I had to knock on the taxi to get his attention．Finally, the driver, a man about 60, looked up from behind the wheel and apologized, “I'm sorry, but I was reading a letter．” He sounded as if he had a cold or a cough．
Since I was in no hurry, I told him to finish his letter．He shook his head, explaining that he had already read it several times and almost knew it by heart．Curious, I asked whether it was from a child or maybe a grandchild．“This isn't family,” he replied．“though he might just as well have been a regular member of the family．Old Ed and I grew up together．”
They were always friends．But since he moved away from the neighborhood 30 years ago, it'd generally just been postcards at Christmas time between them．A couple of weeks ago, Ed died．“I should have kept in touch．” He repeated this, more to himself than to me．To comfort him, I said sometimes we just didn't seem to find the time．“But we used to find the time,” he said．“Take a look．” He handed the letter over to me．
The first sentence “I've been meaning to write for some time, but I've always delayed it．” reminded me of myself．It went on to say that he often thought about the good times they had had together．When I read the part where it said “Your friendship really means a lot to me, more than I can say because I'm not good at saying things like that”, I found myself nodding in agreement．
We had gone several kilometers and were almost at my hotel, so I read the last paragraph：“So I thought you'd like to know that I was thinking of you．” And it was ended with “Your Old Friend, Tom．”
“I thought your friend's name was Ed,” I said．
“I'm Tom,” he explained．“It's a letter I wrote to Ed before I knew he'd died．I never put it in the mailbox．I guess I should have written it sooner．” His face was pale as he wiped his eyes with a handkerchief．
When I got to my hotel room I didn't unpack right away．I had to write a letter and post it．
(1)
Who wrote the letter?
[ ]
A．
Tom．
B．
Old Ed．
C．
The author．
D．
The driver's grandchild．
(2)
It can be inferred from the passage that the driver regretted________．
[ ]
A．
missing Ed's funeral
B．
moving away from his neighborhood
C．
forgetting to send Ed Christmas cards
D．
not being able to keep in touch with Ed
(3)
From Paragraph 4, we learn that the author of the passage________．
[ ]
A．
often fails to write to his friends
B．
had no intention to write to his friends
C．
had many great moments with his friends
D．
was good at expressing feelings to his friends
(4)
What message does the passage probably try to convey？
[ ]
A．
Comfort your friends when they are feeling down．
B．
Life is unpredictable so live each day as if it were your last．
C．
Remember to always mail your letters after expressing your words．
D．
Always make time to value and experience your lasting friendships．
I needed to buy a digital camera, one that was simply good at taking good snaps(快照), maybe occasionally for magazines．Being the cautious type, I fancied a reliable brand．So I went on the net, spent 15 minutes reading product reviews on good websites, wrote down the names of three top recommendations and headed for my nearest big friendly camera store．There in the cupboard was one of the cameras on my list．And it was on special offer．Oh joy．I pointed at it and asked an assistant,“Can I have one of those?”He looked perturbed(不安)．“Do you want to try it first?" he said．It didn't quite sound like a question．"Do I need to?" I replied．"There's nothing wrong with it?" This made him look a bit insulted and I started to feel bad．"No, no．But you should try it," he said encouragingly．" Compare it with the others．"
I looked across at the others：shelves of similar cameras placed along the wall, offering a wide range of slightly different prices and discounts, with each company selling a range of models based around the same basic box．With so many models to choose from, it seemed that I would have to spend hours weighing X against Y, always trying to take Z and possibly H into account at the same time．But when I had finished, I would still have only the same two certainties that I had entered the store with：first, soon after I carried my new camera out of the shop, it would be worth half what I paid for it; and second, my wonderful camera would very quickly be replaced by a new model．
But something in the human soul whispers that you can beat these traps by making the right choice, the clever choice, the wise choice．In the end, I agreed to try the model I had chosen．The assistant seemed a sincere man．So I let him take out my chosen camera from the cupboard, show how it took excellent pictures of my fellow shoppers…and when he started to introduce the special features, I interrupted to ask whether I needed to buy a carry-case and a memory card as well．
Why do we think that new options(选择)still offer us anything new?Perhaps it is because they offer an opportunity to avoid facing the fact that our real choices in this culture are far more limited than we would like to imagine．
(1)
The shop assistant insisted that the writer should ________．
[ ]
A．
try the camera to see if there was anything wrong with it
B．
compare the camera he had chosen with the others
C．
get more information about different companies
D．
trust him and stop asking questions
(2)
What does the writer mean by "it would be worth half what I paid for it"(Paragraph 2)?
