题目内容
Hobbs was an orphan（孤儿）. He worked in a factory and every day he got a little money. Hard work made him thin and weak. He wanted to borrow a lot of money to learn to paint pictures, but he did not think he could pay off the debts.
One day a lawyer said to him, “One thousand dollars, and here is the money.” As Hobbs took the package of notes, he was very dumbfounded. He didn’t know where the money came from and how to spend it. He said to himself, “I could go to find a hotel and live like a rich man for a few days; or I give up my work in the factory and do what I’d like to do: painting pictures. I could do that for a few weeks, but what would I do after that? I should have lost my place in the factory and have no money to live on. If it were a little less money, I would buy a new coat, or a radio, or give a dinner to my friends. If it were more, I could give up the work and pay for painting pictures. But it’s too much for one and too little for the other.”
“Here is the reading of your uncle’s will（遗嘱）,” said the lawyer, “telling what is to be done with this money after his death. I must ask you to remember one point. Your uncle has said you must bring me a paper showing exactly what you did with his money, as soon as you have spent it.”
“Yes, I see. I’ll do that,” said the young man.
1... Hobbs wanted to borrow money to _______.
A. study abroad B. work abroad
C. pay off the debts D. learn to paint pictures
2.. What does the underlined word “dumbfounded” （in Paragraph 2） probably mean?
A. Surprised. B. Frightened.
C. Satisfied. D. Excited.
3.. With the money he got, at first Hobbs _______.
A. planned to have a happy life for a few days
B. decided to give up his work in the factory
C. was to give a dinner to his friends
D. had no idea what to do
4... Hobbs was asked to _______.
A. tell the lawyer what he did with the money after spending it
B. read his uncle’s will
C. tell the lawyer what was to be done with the money
D. buy some pictures
1..D
2..A
3..D
4..A
【解析】 略
After graduation I returned home to my small town in Indiana. I didn’t have a job yet. Mr. Hobbs, a friend of my father’s, owned a small shirt factory in town. Within the past five years it had grown from twenty to eighty workers. Mr. Hobbs was worried that his plant was getting too big and inefficient, so he asked me to come in on a short-term basis as a consultant.
I went to the plant and spent about a week looking around and making notes. I was really a mazed at what I saw.
Most curious of all, there was no quality control at all. No one inspected the final product of the factory. As a result some of the shirts that were put in boxes for shipment were missing one or two buttons, the collar, and even a sleeve sometimes!
The working conditions were poor. The tables where the workers sat were very high and uncomfortable. Except for a half hour at lunchtime, there were no breaks in the day to relieve the boring work. There was no music. The walls of the workrooms were a dull gray color. I was amazed that the workers hadn’t gone on strike.
Furthermore, the work flow was irregular. There was one especially absent-minded young man in the assembly（组装）line who sewed on buttons. After a while I recognized him as "Big Jim", who used to sit behind me in math class in high school. He was very slow and all the shifts were held up at his position. Workers beyond him in line on his shift had to wait with nothing to do; therefore, a great deal of time and efficiency were lost as Big Jim daydreamed while he worked. All week I wondered why he wasn’t fired.
After I made observations for a week, Mr. Hobbs asked me for an oral report of my findings.
1.The shirts from Mr. Hobbs’ factory can be described as ____.
|
A．of low quality |
B．of high quality |
C．fashionable |
D．unfashionable |
2.Why did Mr. Hobbs ask the writer to the factory?
|
A．The factory was too big. |
|
B．The factory was not producing fast enough. |
|
C．The factory was not big enough. |
|
D．The writer was a college graduate. |
3.Which is not likely to happen in the factory?
|
A．The workers will have more rest in the day. |
|
B．Someone will examine the final product. |
|
C．New machines will be bought. |
|
D．The factory will be repainted. |
4.Big Jim may get fired mainly because ____.
|
A．he was slow |
|
B．he wasted much time |
|
C．he was absent-minded |
|
D．the work flow was irregular |