Question

Wandering around the airport terminal(航站楼), after learning my flight had been delayed four hours, I heard an announcement, “If anyone near Gale A-4 understands any Arabic, please come to the gate immediately.” I went there and saw an old woman in full traditional Palestinian dress crying on the floor. A young man from the airport staff asked me to talk to her to find out what was her problem. He said she started to cry when hearing the announcement about the flight.

I knelt down, put my arms around her and asked her what was wrong. My Arabic wasn’t good enough but I managed to get my meaning across. She soon stopped crying and told me she had thought the flight had been canceled. She needed to be in El Paso for an important medical treatment the next day. I said, “You’ll be fine. You’ll get there but only a few hours late. Who is going to pick you up? Let’s call him.” We called her son. I spoke to him in English. I told him I would stay with his mother till we boarded the plane. Later, I called my dad whose Arabic was better and asked him to talk to her. She looked much more relaxed while talking on the phone.

Later she took out a sack of homemade cookies stuffed with dates and nuts and offered them to all the women at the gate: the traveler from Argentina, the mom from California, the lovely woman from Laredo. Everybody smiled and accepted her cookies to eat. And my new best friend and I were holding hands, while the others around us were talking with each other with different accents. I almost wanted to hug all those other women too. I looked around that gate and thought to myself, “This is surely the world want to live in.”

1.Why did the old lady cry at the airport terminal gate?

A. The plane was canceled. B. Her medical treatment was canceled.

C. She didn’t know which flight to take. D. She misunderstood the announcement.

2.It can be inferred that ________.

A. the author was Palestinian B. most passengers were from America

C. the author’s first language was English D. the old lady had never travelled abroad

3.According to the passage, we learn that the author was ________.

A. talkative and active B. warm-hearted and helpful

C. creative and intelligent D. enthusiastic but aggressive

Answer 1