister-in-law |
D.undergo heart surgery |
A.she felt sorry that she couldn’t do the old man a favor |
B.she realized that someone was even more miserable than she felt |
C.it took her a long time to find out how helpless the old man was |
D.the old man was like an angel in the writer’s eyes |
A.the old man had broken his leg when he was dropped off at the curb |
B.the old man could spend the whole night on it at the airport |
C.the old man was carrying a whole lot of clothes |
D.the old man had had surgery just before and was very weak by then |
A.the old man had told the writer a love story on Christmas |
B.the old man had caused a lot of trouble for the writer on Christmas |
C.the old man was the best gift the writer could have received on Christmas |
D.the old man was the only customer the writer had served on Christmas |
【小题1】D
【小题2】A
【小题3】B
【小题4】B
【小题5】D
【小题6】C
解析试题分析:作者讲述因为远离家人和朋友开始觉得孤独,在帮助了那位老人之后,这种孤独感已不是那么明显了。她觉得老人是她圣诞节收到的最好的礼物。
【小题1】细节题:从第一段的句子:My family and all of my close friends were back home in Florida, and I was all alone in a rather cold California.可知是因为远离家人和朋友使作者感到痛苦。选D
【小题2】细节题:从第二段的句子:I looked out to see the sweetest-looking old man standing with a cane. He walked very slowly over to the counter and in the faintest voice told me that he had to go to New Orleans.可知作者对老人的第一印象是绅士也很虚弱。选A
【小题3】细节题:从第三段的句子:After much time, I was able to at least find out that this old man had been dropped off at the curb on Christmas Eve by his sister-in-law and told to go to New Orleans, where he had family.可知老人想去 New Orleans.是和家人共度圣诞节。选B
【小题4】推理题:从第三段的句子:when this angel named Clarence MacDonald was sent to me to remind me of what being alone really meant. It broke my heart.可以推断出作者感到羞愧是因为她知道有人比她更痛苦。选B
【小题5】细节题:从第四段的句子:and he said that he had just had bypass surgery and an artery was taken from his leg. Can you imagine? This man had had heart surgery,可知老人刚刚做过手术,还很弱。选D
【小题6】推理题:在帮助了那位老人之后,这种孤独感已不是那么明显了,说明老人是她圣诞节收到的最好的礼物。选C
考点:考查故事类短文
点评:本文推断题居多,答题时在文章找到对应的地方,用笔进行标记,这有利于后期有时间检查时可以立刻找到答案的位置。仔细理解作者所讲的意思,再结合选项,通过排除法和自己对全文的把握,选出正确答案。
Some couples spend every waking minute together. Others fill their hours with personal hobbies,outside interests and even part-time jobs, just to keep their distance from each other! "There should be private time and couple time," suggests Dr. Stephen Treat at Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia."You don't want your latter years to turn into a process where two people unite as one. If you hold too tightly to your partner, it's going to cause resentment and anger. If you're completely separate, you'll both be lonely and disconnected. You need balance. So you have to talk about how you'll achieve that."
The right balance? It's different for every couple. "Having a conversation about time can be difficult,but it's important for both partners to process those feelings out loud," Dr. Treat says. "You should not be accusing and act as a judge—ask the difficult questions, but do it in a loving way. You could say something like, 'How are we going to be as individuals and how are we going to be as a couple?' "
Barbara and Chris Christensen have achieved the balance that works for them. In addition to daily routines that keep them close—including about 10 minutes for a daily check-in and about a half hour of relaxation time—they each maintain separate interests and friendships.
"We have found that we need time apart," Barbara says. "I have a group of women friends that I have known for the last 30 years. We have dinner out once a month. We women also have parties and weekend or weeklong vacations as a group at a beach or somewhere. Chris, a former fighter pilot, has many aviation-oriented(航空的) groups and friends and also a poker-playing group of our friends. I may be with him during the poker night, but I don't play, and the wives usually watch a chick flick' DVD or something while the poker group has an evening of fun. We have found it important to have separate time as well as together time."
【小题1】The author writes the passage to ______.
A.offer some suggestions on how to spend the time after retirement |
B.advise couples to develop their separate hobbies |
C.warn couples not to be accusing each other |
D.give people some advice on how to entertain themselves after retirement |
A.couples stay together all the time |
B.couples express their feelings in a loving way |
C.couples be separate |
D.wives make many friends |
A.many couples are faced with problems after retirement |
B.America has a large population of retired people |
C.most people join various social groups after retirement |
D.playing poker is a popular activity among retired people |
A.having dinner regularly |
B.holding parties |
C.having weekly vacations at the beach |
D.having fun playing poker |
A.warn the husband not to act as a judge |
B.suggest couples have discussions about difficulties |
C.suggest how to keep the correct balance |
D.require couples to be considerate |
Bungee jumping is an activity about jumping from a tall structure while connected to a large elastic cord(有弹性的绳子). The tall structure is usually a fixed object, such as a building, bridge or crane; but it is also possible to jump from a movable object, such as a hot-air balloon or helicopter, that has the ability to stay over one place on the ground; fixed-wing aircraft are unsuitable because they only stay high when moving quickly forward.
When the person jumps, the cord stretches to absorb (吸收)the energy of the fall, then the jumper flies upwards again as the cord jumps back. The jumper oscillates(摆动)up and down until all the energy is used up.
The word bungee first appeared around 1930 and was the name for a rubber eraser. The first modern bungee jumps were made on 1 April 1979 from the 250-foot Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol, by David Kirk, Chris Baker and Alan Weston of the Dangerous Sports Club. The jumpers continued with jumps in the US from the Golden Gate and Royal Gorge bridges, spreading the concept worldwide. By 1982 they were jumping from mobile cranes and hot-air balloons. Later they put on commercial(商业的)shows, which began in 1986.
As with any sport, injuries can still happen, and there have been deaths. A relatively common mistake in the cases that may cause death is to use a cord that is too long. The cord should be fully shorter than the height of the jumping place to allow it room to jumper either starts to slow down or keeps speeding up depending upon the speed of falling.
【小题1】Which of the following is NOT suitable for bungee jumping?
A.The fixed-wing aircraft | B.The helicopter |
C.The hot-air balloon | D.The mobile crane |
A.who suits bungee jumping |
B.the principle of bungee jumping |
C.the material used for bungee jumping |
D.the danger of bungee jumping |
A.the weight of the jumper |
B.the height of the jumping place |
C.the length of the cord |
D.the speed of the falling |
A.teach people how to carry out a bungee jumping |
B.remind people of the danger of bungee jumping |
C.advise people not to take the risk of bungee jumping |
D.introduce some knowledge about bungee jumping |