I made a promise to myself on the way down to the vacation beach cottage. For two weeks I would try to be a loving husband and father. Totally loving. No ifs, ands or buts.

The idea had come to me as I listened to a talk on my car radio. The speaker was quoting a Biblical passage about husbands and their wives. Then he went on to say, “Love is an act of will. A person can choose to love.” To myself, I had to admit that I had been a selfish husband. Well, for two weeks that would change.

And it did. On arriving at the beach cottage, I kissed Evelyn meeting me at the door and said, “That new yellow sweater looks great on you.” “Oh, Tom, you noticed”, she said, surprised and pleased. Maybe a little puzzled. After the long drive, I wanted to sit and read. Evelyn suggested a walk on the beach. I started to refuse, but then I thought, “Evelyn’s been alone here with the kids all week and now she wants to be alone with me.” We walked on the beach while the children flew their kites.

So it went. Two weeks of not calling the Wall Street firm where I am a director; a visit to the shell museum though I usually hate museums. Relaxed and happy, that’s how the whole vacation passed. I made a new promise to keep on remembering to choose love.?

There was one thing that went wrong with my experiment, however. Evelyn and I still laugh about it today. On the last night at our cottage, preparing for bed, Evelyn stared at me with the saddest expression.

“What’s the matter?” I asked her.

“Tom,” she said in a voice filled with distress, “I don’t?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well…that checkup I had several weeks ago…our doctor…did he tell you something about me? Tom, you’ve been so good to me…am I dying?”

It took a moment for it all to be understood. Then I burst out laughing.

“No, honey,” I said, wrapping her in my arms. “You’re not dying; I’m just starting to live.”

From the story we may infer that Tom drove to the beach cottage ______.

A. with his family     B. with Evelyn    C. alone      D. with his children

During the two weeks on the beach, Tom showed more love to his wife because ______.

A. he was determined to be a good husband

B. he had made a lot of money in his Wall Street firm

C. she looked lovely in her new clothes

D. the doctor said his wife was seriously ill

The author says, “There was one thing that went wrong with my experiment.” What does “one thing” refer to?

A. He praised her sweater, which puzzled her.

B. She insisted on visiting a museum, which he hated.

C. He knew something about her illness but didn’t tell her.

D. He was so good to her that she thought she must be dying.

My first job was at a local restaurant, where I worked for seven years and learned so many lessons, especially from a fellow  16 .
Helen was in her 30s and had extraordinary(非凡的) self-confidence, something I was really  17 . I looked up to Helen  18 she was doing what she loved—  19 people better. She always made everyone, customers(顾客) and co-workers(同事),  20 and feel good.
Being a waitress changed my life. One of my  21 customers was Fred Hasbrook. He always ate an omelet(炒蛋), and when I saw him _22 , I tried to have it on his table as soon as he sat down.
Thanks to the newfound confidence I  23 __from Helen, I dreamed of having my own  __24 . But when I called my parents to ask for a loan(贷款), they said, “We just don’t have the money.”
The next day, Fred saw me and asked, “What’s  25 ? You’re not smiling today.” I  26__my dream with him and said, “Fred, I know I can do more if somebody  27 just have faith in (信任)me.”
Before long he handed me checks  28 __$50,000—along with a note that I have to this day. It reads, “The only collateral(抵押品)on this loan is my trust(信任) in your  29 as a person. Good people with a dream should have  30  __to make that dream come true.”
I took the checks to Merrill Lynch, where the money was provided for me. I 31  __working at the restaurant, making  32 for the restaurant I would open. My plans soured(被破灭), though, and I lost the  33 .
Later I decided to apply for a job at  Merill Lynch. Even though I had no experience, I was__34 and ended up becoming a pretty good agent(代理商,代理人).   35 , I paid back Fred the $50,000, plus 14-percent annual interest(利息 ). Five years later, I was able to open my own firm(公司).
【小题1】.