[ ]
A．
He should get a 50％ discount．
B．
The price of the camera was unreasonably high．
C．
The quality of the camera was not good．
D．
The camera would soon fall in value．
(3)
The writer decided to try the model he had chosen because he ________．
[ ]
A．
knew very little about it
B．
didn't trust the shop assistant
C．
wanted to make sure the one he chose would be the best
D．
had a special interest in taking pictures of his fellow shoppers
(4)
It can be inferred from the passage that in the writer's opinion, ________
[ ]
A．
people waste too much money on cameras
B．
cameras have become an important part of our daily life
C．
we don't actually need so many choices when buying a product
D．
famous companies care more about profit than quality
阅读理解
I needed to buy a digital camera, one that was simply good at taking good snaps(快照), maybe occasionally for magazines．Being the cautious type, I fancied a reliable brand．So I went on the net, spent 15 minutes reading product reviews on good websites, wrote down the names of three top recommendations and headed for my nearest big friendly camera store．There in the cupboard was one of the cameras on my list．And it was on special offer．Oh joy．I pointed at it and asked an assistant, “Can I have one of those?”? He looked perturbed(不安)．“Do you want to try it first?” he said．It didn’t quite sound like a question．“Do I need to?” I replied ,“There is nothing wrong with it？” This made him look a bit insulted and I started to feel bad．“No, no．But you should try it,” he said encouragingly．“Compare it with the others．”
I looked across at the others：shelves of similar cameras placed along the wall, offering a wide range of slightly different prices and discounts, with each company selling a range of models based around the same basic box．With so many models to choose from, it seemed that I would have to spend hours weighing X against Y, always trying to take Z and possibly H into account at the same time．But when I had finished, I would still have only the same two certainties that I had entered the store with：first, soon after I carried my new camera out of the shop, it would be worth half what I paid for it; and second, my wonderful camera would very quickly be replaced by a new model．
But something in the human soul whispers that you can beat these traps by making the right choice, the clever choice, the wise choice．In the end, I agreed to try the model I had chosen．The assistant seemed a sincere man．So I let him take out of my chosen camera from cupboard, show how it took excellent pictures of my fellow shoppers… and when he started to introduce the special features, I interrupted to ask whether I needed to buy a carry-case and a memory card as well．
Why do we think that new options still offer us anything new? Perhaps it is because they offer an opportunity to avoid facing the fact that our real choices in this culture are far more limited than we would like to imagine．
(1)
The shop assistant insisted that the writer should _________．
[ ]
A．
try the camera to see if there was anything wrong with it．
B．
compare the camera he had chosen with the others．
C．
get more information about different companies．
D．
trust him and stop asking questions．
(2)
What does the writer mean by “it would be worth half what I paid for it ”(paragraph 2)
[ ]
A．
He should get a 50％ discount．
B．
The price of the camera was unreasonably high．
C．
The quality of the camera was not good．
D．
The camera would soon fall in value．
(3)
The writer decided to try the model he had chosen because he _________．
[ ]
A．
knew very little about it．
B．
didn’t trust the shop assistant
C．
wanted to make sure the one he chose would be the best．
D．
had a special interest in taking pictures of his fellow shoppers．
(4)
It can be inferred from the passage that in the writer’s opinion _________．
[ ]
A．
people waste too much money on cameras
B．
cameras have become an important part of our daily life
C．
we don’t actually need so many choices when buying a product
D．
famous companies care more about profit than quality
阅读理解
I needed to buy a digital camera, one that was simply good at taking good snaps(快照), maybe occasionally for magazines．Being the cautious type, I fancied a reliable brand．So I went on the net, spent 15 minutes reading product reviews on good websites, wrote down the names of three top recommendations and headed for my nearest big friendly camera store．There in the cupboard was one of the cameras on my list．And it was on special offer．I pointed at it and asked an assistant, “Can I have one of those?”? He looked perturbed(不安)．“Do you want to try it first?” he said．It didn’t quite sound like a question．“Do I need to?” I replied, “There is nothing wrong with it？” This made him look a bit insulted and I started to feel bad．“No, no．But you should try it,” he said encouragingly．“Compare it with the others．”
I looked across at the others：shelves of similar cameras placed along the wall, offering a wide range of slightly different prices and discounts, with each company selling a range of models based around the same basic box．With so many models to choose from, it seemed that I would have to spend hours weighing X against Y, always trying to take Z and possibly H into account at the same time．But when I had finished, I would still have only the same two certainties that I had entered the store with：first, soon after I carried my new camera out of the shop, it would be worth half what I paid for it; and second, my wonderful camera would very quickly be replaced by a new model．
