We spent a day in the country, picking wild flowers. With the car full of flowers we were going home. On our way back my wife noticed a cupboard(柜厨)outside a furniture shop. It was tall and narrow. “Buy it,” my wife said at once. “We’ll carry it home on the roof rack. I’ve always wanted one like that.”

What could I do? Ten minutes later I was £20 poorer; and the cupboard was tied on the roof rack. It was six feet long and eighteen inches square, quite heavy too.

In the gathering darkness I drove slowly. Other drivers seemed unusually polite that evening. The police even stopped traffic to let us through. Carrying furniture was a good idea.

After a time my wife said, “There’s a long line of cars behind. Why don’t they overtake, I wonder?” In fact a police car did overtake. The two officers inside looked at us seriously as they passed. But then, with great kindness, they led us through the rush-hour traffic. The police car stopped at our village church. One of the officers came to me.

“Right, sir,” he said. “Do you need any more help?”

I was a bit puzzled. “Thanks, officer,” I said. “You have been very kind. I live just on the road.”

He was staring at our car, first at the flowers, then at the cupboard. “Well, well,” he said, laughing. “It’s a cupboard you’ve got there! We thought it was something else.”

My wife began to laugh. The truth hit me like a stone between the eyes. I smiled at the officer. “Yes, it’s a cupboard, but thanks again.” I drove home as fast as I could.

 

53. In fact the husband _______ the cupboard.

A. would like very much to buy                         B. badly wanted

C. was glad to have bought                               D. would rather not buy

54. Other drivers didn’t overtake the couple’s car because _______.

A. the rush-hour traffic was too busy                   B. they wanted to show their respect

C. their cars couldn’t run fast                            D. the couple were very important people

55. The police thought they were _______.

A. carrying a cupboard to the church                 B. sending flowers to the church

C. carrying nothing but a piece of furniture         D. going to attend a funeral at the church

56. What did the husband think of this matter?

A. It was very strange.                                     B. He felt ashamed of it.

C. He took great pride in it.                               D. He was puzzled at it.

When former American President Bill Clinton travelled to South Korea to visit President Kim Young Sam, he repeatedly referred to the Korean president's wife as Mrs. Kim. By mistake, President Clinton’ s advisers thought that Koreans have the same naming customs as the Japanese. Clinton had not been told that, in Korea, wives keep their family names. President Kim Young Sam's wife was named Sohn Myong Suk. Therefore, she should be addressed(称谓)as Mrs. Sohn.

President Clinton arrived in Korea directly after leaving Japan and had not changed his culture gears. His failure to follow Korean customs gave the impression that Korea was not as important to him as Japan.

In addition to Koreans, some Asian husbands and wives do not share the same family names. This practice often puzzles English-speaking teachers when talking with a pupil’s parents. They become puzzled about the student's correct last name. Placing the family name first is common among a number of Asian cultures.

Mexican naming customs are different as well. When a woman marries, she keeps her family name and adds her husband's name after the word de(of). This affects how they fill in forms in the United States. When requested to fill in a middle name, they generally write the father's family name. But Mexicans are addressed by the family name of the mother. This often causes puzzlement.

Here are a few ways to deal with such difficult situations: don’t always think that a married woman uses her husband's last name. Remember that in many Asian cultures, the order of first and last names is reversed. Ask which name a person would prefer to use. If the name is difficult to pronounce, admit it, and ask the person to help you say it correctly.

 

49. The story of Bill Clinton is used to__________.

A. improve US-Korean relations          B. introduce the topic of the text

C. describe his visit to Korea             D. tell us how to address a person

50. The word "gears" in paragraph 2 is closest in meaning to_______.

A. action plans   B. naming customs    C. travel maps  D. thinking patterns

51. When a woman marries in Korea, she ___________.

A. continues to use her family name         B. uses her husband's given name

C. shares her husband's family name        D. adds her husband's given name to hers

52. To address a married woman properly, you'd better______.

A. use her middle name                      B. use her husband's first name

C. ask her which name she likes          D. change the order of her names

   Many people will remember the flight of the space shuttle (航天飞机) Challenger, in June, 1983.The achievement of Sally Ride, America’s first woman astronaut to fly into space, made this flight especially memorable. Students from two Camden, New Jersey, high schools, however, are probably to remember Norma rather than Sally whenever they think about the flight.

       Norma didn’t travel alone. She brought about 100 companions along with her. Norma was an ant, a queen ant who, with her subject, made up the first ant colony (群体) to travel into space. The ants were part of a science experiment designed by students to test the effects of weightlessness on insects.

       The equipment designed by the students for their colony functioned perfectly throughout the long space trip. The young scientists and their teachers were very sad to find that their insect astronauts had all died at some point before the container was returned to the school and opened. The problem didn’t occur in space, but on the ground after challenger had landed. The container remained in the desert for nearly a week before the ant colony was moved. The hot, dry desert air dried out the colony’s container and the ants died from lack of moisture (水分).

       The project was termed success because it did provide useful information. Students will continue their efforts to pinpoint (精确找到) what went wrong. They will try to prevent the same difficulties from reoccurring on future missions. They don’t want to be discouraged either by the demise of the ants or by the $10,000 shuttle fare they will have to pay to send the next colony of ants into space.

 

73.What does the passage mainly tell us?

  A.Sally Ride, America’s first woman astronaut.

  B.How to keep ants alive in space.

  C.How to make equipment for insects in space.

  D.An experiment with ants in space.

74.According to the passage, we know that the underlined word “demise” is another word for “__________”.

    A.death           B.colony             C.insect              D.moisture

75.We don’t think the project was a failure. This is because _________.

  A.everything went as smoothly as expected

  B.the students had pinpointed exactly the reason

  C.something important had been learned

  D.the students had succeeded in the experiment

76.We can conclude that ants __________ on the next space trip.

    A.will have to be kept alive in a container full of water               

    B.will have to be sent into space with the first woman astronaut

    C.should be put into a container where there is enough food

  D.should be put into a container which is not too dry

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