A.friendB.waitressC.citizenD.customer
【小题2】.
A.losingB.earningC.sharingD.lacking
【小题3】..
A.whileB.thoughC.becauseD.unless
【小题4】.
A.helpingB.respectingC.servingD.praising
【小题5】..
A.workB.eatC.smileD.speak
【小题6】.
A.regularB.favoriteC.respectedD.fresh
【小题7】.
A.eatingB.greetingC.smilingD.coming
【小题8】.
A.found outB.picked up(学会)C.got backD.took away
【小题9】..
A.restaurantB.workC.houseD.money
【小题10】.
A.aheadB.thatC.thereD.up
【小题11】.
A.exchangedB.discussedC.sharedD.explained
【小题12】..
A.shouldB.wouldC.mightD.must
【小题13】.
A.countingB.totaling(共计)C.addingD.valuing
【小题14】.
A.abilityB.honestyC.responsibilityD.identity
【小题15】..
A.patienceB.confidenceC.choiceD.chance
【小题16】.
A.lovedB.practicedC.continuedD.enjoyed
【小题17】.
A.tablesB.plansC.decisionsD.suggestions
【小题18】.
A.faithB.honestyC.moneyD.friend
【小题19】.
A.hired(雇佣)B.rejectedC.encouragedD.determined
【小题20】..
A.FortunatelyB.ExcitedlyC.PersonallyD.Eventually

One day, Jack threw some papers on my desk. “What’s wrong?” I asked. “Next time you want to change anything, ask me first,” he said, and left. I had made just one small change. But it’s not that I hadn’t been warned. My colleagues had said he was responsible for the resignations of the two previous secretaries. As the weeks went by, I came to look down on Jack.

         After another of his episodes had left me in tears I stormed into his office. “what?” he said suddenly. “Jack, the way you’ve been treating me is wrong. I’ve never had anyone speak to me that way. As a professional, it’s wrong for me to allow it to continue,” I said. Jack smiled nervously, “Susan, I make you a promise that I will be a friend. I will treat you as you deserve to be treated, with respect and kindness.”

        Jack avoided me the rest of the week, and never questioned my work again. I brought cookies to the office one day and left some on his desk. Another day I left a note: ”Hope your day is going great. ” Over the next few weeks, there were no more Jack episodes. One year later

I discovered I had breast cancer, and was scared. The statistics were not great for my long-term survival.

         One day, however, Jack visited me in the hospital and silently handed me a bundle with several bulbs inside. “Tulips(郁金香),” he said. I smiled, not understanding. “If you plant them when you get home, they’ll come up next spring. I think you will be there to see them when they come up. Next spring you will see the colours I picked out for you.” Tears clouded my eyes and he left. I have seen those red and white striped(有条纹的) tulips push through the soil every spring for over ten years now. This past September the doctor declared me cured. At a moment when I was praying for just the right word, a man with very few words said all the right things. After all, that’s what friends do.

1.Jack became angry that day because__________.

A. he was feeling unwell

B. Susan had failed to keep his office clean

C. he felt Susan changed too much about the papers

D. Susan had changed something without his permission

2.Susan stormed into jack’s office to tell Jack that__________.

A. he wasn’t worthy of respect

B. he should apologize to her right away

C. she would treat him the way he treated her

D. one should show others respect and kindness

3.Which of the following describes Susan?

A. Moody but firm.

B. Shy and demanding

C. Confident and friendly.

D. Tough and troublesome.

4.From the passage, we can conclude that__________.

A. Jack cares about his employees

B. Jack gets along well with his employees

C. Jack is always particular about his work

D. Jack doesn’t care about the feelings of others

5.We can infer from the passage that__________.

A. a friend in need is a friend in deed

B. a few words can be as meaningful as many

C. a friend who says little must be a good friend

D. we must treat disrespectful people with disrespect

 

It's not a new phenomenon, but have you noticed how many nouns are being used as verbs? We all use them, often without noticing what we're doing.

   I was arranging to meet someone for dinner last week, and I said “I’ll pencil it in my diary”, and my friend said “You can ink it in”, meaning that it was a firm arrangement not a tentative one!

