My Grandpa Will Pay the Bill

   Charlie had to return to his hometown．He   1   all his money in dancing and traveling．He got into trouble and had little money to pay for his   2   ．He wrote a letter to his parents，but they didn’t answer．He   3   some money from his friends and bought a ticket for the train．

    Now the young man knows his father is ill   4   and his mother has to look after him there．They didn’t   5   him at all．Their small shop was，of course，closed．

   “We’ve paid a lot of money for the   6   ，”said Charlie’s father．“I can’t give you any money now．Open our shop tomorrow and it’ll be   7   to you，I think．”

  The young man thought it reasonable(有道理的)and agreed．He   8    four pairs of shoes and got some money on the first day．The next morning，a very   9   girl came in the shop．He watched her carefully while she was   10   a pair of shoes．And then she asked，“How much are they?”

   “A kiss a pair，”   11    the smirking(嬉皮笑脸的)young man．“That’s fair(公平的)，”said the girl．“I’ll   12   two pairs．”

    Charlie brought two pairs of shoes and handed them to her．And then he   13  the counter(柜台)and came up to the girl．She wasn’t   14   at all．Pointing to an old man who was standing outside，she said．“Wait a minute．My grandpa will pay the   15   ！”

1．A．used               B．made            C．spent            D．planned

2．A．books             B．car               C．drinks           D．food

3．A．borrowed       B．stole             C．lent              D．found

4．A．at home          B．in hospital    C．at school        D．in town

5．A．listen to          B．hear from      C．meet with     D．look after

6．A．tickets            B．presents        C．operation      D．wine

7．A．helpful    B．friendly         C．safe              D．useless

8．A．lost               B．broke          C．produced      D．sold

9．A．short              B．pretty                  C．fat                D．healthy

10．A．choosing        B．repairing       C．washing        D．touching

11．A．asked            B．expected       C．wondered    D．answered

12．A．order            B．double          C．take             D．return

13．A．reached          B．left               C．knocked at    D．stood on

14．A．surprised      B．shy               C．pleased         D．afraid

15．A．bill               B．word            C．menu            D．show

My Uncle John used to live in a beautiful little house by the sea in Hong Kong．He was killed two years ago．Uncle John wrote novels and made a lot of money．

He used to work in a big room with the beautiful scenery of the sea．On his desk there was a huge computer．Uncle John loved this machine, and he had used it for about ten years．“I couldn’t work without this old friend,” he used to say．Uncle John’s books were all detective(侦探)novels．So, when he was found in his room one morning with a bullet (子弹)in his head, it seemed just like one of his own novels．After Uncle John’s death, I came to stay in his house to do something for the funeral (葬礼)．

I had been there for two days when 1 noticed a message on the screen of the old computer．I was very surprised, because I thought the computer had been turned off．The message said, “You have a new e--mail!” When I read it, I thought it looked like the beginning of a novel．It must be from one of Uncle John’s novelist friends．I decided I should reply to the e-mail to tell him or her that Uncle John was dead．However, the computer told me, “Invalid(无效) Address”．Every day for the next three weeks, more e-mails kept arriving．The story was about Jane Pendle, a young writer working on her first novel．

She sent her novel to lack Tanner, an older writer, and asked him to help her publish(出版)it．However, he published the novel himself and told others that he had written it．The novel was very successful．Tanner made a lot of money, and bought himself a house by the sea in Hong Kong．Then I realized “Jack Tanner” and “Jane Pendle” weren’t their real names, “Jack” was meant to be Uncle John．Three weeks later, I received the last one．It described how, after many years, Jane came to Jack’s house, they quarreled, and she pulled out a gun(枪) and shot him．

I did not know what to do with this story．Should I show it to the police or not? If it was true, it might help the police catch Uncle John’s killer．However, it also showed that Uncle John himself was a thief．

1．The writer went to Uncle John’s house         ．

A．to sell the house                                         B．to find out who had killed him

C．to help the police                                       D．to make plans for his funeral

2．The writer was surprised when he noticed a message on the computer because he thought         ．

A．the computer had been turned off

B．everyone knew Uncle John was dead

C．the computer had been broken

D．John’s e-mail address was invalid

3．What made the writer realize that Jack was meant to be Uncle John?

A．Uncle John had used his huge computer for about ten ),ears．

B．Uncle John's books were all detective novels．

C．“Jack Tanner” bought a house by the sea in Hong Kong．

D．Many e-mails kept arriving after Uncle John died．

4．The writer was not sure if he should show the e-mails to the police because he didn’t want people to know that         ．

A．he shot his uncle                                             B．his uncle was a thief

C．Jane was the killer                                     D．Jack shot himself

5．         is the best title(题目)for the passage．

A．Death of A Writer                                    B．Uncle John and His Computer

C．Some Strange E-mails                                D．A Successful Detective Novelist

Maybe you have seen this in schools: some students are Studying nearly all the time but they just pass their exams, while some others may spend much less time on their books but do much better in exams．How could this happen? People used to think that hard work is the only way to success．But now they have understood that smart work can make them succeed, too．

     Hard workers don't mind working for long hours, while smart workers always think of several different answers to these questions, "Why should I suffer this?  Isn't there a better way to do this?" Thanks to these people, we can use computers instead of the abacus now．Progress in every field is the direct result of "try to find a better way" by smart workers．

There was a large soap factory in Japan． Once it received an unusual letter from someone who complained that there was no soap in the soapbox he bought．

How could empty soapboxes go out of the factory? The engineers checked the producing and packing The producing was fine, but in about one in ten thousand cases, the packing machine （机器）let an empty soapbox go．There was no need to spend a lot of money repairing the machine for such a small problem．The engineer soon worked out a solution: he put a huge X-ray （X光射线） machine and two large computers to find out the empty soapboxes．After teaching the workers how to use it, he sat down in his seat, exhausted．

     "Sir, we could have solved the problems in a much simpler and cheaper way," a worker said．

     "Really? How? "

     "We can put a huge fan （风扇） near the packing machine． The wind coming from the fan will blow away the empty boxes, leaving the other boxes with soap．There would be no need for an X-ray machine, two computers, and operating by workers．"

     See, this is smart work． In order to succeed, we should not only work hard like the engineer, but also think smart like this worker．

根据短文内容，选择最佳答案。

1．Some students spend much less time on schoolwork but do much better in exams _______.

A．because of their hard work

B．because of different education

C．because they try to find a better way

D．because they study for a much longer time

2．Someone wrote to the soap factory and complained that _______.

A．the soapbox he bought was empty

B．their soap was too expensive

C．the soap he bought was terrible

D．their service was very bad

3．The soap factory could only _______ near the packing machine to solve the problems in a much simpler and cheaper way．

A．set some soapboxes

B．set an X-ray machine

C．put two large computers

D．put a huge fan

4．The phrase "blow away" here in Chinese means _______.

A．停止                   B．吹走                     C．熄灭                      D．逃脱

5．The article mainly tells us that we should _______ in order to succeed．

A．think of different answers to our questions

B．spend much less time on our schoolwork

C．work hard like the engineer and think smart like the worker

D．spend enough money repairing the machine for any problem