题目内容
Maxwell had not held a steady job in almost two years. Today was a big day, because he was going to a job interview that he felt good about. The secretary he had talked to on the phone sounded friendly and encouraging.
Maxwell was a typist. His fingers danced on the keyboard. However, his people skills were not nearly as good as his typing skills. Sometimes his mouth got in the way of his employment. At his last steady job, his boss had told him to start making coffee every morning. Maxwell laughed. “I’m not making coffee,” he said. “It’s not part of my job description.”
“Read the employee manual again,” his boss said. “Your job description is anything I say it is.”
“That’s a woman’s job,” said Maxwell. “Do it yourself.”
His boss was still yelling as Maxwell walked out of the building. He felt great about telling off the boss. A few days later, the reality of not having a job hit home. He had to pay the rent and utility bills, and he had to eat. What was he going to do?
He thought about apologizing and asking for his job back. But how would that look? Then again, who cares how it looks when you’re almost broke? After thinking about it for another week, he finally called his boss and apologized. His boss accepted his apology, but said that he had already hired a replacement.
Maxwell contacted a temporary job agency, which provided him enough occasional work to pay his bills. But none of the companies that he was sent to were hiring. So Maxwell was excited about finally getting an interview for a steady job.
Maxwell’s drive to the interview was disappointing. The traffic was congested and the neighborhood looked rough. It took him 45 minutes to get there. The building was covered with graffiti.(涂鸦)
The interview started 30 minutes late. Not bothering to apologize, the manager lit a cigarette and took a sip from his coffee cup. He leaned back in his chair and put his feet up on his desk. He asked Maxwell a lot of questions. Maxwell thought that each question was stupider than the preceding question. The final question was, “Where would you like to be 10 years from now?”
What does that have to do with typing? Maxwell wondered. Stupid questions from a rude man in a lousy neighborhood! Where would he like to be 10 years from now?
“Anywhere but this dump!” Maxwell said angrily, as he stood up and walked out.
51．Maxwell lost his last steady job because_________.
A. he was not a qualified typist.
B. he couldn’t make coffee
C. he was not skillful enough in communicating with people.
D. he didn’t apologize in time.
52．The underlined word ‘congested’ most probably means _________.
A. too blocked or crowded
B. dangerous and poor
C. light and slow-moving
D. constant but fast-flowing
53．According to the passage, which statement is right about the job interview?
A. Maxwell was 30 minutes late.
B. The manager got no manners in the interview.
C. The interviewer asked a lot of silly questions except the last one.
D. Maxwell misunderstood the interviewer’s questions.
54．After the interview, we can infer that _________.
A. Maxwell will celebrate his big day.
B. The manager will apologize to Maxwell.
C. Maxwell will finally get this post.
D. Maxwell will have to find another job interview.
CABD
When Steve Maxwell graduated from college, he had an engineering degree and a high tech job — but he couldn’t balance his checkbook. “I took one finance class in college but dropped it to go on a ski trip,” says the 45-year-old father of three, who lives in Windsor, Colorado. “I actually had to go to my bank and ask them to teach me how to read my statement.”
One of the biggest obstacles to making money is not understanding it: Thousands of us avoid investing because we just don’t get it. But to make money, you must be financially literate. “It bothered me that I didn’t understand this stuff,” says Steve, “so I read books and magazines about money management and investing, and I asked every financial whiz (能手) I knew to explain things to me.”
He and his wife started applying the lessons: They made a point to live below their means. They never bought on impulse, always negotiated better deals (on their cars，cable bills, furniture) and stayed in their home long after they went for an expensive vacation. They also put 20 percent of their annual salary into investments.
Within ten years, they were millionaires, and people were coming to Steve for advice. “Someone would say, ‘I need to refinance my house — what should I do? ‘A lot of times, I wouldn’t know the answer, but I’d go to find it and learn something in the process,” he says.
In 2003, Steve quit his job to become part owner of a company that holds personal finance seminars for employees of corporations like Wal Mart. He also started going to real estate investment seminars, and it’s paid off: He now owns $ 30 million worth of investment properties, including apartment complexes, a shopping mall and a quarry.
“I was an engineer who never thought this life was possible, but all it truly takes is a little self education,” says Steve. “You can do anything once you understand the basics.”
【小题1】The underlined part “live below their means” (in Paragraph 3) probably means “______”.
| A．take effective measures | B．live a miserable life |
| C．spend more money than they had | D．spend less money than they had |
| A．has been unwilling to help others |
| B．hasn’t stopped learning from practice |
| C．has been willing to follow others’ advice |
| D．has stopped to invest in houses |
| A．A self made engineer |
| B．How to balance your checkbook |
| C．Don’t avoid investing |
| D．Educate yourself to become a millionaire |
| A．self education is very important to one’s life |
| B．everyone should learn how to invest in their life |
| C．Steve Maxwell was quite interested in finance classes in college |
| D．Steve became rich because he saved every penny he had earned |