But something in the human soul whispers that you can beat these traps by making the right choice, the clever choice, the wise choice．In the end, I agreed to try the model I had chosen．The assistant seemed a sincere man．So I let him take out of my chosen camera from cupboard, show how it took excellent pictures of my fellow shoppers… and when he started to introduce the special features, I interrupted to ask whether I needed to buy a carry-case and a memory card as well．
Why do we think that new options still offer us anything new? Perhaps it is because they offer an opportunity to avoid facing the fact that our real choices in this culture are far more limited than we would like to imagine．
(1)
The shop assistant insisted that the writer should ________．
[ ]
A．
try the camera to see if there was anything wrong with it．
B．
compare the camera he had chosen with the others．
C．
get more information about different companies．
D．
trust him and stop asking questions．
(2)
What does the writer mean by “it would be worth half what I paid for it ”(paragraph 2)
[ ]
A．
He should get a 50％ discount．
B．
The price of the camera was unreasonably high．
C．
The quality of the camera was not good．
D．
The camera would soon fall in value．
(3)
The writer decided to try the model he had chosen because he ________．
[ ]
A．
knew very little about it．
B．
didn’t trust the shop assistant
C．
wanted to make sure the one he chose would be the best．
D．
had a special interest in taking pictures of his fellow shoppers．
(4)
It can be inferred from the passage that in the writer’s opinion ________．
[ ]
A．
people waste too much money on cameras
B．
cameras have become an important part of our daily life
C．
we don’t actually need so many choices when buying a product
D．
famous companies care more about profit than quality
阅读理解
It was Satuday．As always, it was the one, for “Six days, shall you labar and all your work”was taken senously back then, Outside, Father and Mr．Patnce ncxt door were bxsy conny tcood lnside the wiel users Mother ane Mrs．Patrick were enpted in seeng cleaning
Somehow the boy s had shipped away to the back lot with their kites．Now, evet at the reis of having Brother caught to beat carpets．they had sent him to the kitchen tox exsre xding, sccmed there was no limt to the heights to which kites would fly today
My mothe looked at the sitting room, its furndign disordered for a tborough sweeting．Again she cast a look toward the window “Come on, girls! Let's take sing to the beer and theem a tutue”
On the way we met Mrs．Patrick, Ianghing guiltily as if she wrig doing woeig wrong
The never was such a day for flying kites! We played all our frsh string into the boys' kites up higher and higher, We could hardly distingwish the orang-coloced sports of the kites Now and then we slowly pullked one kite back, watching it dancing upo and down in the wind and finally bringing it down to earth, just for the joy of sending yt up again
Even out fathers dropped their tools and joined us．Out mothers look their turn, laughing like schoolgirls Ithink we were all beside ourselves Parents forgx their daty and their dignity; children for everyday fights and little jealousies．"Perhaps it's like this in the some of heafer,"I thought confusedly．
It we growing dark before we all walked sleepily back to the housew．Isuppose we had some chean and orderly enough．The strange thing was, we didn't mention that ady afterward Ifelt a little embarrasse．Surely none of the of the others had been as exceted as I Ikxked the memory up in that deepest part of me where we keep “the things that cannot be and yet they are”
The years went on, then one day Iwas hurrying about my kitchen in a city apartment, trying to get some work out of the way while my three-year-old, sisrently cried her desire to go park, see duck
“I can't go!”I said．”“I have this angt and when I'm through I'll be too rired to walk that far
My mother, who was visiting us, go up from the peas she was shelling It's a wllderful day, she offered, really warm, yet there's a fine breeu．Do you remimber that day we flew kites?
I stoppoed in my dash between store and sink．The locked door flew open and with it a rush of memorese Come on, I told my little girl You're right, it's too good d day to miss．
Another decade passed, We were in the aftennath(余波)of a great war, All evening we had been asking our returned soldier, the youngest Patrick Boy, about his experiences as a prisone war, He has ked freely, but now for a long time he had been silent, What was he thinking of-what dark and horrible things?
"Sany!"A smile shpped out frow his jips．"Do you remem-no, of course you wouldn't make the impression on you as it did on me．”
I hardly dared speak,”Remrmber what?
“I used to think of that day a lot in POW camo(战俘营)，when things weren's too good, DO you remember the we flew the kites?
(1)
mrs．patnck was laughing gultily because she thought ________
[ ]
A．
she was too old to fly kites
B．
her husband would make fun of her
C．
she shoule have been doing her how
D．
supposed to the don't game
(2)
by “we were all beside ourselves writer means that they all ________
[ ]
A．
felt confused
B．
went wild with joy
C．
looked on
D．
forfot their fights
(3)
what did the think atfer the kite flying?
[ ]
A．
boys must hace had nore fun than the firls
B．
shoule have finished their work before playing
C．
her parents should spend more time with them
D．
all the others must have forgotten that day
(4)
why did the writer finally agree to jtake her little girl for an outing?
[ ]
A．
she suddenluy renmenbered ther duty as mother
B．
she was reminded of the day thety felw kits
C．
she ha dfinished her
D．
she thought it was a
(5)
the youngest patrick boy iss mentioned to show that ________
[ ]
A．
the write was not alone in treasuring her fond menories h
B．
his expenience in POW camp threw a shadow over his life
C．
childhood friend\ship means so much to the writer
D．
people like him really changed a lot after the war
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