A traveler lost his way and got off the highway to see where he was. As he drove by, he saw rows and rows of pigpens and pigs running in fields. Suddenly, his eyes caught something really strange. It looked like a pig with a wooden leg.

   He drove up into the arm, where he met the farmer. “ Excuse me, ” the traveler said. “ I was just driving by and looking at all your pigs, and I just had to stop and ask about it. Tell me, is there really a pig out there with a wooden leg?” The farmer smiled. “ Oh, that would be old Caesar you saw. He’s the finest pig I’ve ever had ---and smart! Well, let me tell you a little about that pig.”

   “ One night a couple of years ago I got to drinking and I guess I had more than I should have. I fell down and knocked over a lamp. That started a fire in the house and old Caesar smelled the smoke. He came in the back door, got the wife and kid out, roused me up and got me out. There is no question about it ---- that night old Caesar saved all our lives. You know that I’m not going to forget it too easily.”

   “ Why,” the traveler said, “ this is amazing! I have never heard of a pig like this before! This is fantastic! But tell me, how did he get that wooden leg?”

   The farmer laughed and said, “ Well, when you have a pig so smart, you don’t want to eat him all at one time!”

1.The farmer thought the pig _______.

A. very fat    B. very clever    C. very kind    D. very strange

2.The passage indicates that _______.

A. the pig lost a leg in the fire

B. the farmer deeply thanked the pig

C. the pig had a very good keeper

D. the real leg had been eaten by the farmer

3.The author wants to _______.

A. report a piece of news

B. tell us a moving story

C. tell us a humorous story

D. have a joke with us

 

In 1974, after filling out fifty applications, going through four interviews, and winning one offer, I took what I could get ----- a teaching job at what I considered a distant wild area: western New Jersey. My characteristic optimism was alive only when I reminded myself that I would be doing what I had wanted to do since I was fourteen ------- teaching English.

School started, but I felt more and more as if I were in a foreign country. Was this rural area really New Jersey? My students took a week off when hunting season began. I was told they were also frequently absent in late October to help their fathers make hay on the farms. I was a young woman from New York City, who thought that “Make hay while the sun shines” just meant to have a good time.

But, still, I was teaching English. I worked hard, taking time off only to eat and sleep. And then there was my sixth-grade class ---- seventeen boys and five girls who were only six years younger than me. I had a problem long before I knew it. I was struggling in my work as a young idealistic teacher. I wanted to make literature come alive and to promote a love of the written word. The students wanted to throw spitballs and whisper dirty words in the back of the room.

In college I had been taught that a successful educator should ignore bad behavior. So I did, confident that, as the textbook had said, the bad behavior would disappear as I gave my students positive attention. It sounds reasonable, but the text evidently ignored the fact that humans, particularly teenagers, rarely seems reasonable. By the time my boss, who was also my taskmaster, known to be the strictest, most demanding, most quick to fire inexperienced teachers, came into the classroom to observe me, the students exhibited very little good behavior to praise.

My boss sat in the back of the room. The boys in the class were making animal noises, hitting each other while the girls filed their nails or read magazines. I just pretended it all wasn’t happening, and went on lecturing and tried to ask some inspiring questions. My boss, sitting in the back of the classroom, seemed to be growing bigger and bigger. After twenty minutes he left, silently. Visions of unemployment marched before my eyes.

I felt mildly victorious that I got through the rest of class without crying, but at my next free period I had to face him. I wondered if he would let me finish out the day. I walked to his office, took a deep breath, and opened the door.

He was sitting in his chair, and he looked at me long and hard. I said nothing. All I could think of was that I was not an English teacher; I had been lying to myself, pretending that everything was fine.

When he spoke, he said simply, without accusation, “You had nothing to say to them.”

“You had nothing to say to them”. he repeated.” No wonder they are bored. Why not get to the meat of literature and stop talking about symbolism. Talk with them, not at them. And more important, why do you ignore their bad behavior”? We talked. He named my problems and offered solutions. We role-played. He was the bad student, and I was the forceful, yet, warm, teacher

As the year progressed, we spent many hours discussing literature and ideas about human beings and their motivations. He helped me identify my weaknesses and strengths. In short, he made a teacher of me by teaching me the reality of Emerson’s words: “The secret to education lies in respecting the pupil.”

Fifteen years later I still drive that same winding road to the same school. Thanks to the help I received that difficult first year, the school is my home now.

