It was lunchtime and I walked into a small branch bank on the West Side. I had come to   1  a checking account. The only officer on   2  was a fortyish black man, standing   3  a small counter from a young white boy who was wearing a V-necked sweater. I thought I was especially   4  of the boy because he looked more like from a prep school than a   5  in a West Side bank.
The boy continued to   6  my attention because of what happened next. He was holding an open savings-account book and   7  an expression of disappointment. “But I don’t understand. I opened the account myself, so why can’t I   8  any money?” the boy said, his voice breaking.
“I know it is, but those are the rules. I’ve already explained to you that a fourteen-year-old is not   9  to withdraw money without a letter from his parents,” the officer explained patiently.
Suddenly I noticed the   10  had a series of small deposits (存款) and withdraws. Then I questioned the officer, “How do you   11  that? Why did you let him withdraw money before, but not now?” He looked   12 . “Because the tellers were not aware of his age before and now they are. It’s really very   13 .” I turned to the boy with a shrug. “You’re really getting   14 ,” I said. “You ought to get your parents to come here and protest.” The boy looked destroyed.   15 , he put his savings book in a rear-pocket and walked out of the bank.
The officer turned to me. “You know,” he said, “you really shouldn’t have got   16 .” I couldn’t believe what he was saying. “We were   17  this morning that some neighborhood bully has been shaking down (敲诈) this boy for more than a month. The guy was   18  him to take money out every week and hand it over. The poor kid was   19  too scared to tell anyone. Anyway, the police are on the case and they’ll probably make a(n)   20  today.”
“You mean there is no rule about being too young to withdraw money from a savings account?”
“Not that I ever heard of. Now, sir, what can we do for you?”

【小题1】
A.makeB.openC.buyD.choose
【小题2】
A.dutyB.boardC.displayD.business
【小题3】
A.onB.afterC.overD.across
【小题4】
A.sureB.proudC.awareD.afraid
【小题5】
A.guardB.customerC.clerkD.manager
【小题6】
A.attractB.payC.attachD.control
【小题7】
A.achievingB.findingC.reachingD.wearing
【小题8】
A.useB.spendC.withdrawD.bank
【小题9】
A.supportedB.inspiredC.encouragedD.allowed
【小题10】
A.letterB.accountC.noteD.message
【小题11】
A.thinkB.explainC.doD.claim
【小题12】
A.annoyedB.disappointedC.confused D.amused
【小题13】
A.difficultB.strangeC.fantasticD.simple
【小题14】
A.obeyedB.stolenC.cheatedD.caught
【小题15】
A.HappilyB.SilentlyC.CheerfullyD.Nervously
【小题16】
A.interactedB.interruptedC.involvedD.infected
【小题17】
A.occupied B.discoveredC.suggestedD.informed
【小题18】
A.rushingB.forcingC.requestingD.begging
【小题19】
A.hardlyB.unwillinglyC.apparentlyD.eagerly
【小题20】
A.arrestB.sentenceC.apologyD.difference


D
The thing is, my luck’s always been ruined. Just look at my name: Jean. Not Jean Marie, or Jeanine, or Jeanette, or even Jeanne. Just Jean. Did you know in France, they name boys Jean? It’s French for John. And okay, I don’t live in France. But still, I’m basically a girl named John. If I lived in France, anyway.
This is the kind of luck I’ve had since before Mom even filled out my birth certificate. So it wasn’t any big surprise to me when the cab driver didn’t help me with my suitcase. I’d already had to tolerate arriving at the airport to find no one there to greet me, and then got no answer to my many phone calls, asking where my aunt and uncle were. Did they not want me after all? Had they changed their minds? Had they heard about my bad luck—all the way from Iowa—and decided they didn’t want any of it to rub off on them?
So when the cab driver, instead of getting out and helping me with my bags, just pushed a little button so that the trunk (汽车后备箱) popped open a few inches, it wasn’t the worst thing that had ever happened to me. It wasn’t even the worst thing that had happened to me that day.
According to my mom, most brownstones in New York City were originally single-family homes when they were built way back in the 1800s. But now they’ve been divided up into apartments, so that there’s one—or sometimes even two or more families—per floor.
Not Mom’s sister Evelyn’s brownstone, though. Aunt Evelyn and Uncle Ted Gardiner own all four floors of their brownstone. That’s practically one floor per person, since Aunt Evelyn and Uncle Ted only have three kids, my cousins Tory, Teddy, and Alice.
Back home, we just have two floors, but there are seven people living on them. And only one bathroom. Not that I’m complaining. Still, ever since my sister Courtney discovered blow-outs, it’s been pretty frightful at home.
But as tall as my aunt and uncle’s house was, it was really narrow—just three windows across. Still, it was a very pretty townhouse, painted gray. The door was a bright, cheerful yellow. There were yellow flower boxes along the base of each window, flower boxes from which bright red—and obviously newly planted, since it was only the middle of April, and not quite warm enough for them.
It was nice to know that, even in a sophisticated (世故的) city like New York, people still realized how homey and welcoming a box of flowers could be. The sight of those flowers cheered me up a little.
Like maybe Aunt Evelyn and Uncle Ted just forgot I was arriving today, and hadn’t deliberately failed to meet me at the airport because they’d changed their minds about letting me come to stay.
Like everything was going to be all right, after all.
Yeah. With my luck, probably not.
I started up the steps to the front door of 326 East Sixty-Ninth Street, then realized I couldn’t make it with both bags and my violin. Leaving one bag on the sidewalk, I dragged the other up the steps with me. Maybe I took the steps a little too fast, since I nearly tripped and fell flat on my face on the sidewalk. I managed to catch myself at the last moment by grabbing some of the fence the gardeners had put up…
67. Why did the author go to New York?
A. She intended to go sightseeing there.
B. She meant to stay with her aunt’s family.
C. She was homeless and adopted by her aunt.
D. She wanted to try her luck and find a job there.
68. According to the author, some facts account for her bad luck EXCEPT that ________.
A. she was given a boy’s name in French
B. the cab driver didn’t help her with her bags
C. her sister Courtney discovered blow-outs  
D. nobody had come to meet her at the airport
69. The underlined phrase “rub off on” in Paragraph 3 probably means _________.
A. have an effect on    B. play tricks on     C. put pressure on      D. throw doubt on
70. From the passage, we can know that _________.
A. the author left home without informing her mother
B. the author arrived in New York in a very warm season
C. her aunt’s family lived a much better life than her own
D. her aunt and uncle were likely to forget about her arrival

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