   Many of these new verbs are linked to new technology. An obvious example is the word fax. We all got used to sending and receiving faxes, and then soon started talking about faxing something and promising we'd fax it immediately. Then along came email, and we were soon all emailing each other madly. How did we do without it? I can hardly imagine life without my daily emails.

   Email reminds me, of course, of my computer and its software, which has produced another

couple of new verbs. On my computer I can bookmark those pages from the World Wide Web that I think I'll want to look at again, thus saving all the effort of remembering their addresses and calling them up from scratch. I can do the same thing on my PC, but there I don't bookmark; I favorite—coming from “favorite pages”, so the verb is derived from an adjective not a noun.

  Now my children bought me a mobile phone, known simply as a mobile and I had to learn yet more new verbs. I can message someone, that is, I can leave a message for them on their phone. Or I can text them, write a few words suggesting when and where to meet, for example. How long will it be before I can mobile them, that is, phone them using my mobile? I haven’t heard that verb yet, but I’m sure I will soon. Perhaps I’ll start using it myself!

1. “I’ll pencil it in my diary” in the second paragraph probably means          .

       A. it was a firm arrangement

    B. it was an uncertain arrangement

       C. the arrangement should be written as a diary

D. he prefers a pencil to a pen

2.A website address can be easily found if it has been______.

       A. emailed    B. messaged    C. favorited      D. texted

3.Which of the following has not been used as a verb, yet?

       A. message    B. page        C. email         D. mobile

4.The best title for this passage is____.

       A. New Verbs from Nouns

 B. The Development of the English language

       C. New Technology and New words

   D. Technology and Language.

 

I made a promise to myself on the way down to the vacation beach cottage. For two weeks I would try to be a loving husband and father. Totally loving. No ifs, ands or buts.

The idea had come to me as I listened to a talk on my car radio. The speaker was quoting a passage from the Bible about husbands being thoughtful of their wives. Then he went on to say, “Love is an act of will. A person can choose to love.” To myself, I had to admit that I had been a selfish husband. Well, for two weeks that would change.

And it did. Right from the moment I kissed Evelyn at the door and said, “That new yellow sweater looks great on you.” “Oh, Tom, you noticed,” she said, surprised and pleased. Maybe a little puzzled. After the long drive, I wanted to sit and read. Evelyn suggested a walk on the beach. I started to refuse, but then I thought, “Evelyn’s been alone here with the kids all week and now she wants to be alone with me.” We walked on the beach while the children flew their kites.

So it went. Two weeks of not calling the Wall Street firm where I am a director; a visit to the shell museum though I usually hate museums. Relaxed and happy, that’s how the whole vacation passed. I made a new pledge to keep on remembering to choose love.

There was one thing that went wrong with my experiment, however. Evelyn and I still laugh about it today. On the last night at our cottage, preparing for bed, Evelyn stared at me with the saddest expression.

“What’s the matter?” I asked her.

“Tom,” she said in a voice filled with distress, “do you know something I don’t?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well…that medical checkup I had several weeks ago…our doctor…did he tell you something about me?Tom, you’ve been so good to me…am I dying?” It took a moment for it all to sink in. Then I burst out laughing.

“No, honey,” I said, wrapping her in my arms. “You’re not dying; I’m just starting to live.”

 

1.From the story we may infer that Tom drove to the beach cottage __________.

A. with his family                              B. with Evelyn

C. all by himself                               D. with his children

2.During the two weeks on the beach, Tom showed more love to his wife because __________.

A. she looked lovely in her new clothes

B. he could afford time to care for her

C. he was willing to be a good husband

D. she was seriously ill

3.The author says, “There was one thing that went wrong with my experiment.” What was the one thing that went wrong?

A. He praised her sweater, which puzzled her.

B. She insisted on visiting a museum, which he hated.

C. He knew something about her illness but didn’t tell her.

D. He was so good to her that she thought she would be dying.

4.By saying “I’m just starting to live,” Tom means that __________.

A. he is just beginning to understand the real meaning of life

B. he is just beginning to enjoy life as a loving husband

C. he lived an unhappy life before and is now starting to change

D. he is beginning to regret what he did to his wife before

 

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