1. It can be inferred from the story that in 1974 ________________.

A.the writer became an optimistic person

B.the writer was very happy about her new job

C.it was rather difficult to get a job in the USA

D.it was easy to get a teaching job in New Jersey

2.According to the passage, which of the following is most probably the writer’s problem as a new teacher?

A.She had blind trust in what she learnt at college.

B.She didn’t ask experienced teachers for advice.

C.She took too much time off to eat and sleep.

D.She didn’t like teaching English literature.

3.What is the writer’s biggest worry after her taskmaster’s observation of her class?

A.She might lose her teaching job.

B.She might lose her students’ respect.

C.She couldn’t teach the same class any more.

D.She couldn’t ignore her students’ bad behavior any more.

4.Which of the following gives the writer a sense of mild victory?

A.Her talk about symbolism sounded convincing.

B.Her students behaved a little better than usual.

C.She managed to finish the class without crying.

D.She was invited for a talk by her boss after class.

5.The students behaved badly in the writer’s classes because

A.They were eager to embarrass her.

B.She didn’t really understand them.

C.They didn’t regard her as a good teacher.

D.She didn’t have a good command of English.

6.The taskmaster’s attitude towards the writer after his observation of her class can be described as________________.

A.cruel but encouraging                    B.fierce but forgiving

C.sincere and supportive                   D.angry and aggressive

 

Some years ago when I was in my first year in college, I heard Salome Bey sing for the first time. The moment was exciting. Salome’s   1. filled the room and brought the theater to life. I was so   2.  that I decided to write an article about her.

I   3.  Salome Bey, telling her I was from Essence magazine, and that I wanted to meet her to talk about her career. She   4.  and told me to come to her studio next Tuesday. When I hung up, I was scared out of my mind. I   5.  I was lying. I was not a writer at all and hadn’t even written a grocery list.

I interviewed Salome Bey the next Tuesday. I sat there   6. , taking notes and asking questions that all began with, “Can you tell me…” I soon realized that   7.  Salome Bey was one thing, but writing a story for a national magazine was just impossible. The   8.  was almost unbearable. I struggled for days   9.  draft after draft. Finally I put my manuscript (手稿) into a large envelope and dropped it into a mailbox.

It didn’t take long. My manuscript   10. . How stupid of me! I thought. How could I   11.  in a world of professional writers? Knowing I couldn’t   12.  the rejection letter, I threw the unopened envelope into a drawer.

Five years later, I was moving to California. While   13.  my apartment, I came across the unopened envelope. This time I opened it and read the editor’s letter in   14. :

Ms. Profit,

Your story on Salome Bey is fantastic. Yet we need some more relevant materials. Please   15.  those and return the article immediately. We would like to   16.  your story soon.

Shocked, it took me a long time to   17. . Fear of rejection cost me dearly. I lost at least five hundred dollars and the chance of having my article appear in a major magazine. More importantly, I lost years of   18.  writing. Today, I have become a full-time writer.   19.  this experience, I’ve learned a very important lesson: You can’t   20.  to doubt yourself.

21.               A.voice          B.joy            C.smile D.speech

 

22.               A.proud          B.moved         C.satisfied   D.active

 

23.               A.visited         B.emailed        C.interviewed    D.phoned

 

24.               A.refused        B.agreed         C.hesitated  D.paused

 

25.               A.explained       B.discovered      C.knew D.replied

 

26.               A.seriously       B.nervously       C.patiently   D.quietly

 

27.               A.fooling         B.blaming        C.inviting    D.urging

 

28.               A.hardship        B.failure         C.comment  D.pressure

 

29.               A.on            B.by             C.with  D.in

 

30.               A.disappeared     B.improved       C.spread    D.returned

 

31.               A.compare       B.survive         C.compete  D.struggle

 

32.               A.face           B.deliver         C.ignore D.receive

 

33.               A.decorating      B.repairing       C.leaving    D.cleaning

 

34.               A.anxiety         B.disbelief        C.horror    D.trouble

 

35.               A.increase        B.replace         C.add  D.mix

 

36.               A.broadcast       B.create         C.assess D.publish

 

37.               A.concentrate     B.prepare        C.escape    D.recover

 

38.               A.energetic       B.enjoyable       C.typical D.endless

 

39.               A.Holding on to    B.Dating back to    C.Looking back on D.Dropping in on

 

40.               A.afford          B.attempt        C.expect    D.pretend

 

 

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