It was very late at night when Sam got off the train . He was tired and wanted to find a hotel to have a rest. He looked around and saw a hotel not far away. There were three floors in it. Then Sam went in.
“How much do I need to pay for a single(单人的) room a night?” Sam asked.
“Well , sir,”said the girl, “a single room on the first floor is fifty dollars a night.”
“What about the one on the second floor?” asked Sam.
“Forty dollars.”
“Then how about the one on the third floor?”
“Thirty dollars.”
Sam picked up his suitcase(手提箱) and wanted to go out.
“Don’t you think our price is reasonable?” The girl said.
“Yes,” said Sam. “Your price is of course reasonable, but I’m sure your hotel is not high enough.”
【小题1】Sam wanted to find a hotel after_______.

Look at the light and beautiful snowflakes（雪花） falling．Do you want to hold them in your hands? They are always lost when they meet your hands．

Well, this isn’t just a problem for you．It was a problem for Wilson Bentley, too．

In the 1870s, Wilson Bentley was just a teenager．His family lived in a small town in northeast America．Winters there were long and hard．Bentley’s mother was once a schoolteacher．She taught him at home．Bentley didn’t go to school until he was 14．He was a quiet boy, and loved reading his mother’s books．

But it was his mother’s microscope（显微镜） that interested him．When the other boys were playing with balls, little Bentley was studying the things like drops of water, flowers and snowflakes．Bentley loved watching snowflakes．For the next two years, young Bentley spent many winter days in a cold room watching these ice crystals（晶体） through the microscope．

The boy thought they were so beautiful that he started to draw pictures of them．But there were so many snowflakes that he couldn’t draw them all．

How could he keep their beauty forever? Bentley thought of buying a camera．

The boy and his mother asked his father to buy one．But his father didn’t agree．He thought the whole thing was a bad idea．He thought the only thing a farmer should do was farming．

But finally Bentley did get a camera．For more than a year he tried to take pictures of snowflakes．On January 15, 1885, during a snowstorm, Bentley took the first ever photo of an ice crystal with his camera．“It was the greatest moment of my life,” Bentley said later．

For 13 years, Bentley worked quietly and took thousands of photos of ice crystals．Later he became known as “Snowflake” Bentley．

1．The best title for this passage is “______”．

   A．Snowflake Photos                              B．“Snowflake” Bentley

   C．Long and Hard Winters                    D．Teenage Photographer

2．What kind of person do you think Wilson Bentley was?

   A．He was outgoing                                B．He was too serious

   C．He was interested in learning                D．He was very warm-hearted

3．The “ice crystals” in the fourth paragraph refers to “______”．

   A．water drops      B．rain drops       C．flowers                D．snowflakes

Vickers was very stingy．He hated spending money．Whenever he had to buy something，he always wanted to pay less money，even for the cheapest things．If he wanted to buy a bottle of beer，for example，and the shopkeeper asked for $2，Vickers would say，“Make it $1.9 and I'll buy it．”

Although the shopkeepers didn't like Vickers，sometimes they had to agree with him．They thought，“If I make it $1.9，the man will be happy，and it won’t hurt me very much．” In this way，Vickers saved a few cents（美分）here and a few cents there，and he had saved several hundred dollars by the end of the year．

One day he had a bad toothache and had to go to see the dentist．The dentist looked at the tooth and said，“This tooth will have to come out．”

“How much will I have to pay?” Vickers asked．

“Forty dollars．” the dentist said．

“Forty dollars!” Vickers thought it was much too expensive．“How long will it take you to pull out the tooth?” he said．

“About two minutes．” the dentist said．

Vickers could not believe what he was hearing．“Forty dollars for two minutes’ work!” he shouted，“That's robbery（抢劫）．”

“You are right，” the dentist said with a smile，“Thank you for telling me．Let me spend half an hour on that．will you?”

“OK，but I'll pay only-thirty-five dollars!” he answered．

1．The word “stingy” means ________ in Chinese．

A．吝啬的             B．刻薄的                C．贫穷的

2．The shopkeepers ________．

A．gave Vickers more than what he wanted

B．didn't like Vickers                                    C．usually made the price high

3．Then dentist thought Vickers was ________．

A．lovely                  B．silly                     C．friendly

4．If Vickers wanted to buy a bottle of beer that was $2，how much would he like to pay?

A．$1.9．                 B．$2．                    C．$2.1．

5．From this story，we know that Vickers ________．

A．usually had a toothache                           B．was very poor

C．didn’t like spending money